Britain: Tony Blair unrepentant as Chilcot gives crushing Iraq war verdict - by Luke Harding

A defiant Tony Blair defended his decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003 following the publication of a devastating report by Sir John Chilcot, which mauled the ex-prime minister’s reputation and said that at the time of the 2003 invasion Saddam Hussein “posed no imminent threat”.

Looking tired, his voice sometimes croaking with emotion, Blair described his decision to join the US attack as “the hardest, most momentous, most agonizing decision I took in 10 years as British prime minister”.

He said he felt “deeply and sincerely ... the grief and suffering of those who lost ones they loved in Iraq”.

The head of the Iraq war inquiry said the UK’s decision to attack and occupy a sovereign state for the first time since the second world war was a decision of “utmost gravity”. Chilcot described Saddam as “undoubtedly a brutal dictator” who had repressed and murdered many of his own people and attacked his neighbors.

But he was withering about Blair’s choice to sign up to a military plan drawn up in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 by the US president, George W Bush, and his neo-con team. Chilcot said: “We have concluded that the UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted. Military action at that time was not a last resort.”

Overall, Chilcot’s report amounts to arguably the most scathing official verdict on any modern British prime minister. It implicitly lumps Blair in the same category as Anthony Eden, who invaded Egypt in a failed attempt to gain control of the Suez canal. Chilcot’s 2.6m-word, 12-volume report was released on Wednesday morning, together with a 145-page executive summary.

Note EU-Digest: Tony Blair needs to be put in jail together with Bush Rumsfeld and Cheney. They (the US) are the root cause for our European refugee and terrorism problems which came as a direct result of the IRAQ war and US's Middle East policies..

It is high time the US Congress also puts together an investigation committee to investigate Bush, Cheney and Rumsfelds role in the IRAQ war and their lies to the US population and the countries who were called upon to support the US in this disastrous war.

Read more: Tony Blair unrepentant as Chilcot gives crushing Iraq war verdict | UK news | Th

Britain Chilcot Report: Blair Should Be 'Stripped Of All Honors' if He Lied About Iraq

Tony Blair should be “stripped of all honors” if the long-awaited Chilcot Report reveals he lied about Iraq, a senior Tory backbencher has said.

The 2.6 million word-long inquiry, due to be published Wednesday, is expected to criticize the former Labour prime minister for misleading Parliament and the public over the 2003 conflict.

The report collected evidence from more than 150 witnesses and over 200 cabinet meetings, and has analyzed 150,000 government documents.

Note EU-Digest: When will the US Republican controlled congress set up a similar investigation inquiry for the former US President George Bush who committed the same crimes which ultimately caused all the refugee mess the EU finds itself in today. 

Read more: Chilcot Report: Blair Should Be 'Stripped Of All Honors' if He Lied About Iraq

Brexit: Michael Moore: 'Britain Is A Toxic Place... Should Vote To Stay In The EU'

The Oscar-winning documentary-maker was promoting his new film, ‘Where to Invade Next’, which sees him visiting European countries to claim their best features for his home nation.

The UK does not feature in the film as it has nothing to offer against the likes of Italian holiday entitlement, Norwegian prisons and French school lunches. Michael Moore explained:

“It was a conscious and purposeful decision to not come to the UK. I mean this with respect, we didn’t feel like there was anything left to learn here. And that you had given up on yourselves.”

In particular, the Guardian reports, Mr. Moore cited Tony Blair’s support for allying Britain to the 2003 invasion of Iraq in the poisoning of the UK’s reputation, saying:

“You may be over Tony Blair. We’re not. We expected George W Bush to start that war. That wasn’t a surprise. But he was able to do it because you – the Brits, under Tony Blair – gave him back-up. You made it possible for him to say: ‘Hey, it’s not just me!’

“Honestly, if Blair hadn’t supported that war, I don’t know that [Bush] could have pulled it off. We’re not quite over the damage that this country has done to us and to the world by so-called liberals here voting and revoting for an individual who was anything but a liberal.

“This is a toxic place.
”
Mr. Moore did suggest that the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader atoned for some of the country’s sins, claiming: “that’s getting back to what Labour stood for, its roots. I wish Tony Benn were still around to see this.”

Nevertheless he identified what he sees as a further blot on the UK’s record, namely people voting for “bonkers” Brexit in the upcoming referendum.

