U.S. combat troops to withdraw from Iraq cities

U.S. combat troops prepared to leave the last of Iraq’s cities on Tuesday, a move hailed by Iraqi authorities as restoring sovereignty and applauded by Iraqis even though they fear it may leave them more vulnerable. By midnight on Tuesday, all U.S. combat units must have withdrawn from Iraq’s urban centres and redeployed to bases outside, according to a bilateral security pact that also requires all U.S. troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2011. The last U.S. combat troops left central Baghdad on Monday, withdrawing to two large bases near the capital’s airport, and withdrawals from other cities were underway. Some troops tasked with training and advising Iraqi forces will stay behind. Full Story : Reuters.com….

Turkish Dams Leaving Iraqi Fields Thirsting for Water

The Euphrates and the Tigris are the two largest rivers in the Middle East. Both rivers originate from the Anatolian highland regions in Turkey and flow through the Mesopotamian desert plain in Syria and Iraq. Both the rivers unite in Iraq to form the Shatt al-Arab, which runs into the Gulf. Despite normal levels of rain over the winter, Iraqi dams are less than one-third as full as they were three years ago.Iraqi experts say the problem is the many dams Turkey has built over the past 30 years to irrigate its agricultural lands in the southeast. These dams allow Turkey to regulate the flow of rivers according to its needs. Full Story :TreeHugger.com….

60-year-old is oldest US soldier killed in Iraq

A 60-year-old Vietnam War veteran killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq has become the oldest Army soldier to die in that conflict, the military said Thursday. Maj. Steven Hutchison, of Scottsdale, Ariz., served in Vietnam and wanted to re-enlist immediately after the 9/11 terror attacks, but his wife was against it, his brother said. Full Story : Chron.com…..

Some GIs Forced To Steal Water In Iraq

CBS affiliate KHOU-TV in Houston has discovered that some soldiers were forced to ration water, perhaps as little as 2-3 liters per day, because there was never enough. It is less than the one gallon minimum a day that an Army manual says is necessary just to survive in a desert environment. Army Staff Sgt. Dustin Robey told KHOU correspondent Jeremy Rogalski that soldiers would throw up or pass out from dehydration.Full Story : CBSNews.com…..

Children sodomized at Abu Ghraib, on tape

After Donald Rumsfeld testified on the Hill about Abu Ghraib in May, there was talk of more photos and video in the Pentagon’s custody more horrific than anything made public so far. Since then, the Washington Post has disclosed some new details and images of abuse at the prison. Full Story : Salon.com…

Obama seeks additional $83.4 billion for Iraq, Afghanistan

President Barack Obama wants Congress to act quickly on his $83.4 billion request for U.S. military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, an appeal that’s disappointing the most liberal, anti-war wing of his party. Obama also requested $350 million in new Pentagon funding for counter narcotics and other security activities along the U.S.-Mexico border, with another $400 million in counterinsurgency aid to Pakistan. Full Story : Chicagotribune…….

U.S. watchdog says billions of U.S. aid wasted in Iraq

About $3 billion to $5 billion in U.S. aid for rebuilding Iraq has been wasted since 2003, and similar problems will likely haunt development in Afghanistan, a top U.S. watchdog said on Wednesday. Money wasted on ill-designed or failed projects in Iraq translate into 15-20 percent of the $21 billion Iraqi Relief and Reconstruction Fund set up by Congress after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Full Story : Reuters.com……..

Anti-war march held in Los Angeles to mark Iraq war anniversary

Shouting “Occupation is a crime” and holding banners such as “Bring All the Troops Home Now,” thousands of demonstrators held an anti-war rally in Hollywood, Los Angeles on Saturday. The demonstrators marched along the famous Hollywood Boulevard to demand an end to the six-year war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Full Story : Xinhua.com……

Iraq’s Shiites call for end of US occupation

Several thousand followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for an end to US occupation of Iraq after prayers in the capital on Friday, the sixth anniversary of the invasion. A US flag was set ablaze and stamped out as the prayers ended. Shiites form the majority in Iraq and suffered repeated purges under Saddam’s brutal 35-year reign. Full Story : AFP

Obama declares end date of Iraq war

US president Barack Obama yesterday set out a timetable that will see all US combat units out by summer next year and the remainder by the end of 2011. There are 142,000 US troops in Iraq. Withdrawal of troops from Iraq is one of the central pledges of Obama’s election campaign. About $800 billion of US taxpayers’ funds spent or approved for spending through mid-2009.

@ a glance : Blackwater guards plead not guilty

Five guards from US private security firm Blackwater have
entered not guilty pleas to manslaughter charges relating to the shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007. Full Story : Aljazeera….

@ a glance : New US embassy inaugurated in Iraq

During an inauguration ceremony on Monday, US officials said the $700m state-of-the-art complex will usher in a new era of relations with Iraq, which it invaded nearly six years ago. Full Story : Aljazeera.net……

Iran grants scholarship to Iraqi shoe-throwing journalist

“Al-Zaidi can continue his studies in any of the Iranian universities that he chooses,” a report quoted Iran’s Deputy Minister of Science as saying. Al-Zaidi, a reporter of Cairo-based Baghdadia Iraqi television, threw his shoes at the U.S. President George W. Bush in Baghdad on Dec. 14.

@ a glance : US hands over Green Zone security to Iraq

The United States handed over security control of the Green Zone, a potent symbol of the American occupation, to Iraq on Thursday as a UN mandate for foreign troops ran out and bilateral military accords took effect. Full Story : AFP…..

Shoes Thrown at Bush

George Bush, the US president, has had a pair of shoes thrown at him at a press conference in Iraq. Muntadar al-Zeidi, an Iraqi reporter,called Bush “a dog” and shouted out “this is the end” before throwing his shoes. Bush shrugged off the incident and quipped: “All I can report is that it’s a size 10.” Soles of shoes are considered the ultimate insult in Arab culture.

New Funding for Iraq war

A $162 billion emergency spending bill passed by senate last week signed by President Bush.The bill will pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the remainder of his presidency and into spring 2009. The total cost of the war in Iraq is brought to $400 billion after the bills approval. Since the electoral victories in November 2006, the Democratic-controlled Congress has approved more than $300 billion in emergency spending bills for Iraq and Afghanistan. A new GI Bill that expands education benefits for veterans who have served since the 9/11 attacks, is also part of the bill.

Price of Iraq war $121,000 per person in US.

The US budget for Iraq in FY 2007 came to $4,988 per one Iraqi. This is three times higher than Iraq’s per-person GDP. With the 2007 Iraq war budget US citizen can be paid $121 000 each.  zFacts have a price clock in their site with a detailed report of the cost. Until this moment $543,641,450,398 had been spent on Iraq war.

Image Credit: zfacts.com/

Blood For Oil?

BloodForOil.org a must see site which contains a growing collection of free anti-war posters, anti-occupation posters, anti-empire posters, peace posters, bumper stickers, buttons and artwork by artists worldwide against war.

Iran offers $1bn loan to Iraq

Iran is offering a $US1 billion loan to Iraq for projects to be handled by Iranian firms, an Iranian official said, two days before a landmark visit by Iran’s president to Baghdad. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visit will be the first trip by an Iranian president since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Iran and Iraq fought an eight-year war in the 1980s.