Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq  “1,252,595"
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
 
===
 
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’sWar On Iraq 4,141
icasualties.org/oif/
 
The War And Occupation Of Iraq Costs
$545,331,977,121
 
See the cost in your community
nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
 
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Destruction in Tskhinvali
 
‘I’ve never heard anything so monstrous as people shelling a hospital’
 
By Tom Parfitt
 
A convoy of three buses and an escort of armed Russian Special Forces soldiers travelled across the border with Russia into South Ossetia yesterday, in a trip organised by the Kremlin for foreign media to witness first hand the destruction in Tskhinvali.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20509.htm
 
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In the guise of humanitarian aid
 
Bush Dispatches US Military Forces to Georgia
 
By Barry Grey
 
In a major escalation of the conflict with Russia over Georgia, President George W. Bush on Wednesday announced a “vigorous and ongoing” deployment of US military forces to its key ally in the Caucasus. Bush appeared in the White House Rose Garden for the second time in three days, this time flanked by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and announced the military buildup, casting it as a humanitarian relief operation.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20513.htm
 
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Russia Warns US Against Encouraging New “Tragic Scenario”
 
By AFP
 
Russia on Thursday warned the U.S. against encouraging Georgia’s leaders to take action that might lead to a repeat of the “tragic scenario” of recent days.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20514.htm
 
===
 
Russia Vows to Support Two Enclaves, in Retort to Bush
 
By ELLEN BARRY and C.J. CHIVERS
 
The comments did not stake out a new position, but together, they offered a sharp retort to President Bush’s insistence a day earlier that “the sovereign and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected.” The Russian rebuke came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed to the region to work for a settlement and to show support for the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20515.htm
 
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Russian Triumph as Saakashvili’s Gamble Fails
 
By Gwynne Dyer
 
The three-day war in South Ossetia is settled, and the Georgians have lost. There may be some more shooting yet, but it is now clear that Georgia will never regain control of the rebel territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Also that President Mikhail Saakashvili has handed Russia a major victory, and that Georgia’s hopes of joining NATO are gone. Pretty impressive work for one long weekend.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20517.htm
 
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Rice: This isn’t 1968 Czechoslovakia Invasion
 
By Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST
 
The Bush administration demanded Wednesday that Russia end all military activities in neighboring Georgia and sent US aid to devastated Georgians. “This is not 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia, where Russia can threaten a neighbor, occupy a capital, overthrow a government and get away with it,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. “Things have changed.” 
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20512.htm
 
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The Lobby Like No Other Wants a War Like No Other
 
By Michael Scheuer
 
Having watched John McCain and Barack Obama resolutely pledge their allegiance – and their countrymen’s lives and treasure – to the defense of Israel via AIPAC, the media, and personal meetings with Israeli leaders, it is worth asking what could possibly drive these men to so ardently commit America to participation in other people’s religious wars. This question is particularly important today as the Bush administration and the Israel-firsters continue to push for an unprovoked U.S. attack on Iran.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20510.htm
 
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Iraq minister: US Combat Troops to Pull Out in Three Years Under New Deal
 
By Deborah Haynes in Baghdad
 
American soldiers will withdraw from cities across Iraq next summer and all US combat troops will leave the country within three years, provided the violence remains low, under the terms of a draft agreement with the Iraqi Government.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20511.htm
 
===
 
Green Beret says leader shot, mutilated Afghan civilian
 
By Associated Press
 
The leader of an Army special forces team grinned as he held the severed ear of an Afghan man he suspected of being an insurgent after he shot him and left his body in the desert, a Green Beret testified Tuesday
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20516.htm
 
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Bombs target Shiite pilgrims in Iraq; 26 killed:
 
A female suicide bomber struck Shiite pilgrims south of Baghdad, killing at least 26 people and wounding dozens, police said. It was the deadliest in a series of attacks on travelers heading to the holy city of Karbala for a major religious festival
tinyurl.com/5kz8v4
 
