IRAQ FORMS “GOVERNMENT”
AIR AMERICA FLAP
RUMSFELDS RESPONSE

Iraq has a new government this morning, but many key posts are unfilled and Sunni participation uncertain….

In the U.S. government, the NY Times reports: “House Overturns New Ethics Rule as Republican Leadership Yields… Republicans said that they had surrendered to the Democrats to try to restore a way to enforce proper conduct in the House.”
The Wahington Post reports this morning: “DeLay Is Likely to Be Found Culpable: Experts Weigh Potential Defense”

In Mexico, “The legal proceedings that threatened to knock out the progressive mayor of Mexico City off the presidential ballot came to a sudden end as his pursuer quit.”

In the blogs: Washington Note.com reports that Colin Powell is battling Condi Rice over John Bolton’s UN appointment:

“Sid Blumenthal has written a blistering critique of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s position on John Bolton, making the lucid and appropriate point that whereas Colin Powell has frequently put the interests of the nation above loyalty to those on petty power trips, Rice seems to be doing the opposite.”

Blumenthal writes:

“In seeking to prevent the bullying and duplicitous ideologue from representing the U.S. before the international organisation, Powell is engaging in hand-to-hand combat with his successor. Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice’s first true test has not arrived from abroad. Caught by Powell’s flanking movement, she is trapped in a crisis of credibility, which she herself is deepening.

“Powell’s closest associate, his former deputy Richard Armitage, is orchestrating much of the action. Wavering senators are directed to call Powell, who briefs them on Bolton’s demerits. Powell’s former chief of staff, Lawrence B Wilkerson, has surfaced to give an interview to the New York Times, declaring that Bolton would be ‘an abysmal ambassador’.

“Other former foreign-service officers have queued up to provide ever uglier details of Bolton’s career as a ’serial abuser’ and ‘a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy’, as Carl W. Ford Jr., the former director of intelligence at the state department, described him before the Senate foreign relations committee.

“Rice’s response to the seemingly endless stream of witnesses has been to order state department senior staff to stanch the flow of adverse stories.”

IRAQ: ATROCITY EXPOSED

Were 5 Unarmed and Wounded Iraqi’s Murdered By U.S. Marines In A Fallujah Mosque?

Shoot the Messenger

ICH REPORTS

“Last November, when a U.S. marine shot dead an unarmed, wounded Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque, the story created international headlines. In fact, it was the biggest scandal to hit the U.S. military in Iraq since Abu Ghraib. What we still don’t know is what actually went on outside the frame of that now infamous image?

“Explosive Video Report From SBS Australia

“In his first international interview, the journalist responsible for capturing that awful shooting spoke with Dateline’s Sophie McNeill, and a warning — this story contains strong language and confronting images. Let me say that we’ve left some particularly graphic scenes in this report because we believe they’re critical to understanding exactly what happened that day in Fallujah.”

Click here to watch. Real video and transcript

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8667.htm

MORE ON FALLUJAH

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8673.htm