As the two car convoy was waiting nearby, an American helicopter nearby opened fire on the vehicles. As the vehicles were hit, the drivers attempted to seek cover, but both vehicles were repeatedly shot and disabled. The helicopter landed but instead of assisting those shot and needing medical help, the American soldiers killed any survivors and then wrote numbers on the foreheads of some.

Several children including a young girls body are clearly visible, and the wounds suffered by the men are horrific. The vehicle is clearly shot with many rounds and the seats and road is covered with blood. Iraqi police were called to the scene to remove the bodies, and some video footage was taken - it has been repeatedly removed from YouTube but links to the video can be found here. It is clear that these people were unarmed civilians.

This story has not yet migrated to mainstream media, and probably never will. Surely it’s time Australia started to question its long held alliance with the U.S. military, the most lawless, trigger happy, unaccounable and sadistic bunch of lunatics on the planet.  . . read more

Since the days of Alexander the Great, binge drinking has been a very popular past time - leading to him apparently killing a friend and burning down Persepolis while drunk.

Those are some Great shoes to fill.

Yet, governments, schools and the media have repeatedly tried to teach us of binge drinking's dangers. 

Dartmouth University has taken the lead, instigating a new nationwide policy to curb heavy drinking by their students.

Pour me another glass.

Binge drinking is defined as "the consumption of five or more drinks in a row by men — or four or more drinks in a row by women — at least once in the previous 2 weeks. Heavy binge drinking includes three or more such episodes in 2 weeks."

Seems I don't know anyone who isn't a heavy binge drinker.

Do you think this definition should be changed or should we change people's attitudes? Or should you follow HPD's no fools guide to drinking a lot but not dying?  . . read more

Amnesty International's latest report on Iraq finds the U.S. guilty of human rights abuses, including the "killing, rape and/or inhumane treatment of civilians". AI's report highlights the "physical and psychological brutality" of your interrogations and calls the enforced disappearance of numerous detainees, "a crime under international law". Oxfam agrees: "Iraq's civilians are suffering from a denial of fundamental human rights - chronic poverty, malnutrition, illness, lack of access to basic services, destruction of homes, injury and death". Since your forces invaded Iraq, the slide into poverty and deprivation has been dramatic, and a "deep trauma for the Iraqi people". Clear enough for you Paul?

• Four million people are 'food-insecure and in dire need of assistance'.
• Over two million displaced inside Iraq
• Over two million Iraqis in neighbouring countries - the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world!
• Over half the population now without work.
• 92% of Iraqi children suffer learning problems, mostly due to the climate of fear created by your crazy invasion.

Tel us again, Paul Gimigliano, about the CIA and the U.S. Army's "bold, lawful work". . . read more

The new report, by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, warns that Iraq "will require years of steady engagement" before there is significant progress in providing Iraqis with power and clean water, jobs, health resources and government that works. One U.S. official in Iraq, quoted anonymously in the report, said he foresaw a "train wreck" ahead as costly U.S. projects in Iraq grind to a halt for lack of manpower or maintenance.

The report documented "a growing public frustration" of Iraqis with their government. As a result, there has been "little progress" toward political reconciliation, which it said was being undermined by jockeying for power among rival Shiite groups and a "sense of alienation" on the part of the minority Sunnis. The report's grim conclusions parallel previous U.S. assessments, including a major national intelligence estimate in August that said there had been little economic improvement. More . . read more