Iraq's Missing Billions: Scott Lucas on Al Jazeera's Inside Story

This week the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction reported that the Pentagon cannot account for almost 95% of $9.1 billion allocated by the United Nations, from revenues from the sale of Iraqi oil and gas, after the Iraq War in 2003. There are still no records for $2.6 billion.

I discussed the issue on Inside Story alongside Mundher Adhami, an analyst on Iraqi affairs, and Jeremy Carver, a board member of Tranparency International.

Iraq: The Billions of Disappearing US Reconstruction Dollars

UPDATED Afghanistan: At Least 45 Civilians Killed in Rocket Attack

UPDATE 27 July: From Reuters....

*Afghan government and NATO officials on Tuesday disputed each others' accounts of reports that over 50 civilians were killed after being caught up in fighting between foreign forces and Taliban insurgents.

Government spokesman Siamak Herawi said 52 people, many women and children, were killed by a NATO-rocket attack on Friday in Sangin, Helmand province, but the NATO-led force said a preliminary investigation had not yet revealed any civilian casualties....

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Herawi said information that 52 civilians had been killed came from the country's intelligence service in the district.

Karzai strongly condemned the attack and asked NATO troops to prioritize the protection of civilians in their military campaign, his office said in a statement citing the same casualty figures for the attack.

ISAF, however, insisted that a joint investigation with the Afghan government had so far found no evidence of civilian deaths, while a provincial official suggested local residents could even have made it up....

An ISAF spokeswoman said the team was still in the area, trying to establish the truth.



"We take any civilian casualty very seriously but there was no report of operational activity in Rigi," said Lt. Cmdr. Katie Kendrick.*

Amidst the chatter over the Wikileaks "War Diary" of 91,000 documents on the military intervention in Afghanistan, Al Jazeera reports that a rocket attack on an Afghan village last Friday killed at least 45 civilians, including women and children.

Waheed Omar, a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said an investigation was underway to determine who was responsible for the attack in Sangin district in the southern province of Helmand.

According to witnesses, helicopter gunships fired on villagers who had been told by fighters to leave their homes, as a firefight with the International Security Assistance Force loomed.

According to witness accounts, men, women and children fled to Regey village and were fired on from helicopter gunships as they took cover.

Abdul Ghafar, 45, who said he lost "two daughters and one son and two sisters" in the attack, claimed that the gunship fired on areas of shelter: "Helicopters started firing on the compound killing almost everyone inside. We rushed to the house and there were eight children wounded and around 40 to 50 others killed.".

The BBC said it sent an Afghan reporter to Regey to interview residents, who described the attack and said they had buried 39 people.

Colonel Wayne Shanks, an ISAF spokesman, said the location of the reported deaths was "several kilometres away from where we had engaged enemy fighters". An investigation team dispatched after the casualty reports emerged "had accounted for all the rounds that were shot at the enemy....We found no evidence of civilian casualties."

UPDATED Iraq: 46 Killed in Attacks on Sahwa Militia (Al Jazeera)

UPDATE 1950 GMT: In a separate incident, a suicide bomber stormed a local Sahwa militia headquarters in the far western town of Qaim, near the Syrian border, and opened fire on those inside.

The attacker was wounded by return fire but then blew himself up as the militiamen gathered around him, killing three and wounding six others.



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The latest on this morning's bomb targeting the Sahwa ("Awakening) militia:

A suicide bomber has killed at least 43 people and wounded another 40 in western Baghdad, Iraqi police told Al Jazeera.

The attack on Sunday occurred when members of the government-backed Sahwa militia lined up to be paid at an office in the Sunni district of Radwaniya.

The Sahwa militia, or "Awakening Movement", took up arms against al-Qaeda in late 2006 with US backing.

Its fighters, recruited from among tribesmen and former anti-government fighters, is credited with turning the tide in the war against al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Control of the Sahwa passed to Iraq in October 2008, and their  wages - said to have been cut from $300 under US leadership  to $100 - have been paid, often late, by the Shia-led government.

Read rest of article....

UPDATED Gaza Latest: Is Aid Ship On Its Way or Going Back to Egypt?

UPDATE 1930 GMT: Al Jazeera reports that the ship "now appears bound for the Egyptian port of El-Arish, on the Sinai peninsula. The Israeli navy warned the vessel on Tuesday to change course, and said it had 'begun preparations for stopping the ship'."

UPDATE: The Amalthea has now reportedly changed course back to el-Arish in Egypt. Its location can be tracked through a map on Electronic Intifada.

The tale of the Amalthea, the ship laden with aid for Gaza, has gone through literal twists and turns today. One of the ship's owners, Greek businessman Aleksei Angeolopoulos, said in an interview with the Arabic newspaper Ashraq al-Awsat that Amalthea would unload its humanitarian goods in the Egyptian port of el-Arish if permission to reach Gaza was denied. However, in the afternoon, the ship refused to alter its destination when it was confronted by an Israeli vessel which ordered to dock in Egypt's el-Arish port.

Gaza Latest: Israel’s Flotilla Enquiry, Germans Ban Turkey’s IHH, & Libyan Aid Ship

Stating that the ship was carrying only humanitarian materials, Angeolopoulos said:

If Israel wants, the Israeli navy is invited to board the ship and to search it so that they can see with their own eyes that it is only carrying food and allow it to continue to the port of Gaza.

The ship is planning to reach Gaza on Wednesday.