Bribery, corruption, and nepotism have led some analysts to say Iraq's military has been "built to fail". Billions of dollars have been spent rebuilding the military since the fall of Sadaam Hussein, but it's clearly struggling to fend off the Sunni rebellion. Al Jazeera's Shihab Rattansi reports.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW 2066, Australia. ABN: 25 713 178 439 All rights reserved.
Content may not be republished without the written consent of the publisher or an authorized representative
Truth is only dangerous to the dangerous!The award winning, flagship blog of Mike Hitchen Online. Read by government departments, NGOs, and numerous agencies. First published May 2005, the blog has more than 24,000 articles and 500 plus topics including Human Rights, Violence Against Women, Women's Issues,Corruption, Human Trafficking, Child Exploitation,Child Soldiers, Zimbabwe, Iran, Sri Lanka, Middle East, Burma and the tragic ongoing betrayal of Madeleine McCann.
All Good Things Come To An End
Back in January 2012, I posted the following article, Opinion: May 2015 - the road ahead. announcing my intention to close the blog on May 08, 2015.
That day has arrived.
That day has arrived.
It has been a great ten years but all good things must come to an end. "Let's Hear You" will also cease publication.
However, ALL blogs and every article will remain online.
How to read this blog
As many articles can be quite lengthy, the blog will display 5 posts per page. To view the rest of the day's articles click on "Older Posts" located below the last article. There will be 10-12 posts each day of publication. All post times are Sydney time.
Publication
i On Global Trends, published Tue to Sat inclusive (Sydney time) - although work and social commitments may result in slight variations
News and Opinions
The views expressed by authors or media organisations other than Mike Hitchen, do not necessarily reflect the views of Mike Hitchen Online. This blog aims to present a wide spectrum of opinion and analysis. The source of every article is prominently displayed and should be considered when reading.
Mike Hitchen Online
- Mike Hitchen
- Sydney, Australia
- Publisher who believes in encouraging you to think, rather than telling you what to think
Mike Hitchen Online
Blog Archive
Twitter Feed
Labels
- 9/11 (137)
- Abkhazia (38)
- Abortion (34)
- Abu Dhabi (34)
- Abyei (67)
- Activists (687)
- Adult Learning - Training Small Groups (61)
- Aerospace (95)
- Afghanistan (854)
- Africa (1659)
- African Union (260)
- Agriculture (179)
- Aid (331)
- AIDS (114)
- Al-qaeda (393)
- Al-Shabaab (97)
- Al-Shabab (85)
- Albania (72)
- Albino Issues (6)
- Algeria (90)
- Amazon Region (52)
- ANC (12)
- Andorra (5)
- Angela Merkel (36)
- Angola (111)
- Anna Hazare (4)
- Antarctica (6)
- APEC (12)
- Arab League (102)
- Arab Spring (374)
- Arctic (36)
- Argentina (138)
- Armenia (187)
- Armenian Genocide (25)
- Arms (287)
- ASEAN (78)
- Asia (159)
- Assange (7)
- Asylum Seekers (137)
- Aung San Suu Kyi (107)
- Australia (439)
- Austria (42)
- Ayman al-Zawahiri (18)
- Azerbaijan (197)
- Bahrain (246)
- Bali (19)
- Balkans (192)
- Balochistan (37)
