Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq “1,284,105"
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’sWar On Iraq 4,213
icasualties.org/oif/
The War And Occupation Of Iraq Costs
$581,774,306,273
See the cost in your community
nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
World Faces “Total” Financial Meltdown: Bank of Spain Chief
By AFP
The governor of the Bank of Spain on Sunday issued a bleak assessment of the economic crisis, warning that the world faced a “total” financial meltdown unseen since the Great Depression.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21518.htm
With Economy in Shambles, Congress Gets a Raise
By Jordy Yager
A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21508.htm
Bernard Madoff:
Wall Street Swindler Strikes Powerful Blows for Social Justice
By James Petras
In a few days, one individual, Bernard Madoff, has struck a bigger blow against global financial capital, Wall Street and the US Zionist Lobby/Israel-First Agenda than the entire US and European left combined over the past half century!
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21507.htm
Iraq: Some U.S. Combat Troops To Be Reclassified
By Staff
The U.S-Iraq agreement calls for the withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq cities by June, but officials say many will remain as reclassified personnel. Military planners acknowledge many will be renamed “trainers” and “advisers” in what officials told The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) are essentially combat roles.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21517.htm
Deterring Torture Through the Law
By Coleen Rowley and Ray McGovern
Our country’s values and the immorality of torture are important considerations. And the law, of course, is also key-or should be. Seldom have we seen it more cynically twisted and abused.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21509.htm
Why Did Cheney Confess On National Television?
Michael Ratner
Cheney’s admission of guilt is a plea for a presidential pardon
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21516.htm
Cheney: If President Does it During Wartime, it’s Legal
By Andrew McLemore
Dick Cheney is leaving office without remorse and taking some potshots at his successor on the way out the door.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21514.htm
Remove The Blinkers and See the Truth
By Seth Freedman
For two years on Cif, I’ve detailed the miscarriages of justice I’ve witnessed. But many are still convinced Israel can do no wrong.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21510.htm
What Makes You Into A Jew?
By Gilad Atzmon
Fighting Within – Gilad Atzmon Interviews Sid Shniad (IJV Canada)
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21511.htm
The Pentagon is Muscling in Everywhere.
It’s time to stop the mission creep.
By Thomas A. Schweich
We no longer have a civilian-led government. It is hard for a lifelong Republican and son of a retired Air Force colonel to say this, but the most unnerving legacy of the Bush administration is the encroachment of the Department of Defense into a striking number of aspects of civilian government. Our Constitution is at risk.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21519.htm
Rice: Obama to Follow Bush Foreign Policy
By Daniel Dombey in Washington
Barack Obama might have little option but to follow George W. Bush’s approach on a range of foreign policy issues, including Iran, said Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21515.htm
Charge the Political Criminals
By Timothy V. Gatto
I believe that the next two months will be the most telling period in American history when it comes to exposing the flaws in our system of government. There are two very important issues that face Obama, and the tenor of his Presidency will be decided by how he handles these issues. Obama has to hit the ground running, he has no choice.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21513.htm
Obama v. Washington Mythmaking
By Robert Parry
Over the years, Washington has evolved into a city of deceptions where semantics cloud reality and where a hazy mix of lies, half-truths and mythology can combine to unleash the devastating military might of the United States for no good reason.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21512.htm
US Attack Kills 8 In Pakistan:
According to local sources, a US drone destroyed a house and a car and three people were killed in one attack in South Waziristan.
paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?209183
Militant violence leaves 15 dead in Pakistan:
At least 15 people were killed in a rocket attack, executions carried out by suspected Taliban militants, and bombardment by warplanes in north-west Pakistan, officials and media reports said on Sunday.
tinyurl.com/8t3fzn
Pakistan military on ‘red alert’:
Monday’s reports come after a ratcheting up of tension between the two countries following attacks in Mumbai last month which killed 163 people.
english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/12/20081222102547699277.html
Sunni group involved in attack: Pakistan:
Pakistan says the banned Sunni Muslim extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was involved in the deadly September bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, and announced two new arrests.
tinyurl.com/8snkju
India says Pakistan shifting Mumbai blame:
India has accused Pakistan of trying to shift blame for the Mumbai attacks and demanded it do more to dismantle militant networks, while a top US commander landed in Islamabad for more talks.
www.stuff.co.nz/4801569a12.html
US says four Afghan rebels dead, locals say victims were civilians:
US forces killed four suspected rebels in an operation in southern Afghanistan, the US military said Sunday, but Afghan officials said they were probing claims the victims were civilians.
tinyurl.com/7l52gd
Royal Marine killed in Afghan blast:
The marine is the 135th British serviceman to die in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001.
www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/999235?UserKey=
Canada won’t support U.S. plan to arm Afghan militias: MacKay:
Washington’s plan to arm local tribes to take on the Taliban in untamed districts of Afghanistan is possibly ``counter-productive” and not something Canada supports, says Defence Minister Peter MacKay.
www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/557103
Afghanistan on brink of famine, aid agency warns:
Last week, the Afghan Health Ministry said more than 1.6 million children under the age of five and hundreds of thousands of women could die as a result of food insecurity and a lack of medical care.
tinyurl.com/9ls6o8
Iran warns US over more troops to Afghanistan:
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in a press briefing in Tehran that the US should be careful of the consequences of its new policies in Afghanistan and not make the same mistakes as in Iraq.
tinyurl.com/9yod7a
Russia says supplying Iran with “defensive” weapons:
Russia’s state arms export company said it has sold “defensive armaments” to Iran.
