Updated at 8:40 p.m. EDT, June 11, 2009
At least 10 Iraqis were killed and 12 more were wounded in recent attacks across central and northern Iraq. No Coalition deaths were reported. Also, fighting between Turkey troops and the PKK erupted just across the border in Turkey.
Updated at 7:32 p.m. EDT, June 13, 2009
At least three Iraqis were killed and 11 were injured on a quiet day in Iraq; however two U.S. soldiers were reported killed in separate incidents. Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces said that they are prepared to take over from U.S. troops, but those in Mosul are far from ready. So far 100 bases have been returned to Iraqi authority. Also, two more U.S. contractors were freed pending an investigation into an unknown matter; conflicting reports had the men accused of murder, arms possession or drug offences at various times.
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s refusal to share with other agencies even the most basic data on the bombing attacks by remote-controlled unmanned predator drones in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region, combined with recent revelations that CIA operatives have been paying Pakistanis to identify the targets, suggests that managers of the drone attacks programs have been …
Continue reading “CIA Secrecy on Drone Attacks Data Hides Abuses”
Jeremy Scahill on corruption and ‘self-investigation’
It is not a threat, says Ivan Eland
RAMALLAH – Chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat believes Palestinians are politically in their strongest position ever in their decades-long conflict with the Israelis. There also appears to be growing consensus and confidence in both Palestinian and Arab circles that the U.S. administration could be offering more than just lip-service to Palestinian independence aspirations this …
Continue reading “Palestinians Begin to See Real Hope”
Maidhc O’Cathail wonders who this war benefits
Gordon Prather says Judy Miller won’t be missed
At least 11 Iraqis were killed and 23 others were wounded in the latest violence. One brazen attack left a senior Sunni parliamentarian dead. No Coalition deaths were reported.
In Baghdad, a senior Sunni lawmaker was killed after delivering a sermon at a mosque in Yarmouk. Guards chased the teenage assailant who threw a grenade at his pursuers as they killed him. At least five others killed; one was a bodyguard. Another 12 people were wounded. Harith al-Obeidi had recently assumed leadership of the Iraqi Accord Front, when the former head became speaker of parliament.
Robyn Blumner cries into her Yes We Can mug
