Moon of Alabama ■ Elijah J. Magnier has an interesting interview with an ISIS commander, Abu Baqr-al-Janabi, in Baghdad. There are plans for ISIS to take the city and there are apparently sleeper cells of fighters waiting for the big attack signal. But, says the commander, ISIS and the attached other forces, will first have to consolidate their positions and eliminate Iraqi government position in their back. The Iraqi government is already giving up some outer position and is consolidating its side by securing only Baghdad, the south and some economically important assets. The 300 military "advisers" the U.S. had announced to send to Iraqi headquarters will likely never arrive. There is disagreement over their legal status and the Iraqi government, given the U.S. commitment to another regime change in Baghdad, may well conclude that these soldiers would likely be malign actors rather than trustworthy allies. The Maliki government, like the Iranians, probably sees the whole ISIS attack as the result of a U.S. conspiracy. My hunch for now is that ISIS will not go for the big fight in Baghdad in the near term but will rather try to launch some substantial diversion elsewhere.

Antiwar.com: ISIS Captures Key Iraq Refinery, Will Let Tribes Run It
Matt Carr: ISIS: Made in Washington?
The Truth Seeker News Brief: Mounting Evidence of Western Support For ISIL Militants
Antiwar.com: Over 300 killed Across Iraq
The World Post: UN: At Least 1,075 Killed In Iraq In June

Back in 2006, after the second US invasion of Iraq culminated if not with the discovery of the WMDs (which were the pretext for the invasion in the first place), but the unearthing (literally) and kangaroo court trial of Saddam Hussein, the US was quick to announce "mission accomplished." Recent events have made a mockery of that claim, however what is truly the straw that broke the back of poetic justice, to mix metaphors, are reports from local media that as part of its blitz-campaign to take over northern Iraq, ISIS found and the promptly executed Rauf Rashid Abd al-Rahman, the judge who sentenced Saddam to death: a death which to many was the crowning moment of the second US invasion of Iraq, and the confirmation of successful US foreign policy. It goes without saying that if true, the murder of the man who indirectly did the US bidding in slamming the book shut on the Saddam regime (and with it US claims of Iraqi "liberation") and was responsible for Saddam's death, means the last "Mission Accomplished" posted can now be safely taken down.

As ISIS, a group thought to consist of only a few thousand people led by a shadowy figurehead, defeats forces many times its size to capture a large part of Iraq, RT looks into what is ISIS, and how has it achieved its terrifying triumphs. So, what is ISIS? And is it even ISIS, or is it ISIL? - The world’s most committed and fanatical radical organization has only recently gone by its current name, after the unrecognized Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) was proclaimed in April last year. Al-Sham has been most commonly translated from Arabic as the Levant, hence ISIL. It was previously known as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic State of Iraq. The frequent name changes are not cosmetic – but the direct result of the transforming circumstances which have allowed ISIS to rapidly flourish. Initially focused on achieving dominance in Iraq, it was kept under control in the relatively calm period between the initial sectarian strife that broke out following the US-led invasion in 2003, and the outbreak of hostilities following the American military withdrawal in 2011. Since then, it has become a major player, receiving another critical boost when the civil war in Syria turned into a sectarian conflict, bringing in millions of dollars in funding and thousands of fresh recruits from around the world.

PressTV: ISIL Saudi creation trained by Western agents
Yuram Abdullah Weiler: Reviling the victim: West still in denial over cause of Iraq violence

David Swanson ■ People forget the extent to which Democrats, who controlled the U.S. Senate at the time, pushed for and supported the 2003 attack on Iraq. Remember them or not, theeeeeeeeeey’re back! The Center for American Progress, the head of whose “action fund,” former Democratic Congressman from Virginia’s Fifth District Tom Perriello, slipped through the revolving door into a State Department job in February, is now pushing for “principled” bombings of Iraq. Principled or not, the Center for American Progress is funded by Lockheed Martin and other huge war profiteers. C.A.P. has just put out a report recommending that air strikes be considered. For that to happen, many other things need to not be considered.

Matt Carr ■ Iraq: A Brief History of Bombing || Faced with the prospect of the imminent disintegration of the Iraqi state, the installation of of a jihadist caliphate in the heart of the Middle East, an all-out sectarian civil war, and the final collapse of US policy in Iraq, the Obama administration is reaching once again into that trusty tool of US foreign policy: air strikes. Since World War II, bombing has been the weapon of choice for successive governments in all the wars America has fought. It’s a weapon that has been used against Iraq – and also in support of Iraq – on numerous occasions, and with very different political and military objectives. And with Iraq’s cities once again appearing in the Imperium’s bomb sights, its worth looking back at some of these precedents, and the policy twists and turns that made them possible.

