How does a democracy decide to wage war?
Next time on NOW
At 8:30 pm (check local listings) on Friday, December 7 - the very dayPearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese warplanes 66 years ago - David Brancaccio interviews filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick and the Rev. James Forbes Jr. about Burns and Novick's epic World War II documentary "The War".
Looking to the past as a mirror to the present, the four discuss how the waging of war intersects with our notion of democracy.
"It's incumbent upon a democratic society to evaluate what the arithmetic is -- the cost of war," Burns tells the group.
Sharp insight about the year's must-see documentary, and the modern lessons contained therein.
A Web-Exclusive NOW on the News: Did Romney Win Over Skeptics?
In a NOW web-exclusive interview, BeliefNet politics editor Dan Gilgoff shares his insight into the effect of Mitt Romney's speech on religion, the role of faith in the 2008 presidential race, and how America's faithful are reacting. http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/349/romney-religion.html
That's PBS' NOW with David Brancaccio tonight. From war to healthcare . . .
"Obama's Health Care Plan: The Mandate Muddle" (Paul Krugman, New York Times via Common Dreams):
Imagine this: It’s the summer of 2009, and President Barack Obama is about to unveil his plan for universal health care. But his health policy experts have done the math, and they’ve concluded that the plan really needs to include a requirement that everyone have health insurance -- a so-called mandate.
Without a mandate, they find, the plan will fall far short of universal coverage. Worse yet, without a mandate health insurance will be much more expensive than it should be for those who do choose to buy it.
But Mr. Obama knows that if he tries to include a mandate in the plan, he'll face a barrage of misleading attacks from conservatives who oppose universal health care in any form. And he'll have trouble responding -- because he made the very same misleading attacks on Hillary Clinton and John Edwards during the race for the Democratic nomination.
O.K., before I go any further, let's be clear: there is a huge divide between Republicans and Democrats on health care, and the Obama plan -- although weaker than the Edwards or Clinton plans -- is very much on the Democratic side of that divide.
But lately Mr. Obama has been stressing his differences with his rivals by attacking their plans from the right -- which means that he has been giving credence to false talking points that will be used against any Democratic health care plan a couple of years from now.
As a mental health care provider, the only plan that I'm enthused over coming from Democratic candidates is Dennis Kucinich's plan. His plan insures all. His plan is do-able. Of the three discussed above, I would rate John Edwards the highest, then Hillary Clinton's. There's not a great deal of difference between the two and, more than likely, it's an issue of preference. Obama's? I disagree with Krugman, Obama's is just a joke. It's nonsense, really. It's another effort on his part to do nothing but make it look like he's doing something. He's apparently incapable of taking a stand and that pretty much sums up his entire career. But maybe Oprah can shore him up? Don't we all rush to support candidates that Oprah endorses? No? No.
"Former Ambassador Resigns to Protest Treatment of Gay and Lesbians" (Democracy Now!):
And the former U.S. Ambassador to Romania has resigned from the State Department to protest the Bush administration's discriminatory policies towards gay and lesbian employees. In 2001 Michael Guest became the fist openly gay man to be confirmed by the Senate to serve as a U.S. ambassador. At his retirement ceremony Guest accused Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of doing nothing to redress policies that discriminate against gay and lesbian employees. He said that gay partners, unlike heterosexual spouses, are not entitled to many benefits including State Department-provided security training, free medical care at overseas posts, guaranteed evacuation in case of a medical emergency and transportation to overseas posts.
Community member Marcia is not the only gay or lesbian member of the community. When a site that I don't know how to label (community?, no, not really)started a year or two ago, it was supposed to focus on gay issues. It was done by a gay man. (I don't believe he's posted in months.) It was by a newcomer to the community, not a member, who showed up and announced he'd started a site about a week or two after he started e-mailing the public account of The Common Ills. In doing so, he walked off with the name of a community member. Somehow the site became Soap Opera Digest. (Everyone in the community knows what site I'm referring to.) Marcia brought up all that in her e-mail and how "disgusted" she is that what passes for the public face of this community on gay and lesbian issues is "an insignificant little nothing site that obsesses over whether or not two straight actors will share a same-sex kiss on a daytime drama. Like that is the biggest problem facing the LBGT community today." Marcia notes that Ty is gay (he is and he's out) and wishes Ty could do his own site (he can't, he doesn't have the time). She said she was sure C.I. would fit the above headline in somehow if she e-mailed it but really didn't want to be "one more member saying 'I know this isn't about Iraq but it is an important issue.' I think we are all a bit hypocritical because we ask C.I. to cover Iraq and then we go running in with something not related and beg to have it included. I've done that myself and am not playing innocent." So she e-mailed it to me (which is more than fine) and I am happy to note it here.
