www.lifelike-music.com/goodie...008.mp3

Lifelike - January 2008

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24620260/

Sources: U.S. cuts off Iraqi politician Chalabi

Once a neocon favorite, he had 'unauthorized' contacts with Iran

Kianne Sadeq and Aram Roston
NBC News

May 14, 2008

Sources in Baghdad tell NBC News that as of this week American military and civilian officials have cut off all contact with controversial Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, the former favorite of Washington's once powerful neoconservatives.

The reason, the sources say, is "unauthorized" contacts with Iran's government...

Since September 2007, however, American military officials and civilian officials working out of the U.S. Embassy had contacts with Chalabi. At that time he was installed as the head of a "services" committee for Baghdad that was to coordinate the restoration of services to the city's residents.

Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the Multi-National Forces-Iraq, even escorted Chalabi on a trip, on U.S. helicopters, to address reconstruction issues. And American officials attended meetings with him and supported his efforts.

That contact and all support has ended as of this week, American officials tell NBC News. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

The U.S. Embassy had no comment, and a spokesman for the multinational force said any questions "related to Dr. Chalabi and his duties and status" should be addressed to the Iraqi government.

One spokesman for the government of Iraq said Chalabi had no government role and that the committees are not officially part of the government. Another said he was unaware of any change in Chalabi's status vis a vis the government.

A spokesman for Chalabi, Mohammed Hussein Al-Moussawi, insisted to NBC News that Chalabi continues to head two committees, operating out of a government office at the Ministries Council building.

"Dr. Chalabi was at his office," he said. In fact, Al-Moussawi said, on Tuesday "he held two meetings and continues his efforts." As for Chalabi's ties to Iran, Moussawi said, "his relations with the government of Iran are strictly diplomatic and in compliance with Iraqi government standards."

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thinkprogress.org/2008/03/0...bi-mccain/

FLASHBACK: McCain Called Chalabi ‘A Patriot’ With Iraq’s ‘Best Interests At Heart’

Think Progress

March 9, 2008

A new book by Aram Roston reveals that Chalabi supported John McCain (R-AZ) for president in 2000, believing that the senator would be the most receptive to his agenda. Muckraked reports: One of his key backers has been John McCain, who was one of the first patrons of Chalabi’s grand-sounding International Committee for a Free Iraq when it was founded in 1991. McCain was Chalabi’s favored candidate in the 2000 election since Chalabi knew that he would be able to free up the $97 million in military aid plus millions pushed through in Congress and earmarked for Chalabi’s exile group, the Iraqi National Congress, but held up by the Clinton State Department.

Indeed, McCain was a Chalabi backer long before President Bush took power. In 1997, he tried to pressure the Clinton administration into setting up an Iraqi government in exile. Despite opposition from the Pentagon and the State Department, the next fall, McCain co-sponsored the Iraq Liberation Act, committing the United States to overthrowing Saddam and funding opposition groups. According to a 2006 article by John Judis: McCain welcomed Ahmed Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), to Washington and pressured the administration to give him money. When General Anthony Zinni cast doubt upon the effectiveness of the Iraqi opposition, McCain rebuked him at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

In 2003, McCain joined four other Republican senators and asked Bush to “personally clear the bureaucratic roadblocks within the State Department” that blocked increased funding for the Chalabi’s group.

Also that year, McCain said of Chalabi, “He’s a patriot who has the best interests of his country at heart.”

youtube.com/watch

Björk - Hyperballad (live in Colombia)

creativebits.org/inspirati...rtisements

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...19.html

Phobia at the Gates

Andrew Sullivan (op-ed)
Washington Post

May 14, 2008

Twelve countries ban HIV-positive visitors, nonimmigrants and immigrants from their territory: Armenia, Brunei, Iraq, Libya, Moldova, Oman, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sudan and . . . the United States.

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www.acria.org/treatment/t...gration.html

Immigration and HIV

AIDS Community Research Initiative of America

Fall 2006

Candidate Clinton's plan for immigration reform promised to acknowledge the expertise of the medical community at PHS and allow them to lift the HIV ban. After Clinton won the election in 1992, the PHS took regulatory steps to do exactly that.

President Clinton's plan reignited the dispute, with disastrous results.

Despite opposition from some politicians who spoke out against the ban, its underlying context of hatred, and the illogic of Congressional politics trumping medical expertise, Congress acted to prevent the President from removing HIV from the PHS list of diseases. Instead, Congress formally amended the INA itself to include specific language about HIV infection in the health-related grounds of exclusion. This amendment stripped the PHS of any existing or future discretion to decide whether HIV would continue to be a "communicable disease of public health significance." For the first time, being HIV-positive was specifically identified in the Immigration and Nationality Act as a statutory bar to entry.