US-led forces in Iraq used depleted uranium weapons in civilian-populated areas during the 2003 military campaign, according to a new Dutch NGO study that also exposes a lack of adequate cleanup efforts by the invading troops. ● For the first time the location of several sites where the invaders fired some 10,000 depleted uranium rounds were released by the Dutch Defense Ministry, and published in a study by Dutch peace group PAX. Most of the DU rounds fired by the US-led coalition were in heavily populated areas, the group says. Samawah, Nasiriyah and Basrah are just some urban areas where ammunition was deployed - with around 1,500 anti-armor rounds fired directly at Saddam Hussein's infantry forces. The GPS coordinates of DU rounds were initially handed over to the Dutch Defense Ministry because the Netherlands was worried about the potential contamination of its own troops in the country. The ministry later shared the information with PAX under a freedom of information law. Most of the firing locations remain unknown, as more than 300,000 DU rounds are believed to have been fired by US-led coalition. NGO says that the health risks of more than 440,000 kg of DU fired by Western forces remains unclear, as “neither coalition forces nor the Iraqi government have supported health research into civilian DU exposure.”

US fired depleted uranium at civilian areas in Iraq
Depleted uranium used by US forces blamed for birth defects and cancer in Iraq

If there’s one person who has absolutely zero business criticizing anyone for how they’re running the country, it’s Dick Cheney. This should be obvious to pretty everyone by now, but apparently the Wall Street Journal didn’t get the message. Today, the paper published an editorial by Cheney and his daughter Liz in which the former Vice President blasts the “collapsing Obama doctrine” of foreign policy.” Taking the rapid advance of ISIS radicals through northern Iraq as his cue, Cheney accuses President Obama of “emboldening” America‘s enemies. He writes: "Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. Too many times to count, Mr. Obama has told us he is ‘ending’ the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – as though wishing made it so. His rhetoric has now come crashing into reality…America‘s enemies are not ‘decimated.’ They are emboldened and on the march."

Chelsea Manning: The Fog Machine of War
Paul Waldman: Dick Cheney's amazing chutzpah on Iraq
RT.com: You've been lied to all the time: Chelsea Manning issues dire warning about Iraq
RINF: Why Bush and Blair Should Be Prosecuted for War Crimes
AWIP: Wes Clark - America's Foreign Policy "Coup" - Video
Craig Murray: Deadly Fiasco
Paul Craig Roberts: Professor Francis Boyle on Impeachment of Bush and Obama

US is describing the sorties as surveillance flights --The aircraft are heavily armed fighter jets. ● The United States began flying surveillance missions over Iraq in F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets on Wednesday, it emerged late in the afternoon. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has asked President Obama for air strikes against the Islamist offshoots of al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] who have been carving a wide swath through his country. So far the White House has been unwilling to agree, but the surveillance missions mark the first declared U.S. flyovers since American troops left Iraq at the end of 2011.

Jason Ditz: Obama to Congress: I Don't Need Your OK on Iraq
VoR: Obama could take military action in oil-rich Iraq without Congress' approval
The Independent: US rules out military action until Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stands down

■ We brought peace and democracy to Ukraine by our overthrowing their corrupt but democratically elected pro-Russian President and installing a corrupt regime that on May 2nd massacred hundreds of civilians who opposed the coup and thus caused a civil war that now has our people bombing the residents of southeastern Ukraine whom we call “terrorists” while terrorizing them, into hoped-for submission to the regime that we have imposed upon them (those people refused to vote in the election that we held for them).
■ Shortly after Obama had become President, he and Hillary Clinton brought peace and democracy to Honduras by our being the only government in the Western Hemisphere to back the junta that overthrew that country’s democratically elected progressive President and by replacing him with a string of fascist ones producing the world’s highest murder-rate in that country.
■ Yet, despite all of the peace and democracy that we are bringing to the world, Gallup international finds that the nation most often cited around the world as being a threat to peace is the United States. Russian propaganda must have fooled them to believe that. Or did American propaganda fool us to believe what we do?

In a day and age in which corporations rule the world, the brutal Al-Qaeda/CIA spin off known as ISIS is learning from the best, and as part of its credentialising and image-building has done something only major corporations do at the end of every year: it has issued annual reports for the past 2 years (unaudited, unless Ernst & Young has quietly upgraded from "massaging" the books for Lehman's Repo 105 and, of course, the New York Fed, without our knowledge). That's right: as the FT reported earlier, "Since 2012 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, (known as ISIL) has issued annual reports, outlining in numerical and geographical detail its operations – the number of bombings, assassinations, checkpoints, suicide missions, cities taken over and even “apostates” converted to the ISIS/ISIL cause."