- Ban Ki-moon (14)
- Bangladesh (207)
- Banking (449)
- Barack Obama (218)
- Bassem Youssef (5)
- Bedouin (23)
- Belarus (133)
- Belgium (39)
- Belize (2)
- Benin (30)
- Bernard Maddoff (5)
- Beslan (3)
- Bhutan (19)
- Bilateral Cooperation (180)
- Bilateral Relations (881)
- Bilateral trade (146)
- Biofuels (24)
- Black Sea Fleet (16)
- Blackwater (23)
- Blood Diamonds (66)
- Boko Haram (102)
- Bolivia (103)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (124)
- Botswana (66)
- Brazil (286)
- BRICS (27)
- Britain (557)
- British Petroleum (34)
- Brunei (17)
- Bulgaria (108)
- Burkina Faso (61)
- Burma (585)
- Burma - Cyclone Nargis (61)
- Burmese Refugees (115)
- Burundi (96)
- CAIR (50)
- Cambodia (138)
- Cameron David (42)
- Cameroon (74)
- Camp Ashraf (22)
- Canada (197)
- Caribbean (62)
- Carter-Ruck (27)
- Caspian Oil (51)
- Catherine Ashton (51)
- Caucasus (82)
- Censorship (114)
- Central African Republic (156)
- Central Asia (81)
- Chad (114)
- Charles Taylor (21)
- Chechnya (61)
- Chernobyl (13)
- Chevron (18)
- Child Abuse (240)
- Child Exploitation (393)
- Child labour (194)
- Child soldiers (264)
- Child Trafficking (400)
- Children (321)
- Chile (100)
- China (1009)
- China National Petroleum Corp (10)
- CIA (195)
- Cindy Sheehan (6)
- Climate Change (189)
- Cold War (30)
- Colombia (226)
- Comoros (13)
- Congo (40)
- Corruption (752)
- Costa Rica (26)
- Cote D'ivoire (153)
- Counter-Terrorism (306)
- Country Focus (31)
- Croatia (71)
- Cuba (204)
- Cyber attacks/warfare/issues (65)
- Cyprus (80)
- Czech Republic (56)
- Dagestan (23)
- Dalai Lama (51)
- Darfur (191)
- David Coleman Headley (33)
- David Hicks (5)
- Defense (793)
- Denmark (88)
- Dick Cheney (29)
- Disability Issues (65)
- Discrimination (353)
- Djibouti (39)
- Dmitry Medvedev (116)
- Doha (21)
- Domestic Violence (84)
- Dominican Republic (35)
- Don Rumsfeld (23)
- DRC (369)
- Drones (105)
- Drought (116)
- Drug Trafficking (92)
- Dubai (76)
- Eastern Europe (84)
- ECCC (18)
- Economy (440)
- ECOWAS (65)
- Ecuador (104)
- Edgar Ray Killen (26)
- Education (231)
- Egypt (544)
- El Salvador (43)
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (16)
- Energy (299)
- Environment (534)
- Equatorial Guinea (55)
- Eritrea (62)
- Estonia (30)
- Ethiopia (197)
- EU (437)
- EUFOR (8)
- EULEX (12)
- Europe (149)
- Eurozone (38)
- Famine (206)
- FAO (58)
- FARC (84)
- FARDC (47)
- FATA (57)
- Fatah (37)
- FBI (198)
- FGM (7)
- Fiji (24)
- Finland (47)
- FOIA (64)
- Food Prices (43)
- France (223)
- Free Trade Agreements (60)
- Freedom of Speech (755)
- FSA (25)
- Fukushima (49)
- G20 (36)
- G8 (33)
- Gabon (31)
- Gaddafi (168)
- Gambia (29)
- Gambino Family (7)
- Gas (173)
- Gay and Lesbian (94)
- Gaza (428)
- Gazprom (55)
- Gender Issues (897)
- Genocide (184)
- George Bush (88)
- Georgia (202)
- Germany (212)
- Ghana (80)
- Gilad Shalit (15)
- Gilgit Baltistan (24)
- Gillard Julia (21)
- Goldman Sachs (11)
- Gordon Brown (35)
- Greece (183)
- Guantanamo Bay (358)
- Guatemala (78)
- Guinea (83)
- Guinea-Bissau (47)
- Gulf Region (98)
- Guyana (4)
- Hacking (27)
- Haiti (124)
- Halliburton (13)
- Halligen Kevin (3)
- Hamas (256)
- Hamid Karzai (151)
