Bill Moyers sits down with award-winning investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill to examine the human and financial costs of America's wars:

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A Rebel Reports article:

• 250,000 “Contractors” in Iraq and Afghan Wars, Increases Number of Mercenaries:Newly released Pentagon statistics show that in both Iraq and Afghanistan the number of armed contractors is rising. The DoD says it sees “similar dependence on contractors in future.”

• “Little Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at Gitmo Under Obama” (AlterNet): The ‘Black Shirts’ of Guantanamo routinely terrorize prisoners, breaking bones, gouging eyes, squeezing testicles, and ‘dousing’ them with chemicals.

• UN Human Rights Council Blasts US for Killing Civilians, Drone Attacks and Using Mercenaries: The UN group is also calling on the US to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate crimes by US officials.

• Obama Wants $736 Million Colonial Fortress in Pakistan:Critics say the White House wants to use the new “embassy” for “pushing the American agenda in Central Asia.”

• US Colonel Advocates US ‘Military Attacks’ on ‘Partisan Media’ in Essay for Neocon, Pro-Israel Group JINSA: “The point of all this is simple: Win,” writes Col. Ralph Peters. “In warfare, nothing else matters. If you cannot win clean, win dirty. But win.”

• Military Admits "Errors" in Civilian Bombing in Afghanistan, But Still Defends the Attacks

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• The unintended consequences of the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights.
• Former Bush officials cash in.
• Withdrawing from Iraq: the latest way to delay it.
• The Cheney/Obama partnership.
• Life in San Antonio's underground economy.
• Has Canada become a beacon of free markets? (For some historical context, see this classic from Jeet Heer.)
• A sharp essay on the myth of "virgin nature."
• Class and transportation subsidies.

With Reason, Hit and Run
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• U.S. arms given to friendly forces in Afghanistan ending up in the hands of Taliban.
• Senate Democrats block funds Obama requested to close Gitmo.
• California voters overwhelmingly reject proposals aimed at balancing the state's budget.
• Obama demands new efficiency standards; expected to add $1,300 to the cost of a new automobile.
• One in four Bush administration officials now lobbying or consulting to influence agencies they once worked for or oversaw.
• Report says GPS could black out, cause massive failures next year.
• The future is now: Cyanide-laced computer chips could track, eliminate undesirables!
• Since 2006, the U.K. has apparently had a program called “Too Much Bling?” which asks citizens to anonymously turn in neighbors who seem to have possessions beyond their means.
• The New York Times reports that it is likely “that munitions procured by the Pentagon have leaked from Afghan forces for use against American troops."

With Reason, Hit and Run
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The Daily Beast:

“This is a very big deal,” Fred Kaplan writes at Slate of President Obama’s plan to replace General David McKiernan, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, with General Stanley McChrystal. “McKiernan's ouster signals a dramatic shift in U.S. strategy for the war in Afghanistan. And it means that the war is now, unequivocally, ‘Obama's war.’” So who’s the man Obama may be staking his presidency on? “Gen. McChrystal, a Green Beret who has spent most of the last year as the top staff officer to Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spent the previous five years commanding special operations forces in Iraq—units that specialize in guerrilla warfare, including the training of indigenous armies,” reports The Wall Street Journal. “Like Gen. David H. Petraeus, who will become Gen. McChrystal's new boss and is credited with turning around the Iraq campaign, Gen. McChrystal has won over converts in the Pentagon because of his intellectual rigor and a flexible decision-making process that lends itself to irregular warfare.”

Read it at Slate

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From an overt war in Iraq to a covert war in Pakistan. How's that for change?

WASHINGTON — With two missile strikes over the past week, the Obama administration has expanded the covert war run by the Central Intelligence Agency inside Pakistan, attacking a militant network seeking to topple the Pakistani government.

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But how can it be a "covert war" if it is being reported on in the first sentence of a front page story in the NY Times?

Continue

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Kyrgyzstan ordered U.S. forces on Friday to depart within six months from an air base key to military operations in Afghanistan, a move complicating plans to send more troops to battle rising Taliban and Al Qaeda violence.

http://www.foxnews.com/st...