Gilad Atzmon: The Jewish Plan For The Middle East and Beyond
Kevin Barrett: ‘Is ISIL really ‘Sunni’? Not at all’

[Editor's Comment:] To clear things up a bit: ISIS refers to 'Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham'. Al-Sham has been most commonly translated from Arabic as the Levant, hence ISIL. It was previously known as 'Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad', 'Al-Qaeda in the Islamic State of Iraq'. (Source) - Now, ISIS probably is neither 'Sunni' nor 'Shia'. It's not even Islamic, that's for sure. Shouting "Allāhu Akbar" and engaging in dubious religious theatrics do not make it so. We also rather doubt that ISIS is a genuinely homegrown, "Arab" outfit. (Who knows the real identities of these predators who are hiding behind their balaclavas?) With ISIS's annual reports and all, what we may be looking at here is a Mossad/CIA operation. This kind of evil definitely is not beyond them and would dovetail neatly with the general Zionist plan for the Middle East, the Yinon plan (links here and here). Check it out.

WND: U.S. trained ISIL at secret Jordan base
Kenya al-Shabaab attack 'was led by white man speaking fluent British English'

With allies of Al Qaeda running amok in Iraq and heading for Baghdad, the disastrous legacy of Britain's entanglement there with the invasion of 2003 becomes ever more blindingly obvious. Obvious to everyone, that is, except the man who ordered it. Seven years after leaving office, and 11 years after British troops flooded across the southern border, Tony Blair continues to cause outrage and bewilderment over Iraq. Noting the eruption of the jihad there, Mr Blair professes that ‘we have to liberate ourselves [sic!] from the notion that “we” have caused this. We haven't.' Only a handful of American neo-conservatives, most of them discredited and seeking to protect their reputations, too, would agree with him. To most people, he appears a self-serving fantasist with blood on his hands.

Pepe Escobar: Tony Blair, Phantom of the Opera
Alan Hart: Open letter to Tony 'Scarface' Blair

At least 339 people were killed today and 91 more were wounded. This figure includes 200 militants that the Iraqi government says were killed in Anbar province. As in recent days, it is difficult to gauge which reports are complete exaggerations. Even removing the 200 killed in Anbar, well over a hundred people were killed in realistic attacks. The United States is sending 275 U.S. troops to Iraq, with the permission of the Iraqi government. The U.S. has already sent about 100 servicemembers to help security at the embassy in Baghdad. However, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is showing no signs of reconciliation with minority groups — which would gain him the full cooperation of the United States. Nor does it look likely that he will be replaced anytime soon.

McClatchy DC: ISIS claims control of government’s last outpost in northern Iraq; hundreds flee Tal Afar

The Islamic militants who overran cities and towns in Iraq last week posted graphic photos that appeared to show their gunmen massacring scores of captured Iraqi soldiers, while the prime minister vowed Sunday to "liberate every inch" of captured territory. ● The pictures on a militant website appear to show masked fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, loading the captives onto flatbed trucks before forcing them to lie face-down in a shallow ditch with their arms tied behind their backs. The final images show the bodies of the captives soaked in blood after being shot at several locations. Chief military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi confirmed the photos' authenticity and said he was aware of cases of mass murder of captured Iraqi soldiers in areas held by ISIL. He told The Associated Press that an examination of the images by military experts showed that about 170 soldiers were shot to death by the militants after their capture. Captions on the photos showing the soldiers after they were shot say "hundreds have been liquidated," but the total could not immediately be verified. [Photo: Associated Press/ HuffPo]

RT.com: ISIS 'execute' 1,700 Iraqi soldiers, post gruesome pictures
Daily Bhaskar: Horrific: More than 1,700 Iraqi government soldiers executed in cold blood, claims ISIS

James Cogan ■ Civil war escalates in Iraq amid reports of sectarian massacres || ISIS-linked sources claimed over the weekend to have executed 1,700 Shiite soldiers, police and government officials captured in the Tikrit area. The claims were accompanied by images of terrified prisoners standing in front of shallow trenches and facing what appeared to be a firing squad of ISIS fighters. Other images show mounds of bodies tossed into trenches. [...] The Obama administration’s response to the catastrophic consequences of the US invasions and intrigues in the Middle East is to prepare to unleash more death and destruction. The aircraft carrier George HW Bush and support ships have deployed into the Persian Gulf to provide “additional flexibility should military options be required.”