- Haqqani (34)
- Hassan Rohani (25)
- Hate Crimes (79)
- Health (300)
- Hezbollah (90)
- Hillary Clinton (77)
- Hitch's Thought For The Day (348)
- Homeland Security (302)
- Homeless (82)
- Homeless World Cup (30)
- Honduras (75)
- Hong Kong (43)
- Horn of Africa (119)
- Hossein Mousavi (27)
- Hugo Chavez (156)
- HUJI (19)
- HUM (13)
- Human Resources (362)
- Human Rights (2317)
- Human Trafficking (237)
- Hungary (51)
- IAEA (80)
- ICC (154)
- ICCTF (5)
- Iceland (46)
- ICJ (24)
- ICRC (42)
- ICTY (42)
- IDF (48)
- IDPs (325)
- Illegal Immigrants (127)
- IMF (87)
- Immigration (174)
- India (788)
- Indigenous Peoples (234)
- Indonesia (252)
- Industrial Relations (150)
- Ingushetia (10)
- Intelligence (262)
- Inter-Services Intelligence (95)
- International Criminal Court (ICC) (72)
- International Development (484)
- International Labour Organization (74)
- International Relations (476)
- Interpol (22)
- IOF (16)
- Iran (1269)
- Iran Elections (44)
- Iraq (619)
- Iraq war (177)
- Ireland (50)
- ISAF (74)
- Islam (65)
- Israel (938)
- Israeli Settlements (112)
- Italy (128)
- Jacob Zuma (52)
- Jaish-e-Mohammad (15)
- Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) (12)
- Jamaat-ud-Dawa (6)
- Jammu and Kashmir (83)
- Japan (308)
- JEM (53)
- Jemaah Islamiyah (11)
- Jerusalem (143)
- Jihad (169)
- John Howard (24)
- John McCain (41)
- Jordan (125)
- Joseph Kony (73)
- Kachin (37)
- Karen (40)
- Kashmir (63)
- Katrina Shootings (8)
- Kazakhstan (145)
- Kenya (296)
- Kevin Halligen (5)
- Khmer Rouge (29)
- Kimberley Process (19)
- Kosovo (134)
- Ku Klux Klan (26)
- Kurdistan (69)
- Kurds (83)
- Kuwait (107)
- Kyoto (34)
- Kyrgyzstan (180)
- Landmines (82)
- Laos (57)
- Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (29)
- Lashkar-e-Toiba (103)
- Latin America (265)
- Latvia (24)
- Lebanon (230)
- Lehman Brothers (7)
- Lesotho (15)
- Libel (32)
- Liberia (145)
- Libya (472)
- Lisbon Treaty (13)
- Literature (2)
- Lithuania (29)
- Lord's Resistance Army (136)
- LTTE (388)
- Luxembourg (2)
- M23 (46)
- Macedonia (77)
- Madagascar (41)
- Madeleine McCann (216)
- Mahmoud Abbas (84)
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (172)
- Malawi (73)
- Malaysia (149)
- Maldives (25)
- Mali (161)
- Malta (29)
- Maoist Groups (62)
- Mauritania (74)
- Mauritius (11)
- MDGs (63)
- Media (805)
- MEND (15)
- Mexico (188)
- Micro-finance (29)
- Middle East (1661)
- Middle East Conflict (669)
- Migrant workers (138)
- Mike Hitchen Says Goodnight From Sydney (461)
- MILF (39)
- Mindanao (38)
- Mining (177)
- Mining disasters (27)
- MINURCAT (6)
- MINUSTAH (26)
- Missile Base Issues (56)
- Missiles (140)
- Missing Children (165)
- Moldova (47)
- Money Laundering (59)
- Mongolia (45)
- Montenegro (26)
- MONUC (39)
- MONUSCO (57)
- Morgan Tsvangirai (81)
- Morocco (119)
- Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (10)
- Mozambique (54)
- MQM (10)
- MS-13 (5)
- Mubarak Hosni (101)
- Mujahideen (20)
- Mumbai Attacks (63)
- Murdoch Rupert (8)
- Muslim (401)
- Muslim Brotherhood (87)
- Nabucco Pipeline (72)
- Nagorno-Karabakh (44)
- Namibia (28)
- Nancy Pelosi (30)
- Narcotics (132)
- NASA (34)
- National Security Agency (159)