It is important and my site is 'free-form' to the extreme so I can easily work it in. It's sad that the first openly gay ambassador has to resign in protest. But his taking that stand raises the issue and makes it easier for the next person. The gay rights movement is something really amazing. As someone old enough to remember the way it was and look at the way it is now, the movement has accomplished so much. I have a very good friend who is a lesbian and is concerned about the rush to 'normalize' and I know that is a concern for some who feel that their lives weren't just about "we're exactly the same but we are attracted to members of our own sex." She feels that it is a radical life and that there's a push to smooth it over. I'm sure others have that concern as well and I'd be the last to minimize anyone's concerns. But in terms of what it was and what it is, the movement has accomplished so much. They've tackled the medical community (and won), they've fought for equality (and the battle still goes on but there have been some major strides compared to 'once upon a time'). So this man, who I'm sure is a Republican, did a very brave thing when he stood up and said, "This is unacceptable and I'm not going to be silent about it." The gay rights movement shares that with feminism, everytime a truth is told, the world changes a little. (By contrast, every time a lie is believed, the world shrinks. Which is frightening after seven years of Bully Boy.) So that headline is about a big topic and I am happy to note it.
Rebecca would as well if someone sees something and wants it noted. Feel free to e-mail either of us. For the record, I share Marcia's disappointment with that site. I did when it started. I did when the man began to gripe that C.I. wasn't highlighting him enough. I did when the man sent a nasty e-mail to all of us saying he was being interviewed by the Washington Blade in spite of us. (It never ran.) In spite of us? Cedric's name wasn't even spelled correctly on the blogroll. He blew off Mike repeatedly on an interview Mike wanted to do with him (as Mike does for all members who start up a site). Betty wasn't even on his blogroll for the first six months of his site. But everyone of us had him on ours and everyone of us mentioned him and linked to him in the early days of his site. Now he was too busy to do the same for any of us. When the Blade story fell through, he sent this nasty e-mail to C.I. (which Ava passed on) griping about how there had been no support for him. He's writing about soap operas! Not in a challenging manner. Ava and C.I. critique TV shows. He was just providing a synopsis. I don't know the characters (I don't watch soaps) but it was something like, "Ricky and John are going to kiss this week. I found it online." Followed by, "Ricky and John did not kiss. I am so mad." I don't watch As The World Turns, I don't care about soap operas and I tried to follow his site. He never reposted the snapshot and that's when Keesha made it clear in the gina & krista round-robin that he was not a part of this community. Iraq is not getting the attention it needs and that's been true for some time. Keesha is the one who led the push for everyone to repost the snapshot any day they posted. Keesha's argument was that even if you didn't cover Iraq, by including the snapshot, you were. Someone might drop by to read something else, a topic you were writing about, and because the snapshot was there, they'd know about war resisters and other topics. But that man never posted the snapshot. That man never linked to anything in the community after two or so weeks. That man wrote screaming e-mails at C.I. about how he wasn't getting the support he deserved.
I don't know what he expected. He has never written about Iraq so he really shouldn't have expected C.I. to link to him. But C.I. did note him twice a week until the 40th or so nasty e-mail. As Marcia knows, the community doesn't consider that man part of the community. We think he wanted to be a big blogger and felt he could cozy up to C.I., slide into the community and make a name for himself. Along with Mike, Third attempted to interview him. He put them off and Third's attitude was, "We try only once." Mike repeatedly attempted and the man strung him along over and over. Mike was willing to interview over the phone, in i.m., via e-mails. The man would agree and then think of an excuse not to. Or, he'd schedule a time for a phone call and Mike would call and get the answering machine.
So, yes, we're all a little distant to the wanna be blog star who showed up making demands. For the record, I repeatedly ask C.I. not to link to me. This is a journal (and a bad one) and it's just my way to add something and repost the snapshot. Marcia's decided (and I'm allowed to announce this) that she's taking Miguel, Maria and Francisco up on their offer to do a column for their newsletter. She just decided today and has already called Maria to make sure the offer still stands. It does and her first column will appear Sunday so check that out.
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Friday, December 7, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the Canadian parlaiment's December 11th hearings on war resisters approach, IVAW's Justin Cliburn speaks in Dallas Sunday, Buzzy and Cookie remain brothers but one is now unemployed (don't cry, Blackwater will probably officially hire him now), bombings in Iraq get some media attention and more.