This is just another indication that Middle East nations are getting tired of our national foreign policy of building empires...

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"Informed sources in Washington tell Newsmax that Israel indeed will launch a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities soon, possibly in just days as President George W. Bush prepares to leave office. "

http://www.newsmax.com/he...

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1917 - British issued the Balfour Declaration, viewed by Jews and Arabs as promising a “National Home” for the Jews in Palestine.

1936 - Arab Revolt led by Haj Amin Al-Husseini. Over 5,000 Arabs were killed according to some sources, mostly by British. Several hundred Jews were killed by Arabs. Husseini fled to Iraq and then to Nazi Germany.

1948 - Israel War of Independence (1948 War). Declaration of Israel as the Jewish State; British leave Palestine; Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia declared war on Israel. Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian invasion began. See 1948 Israel War of Independence (1948 Arab-Israeli war) Timeline (Chronology) and Israel War of Independence

1949 - Armistice - Israel and Arab states agree to armistice. Israel gained about 50% more territory than was originally allotted to it by the UN Partition Plan.

1956 - Suez Campaign. In retaliation for a series of escalating border raids as well as the closure of the straits of Tiran and Suez canal to Israeli shipping, and to prevent Egyptian use of newly acquired Soviet arms in a war, Israel invades the Sinai peninsula and occupies it for several months, with French and British collaboration.

1964 - PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) founded with the aim of destroying Israel. The Palestinian National Charter (1968) officially called for liquidation of Israel.

The year the USA got involved in this conflict and is still in it today!

1967 - Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser closes the straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and dismisses UN peacekeeping force. Negotiations with US to reopen the Straits of Tiran fail.

1967 - 6-day war. Israel destroys the Egyptian air force on the ground, conquers and occupies Sinai and Gaza, then conquers the West Bank from Jordan, and Golan Heights from Syria. UN resolution 242 called for Israeli withdrawal, establishment of peace. 1967 Six Day War Timeline (chronology)

1973 - Yom Kippur War (October War). In a surprise attack on the Jewish day of atonement, Egypt retook the Suez canal and a narrow zone on the other side. Syria reconquered the Golan Heights. Following massive US and Soviet resupplying of the sides, Israel succeeded in pushing back the Syrians and threatening Damascus. In Sinai, the IDF crossed the Suez Canal and cut off the Egyptian Third Army.

1979 - Peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel.

1981 - Israel destroys Iraqi Osirak nuclear reactor in daring raid.

1981 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated while on the reviewing stand of a victory parade.

1982 - Massive Israeli invasion of Lebanon to fight PLO.

1993 - Oslo Declaration of Principles - Israel and PLO agree to mutual recognition.

1995 - Oslo Interim Agreement signed. Palestinian Authority to be established

1995 - Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin assassinated by right-wing Israeli fanatic Yigal Amir. Rabin is replaced by Shimon Peres

1996 - Right-Wing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu elected Prime Minister in Israel, replacing Shimon Peres

1996 - "Al-Aksa tunnel riots - Arab sources spread the false rumor that a gate opened in an underground tunnel tourist attraction by the Israeli government, endangered the foundations of the Al-Aqsa mosque. This caused several days of rioting and numerous casualties.

1997 - Israel and Palestinians reach agreement on Israeli redeployment in the West-Bank city of Hebron

1998 - Wye River Plantation talks result in an agreement for Israeli redeployment and release of political prisoners and renewed Palestinian commitment to correct its violations of the Oslo accords including excess police force, illegal arms and incitement in public media and education.

1999 - Israel elects Labor party leader and Former General Ehud Barak as Prime Minister in a landslide. Barak promises rapid progress toward peace.

2000 - Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations fail when Hafez Assad rejects an Israeli offer relayed by US President Clinton in Geneva.

2000 - Palestinians initiated riots after Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount, which is also the location of the Haram as Sharif holy to Muslims. Start of Second Intifada See Second Intifada Timeline Second Intifada

2001 - Right-wing Likud leader Ariel Sharon elected Prime Minister in Israel replacing Ehud Barak and promising "peace and security

2001 - Sept 11, Terror attacks on World Trade Center in NYC and the Pentagon carried out by fanatic Islamic Al-Qaida group headed by Osama Bin Laden initiate US war on terror. Israel and Palestinians agree to a cease fire, but it is not implemented.

