Iraq Cabinet OKs Oil Bill
Afghans look at a damaged vehicle after it was hit by a road side bomb in Deh Bala district of Jalalabad east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 30, 2012. Three district government employees were killed by a roadside bomb as they were traveling to work Wednesday morning in eastern Nangarhar province's Deh Bala district, said district chief Asrarullah. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) / Rahmat Gul
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. 
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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.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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:
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http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack/2003/0415looting.htm
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'.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3003393.stm
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.
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.
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!
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.
...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...