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Iraq: 10 killed in another bloddy day of US occupation:
 
A roadside bomb killed one policeman and wounded five people, including two policemen,
tinyurl.com/64mjob
 
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Six killed in bombings; U.S. soldier among dead:
 
A series of car bombs targeted a senior city official and civilians Wednesday in northern Iraq, killing at least four people, officials said, the latest in a spate of attacks the U.S. military said was a show of force by an enemy on the run.
tinyurl.com/5f4za2
 
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3 Occupation force troops killed in Afghanistan:
 
Three US-ledoccupation force n soldiers were killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the force said, taking to 17 the number of international troops to die in the country this month.
tinyurl.com/6bhoyr
 
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More than 20 police killed in Afghan battles:
 
More than 20 police have been killed over the past two weeks during fierce clashes with insurgents in two areas of southern Afghanistan, the interior ministry said Thursday.
tinyurl.com/5mfl6h
 
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Adviser to Karzai says Taliban tactics are succeeding:
 
The switch by Taliban insurgents to spectacular attacks, including the daylight murders of international aid workers that left two Canadians among the dead, has shattered Afghans’ confidence in the international community and the Afghan government’s ability to provide basic security, says a top Canadian adviser to President Hamid Karzai.
www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/478164
 
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Suspected U.S. strike kills 9 in Pakistan:
 
A suspected U.S. missile attack killed at least nine people near the Afghan border, local officials said yesterday.
tinyurl.com/55tz6n
 
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Pakistan: Army kills over 15 militants:
 
Military helicopter gunships Thursday targeted at least two militants’ vehicles in Pakistan’s tribal agency along Afghan border, killing more than 15 militants including two senior local Taliban militants.
tinyurl.com/5oxn7r
 
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Tariq Ali: Musharraf will be gone in days:
 
The Pakistani president is likely quit soon. But don’t expect democracy to rush in: the military’s habits die hard
tinyurl.com/5oq7ow
 
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U.S., Russia at loggerheads over Georgia conflict:
 
In Moscow, Russia’s foreign minister declared the world can forget about Georgia getting back South Ossetia and Abkhazia, its two breakaway provinces.
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1011711.html
 
===
 
Russia to U.S.: Choose us or Georgia:
 
Russia pressed the United States on Wednesday to choose between “a real partnership” with Moscow or an “illusory” relationship with U.S. ally Georgia.
tinyurl.com/5ljcmn
 
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Pentagon says no plans to control Georgia ports:
 
The Pentagon said on Wednesday it did not plan to take control of Georgian airports or ports as part of an aid mission, apparently contradicting a statement by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKWBT00955820080813
 
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Georgian President’s Russia Claims Raise Eyebrows:
 
It was a claim that could have provoked a dangerous Kremlin response: The United States is readying to take over airports and ports in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The claim, by U.S.-backed Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili on Wednesday was swiftly shot down by officials in Washington, who denied any such designs on Georgian soil.
tinyurl.com/63fxo6
 
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U.S. troops still in Georgia:
 
In addition to the trainers, 1,000 soldiers from the Vicenza, Italy-based Southern European Task Force (Airborne) and the Kaiserslautern-based 21st Theater Sustainment Command, along with Marine reservists with the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines out of Ohio, and the state of Georgia’s Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry recently participated in “Immediate Response 2008.”
tinyurl.com/6bf5e3
 
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Georgian relief operation hampered as aid workers ambushed:
 
A truce between Russia and Georgia has failed to open up the conflict zone to much-needed emergency supplies, aid agencies and EU officials said Thursday, as UN staff were held up by armed gunmen.
tinyurl.com/5wjc4e
 
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Georgia says Russia ‘destroying’ towns before withdrawal:
 
Georgia and the United States accused Russian forces of destroying installations in several towns as they withdrew.
tinyurl.com/6bkx98
 
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Georgian minister: Israel has sold us out:
 
