World-News

The number of injured has far outstripped the dead, with the Veterans Administration reporting that more than 150,000 veterans of the Iraq war are receiving disability benefits.

https://tinyurl.com/y4gx6p



More troops unhappy with Bush’s course in Iraq

For the first time, more troops disapprove of the president’s han dling of the war than approve of it. Barely one-third of service members approve of the way the president is handling the war, ac cording to the 2006 Military Times Poll.

https://www.militarycity.com/polls/2006_main.php


From Information Clearing House

Michigan Democrat Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record) also predicted the Republican president would soon find a way to end the "open-ended commitment" of U.S. troops to Iraq, even if Bush does propose a short-term boost in forces.

https://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070104/pl_nm/iraq_usa_troops_dc_3



Bush could send more 40,000 US troops to occupied Iraq

News reports: increase of US forces in Iraq estimated to be between 9,000 and 40,000 extra troops.

https://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=19036


From Information Clearing House

CIA Immune System Still Working
https://ga3.org/ct/7d20pgF1ORip/

William Rivers Pitt responds to an editorial allegedly penned by Bush in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal: "In the final analysis, we see in this Bush editorial the same fantasies and empty rhetoric that have become the defining realities of this administration. He clings to the belief that we can 'win' in Iraq, even as the violence and chaos unleashed by his invasion makes any talk of victory a laughable exercise in fantasy. The hand he supposedly extends in bipartisan friendship comes with crossed fingers, carrying only the same fistful of failures and lies that inspired the November electorate to push him aside."

https://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010407J.shtml



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=William+Rivers+Pitt

Liberty For All
by Jonathan David Morris

01/03/07

George Bush recently described America's performance in the Iraq War like this: 'We're not winning, we're not losing.' This means we're losing. ... It's nice of George Bush to finally kind of, sort of admit what most of us have already known about Iraq for several years. Unfortunately, his remarks were designed to sound somewhat courageous, as if he was saying, 'Look, I was wrong about the weapons. I'm not sure why we invaded. This war is hard. And to be quite honest, it may well have been a mistake.' Instead, what George Bush is saying is basically this: 'I have to state the obvious now. I have no choice but to state the obvious because people are seriously starting to doubt my grip on reality'...

https://www.libertyforall.net/?p=450


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Arizona Republic
by Robert Robb

01/03/07

The United States begins the year discussing whether to increase troop levels generally and in Iraq specifically. Unfortunately, there is virtually no discussion of the question that should precede that decision: What should be the role of the United States in the world and with respect to the elected government of Iraq? Let's begin with Iraq. President Bush is said to be contemplating a 'surge' of U.S. troops to achieve security in Baghdad and perhaps elsewhere in that country. Put aside for a moment the question of whether this strategy would work. It is not the direction that the elected government of Iraq wants to take...

https://tinyurl.com/yhv3am



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


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Salon
by staff

01/04/07

The so-called surge has earned serious consideration from some of the top U.S. commanders in Iraq, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff reportedly oppose it. The surge also pits the president against a majority of the American public; more troops in Iraq is presumably not what that public thought it was getting when it gave the Democrats control of both houses of Congress in November. The surge is not even a slam-dunk with Bush's once-compliant fellow Republicans. What is the likelihood that Bush will get the Iraq policy he wants, and is there any way the new Democratic Congress can stop him? Starting with the surge, here is a rundown of the various proposals for getting out of Iraq or getting in deeper, and the very unscientific odds of any of these plans becoming reality...

https://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/01/04/iraq_plans/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

In Iraq Diaries today, eIraq features the testimony of a man who lost his leg and 11-family members in 2006. Abbas Dawood calls himself "an adult orphan." He writes: "I'm 29-years-old. I've been handicapped since 18 January, 2006, when I lost my leg in an explosion while I was working as a waiter in a Baghdad restaurant. I don't have anyone now. Neighbors are trying to help me find a place to live because the house was rented and I don't have money to pay for it, and all my relatives have been killed or are abroad. I would rather die and join my dead family members than go begging for food in the streets."

https://electroniciraq.net/news/2791.shtml

https://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0103-56.htm



https://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jim+Lobe

British soldiers filmed beating-up Iraqi rioters minutes after a mortar attack inside their camp are to escape prosecution.

https://tinyurl.com/yj325m


From Information Clearing House