“Why would you do this? You saved Europe. Europe today is, in large part, because of you, the UK. Why would you want to leave?

“Because, see, what are the arguments I’ve had to listen to this morning already on the news?  ‘It costs too much money…it’s 50 billion pounds a day…immigrants, immigrants, immigrants, immigrants…’
“Really? You know, that’s not who you are.”

Mr. Moore went on to draw comparisons between the EU referendum and November’s U.S. Presidential Election. He believes it likely that Brexiteers are similar to Donald Trump supporters, being more dedicated to their cause and therefore more likely to vote.

“I’m guessing the majority of Brits don’t want to leave the European Union,” he said. “But on election day who’s going to be out there? The haters.”

Read more: Michael Moore: 'Britain Is A Toxic Place... Should Vote To Stay In The EU'

Britain: Blair Aide Campbell Defends Britain's Role in Iraq War - by Catherine Mayer

A capacity crowd that queued before dawn to attend Britain's seven-week-old Iraq inquiry as it prepared to welcome its first headline act, former Labour premier Tony Blair's communications supremo Alastair Campbell, sought more than respite from the cold. "I'm here because I hold this man partly responsible for that terrible, terrible war," explained a retired therapist, shivering in her tweed coat.

What they got was an unyielding defense of Britain's role in the Iraq conflict and a tantalizing hint of bigger revelations to come when the former Prime Minister submits himself to the inquiry, sometime in the two-week period commencing Jan. 25.

Campbell revealed for the first time the existence of private letters in 2002 from Blair to U.S. President George W. Bush. The "tenor" of these letters, said Campbell, was "We are going to be with you making sure that Saddam Hussein faces up to his obligations and that Iraq is disarmed. If that cannot be done diplomatically and it is to be done militarily, Britain will be there."

That assurance was given at a time when Blair was publicly pushing the U.N. to force Saddam into compliance. Campbell denied any lack of sincerity in the efforts to secure a solution through the U.N.

For more: Blair Aide Campbell Defends Britain's Role in Iraq War - TIME

The Netherlands: Will PM Balkenende step down after Dutch panel rules Iraq war was illegal?

Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkenende

The war in Iraq had "no basis in international law", a Dutch inquiry found today, in the first ever independent legal assessment of the decision to invade. In a series of damning findings, a seven-member panel in the Netherlands concluded that the war, which was supported by the Dutch government following intelligence from Britain and the US, had not been justified in law. "The Dutch government lent its political support to a war whose purpose was not consistent with Dutch government policy," the inquiry in the Hague concluded. "The military action had no sound mandate in international law." In a further twist, it emerged that the UK government refused to disclose a key document requested by the Dutch panel.

Editorial note EU-Digest: It is hoped that the US Administration under the leadership of President Barrack Obama and the British Government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown will also have the courage to install independent commissions to review the legality of the Iraq war during the Bush Administration. And consequently, if these inquires show no evidence is found that the Iraq war was justified, take the appropriate legal action against those responsible for withholding accurate information on the actual situation in Iraq before the invasion, and the death of thousands of innocent lives in Iraq and the numerous military casualties of this war. It has been suggested that the only proper action for Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who took the decision to take the Netherlands into the war in Iraq, would be to step down.

For more: Iraq war was illegal, Dutch panel rules | World news | guardian.co.uk

AP: IRAQ: US military deaths in Iraq war 4,143 and total coalition military casualties 4448

For the complete report from AP click on this link

IRAQ: US military deaths in Iraq war 4,143 and total coalition military casualties 4448

As of Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008, at least 4,143 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associate Press report.The British military has reported 176 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia and Georgia, three each; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.

JUST: IRAQ - Middle East Still at War: The U.S. is Losing but The Winners are Unclear - by Phyllis Bennis

For the complete report from JUST click on this link

IRAQ - Middle East Still at War: The U.S. is Losing but The Winners are Unclear - by Phyllis Bennis

Despite and because of its huge military presence and the continuing horror of the occupation and war in Iraq, there is no question that Washington has lost significant influence in the Middle East. U.S. efforts to dominate and control the region's governments, resources, and people are failing. U.S.-backed governments and movements across the Middle East are rejecting the Bush administration's demand that they isolate, sanction, and threaten the other governments and movements that Washington deems the bad guys - those linked to Iran. Instead the U.S.-backed governments are themselves launching new bi-, tri-, and multi-lateral negotiations with "the bad guys" outside of U.S. control, and often in direct contradiction to U.S. wishes.