Patrick Martin ■ Obama responds to Iraq debacle with military escalation || The New York Times, which played a key role in promoting the Iraq war lies, has taken the lead in this campaign, publishing two columns Sunday, one by Nicholas Kristof and the other by Thomas Friedman, absolving the United States for the worsening catastrophe in Iraq. Kristof writes: “The debacle in Iraq isn’t President Obama’s fault. It’s not the Republicans’ fault. Both bear some responsibility, but, overwhelmingly, it’s the fault of the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri Kamal al-Maliki.” Friedman pronounces: “Maliki had a choice—to rule in a sectarian way or in an inclusive way—and he chose sectarianism. We owe him nothing.” What a grotesque exercise in buck-passing! Who installed Maliki? His regime was the culmination of the supposed transformation of Iraq into a “democracy.” His election was hailed as a great success, first by George W. Bush, who launched the war, and then by Obama, who completed it on the schedule laid down by his predecessor. The US military and media suppressed reports of Maliki’s repressive methods. Throughout, the United States deliberately encouraged sectarian divisions.

xymphora ■ "New York Times says 'Lack Of Major Wars May Be Hurting Economic Growth'" The United States continues to go through the largest and most disastrous economic experiment in history and has definitively determined that wars - in this case, Wars For The Jews - completely wreck and ransack an economy. In fact, I would argue that the American inability to look after things like its infrastructure, education, and health care, despite being the richest country that has ever existed, is determined entirely by a real lack of wealth, wealth which has been poured down the Jew-hole. All the blocking of reforms blamed on right-winger obstructionism (generally explained in terms of 'values') is really just a reflection of what nobody wants to admit, the money is gone and Americans really can no longer afford 'nice things'. It is logically impossible to be 'progressive' and not also an 'anti-Semite'. [...] "The seven people who need to STFU about Iraq right now"

Robert Creamer ■ Only Two Words for Neo-Con Critics of Obama Iraq Policy: Brazen Chutzpah

Sky News: Boris Tells Blair: Put A Sock In It Over Iraq
Senior Labour figures distance themselves from Blair after he refuses to accept blame for new crisis

Why are politicians and military analysts awed, shocked and stunned by ISIS militants speed, capture and control of key resource areas and strategic infrastructure? Because they are likely delusion lying schizophrenics. With 24/7 drone surveillance, satellite imagery and intelligence officers on the ground, ISIS movements were being monitored by military intelligence and the Pentagon did nothing to forewarn or possibly withheld intelligence from Iraq officials of ISIS military forces preparing and pulling off a blitzkrieg through Northern Iraqi cities.

The Chinese, on the other hand, would have a much harder time if Iraq’s 3.7% of global production suddenly went offline. China, which is increasingly dependent on energy imports, is now that country’s largest foreign customer, taking an average 1.5 million barrels a day, almost half of Iraq’s production. China National Petroleum Corp., a state enterprise, swooped up Iraqi oil after last decade’s war—Beijing, by the way, sold arms that ended up in the hands of insurgents fighting Americans—by accepting Baghdad’s razor-thin margins and onerous conditions. Then, many said it was China that won the Iraq War because it signed the major oil deals afterwards. As a result, Beijing now has a lot riding on the outcome in Iraq as ISIS takes on the Shiite-dominated ruling group in Baghdad. No wonder the Chinese Foreign Ministry in recent days has been coming out with announcements supporting the Maliki government.

A man is executed in a new video released by ISIS

Senior Tehran official says leadership discussing cooperation with United States in face of insurgent threat in region, as militants battle Iraqi security forces 50 miles from Baghdad - follow latest Developments.

● 07.55 - The UN says that some half a million people have fled their homes since Monday, fearing violence, kidnapping and rape as ISIS militants tighten their grip on large parts of the country's north. Most have headed for the autonomous Kurdish region and workers were yesterday busy expanding the Khazer checkpoint in the area known as Kalak to cope with the flood of refugees.
● 07.45 - ISIS fighters have gained more ground overnight, taking two towns in the eastern province of Diyala after security forces abandoned their posts. Reuters cited security sources as reporting that the towns of Saadiyah and Jalawla have now fallen to the militants, who have also moved into several villages around the Himreen mountains, long a sanctuary for insurgent groups. Iraqi troops launched artillery rounds at the two towns, causing many families to flee towards Khaniqin, close to the Iranian border, the sources said.

xymphora ■ "Enter Ken Pollack and Tom Friedman– the Iraq experts!" || Note that the inability to grasp - or even talk about! - the role of World Jewry and ZOG in the long, long line of Wars For The Jews has not only permanently wrecked the United States, but is leading to the dangerous insanity of attacking the Islamists in Iraq while supporting them in Syria. World Jewry is also still trying to block the necessary Iranian nuclear negotiations! It is now more than ever critical for Americans to know, and attack, their real enemies.