2002 - Israel conducts operation Defensive Wall in the West Bank, following a large number of Palestinian suicide attacks on civilian targets. Saudi peace initiative adopted at Beirut summit.

2003 - Elections in Israel give wide margin (40 seats) to right wing Likud party, returning PM Ariel Sharon for another term.

2003 - US begins invasion of Iraq by a strike against a building where Saddam Hussein and other leaders are meeting. Baghdad falls, April 9.

2004 - International court of Justice (ICJ) rules that the Israeli security barrier violates international law and must be torn down.

2004 -Nov, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat dies.

2005 - Jan 9th, Mahmoud Abbas elected President of the Palestinian National Authority.

2005 - Jan 10th, Ariel Sharon forms unity government with Labor and United Torah Judaism parties in Israel.

2005 - April, Ariel Sharon visits US President George Bush at his Texas ranch. Syrian Army leaves Lebanon, officially ending Syrian occupation.

2005 - Mahmud Abbas visits US President George Bush at the White House, an important symbolic geMaysture signaling US backing for Abbas and Palestinian aspirations. Israel releases 400 Palestinian prisoners including some with blood on their hands. Britain confirms "low level" negotiations with Hamas.

2005 -June, Violence flares in Gaza. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Palestinian and Israeli leaders to ensure coordination of Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israeli PM Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meet in Jerusalem June 21. Sharon announces that Palestinians have promised to coordinate regarding Gaza withdrawal. PM Abbas postpones Palestinian legislative elections in order to change the election law, amidst growing concern that Hamas will trounce Abbas's Fatah party in the elections. Lebanese elections give a decisive majority to the opposition to Syria, led by Saad Hariri, son of slain leader Rafiq Hariri

2005 - August, Disengagement - Israeli evacuation of Gaza settlements and four West Bank settlements began on August 15 and was completed August 24.

2006 - January 25, Hamas wins Palestinian general elections gaining 76 of 132 seats.

2006 - January 29, Western governments threaten to halt financial aid to Palestinians.

2006 - January 30, The Quartet group (The UN, EU, US and Russia) say "all members of a future Palestinian government must be committed to non-violence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations."

2006 - March 18, Hamas submits its cabinet to president Abbas (24 ministers including 8 MPs). In response, the US, EU, and Israel boycott the new government and say they will suspend aid to the government.

2006 -April 16, Iran announces an offer of $50 million in aid to the Palestinian authority.

2006 -May 8, Three Palestinians killed and 10 wounded in clashes in southern Gaza, near Khan Yunis, between rival Hamas and Fatah supporters.

2006 - May 17, Hamas deploys a new 3,000-strong militia on the streets of Gaza.

2006 - May 11, Prominent Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails release a document calling for a national unity government between Hamas and Fatah.

2006 -June 3, A new security force loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, is deployed in the West Bank.

2006 - June 16, The EU endorses a new policy to channel aid directly to the Palestinians, bypassing Hamas.

2006 - June 25, Palestinian fighters launch an attack in Israel that results in the deaths of two Israeli soldiers and the capture of another, Corporal Gilad Shalit.

2006 -June 27, Hamas and Fatah reach an agreement based on the prisoners' document which includes the forming of a national unity government.

2006 - June 28, Israel launches Operation Summer Rains in what it says is an attempt to recover the captured soldier. The ongoing operation initially consists of heavy bombardment of bridges, roads, and the only power station in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians are killed during aerial and ground attacks over the following months.

2006 - June 29, Israel captures 64 Hamas officials, including eight Palestinian Authority cabinet ministers and up to twenty members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

2006 - September 1, Mahmoud Abbas says Hamas and Fatah have agreed on the principles of a power-sharing government and may soon form a new cabinet to lead the Palestinian Authority. Under the plan, Abbas is to dissolve the current Hamas-led cabinet within 48 hours.