Staring with war resistance. November 15th, Iraq War resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey learned that the nation's Supreme Court would not hear their appeals. As a result, the focus is now on getting the Canadian Parliament to address the situation. On December 11th, the parliament will hear testimony from war resisters. Dustin Langley (Workers World) notes Hinzman's statements on the illegal war, "They said there were weapons of mass destruction. They haven't found any. They said Iraq was linked to international terrorist organizations. There haven't been any links. This was a criminal war. Any act of violence in an unjustified conflict is an atrocity." Cindy Sheehan (OpEdNews) urges people to utilize Courage to Resist's easy to mail or e-mail resources to allow the Canadian government to know you are watching and to support organizations supporting war resisters as well as supporting war resisters:
Support actual war resisters in Canada by sending them expense money. From my friend Ryan (I gave him and his wife money to get to Canada over two years ago):
In light of the recent Supreme Court denial in Canada, I (Ryan Johnson), My wife (Jen Johnson) and Brandon Hughey need help raising funds to travel to Ottawa to attend hearings before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, where War Resisters will be giving Testimony to the committee. At these hearings the committee will be deciding on whether or not to make a provision to allow war resisters to stay in Canada. This is one of our last chances to be able to continue living in Canada. We will be leaving December 7th because the hearings are December 11th, 2007 so we need to act fast. They may try to send guys back soon and we need to have a strong War Resister Presence. We appreciate all of the support and Want to thank all of you who can help.
Checks/money orders can be sent for Ryan, Jen and Brandon to:312 Tower Rd Nelson, BC V1L3K6
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project -- that's ten more days -- and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who recently appeared on Democracy Now! addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $41.. The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
March 13th through 15th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
IVAW's South Central Region Coordinator Justin Cliburn will be speaking this Sunday in Dallas, Texas at the First Unitarian Church of Dallas, Raible Chapel (4015 Normandy Avenue, Dallas, TX 75205) at 10:30 am. Cliburn served in Iraq (2005-2006) and this event is free and open to the public.
In yet another sign of the failures of the puppet government, Eric Westervelt (NPR's Morning Edition) reports that the health ministry does not have a program to care for the wounded civilians or even to track how many there are. The illegal war hits the five-year mark in March. Puppet of the occupation Nouri-al Maliki and his initial cabinet were all in place by May of 2006. And there is no system in place to track the wounded let alone to treat them. Westervelt tells of 36-year-old, father of five Majid Hameed -- a victim of a bombing targeting his work place in March 2004 that left him burned and then, lack of treatment, left him with gangrene in both hands which spread and his arms were amputated to "just above the elbow" who must now attempt to provide for his family by hawking "trinkets" on the streets of Baghdad. He had been a blacksmith and a security guard prior to the bombing. The failed system really depends on international aid. Westervelt doesn't make that point but that is what's going on. Just as, in the US, Wal-Mart doesn't provide for their employees and expects government services to subsidize them, the Iraqi government leaves it to the NGOs to 'handle' the situation. Hammed got the run around at the various government ministries, a private organization told him they would need both medical and police reports to treat him and the police station refused to assist him with those forms while the local council "laughed at me saying, 'We don't give letters to disabled people confirming they were hit by a car bomb. We know nothing about it. This is not our business'." It's no one's business because the failed puppet government of Nouri al-Maliki is not one that serves Iraqis. Why should the puppets show interest in the Iraqi people when the US government never has?
Big Oil's enable Iraq Development Program is announcing "positive signs" in Iraq's economy and sourcing it to Bayan Jubur al-Zubaydi (Iraq's Minister of Finance). It's silly nonsense from a silly 'organization' that quotes the minister stating "the new budget allocated $10 billion dollars to subsidise ration card items and the salaries of government employees and pensioners." Yes, we are back to the subsidies. Note the amount. How much of that alleged ten billion goes to saleries? It's worth pondering because Reuters reports Abdul Falah al-Sudany (Iraq's Trade Minister) asserts that the massive reduction in subsidies that will kick in next month stem from a request for "$7 billion in next year's budget to distribute 10 basic items but received only $3 billion." If both officials are telling the truth that would mean seven billion dollars was required to pay the puppet government. That's a big payroll (especially when government workers make so little that IDP is trumpeting the fact that they've been granted income tax waivers) especially when you consider that "more than 60 percent of Iraq's population rely on the rations." Actually, that's the candied number, United Nation's agencies were estimating it was 80 percent and that was before the vast refugee (internal and external) began. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) explains, "The system under which all Iraqis are issued ration cards allowing them to buy 10 items -- sugar, flour, rice, powdered milk, cooking oil, tea, beans, baby milk, soap and detergent -- for a nominal fee". The issue isn't money, the issue is the White House's lust for privatization that led to a tag sale in Iraq. It's nothing but the (PDF format warning) same crap the US has been pushing for some time in the name of "economic rehabilitation and reform for Iraq." This despite the fact that Steven Mann, Paul Bremer's boy, was more interested (November, 2003) in "Building the market structure that promotes private business." In September 2003, the United Nations' World Food Programme was sounding alarms over the crisis in Iraq and noting, "Any significant disruption of the public distribution system would have a severe negative impact on food access." That was 2003. Things have not gotten better and anyone who has trouble grasping that can just focus on the numbers then for external refugees (100,000) and internal ones (200,000). Both categories are now in the millions (and combined account for over 4 million people). The food program is not 'less needed' today, it's more needed.
