BIG OIL READY TO SETTLE FOR LESS IN IRAQ?
By Nick Mottern, Director, Consumers for Peace.
It looks like U.S. Senator from Texas Kay Bailey Hutchison sent a message this month that big oil is abandoning ambitions for quick access to all of Iraq’s oil wealth, for now, and is willing to settle for operating in northern Iraq. (more…)
The Pundit Path for Death in Iraq
By Norman Solomon
No one knows exactly how many Iraqi civilians have died from the war’s violence since the invasion of their country. The new study from public health researchers at Johns Hopkins University estimates that the number of those deaths is around 601,000, while saying the actual total could be somewhere between 426,369 and 793,663. Such wartime figures can’t be precise, but the meaning is clear: The invasion of Iraq has led to ongoing carnage on a massive scale. (more…)
McGovern’s Trojan Horse
by Charles Jenks
The pitch:
The Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) trumpets its continued support of Rep. James McGovern bill (HR 4232) as “a top legislative priority.” PDA urges all to sign its petition to support the bill, as PDA is “committed to cutting off all funding for the deployment of US troops in Iraq and for the removal of all funding for the occupation of Iraq.” http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/2006-09-12-13-20-02-news.php
PDA assures its members and website visitors that the bill would 1) “end all funding for the deployment of US troops in Iraq; 2) “in no way prohibit nor interrupt US non-defense funding” in support of “democratic institution building” and reconstruction; and 3) that the bill “provides for the safe, orderly, and honorable withdrawal of the United States from military operations in Iraq.
By continuing U.S. support for the economic and social reconstruction of Iraqi society and the financial and material needs of Iraqi security, it maintains our moral and political obligations to the Iraqi people, while concretely promoting, supporting, and providing for greater multilateral engagement in these serious tasks.” (emphasis supplied)
Code Pink and United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) also support this bill.
Warning flags should go up by just reading PDA’s pitch for the bill. The bill would not get in the way of the US meddling in governing Iraq - or as PDA puts it “democratic institution building.” And, the bill provides for continued financial and material support for the ’security’ forces (secret police, military and uniformed police) that the US has established in Iraq. (more…)