Afghanistan more unstable
Tom Hyland; 13/8/08
Australian troops in southern Afghanistan face worsening security and their battlefield successes against the Taliban are not winning the support of local people, a confidential report and secret polling show. Coming less than a week after the sixth Australian soldier died in Afghanistan, the findings undermine claims of progress and reinforce Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s warning of more troop deaths. The Sun-Herald has obtained a confidential security report that warns the capital, Kabul, will become virtually cut off from the rest of the country and is likely to be the target of a “spectacular” terrorist attack.
See; http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/afghanistan-more-unstable/2008/07/12/1215658193726.html
Electrical deaths in Iraq blamed on contractor
13/7/08
A US military contractor in Iraq has been accused of recklessly causing the deaths of up to 14 US soldiers. A Senate Democratic policy committee was told army Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth was electrocuted in January, while showering. KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton, the firm once led by Vice-President Dick Cheney, was contracted to maintain facilities at the base and had been informed of electrical problems in the building but apparently failed to fix the problem. KBR is also linked to 13 other electrocution deaths in Iraq.
See: http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/electrical-deaths-in-iraq-blamed-on-contractor/2008/07/12/1215658193741.html
US ‘ignored’ warnings on detainees
Joby Warrick; 13/7/08
A CIA analyst warned the Bush Administration in 2002 that up to a third of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, might have been imprisoned by mistake, but White House officials ignored the finding and insisted that all were “enemy combatants”, subject to indefinite incarceration, according to a new book. The CIA assessment directly challenged the Administration’s claim that the detainees were all hardened terrorists - the “worst of the worst”, as then defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. But a top aide to US Vice-President Dick Cheney shrugged off the report and quashed proposals for a quick review of the detainees’ cases, author Jane Mayer writes in The Dark Side, scheduled for release this week.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/world/us-ignored-warnings-on-detainees-20080712-3e5j.html
Tags: Afghanistan, Australia, Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Mercenaries, Terrorism, USA