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Being as how they provide security for diplomats, that's a sticky wicket for the US. There is definitely a place for contractors, but they can no longer operate without oversight and accountability.

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BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials nullified election results in more than 30 polling stations due to fraud in last month's provincial balloting, but the cases were not significant enough to require a new vote in any province, the election chief said Sunday.

Faraj al-Haidari said final results of the Jan. 31 voting would be certified and announced this week.

Preliminary official results announced Feb. 5 showed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ticket swept to victory over Shiite religious parties in Baghdad and southern Iraq — a strong endorsement of his crackdown on Shiite extremists.

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As far as Iraq in particular is concerned, it is my humble opinion that we should have been there much sooner then we were. When we went to Iraq the first time in the 1990’s, we went because they showed aggression towards all the surrounding countries, and took over Kuwait. We went there at the request of all the surrounding countries to aid in there protection.

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In my opinion, when he took that course of action, then we had a duty to go in and DEFEAT Iraq. I was always disappointed when it took so long to do that.

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"It was horrible -- some of the worst electrical work I've ever seen," said Jim Childs, a master electrician and the top civilian expert in an Army safety survey. Childs told CNN that "with the buildings the way they are, we're playing Russian roulette."

Childs recently returned from Iraq, where he is taking part in a yearlong review aimed at correcting electrical hazards on U.S. bases. He told CNN that thousands of buildings in Iraq and Afghanistan are so badly wired that troops are at serious risk of death or injury.

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Of the nearly 30,000 buildings the Army's "Task Force Safe" has examined so far, Childs said more than half "failed miserably." And 8,527 had such serious problems that inspectors gave them a "flash" warning, meaning repairs had to be completed in four hours or the facility evacuated.

He said the majority of those buildings were wired by contractor KBR, based in Houston, Texas. KBR has faced extensive criticism from Congress over its performance in the war zone. KBR has defended its performance and argued it was not to blame for any fatalities.

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Pfc. Justin Shults shows some of the burn wounds he received after being electrocuted in a shower facility in Iraq, in this photo taken in January in San Antonio, Texas. Shults suffered third-degree burns on 13-percent of his body. He is suing contractor KBR Inc. for faulty wiring of the facility.

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At least three soldiers have been killed while showering since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Scores more suffered shocks between September 2006 and July 2008. That's according to a database maintained by KBR Inc., the Houston-based contractor which oversees maintenance at most U.S. facilities in Iraq.

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ORIGINAL: tinydancer2

"More American women have fought and died in Iraq than in any war since World War II.

Over 206,000 have served in the Middle East since March 2003, most of them in Iraq. Some 600 have been wounded, and 104 have died. "

Women at war,The Lonely Soldier.

"According to several studies of the US military funded by the Department of Veteran Affairs, 30% of military women are raped while serving, 71% are sexually assaulted, and 90% are sexually harassed.

The Department of Defense acknowledges the problem, estimating in its 2009 annual report on sexual assault (issued last month) that some 90% of military sexual assaults are never reported."

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain officially handed over authority of Basra to Iraq on Thursday, marking the end of combat operations in the country after six years.

The 4,000 British forces in the southern city now will begin rapidly withdrawing over the next month, leaving just 400 who will lead specialist training with the Iraqi army and navy, a spokesman for the British Ministry of Defence told CNN.

It means British combat troops will be out of Iraq before the announced deadline of July 31.

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BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq will not extend the June 30 deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from urban areas despite concerns about a resurgence of violence in recent weeks, a spokesman said Monday.

The government has insisted it is committed to the timeline laid out in a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that calls for American forces to pull back from urban areas by the summer and from the rest of the country by the end of 2011.

But a series of high-profile bombings have cast doubt on the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over security responsibilities. In particular, U.S. commanders have pointed to the volatile northern city of Mosul as a possible exception to the withdrawal plans. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, however, said the deadlines were "non-extendable."

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ORIGINAL: Goodwill

Are you for it or against it....what is your opinion about the war? do you think we went in with the right intensions? Discuss recent developments and your opinions.

just curious...and please lets remember that we are all (supposed to be) christians here so lets handle our selves like so...I love debate but hate arguing

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ORIGINAL: JesusLivesInYou

I just want to know what happened to the search for the person behind 9/11 (Osama bin Laden).

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - As the armored car carrying Westerners cut to the front of the line at a checkpoint into Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone, an enraged Iraqi leapt from his BMW and yelled at the occupants.

"Do that again and I'll call General Farouk. He'll take all your cards," the man shouted, before returning to his car.

He was talking about the cards issued by the U.S. military that since the 2003 invasion have placed mainly foreign security contractors and people associated with U.S. forces above Iraqi law -- and at the front of every queue.

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ORIGINAL: todd_t

It's going to be a rough transition for the Iraqis, and I'm not at all convinced that their police forces are up to the job.

But either way, the US can't babysit Iraq forever.

Sooner or later, they new government has to assume control for their country, and all its problems.

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ORIGINAL: wing2000

Saddam Hussein believed Iran was a significant threat to Iraq and left open the possibility that he had weapons of mass destruction rather than appear vulnerable, according to declassified FBI documents on interrogations of the former Iraqi leader.

"Hussein believed that Iraq could not appear weak to its enemies, especially Iran," FBI special agent George Piro wrote on notes of a conversation with Saddam in June 2004 about weapons of mass destruction.

...

Saddam also denied any connections to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who he called a "zealot," and cited North Korea as his most likely ally in a crunch, according to the documents.


http://www.reuters.com/article/gc08/idUSTRE56113O20090702

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Hussein criticized Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as a “zealot,” denied meeting him in Sudan in 1994, and said his country and the international terrorist franchise “did not have the same belief or vision.”