But the tag sale on Iraq is more important to the puppet government which works for the US government which -- apparently -- works for big business. Hence, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) notes today, "UPI is reporting Iraq's Oil Ministry is preparing to sign deals for the country's largest oil fields even though the Iraqi government has failed to pass an Iraq oil law. BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Conoco Phillips and other oil companies are all attempting to win contracts in Iraq. Executives from BP and Shell are expected to be meeting soon with Iraq's Oil Minister. Under Iraqi law, the Oil Ministry can sign service contract deals on its own. But any production-sharing contracts would need parliamentary approval." This follows Selina Williams reporting (for MarketWatch) earlier this week that BP PLC and Royal Duth Shell PLC were to meet Wednesday with Hussein al-Shahristanti (Iraqi oil minister) for oil discussions. UPI's Ben Landon offers "Big Oil's big dreams are close to coming true as Iraq's Oil Ministry prepares deals for the country's largest oil fields with terms that aren't necessarily what companies were hoping for but considered a foot in the door of the world's most promising oil sector." Now who could have added additional strong-arming on that? Has any US official recently visited Iraq?
Robert Gates holds the title of US Secretary of Defense. Spinning the illegal war apparently comes under his job description (and comes naturally but who other than Robert Parry stepped up to call the nomination out when it mattered?). Gates has left Iraq after his photo-op. Thom Shanker (New York Times) quotes Gates declaring he was "encouraged" and that he was "feeling very good abou tthe direction of things in the security arena". Gates was greeted with bombings and bombings continued through his brief stay. Of course, bombings followed his exit. Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "A suicide woman wearing an explosive belt detonated herself among the civilians near the center of the local committees in Al Mu'alimeen nieghborhood in Muqdadiyah town east of Baquba city around 9,30 am. 16 civilians were killed in the explosion (8 men, 5 women and 3 children) and 27 others were wounded (19 men, 4 children, 2 Sahwa members and 2 women)." CNN, citing the police, identifies the bomber as Suhaila Ali and notes the bombing "took place outside a building that hosts meetings for local members of a so-called awakening council, whose members are opposed to al Qaeda and have formed an alliance with U.S. and Iraqi forces. . . . More than half of the dead and wounded in Friday's bombing were members of the awakening council, the Interior Ministry said." CBS and AP note that two of Suhaila Ali's sons "were killed by Iraqi security forces" and quotes Ibrahim Bajalan ("head of Diyala provincial council") stating, "She wanted to avenge the killing of her two sons." Alaa Shahine (Reuters) pieces together the immediate lead up to the bombing, "Witnesses said a woman walked up to the building, in a street full of shops, and began asking questions. She detonated the vest she was wearing when people out shopping before Friday prayers began gathering around her." UK's In The News notes, "In April the town was hit by another female suicide bomber who killed over 12 people at a police recruitment centre." The Belfast Telegraph observes it was "the second [attack] in the space of 10 days carried out by female suicide bombers." That refers to a November attack summarized then by M-NF as: "A female suicide bomber detonated an explosive laden suicide-vest, wounding seven U.S. soldiers and five Iraqi citizens in Baqubah, Nov. 27." That was only one of the bombings in the Diyala Province. AFP informs, "Hours later, a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into an army checkpoint at the nearby town of Al-Mansuriyah, killing 10 people and wounding eight, among them soldiers and members of another Awakening group, security officials said." Alaa Shahine (Reuters) places the death toll at 10 ("seven Iraqi troops and three members of a local neighbourhood patrol") and eight injured. New York Times' Cara Buckley (at the company's International Herald Tribune) notes that the "three volunteers . . . had been working with the U.S. forces." CBS and AP note that two bombings were "about 10 miles apart". Cami McCormick (CBS News) interviews the newly returned to Fort Hood Army 3rd Brigade Combat Team who had been stationed in Diyala for fifteen months.
McCormick: Many say they were stunned by how dangerous their deployment became.
