World-News

Christian Science Monitor
by Gerard DeGroot

05/09/07

Last Friday morning, Britain awoke to the devastation of war. The destruction came not in villages leveled and lives destroyed, but in the annihilation of a political party. Though Labour still retains control of Parliament, Tony Blair’s party was reduced to a smoking ruin in nationwide council elections. It’s a sorry end for Mr. Blair, who says he’s ready to step down after a decade as prime minister. The man who re-invented the socialist Labour Party into a modern, third-way political dynamo now sees the Iraq war dismantling one of the most formidable political machines in British history. When anger fades and regret settles in, historians will judge the Iraq war a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions...

https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0509/p09s02-coop.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe
by Derrick Z. Jackson

05/09/07

Military sociologist David R. Segal was asked Monday over the telephone what he hears in his surveys of soldiers. He quoted an African-American veteran of the Iraq invasion and occupation: ‘This is not a black people’s war. This is not a poor people’s war. This is an oilman’s war.’ Gregory Black, a retired Navy diver who last year started the website https://blackmilitaryworld.com/ , said that quote sums up what he too hears from African-American veterans of Iraq. ‘African-Americans detest this war,’ Black said yesterday in a phone interview. ‘Everybody kind of knows the truth behind this war. It’s a cash cow for the military defense industry, when you look at the money these contractors are making. African-Americans saw this at the beginning of the war and now the rest of the country has figured it out. It’s not benefiting us in the least’...

https://tinyurl.com/299fts


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Oil
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Derrick+Z.+Jackson

Chicago Tribune

05/10/07

A group of congressional Republicans warned President Bush in person this week that their support for the Iraq war could evaporate if conditions don’t improve there by September. Eleven GOP moderates, led by Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), met with Bush and top administration officials Tuesday to deliver what one participant called a ’strong signal’ about the electoral dangers that ‘war fatigue and war weariness’ pose for Republicans in 2008. … The Republicans told Bush they had little faith in Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ‘to get his act together’ and expected a ‘very candid report’ from Gen. David Petraeus, the American commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, on the progress of Iraq’s government this fall, LaHood said...

https://tinyurl.com/yvhd6o


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=GOP

Democrats.com has not endorsed a candidate for President - we'd much rather encourage all the candidates reach out to our 300,000-strong network of "aggressive progressive" activists and compete for our votes, just as they reach out to the good Democrats of Iowa and New Hampshire.

We are delighted that John Edwards is the first candidate to recognize and appreciate the work you do. Even if he is not your chosen candidate at the moment, I hope you'll sign his petition urging Congress to use its funding power to end the war in Iraq.

Bob Fertik


Dear Democrats.com Activist,

I know you are an aggressive progressive and I am thankful for all the good work Democrats.com does to light a grassroots fire under the feet of our representatives in Washington. That's exactly the kind of heat we need right now - and that's why today I'm writing with an urgent request for help.

This week we will deliver a petition to Congress that demands a binding exit plan for the War in Iraq - no more symbolic resolutions, no more extensions, no more delays. We're at about 82,000 signatures now and we need the help of Democrats.com to get over the top. Sign the emergency petition now:

https://johnedwards.com/standfirm-dems

Congress has reached a fork in the road. One direction leads straight to more war with no end in sight. It's a road paved with symbolic deauthorization bills and more temporary extensions that give Bush all the money he needs without ever actually bringing a single troop home.

But in the other direction lies real action - using Congress' funding power right now to pass another binding plan to force George Bush to actually end this war.

Only massive, direct public pressure will get Congress to choose the right path. We need to deliver 100,000 signatures to Congress this week to make sure our voice is heard. Sign the petition now:

https://johnedwards.com/standfirm-dems

My campaign is about far more than just the Iraq War - we must eliminate poverty, combat global warming, and expand health care. But to restore America as the world's moral leader - both at home and abroad - we must end the war in Iraq. That can only happen with you and this week is the moment for us to speak out.