Oded Yinon ■ A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties || Iraq, rich in oil on the one hand and internally torn on the other, is guaranteed as a candidate for Israel's targets. Its dissolution is even more important for us than that of Syria. Iraq is stronger than Syria. In the short run it is Iraqi power which constitutes the greatest threat to Israel. An Iraqi-Iranian war will tear Iraq apart and cause its downfall at home even before it is able to organize a struggle on a wide front against us. Every kind of inter-Arab confrontation will assist us in the short run and will shorten the way to the more important aim of breaking up Iraq into denominations as in Syria and in Lebanon. In Iraq, a division into provinces along ethnic/religious lines as in Syria during Ottoman times is possible. So, three (or more) states will exist around the three major cities: Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, and Shi'ite areas in the south will separate from the Sunni and Kurdish north. It is possible that the present Iranian-Iraqi confrontation will deepen this polarization. [Additional links here and here]

PressTV: ISIL Takfiri militants, tools of Zionists: Analyst
Angry Arab: Human Rights Watch: in praise of ISIS
Kenny's Sideshow: Isis oh Isis
Robert Fisk: Sunni caliphate has been bankrolled by Saudi Arabia
Peter Oborne: A powerful and merciless force has emerged on the world stage
Bill Van Auken: Iraq crisis threatens to ignite regional war
Antiwar.com: US Readies Air Strikes Against al-Qaeda in Iraq
The Straits Times: Iran to combat terrorism in Iraq: Iran President Rouhani

On June 10th the Iraq's second largest city, Mosul was taken by an Islamic militant group called ISIS, whose fighters are pouring into the country from Syria. Today they followed up that attack with a push south towards Baghdad, occupying the strategic oil refining town of Baiji and seizing the city of Tikrit. The Iraqi army put up little resistance. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (aka ISIS) is a splinter group of Al-Qaeda. Their stated goal is to erase the border between Syria and Iraq and to establish an Islamic state in the unified country. They currently control large swaths of territory in both countries. The tactics employed by the ISIS are so brutal that in February the main branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria disavowed the group entirely. The U.S. government, which has been funding and arming rebels in Syria has attempted to distance itself from both the ISIS and mainline Al-Qaeda fighters in Syria, however the so called "moderate" rebels that Washington is publicly supporting, have admitted that they regularly carry out joint operations with Al-Qaeda, and do not consider the group their enemy.

Sydney Morning Herald: Iraq asks for US air strikes
ZeroHedge: Iraq Gives Obama Green Light To Commence "Kinetic Support" Against Al Qaeda
NYT: Where ISIS Is Gaining Control in Iraq and Syria - MAP
antiwar.com: 161 Killed, 119 Wounded as More Iraq Cities Seized
PressTV: Iraqi tribesmen recapture Mosul neighborhood
Al Jazeera: After insurgent gains, Iraqi government mulls dwindling options
Moon of Alabama: Iraq: The Civil War Restarted
xymphora: A new country

Oded Yinon ■ A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties || Iraq, rich in oil on the one hand and internally torn on the other, is guaranteed as a candidate for Israel's targets. Its dissolution is even more important for us than that of Syria. Iraq is stronger than Syria. In the short run it is Iraqi power which constitutes the greatest threat to Israel. An Iraqi-Iranian war will tear Iraq apart and cause its downfall at home even before it is able to organize a struggle on a wide front against us. Every kind of inter-Arab confrontation will assist us in the short run and will shorten the way to the more important aim of breaking up Iraq into denominations as in Syria and in Lebanon. In Iraq, a division into provinces along ethnic/religious lines as in Syria during Ottoman times is possible. So, three (or more) states will exist around the three major cities: Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, and Shi'ite areas in the south will separate from the Sunni and Kurdish north. It is possible that the present Iranian-Iraqi confrontation will deepen this polarization. [Additional links here and here]

Bill Van Auken ■ The fall of Mosul and the crimes of imperialism || While official Washington publicly wrings its hands over the fall of Mosul, the effect of this development on the US proxy war in Syria may not be all that unwelcome within sections of the US military and intelligence apparatus. [...] No one has been held accountable for these actions, which indisputably constitute war crimes. Those responsible include not only George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and others in the previous administration. Both major political parties, the media, the corporations and every American institution are responsible for the lies that have pervaded US policy—both foreign and domestic—for the past decade and a half. All of the criminal policies under Bush—aggressive war, torture—have been continued and deepened by the Obama administration. With its “pivot” to Asia and coup in Ukraine, it is preparing military confrontation with Russia and China and laying the groundwork for a nuclear Third World War.

A member of Kurdish security forces stands guard
Tuesday as families fleeing violence in the Iraqi city
of Mosul wait at a checkpoint in outskirts of Arbil,
in Iraq's Kurdistan region. (Reuters)

xymphora ■ "Islamic Jihadis Take Over Second-Biggest City In Iraq … But Al Qaeda Wasn’t Even IN Iraq Until the U.S. Invaded" Prince Bandar - and/or his successor - working on a Yinon plan for Iraq. The goal of World Jewry is, as always, to keep the gentiles fighting each other. ZOG will block the Americans from being able to do anything about it, and there is no reasonable prospect that Iraq is capable of helping itself. For the foreseeable future, there is an Islamist terrorist country in a highly strategic location. - Have they found Saddam's weapons of mass destruction yet?