BalkanInsight.com - Serbia Denies 'Secret Iraq Arms Deal'

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Serbia Denies 'Secret Iraq Arms Deal'

Serbia's state-run arms exporter has rejected claims that the Iraqi government secretly arranged to buy substandard weapons from Belgrade. "All Iraqi officials were acquainted with all the contracts that have been concluded with us," said Stevan Nikcevic, general director of the public company Jugoimport-SDPR, which deals with the export and import of arms and military equipment. Nikcevic said the New York Times article was full of false details regarding the contract the Serbian company had concluded with Iraq's Ministry of Defence. According to the report by the United States-based paper on Saturday, the deal, which was signed without the knowledge of senior Iraqi leaders, was previously worth $833 million but was later reduced in size to $236 million.

Alternet: Iraq: Exhausted, Overextended Troops Ready to 'Unravel' - by Bobby Muller

For the complete report on AlterNet click on this link

Exhausted, Overextended Troops Ready to 'Unravel' - by Bobby Muller

Iraq: Exhausted, Overextended Troops Ready to 'Unravel' - by Bobby Muller

A central theme of General David Petraeus' tour of Capitol Hill are his pleas for patience with the U.S. war in Iraq. He called for a "pause" against the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, citing the need to consolidate the gains that have been achieved over the past few months. The crushing burden the US military already endures ought to give serious pause to Members of Congress. The health of our military must be a top priority because current deployment rates are grinding up our military men and women, tearing at the bonds of families, eroding military readiness -- and leaving the US less secure at home.

The Guardian: How we can avoid another Iraq disaster

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How we can avoid another Iraq disaster

The Green party here and in Europe is pressing for the UN to publish a distillate of its reports into all countries' human rights records in an index, ranking governments' practices from best to worst. This will have several positive effects. Many governments will protest that they have been misjudged, and purge jails of political prisoners before UN inspectors arrive. All countries will seek to increase their standing, so it will exert a continuous motivation to improve governance. Importantly, it will become far harder to demonize a regime on whom our leaders intend to wage war if people can easily see there are many worse performers. Most importantly, the worst performers can be legally investigated and taken to the international criminal court. Once this has happened a couple of times, those near the bottom will start to ask for help in improving their governance.

Daily Times - Iraq: The Three Trillion Dollar War —Joseph E Stiglitz

Iraq war: More than 800.00 civilian death and 1.200.00 wounded,more than 4000 US troops, 740 allied troops killed and 28.000 wounded.

For the complete report from the Daily Times click on this link

Iraq: The Three Trillion Dollar War —Joseph E Stiglitz

With March 20 marking the fifth anniversary of the United States-led invasion of Iraq, it’s time to take stock of what has happened. In our new book The Three Trillion Dollar War, Harvard’s Linda Bilmes and I conservatively estimate the economic cost of the war to the US to be $3 trillion, and the costs to the rest of the world to be another $3 trillion — far higher than the Bush administration’s estimates before the war. The Bush team not only misled the world about the war’s possible costs, but has also sought to obscure the costs as the war has gone on.

Was this incompetence or dishonesty? Almost surely both. Cash accounting meant that the Bush administration focused on today’s costs, not future costs, including disability and health care for returning veterans. Only years after the war began did the administration order the specially armored vehicles that would have saved the lives of many killed by roadside bombs. Not wanting to reintroduce a draft, and finding it difficult to recruit for an unpopular war, troops have been forced into two, three, or four stress-filled deployments. The US administration has tried to keep the war’s costs from the American public. Veterans groups have used the Freedom of Information Act to discover the total number of injured — 15 times the number of fatalities. Already, 52,000 returning veterans have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

America will need to provide disability compensation to an estimated 40 percent of the 1.65 million troops that have already been deployed. And, of course, the bleeding will continue as long as the war continues, with the health care and disability bill amounting to more than $600 billion (in present-value terms). Americans like to say that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Nor is there such a thing as a free war. The US — and the world — will be paying the price for decades to come.

