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’sWar On Iraq 4,064
icasualties.org/oif/
 
The War And Occupation Of Iraq Costs
$517,045,147,702
 
See the cost in your community
nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
 
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There Will Be Blood
 
By Muhammad Idrees Ahmad
 
Since the assassination in Damascus of Imad Mughniyeh, a leading Hizbullah operative, a sense of foreboding once again grips Lebanon. The Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah says the bombing foreshadows Israeli aggression and has declared his willingness to wage ‘open war’ should there be another invasion.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19866.htm
 
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General Petraeus: Zionism’s Military Poodle
 
From Surge to Purge to Dirge
 
By James Petras
 
The US has degenerated into a sorry state of affairs when its future course depends on the political calculus of a feckless General, a failed counter-insurgency ‘expert’ and ambitious politician pandering to billionaire political contributors working for a foreign colonial power.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19865.htm
 
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The Gospel of Consumption
 
And the better future we left behind
 
By Jeffrey Kaplan
 
By 2000 the average married couple with children was working almost five hundred hours a year more than in 1979.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19868.htm
 
===
 
Beware The Simplifiers
 
By Bill Moyers
 
I once asked a reporter back from Vietnam, “Who’s telling the truth over there?” “Everyone, he said. “Everyone sees what’s happening through the lens of their own experience.” That’s how people see Jeremiah Wright.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19867.htm
 
===
 
The All-White Elephant in the Room
 
By Frank Rich
 
Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is “the Great Whore,” Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking “the blood of the Jewish people.” That’s because the Great Whore represents “the Roman Church,” which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19869.htm
 
===
 
Report: U.S. Not As ‘free’ As Touted
 
By Betsy Pisik
 
The U.S. political system is, at best, “a work in progress” according to an evaluation from the pro-democracy group Freedom House, which finds significant flaws in the U.S. criminal justice system, counterterrorism strategies and the treatment of minorities and immigrants.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19870.htm
 
===
 
The Last Roundup
 
By Christopher Ketcham
 
For decades the federal government has been developing a highly classified plan that would override the Constitution in the event of a terrorist attack. Is it also compiling a secret enemies list of citizens who could face detention under martial law?
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19871.htm
 
===
 
Shadowing Slaughter in Sadr City
 
As the first UK journalist to be embedded with the rebel Mahdi Army, Hala Jaber reports on its terrifying battle
 
By Hala Jaber
 
“Ya’mma, Ya’ba” (”Oh mother, oh father”), cried Amira Zaydan, a 45-year-old spinster, slapping her face and chest as she grieved for her parents Jaleel, 65, and Hanounah, 60, whose house had exploded after apparently being hit by an American rocket.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19864.htm
 
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Iraq Says No Hard Evidence of Iran Support For Militia
 
By AFP
 
Iraq said on Sunday it has no evidence that Iran was supplying militias engaged in fierce street fighting with security forces in Baghdad.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19863.htm
 
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Iraq: At least 21 killed in another bloody day of US occupation:
 
Hospitals received six bodies, including three children, and 41 wounded people overnight in Baghdad’s Sadr City, where Shi’ite militia fighters have been battling Iraqi security forces an U.S. troops, hospital sources said.
www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL0429338120080505
 
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US military kills 15 “armed” men, arrests 49 in separate operations in Iraq :
 
The US military killed 15 armed men and arrested 49 in separate operations in the past two days, the US military said in a statement on Sunday
tinyurl.com/4249gd
 
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Gunmen kill Iraqi journalist :
 
Police said Serwa Abdul-Wahab, in her mid-30s, was on her way to work when gunmen forced her out of the taxi in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, and shot her once in the head.
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080504/wl_nm/iraq_journalist_dc
 
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Iran says new talks with U.S. on Iraq meaningless:
 
Iran on Monday dismissed any prospect of new talks with the United States on Iraq, accusing U.S.-led forces on Monday of a “massacre” of the Iraqi people.
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080505/pl_nm/iran_iraq_dc
 
