Brown Hails British 'Success' In Iraq

Success? The Brits have been sitting with their tails between their legs in Basra Airport for a year while the US/Iraqi surrogates fought and failed against the militias. Is there nothing Brown won't spin about? They were about as effective as Brown's tennis technique in the pic.

Tony Blair - 'Faith Healer'

Tony Blair was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 this morning. I listened in bed and, although there were no facts in anything he said, a couple of real facts woke me up and depressed me for the day. Here they are:
- He said the increase in terrorism in recent times is not down to either the creation of the Israeli state or 'British colonialism from years ago'. Very few, if any, people are saying it is.
- Many worldwide are saying it is down to Zionism and the neo-colonialism of the Bushblair years. If you are in any doubt about the neocolonialist mentality, check out Blair's remarks on what 'we' need from the Pakistani education system(I'm not exaggerating) and what 'we' need from the 'Islamic World' here at 1:16:45 on the iPlayer.

US Victims Mainly Women & Children

A recent Study shows Iraqi women and children account for most victims of US air strikes. The study, published 16th April, says the vast majority of identifiable Iraqi victims of US-led air strikes have been women and children.According to the group, Iraq Body Count, Iraqi women and children amounted to 85 percent of victims of known gender or age.
The study covered a sample of more than 60,000 deaths over a five-year period since the 2003 invasion.
"When air-launched bombs or combined air and ground attacks caused civilian deaths, the average number killed was 17, similar to the average number in events where civilians were killed by suicide bombers travelling on foot (16 deaths per event)," the IBC website wrote.
Analysis carried out for the IBC found that 39 per cent of those killed in air raids by the US-led coalition were children and 46 per cent were women.
“It seems clear from these findings that to protect civilians from indiscriminate harm, as required by international humanitarian law (including the Geneva Conventions), military and civilian policies should prohibit aerial bombing in civilian areas unless it can be demonstrated — by monitoring of civilian casualties, for example — that civilians are being protected,” wrote the report's authors. Link to study here

Six Years of Shame in Iraq

"Down, down USA," the demonstrators chanted as a Ali al-Marwani, a Sadrist official, denounced the US occupation of Iraq that began with the fall of Baghdad on April 9th, 2003, and the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Firdos Square. The crowds of Sadr supporters stretched from the giant Sadr City slum in northeast Baghdad to the square around 5 km away. Protesters burned an effigy featuring the face of former US president George W. Bush, who ordered the invasion of Iraq, and also the face of Saddam. "God, unite us, return our riches, free the prisoners from the prisons, return sovereignty to our country ... make our country free from the occupier, and prevent the occupier from stealing our oil," Sadr said in a message read by an aide.
"God, make us the liberators of our land," the message said, drawing roars of approval from the crowd, many clutching or wearing Iraqi flags, and some wearing Iraqi national team tracksuits in a show of nationalist sentiment.
Hammering home the nationalist message, Sadr exhorted the demonstrators to shake hands with each other and Iraqi police and soldiers overseeing the march. Long queues formed to kiss the police and troops on the cheeks and shake their hands.One of many worldwide declamations here