Note Eu-Digest: Joseph E. Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize of economics at Colombia University is the co-author, with Linda Bilmes, of "The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Costs of the Iraq Conflict"

Recordpub.com - Iraq at Easter - Five years of war and no end in sight - by Carolyn Arnold

For the complete report by the Recordpub.com click on this link

Iraq at Easter - Five years of war and no end in sight - by Carolyn Arnold

This year, when the US president celebrates his expensive orgy of devastation in Iraq with "no regrets," when waterboarding is hailed as a tool to manage terrorism, and spying on citizens is praised as patriotic, when 20 children die every minute for lack of food or medicine, when our nation is on the brink of a serious financial crisis, and when our profligate use of fossil fuels is threatening the very planet we live on, just how should we celebrate the Easter Message triumph of life over death?

Newsdayl: Five years and more of the Iraq war -- Newsday.com

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Five years and more of the Iraq war

The lessons of Iraq are clear. The numbers are simple. The solution and the outlook, sadly, are neither. And, unless voters and presidential candidates focus a lot more attention on this issue than they have in recent weeks, clarity will continue to elude us. The woes of the economy, the tactics of the presidential horse race, and the sexual behavior of two New York governors are just a few of the stories that have helped push Iraq off the front page. Right now, there's a brief surge - to use an overworked word - of attention on Iraq: Last week saw the fifth anniversary of the invasion on March 19, 2003. But we must pay continued attention to Iraq - and to the deteriorating situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan, from which Iraq has too long distracted us. If we don't, we'll squander a precious chance to use the searing heat of a presidential election cycle to generate the light we need to see Iraq more clearly.

Telegraph.co.uk: Europe idle as US battles meltdown - by Ambrose Evans - Pritchard

For the complete report from the Telegraph click on this link

Europe idle as US battles meltdown - by Ambrose Evans - Pritchard

It is the first time since the Great Depression that the US Fed has stepped in directly to absorb credit losses, crossing a line deemed unthinkable just months ago. The dramatic late-night move on Sunday required dredging up Article 13 (3) of the Federal Reserve Act, which allows the Fed to shower money on almost anybody it wishes by a vote of five governors in "unusual and exigent circumstances".Jean-Michel Six, chief Europe economist at Standard & Poor's, said the Europeans were in no mood to rescue America. "There is monetary war going on. The ECB view is that Fed is a victim of its own mistakes and should pay for its past crimes. Frankly, they don't see why they should be cutting rates when inflation (3.3pc) is accelerating," he said.

There are now echoes of October 1987 when the German Bundesbank (and therefore Europe) refused to ease monetary policy, even though the dollar was in freefall and Wall Street was fragile. The spat was the backdrop to the Black Monday crash.

Note EU-Digest: The ECB is on the right track, the problems of the US economy are of the US her own making. If the ECB cuts the interest rates in Europe, inflation would rise and Europe's economy would also spiral into disaster.

The Arkansas Traveler: Iraq - Troop surge in Iraq not successful, historian said - "US replaced Sadam by 50 new Sadams" - by Cole Bockenfeld

For the complete report from the Arkansas Traveler click on this link

Iraq - Troop surge in Iraq not successful, historian said - "US replaced Sadam by 50 new Sadams: - by Cole Bockenfeld

The troop surge in Iraq is not nearly as successful as the media portrays it to be, a Middle East historian said in a lecture Monday in Giffels Auditorium. In "The Iraq Surge One Year On," Chris Toensing, editor of the Middle East Report, disputed assertions by neo - conservatives in the media concerning the "apparent success of the surge." He said the war in Iraq is far from over. The claims of success are correctly based on two figures - the decrease in the number of violent deaths in Iraq and the increase in Sunnis cooperating with American forces to fight al-Qaida, he said. Although American and Iraqi casualties have decreased by about half from a year ago, Toensing said the number of violent attacks is still high, and the current number of 500 civilian deaths a month is very violent by any standard.

The second factor - that Sunni Arabs are turning against al-Qaida fighters - is a phenomenon that began before the surge of American troops. The "Anbar Awakening" and other similar movements have about 72,000 "armed, concerned local citizens," Toensing said. The U.S. military is paying about 60,000 of them $300 per month, in addition to arming and training them to fight, he said. The "awakenings" of Sunni leaders allying with the U.S. has a strong "mercenary" aspect to it, Toensing said. Tribal bands are helping quell violence in their areas, but are setting up independent fiefdoms to take over the lucrative black market, which is being used to finance al-Qaida attacks, he said. There has been a localization of politics, and many Iraqis feel the U.S. invaded to replace one Saddam with 50 Saddams - ruthless local leaders that often act independently of the central government,

News.com.au: George W Bush, White House told 935 lies after September 11

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George W Bush, White House told 935 lies after September 11

US President George W Bush and other top officials issued almost one thousand false statements about the national security threat from Iraq following the September 11 attacks, according to a study by two not-for-profit organisations. The Associated Press reports the study, published on the website of the Centre for Public Integrity, concluded the statements “were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanised public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretences”.