2006 - September 8, UN officials say Gaza is at "breaking point" after months of economic sanctions and Israeli attacks.

2006 - September 23, The agreement breaks down, with Hamas's refusal to recognise Israel reportedly at the heart of the continued disagreements.

2006 -October 1, Eight people are killed in Gaza in factional infighting between Hamas and Fatah as a new wave of violence erupts.

2006 - October, A number of mediation attempts take place. Egypt and Qatar send their foreign ministers to meet with both sides. Other Palestinian groups like the Islamic jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine mediate between the two sides to stop the clashes.

2006 - November 13,: Following talks between Hamas and Fatah, both sides agree to form a government of technocrats unaligned with either movements. Muhammad Shbeir, a Gaza academic who is close to Hamas but not a party member accepts, the offer to head the government.

2006 - November 14, Hamas again reiterates that it will not recognise Israel and the agreement stalls.

2006 - December 15, Hamas accuses Fatah of involvement in an gun attack on the Ismael Haniya, Palestinian prime minister, as he crosses the border from Egypt into Gaza.

2006 - December 16, Abbas calls for new elections as a solution to the ongoing crisis.
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What would the Israeli-Arab conflict mean if the U.S. had a non-interventionist foreign policy? Well, it would not necessarily mean much to the well-being of the United States, says Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA's Bin Laden Unit and author of Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror. In a new article at Antiwar.com, Scheuer explains how the American elite, "addicted to intervention," has put the United States in a position where Israel's actions are understandably seen as being approved by U.S. policy. Because of the special relationship between America and Israel, the Israeli invasion of Gaza has only reinforced the perception that the United States and Israel call the shots, that U.S. allies in the Arab world are puppets, and that Muslim lives are devalued by our government. The invasion has only guaranteed disruption to a potential peace process and reinvigorated Hamas, according to Scheuer.

Eric Margolis discusses the two narratives being told about the Gaza invasion in his own article at LewRockwell.com. "In the Israeli and North American press version" of the story, Israel is retaliating, fully within its rights, against Hamas terrorists for firing rockets and killing innocent Israeli civilians. Margolis agrees such terrorism is a crime, but he says "so, too, is the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which is an egregious violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions." The invasion also has important political implications, both in Israel and in America. In Isreael, the leaders of the Labour and Kadima parties are trying to prove themselves tougher than Likud. Here at home the Obama administration will take power with many Labor Party–friendly Middle East advisers and the Muslim world blaming America for the violence in Gaza. And of course, the attacks will also likely "torpedo the current Saudi-sponsored peace plan, which had been backed by all members of the Arab league."

If America had a non-interventionist foreign policy, the impact on the United States by such horrendous conflicts abroad would be minimized. We as individual Americans could disagree among each other about those conflicts, or choose not to care about them at all. As it is, even our political processes become interlinked with politics abroad, and when American treasure and diplomacy are seen behind other nations' acts of belligerence, the United States becomes a target for resentment and even terrorism. This makes it all the more important to see foreign wars with a bit of nuance and an effort at balance, but it is not always easy. It might not always be possible to be objective.

All the more reason we should return to our Founding Fathers' policy of peace, honest friendship and free trade with all nations; entangling alliances with none. ______________________________________________________________

Writes Justin Raimondo at antiwar.com:

“As the euphoria of the Obama cult builds toward a climax and the pundits declaim the advent of Something Big, it’s the small changes that concern me, particularly those that touch directly on my job, which is to sniff out the War Party wherever it is presently burrowed. The election of Barack Obama has been the signal for many of them to migrate like fleas from the carcasses of the campaigns they attached themselves to and hop on the warm body of the new administration, which presents a rather large target. It’s a new day, and in the age of Obama, the War Party’s battalions are massed on the ostensible Left. Now that’s the kind of change I can believe in.