Spc. Cory Barton: I'd always heard from the guys that had been previous deployed and, you know, family members and friends that had been deployed before, they'd always tell me about the major hot spots -- like Falluja, Najaf, Baghdad, Mosul and places like that -- I've never heard anything about Baquba and then when we touched down, we touched ground in there and it was like an epiphany.
McCormick: It was scary?
Barton: Oh, it was a bad dream.
It's not 'safer' in Iraq. In other violence . . .
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that today two police officers wounded in a Baghdad gun battle and Jabbar Khalaf ("chief of Rabi'aa police station") was shot dead in Mosul along with 4 other police officers and that yesterday a farmer was shot dead outside Kirkuk, 1 Beshmarga Kurdish force intel officer was wounded (by "a pistol with a silencer) while 1 person was shot dead in Kirkuk and another wounded.
Corpses?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad.
If you missed it, it was time for the laughable Nation magazine to do another editorial on the illegal war. Why they bothered is anyone's guess. They accepted (without question) the bulk of the spin regarding the latest wave of Operation Happy Talk. By contrast, the US Socialist Worker demonstrates needed common sense in their "Editorial: 'Mission Accomplished' again?" noting: "A new U.S. war lie -- concocted by the Bush administration, endorsed by the Democrats, embraced by the mainstream media -- has been deployed to justify continuing the occupation in Iraq. The claim is that the Bush 'surge' of 30,000 U.S. troops to Iraq worked -- and is, at long last, bringing 'peace' and 'stability.' . . . . But lurking behind the hype is a different reality -- one that reporters working in Iraq readily admit. A Pew Research Center poll of U.S. reporters working in Iraq found that '[n]early 90 percent of U.S. journalists in Iraq say much of Baghdad is still too dangerous to visit' -- and that many believe U.S. media 'coverage has painted too rosy a picture of the conflict'." As the editorial notes, imperialism is a bi-partisan goal with Republicans and Democrats embracing one another from across the aisle. Which is why CBS and AP's bulletin should come as no surprise: "Democrats controlling Congress sent the most explicit signals yet on Thursday that they are resigned to providing additional funding for the war in Iraq before Congress adjourns for the year." They're preparing to cave again. And as CBS reports that $1 billion in equipment is missing in Iraq. There for-show stunt that found US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid claiming they woulnd't budge has collapsed. As the Socialist Worker concludes, "The bipartisan Washington establishment is rallying around the consensus that the surge worked because it provides the excuses for continued occupation. Opponents of the war need to expose this new war lie -- and insist that life in Iraq will only really improve when the U.S. gets out."
And those enlisting to assist don't just include The Nation but also NPR. As Ruth noted yesterday, the public radio network "did 'investigative journalism' . . . They discovered that the American people have lost interest in ending the illegal war. How did they unearth this questionable claim? They spoke to Congressional staffers. They spoke to staffers of Congress members, the same Congress that has refused to end the illegal war. It is truly a shock, at least to NPR, that said staffers might lie to take the heat off the people who sign their pay checks." NPR's Day to Day wants you to believe that "Iraq has become less of an issue in the presidential campaign." They need you to believe it having offered a two-hour Democratic presidential hopefuls 'debate' this week where, despite the US being engaged in a war, the 'moderators' never asked about the Iraq War. As noted in Wednesday's snapshot, that 'reality' is far from reality: "In fact the latest poll found it the issue most noted by respondents -- you could take the second and third most cited issues (economy and healthcare), add them together and Iraq would still outrank them. But the media has lost interest. Add another poll to the mix. Faye Fiore (Los Angeles Times) reports on the Los Angeles Times - Bloomberg News poll which found, "Nearly six of every 10 military families disapprove of Bush's job performance and the way he has run the war, rating him only slightly better than the general population does." Was the illegal war "worth it"? All poll respondents state no by 60%, respondents from homes "with active military/vets" said no by 57% and homes "with military in Iraq/vets" said no by 60%. Translation: America says the illegal war was not worth it. To anser the Clash's musical question -- "Should I Stay or Should I Go" -- 23% polled said bring them home "right away" (21% for homes with active military/vets and 27% for homes with military in Iraq/vets) while 41% say bring them home "within next year" (37% and 42% in the previous breakdown). Bring the troops home? 64% say YES! It's only in the lame media that wants to pretend the issue is no longer an issue. And of course the media includes some on the 'left' because you can't pimp the war supporter Barack Obama so hard and still call for an end to the illegal war. (LAT piece is also at Common Dreams.)
