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Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh reports that Israel warned the US last year it would not be able to bring stability or democracy to Iraq. Now, hundreds of Israeli agents, including members of Mossad, are conducting covert operations in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq, Iran and Syria.[includes transcript] As the June 30th so-called transfer of sovereignty in Iraq approaches, resistance to the US occupation continues unabated. Bombings, assassinations, house raids, mass (…)

By Josh White
Officials in the State and Defense departments told senators yesterday that they know relatively little about the enemy in Iraq but they believe thousands of hidden fighters are more organized than previously thought and are likely to continue deadly attacks in coming weeks and months.
Admitting that U.S. officials have underestimated the insurgency, Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage told the Senate Armed Services Committee that a series of attacks across Iraq (…)

During the past weeks, two American hostages have been killed and decapitated in Iraq and in Saudi Arabia. The media say that these crimes were comitted by Islamic Terrorists.
by Kawther Salam
I have never read any Islamic Rule in the Koran which allows the decapitation of people whether they are Moslems, Christians or Jews, for any reason whatsoever.
I have never read an Islamic Rule which states that the killing of hostages is allowed. All what I remember that Islam has to say in (…)

By Robert Verkaik
Use of extreme interrogation by American soldiers on prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq amount to torture and breach international law, lawyers and medical experts said last night. Hooding, sleep deprivation, isolation treatment and the removal of prisoners’ clothes are all forms of torture or degrading treatment.
Many of these practices have been specifically banned by the international courts and torture conventions, which have been signed by the American (…)

by Justin Raimondo The Plame Affair, Chalabi’s lies, and the Niger uranium forgeries: connecting the dots
Asked about the implications of the President’s interview with Patrick J. "Bulldog" Fitzgerald, the special counsel appointed to look into the "outing" of a CIA agent by hawkish government officials, White House spokesman Scott McClellan wasn’t lying when he replied:
"No one wants to get to the bottom of this matter more than the president of the United States."
Reflexive (…)

US warplanes have launched a third attack on eastern suburbs of Falluja, and an adjacent industrial area.
The raid came despite a truce sealed between Falluja notables and US marines after yesterday’s clashes.
Today’s strike hit areas where clashes have been continuing for the past two days between Iraqi resistance fighters and US occupation forces, said Aljazeera correspondent Abd Al-Adhim Muhammad who witnessed the raid.
“We have received information that US military machinery has (…)

New Yorkers Express Outrage at Murder of Kim Sun-il Korean-Americans Demand Withdrawal of Troops from Iraq
WHO: A coalition of New Yorkers, including members of the Korean community.
WHAT: Rally Demanding Justice for Kim Sun-il and End of Iraqi Occupation
WHEN: Friday, June 25 (5-6 PM)
WHERE: South Korean Consulate, 335 East 45 Street (b/w 1st and 2nd Ave)
New Yorkers will rally to commemorate the death of Kim Sun-il and protest the complicity of both the United States and South (…)

Israeli-made bullets bought by the U.S. Army to plug a shortfall should be used for training only, not to fight Muslim guerrillas in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. lawmakers have told Army generals.
Since the Army has other stockpiled ammunition, "by no means, under any circumstances should a round (from Israel) be utilised," said Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, the top Democrat on a House of Representatives Armed Services subcommittee with jurisdiction over land forces.
The Army contracted (…)

By ABBY GOODNOUGH and TERRY AGUAYO
New York Times
MIAMI, June 23 Miriam Verdura could hardly wait to visit family in her native Cuba next month, her second trip since immigrating to southern Florida in 1999. But the Bush administration has dashed her plans with restrictions that start next Wednesday.
"It’s inhuman," said Ms. Verdura, who was at the airport Wednesday morning seeing off friends who managed to book round-trip flights before the rules take effect and who were checking (…)

By Nancy Cleeland Times Staff Writer
High-stakes negotiations between Los Angeles-area hotels and the hotel workers union have broken down, as national chains like Hyatt and Sheraton resist the union’s novel plan to line up contract expiration dates across the country, opening the door to a national strike.
Union leaders, who want contracts in 10 major cities to expire in 2006, say that kind of clout - and the threat of a potentially disruptive nationwide walkout in two years - would (…)