According to the study, 935 false statements were issued by the White House in the two years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.“The cumulative effect of these false statements – amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts – was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war,” the study concluded.

EU-Digest: Iraq Coalition Casualties: IRAQ - December 2007 - 4204 total of which 3897 US soldiers

For the complete report from the Iraq Coalition Casualties report click on this link

IRAQ - December 2007 - 4204 total of which 3897 US soldiers

During the above period there have also been been 38,876 wounded and 132 suicides. Twenty percent of the U.S. troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan come from the Army National Guard. Many are from small towns, and go to war alongside family and friends.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the strain of the war in Iraq is increasingly forcing senior Pentagon leaders to be blunter about the military's inability to sustain war operations indefinitely, a shift in tone that may mean more troops come home sooner.The Army is expected to grow to 547,000 soldiers by 2010, and Casey has left the door open for an even bigger increase beyond that. But time is running short for the Army now, Mr. McCaffrey says. "We can probably sustain a force in Iraq indefinitely (given adequate funding) of some 10-plus brigades," McCaffrey wrote in a post-trip report. "However, the US Army is starting to unravel."

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Friday painted a bleak picture of the situation of children in Iraq, where an estimated 2 million boys and girls continue suffer from poor nutrition, disease and interrupted education. Thousands of families have been obliged to leave their homes because of violence or threats, and hundreds of children have lost their lives in the violence, UNICEF said in a press release. Iraq Body Count’s research shows that 27,000 civilian deaths from violence were reported in 2006. This represents a huge increase compared to preceding years: 14,000 killed in 2005, 10,500 in 2004 and just under 12,000 in 2003 (7,000 during the actual war/invasion, and another 5,000 during the ‘peace’ that followed). Early indications are that roughly 20,000 violent civilian deaths will be recorded for the first 9 months of 2007. By year’s end, 2007 looks to be the second-worst calendar year for violence in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, trailing only behind 2006, and still almost twice as deadly for civilians as the first year.

LA Times: Iraq calmer, but more divided - by Ned Parker

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Iraq calmer, but more divided - by Ned Parker

The U.S. troop buildup in Iraq was meant to freeze the country's civil war so political leaders could rebuild their fractured nation. Ten months later, the country's bloodshed has dropped, but the military strategy has failed to reverse Iraq's disintegration into areas dominated by militias, tribes and parties, with a weak central government struggling to assert its influence.

Seattle.pi.com: IRAN - Bush has nothing to offer but scare tactics - by Marianne Means

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IRAN: Bush has nothing to offer but scare tactics - by Marianne Means

Bush stubbornly refuses to admit that the Iranian menace has changed. He had been told of the new information in August by national intelligence director Mike McConnell but went ahead anyway to beat the drums of war by raising the specter of World War III with Iran. Without the war scares, you see, what does he have to offer? The public has hit the mute button on him. Without scare tactics, his popularity would be even lower than its present 30 percent. And he was, after all, accustomed to a Central Intelligence Agency under the thumb of Vice President Dick Cheney, famous for seeing the worst in everything. Bush claimed not to know the details of the report until recent days. Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Joe Biden said he didn't believe Bush's excuse and that if Bush believes nothing has changed in the wake of the intelligence report, he is in denial.

AP: Ex Top US -Iraq Commander Says Bring Troops Home - by Ann Flaherty

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Ex-Top US Iraq Commander Says Bring Troops Home - by Ann Flaherty

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top commander in Iraq shortly after the fall of Baghdad, said this week he supports Democratic legislation that calls for most troops to come home within a year. His comments come as welcomed ammunition for the Democratic-controlled Congress in its standoff with the White House on war spending. This month, the House passed a $50 billion bill that would pay for combat operations but sets the goal that combat end by Dec. 15, 2008. The White House threatened to veto the measure, and Senate Republicans blocked it from passing.