- National Security Archive (62)
- NATO (807)
- NCMEC (4)
- Nepal (192)
- Netanyahu Benjamin (59)
- Netherlands (100)
- New Zealand (48)
- NGOs (229)
- Nicaragua (47)
- Nicolas Sarkozy (39)
- Niger (143)
- Niger Delta (46)
- Nigeria (333)
- North Korea (226)
- Norway (74)
- Norway Denmark (1)
- NTC (82)
- Nuclear Issues (538)
- NWFP (55)
- Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (29)
- Occupy Wall Street (25)
- OCHA (106)
- OECD (53)
- OHCHR (86)
- Oil (519)
- Olympic Games (55)
- Oman (34)
- Omar al-Bashir (56)
- OPEC (34)
- OPT (514)
- Organ Trade (16)
- Organized Crime (107)
- Orphans (52)
- Osama bin Laden (102)
- OSCE (50)
- Pakistan (789)
- Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (71)
- Palestine (474)
- Palestinian (61)
- Panama (42)
- Papua New Guinea (41)
- Paraguay (37)
- Pentagon (55)
- Peru (119)
- Peshawar (32)
- Philippines (189)
- Piracy (75)
- PKK (30)
- Poland (82)
- Pollution (147)
- Ponzi Schemes (23)
- Pope Benedict XVI (33)
- Portugal (297)
- Poverty (286)
- PPP (20)
- Puerto Rico (18)
- Qatar (87)
- Racial Issues (308)
- Rakhine State (31)
- Raman B (articles by) (290)
- Ratko Mladic (22)
- Raul Castro (28)
- Raymond Davis (5)
- Refugees (744)
- Rights of The Child (71)
- Rio+20 (25)
- Robert Mugabe (127)
- Rohingya (115)
- Roma (62)
- Romania (80)
- Romney (28)
- Roy Blunt (4)
- Russia (1144)
- Rwanda (145)
- Saddam Hussein (26)
- Sahel Region (52)
- Salafi (8)
- Sanctions (168)
- Saudi Arabia (256)
- SCAF (16)
- Science (69)
- Secret Rendition (28)
- Security (849)
- Senegal (66)
- Seniors (21)
- Serbia (181)
- Settlements (1)
- Sex (90)
- Sex Trade (88)
- Sexual Abuse (204)
- Sharia Law (40)
- Shi'ite (40)
- Sierra Leone (87)
- Singapore (93)
- Slavery (120)
- Slovakia (27)
- Slovenia (37)
- Somalia (347)
- Somaliland (17)
- South Africa (325)
- South Kordofan (90)
- South Korea (218)
- South Ossetia (75)
- South Sudan (621)
- South Waziristan (33)
- Spain (117)
- SPLA (83)
- SPLM (55)
- Sri Lanka (496)
- Stimulus Package (22)
- Sudan (677)
- Sudan Armed Forces (77)
- Suffer Little Children (301)
- Sunni (21)
- Swat Valley (45)
- Swaziland (45)
- Sweden (75)
- Swine Flu (17)
- Switzerland (52)
- Syria (577)
- Taiwan (52)
- Tajikistan (122)
- Taliban (277)
- Tamil (206)
- Tamil Nadu (50)
- Tamil Tigers (3)
- Tanzania (91)
- Tehrik-e-Nifaz-a-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) (8)
- Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) (87)
- Terrorism (1229)
- Terrorist Spotlight (22)
- Thailand (193)
- Tibet (102)
- Timor-Leste (42)
- Togo (21)
- Tolerance (71)
- Tonga (6)
- Tony Blair (48)
- Torture (438)
- Toxic Waste (46)
- Trafigura (25)
- Troy Davis (7)
- Tuareg (50)
- Tunisia (163)
- Turkey (457)
- Turkmenistan (82)
- U.S. Department of Justice (132)
- UAE (134)
- Uganda (255)
- Uighur issues (36)
- Ukraine (353)
- UN (238)
- UN Mine Action Service (3)
- UNAMA (35)
- UNAMID (53)
- UNDP (73)
- UNESCO (74)
- UNHCR (199)
- UNICEF (223)
- UNIFEM (22)
- UNIFIL (18)
- UNIFUN (1)
- United Nations (280)
- UNMAS (10)
- UNMIK (12)
- UNMIL (8)
- UNMIN (12)
- UNMIS (40)
- UNMISS (36)
- UNOCI (18)
- UNODC (69)
- UNRWA (52)
- Uranium (91)
- Uruguay (48)
