Senior US military officials may have committed the biggest fraud in US history, the Independent reports. Fifty billion dollars seems to have gone AWOL (absent without leave) and a total of $125 billion aid for Iraq appears to have been misused: In 2004-05, the entire Iraq military procurement budget of $1.3bn was siphoned off . . . → Read More: US military fraud “bigger than Madoff”
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The USA wants to introduce “democracy” in Iraq, but not in Pakistan: The US and Britain are pressing Pervez Musharraf’s victorious opponents to drop their demands that he resign as president and that the country’s independent judiciary be restored before forming a government. In a strategy some Western diplomats admit could badly backfire, the . . . → Read More: Selective democracy Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates issued a stark warning on Sunday to Europeans, saying that their safety from terrorist attack by Islamic extremists is directly linked to NATO’s success in stabilizing Afghanistan. After weeks of calling on NATO governments to send more combat troops and trainers to Afghanistan, Mr. Gates made his case directly . . . → Read More: Robert M. Gates marches in the wrong direction General Petraeus, the commander of the American forces in Iraq, is probably going to have some explaining to do in the next few days – he was responsible in 2004 – 2005 for distributing a large chunk of the weapons that the Americans have given to the Iraqi government. Unfortunately, about a third of . . . → Read More: Fred Karno’s Army The Pentagon has announced that an alleged senior al-Qaida member who has been held in Guantanamo has “confessed” to planning the September 11 attacks on the USA: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged number three in al-Qaida, confessed to planning the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11 2001, in front of the . . . → Read More: Reliable intelligence It’s not surprising that the US army let looters clear out museums and hospitals after the fall of Baghdad – just look at these quotes from those responsible for losing track of up to $20bn in $100 bills that was shipped to Iraq to finance the reconstruction of the country (my emphasis in the . . . → Read More: Nice not to worry about what’s not your’s The Independent has printed a thoughtful proposal for the way to proceed in Iraq from someone who really should know what he is talking about – Ali A Allawi, the Minister of Trade and Minister of Defence in the Iraqi Governing Council Cabinet from 2003 to 2004. He was also in the Transitional National . . . → Read More: A proposal for the way foreward in Iraq From today’s Guardian: The British government never believed Saddam Hussein posed a threat to British interests and warned the US that toppling him would lead to “chaos”, according to a Foreign Office diplomat closely involved in negotiations in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq… William Pfaff comments in today’s Observer on a phemonenom that has worried most Europeans for the last 3 or 4 years: … In America, it’s as though Bush, his inner cabinet, and the neocons have been playing a video game, with fictional characters and victims, virtual death and torture. Now the disc has suddenly . . . → Read More: Time to turn off the video game I see the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, is talking about withdrawing immunity from prosecution granted to US and “coalition of the willing” troops who accidentally kill, maim or rape the locals. Anyone taking bets on how quickly the USA will withdraw their troops if that happens? |
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