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BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 4, 2007

Iraq Cabinet OKs Oil Bill

U.S. Helicopter Shot Down, 2 Aboard Rescued With Only Minor Injuries

By Lindsay Goldwert
    • Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, center, presides over the cabinet meeting in Baghdad on July 3, 2007.

      Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, center, presides over the cabinet meeting in Baghdad on July 3, 2007.  (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

    • A man is treated after being hurt in a car bomb blast in Kirkuk, Iraq, 180 miles north of Baghdad, on July 3, 2007. A car bomb that targeted a police colonel's convoy killed two bystanders and wounded 17 other people.

      A man is treated after being hurt in a car bomb blast in Kirkuk, Iraq, 180 miles north of Baghdad, on July 3, 2007. A car bomb that targeted a police colonel's convoy killed two bystanders and wounded 17 other people.  (AP)

    • Children play war games in the streets of Baghdad, July 2, 2007, mirroring real-life violence.

      Children play war games in the streets of Baghdad, July 2, 2007, mirroring real-life violence.  (AP)

    • An Iraqi youth reacts as a U.S. Bradley fighting vehicle erupts in flames in Baghdad on July 2, 2007, after it was struck by a roadside bomb, according to eyewitnesses. There were no reports on casualties.

      An Iraqi youth reacts as a U.S. Bradley fighting vehicle erupts in flames in Baghdad on July 2, 2007, after it was struck by a roadside bomb, according to eyewitnesses. There were no reports on casualties.  (AP)

    • Men clean up after a blast in the district of Binouk in Baghdad, July 3, 2007. Seven people died and 33 were wounded when a car bomb exploded there on Monday evening.

      Men clean up after a blast in the district of Binouk in Baghdad, July 3, 2007. Seven people died and 33 were wounded when a car bomb exploded there on Monday evening.  (AP)

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(CBS/AP)  Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Cabinet approved a draft oil law and the Iraqi parliament was to begin debate on the measure Wednesday, a major sign of progress in a long-delayed political benchmark sought by the U.S. to boost reconciliation between Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites.

For months, Washington has pressed al-Maliki to quickly pass the oil law and other pieces of legislation that are considered a vital part of President Bush's attempts to end Iraq's turmoil — alongside a security crackdown by an increased U.S. military force.

But the law, which is to define the distribution of Iraq's oil wealth, has been tied up in bickering between Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties in al-Maliki's deeply divided ruling coalition, frustrating U.S. officials as American support for the war has waned.


In other recent developments:

  • The military said Tuesday that U.S. forces waged a large battle with gunmen near the western Sunni city of Ramadi over the weekend, in fighting that left 23 insurgents dead. The insurgents had massed on Donkey Island, a patch of land in a canal outside the city, and opened fire on U.S. troops, prompting the gun battle Saturday. Troops found caches of weapons, explosives and suicide vests, the military said.

  • Security forces in northern Iraq's Kurdistan, the heartland of the Kurdish minority long tormented by Saddam Hussein, routinely torture detainees with beatings and electric shocks and hold hundreds of prisoners for long periods without charge, a human rights group says. The Human Rights Watch report - based on interviews conducted from April to October 2006 with more than 150 detainees - demanded a comprehensive overhaul of detention practices in the Kurdish region. "We are surprised that the Kurds are practicing such violations after they were victims of torture during the Saddam era," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for Human Rights Watch.

  • With hundreds of civilian contractors killed in Iraq since the war began, some lawmakers are taking a closer look at the costs and benefits of hiring private soldiers. CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick reports a new movie sparked some of that scrutiny. Podcast

  • A U.S. military Kiowa attack helicopter was shot down by insurgents south of Baghdad on Monday, the U.S. military said in a statement. An Apache helicopter rescued the craft's two pilots, who were not seriously hurt, according to the U.S. military, which says that after the rescue, it dropped two 500-pound, laser-guided bombs on the downed aircraft to destroy it. The incident is under investigation.

