5/12/07

Video of Purported Hostage Shown in Iraq
The Associated Press –
BAGHDAD (AP) — Captors holding five Britons demanded Tuesday that Britain pull all its forces from Iraq, posting a videotape showing a bearded, …
ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gkx-3oYe
FwuWKCusr2jrojs98w8wD8TB5LKO0

US Defence Secretary in Iraq to push reconciliation as bloodshed falls
AFP –
MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) — US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Iraq on a surprise visit on Wednesday to push Iraqi leaders towards faster
econciliation …
afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jgCORibMPjehrpiWMr-bJpY6Byww

Hill Democrats Explore New Strategy on Iraq
Washington Post – United States
By Jonathan Weisman Facing increasing evidence of military progress in Iraq, some Democratic congressional leaders are eyeing a shift in
legislative …
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007
/12/04/AR2007120402216.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Parked car bombs kill 4 in separate attacks across northern Iraq
Jerusalem Post – Israel
By AP Car bombs killed at least four people Wednesday in separate attacks across northern Iraq, police said. The most deadly was in oil-rich Kirkuk, …
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196834826
007&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

UK May Need to Boost Iraq, Afghanistan Budget, Lawmakers Say
Bloomberg – USA
5 (Bloomberg) — Britain’s cost of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan is rising and may exceed the request made by the Ministry of Defense for this year, …
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid
=20601102&sid=aCs4R8lIjwek&refer=uk

Accord Tightens Control of Security Contractors in Iraq
New York Times – United States
David H. Petraeus, the top United States commander in Iraq, and Ryan C. Crocker, the American ambassador to Baghdad, have agreed on the details governing …
www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/washington/05blackwater.html

Soldier Charged in Sgt.’s Death in Iraq
The Associated Press –
(AP) — A Fort Lewis soldier has been charged with murder in the death of his platoon sergeant in Iraq, though military investigators do not think the …
ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j6BRna
4sI3-ecQZD7CJIbWWyVYLQD8TB10VG0

Tom Engelhardt: Iraq as a Pentagon Construction Site
Here’s the relevant line: “Iraq’s leaders have asked for an enduring relationship with America, and we seek an enduring relationship with a democratic Iraq.” Of course, “enduring” there bears the same relationship to permanency as …
hnn.us/roundup/entries/45273.html

iraq
By Sex And Politics and Screeds and Attitude(Sex And Politics and Screeds and Attitude)
Hostilities between right- and left-wing journals and blogs over the coverage of the Iraq war have claimed a fresh scalp after the New Republic magazine retracted a series of articles from a US soldier, saying it could no longer stand …
sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/2007/12/iraq.html

News & Views 12/04/07
By dancewater(Cervantes)
General Abdul-Kareem Khalaf al-Kinani, the head of the ministry’s national command center, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). Kinani did not set a date to start the merger or these training courses or but said the …
warnewstoday.blogspot.com/2007/12/news-views-120407.html

Editor & Publisher Blames Suicides on Iraq War
By Terry Trippany
Editor & Publisher editor Greg Mitchell is hot on the trail with a year long E&P tribute to local newspapers that are covering “the shocking number of suicides among US troops in Iraq or after they return home”. …
newsbusters.org/blogs/terry-trippany/2007/1
2/04/editor-publisher-blames-suicides-iraq-war

Bush holds strong hand in Iraq endgame
By media@politico.com (Martin Kady II)
With two sides dug in over Iraq war, domestic spending, terrorism policies, Bush has inherent advantages.
www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7203.html

A Place for Fred Sanford (& Son)
In Iraq, junk opportunities abound. In an earlier post I talked about the strange cases of sophisticated jet fighter planes strewn randomly around the desert. They are just some of the more unusual components of a very large junk pile …
johnsonmatel.com/blog1/2007/12/a_place_for_fred_sanford.html

Kidnappers threaten to kill hostage unless UK troops leave Iraq
Independent – London,England,UK
By Patrick Cockburn Kidnappers holding five British hostages have
threatened to kill one of them in 10 days unless British forces leave Iraq.
…
news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article3223675.ece

Turkish Troops Kill Six Kurdish Rebels Near Border With Iraq
Voice of America – USA
By VOA News The Turkish army says its soldiers killed six Kurdish rebels
during a clash near the border with Iraq. One Turkish officer also was
killed …
www.voanews.com/english/2007-12-04-voa65.cfm

Power-Sharing Ends Northern Iraq Dispute
The Associated Press –
KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) — Sunni Arabs ended a yearlong political boycott
Tuesday in Kirkuk — the hub of Iraq’s northern oil fields — under a
cooperation pact that …
ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8uepx
MjqNMWzj2xVH1uAeKERjEQD8TARS0G0

Iraq Says It Can’t Handle Refugee Influx
The Associated Press –
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s government acknowledged Tuesday that it cannot
handle a massive return of refugees, as the UN announced a $11 million
relief package …
ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iyWuVk
HfBJaH1kXTSwyETc6Xx9SgD8TARVNO0

15-Month Tours of Iraq Likely for Awhile
The Associated Press –
2 US commander in Iraq said Tuesday that 15-month combat tours are too long
for US soldiers but probably cannot be shortened until next fall as troop
levels …
ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gux49
SwqMftPpk_0bpuCSPnhzd2QD8TAQ9200

Suicide bomber kills six in Iraq attack
AFP –
BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up at the gate of a
police station northeast of Baghdad, killing at least six people, including
five …
afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5NwkzO165g-uslezk2Ncvtw3F9g

Iraq’s Cabinet to Seek Final UN Extension for US-led Troops
Voice of America – USA
By VOA News Iraq’s Cabinet has agreed to ask the United Nations to extend
authorization for US-led forces in Iraq through the end of next year. …
voanews.com/english/2007-12-04-voa28.cfm

4/12/07

Iraq not “fading” as an issue
By kos
In the biggest surprise of the campaign so far, the election that almost everyone thought would be about Iraq is turning out not to be. And that explains a lot about which candidates are on the rise and which ones are starting to fall. …
feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/195030107/15719

Rot Here or Die There
By Zeyad(Zeyad)
Iraqi refugees in Lebanon are coerced to return to Iraq or they are detained by Lebanese authorities and imprisoned indefinitely, Human Rights Watch said in a report today. From the press release:. Lebanon’s refusal to legalize the stay …
healingiraq.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_hea
lingiraq_archive.html#3306301100249102252

Iraq and Waco – How Catastrophes ‘Succeed’
By RJ Eskow
It’s been one of the Right’s favorite slanders since the war began: that the Democrats are ‘betting on failure’ in Iraq, while Administration supporters are ‘betting on success.’ Democrats and war opponents haven’t responded as they …
nightlight.typepad.com/nightlight/2007/12/iraq-and-waco-.html