A former top British diplomat Tuesday called for a speedy troop withdrawal from Iraq and predicted that the process of leaving Iraq would cause 'strain' in Anglo-American relations.
The situation in Iraq continues to worsen, with more than 2 million Iraqis now believed to be displaced inside the country and another 2.2 million sheltering in neighbouring states.
On Sunday, June 3rd 2007, the Los Angeles chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War conducted Operation First Casualty. Former Marine Sergeant Jason Lemiuex, who served three deployments in Iraq stated, "...under the premise that the first casualty of war is the truth. And the American people are getting fed this notion that we're in Iraq spreading freedom and making Iraq safe for democracy when really we're imposing a state of martial law on the people over there."
Taking the streets of Santa Monica by storm, Operation First Casualty was a huge success in raising awareness amongst the general population about the need to bring the troops home now. As veterans of the Iraq war shouted at, searched and hooded civilian volunteers, passers-by got a taste of what an occupation is like. During the street theatre, reenactments of a combat patrol, a riot with mass detention, and a soldier wounded by a roadside bomb occurred.
Democratic Congressional leaders whose efforts to force a withdrawal from Iraq were stymied in May, are planning a summer of repeated Iraq-related votes designed to force Republican lawmakers to abandon the White House before the fall.
British military leaders will urge Britain's next prime minister to approve a 12-month timetable for withdrawing forces from Iraq, according to a report in The Sunday Telegraph.
Three months after the start of the Baghdad security plan that has added thousands of American and Iraqi troops to the capital, they control fewer than one-third of the city's neighborhoods, far short of the initial goal for the operation, according to some commanders and an internal military assessment.
The Republican War on...
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rudkla - 12. Jun, 05:44
With FBI Reportedly Investigating...
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