  • Also Monday, the U.S. military announced the deaths of two Marines it said were killed in a non-combat accident in Anbar province in Iraq. No details were given. The deaths bring to 3,585 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

  • A U.S. military official is charging that Iran is using the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah as a "proxy" to arm Shiite militants in Iraq and that the Quds force — an elite military force in Iran — had prior knowledge of a January attack in Karbala in which five Americans died.

  • In Baghdad, an Iraqi army lieutenant colonel and an Interior Ministry intelligence officer were killed in separate drive-by shootings Tuesday, police said. A car bomb hit the convoy of an Iraqi police colonel in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing two passers-by and wounding 17, though the colonel survived, police in the city said.

    Continued



    © MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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    More From Iraq After Saddam

    Add a Comment See all 19 Comments
    by prinzowhales July 3, 2007 5:13 PM EDT
    NavyChief8- Here is another link to a story regarding looting and the shooting of security guards by US forces. Its not one of the ones I remember, but contains much of the same information:

    http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack/2003/0415looting.htm
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 July 3, 2007 4:32 PM EDT

    Re: "A U.S. military official is charging that Iran is using the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah as a "proxy" to arm Shiite militants in Iraq and that the Quds force %u2014 an elite military force in Iran"

    Judging from 99.99% of the information presented by our 'military officials' and 'intelligence' officials in the past; information ranging from embarrassingly incorrect to intentionally deceptive, it seems safe to conclude that these current allegations are equally weak and baseless.

    This looks like more product of operation 'Fail and Blame'.
    Reply to this comment
    by minminmin-2009 July 3, 2007 4:26 PM EDT
    Agree with bluestardad....where can we find more info about the oil bill? I, for one, want to know what's in it, and who it benefits. Anyone?
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales July 3, 2007 3:34 PM EDT
    NavyChief8--Here's one BBC article on Americans encouraging looters. I'll continue to rumage through the 2003 news to find the articles-- the services don't seem to be keeping them readily available on line when I click the links to these stories.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3003393.stm
    Reply to this comment
    by killtheliars July 3, 2007 2:36 PM EDT
    I hope the Iraqis kick all of the oil companies out of Iraq. Exxon, Texaco, and BP do not deserve to make a dime off of the oil in Iraq.
    Reply to this comment
    by navychief8 July 3, 2007 2:10 PM EDT
    When the Americans firt entered Baghdad, they shot security guards and over loudspeakers invited the Shi'ia to loot and pillage government offices and museums...but they carefully guarded the Oil Ministry--not the hundreds of arms depots all over the country

    Posted by Prinzowhales at 10:47 AM : Jul 03, 2007

    And You personnaly know this How? yes, they did guard the oil ministry. But the part about the loud speakers and encouraging the Shi'ia to loot. I don't think so. Read "Operation Cobra II" It is an unbiased account of the invasion and conduct of the war.

    me thinks you are trying to stir an already stirred pot.



    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales July 3, 2007 1:47 PM EDT
    When the Americans firt entered Baghdad, they shot security guards and over loudspeakers invited the Shi'ia to loot and pillage government offices and museums...but they carefully guarded the Oil Ministry--not the hundreds of arms depots all over the country

    We're there for the oil...and the privatization of the Iraqi people's wealth...in the hands of the Anglo-American elites and their buddies on the Continent. The same people who took the Russian people to the cleaners with the vile Gorbachev and drunkard Yeltsin. The same people who are behind the privatization schemes in the US.

    When the Iraqis finally end the occupation and elect a new government, the first act of a free and united Iraq should be to renounce all debts of Iraq, to nullify all contracts with the internationalist corporations and seize their assets, to throw out all of the embassies of the 'Coalition partners' in crime.

    The lives and treasure of America are wasted for the privatization schemes, the self-dealing, the villany of Bush, Cheney and their Neo-Con partners in crime.

    Reply to this comment
    by bluestardad July 3, 2007 1:45 PM EDT
    READ THIS REPORT GUYS!

    A CABINET OFFICE PUT TOGETHER A DRAFT OIL BILL TO BRING BEFORE THE IRAQI CONGRESS! IT DOES NOT SAY WHAT IS IN IT OR EVEN WHEN IT WILL GO TO THE FLOOR FOR DEBATE!

