Report: US Had Secret Plans for Iraqi Oil

IRAQ NEWS

Secret US Plans For Iraq's Oil

The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's oil before the 9/11 attacks, sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil, BBC's Newsnight has revealed. (BBC)

Halliburton Exec On Fraud Charges

A former employee of a Halliburton subsidiary has been indicted on charges of defrauding the US military of more than $3.5m for fuel in Iraq. (BBC)

Fake Cable Labeled Writer a Spy for Iraq

Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to produce a document accusing journalist and activist William Arkin of serving as a spy for Saddam Hussein. (Washington Post)

Shiites, Kurds Work Toward Coalition Gov't

Shiite and Kurdish officials say they may need another week to put together Iraq's coalition despite progress in resolving disagreements over territory and Cabinet posts. (AP)

Sizable Cut in U.S. Forces in Iraq Called Possible in '06

An Army general said that the number of American troops in Iraq would probably drop to around 105,000 from 150,000. (NY Times)

Dutchman In Iraq Genocide Charges

Hearings open in Rotterdam in the case of a Dutchman accused of selling chemicals to Saddam Hussein's regime. (BBC)

Bulgaria to Pull Troops Out of Iraq by Year's End

Bulgaria intends to cut the number of its troops in Iraq in July and to completely pull them out by the end of the year, the defense minister said Thursday. (AP)

INVESTIGATIONS

Philippines

Philippines Detains al Qaeda Suspect

A Saudi Arabian man, detained for suspected al Qaeda links after arriving at Manila's airport, was turned over to the Saudi ambassador on Friday after investigators failed to find any evidence against him, Philippine immigration officials said. (The Guardian)

AP: Terrorists Train for Seaborne Attacks

Two of the most dangerous al Qaeda-linked groups in Southeast Asia are working together to train militants in scuba diving for seaborne terror attacks, according to the interrogation of a recently captured guerrilla. (AP)

U.S.

Questions Are Left by C.I.A. Chief on the Use of Torture

Porter J. Goss came close to admitting that some of the C.I.A.'s interrogation practices since 9/11 may have crossed the legal limits. (NY Times)

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS

Spain

Spain Frees Ill Al Jazeera Newsman to House Arrest

A journalist with the Arab television station Al Jazeera charged with belonging to al Qaeda will be freed from jail on medical grounds but will remain under house arrest pending trial, a court official said Monday. (Reuters)

ANALYSIS & OPINION

Atomic Clock Ticks Down To Fallout With Iran

Iran and the western powers are on a collision course as the clock ticks towards crucial talks in Paris next week about Tehran's nuclear programme. (The Guardian)

Two Years Later

The positive results of the invasion of Iraq exist mainly as hopes outnumbered by the more concrete failures. (NY Times)

Outsourcing Detainee Mistreatment?

The American military has been operating on the quaint premise that the piece of Cuba called Guantánamo Bay, fully American-controlled since the Spanish-American War, is somehow foreign territory, outside the reach of American justice. On that premise, suspected so-called enemy combatants, 750 of them at one point, have been held under rigorous conditions, without access to a court. (CS Monitor)

Where's The Outrage On Torture?

IN AUGUST 2003, when he was commander of the military base at Guantanamo Bay, Major General Geoffrey Miller visited Baghdad with some advice for US interrogators at Abu Ghraib prison. As Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, the military police commander in Iraq, later recalled it, Miller's bottom line was blunt: Abu Ghraib should be ''Gitmo-ized" -- Iraqi detainees should be exposed to the same aggressive techniques being used to extract information from prisoners in Guantanamo. (Boston Globe)

An Effort to Rebuild US-Arab Relations

While the Bush Administration and much of the US media paint a rosy picture of US success in producing "Freedom on the March," from Afghanistan to Egypt, a more thoughtful assessment of the real problems facing the US-Arab relationship came last week from a distinguished group of former US government officials. (Arab News)

The War Injured Return Home to Tell a Different Story

In wartime, the silence of the American dead is a vacuum that the powerful in Washington try to fill. While loved ones are left with haunting memories and excruciating sadness, the most amplified political voices use predictable rhetoric to talk about ultimate sacrifices. (Newsday)

The Insider Daily Investigative Report (DIR) is a summary of major news articles and broadcasts relating to investigative news, including international terrorism and developments in Iraq. The DIR is edited daily from foreign and U.S. sources by Chris Isham, Hoda Osman and Brinda Adhikari of the ABC News Investigative Unit. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ABCNEWS.