Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The Baghdad Bulletin, a struggling but lively English-language publication whose British publishers began working almost immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein, offers a range of stories and perspectives about conditions inside the country.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
According to Thursday's press and television reports, 33 U.S. soldiers have died in combat since President Bush declared an end to the major fighting in the war on May 2. Actually the numbers are much worse -- and rarely reported by the media. According to official military records, the number of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq since May 2 is actually 85. This includes a staggering number of non-combat deaths. "Even if killed in a non-hostile action, these soldiers are no less dead, their families no less aggrieved," observes Greg Mitchell.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
General John Abizaid, the new chief of U.S. Central Command, has issued a threat aimed at U.S. soldiers who complain publicly about the situation in Iraq. "Some U.S. troops in Iraq have complained publicly about the uncertainty of when they are returning home," write Will Dunham and Michael Georgy. "A group of soldiers aired their concerns on U.S. television on Wednesday, speaking of poor morale and disillusionment with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"A high school teacher, fed up with the Bush administration's popular playing cards featuring Saddam Hussein, 'Chemical Ali' and other most-wanted Iraqis, is now selling her own deck, 'Operation Hidden Agenda,'" writes Kim Curtis. "Kathy Eder's 55 playing cards show pictures of President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others along with quotes, mostly from journalists, questioning the rationale for the U.S.-led war.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"We gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in." George W. Bush uttered that amazing sentence yesterday to justify the war in Iraq, according to the Washington Post. "Now a presidential statement so frontally at variance with the universally acknowledged facts obviously presents a problem for the White House press corps," comments Joe Conason.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"That the Bush administration misled the public is quite clear; what has
been less clear is that it also misled the military," William O'Rourke writes for the Chicago Sun-Times. "If, all along, the
cause and the aims of the war had been stated honestly, the military
would have prepared for the war they found: one where the regime was
toppled quickly and the population did more lasting damage to the
country's institutions and infrastructure than our forces did."
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"With U.S. troops continuing to take casualties in Iraq, less than half of Americans now believe the U.S. is in control of the situation there -- a dramatic decline from April, when 71 percent thought it was," reports CBS News. Moreover, "For the first time a majority now says the Bush administration overestimated the extent of the Iraqis' weapons."
According to CostOfWar.com, the cost of the war in Iraq has reached
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"Viva Nihilism! It must be great working in the Bush White House. Zero accountability," writes Russ Baker for TomPaine.com. "It's All Spin, All the Time. Nothing matters but politics, hence no unfounded claim requires correction or apology. Unless, of course, they are pushed to the end of the plank, as they were recently with the tale about Niger and nuclear materials."
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"The White House acknowledged for the first time today that President Bush was relying on incomplete and perhaps inaccurate information from American intelligence agencies when he declared, in his State of the Union speech, that Saddam Hussein had tried to purchase uranium from Africa," the New York Times reports. Monday evening after Bush had departed for Africa, White House officials issued
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Alastair Campbell, the communications director for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is at the center of a major controversy sparked by BBC reports that he and other British government officials "sexed up" their Iraq weapons dossier to justify the government's war plans. Campbell fought back by accusing the BBC of lying and demanding an apology.
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