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KUWAIT News:
20080727
 Barack
Obama -  John
McCain -  Media
-  Politics
-  Iraq
-  Pakistan
-  Afghanistan
-  Iran
- Kuwait
-  Britain
-  US
-  Nuclear
-  Military
-  Terrorism
-  Gas
-  Money
-  2008
Election
"How
Obama Became Acting President." ... "The growing
[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama clout derives
not from national polls, where his lead is modest. Nor is it a gift from
the press, which still gives free passes to its old bus mate [2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain. It was laughable to watch
journalists stamp their feet last week to try to push Mr. Obama into saying
he was “wrong” about the surge. More than five years and 4,100 American
fatalities later, they’re still not demanding that Mr. McCain admit
he was wrong when he assured us that our adventure in Iraq would be fast,
produce little American “bloodletting” and “be paid for by the Iraqis.”"
... "Never mind. This election remains about the present and the future,
where Iraq’s $10 billion a month drain on American pocketbooks and military
readiness is just one moving part in a matrix of national crises stretching
from the gas pump to Pakistan." ... "First, on July 7, the Iraqi prime
minister, Nuri al-Maliki, dissed [Republican President] Bush dogma by raising
the prospect of a withdrawal timetable for our troops. Then, on July
15, Mr. McCain suddenly noticed that more
Americans are dying in Afghanistan than Iraq and called for more American
forces to be sent there. It was a long-overdue recognition of the obvious
that he could
no longer avoid: both Robert
Gates, the defense secretary [of Republican President Bush], and [Admiral]
Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had already
called for_more
American troops to battle the resurgent Taliban, echoing the policy
proposed by Mr. Obama a
year ago." ... "On July 17 we learned
that [Republican] President Bush, who had labeled
direct talks with Iran “appeasement,” would send
the No. 3 official in the State Department to multilateral nuclear talks
with Iran. Lest anyone doubt that the White House had moved away from the
rigid stand endorsed by Mr. McCain and toward Mr. Obama’s, a former Rumsfeld
apparatchik weighed in on The Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page: “Now
Bush Is Appeasing Iran.”" ... "Within 24 hours, the White House did
another U-turn, endorsing
an Iraq withdrawal timetable as long as it was labeled
a “general time horizon.” In a flash, as Mr. Obama touched
down in Kuwait, Mr. Maliki approvingly cited the Democratic candidate
by name while laying out a troop-withdrawal calendar of his own that, like
Mr. Obama’s, would wind down in 2010. On Tuesday, the British prime minister,
Gordon Brown, announced a major drawdown of his nation’s troops by early
2009." -By Frank Rich
-NYTimes
20080310
-
 Science
- Military
-  Pills
-  History
- San
Diego -  California
- US
- Iraq
- Kuwait
- "Gulf
War Illness Strongly Linked to Chemical Exposure."
... "A new scientific review finds a strong association between exposure
to certain chemicals and the Gulf War illness suffered by many veterans."
... "The class of chemicals, known as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs),
are found in pesticides, nerve agents and in pills given to soldiers to
protect against nerve agents. The review, which was conducted by researchers
at the University of California, San Diego, looked at 115 papers on the
topic." ... "Veterans of the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War have a higher rate
of "chronic multi-symptom health problems" than either non-deployed military
personnel or those deployed in other regions. In fact, 26 percent to 32
percent of personnel deployed to the Persian Gulf during this period have
chronic health problems, a range that may actually understate the magnitude
of the problem, according to the study, published in this week's issue
of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences." ... "Although
the exact causes remain unknown, evidence is mounting to suggest that exposure
to organophosphate and carbamate acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs),
including pyridostigmine bromide (PB), pesticides and nerve agents, may
be responsible." ... "SOURCES: Joy Ray Miller, Pharm.D., assistant professor,
pharmacy practice, Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy, Texas A&M
Health Science Center, Kingsville; March 10-14, 2008, Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences" -By Amanda Gardner
-HealthDay.com via -WashingtonPost
20071018
-
US
- Iraq
- Kuwait
- Charles
E Williams -
 Howard
Krongard
- Military
-  Government
- Construction
- Corporation
-  Criminal
- "Criminal
probe into U.S. Embassy in Iraq construction." ...
