be just

Garowe Online - Home : "MOGADISHU, Somalia June 7 (Garowe Online) - At least seven people were killed in overnight Friday clashes in Somalia's chaotic capital Mogadishu, witnesses said. Among the dead were three government soldiers and four insurgents. Witnesses in south Mogadishu said the fighting started after suspected insurgents hurled grenades at Somali and Ethiopian soldiers on foot patrol, instantly killing the three soldiers. Face-to-face combat erupted immediately, pitting joint Somali-Ethiopian troops against the Islamist rebels, who were forcefully routed out of the area minutes later. Witnesses said the dead soldiers' bodies were transported to the ex-ministry of defense compound, while the bodies of the dead insurgents lay on the ground as of Saturday morning."

NPP INCOME TAX CHART | National Priorities Project : "Enter the amount of federal income tax you paid during 2007 and see how the government spent the money. Note: Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding."

THE FOLLY OF ATTACKING IRAN : "The new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) has revealed the consensus of U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran abandoned nuclear weapons research in 2003 and has not restarted it. The NIE shows that European diplomatic efforts were successful in convincing Iran not to pursue nuclear weapons research (just as diplomacy has been successful in North Korea). Now that we know this, it is time for the U.S. to engage in real dialogue with Iran. Since we know that there is little risk Iran will develop a nuclear weapon soon, we know there is time to talk. However, despite the release of the NIE, the White House continues to hype the “danger” from Iran. Bush Administration officials continue to reject calls for real diplomacy with Iran."

THE FOLLY OF ATTACKING IRAN : "Stephen Kinzer is an award-winning foreign correspondent who has covered more than 50 countries on five continents. His articles and books have led the Washington Post to place him 'among the best in popular foreign policy storytelling.'"

Former high-ranking Bush officials enjoy war profits | Salon News : "May 29, 2008 | Richard L. Armitage, who served from 2001 to 2005 as Deputy Secretary of State, was a rarity in the Bush administration: an official who delighted in talking to the press. Reporters loved him for his withering criticism of the neoconservative zealots around President George W. Bush and in part because he fed them tidbits about the White House they could obtain nowhere else. His accidental disclosure to conservative columnist Robert Novak that Valerie Plame, the wife of Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson, was working undercover for the Central Intelligence Agency remains one of the most notorious leaks of the Bush era. But perhaps because of his cozy ties to the Washington press corps and the media's obsession with Plamegate, very little has been written about Armitage's extensive business dealings. In fact, Armitage is one of the most successful capitalists in Washington. He has successfully par...

The great divide - The National Newspaper She had been expelled from the majority Sunni town of Mahmudiya, she told me, after two of her sons were murdered. “The Mahdi Army are the only ones who gave me a shelter and they are protecting me and my daughters. The terrorists killed my sons with a car bomb. One of them was married and he left behind four children and I have twelve people to look after. May god bless the Mahdi Army.” “It is like a prison inside Washash,” one man said. “Tell me what is the difference between here and prison? We are surrounded by a wall which prevents us from going to other neighbourhoods. Our sons and daughters cannot go to the schools in the Arabi neighbourhood, which is the closest area. Only this wall divides us. What is the use of this wall? "Nobody is helping us. Nothing. No education, no electricity, no water. Our children are not going to schools anymore. The services we have are only through the help of the Sadrists, may god bless them. They are...