Turning from the mercenaries in Congress to the mercenaries of Blackwater. When last we checked in on Buzzy and Cookie (November 19th snapshot), Howard Cookie Krongard was remaining the US State Dept's inspector general but stated he was going to remove himself from pretending to provide oversight of Blackwater due to the fact that his brother A. B. Buzzy Krongard serves on the advisory board of Blackwater. Previously, Cookie had tried to deny that Buzzy was working with Blackwater, deny in a Congressional hearing, but admitted it was true after requesting a break. Despite Cookie's claims, Buzzy told Scott Shane (New York Times) that he had told his brother he was on the advisory board "a few weeks ago." In an update, Reuters reports today that Cookie has announced he will resign from the State Department. Jeremy Scahill (Common Dreams) provides an update on the latest to do with Blackwater and he will be back on Democracy Now! next week to discuss the latest regarding the mercenaries (I believe Monday). Scahill concludes in his latest piece: "In short, Blackwater is moving ahead at full steam. Individual scandals clearly aren't enough to slow it down. The company's critics in the Democratic-controlled Congress must confront the root of the problem: the government is in the midst of its most radical privatization in history, and companies like Blackwater are becoming ever more deeply embedded in the war apparatus. Until this system is brought down, the world's the limit for Blackwater Worldwide--and as its rebranding campaign shows, Blackwater knows it."
iraq
jeremy hinzmanbrandon hughey
dustin langley
cindy sheehan
anthony arnovehoward zinn
iraq veterans against the war
democracy nowamy goodman
blackwater usa
jeremy scahill
the new york times
scott shanecara buckley
thoms shanker
mcclatchy newspapers
npr
Friday, December 07, 2007
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
National Lawyers Guild, Glen Ford, Sharon Smith
"NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD AND SOCIETY OF AMERICAN LAW TEACHERS STRONGLY OPPOSE HOMEGROWN TERRORISM PREVENTION ACT" (National Lawyers Guild):
On October 23, 2007, the House of Representatives passed the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 by a vote of 404-6. The bill will be referred out of committee this week and will then go to the Senate floor. The National Lawyers Guild and the Society of American Law Teachers strongly oppose this legislation because it will likely lead to the criminalization of beliefs, dissent and protest, and invite more draconian surveillance of Internet communications.
This bill would establish a Commission to study and report on "facts and causes" of "violent radicalism" and "extremist belief systems." It defines "violent radicalism" as "adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change." The term "extremist belief system" is not defined; it could refer to liberalism, nationalism, socialism, anarchism, communism, etc.
"Ideologically based violence" is defined in the bill as the "use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to promote the group or individual's political, religious, or social beliefs." Thus, "force" and "violence" are used interchangeably. If a group of people blocked the doorway of a corporation that manufactured weapons, or blocked a sidewalk during an anti-war demonstration, it might constitute the use of "force" to promote "political beliefs."
The bill charges that the Internet "has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens." This provision could be used to conduct more intrusive surveillance of our Internet communications without warrants.
This legislation does not criminalize conduct, but may well lead to criminalizing ideas or beliefs in violation of the First Amendment. By targeting the Internet, it may result in increased surveillance of Internet communications in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
The National Lawyers Guild and the Society of American Law Teachers strongly urge the Senate to refuse to pass the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.
Founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
The Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) is a community of progressive law teachers working for justice, diversity and academic excellence. SALT is the largest membership organization of law faculty and legal education professionals in the United States.
Mike and I are both opening with that press release. I was actually hoping to write about Guantanamo tonight but I was so busy today I barely finished one newspaper and, during lunch, Sunny and I didn't even have Democracy Now! on. There was actually an e-mail on that. Sunny told me someone had e-mailed about how we -- the entire community, apparently -- had not linked to Democracy Now! yesterday. In my office, we're busy. I really can't talk about it other than that. But we are busy all week. I doubt I will hear it tomorrow. I hope to hear the program on Friday. So that is one reason I didn't note it. It's equally true, that when I thought about it, I realized what show it was. We noted the Lou Dobbs interview Sunday at Third. I know for a fact, without calling, that Ava, C.I. and Kat did not listen on the road. Ava's not going to waste her time listening to Lou Dobbs the xenophobe. They don't watch him on cable, they're certainly not going to listen to him. That's true of all three, not just Ava. I went to Ava because the immigration issue and the illegal war are the two issues she's focusing on. That doesn't mean Goodman's interview with him wasn't worth others catching. Last week she was asking for input on questions to ask him. But Ava's not going to sit there and listen to Dobbs. Nor should she have to. So I'm sure all three of them skipped it. In fact, I know it because C.I. and Ava are always in agreement and there's no way Kat was going to say, "Ava, I know you think Dobbs is a xenophobe, but I really want to hear it!" Kat wouldn't say that because she doesn't like Dobbs, but even if she did, she still wouldn't say it out of respect for Ava.