"A mortar shell smashed into the hulking new U.S. [United States] Embassy
that's under construction in Baghdad [Iraq's capital] last May, damaging
a wall and causing minor injuries to people inside the building. It also
exposed enormous problems in the management of what's become a $592 million
government construction project." ... "The State Department contractor
in charge of the project, James L. Golden, attempted to alter the scene
of the blast, according to government officials familiar with the incident.
The State Department inspector general prevented Department officials from
investigating the incident, according to interviews and documents." ...
"A congressional committee is examining whether the walls of the still-unfinished
embassy complex, which are supposed to be blast-resistant, performed as
they should have during the mortar attack." ... "U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker
banished Golden from Iraq, but he continues to oversee the construction
of the embassy in Baghdad; to be the liaison with the contractor, Kuwait-based
First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting Co.; and to supervise other
projects for the State Department's Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO)
bureau." ... "McClatchy Newspapers has also learned that:" ... "— Aspects
of the embassy's construction are the subject of at least one U.S. government
criminal investigation, according to officials in Congress and the administration."
... "— In order to rush the project, the long-time head of OBO, retired
Army Maj. Gen. [Major General] Charles Williams, signed a waiver in July
2005 allowing a sole-source contract to be awarded to First Kuwaiti." ...
"In a letter to State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard last
month, [California Democratic Representative Henry] Waxman said that former
and current staff members in Krongard's office told the committee that
he'd refused to help investigate alleged wrongdoing by First Kuwaiti and
an unnamed top State Department official." -By Warren
P. Strobel and
Jonathan S.
Landay -McClatchyDC.com
20071009
-
British
- Iraq
- Kuwait
- US
- Oil
-
 Sea
- Transportation
- Politics
- "British
pullout in Iraq leaves Basra in chaos." ... "The
British troop pullout from Iraq announced yesterday leaves Basra, Iraq's
second largest and most strategically important city, in near total chaos
both politically and militarily." ... "It comes at a time when at least
four Shia militias are fighting over the city, which is surrounded by most
of the nation's tremendous oil reserves and provides Iraq's only gateway
to the sea." ... "Equally vital for U.S. strategists, the city also controls
the southern portion of the road from Kuwait to Baghdad [Iraq's capital],
along which mostly all U.S. supplies are brought in." ... "[British] Prime
Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday Britain will cut its forces in Iraq
by half in the spring, shrinking the commitment of America's leading coalition
partner to just 2,500 troops engaged mainly in "training and mentoring"
of Iraqi forces. UK troops have been based solely in and around Basra."
-By Timothy M. Phelps
-Newsday.com
20071007
-
US
- Iraq
- Kuwait
- Construction
-
 Homes
-  Health
- Safety
-  Blackwater
- Military
- Politics
- "Iraq
Embassy Cost Rises $144 Million Amid Project Delays:
Planning, Workmanship Cited as Problems." ... "The massive U.S. embassy
under construction in Baghdad [Iraq's capital] could cost $144 million
more than projected and will open months behind schedule because of poor
planning, shoddy workmanship, internal disputes and last-minute changes
sought by State Department officials [under Republican President Bush],
according to U.S. officials and a department document provided to Congress."
... "The embassy, which will be the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in
the world, was budgeted at $592 million." ... "The growing price tag and
delayed opening have alarmed members of Congress, some of whom regard the
troubled project as the latest in a series of State Department management
problems in Iraq. The department has been criticized for failing to send
enough reconstruction specialists to assist U.S. forces in Baghdad and
for not providing adequate oversight of its principal private security
force, Blackwater USA, whose personnel have been accused of using excessive
force to protect U.S. diplomats." ... "Department officials contend that
some of the delays are a result of poor workmanship by the project's primary
contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trade and Contracting, a Middle Eastern
firm. Apparent building and safety blunders in a facility to house embassy
security guards have made it unsafe to open. Originally due to open last
December, the facility is still not operational because of formaldehyde
fumes in 252 prefabricated residential trailers." ... "A Sept. 18 internal
report on problems with the guard facility's electrical system, prepared
for Charles E. Williams, the director of building operations, suggested
that KBR, the former Halliburton subsidiary hired to run the facility,
was responsible for overloading the system." (1, 2)
-By Glenn Kessler -WashingtonPost
20070831
-
US
- Iraq
- Kuwait
- Government
- Army
- Money
-
 Accounting
- Politics
- "U.S.
