By ANDREW TAYLOR – 2 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats controlling the House plan to pass legislation this week funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year.
The plan would allow anti-war lawmakers to vote to force the withdrawal of most combat troops by December 2009 of next year, said a senior House Democratic aide, though the Senate probably won't go along.
The $178 billion-plus measure will also carry legislation costing $16 billion over two years to extend unemployment insurance coverage for jobless people whose benefits have run out. Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan would begin to receive a big boost in college aid.
Barring any unexpected developments, the war funding bill would be the last one passed during President Bush's tenure in office. It would bring the amount approved by Congress since Sept. 11, 2001, to fight terrorism and conduct the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to $875 billion....
US Zone of Influence, or was that affluence, maybe it was effluent?
Pentagon Backs Plan To Build U.S. ‘Zone Of Influence’ Of Hotels And Resorts In Baghdad
The White House has repeatedly insisted that the United States has “no desire for permanent bases” in Iraq. Nevertheless, the Bush administration is seeking to leave its footprint on Iraq through other means. The AP reports that the Pentagon is backing a $5 billion dollar plan to “transform the U.S.-protected Green Zone” into a “centerpiece for Baghdad’s future,” resulting in “big paydays for early investors“...
It would seem as though the military initiatives of The Surge were to clear people from future building sites. Yep.
Iran: Talks With US on Security in Iraq Useless (click here)
By VOA News 05 May 2008
Iran says it will not hold a fourth round of talks with the U.S. on security in Iraq, as long as U.S. forces continue what it called "open bombings" in Iraq.
Speaking in Tehran today MondayIranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Hosseini said under the current circumstances, any new talks would be meaningless.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have fought fierce battles against Shi'ite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Sadr City for the past month.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the U.S. is still ready for security talks with Iran, but said they are meaningless as long as Tehran does not change its behavior. The U.S. has repeatedly accused Iran of supporting militias in Iraq, which Tehran denies....
President Bush speaks in the Rose Garden as US Vice President Dick Cheney (l) looks on at the White House in Washington, DC.
Remember the article about Disney placing a complex within the Green Zone. Well. It would seem occupiers need distraction from the blood bath once in awhile !
Iraq: US Is Digging in for the Long Haul (click here)
Linda Heard, sierra12th@yahoo.co.uk
It doesn’t look as though Americans in Iraq are going anywhere anytime soon. Officially Iraq’s sovereignty was handed back to its rightful owners years ago, which means the occupiers remain in the country at the invitation of the Iraqi government. OK, try not to laugh!
Fact is the occupying power is digging in for the long haul and there is little the Iraqi leadership can do about it even if it wanted to. When challenged about their supersized, superfortified embassy sprouting on prime land — which one must assume was sequestered rather than gifted by Iraq — and their mushrooming permanent military bases, the Americans cite the postwar German/Japan models.
In other words, they are saying the victor has a perfect right to hang around the necks of the vanquished in perpetuity.
In this case, I don’t blame Arab governments for refusing to send their diplomatic personnel into the jaws of danger merely to hobnob with Iraqi officials for the purposes of affording them legitimacy when, as we know, the real decision-making takes place in Washington.
It could be that the Pentagon’s new plan to transform the so-called Green Zone into a walled-off oases of 21st century Western luxury is, in part, an attempt to lure reluctant ambassadors into lending credibility to the game with their mere presence and encourage their own diplomats to put their lives on the line.
According to the Associated Press, the US has a $5 billion, “five-year development ‘dream list’ to create a zone of influence around the new $700 million embassy to serve as a kind of high-end buffer for the compound”. In fact, it is now likely to cost more than $1.3 billion as we know from an emergency supplemental funding request delivered by President Bush to Congress in 2006....
