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A $33,000 food order in Mosul was billed to the U.S.-led interim government of Iraq at $432,000. Electricity that cost $74,000 was invoiced at $400,000. Even $10 kettles got a 400 percent markup.
Documents unearthed as part of a whistleblower suit against Fairfax, Va.’s Custer Battles reveal for the first time the extent to which the defense contractor is accused of gouging the Coalition Provisional Authority, which governed Iraq following the U.S. invasion of the country in 2003.
Among (…)

U.S. used banned weapons in Fallujah - Health ministry
An official in Iraq’s health ministry said that the U.S. used banned weapons in Fallujah
Dr. Khalid ash-Shaykhli, an official at Iraq’s health ministry, said that the U.S. military used internationally banned weapons during its deadly offensive in the city of Fallujah.
Dr. ash-Shaykhli was assigned by the ministry to assess the health conditions in Fallujah following the November assault there.
He said that researches, prepared (…)

Missile Counter-Attack Axworthy Fires Back At US - And Canadian - Critics Of Our BMD Decision In An Open Letter To US Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice
by Lloyd Axworthy Dear Condi, I’m glad you’ve decided to get over your fit of pique and venture north to visit your closest neighbour. It’s a chance to learn a thing or two. Maybe more.
I know it seems improbable to your divinely guided master in the White House that mere mortals might disagree with participating in a (…)

Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, earlier reported released in Iraq, was wounded when US troops fired on the convoy transporting her, her newspaper said.
Freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena was wounded when US troops opened fire on a convoy carrying her to safety, and an Italian mediator who help negotiate her release was killed, her newspaper Il Manifesto said on Friday.
"She was going in a car to the airport with three people from the Italian security forces. US forces opened (…)

by David Hambling
The US military is funding development of a weapon that delivers a bout of excruciating pain from up to 2 kilometres away. Intended for use against rioters, it is meant to leave victims unharmed. But pain researchers are furious that work aimed at controlling pain has been used to develop a weapon. And they fear that the technology will be used for torture.
"I am deeply concerned about the ethical aspects of this research," says Andrew Rice, a consultant in pain (…)

Some Thoughts on the Middle East and America: 33 Things You Should Think About
What right has President Bush or Conde Rice to dictate to the Lebanese Government?
Why is it that the “demonstrators” in Beirut, Lebanon, had all their signs in English?
Have you considered that they were playing to the American TV audience? In fact, the “big crowds” the American media spoke about were less than 3000 people, but the cameras shot the crowed for maximum effect.
Did you realize that according (…)

Portraits of nearly all of the 1,500 US troops killed in Iraq are going on display at a New York state university.
The pictures, mostly painted by art students, stare down from a 60m (200ft) wall at Syracuse University.
"It’s not about the war or politics. It’s about these people who have given their lives," said Stephen Zaima, a professor at the university.
According to AP news agency, the number of US servicemen and women killed in Iraq reached 1,500 on Thursday.
However, domestic (…)

TIKRIT, Iraq, - Iraqi police in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, went on strike Wednesday demanding the release of a police chief captured by the US troops and guarantees from the foreign forces to respect the local police, a police officer said.
Police stations and streets of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, were devoid of police who went on strike in a protest against the capture of Brigadier Hatem al-Juboury, chief of the homicide department in Salahudin provincial headquarters, (…)

by Wayne Besen
Imagine a Middle Eastern terror cell infiltrating the United States with a plot to blow up the nation’s capital with a crude nuclear device stashed in a suitcase. If the terrorists succeed, hundreds of thousands of Americans would be annihilated.
In a desperate attempt to stop the horrific plot, military specialists pour over Arabic "chatter" looking for specific leads. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of hours of tape and very few Arabic specialists to decipher the (…)

by Peter Rachleff
At noon on a beautiful June day in suburban Minneapolis, eighty-five women and men streamed out of the U.S. West corporate "campus" building,each one carrying a pink, lime green, or lemon yellow square. Each square bore a single letter in black paint. Laughing, they lined up in a particular order, spelling out "D-O-W-N-S-I-Z-I-N-G A-T U-S-W-E-S-T = R-O-A-D-K- I-L-L F-O-R Y-O-U". They marched to a highway overpass half a block away, took their positions, and held their (…)