Says Company Bribed Officers for Work in Iraq." ...
"An American-owned company operating from Kuwait paid hundreds of thousands
of dollars in bribes to American contracting officers in efforts to win
more than $11 million in contracts, the government says in court documents."
... "The Army last month suspended the company, Lee Dynamics International,
from doing business with the government, and the case now appears to be
at the center of a contracting fraud scandal that prompted Defense Secretary
Robert M. Gates to dispatch the Pentagon inspector general to Iraq to investigate."
... "A lawyer for the company denied the accusations." ... "The company
has been known as American Logistics Services." ... "The case is now part
of a broader investigation in which the Army has a high-level team reviewing
18,000 contracts valued at more than $3 billion that the Kuwait office
has awarded over four years." ... "As the case expands, investigators are
looking at the possibility that it has connections to what had appeared
to be a separate major corruption scandal. Last week, Maj. John Cockerham,
a former Army contracting officer in Kuwait, and his wife and his sister
were indicted on charges that they accepted up to $9.6 million in bribes
for defense contracts in Iraq and Kuwait." (1, 2)
-By Eric Schmitt and James Glanz with contributions
by Margot Williams -NYTimes
20070810
-
Secret
-
 Canadian
-  Syrian
- Kuwaiti
- United
States - Terrorism
- Prison
- Torture- Politics
- Immigration
-  New
York
- "Deported
Canadian Was No Threat, Report Shows." ... "Canadian
intelligence officials anticipated that the United States would ship Maher
Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian who was detained in New York in 2002 on suspicion
of terrorism, to a third country to be tortured, declassified information
released on Thursday shows." ... "Mr. Arar was sent by American intelligence
officials in October 2002 to Syria, where he was tortured and jailed for
a almost a year. Last September, an extensive Canadian inquiry concluded
that the terrorism accusations against him were groundless." ... "Portions
of the inquiry's report were originally removed for security and diplomatic
reasons. But a court ruled last month that much of the editing was not
justified." ... "The newly released sections indicate that neither the
Syrian government nor the Federal Bureau of Investigation were convinced
that Mr. Arar was a significant security threat. They also suggest that
the investigation of Mr. Arar was prompted by the coerced confession of
Ahmad Abou el-Maati, a Kuwaiti-born Canadian who was also imprisoned and
tortured in Syria. And despite claims by the United States government that
Mr. Arar s removal to Syria was mainly an immigration matter, the new material
suggests that the Central Intelligence Agency led the action." -By
Ian Austen -NYTimes
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Speech - 
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United
Arab Emirates - 
Israel
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Global
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Texas
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Saudi
Arabia - 
Qatar
- "UAE
gave $1 million to Bush library." ... "A sheik from
the United Arab Emirates contributed at least $1 million to the Bush Library
Foundation, which established the George Bush Presidential Library at Texas
A&M University in College Station." ... "The UAE owns Dubai Port Co.,
which is taking operations from London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam
Navigation Co., which operates six U.S. ports. A political uproar has ensued
over the deal, which the White House approved without congressional oversight."
... "Other Arab donors include the state of Kuwait, the Bandar bin Sultan
family [of Saudi Arabia], the Sultanate of Oman, King Hassan II of Morocco
and the amir of Qatar." -By Wendy Benjaminson
-AP via -HoustonChronicle.com
- 
- 
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- 
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- "Germany
Guarantees U.S. Fly-over Rights in Iraq War." ...
"Germany guaranteed U.S. troops fly-over rights in an Iraq war on Wednesday
despite its own opposition to an attack and warnings that military action
may breach international law." ... "Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder also rejected
opposition calls for a parliamentary vote on allowing German troops on
NATO reconnaissance flights over Turkey and on keeping nuclear and chemical
contamination detection units in Kuwait." -By David
Crossland -Reuters
