A statement from the General Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq, via the Iraq Freedom Congress, June 7:

The Ministry of Industry and Minerals Privatizes Its Companies
Brothers and sisters in the working class: Amid chaos and lawlessness, surprisingly the Ministry of Industry and Minerals decides to privatize its affiliate companies. The ministry announced privatization of a number of corporations, including manufacturers of cement, pharmaceutical and petrochemicals companies, despite the fact that these enterprises are economically feasible and substantially profitable.

Patrick Cockburn claims in The Independent June 5 that a "secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November." Speaking to several anonymous Baghdad politicians who oppose the deal, he writes: "Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country." The anonymous politicians call the deal "a terrible breach of our sovereignty," and dismiss US denials that it seeks permanent bases in Iraq as "just a tactical subterfuge."

Turkey's military is cooperating with Iran by sharing information and coordinating strikes against PKK guerillas in northern Iraq, commander of the Turkish Land Forces Ilker Basbug said on June 5. "We are sharing intelligence with Iran, we are talking, we are coordinating," CNN-Turk TV quoted Basbug as telling reporters on the sidelines of a security conference in Istanbul. "When they start an operation, we do, too. They carry out an operation from the Iranian side of the border, we from the Turkish side... We haven't done it for one or two months but we would do it if necessary." (AP, Hurriyet, June 5) Such claims have been heard before.

A statement from Hassan Juma'a Awad, president of Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, via US Labor Against the War (USLAW), May 28:

Statement by Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions
to 2008 Chevron and ExxonMobil Shareholder meetings
On May 28, 2008, Chevron and ExxonMobil Corporations will each conduct their annual shareholder meetings. Chevron will convene its meeting at its world headquarters in San Ramon, CA. ExxonMobil will conduct its meeting in Dallas, Texas. Antiwar, environmental and other social justice organizations will conduct protests at each event.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said that his organization "is siding with the resistance in Iraq" in a speech to hundreds of thousands of supporters in Beirut. "The Iraqis, Shia and Sunni, who took part in the political process wanted to give it a chance," he said in his address May 26. "But now that the real American goal in Iraq has been exposed the Iraqi government is put to a test."

Japanese media report that Tokyo may end its supply support mission for US-led forces in Iraq next year, under pressure from the powerful opposition. Japan has some 210 Air Self-Defense Force personnel in Kuwait, from where they airlift supplies to Iraq. In 2006, it withdrew 600 ground troops sent to southern Iraq as a gesture of support two years earlier. "Thinking about the state of parliament, it is extremely difficult to extend" a special law which enabled the country to send troops to Iraq, the Asahi newspaper quoted Taku Yamasaki of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The law is set to expire in July 2009. The newspaper also quoted an unnamed executive of the LDP's Buddhist-backed junior partner, New Komeito, as saying it was time to consider withdrawal.

From the Iraq Freedom Congress and the Opening for Peace, Equality and Nexus (OPEN), Japan, May 19:

Joint Statement to Stop 'Gender Cleansing' in Iraq under the name of 'honor killing' and other gender-based violence against women, and to Demand the Immediate Withdrawal of Occupation Forces
March 2008 was the fifth anniversary of the start of war on Iraq by the US military. During the five-year period, the death toll of Iraqis exceeded one million, and several million have been displaced as refugees in and out of Iraq. Still escalating are indiscriminate attacks by the US forces and attacks by local militias that target civilians. The death toll of the US soldiers hit 4,000 and the number of suicide cases among them is reportedly on the increase.

Turkish warplanes bombed several border areas near the towns of Neroye and Rekan in Dahuk province of northern Iraq May 11, the website of the website of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) reported. Jabbar Yawar, spokesman for Iraq's Kurdish Peshmerga security forces, also confirmed the air strikes to Reuters, as did a PKK spokesman to AP. The PKK spokesman, Ahmed Danas, said the warplanes struck former bases "of our forces where none of our fighters were present."