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• $9B Missing in Iraq includes funds to pay "ghost" employees
  31 January 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
  

  From Reuters "The report said the CPA failed to ensure funds were not used to pay "ghost" employees and cited one example where CPA officials authorized payment for about 74,000 guards but only a fraction of these could later be validated."
  From AP story below:
  "Some of the transferred funds may have paid "ghost" employees, the inspector general found.
  CPA staff learned that 8,206 guards were on the payroll at one ministry, but only 602 could be accounted for, the report said. At (…)

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• The Antiwar Movement Awakening
  30 January 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
  

  By Manuel Valenzuela
  The Iraq war is this generation’s anti-war and peace movements’ Vietnam. To this reality we must awaken, for in tragedy can an enormous opportunity be seen. The awakening is already taking shape, yet for it to triumph it must continue growing, waking from the doldrums of decades of complacency, dusting off the cobwebs of resistance and evolving to new times and means. It is up to us, millions strong, some more vocal than others, some more courageous than most, each (…)

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• Haitians Take Issue With Inaugural Speech And Method; Bush Should Tread Lightly
  30 January 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
  

  Haitians Take Issue With Inaugural Speech And Method; Bush Should Tread Lightly Sasha Kramer Friday, January 28, 2005
  “It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture.” - George W. Bush, Jan. 20, 2005 Haitians have a radically different perspective of US foreign policy. . .
  The U.S.-sponsored overthrow of Haiti’s democratically elected government in February of last year has pushed the country to (…)

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• Ex-Officer Describes Lewd Tactics At Guantanamo
  30 January 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
  

  Ex-Officer Describes Lewd Tactics At Guantanamo Paisley Dodds, Associated Press January 28, 2005
  San Juan, Puerto Rico - Female interrogators tried to break Muslim detainees at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with sexual touching, by wearing a miniskirt and thong underwear, rubbing a prisoner’s back with her breasts and in one case, smearing a Saudi man’s face with fake menstrual blood, according to an insider’s written account.A draft manuscript obtained by The Associated (…)

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• Can 4,000 Or 120,000 Iraqis Battle The Insurgents?
  30 January 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
  

  Can 4,000 Or 120,000 Iraqis Battle The Insurgents? Sarah Whalen January 30, 2005 As columnist George Will critically noted on the Sunday news shows, the US is presently losing its war in Iraq. We control little of that country, we are loathed there and about the neighborhood, and Iraqi infrastructure under our control is barely operational.
  Prayer? Virtually every member of the Bush administration is availing himself of it right now. On their knees. Heads bowed low, pressing into the (…)

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• Are Most Republicans Sheep?
  30 January 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
  2 comments

  Are Most Republicans Sheep? David Corn January 26, 2005 I try not to denigrate entire groups of people—like the French, professional wrestling fans or even telephone solicitors. Actually, the French were quite nice to me on a recent trip to Paris, and I find it difficult not to condemn all telephone solicitors to the most unpleasant nooks of hell. But I may have to break this rule altogether for Republicans. I’m starting to wonder: do Republicans know how to process facts and think for (…)

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• Public Can Force Iraq Troop Withdrawal, Lawmakers and Critics Say
  29 January 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
  2 comments

  Public Can Force Iraq Troop Withdrawal, Lawmakers and Critics Say Emerging Splits Over Occupation Policy Give Hope to Antiwar Activists
  Jan 28 - As Congress weighed the Bush administration’s recent proposal for $75 billion in supplemental funding to bolster military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, some individual members of Congress have diverged from the predominant Washington agenda with proposals for a complete, immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. The polarization in (…)

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• Growing number of soldiers oppose — and refuse to report for — the war in Iraq
  28 January 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
  41 comments

  ’They can’t throw us all in jail’ Growing number of soldiers oppose — and refuse to report for — the war in Iraq
  The Pentagon doesn’t like to talk about it. But as the war in Iraq becomes ever more violent and prolonged, an increasing number of soldiers are opposing the war — up to and including refusing to fight.
  Thus far, the numbers, compared to Vietnam, are still small. The Pentagon estimated in 2003 that nearly 3,000 soldiers had deserted — that is, had been AWOL for more than a (…)

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• More Proof that Bush is delusional re: Iraq’s "free" elections
  28 January 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
  1 comment

  My friend from Baquba visited me yesterday. He brought the usual giant lunch of home cooked food he always brings when he comes to see me. I’m still eating it, actually. I had it again for dinner tonight. Ah, the typical Iraqi meal.
  He owns four large tents, and rents them to people in his city to use at funeral wakes, marriage parties, tribal negotiation meetings and to cover gardens, among other things.
  During the Anglo-American invasion of his country back in the spring of 2003, when (…)

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• Iraqis To Bush - What Have We Done To Deserve This?
  28 January 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
  1 comment

  Despite Bush’s endless hypocritical assertions about how we have brought freedom to Iraq, the truth is that almost all of the people in that country who have managed to survive the military attacks, have lost loved ones and had their lives ruined.
  Iraqis have been telling us to leave ever since we arrived. They want to run their own country and they want an end to the torture and killing. They’re willing to take the risk of believing their lives will be better without the involvement of (…)

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