NewsTrust - War in Iraq - Most Recent Stories: News (Mainstream)

Iraq report: Secret papers reveal blunders and concealment

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Daily Telegraph - By Andrew Gilligan - Nov. 23 (News Report) - On the eve of the Chilcot inquiry into Britain’s involvement in the 2003 invasion and its aftermath, The Sunday Telegraph has obtained hundreds of pages of secret Government reports on “lessons learnt” which shed new light on “significant shortcomings” at all levels. They include full transcripts of extraordinarily frank classified interviews in which British Army commanders vent their frustration and anger with ministers and Whitehall officials.

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Hostility between British and American military leaders revealed

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Daily Telegraph - By Andrew Gilligan - Nov. 22 (News Report) - The deep hostility of Britain's senior military commanders in Iraq towards their American allies has been revealed in classified Government documents leaked to the Daily Telegraph. In the papers, the British chief of staff in Iraq, Colonel JKTanner, described his US military counterparts as “a group of Martians” for whom “dialogue is alien,” saying: “Despite our so-called ‘special relationship,’ I reckon we were treated no differently to the Portuguese.”

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Toxic munitions 'may be cause' of baby deaths and deformities in Fallujah

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Independent - By David Randall - Nov. 16 (News Report) - Evidence was growing this weekend that babies born in the Iraqi city of Fallujah – scene in 2004 of one of the few set-piece battles of the invasion – are exhibiting high rates of mortality and birth defects.

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Army study: Mental health staff lacking in Afghanistan

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

McClatchy - By Nancy A. Youssef - Nov. 15 (News Report) - An Army task force has found that a growing number of soldiers serving in Afghanistan are suffering from some kind of mental stress and is urging the military to double the number of mental health professionals deployed there.

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Huge rise in birth defects in Falluja

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - By Martin Chulov - Nov. 14 (News) - Iraqi former battle zone sees abnormal clusters of infant tumours and deformities Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting. The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallised over recent months as specialists working in Falluja?s over-stretched health system have started compiling detailed clinical records of all babies born. Neurologists and obstetricians in the city interviewed by the Guardian say the rise in birth defects – which include a baby born with two heads, babies with multiple tumours, and others with nervous system problems - are unprecedented ...

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Mental health of troops comes under scrutiny

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By Molly Hennessy-Fiske - Nov. 11 (News Report) - Sgt. Justin "Jon" Garza joined the Army eight years ago at 20. When he arrived at Ft. Hood in June, the communications specialist had deployed six times to Europe and the Middle East, including two bloody stints in Iraq, and was due to return in September. He had broken up with his girlfriend, developed a drinking problem and gone AWOL.

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Military psychiatrists face case overload, possible deployment

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Denver Post - By Benedict Carey, Damien Cave - Nov. 11 (News Report) - Many of the patients who fill the day are bereft, angry, broken. Their stories are gruesome, their distress lasting and the process of recovery exhausting. In time, the repeated stories of battle and loss can leave even the most professional therapist numb or angry. And hanging over it all, for psychiatrists and psychologists in today's military, is the prospect of their own deployment — of working under fire with combat units in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Nidal Malik Hasan case: Are Army psychiatrists overwhelmed?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Christian Science Monitor - By Gordon Lubold - Nov. 06 (News Report) - The case of Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who is the primary suspect in the Fort Hood shooting spree Thursday that killed 13 people, is pointing up the enormous need to help soldiers overwhelmed by the stress – or even the prospect – of serving in wartime. As the military begins its eighth year of the war on terror, much of the focus has been on the inability to fully support the growing number of troops diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury. But the events at Fort Hood cast the issue even wider.

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Neighbor: Fort Hood suspect emptied his apartment

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Associated Press - By Jeff Carlton, Mike Baker - Nov. 06 (Breaking News) - An Army psychiatrist suspected of opening fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood cleaned out his apartment in the days before the rampage that left 13 people dead, a neighbor said Friday. The neighbor, Patricia Villa, said Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan came over to her apartment Wednesday and Thursday and offered her some items, including a new Quran, saying he was going to be deployed on Friday.

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Fort Hood tragedy: Repeat deployments take increasing toll

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

San Antonio Express-News - By Sig Christenson - Nov. 06 (News Report) - Marching off to far-away battles used to be a dramatic, once-in-a-generation event at Fort Hood. Soldiers left to the sound of martial music, met the enemy in battle and then came home to years of peace. But since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, two divisions have gone to war, returned, and gone to war again and again and again, a process of revolving-door deployments so stressful that it's gotten a name — living in the new normal. Suicides, divorces, domestic violence, alcoholism and drug abuse are all part of the norm among soldiers deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan and coming home, but one woman closest to troops and their families said Thursday's shooting that left 13 dead and 28 wounded came right out of nowhere.

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GOP Senators Drop Out of Panel Inquiry Into CIA Program

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - Sep. 25 (News Report) - Washington TimesGOP Senators Pull Out of Inquiry Into CIA ProgramWashington PostRepublicans on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said Friday that they will no longer participate in an investigation into the Bush administration's interrogation policies, arguing that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s ...Bond withdraws from CIA inquiry committeeWashington TimesRepublican Sen. Bond blasts probe of Bush-era intelligenceKansas City StarSen. Bond Pulls GOP Staff Off Torture InvestigationNewsweekAFP?-FOXNews?-St. Louis Post-Dispatchall 30 news articles??

