Marine cleared over Iraq massacre
5/6/08
A US marine has been cleared of covering up the massacre of 24 civilians in Iraq. Women and children were among those killed by US forces in the town of Haditha in 2005. The killings in Haditha are the most serious war crime allegations levelled at US forces since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Lieutenant Andrew Grayson, 27, was found not guilty by a jury on Wednesday of ordering photos of the slaughtered civilians to be deleted from army computers. Grayson, an intelligence officer, was not present when the Iraqis were shot dead by US marines on November 19, 2005, shortly after a roadside bomb killed a US soldier nearby.
See: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/440042B7-73A5-482A-A68F-21CDC97D0C22.htm
USA ‘plans permanent bases in Iraq’
5/6/08
Details have emerged of a deal between Washington and Baghdad that would allow the US forces to occupy permanent bases in Iraq, carry out military operations and have immunity from Iraqi law. The details, revealed in a report by The Independent, a British newspaper, on Thursday, is likely to prompt a violent backlash in the country. The deal would also cement the US military presence in Iraq and could prevent Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential hopeful, from making good on campaign promises to withdraw US troops if elected.
See: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E7746317-B6C6-4D42-B2DD-03BCDBC89D02.htm
Poor Iraqi Refugees Stuck in Syria, With No Way Home
Jonathan Finer & Jennifer Rikoski, 5/6/08
On our last day in Syria, our interpreter, Sameer, asked us a favor. “Please tell my brother not to go back to Baghdad,” he said. “He’ll be killed.”Sameer, 29, had spent 17 months as a translator for the US Army in his native Iraq before fleeing the country two years ago after someone nailed a death threat to his family’s door. He is in the final stages of a Byzantine process that we hope will lead to his resettlement in Texas. But his older brother, Duried, has been waiting for an interview with the international agencies that determine Iraqi refugees’ fates. He is running out of patience, hope and money.“I can survive here maybe three more months,” Duried later told us over tea in Sameer’s small apartment, echoing a sentiment we heard from dozens of Iraqis in Syria. “After that, I cannot even pay rent. Honestly, what choice do I have?”
See: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=110588&d=5&m=6&y=2008