Ah, yes, the small changes, particularly the ones that concern me personally: those are what I’m really interested in, quite naturally, and the biggest change – and I have to say it comes as a welcome relief – will be in my targets. Instead of having to deal with all those tiresome neoconservatives with Republican leanings, I’ll be dealing with a whole new crowd. Of course, a lot of veteran neocons will turn up, particularly at the fringes of the incoming administration, but the real core of the War Party’s strength will be in the State Department, with Hillary Clinton lording over a new nest of neocon hatchlings, albeit of the social-democratic variety. In alliance with the “humanitarian” interventionists, whose shtick is sending troops to places like Kosovo, Darfur, Congo, and Burma, this new, reinvented War Party is ready and willing to open up several new fronts in our endless “war on terrorism,” with potentially cataclysmic consequences for America and the world.

The War Party’s decisive influence in the Obama administration is going to be rolled out on Monday, so that even the most craven Obama-bots on the Left will be left wondering who and what they voted for. Hillary the hawk at State, Bush’s warlord Robert Gates at Defense, and Gen. Jim Jones – who wants to station U.S. troops in the occupied territories under the rubric of NATO! – as national security adviser to the president. Yes, antiwar voters took a chance on Obama, reasoning that anything would be better than four more years of Bushian belligerence, yet now they discover to their chagrin that the dice are loaded.

The same old crowd that brought us the invasion of Iraq is back, if not in full force or purest form, then at least in worrying numbers and high positions. The cries of “betrayal” are already being heard. The response from the Obama cult among the liberal landed gentry, in particular the ones who own choice pieces of editorial real estate in the nation’s top newspapers, was delivered by E. J. Dionne from his perch at the Washington Post:

“In electing Barack Obama, the country traded the foreign policy of the second President Bush for the foreign policy of the first President Bush. That is the meaning of Obama’s apparent decision to keep Robert Gates on as defense secretary and also to select Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.”

This delights Dionne, even as it depresses those anti-interventionist voters who thought they had an ally in the White House.

If you “progressives” are now feeling like someone who’s been kicked out of bed before dawn, on one pretext or another – “Boy, was I drunk last night! I don’t remember a thing!” – well, then, you can’t say you weren’t warned.”

Read Raimondo’s entire article

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http://www.upi.com/Top_Ne...

BAGHDAD, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- A total of 13 countries with troops currently stationed in Iraq will soon remove those soldiers from the war-torn country, a military official says.

Brig. Gen. Nicolas Matern, Multi-National Corps Iraq deputy commander, said with a U.N. mandate that offered the countries authorization to operate in Iraq set to expire at year's end, coalition forces are set to be significantly depleted, The Times of London reported Saturday.

Matern said the mandate expires on Dec. 31 and 13 countries including Japan and South Korea will be removing their Iraq forces in preparation for that date.

"We are going to say farewell to 13 different nations in the space of two and a half weeks," Matern, whose group supervises all coalition partners of the U.S. military, said.

Matern said the loss of the 13 countries follows similar troop withdrawals by other former coalition members.

"We started off with 35 countries but it has steadily been going down ... As from December it is going to go all the way down," he said.

The military official told The Times that the only remaining U.S. allies in Iraq after the mandate's expiration will be Australia, Britain, El Salvador, Estonia and Romania.

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The Washington Post
By Spencer S. Hsu and Ann Scott Tyson

The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.

There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.

But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade, saying the greatest domestic threat is terrorists exploiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dedicating 20,000 troops to domestic response -- a nearly sevenfold increase in five years -- "would have been extraordinary to the point of unbelievable," Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said in remarks last month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Full Article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27989275/
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With the expiration of the United Nations mandate at the end of December, 13 of the 19 nations that still have military commitments to Iraq are set to bring them to an end by the end of the year. A farewell ceremony for Bosnia’s 86 soldiers is scheduled for Saturday, and South Korea’s is scheduled for Sunday.

After the end of the year, any foreign forces remaining in Iraq will need to have a formal Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government. At that point, what started as a 35 nation endeavor (the trumpeted “coalition of the willing”) will be down to 6 nations, most with trivial commitments.

The United States is obviously the largest, with over 150,000 soldiers still on the ground. Britain has about 4,100 troops which it intends to leave past the new year as well, but they must complete their own Status of Forces Agreement before the end of the year to have any legal basis to do so.