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Iran will not hold talks with U.S. on Iraq:
 
Iran does not intend to hold talks with the United States on Iraq while American forces are fighting Shiite militias in Sadr City, the Iranian Foreign Ministry reported on its Web site on Monday.
www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/05/africa/iraq.php
 
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Iraq: No Evidence Iran Is Arming Shiites:
 
A top Iraqi official said Sunday there was no “conclusive” evidence that Shiite extremists have been directly supplied with some Iranian arms as alleged by the United States.
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/04/iraq/main4069224.shtml
 
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Manufacturing Consent For An Attack On Iran:
 
US: Hezbollah training Iraqi Shiite extremists in Iran:
 
Iraqi Shiite extremists are being trained by members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in camps near Tehran, a U.S. military spokesman said Monday.
tinyurl.com/4c595d
 
===
 
Selling war:
 
Breakthrough reached in intel on Iran :
 
Mossad chief Meir Dagan is expected to brief Britain’s MI6 head Sir John Scarlett, who is slated to visit Israel later this month, on an intelligence breakthrough regarding the Iranian nuclear program, London’s Sunday Times reported.
tinyurl.com/5whqxw
 
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Nir Rosen : Selling the War with Iran:
 
When the American media, which, in the build up to the American attack on Iraq abdicated its duty to challenge those in power and inform the public, continues to demonstrate the same lack of skepticism, it is very distressing.
www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/05/selling_the_war/
 
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Former UN weapons inspector says attack on Iran ‘virtual guarantee’:
 
I would say that it’s a virtual guarantee that there will be a limited aerial strike against Iran in the not-so-near future-or not-so-distant future, that focuses on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Command,”
tinyurl.com/3mwx2l
 
===
 
Iran Set To Reject Nuclear Incentives Offer By World Powers :
 
Iran was quick to pour cold water on the offer, which reportedly outlined possibilities of technical assistance if Iran gave up its uranium enrichment program.
www.payvand.com/news/08/may/1042.html
 
===
 
Iran offers major breakthrough for ending world crises Tehran:
 
Hosseini added that Tehran’s proposed package “can help international peace, stability and security” and are based on “respecting rights of all nations and their territorial integrity.”
www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0805053250145306.htm
 
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Russia halts N-shipments via Azerbaijan :
 
Citing sources with Atomstroiexport, ITAR-TASS news agency said the company would no longer dispatch supplies destined for the Bushehr nuclear power plant via Azerbaijan
www.payvand.com/news/08/may/1050.html
 
===
 
Shell, Repsol seek way out of Iran gas deal: report:
 
European oil groups Royal Dutch Shell and Repsol YPF are under pressure from the United States to end talks with Iran about a multi-billion dollar natural gas deal, the Expansion newspaper reported Saturday.
nz.news.yahoo.com/080503/8/58k7.html
 
===
 
Peres: I’m not in favor of a military strike on Iran :
 
In sweeping comments Monday before Israel’s 60th anniversary, Peres compared the Iranian nuclear threat to Hitler’s Germany and said engaging Gaza’s Hamas rulers would be like talking to a wall.
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/980926.html
 
===
 
Israeli attack kills one Palestinian, five wounded :
 
A Palestinian was killed and five others wounded after Israeli occupation forces launched an operation overnight in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical officials said on Sunday.
tinyurl.com/4caon7
 
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Minister : Israel losing “control” over Arab sector’s youth:
 
The Labor minister said that if the current situation continues whereby 54 percent of Israeli Arab children grow up in homes below the poverty line, “it will be very bad.”
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/980956.html
 
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UN gets last-minute Gaza fuel offer :
 
The UN agency that provides food for Palestinian refugees says it can continue to distribute aid in the Gaza Strip for another 20 days having announced that it was once again on the verge of having to suspend deliveries.
tinyurl.com/648krf
 