    STEP AWAY FROM THE KOOL AID!
    Reply to this comment
    by navychief8 July 3, 2007 1:25 PM EDT
    Iraq Cabinet OKs Oil Bill
    U.S. Helicopter Shot Down, 2 Aboard Rescued With Minor Injuries


    Don't you love the way CBS can weave to completly opposite stories togother. One positive the other negative. So we as readers can have a hard time making an unbiased judgement. "Is it good, is it bad" "progress, or failure" It is like they are trying to sit on the "fence" with their reporting.
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales July 3, 2007 12:59 PM EDT
    WMDs in Iraq...Hussein can hit London in 45 minutes...death drones...al Qaeda ties with Hussein...

    ...Sure, My real name is General Delusion and I believe General Bergner...Hezbollah is a Quds Force surrogate and they are Iran's surrogate in Iraq and Quds Force knew of the Karbala attack in advance...Sure. No evidence is presented, so the accusation of my colleague and neccessary complement, General Bergner, cannot be refuted.

    Attention all Hindus! Iran killed the cow that jumped over the moon and she is kubideh! You must now side with your good friends, the British.

    We have come to free the Iraqis...with our 14 permanent bases for the occupation of Iraq...from radio intercepts from General Bergner to General Delusion. Its all true, I can vouch for General Bergner, and he can vouch for me...
    Reply to this comment
    by navychief8 July 3, 2007 12:08 PM EDT
    Gee, wish I could comment on the Libby story.
    Guess this is a
    Censored
    Built
    Site

    Happy 4th
    Posted by rushlimpdrug at 07:23 AM : Jul 03, 2007

    Uh........ you can! Don't know what you talking about.
    Reply to this comment
    by bluestardad July 3, 2007 11:17 AM EDT
    CBS IS KEEPING US FROM COMMENTING ON THOSE STORIES THAT WILL GENERATE THE MOST CONTROVERSITY!
    Reply to this comment
    by nunesbras July 3, 2007 10:34 AM EDT
    I DONT WANNA COMMENT THIS HEADLINE. I WANNA COMMENT ABOUT THE CLINTONS IN IOWA. THAT BLONDIE HEAD AS PRESIDENT OF THE US IS EVERYTHING TERRORISTS ARE WAITING FOR, AFTER ALL DURING HER HUSBAND ERA AL-QAEDA WAS ON TOP OF THE WORLD.
    Reply to this comment
    by rushlimpdrug July 3, 2007 10:23 AM EDT
    Gee, wish I could comment on the Libby story.
    Guess this is a
    Censored
    Built
    Site

    Happy 4th
    Reply to this comment
    by rharrin1 July 3, 2007 10:19 AM EDT
    Bush's statement made no mention of the term "pardon," and he made clear that he was not willing to wipe away all penalties for Libby.

    With all the money bush and cheney have made on their oil war $ 250,000.00 is nothing they could lose that every day and never miss it.

    Equal justice for all everybody.

    One crook protecting another crook.
    Reply to this comment
    by radiob-2009 July 3, 2007 10:14 AM EDT
    rharrin1

    It has been doing so since the first attempt of a attack on the UK. Sites open up for posting and in no time they are closed. Either hate filled rhetoric is occuring or CBS has decided to close some of the sites that would generate controversy.
    Reply to this comment
    by rharrin1 July 3, 2007 10:06 AM EDT
    Why is cbs blocking the other sites?
    Reply to this comment
    by rharrin1 July 3, 2007 10:02 AM EDT
    Why didn't bush pardon Paris Hilton?
    Was he afraid ole scooter would learn how to talk in jail?
    How many pardons did he give out as governor?
    Once again bush slaps America across the face and spits in her eye.
    As I have said before Al Capone would be green with envy to what this gang has got Al had to bribe officials these just say it's ok.
    Some justice system.
    Reply to this comment
    by rharrin1 July 3, 2007 9:51 AM EDT
    More fabrication to justify being there.
    Reply to this comment
    See all 19 Comments
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