Barry Grey ■ Al Qaeda offshoot ISIS captures Mosul from Iraqi government forces || Coming just two and a half years after the withdrawal of the last of a US occupation force that at its peak numbered over 157,000—deployed in a war sold to the US public as a struggle against terrorism—the fall of Mosul to Al Qaeda-linked guerrillas also constitutes a searing indictment of the criminal character of US policy in the region. With the takeover of the west bank and center of Mosul, a mostly Sunni city of 1.8 million people 220 miles north of Baghdad, ISIS controls a large swath of territory stretching from the eastern outskirts of Aleppo in Syria to Fallujah and part of Ramadi in Iraq’s western Anbar Province, to large parts of Nineveh Province and its capital, Mosul. ISIS’ goal is to establish an Islamic caliphate comprising the two countries.

Oded Yinon ■ A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties || Iraq, rich in oil on the one hand and internally torn on the other, is guaranteed as a candidate for Israel's targets. Its dissolution is even more important for us than that of Syria. Iraq is stronger than Syria. In the short run it is Iraqi power which constitutes the greatest threat to Israel. An Iraqi-Iranian war will tear Iraq apart and cause its downfall at home even before it is able to organize a struggle on a wide front against us. Every kind of inter-Arab confrontation will assist us in the short run and will shorten the way to the more important aim of breaking up Iraq into denominations as in Syria and in Lebanon. In Iraq, a division into provinces along ethnic/religious lines as in Syria during Ottoman times is possible. So, three (or more) states will exist around the three major cities: Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, and Shi'ite areas in the south will separate from the Sunni and Kurdish north. It is possible that the present Iranian-Iraqi confrontation will deepen this polarization. [Additional links here and here]

Al Jazeera: Half a million flee unrest in Iraq's Mosul
Al-Manar TV: ISIL Controls Several Areas in Iraq’s Kirkuk Province
Antiwar.com: Al-Qaeda Seizes Iraq’s Mosul, Moves on Kirkuk
P. Cockburn: Battle to Establish Islamic State Across Iraq and Syria

Robert Stevens ■ The most critical documents regarding the preparation and instigation of the illegal war against Iraq will never be seen by the Chilcot Inquiry. The Inquiry was authorised by the previous Labour government, fully five years ago. It is now 11 years since the invasion of Iraq. The inquiry into a war in which a sovereign nation was invaded by armies of imperialist occupation, on the basis of a monstrous pack of lies, concluded its sessions as far back as 2011. Headed by Sir John Chilcot, it has cost £7 million. However, publication of its findings has been delayed for three years due to the cover-up being concocted. Last week it was revealed that the pre-war conversations of the two political figures who authorised the filthy war in which an estimated more than one million people died, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US President George W. Bush, will remain secret. [...] The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a war of aggression carried out in the interests of the most predatory sections of the financial and corporate oligarchy in the United States and Britain. The five years since the formation of the Chilcot Inquiry have demonstrated that far more is involved than an attempt by those involved to cover up their crimes. The central role of the Inquiry has been to legitimise the invasion of Iraq and affirm the basis on which it was carried out—the US doctrine of pre-emptive war, a flagrant rejection of any concept of international law.

Robert Fisk ■ Stillbirths, disabilities, deformities too distressing to describe - what lies behind the torments in Fallujah General Hospital? || The pictures flash up on a screen on an upper floor of the Fallujah General Hospital. And all at once, Nadhem Shokr al-Hadidi's administration office becomes a little chamber of horrors. A baby with a hugely deformed mouth. A child with a defect of the spinal cord, material from the spine outside the body. A baby with a terrible, vast Cyclopean eye. Another baby with only half a head, stillborn like the rest, date of birth 17 June, 2009. Yet another picture flicks onto the screen: date of birth 6 July 2009, it shows a tiny child with half a right arm, no left leg, no genitalia.

Russian Foreign Ministry said there were around '150 American specialists' Statement claimed security firm Greystone sent in specialists 'disguised'. Greystone Ltd founded in 2004 and broke away as standalone firm in 2010. It was an affiliate of Xe Services, which changed name from Blackwater. ● Russia claims 150 Americans have been sent to Ukraine by a U.S. firm with historic links to Blackwater - the private security contractor which made headlines after a mass shooting in Iraq. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow today condemned the use of a supposed private army by Greystone Ltd 'disguised' as local forces. Greystone, which claims it recruits from the world's top armies and police forces, was founded in 2004 as an affiliate of Blackwater before breaking away to become a standalone firm in 2010. Four former Blackwater security guards are facing trial in the U.S. over a 2007 shooting which killed 14 people in Baghdad.

