Suggested Reading -- 8/28/07

Raw Story: Study: US preparing 'massive' military attack against Iran
From the story: "...The paper, 'Considering a war with Iran: A discussion paper on WMD in the Middle East' [PDF] -- written by well-respected British scholar and arms expert Dr. Dan Plesch, Director of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, and Martin Butcher, a former Director of the British American Security Information Council (BASIC) and former adviser to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament -- was exclusively provided to RAW STORY late Friday under embargo.

"'We wrote the report partly as we were surprised that this sort of quite elementary analysis had not been produced by the many well resourced Institutes in the United States,' wrote Plesch in an email to Raw Story on Tuesday."

Just what we need, one more military clusterfuck for the next president to clean up.

TIME: The Abu Ghraib Cases: Not Yet Over
From the story: " Following the conviction of a few low-ranking soldiers for their roles in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, Lt. Col. Steven Jordan was found guilty Tuesday by a 10-member jury of only a single charge — failing to obey an order. The case is supposed to be the last of the criminal proceedings concerning this dark chapter of the Iraq war, but sources close to the Abu Ghraib legal drama tell TIME that two key civilians who worked as private contractors in the notorious facility's cell blocks could still face prosecution."

Maybe once we get done with pushing over the fall guys, we can get around to busted those who'd ordered this.

Washington Post: Poverty Rate Declines; Number of Uninsured Hits Record High
From the story: "The nation's poverty rate declined for the first time this decade, but the number of Americans without health insurance rose to a record high of 47 million in 2006, according to Census figures released today."

Translation, "Insurance rates soar beyond the reach of even more americans."

UN News Centre: Iran answers UN agency questions on plutonium programme, says document
From the story: "Iran has addressed the questions of the United Nations nuclear watchdog about its past plutonium programme and both parties now consider that matter resolved, according to a statement posted on the UN agency’s website.

"The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) yesterday published on its website the text [PDF] of a joint work plan on how to resolve outstanding issues between the agency and Iran after a request to do so from Tehran."

Don't expect it to change the tone coming out of the White House, though.