Australia pulled its combat forces from Iraq in June of this year, but about 200 yet remain in logistics capacities. El Salvador has about 200 remaining as well, pending further reductions. Estonia has 35 soldiers on the ground, and Romania will withdraw all of its combat forces, but keep some instructors into 2009.

Posted at AntiWar.com

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From today’s Los Angeles Times:

“Reporting from Washington — Antiwar groups and other liberal activists are increasingly concerned at signs that Barack Obama’s national security team will be dominated by appointees who favored the Iraq invasion and hold hawkish views on other important foreign policy issues.

The activists are uneasy not only about signs that both Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates could be in the Obama Cabinet, but at reports suggesting that several other short-list candidates for top security posts backed the decision to go to war.

“Obama ran his campaign around the idea the war was not legitimate, but it sends a very different message when you bring in people who supported the war from the beginning,” said Kelly Dougherty, executive director of the 54-chapter Iraq Veterans Against the War.”

Read the entire article

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The USG Open Source Center translates an article from the Persian Afghan press alleging that French troops were at one point close to capturing Usamah Bin Ladin in Afghanistan, but that American forces stopped them from doing so. It says that a forthcoming French documentary containing interviews with the French soldiers provides proof for the allegation. The argument is that the Bush administration needed Bin Ladin to be at large in order to justify its military expansionism.

Excerpt:

So, the rumour was right: French soldiers trapped Usamah Bin-Ladin, but were not allowed by the Americans to arrest the apparent fugitive leader of Al-Qa`idah. A Bin-Ladin documentary just released by French documentary cinema examines this issue, an issue which has led to heated debate in the French media.

This French documentary shows how the Americans are interested in continuing the game, a bloody and expensive game whose victims are only the unprotected and local people of our dry and dusty country. It was last year that rumors spread about this report in Kabul, but it has not been taken seriously by the media. But watching this revealing French documentary changes the rumors into disturbing facts. "Bin Laden, the failings of a manhunt", produced by Emmanuel Razavi and Eric de Lavarene, two French filmmakers and reporters, assesses and confirms the claims of French soldiers that they could have killed Osama within two operations, but the American forces prevented them. This film has not been broadcast publicly yet and is to be broadcast by Planet, a French network.

The article found at Juan Cole blog.

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The Iraqi cabinet has approved the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the United States, in a vote that was surprisingly one-sided. 27 of 28 cabinet members voted in favor of the agreement, and the deal will now be sent to parliament for consideration. The vote became much easier after Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani indicated he would not object to the deal so long as parliament supported it.

The current, and evidently final draft of the SOFA came only after the Iraqi government requested over 100 amendments to the previous “final” draft. The US withheld its response until after its own elections, and accepted most, but not all, of the changes.

Vital to stifling opposition to the pact was removing a clause which explicitly allowed the Iraqi government to continue the US presence beyond the December 31, 2011 deadline for a pullout. The clause wasn’t particularly meaningful: the Iraqi government is still free to do this at any rate, but it was a major complaint of the opposition.

Another important addition was a clause which says “Iraqi land, sea and air shall not be used as a launching or transit point for attacks against other countries.” This was seen as particularly important after the US attack on a Syrian border town last month, but again leaves a measure of wiggle room: while the attack was into another country, the US might argue it wasn’t necessarily against them.

A spokesman for the political bloc of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has likewise been an outspoken opponent of the SOFA, called the cabinet vote “meaningless” and predicted the deal would fail in parliament. Sadr has been key in organizing popular opposition to the SOFA.

antiwar.com

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A federal grand jury in North Carolina is investigating allegations the controversial Blackwater illegally shipped assault weapons and silencers to Iraq, hidden in large sacks of dog food. Blackwater is prohibited from using certain assault weapons and silencers in Iraq because they are considered "offensive" weapons.

link: http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=6254508
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Ethan Kreutzer joined the Army at the age of 17 and fought with the 19th Airborne in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. When he returned home, he had no money, no education and no civilian job experience. He soon became homeless. He slept in an alley off Haight Street, behind two trash cans.

This is not an isolated story, it is a phenomenon...
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