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US Court Dismisses Iraqi Contractor Torture Case

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Reuters - By James Vicini - Sep. 16 (News Report) - A federal appeals court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit against two U.S. defense contractors by Iraqi torture victims, saying the companies had immunity as government contractors. The lawsuit was filed in 2004 on behalf of Iraqi nationals who say they or their relatives had been tortured or mistreated while detained by the U.S. military at the Abu Ghraib prison.

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Appeals court rules against Ashcroft in 9/11 case

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - Sep. 04 (News Report) - A federal appeals court delivered a stinging rebuke Friday to the Bush administration's post-Sept. 11 detention policies, ruling that former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be held liable for people who were wrongfully detained as material witnesses after 9/11. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the government's improper use of material witnesses after Sept. 11 was "repugnant to the Constitution and a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious chapters of our national history

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The U.S. needs Iran and Russia

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Reuters - By Juan Cole - Aug. 31 (News Analysis) - There is an old saying in military affairs, that everyone wants to do strategy and tactics, but real men do logistics. That is, moving persons and materiel around and managing supplies seems tedious, but they are crucial to success. The Obama administration has substituted the Logistics of War for the War on Terror. It is moving troops and equipment and assets around in the millions, on a vast scale, and therefore its enemies -- whether the Sunni radicals in Iraq or the neo-Taliban -- are also concentrating on logistics. The staccato, desultory news items of bombings here and airstrikes there make sense if the individual incidents are viewed as struggles over supply lines-- whether supply lines for military purposes, or supplies of intangibles such as international legitimacy. And in this context, the gingerness with which Washington is now approaching Russia and Iran makes perfect sense.

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Iraqi shoe thrower to be released early

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - By Sinan Salaheddin - Aug. 29 (News Report) - Thousands demonstrated for al-Zeidi's release and hailed his gesture, which came in the waning days of the Bush administration. The incident also embarrassed al-Maliki, who was standing next to Bush at the time

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Iraqi Voters to Decide Whether to Speed U.S. Withdrawal - washingtonpost.com

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Ernesto Londoño - Aug. 17 (News Report) - BAGHDAD, Aug. 17 -- The Iraqi government announced Monday that it intends to let voters decide in January whether the departure of U.S. troops should be accelerated.

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Bombs in Iraq: Another bloody mess

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Economist - Aug. 13 (News Analysis) - The latest bombings in Iraq suggest that Sunni extremists are trying, afresh, to whip up war.

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British Contractor Shoots Two Colleagues in Iraq

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Ernesto Londoño - Aug. 09 (News Report) - BAGHDAD, Aug. 9 -- A British private security contractor was taken into custody by Iraqi authorities in Baghdad’s Green Zone early Sunday after he fatally shot two colleagues, Iraqi officials said.

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Army: 'Insufficient evidence' of crime in soldier's electrocution - CNN.com

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

CNN - Aug. 07 (News Report) - There will be no criminal charges filed in the death of a Green Beret who was electrocuted in his quarters in Iraq last year, the Department of Defense said Friday. The Army's 11-month investigation "concluded that there is insufficient evidence to prove or disprove that any one person, persons or entity was criminally culpable" in the death of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, the Department of Defense said in a written statement.

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The New Nuri al-Maliki

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Foreign Policy - By Sam Parker - Jul. 23 (Special Report) - The circumstances surrounding Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's visit to Washington this week could not be more different from the last time he was in town. In July 2006, Maliki was largely unknown, both in Iraq and in the West, and lacked a constituency. Today, he is the dominant force in Iraqi politics, has consolidated much of the emerging Iraqi state into his own hands, and has won a measure of democratic legitimacy after January's provincial elections. In 2006, with Iraq on the verge of state failure, it was Maliki's indecisiveness that troubled Washington. Today, with his country emerging as a sovereign power, his assertiveness is what's worrying.

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Ted Kennedy Speaks Out on Health-Care Reform

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Newsweek - By Edward M. Kennedy - Jul. 19 (Special Report) - In 1964, I was flying with several companions to the Massachusetts Democratic Convention when our small plane crashed and burned short of the runway. My friend and colleague in the Senate, Birch Bayh, risked his life to pull me from the wreckage. Our pilot, Edwin Zimny, and my administrative assistant, Ed Moss, didn't survive. With crushed vertebrae, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung, I spent months in New England Baptist Hospital in Boston. To prevent paralysis, I was strapped into a special bed that immobilizes a patient between two canvas slings. Nurses would regularly turn me over so my lungs didn't fill with fluid. I knew the care was expensive, but I didn't have to worry about that. I needed the care and I got it.

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U.S. Commanders Are Concerned About New Iraqi Restrictions on American Troops

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Ernesto Londoño, Karen DeYoung - Jul. 18 (News Report) - BAGHDAD, July 17 -- The Iraqi government has moved to sharply restrict the movement and activities of U.S. forces in a new reading of a six-month-old U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that has startled American commanders and raised concerns about the safety of their troops.

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Obama Threatens to Veto Military Spending Bill if F-22 Funding Continues

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - Jul. 14 (News Report) - President Obama vowed yesterday to veto a pending $680 billion military spending bill for next year if lawmakers set aside funding for more F-22 warplanes than the Defense Department says it needs.

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Report: Too few officials knew of surveillance

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - By Pamela Hess - Jul. 11 (News Report) - Not enough relevant officials were aware of the size and depth of an unprecedented surveillance program started under President George W. Bush, let alone signed off on it, a team of federal inspectors general found.

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Democrats Say C.I.A. Deceived Congress for Years

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - Jul. 09 (News Report) - Seven Democratic House members said that the director of the Central Intelligence Agency said it had concealed “significant actions” from Congress since 2001.

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