Friday, Apr 26th
Last update06:52:12 AM GMT
War Glance
The US military said today it was investigating reports that a bombing strike it carried out on a remote Afghan village killed dozens of members of a wedding party, including more than 20 children.
TVNL Comment: George Bush will add as many notches to his killer belt as possible in these last days of absolute power.
A wave of violence, including an assassination attempt against a deputy oil minister, swept through Baghdad and neighboring Diyala Province on Monday as Parliament passed a bill that would grant the country's embattled minorities fewer guaranteed seats in upcoming elections.
The prospects of the enactment of the bill, which must still be approved by Iraq's executive council, is unclear. The council is composed of the country's president and two vice-presidents.
A British newspaper says the commander of the Special Air Service in Afghanistan has resigned over the poor standard of equipment given to troops.
The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday that Maj. Sebastian Morley has quit over what he claims is chronic under investment in armoured vehicles.
It said he blames poor equipment for the deaths of at least four of his troops.
It appears a good chunk of the money being spent to rebuild Iraq went to private security companies protecting the people doing the rebuilding. The exact cost still isn't known, but auditors think the U.S. has paid private security companies well over $6 billion to guard diplomats, troops, Iraqi officials and reconstruction workers in Iraq.
The special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction says that's about 12 percent of the $50 billion Americans have spent for reconstruction.
The United States is directly responsible for over one million Iraqi deaths since the invasion five and half years ago. In a January 2008 report, a British polling group Opinion Research Business (ORB) reports that, “survey work confirms our earlier estimate that over 1,000,000 Iraqi citizens have died as a result of the conflict which started in 2003.
The magnitude of these deaths is undeniable. The continuing occupation by US forces guarantees a mass death rate in excess of 10,000 people per month with half that number dying at the hands of US forces— a carnage so severe and so concentrated at to equate it with the most heinous mass killings in world history.
They regularly find themselves in live combat situations, and although they wear the same body armour as the troops, they are unarmed. They often find themselves the target of their own countrymen, many of whom see them as collaborators and traitors. Yet they are a vital link between the international forces and the inhabitants of a country crippled by insurgents and militia.Page 96 of 114