Whether others took cues from it not being in the snapshot or not, you'd have to ask them. But I know why it didn't make yesterday's snapshot: they didn't listen. There are some people who are anti-immigrants that Ava could listen to but she considers Lou Dobbs to be such a liar that it's just not worth the anger it would create for her if they listened. That's a wise decision.
Others who were able to listen, or watch or read, probably had a very enjoyable experience.
"When NOT to Vote Black (at least in Memphis)" (Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report):
Memphis is home to probably the largest concentration of backward clergy in Black America, and proved it in August when Black Baptists declared:
"The Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association stands in total opposition to any legislation that will silence churches on the matter of sin and abomination. It is our belief that the New Hate Crime bill is a subtle attempt on the part of the Gay Community to further legitimize itself as an acceptable lifestyle. We find nothing in Biblical Scripture to support the same.
"We also recognize the difference between homosexuals and homosexuality; God loves the homosexual but hates homosexuality. We further believe that all citizens of these United States of America are equally protected under the 14th Amendment of our Constitution.
"The new Hate Crime Bill spelling out specific groups is immediately a red flag for suspicion - attaching it to the Defense Authorization Bill raises further concern. All citizens are protected under the present laws.
"We go on record that we detest the alignment of African-Americans with homosexuals and lesbians as being equal. There is absolutely nothing immoral about being African American." - Dr. Basil Brooks, President
Ugly words - and stupid, too, unless one understands that this federal issue is being used as a local club to bludgeon the not-gay Rep. Cohen, whom key members of the Baptist group seek to associate with tolerance for sin and “abomination.” It does not matter that, as Cohen has accurately noted, the entire Congressional Black Caucus (and 30 Republicans) support the Hate Crimes bill.
What we have in Memphis and across Black America is a confluence of old-line conservative Black preachers who know they will cash in politically and monetarily if they deliver their congregations to the boss-man’s camp, and an equally ancient corporate enemy that has learned in recent years the art of grooming secular Black minstrel-politicians. Harold Ford, Jr. was once their favorite performer, not just in Memphis, but nationally. Nikki Tinker is his designated successor.
It appears that this type of despicable political tag-team - well-dressed corporate-trained Negroes from the suites operating in tandem with vile, spittle-spewing preachers working their shows in the ghetto - is the current model for corporate takeover of Black electoral politics, especially in the South. However, Memphis, in this primary season, presents a particular, transcendent challenge to African Americans. A white incumbent has reversed ten years of abject betrayal of Blacks by the previous, Black representative. He is challenged by the very same deceitful forces, who would no doubt continue the sell-out legacy. Will Blacks in Memphis vote their fundamental interests, or be hoodwinked by sucker-solidarity with the skin color of the criminal that is preparing to rob them?
If the answer is the latter, then Black Memphis will have shown itself to be too deeply mired in the Jim Crow experience, too addicted to hollow "Black faces in high places" celebrations to defend itself in the modern world, or to be of use to any of the rest of us.
Harold Ford Jr.'s protege should be scary just because she is his protege. Glen Ford offers many other reasons to be concerned.
"The Anti-War Enablers" (Sharon Smith, CounterPunch):
Perhaps more alarming than Hayden's election year strategy is one from the Institute for Policy Studies' Phyllis Bennis that appeared in the November issue of Peaceworkmagazine.org: "Deepening the Majority: Anti-War Organizing in an Election Year." Bennis, a long-standing champion of Palestinian rights, might appear an unlikely bedfellow for the has-been Hayden. Yet she likewise argues, "It is very hard, at an emotional level, for people to understand that none of the Presidential candidates likely to win in 2008 is committed to ending the war Still, it matters very much who gets elected in 2008."
"Even those of us whose work is focused almost exclusively on ending the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan don't have the luxury to say that all candidates, for Congress or for the presidency, are the same," Bennis continues. Here Bennis strikes down a straw figure, since virtually no one opposed to supporting Democrats in this election year has argued that all Democrats and all Republicans hold identical political positions.
I am going to be moving really fast because I just looked at the time and I had promised Rebecca I'd call before she started blogging. I really enjoy Sharon Smith's writing and I enjoy this piece. I cringed twice while reading it. That's fine. Truth can be uncomfortable from time to time. I don't know that I've given up hope on Tom Hayden (that's another section of the article). I understand why Smith has no hope for him. She may very well be right and he did write what C.I. called a "voters' guide" last week (and C.I. noted that students need leaders, not voters guide). The reason I disagree with Smith slightly on Hayden has to do with the points C.I.'s made in the essay which will probably (Kat is right) go up at The Third Estate Sunday Review and not at The Common Ills. That essay has similar conclusions to Smith's but gets there by a different road. The other cringe was over the part I quoted above. I am not in disagreement there and think Smith may be too kind. But, reading it, I thought, "Bennis is referred to." In C.I.'s piece and one of the reasons I didn't want it to be a group piece of writing at Third was because of the fact that there will be a number of us who will want to expand the Bennis section. I'm going to be fighting that, to be honest. It's not an individual issue in C.I.'s piece, it's a whole crowd.
