Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq “1,339,771"
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’s War On Iraq: 4,334
icasualties.org/oif/
Number Of International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan : 1336
icasualties.org/oef/
Cost of War in Iraq
$676,519,698,128
Cost of War in Afghanistan
$225,153,024,155
The cost in your community
www.nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
“Enough Already”
By Cindy Sheehan
I am cutting my writing-staycation short to head to Martha’s Vineyard because I think the new titular head of the empire needs to know that his policies are devastating people as much as the same policies did when Bush was president.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23353.htm
Weaponizing Psychology
Treating People Like Dogs
By Peter Chamberlin
The wise men sitting safely on the Potomac think that real “men” and real “patriots” can just get over the trauma that they have witnessed or inflicted upon others, through a contrived simplistic form of auto-hypnosis.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23355.htm
This Isn’t Reform, It’s Robbery
By Chris Hedges
Between 40 and 62 percent of the American people, including 80 percent of registered Democrats, want universal, single-payer not-for-profit health care for all Americans. The ability of the corporations to discredit and silence voices that represent at least half of the population is another sad testament to the power of our corporate state.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23356.htm
My Country, Misery
By David Michael Green
The toxic combination of rampant American individualism, right-wing successes in framing public attitudes in all the sickest and most corrosive ways, a litany of false prophets preaching bogus religious salvation through even more deceitful notions of political morality, and the gravitational pull from the declining trajectory of an empire that has most assuredly now passed its sell-by date – all of this has conspired to produce a monstrous polity lurching about the global landscape without a heart or a conscience, and eating itself from within for the very same reasons.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23354.htm
Bus bombings kill 20 in Iraq:
At least 20 people have been killed and another 10 injured in two minibus bombings south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
www.euronews.net/2009/08/24/bus-bombings-kill-2-in-iraq/
Iraqi Shias form new alliance:
A group of Shia Muslim parties in Iraq have formed a coalition ahead of January’s election, but Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, has not joined the bloc.
english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast
/2009/08/200982411513485220.html
Man who sold Iraq war now vetting embedded journos: report:
A public relations firm that organized the opposition to Saddam Hussein during the 1990s and “coerced” journalists during the run-up to the Iraq war is now vetting at least some embedded journalists in war zones to keep out those who have a history of writing negative stories about the US military, a new report claims.
rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/24/
iraq-war-salesman-now-vetting-journos/
Three US occupation force soldiers killed in Afghanistan:
Three US soldiers were killed in attacks in southern Afghanistan, the military said Thursday, with security forces on alert for Taliban attacks during voting in presidential and provincial elections.
www.asiaplus.tj/en/news/53/56103.html
3 NATO occupation force troops killed in Afghanistan:
Three NATO troops – two from Estonia and one from the United States – were killed in attacks in southern Afghanistan as fraud charges continued to pour in Monday from last week’s turbulent presidential vote.
www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/08/24/afghanistan-nato.html
Mullen: Afghanistan Is Deteriorating:
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said Sunday that the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated but the commanding general on the ground has not yet asked for more troops.
www.nydailynews.com/blogs/warzone/2009/
08/mullen-afghanistan-is-deterior.html
---
U.S. Military Says Its Force in Afghanistan Is Insufficient:
American military commanders with the NATO mission in Afghanistan told President Obama’s chief envoy to the region this weekend that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operate across borders.
www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/world/asia/24military.html
Germany’s Steinmeier Calls for Withdrawal Plan:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s challenger in the federal election, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, says it’s time to think about a timeframe for withdrawing the country’s troops from Afghanistan, where the Bundeswehr has been deployed since 2002.
www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,644597,00.html#ref=rss
Karzai wins election: Afghan finance minister:
Afghanistan’s finance minister claimed victory on Monday for President Hamid Karzai in last week’s presidential election but, with no official figures released, the claim was rejected by his main rival’s campaign.
snipurl.com/qunyh
Afghan challenger says election “widely rigged”: –
Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s main challenger said on Sunday he had evidence last week’s election had been widely rigged by the incumbent and that he had lodged more than 100 complaints.
in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINISL36667220090823
One in five Afghan ballots may be illegal, UN warns:
Officials in Afghanistan deny evidence of widespread fraud in presidential poll amid fears vote-rigging could decide result
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/24/afghan-elections-fraud-karzai
Guantanamo detainee returns home:”
One of the youngest people to be held at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay has been released and taken back to his native Afghanistan, his lawyer has said. Mohammed Jawad, 19, was released from the jail in Cuba on Monday, seven years after he was arrested by US forces in Afghanistan.
