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[Against Barack Obama] Barack Obama’s Iraq Problem: The United States would make it clear that Iraq and America share a common interest in achieving sustainable stability in Iraq, and that the United States is willing to help support the Iraqi government and build its security and governance capacity over the long term, but only so long as Iraqis continue to make meaningful political progress.” It’s impossible to know if this persuasive document mirrors Obama’s current thinking, but here’s a clue: it was co-written by one of his Iraq advisers, Colin Kahl.

 [Alternative News & Media: Daily Breaking News] US Advised Iraqi Ministry on Oil Deals: Advisers from the State, Commerce, Energy and Interior Departments are assigned to work with the Iraqi Oil Ministry, according to the senior diplomat. In addition, the United States Agency for International Development has a contract for Management Systems International, a Washington consulting firm, to advise the oil and other ministries.

 [Newsupdate] Obama's Iraq Problem: He will rely upon a plan - an operational plan - that he pulls together in consultation with people who are on the ground." Last month, the Center for a New American Security, which has become something like Obama's foreign-policy think tank, released a report that argued against a timetable for withdrawal, regardless of the state of the war, and in favor of "conditional engagement," declaring, "Under this strategy, the United States would not withdraw its forces based on a firm unilateral schedule. Rather, the time horizon for redeployment would be negotiated with the Iraqi government and nested within a more assertive approach to regional diplomacy.

 [Roundup: Historians' Take] Tom Engelhardt: The Good News in Iraq (Don't Count on It): We have no idea how that figure of more than 3,000 dead Iraqis was gathered (given that we're talking about an air unit), or what percentage of those dead were actually civilians, but certainly some among them died in the recent fighting in heavily populated Sadr City. In any case, consider that number for a moment: One modest-sized Army air unit/one year = 3,000+ dead Iraqis.

 [these words that make you fall away] Political rant // why I hate mainstream news.: The Times recently reported the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company””Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP”” as well as Chevron, are on the verge of getting no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest oil fields. In their role as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, American government lawyers and private-sector consultants provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts.

[eclipptv Blog] Invisible Hand: Washington Role in Iraq Oil Deal Revealed: Although the denial of Washington meddling was the usual outright lie - “advisers from the State, Commerce, Energy and Interior Departments are assigned to work with the Iraqi Oil Ministry,” the Times reports - on the second point, the Secretary of State was not just flapping her gums: the backroom, no-bid contracts are indeed designed entirely for the benefit of the private sector —

 [MediaMouse.org: Grand Rapids, Michigan News and Independent Media] National and International Headlines for June 30: The Times recently reported the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company--Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP-- as well as Chevron, are on the verge of getting no-bid contracts to service Iraq's largest oil fields. In their role as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, American government lawyers and private-sector consultants provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts.

 [Marine Corps Community for USMC Veterans] Want democracy in Iraq? Culture matters.: But Iraq is an Arab country, and no Arab country has yet been able to consolidate democracy, and that includes Jordan and Lebanon, the two that are most developed. Literacy rates illustrate the difficulty of modernizing Iraq: in 2003/04, 57 percent of women in 15 Arab countries were literate.

[Clinton Democrats] Obama Senior Policy Advisors Advocated for War with Iraq: Administration of post-war Iraq should from the beginning include not only Americans but officials from those countries committed to our goals in Iraq. Bringing different nationalities into the administrative organization is important because it allows us to draw on the expertise others have acquired from their own previous peacekeeping and reconstruction efforts.

 [Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for President] RFK Jr.’s News of the Week: Led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the report represents the most extensive assessment yet of how global warming will impact North Americans in the future, synthesizing the findings of more than 100 academic papers, including the latest scientific evidence which wasn’t considered in the most recent IPCC assessment. The report confirms that manmade global warming pollution has caused an increased frequency of heat waves, droughts, severe rainfall, and fierce hurricanes, and that there is a 90 percent likelihood that the frequency and intensity of such extreme weather events will continue to accelerate unless immediate action is taken to slow global warming pollution.

 [Chrisy58's Weblog] US Advised Iraqi Ministry on Oil Deals: Advisers from the State, Commerce, Energy and Interior Departments are assigned to work with the Iraqi Oil Ministry, according to the senior diplomat. In addition, the United States Agency for International Development has a contract for Management Systems International, a Washington consulting firm, to advise the oil and other ministries.

 [NO QUARTER] Red Dirt Talk - Part 2, the Positions (1): Apparently, even the Libyan President-for-Life Muammar Gadafy gets it: “The statements of our Kenyan brother of American nationality Obama on Jerusalem … show that he either ignores international politics and did not study the Middle East conflict or that it is a campaign lie.”

 [vajoe.com] Good News from Iraq!: KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE ”” While Iraqi Air Force pilots continue flying sorties to aid stability in their nation, Iraqi maintainers on the ground here have achieved important benchmarks to keep their fleet in the air. Airmen with the Iraqi Air Force’s 3rd Squadron took over a wide variety of maintenance duties on the unit’s Cessna 208 Caravan fleet that’s used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, a task formerly performed by U.S. contractors.

 [politicalbase.com Blog] Has The 'Daddy' Party Become The '90-Pound Weakling' Party?: First, I was amused by the faux outrage by McCain supporters over at Digg and at least one reader here over my previous post, where I asked whether Barack Obama (D) would have received the same pass as John McCain's (R) if he too followed such an odd pattern of non-American methods of campaigning?\r\n

 [Chrisy58's Weblog] How Does President Bush Lie?: Another example is the now infamous nuclear reference from Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address: “Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” Not only was this refuted twice in early 2002 ”” by former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV and by French intelligence ”” but the CIA’s National Intelligence Council investigated and told the White House four days before the address that “the Niger [Africa] story is baseless and should be laid to rest.” So the administration knew the claim was false, used it anyway and when caught, issued a collective “oops.” Although these speeches are vetted by Bush staffers, State, Defense, National Security and the CIA, it just slipped through.

[Good People Better Rise Up!] Oil!: The advisers -- who, along with the diplomatic official, spoke on condition of anonymity -- say that their involvement was only to help an understaffed Iraqi ministry with technical and legal details of the contracts and that they in no way helped choose which companies got the deals.

[Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]] Sunday best: United States Special Operations Forces have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since last year. These have included seizing members of Al Quds, the commando arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and taking them to Iraq for interrogation, and the pursuit of “high-value targets” in the President’s war on terror, who may be captured or killed.

 [The Glittering Eye] Prudence as Hypocrisy: Last month, the Center for a New American Security, which has become something like Obama’s foreign-policy think tank, released a report that argued against a timetable for withdrawal, regardless of the state of the war, and in favor of “conditional engagement,” declaring, “Under this strategy, the United States would not withdraw its forces based on a firm unilateral schedule. Rather, the time horizon for redeployment would be negotiated with the Iraqi government and nested within a more assertive approach to regional diplomacy.

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