Please sign the petition today:
https://johnedwards.com/standfirm-dems

Thanks,
John Edwards

On Tuesday, without note in the US media, more than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country. 144 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal, according to Nassar Al-Rubaie, a spokesman for the Al Sadr movement, the nationalist Shia group that sponsored the petition.

https://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050907R.shtml

Fifty-seven percent of Americans say that Congress should not compromise with President Bush in the Iraq War funding fight. That's the number that, according to a new CNN poll, wants Congress to give Bush another bill with a withdrawal timetable.

https://tinyurl.com/235e4w



Bush to veto new Iraq Bill

THE White House has warned Democrats that President George W. Bush would veto an Iraq funding Bill that would bankroll the war in Iraq for just three months.

https://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21704627-5001028,00.html



Most US.adults back Iraq pullout timetable

Six out of 10 U.S. adults support setting a timetable for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, even though a clear majority predict civil war there if U.S. forces withdraw next year, according to a poll published.

https://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N09214897.htm


From Information Clearing House

--------

Who's Holding up my Bill?

A Republican Senator is trying to derail my campaign finance disclosure bill, and I need your help to figure out who it is. My legislation, the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act (S. 223), requires Senate campaigns to submit campaign finance reports electronically. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? House campaigns, political parties, Presidential campaigns, and even 527's already file their reports online – but that's not the case in the Senate. The Senate has exempted themselves from this requirement and is only required to file paper reports. The public's ability to review these reports in a timely manner is substantially curtailed by these antiquated paper filings. Not only that, it costs taxpayers over $250,000 per year to have these reports scanned and made available online at a much later date. When Senator Feinstein and I sought to pass this legislation by unanimous consent, an objection was voiced on the floor "on behalf of a Republican senator." Senators are within their rights to object to a bill coming to the floor of the Senate, but the objecting senator has not been named, and no one has spoken to me about any objection they may have to this legislation. The use of these so-called "secret holds" has rightly come under attack in recent years, and I need your help to try and determine who may be delaying this common sense reform measure. If you are represented by a Republican senator, please contact them and ask if they're holding up my Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act. You can get contact info for your senators here https://ga1.org/ct/4de5NoF1yjWP/ . If you live in a state with two Democratic senators, consider forwarding this email to your friends in states that aren't so lucky. If you learn of anything that may be useful in helping me identify the "Secret Hold Senator," email me at russ@progressivepatriotsfund.com. I have no intention of dropping this issue and I appreciate your help in keeping the pressure on to try and identify this anonymous objector.

Sincerely,
Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund


Informant: Quechick Barnyard



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=withdrawal+timetable
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Iraq+war+funding
https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Feingold

The mandate for workers to wear flak jackets and helmets while outdoors or in unprotected buildings follows an increase in mortar and rocket attacks against the heavily protected Green Zone.

https://www.kctv5.com/Global/story.asp?S=6491251


From Information Clearing House

THE only Marine Corps officer who was in Haditha, Iraq, when US troops killed 19 civilians in their homes in 2005 testified at a military hearing on Tuesday that he was "shocked" to find only unarmed people, including women and children, among the dead.

https://tinyurl.com/29tu3j


From Information Clearing House



Marine Says Urinated on Dead Iraqi at Haditha

By Marty Graham

Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, who has immunity from prosecution after murder charges against him were dismissed, also said he watched his squad leader shoot down five Iraqi civilians who were trying to surrender.

https://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17674.htm



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Haditha

By Leo Docherty

We realised the issue was not replacing tyranny with democracy, but gaining long-term access to oil. Blair, in bowing to American oil-mad energy hunger, had deployed the British Army on a lie, a much bigger lie than the one about WMDs. Today, the appalling sectarian violence killing hundreds of Iraqi civilians every week is the direct result of our invasion and botched occupation.

https://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17668.htm



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big-Oil

The anti-war veterans group, VoteVets.org, which has been influential with Capitol Hill Democrats, is launching a half-million-dollar TV ad campaign featuring Major General John Batiste (Ret.), former commanding general of the first infantry division in Iraq. The ad begins with a clip of President George Bush saying, "I have always said that I will listen to the requests of our commanders on the ground." Batiste then appears, saying, "Mr. President, you did not listen."

https://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050907A.shtml



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=General+John+Batiste