english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/08/20098241834677174.html
==
U.S. helicopters violate Pakistan’s airspace: report:
United States gunship helicopters Monday violated the international border and intruded into Pakistani territory, official sources said.
news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/24/content_11937699.htm
Reporter killed in Khyber Pass :
Gunmen have shot dead an Afghan journalist known as an outspoken critic of the Taliban as he travelled by bus through Pakistan’s Khyber Pass.
tvnz.co.nz/content/2941302
Obama approves interrogation unit:
Barack Obama, the US president, has approved the formation of a White House-supervised unit that will interrogate terrorism suspects, a senior aide has announced.
snipurl.com/quo36
Medics: Israeli soldiers kill a Palestinian in N Gaza:
One Palestinian was killed and another wounded on Monday evening by Israeli soldiers’ gunfire in northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics and witnesses said.
news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/25/content_11938087.htm
Touring Israel with Mike Huckabee:
A first-person account of a US presidential candidate’s trip to Israel by a prominent Jewish-American activist reveals a calm man with strong principles.
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133058
Argentina calls for arrest of Iran minister over bombing:
Iran’s newly nominated defense minister “should be arrested” for his alleged role in a 1994 Buenos Aires bombing that killed 85 people, Argentina’s top minister Anibal Fernandez said Monday.
news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090824/wl_
mideast_afp/argentinaattacksjewsiraninterpol
Iran Protests Argentine Stance on Ahmadinejad’s Defense Nominee:
Iran summoned the top Argentine diplomat in Tehran to protest Argentina’s allegation that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s nominee for defense minister was involved in a 1994 terrorist attack in Buenos Aires.
snipurl.com/quo56
Somalia: Half the population in humanitarian crisis amid an escalating civil war:
Results of a country-wide comprehensive inter-agency assessment, led by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia (FAO/FSNAU), confirm that the Humanitarian Crisis in Somalia is widespread and severe, with half of the population or an estimated 3.76 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-7V8MKN?OpenDocument
Rendition of Terror Suspects Will Continue Under Obama:
The Obama administration will continue the Bush administration’s practice of sending terror suspects to third countries for detention and interrogation, but will monitor their treatment to insure they are not tortured, administration officials said on Monday.
www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/us/politics/25rendition.html
CIA interrogator threatened to kill children: Report:
Another agent allegedly told a second suspect the man’s mother would be sexually assaulted in front of him. The agent has denied the allegation.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8219307.stm
CIA report: ‘Inhumane’ tactics used on detainees:
The documents released by the CIA’s inspector general said interrogators went too far – even beyond what was authorized under Justice Department legal memos that have since been withdrawn and discredited.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090824/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_cia_interrogations
Holder to Appoint Prosecutor to Investigate CIA Terror Interrogations:
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has decided to appoint a prosecutor to examine nearly a dozen cases in which CIA interrogators and contractors may have violated anti-torture laws and other statutes when they allegedly threatened terrorism suspects, according to two sources familiar with the move.
snipurl.com/quo7l
Tensions Lead to CIA Director’s “Screaming Match” at the White House:
According to intelligence officials, Panetta erupted in a tirade last month during a meeting with a senior White House staff member. Panetta was reportedly upset over plans by Attorney General Eric Holder to open a criminal investigation of allegations that CIA officers broke the law in carrying out certain interrogation techniques that President Obama has termed “torture.”
abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8398902
CIA Outsourced for Killers:
Following reports the CIA hired private spies to be assassins, former U.S. intelligence officials are defending the use of contractors, estimating one out of three intelligence workers is on contract.
www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2009/08/137_50593.html
In case youi missed it:
Was Lockerbie suspect working for US?:
Former Labour MP Tam Dalyell and Edinburgh law professor Robert Black urged the Scottish and UK governments to answer reports there is evidence Abu Nidal was a US agent.
news.scotsman.com/world/Was-
Lockerbie-suspect-working-for.4631017.jp
Insurers admit 50,000 employees lobbying Congress to claim profits fair:
A spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s trade group, admitted in an article published Monday that as many as 50,000 industry employees are involved in an effort to fight back against aggressive healthcare reform.
snipurl.com/quoa2
US May See 150-200 More Bank Failures: Bove:
A prominent banking analyst said Sunday that 150 to 200 more U.S. banks will fail in the current banking crisis, and the industry’s payments to keep the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp afloat could eat up 25 percent of pretax income in 2010.
www.cnbc.com/id/32532937
Double-dip recession likely: Roubini:
Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted the financial crisis, said the chance of a double-dip recession is increasing because of risks related to ending global monetary and fiscal stimulus.
economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/International-Business/
Double-dip-recession-likely-Roubini/articleshow/4930615.cms