Israel has joined in the West’s betrayal of Georgia, the Georgian reintegration minister, Temur Yakobashvili, told Haaretz yesterday.
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1011396.html
 
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McCain adviser got money from Georgia:
 
John McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser and his business partner lobbied the senator or his staff on 49 occasions in a 3 1/2-year span while being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the government of the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
wiredispatch.com/news/?id=294833
 
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While Aide Advised McCain, His Firm Lobbied for Georgia:
 
Sen. John McCain’s top foreign policy adviser prepped his boss for an April 17 phone call with the president of Georgia and then helped the presumptive Republican presidential nominee prepare a strong statement of support for the fledgling republic.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/12/AR2008081202932.html
 
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Georgia president denies Israel halted military aid due to war:
 
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili denied on Wednesday night that Israel has suspended its military aid to the country. “I haven’t heard anything about that, and I haven’t had time to think about that issue for some days,” he told Haaretz.
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1011298.html
 
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Israel vague about reported U.S. rejection of Israeli request for Iran strike:
 
Israeli government spokespersons Wednesday declined to comment that the American administration has rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and support to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, local daily Ha’aretz reported.
news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/13/content_9270603.htm
 
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Israel source denies U.S. curbing arms sales to deter Iran strike:
 
An Israeli official on Wednesday denied an Haaretz report that the U.S. had rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and support that would improve Israel’s ability to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1011764.html
 
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Russian support for Iran sanctions at risk amid Georgia rift:
 
Fierce American criticism of Russia’s military action in Georgia is almost certain to jeopardize a very different US strategic objective: stepping up pressure on Iran with another layer of United Nations sanctions.
www.csmonitor.com/2008/0815/p10s01-wome.html
 
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US warns Turkey over energy deal with Iran:
 
The US on Wednesday warned Turkey not to strike an energy deal with Iran that undermined diplomatic efforts to halt Tehran’s nuclear programme, on the eve of a visit to Ankara by Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the Iranian president.
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3c3b2176-698a-11dd-91bd-0000779fd18c.html
 
===
 
Iran kills three Kurdish separatists in clash: –
 
Iranian state radio says three Kurdish separatists and one Iranian soldier were killed in a shootout in the northwest of the country.
tinyurl.com/6dsplp
 
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Hamas blames “Israeli collaborators” for launching rockets:
 
Mahmoud-al-ZaharThe Hamas rulers of Gaza Strip on Tuesday lashed out at gunners who fire rockets at Israel from the Palestinian territory in violation of a seven-week-old calm, calling them Israeli collaborators.
www.albawaba.com/en/news/233996
 
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US and Poland ‘agree shield deal’:
 
Donald Tusk said the US had agreed to a key Polish demand that it improve Poland’s defences in exchange for placing 10 missile defence intercepters in the country.
english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/2008814181417872788.html
 
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Fidel Castro: Bush behind Georgia war:
 
Castro criticized the lame-duck US president for ‘lighting the powder keg of the Caucasus’, in an article published on Monday and titled ‘Canon Fodder for the Market’.
www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=66445&sectionid=351020702
 
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U.S. Inflation Hits 17-Year High:
 

As Increases Move Beyond Food, Oil: U.S. inflation soared to a 17-year-high annual rate in July, a government report showed, led by gains in food, energy, airline fares and apparel.
online.wsj.com/article/SB121871617494640459.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
 
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Home foreclosure filings up 55 percent in July:
 
U.S. foreclosure activity in July rose 55 percent from a year earlier as a slump in once-sizzling housing markets forced yet more borrowers to default on their mortgages, according to a monthly report.
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080814/bs_nm/usa_foreclosures_dc
 
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The outrage in your credit card’s fine print:
 
Americans have now racked up nearly $1 trillion in credit-card debt. As housing equity shrinks and costs rise, agencies such as Moody’s report swelling numbers of accounts with balances three or more payments past due. Reinforced by abusive industry practices, the plastic safety net is becoming a permanent cage.
www.csmonitor.com/2008/0813/p09s01-coop.html