===
 
An Atheist Goes Undercover to Join the Flock of Mad Pastor John Hagee:
 
In this excerpt from his new book, Matt Taibbi shares his experiences at a Hagee’s boot camp for new converts.
www.alternet.org/rights/84043
 
===
 
Scores killed in Yemen clashes :
 
At least 20 Shia rebels have been killed and six soldiers wounded in clashes with the Yemeni army in northern Saada, according to officials.
tinyurl.com/55837k
 
===
 
Report: 5 Killed As Thousands Riot In Somali Capital :
 
Thousands of Somalis have protested in the capital, Mogadishu, burning tyres and hurling stones at shopkeepers amid record-high inflation and rising food prices.
tinyurl.com/5574vs
 
===
 
Georgia pulls out of air-defence treaty with Russia:
 
Georgia has announced it’s pulling out of an air-defence agreement with Russia. It comes after Moscow accused Tbilisi of violating existing agreements by sending spy aircraft into the airspace of Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia.
www.russiatoday.ru/news/news/24292
 
===
 
Italy: Rise of the right:
 
The use of fascist symbols, the threat of violence, the demonisation of minorities … hasn’t Italy been here before?
commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/martin_jacques/2008/04/rise_of_the_right.html
 
===
 
UK: tariq Ali: Power Can’t Shape Truth Forever:
 
New Labour is Dead: New Labour has suffered a crushing defeat. The Blair project of promoting and implementing right-wing policies in the knowledge that traditional working class voters would remain solid died on 1 May 2008.
counterpunch.org/tariq05032008.html
 
===
 
Bolivia’s richest region votes “yes” on autonomy:
 
According to pollster Focaliza, cited by local television, Santa Cruz residents voted 86 percent for the autonomy proposal and 14 percent against. The result had been widely expected because backers of Morales, a former coca farmer and close ally of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, vowed to boycott the referendum.
www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0332548020080505
 
===
 
Push for autonomy shakes Bolivia:
 
The referendum, which gives Santa Cruz Province control over the soy and gas that abound in its territory, deepens the rift with Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president.
www.csmonitor.com/2008/0506/p07s01-woam.html
 
===
 
President Morales describes secessionist referendum in Santa Cruz as complete failure:
 
Bolivian President Evo Morales today described as a total failure the secessionist referendum in the department of Santa Cruz, the results of which the Supreme Court has already ruled invalid, given the illegal nature of the vote.
www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/mayo/lun5/President-Morales.html
 
===
 
Oil hits $120 a barrel milestone :
 
The price of a barrel of oil has risen above $120 for the first time, driven by concerns about the situations in Nigeria and northern Iraq.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7384427.stm
 
===
 
Mercenary:
 
If you learned that the man in this photo — a professional assassin — was the head of security at one of our nation’s most vulnerable nuclear facilities, would it trouble you? Or would it sound like one hell of a story?
www.esquire.com/print-this/features/mercenary0607
 
===
 
Who should MDs let die in a pandemic?
 
Report offers answers: Doctors know some patients needing lifesaving care won’t get it in a flu pandemic or other disaster. The gut-wrenching dilemma will be deciding who to let die.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_he_me/pandemic_rationing_care_3
 
===
 
What if 5.3 Million More Americans Could Vote?:
 
Across the country there are 5.3 million Americans who are denied the right to vote because of a felony conviction in their past. Nearly 4 million of these people are not in prison; they live, work, pay taxes, and raise families in our communities, but remain disenfranchised for years, often for decades, and sometimes for life.
www.alternet.org/rights/82457/?page=entire
 
===
 
Britain’s Holocaust shame: The voyage of the Exodus:
 
The ship was filled with Jewish refugees, desperately seeking a new life in the Promised Land after the horrors of Nazi concentration camps. But, thanks to the Royal Navy, they were sent back to prison camps in Germany
tinyurl.com/67mfff