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They may be the world’s longest-suffering refugees, but the Palestinian families sitting in the sweltering heat of the dusty football field at Haifa Sports Club in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Sunday had no idea that it was World Refugee Day.
"I hope this occasion of World Refugee Day can serve as a bridge for us to help us go home," Huda Naif Sahaa, 43, told IRIN. "I’ve never heard of this World Refugee Day, but I want to know more about it if it helps us."
Some 35 families are still (…)

CIA: No Iraqi officer link in al-Qaida meeting
By Knut Royce
WASHINGTON — The CIA concluded "a long time ago" that an al-Qaida associate who met with two of the Sept. 11 hijackers in Malaysia was not an officer in Saddam Hussein’s army, as alleged Sunday by a Republican member of the 9/11 commission.
Commissioner John Lehman, who was Navy secretary under Ronald Reagan, said "new ... documents" indicated that "at least one officer of Saddam’s Fedayeen," an elite army unit, "was a very (…)

Eight American soldiers were among 17 people killed in fresh violence in Iraq during the past 24 hours.
Four US service members were shot dead west of Baghdad. A videotape delivered to Associated Press Television News showed four Americans in uniform lying dead in what appeared to be a walled compound in Ramadi, 100 kilometres west of Baghdad.
One of the Americans was slumped in the corner of the wall. The bodies had no flak vests, mandatory for US troops operating in contested areas, (…)

By Gareth Smyth in Baghdad and Thomas Catan in Washington
United Nations-mandated auditors have sharply criticised the US occupation authority for the way it has spent more than $11bn in Iraqi oil revenues and say they have faced "resistance" from coalition officials.
In an interim report, obtained by the Financial Times, KPMG says the Development Fund for Iraq, which is managed by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority and channels oil revenue into reconstruction projects, is "open (…)

by Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON – The willingness of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to show greater deference to the United Nations and international law will be severely tested this week as it tries to persuade the Security Council to extend its exemption of U.S. troops serving in peacekeeping operations from the jurisdiction the new International Criminal Court (ICC) for another year.
To prevail, Washington must secure at least nine votes from the 15-member Council, but (…)

On May 4, we published a story about Sadiq Zoman, an Iraqi who US troops abducted from his home in Kirkuk and, one month later, dropped off at a Tikrit hospital in a "persistent vegetative state," his body exhibiting telltale signs of torture. We told the story of Mr. Zoman’s family — nine daughters and a wife who have sold every last possession to pay for his care as he lies unresponsive and helpless. They are desperate for answers and accountability from the foreign forces occupying their (…)

Help the family of a victim of US torture by making a donation today!
Your contribution will go directly to the family.
On July 21, 2003 Sadiq Zoman, 57, was detained by US soldiers when they raided the Zoman family home in search of weapons and, apparently, to arrest Zoman himself. While in U.S. military custody, he was beaten, tortured with electric shock, whipped, one of his hands was broken, his head was bludgeoned. More than a month later, on August 23, US soldiers dropped Zoman (…)

by Dahr Jamail
BAGHDAD – The authorization was in writing. Brigadier-General Amer Ali, the second most senior officer of the Iraqi Police had given IPS permission to interview officers inside the Asha’ab police station in Baghdad.
When I showed up at the police station, U.S. military police officer Schneider controlling the checkpoint at the front gate briefly glanced at the letter, then said: "The press is not allowed inside, so you have to call the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) (…)

Incredible as it may seem, despite the 9/11 commission’s conclusion that Al Qaeda and the regime of Saddam Hussein had no “collaborative relationship,” President Bush and Vice President Cheney continue to insist that there was a “relationship.” The president and vice president are calling a few meetings between members of the terrorist group and Iraqi government officials a “relationship.” But by analogy, if a charity was able to arrange an appointment with a large corporation or foundation (…)

All South Korean businessmen will be evacuated from Iraq by early July, following the kidnapping of a South Korean in Iraq, said a senior official here on Tuesday.
"Most South Korean businessmen have left Iraq and only 22 remain there," Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Hee-beom told reporters before attending a weekly cabinet meeting.
Lee said the remaining businessmen, mostly employees of South Korean providers of military supplies to US troops in Iraq, will be out of (…)