tinyurl.com/7ohafn
Russia Denies Delivering Sophisticated S-300 Missiles System To Iran:
Russia’s Federal Military and Technical Cooperation Service said in a statement posted on its website on Monday that the reports about Moscow selling Iran advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missile system “does not correspond to reality.”
tinyurl.com/a53muq
Tehran says no final agreement yet on Russian air defence agreement:
“The Foreign Ministry has not yet received anything final in this regard, therefore I can neither confirm nor deny this agreement,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi told reporters in Tehran.
tinyurl.com/8fkp7l
Russia delivers nuclear fuel to operate Bushehr compound – Iran:
Russia has delivered nuclear fuel to operate the Bushehr atomic compound, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said on Monday.
tinyurl.com/8rzm3z
Iraqi police: Officer killed in Mosul:
Iraqi police say an officer was killed when gunmen fired on a police patrol in the restive northern city of Mosul.
tinyurl.com/aymkpz
U.S. Marine killed in combat in Iraq:
The U.S. military says a Marine has died from wounds he received in combat in Iraq’s Anbar province.
www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/
2008-12-22-marine-death-iraq_N.htm
Iraq: Some U.S. Combat Troops To Be Reclassified:
The U.S-Iraq agreement calls for the withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq cities by June, but officials say many will remain as reclassified personnel. Military planners acknowledge many will be renamed “trainers” and “advisers” in what officials told The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) are essentially combat roles.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21517.htm
US troops may stay in Iraq in disguise:
Though the deadline for withdrawal of US troops from Iraqi cities has been decided as June 30, 2009, experts have argued that roughly 10,000 American troops should remain in Baghdad after that period, in the guise of “trainers” and “advisers” in what are effectively combat roles.
tinyurl.com/79zewg
U.S. upgrading key Iraqi naval base:
Officials said the upgraded naval base would be located in Umm Qasr near the southern city of Basra. They said the enhanced facility would include a new pier and seawall complex.
www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/
WTARC/2008/ss_iraq0738_11_24.asp
‘No apology’ from Iraq shoe-thrower:
Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush, the US president, has said that he will not apologise for his act, amid reports from his lawyer that he has been severely beaten in custody.
english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/
2008/12/20081222151452457599.html
Palestinians agree to 24-hour lull:
Hamas and other factions have agreed to halt firing of rockets into Israel for 24 hours to allow aid to be delivered to Gaza, a Hamas official has said.
english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/
2008/12/2008122214263574151.html
Egypt warns Israel against Gaza raid:
Egypt warned Israel on Sunday against launching a massive military operation in Gaza, but Israeli defense officials said Cairo was angry with Hamas leaders for ending the six-month period of relative calm. .
tinyurl.com/6vbg6q
Israel Spared in Middle East Internet Cable Damage:
Internet communications began to return to large parts of the Middle East Sunday after undersea communications cables were cut. Israel was spared damage, but service in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates was severely affected.
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/157857
David Hicks : Australian Taleban’ fully free:
An Australian former inmate of the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay is now a free man after strict control orders limiting his activities were lifted.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7794228.stm
Chavez says plot to kill Bolivian leader uncovered:
Chavez said the Bolivian president called and told him that authorities in the Andean country had uncovered the plot.
tinyurl.com/7252sk
Clinton Reveals Donors:
Former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation has taken in more than $140 million in the past decade from foreign sources, including the Saudi royal family and leaders of a Middle Eastern government now negotiating a controversial deal with the U.S. government to procure nuclear-energy technologies.
online.wsj.com/article/SB122961863763818563.html
List Of Clinton Foundation Donors:
Former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation disclosed the names of 205,000 donors on a Web site Thursday, ending a decade of resistance to identifying the sources of its money.
online.wsj.com/public/resources/docu
ments/st_clintondonor_20081218.html
Fighting the Greedy Defense Lobbyists:
Our Schools vs. Their Worthless Weaponry
tinyurl.com/88qzx4
Madoff Scheme Was ‘Impossible’ to Do Alone, Says EIM’s Busson:
Bernard Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme, which might have cost investors $50 billion, couldn’t have been carried out alone, said Arpad ‘Arki’ Busson, chairman and founder of Swiss investment firm EIM SA.
tinyurl.com/7vs9ky
Greed has Pushed Political Credibility and Financial Trust into Freefall:
Recent scandals in America reveal a value system that puts the wealth of a few before the welfare of many
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/
dec/22/congress-us-economy-gary-younge
World faces “total” financial meltdown: Bank of Spain chief :
The governor of the Bank of Spain on Sunday issued a bleak assessment of the economic crisis, warning that the world faced a “total” financial meltdown unseen since the Great Depression.
www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081221154025.lrwl34xi
New Report: Worldwide Bankruptcy Wave About to Hit:
Europe and the U.S. are about to experience a significant increase in business failures. That’s the conclusion reached by Paris-based Euler Hermes, the world’s largest credit insurer, in a recently released 57-page report on business insolvencies worldwide.
tinyurl.com/4uh453
UK: Bailiffs get power to use force on debtors:
The government has been accused of trampling on individual liberties by proposing wide-ranging new powers for bailiffs to break into homes and to use “reasonable force” against householders who try to protect their valuables.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5375668.ece
Where’d the bailout money go? Shhhh, it’s a secret:
After receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation’s largest banks say they can’t track exactly how they’re spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081222/ap_on_bi_ge/meltdown_secrets
$1.6 billion went to bailed-out bank execs:
Records show bonuses, chauffeurs, health club benefits, financial planning
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28337800