The statement by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs came as the Kremlin - which is facing international condemnation for sending troops into Crimea - warned 'civil war' could be looming in eastern Ukraine. It condemned the arrest today of 70 pro-Russian activists who stormed a government building in Kharkiv, just 25 miles from the Russian border. Russia, which has 40,000 troops on its side of the border, claimed the 'crackdown' was 'against the policies of the current government in Kiev'. The statement then added: 'Of particular concern is the fact that in this operation are about 150 American specialists from the private military organization "Greystone", disguised in the form of units of the "Falcon". 'Organizers and participants of this provocation are taking on a huge responsibility to create threats to the rights, freedoms and lives of civilians and for the stability of the Ukrainian State. 'We call for the immediate cessation of any military preparations, which could lead to the outbreak of civil war.'

The Wall Street Journal reported Greystone had categorically denied deploying anyone in Ukraine. An article quoted representative Coreena Taylor saying: 'We do not have anyone working in Ukraine nor do we have any plans to deploy anyone to the region.' However, Greystone gave no comment when contacted by MailOnline today at its head office in Chesapeake, Virginia. Pressed on whether the comments reported by the Wall Street Journal was accurate or officially sanctioned, a representative replied: 'This is officially sanctioned: We have no comment.' A U.S. State Department spokesman said it could not answer for a private company, but added: 'We do not have any U.S. military units in Ukraine.'

Has Blackwater been deployed to Ukraine? Notorious U.S. mercenaries 'seen on the streets of flashpoint city'

El proyecto de ley Incluye condiciones que deberán respetar las mujeres que amamantan a sus hijos, y la niña, sólo se podrá divorciar de su marido, para estar con otro hombre. ● Siguiendo los preceptos más estrictos de la ley islámica, la Sharía, el gobierno de Bagdad ha presentado al Parlamento un proyecto de ley que permitiría el matrimonio a cualquier edad. En éste sólo existiría la autorización de divorciarse a los 9 años, y solo, para unirse a otro hombre, en el caso de las mujeres. Dentro del escandaloso proyecto se adjuntan condiciones como la que dice que mientras una mujer amamante a su bebé, el hombre polígamo puede pasar noche tras noche con cualquiera de sus mujeres.

Another month has come to an end, leaving a staggering number of people dead across Iraq. Antiwar.com figures show 1,886 killed and 2,186 wounded nationwide, with 1,063 of the dead civilians or security members, and 823 militants. ● That was an increase over the 1,705 killed and 2,045 wounded in February, which was itself a significant rise over January’s figures, as fighting over the Anbar Province continues, unresolved but claiming enormous casualties. The United Nations, as usual, tried to pass off a dramatic undercount as the “official” figures, claiming 592 killed in March, but not counting the Anbar Province at all. Iraq’s “civilian and security” toll was 1,004, quite similar to the Antiwar.com figures, but they offered only incomplete figures on the Anbar operations, likely explaining the difference.

When Congressman James Moran (D-VA) told an audience that leaders of American Jewish groups were pushing America into a war with Iraq, he was denounced as an “anti-Semite” and pressured to resign. When Syndicated columnist and former Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan accused Jewish neo-conservatives and the US-Israeli lobby of pushing America into a war against Israel’s enemies, he was also widely denounced as an “anti-Semite.” But what are we to make of the many outspoken Jewish writers, Jewish intellectuals and Jewish activists who have been warning us about the exact same thing? Should we dismiss these Jews as “anti-Semites” or “self-hating Jews”? Following are some very revealing quotes from just a few of these Jewish writers and journalists.

Stephen J. Sniegoski: The Israeli origins of Bush II's war + War on Iraq: Not oil but Israel
Stephen J. Sniegoski: The Yinon Thesis Vindicated: Neocons, Israel, and the Fragmentation of Syria
NoWarForIsrael: Jewish Supremacists Openly Support War against Syria

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair advised the people accused over the phone hacking scandal, according to a court hearing. ● During a hearing at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, known as the Old Bailey, in London on Wednesday, it was revealed that Blair offered to help media mogul Rupert Murdoch and former chief executive of Murdoch’s British newspapers, Rebekah Brooks, at the height of the hacking scandal in 2011. In an hour-long phone conversation with Brooks the day after the closure of the News of the World tabloid in July 2011, the former UK premier advised her to “keep strong” and “tough up” as the crisis would pass. She summarized Blair’s advice in an email, saying he had offered to act as an “unofficial adviser” to her, Rupert Murdoch and his son James on a “between-us” basis at the height of the phone hacking scandal. According to Brooks’s note, Blair had also suggested that Murdoch follow steps he took to address the public anger over Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war.

