The U.S. government wasted tens of millions of dollars in Iraq

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. government wasted tens of millions of dollars in Iraq reconstruction aid, including scores of unaccounted-for weapons and a never-used camp for housing police trainers with an Olympic-size swimming pool, investigators say

The quarterly audit by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, is the latest to paint a grim picture of waste, fraud and frustration in an Iraq war and reconstruction effort that has cost taxpayers more than $300 billion and left the region near civil war. "The security situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, hindering progress in all reconstruction sectors and threatening the overall reconstruction effort," according to the 579-page report, which was being released Wednesday

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1583724,00.html

 

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Arab allies in region feeling pressure

With Iran Ascendant, U.S. Is Seen at Fault 

Mohammed Zaatari / AP file A Lebanese protester holds up bread as he stands in front of burning tires in the southern city of Sidon on Jan. 23. Hezbollah-led opposition protesters seek to topple U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.  View related photos

By Anthony Shadid

Updated: 8:20 a.m. ET Jan. 30, 2007

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Kuwait rarely rebuffs its ally, the United States, partly out of gratitude for the 1991 Persian Gulf War. But in October it reneged on a pledge to send three military observers to an American-led naval exercise in the Gulf, according to U.S. officials and Kuwaiti analysts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/29/AR2007012902090.html?nav=hcmoduletmv

Two men on the wrong mission

Blair and Bush love to have a public enemy number one. Sometimes it’s al-Qaeda or Hamas. Now it’s the turn of Iran

Their tough talk suggests Bush and Blair may be preparing to attack Iran, says robert fox

I hope George Bush and Tony Blair aren’t about to do something daft over Iran. There are ominous signs that they are

On the last stop of his Middle East in Dubai, Blair named Iran as the number one destabilising force in the region Iran’s government, he said, is "openly supporting terrorism in Iraq to stop a fledgling democratic process, trying to turn out a democratic government in Lebanon and flouting the international community’s desire for peace in Palestine"

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=1&subID=999

kill or capture

 

 

                      

The Bush administration has authorized the U.S. military to kill or capture Iranians in Iraq

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012502199.html?nav=hcmodule

Tehran’s Influence Grows As Iraqis See Advantages

"The economic power between the two countries, it’s enormous," said Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq. "We can help them in technical issues and engineering. We have a lot of experience in building roads and airports."

"As for our policy, it’s clear and it’s going forward. We are happy with the Iraqi government," Qomi said at a recent news conference. "The kidnapping of our diplomats will have no effect at all on our help and cooperation with the Iraqi side. . . . We are only at the first stages of thi

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012502087.html 

 

’08 campaign draws on the careful Clinton centrism

WASHINGTON — There was something, well, Clintonian in Hillary Clinton’s comments after her recent trip to Iraq

 

Bill and Hillary Clinton have vastly different personalities, and some different values as well. But their approach to governing — and plotting a presidential campaign — is so similar that it has become a brand of Democratic politics: There’s the left, the nearly extinct hawkish Southern branch of the party, and the Clintonian middle

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/01/23/08_campaign_draws_on_the_careful_clinton_centrism/

 

Al-Sadr aide’s capture draws fire

"I think it’s probably going to be the summer, late summer, before you get to the point where people in Baghdad feel safe in their neighbourhoods," Casey said at news conference with visiting U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

Asked how long the additional American forces would remain, Casey replied, "I believe the projections are late summer."

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/World/2007/01/20/3413057-sun.html

Bush appointee attempts to give a no-bid contract

Edie Fraser, left, and General Services Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan are longtime friends. In 2004, Fraser gave Doan the Entrepreneurial Visionary Award on behalf of the National Women’s Business Center, where Fraser was a board member. Doan’s agency is currently investigating her attempt to give companies run by Fraser a no-bid contract for a public relations report. (Washington Hispanic Newspaper

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/18/AR2007011801758.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

Need for U.S. Troops Could Drop ‘Dramatically’

BAGHDAD, Jan. 17 — The Iraqi government’s need for American troops would "dramatically go down" in three to six months if the United States accelerated the process of equipping and arming Iraq’s security forces, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Wednesday

 

http://g.msn.com/9SE/1?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/17/AR2007011702346_pf.html&&DI=6244&IG=240a7a267fa647c3ac401c6688e3f4b7&POS=1&CM=WPU&CE=1&CS=AWP&SR=1

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16660849/

Scientists Adjust `Doomsday Clock’ as Threat Grows

Having the peaceful nuclear energy hence having the knowledge of building the bomb takes away the importance of possession and helps the destruction of such weapons

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aTa7clkaxKCU&refer=uk