- Urumqi Riots (18)
- US Election (80)
- US Politics (59)
- Uygurs (8)
- Uzbekistan (146)
- Vatican (30)
- Velupillai Prabhakaran (91)
- Venezuela (263)
- Vietnam (208)
- Viktor Yanukovych (60)
- Vladimir Putin (144)
- War Crimes (415)
- West Bank (229)
- Western sahara (51)
- WFP (115)
- Whaling (23)
- WikiLeaks (35)
- Wildlife Conservation (115)
- Witches - witch camps and persecution (7)
- World Bank (198)
- World Health Organisation (113)
- World Trade Organization (104)
- Xinjiang (37)
- Yemen (282)
- Youth issues (146)
- Yulia Tymoshenko (42)
- Zambia (75)
- ZANU-PF (91)
- Zimbabwe (269)
McCanngate - betrayed by her parents, betrayed by the system, betrayed by the media - why?
- Guardian: WikiLeaks cables: UK police 'developed' evidence against McCanns
- 'I was deceived' says Portuguese priest
- Daily Mail: So why did Madeleine McCann detectives ask so few questions after major breakthrough?
- Daily Mirror Crime Correspondent:: Who was bugging the McCanns ? And what has the answer got to do with national security?
- FBI statement on indictment of Kevin Halligen on charges of wire fraud and money laundering
- gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk
- Hasta que se sepa la Verdad (Until we know the Truth)
- McCanngate
If your mem'ry serves you well
You'll remember you're the one
That called on me to call on them
To get you your favors done
You'll remember you're the one
That called on me to call on them
To get you your favors done
Informative Websites
- ABC News (Australia)
- Abolish Slavery Coalition
- AboriginalOz
- Aljazeera.net (Not to be confused with Aljazeera Magazine or Aljazeera.com)
- Amnesty International
- Australian National Security
- British Secret Intelligence Service
- Burmese Bloggers w/o Borders
- CafeUKRadio Show every Sunday 1pm NZ time & Thurs 7pm theflea.co.nz AAC stream best option for Classic Gold ear-candy music & UKNews
- Center for Public Integrity
- Center for Public Integrity - Windfalls of War
- CEOP
- CIA
- Common Sense
- Defense Intelligence Agency
- FBI
- GlobalSecurity.org
- Haaretz ( Israel)
- Human Rights Watch
- IDN InDepthNews
- International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children
- International Crisis Group
- International Monetary Fund
- Interpol
- IPS Inter Press Service
- ISI Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence
- Jerusalem Post
- Kaladan Press Network
- Life In Legacy
- MI5
- NASA
- National Security Agency
- National Security Archive
- Nature At School
- Network Myanmar
- New York Nitty-Gritty
- News From My Big Desk
- Newsy
- OnlineChildExploitation.org
- Palestine Chronicle.
- Palestine Solidarity Demo Information Center
- Pravda
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
- Radio Netherlands
- Reuters
- SBS World News (Australia)
- South Asia Analysis Group
- South Asia Terrorism Portal
- Sri Lanka News Ministry of Defence
- TamilNet
- The Jill Havern Files
- UNICEF
- United Nations
- United Nations News Service
- Voice of America
- Wikileaks (Switzerland)
- World Bank
- Xinhua News Agency
Content may not be republished without the written consent of the publisher or an authorized representative