BBC: Phone-hacking trial: Blair 'advised Brooks before arrest'

Death tolls in Iraq continue to reach new highs these days, with the month of January ending with 1,840 dead and 2,088 others wounded nationwide, up from 1,180 dead last month. ● Iraq’s own “official” death tolls were somewhat lower, claiming 1,202 killed (1,013 plus 189 militants) and 2,024 wounded, and Agence-France Presse was preposterously low, putting the toll at just over 900. Iraq’s toll was just slightly up from December though, which doesn’t make much sense as the Anbar Province exploded in violence, the whole city of Fallujah fell to al-Qaeda, and there have been huge, daily battles across that province. The violence elsewhere across Iraq does appear roughly flat, but the official government figures appear to entirely ignore reported deaths in all of the Anbar fighting, which would explain the discrepancy.

Britain has been referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague over allegations of war crimes committed during the occupation of Iraq. There was a call for an ICC investigation under Article 15 of the Rome Statute into the actions of senior British officials during the conflict. The submission specifically names the former chief of staff General Sir Peter Wall and two ministers in Tony Blair’s Labour government, former defence secretary Geoff Hoon and former defence minister Adam Ingram, as officials who should have to answer claims about the systematic use of torture and cruelty.

The United States military is conducting a formal investigation into American soldiers burning the dead bodies of what appear to be Iraqi insurgents. ● TMZ obtained 41 pictures that we're told were shot in Fallujah in 2004. Two pictures show a Marine appearing to pour gasoline or some other flammable on the remains of what officials believe are 2 insurgents. Two other photos show the bodies on fire. You then see charred remains. Another photo shows a Marine crouched down next to a dead body and mugging for the camera. Still another pic shows a Marine rifling through the pocket of the pants on a corpse. We have not included all of the photos. Many are just too gruesome. There are well over a dozen bodies in the pics and some are covered with flies and one is being eaten by a dog. We turned them all over to the Pentagon last week, and a Pentagon official tells us the pics have triggered a Marine Corps investigation.

Xymphora ■ "Neocons Who Brought You The Iraq War Endorse AIPAC’s Iran Bill" - Again with the public etters advocating mass slaughter, and quite a grisly list of signatories. This isn't a game they are playing. World Jewry - and let me stop and emphasize that that is exactly who it is - is trying to start World War III for the sole reason they think it would be 'good for the Jews'. All you 'progressives' who dislike talking about the realities of Jewish power (ZOG), and its vile methods and goals, can stick your fawning to power in the guise of taking a stand against 'bigotry' or 'racism' up your corrupted asses. The games you are playing have a massive cost.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been asked to examine the actions of former British cabinet members and troops over claims of torture in Iraq. ● The European Centre for Constitutional Human Rights (ECCHR) and the Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) firm said in a statement that they have filed a joint complaint to the ICC, calling for a probe into British war crimes in the war-torn country. In their 250-page complaint, the two NGOs called for a probe into the actions of senior British officials, particularly the former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and Minister of State for the Armed forces Adam Ingram for “systematic torture and abuse” of prisoners in Iraq between 2003 and 2008. Over the past few years, more than 400 Iraqi prisoners have contacted PIL, based in Birmingham, central England, alleging “serious abuse and humiliation” by British soldiers. According to the law firm, the allegations ranged from sexual and religious humiliation to physical violence.

Bill Van Auken ■ A decade after the US military waged two barbaric sieges of Fallujah, the Iraqi city is once again facing a bloody armed conflict. The army of Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki has massed artillery and tanks on Fallujah’s outskirts and has already bombed and shelled civilian neighborhoods, inflicting an unknown number of casualties. Thousands have fled the city in fear for their lives, and the United Nations has warned that the cut-off of water, food and fuel is creating a humanitarian catastrophe. Maliki has vowed to launch a full-scale assault on the city unless its inhabitants succeed in persuading armed insurgents to surrender. In April and again in November-December of 2004, Fallujah was turned into a killing field by the US occupation. From the air it was pummeled by AC-130 Specter gunships, F-16 fighter jets and Apache attack helicopters. On the ground, a force of over 10,000 US troops backed by tanks and artillery was assembled to attack the city. Bombs, missiles and white phosphorous shells—chemical weapons banned under the Geneva conventions—were unleashed against the population. Hospitals and ambulances were targeted.

Stephen Lendman: The Third Battle of Fallujah ■ On August 31, 2010, Obama displayed criminal contempt. He's done it many times. He declared an end to America's combat mission in Iraq, saying: "Through this remarkable chapter in the history of the United States and Iraq, we have met our responsibility." Ignored was America's genocidal legacy. Iraq was ravaged and destroyed. Pre-1990 Iraq no longer exists. Charnel house conditions replaced it. So did plunder on the grandest of grand scales, millions of internal and external refugees, ongoing violence, dozens of daily deaths, a plague of preventable diseases, ecocide, and overall conditions too horrific to ignore.