Excerpts from Democracy Now:
U.S. Broke Human Rights Law By Arming Iraqi Militias
In news on Iraq, an internal State Department review has determined U.S. officials are doling out millions of dollars of arms and ammunition to Iraqi police units without ensuring the units are complying with U.S. laws that ban taxpayer-financed assistance for foreign security forces engaged in human-rights violations. The Chicago Tribune reports officials failed to take steps to comply with the laws over the past two years, amid mounting reports of torture and murder by Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy crafted the law in the early 1990s after disclosures of widespread abuse by U.S.-supported forces in Latin America.
Report: U.S. Military is Planning a "Second Liberation of Baghdad"
In other news on Iraq, the London Times reports the U.S. military is planning a "second liberation of Baghdad" in order to try to pacify the city. This comes as a new report by the Inter Press Service found that the morgue in Baghdad is now receiving over 85 bodies on an average day. Scores of family members gather outside the morgue each day to see if their missing loved ones are among the dead.
U.S. Builds Massive New Iraqi Embassy
Meanwhile construction on the massive new U.S. embassy in Baghdad is a third complete. The fortress-like compound will be the largest U.S. embassy in the world. The complex will contain 21 buildings spread over 100 acres. With a staff of over 5,000 the embassy will resemble a small town on the Tigris River. It will contain its own defense force, water wells, electricity plant and wastewater-treatment facility
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