On that, a woman who I will call Penny called me today. She was very active during Vietnam and I hadn't spoken to her in years. She got very burned out in the late
70s (for good reason). I was happy to hear from her and told her I'd call her this evening (which I did, after work). Last week, C.I. and the gang showed up at her doorstep and basically kidnapped her. C.I. told her, "Students need to hear from you, you're coming with us." She hadn't spoken in public in years. She said C.I. gave her an intro that made her want to cry (every word was more than earned, I'm sure) and she was just so blown away by the reaction to what she had to share. There's a reason for that but I can't go into it until C.I.'s piece posts. (Where ever it ends up posting.) Since that college campus was in her town, she gave out her number to a few students after and they asked her to come and speak to another group which she did yesterday. Good. That's what's needed. Not "voters guides" or Phyllis Bennis offering nonsense. Reality is needed.
I hadn't read Smith's piece when I spoke to her briefly or when I called her back this evening but I was using Smith as an example. She was explaining the reactions of the students and was just really surprised. I explained to her the landscape today and also told her that we have a lot of women who avoid the topic of the illegal war and a lot of women who go all namby pamby. Penny's a strong voice and we were joking on the phone that C.I.'s going to start "activating the Old Girls Network across the country." That would be wonderful and amazing. It would also get the truth out there. The campus was one C.I. had visited several times during this illegal war to speak with students and already once this fall because it's a very active campus. There are so many lies being told about the earlier period of resistance that C.I. apparently made a spur of the moment decision (or more likely feared Penny would beg off if she had notice) and they just stopped on the way and grabbed her. We need the strong women. Whether it's Sharon Smith or Penny, we need them out there fighting. Not acting like they float on a cloud above us all, but telling the hard truths that students today largely are not hearing. I am stopping on that or I'll end up poaching C.I.'s essay.
But I really love Sharon Smith's writing and I loved that column. I only quoted those two paragraphs out of fair use concerns (C.I. quotes the opening in the snapshot). I hope you will read it in full because, to repeat, we need strong women. Smith is a very strong woman.
I have to call Rebecca so I'm stealing one of Kat's tricks. I've written about the following tonight:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
and Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)
Usually I insert the links but I don't have time tonight.
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Wednesday, December 5, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, Bobby Gates gets greeted with trumpets (well . . . car bombs) as he visits Iraq, realities continue to emerge about the myth of the 'great return' and more.
Starting with war resistance. December 11th the Canadian Parliament will hold public hearings on the issue of war resisters. A legislative remedy to allow war resisters to remain in Canada is necessary following the Supreme Court of Canada's November 15th announcement that they would not hear the appeals of US war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Various war resisters hope to testify and Cindy Sheehan (OpEdNews) urges people to utilize Courage to Resist's easy to mail or e-mail resources to allow the Canadian government to know you are watching and to support organizations supporting war resisters as well as supporting war resisters:
Support actual war resisters in Canada by sending them expense money. From my friend Ryan (I gave him and his wife money to get to Canada over two years ago):
In light of the recent Supreme Court denial in Canada, I (Ryan Johnson), My wife (Jen Johnson) and Brandon Hughey need help raising funds to travel to Ottawa to attend hearings before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, where War Resisters will be giving Testimony to the committee. At these hearings the committee will be deciding on whether or not to make a provision to allow war resisters to stay in Canada. This is one of our last chances to be able to continue living in Canada. We will be leaving December 7th because the hearings are December 11th, 2007 so we need to act fast. They may try to send guys back soon and we need to have a strong War Resister Presence. We appreciate all of the support and Want to thank all of you who can help.
Checks/money orders can be sent for Ryan, Jen and Brandon to:312 Tower Rd Nelson, BC V1L3K6
One of the war resisters in Canada is Kimberly Rivera who lives there now with her husband and two children. At her site, she reflects, "Its funny how Recruiters work, every year in high school they are allowed to set up a table in the lunch room and discuss your future as a Soldier or what have you and every school had a ROTC program. I was never in ROTC or have I ever thought of becoming a soldier, on several occassions I had the recruiters approach me and ask me what my plans where and I told them I am just 16 i don't need to disclosing info about my self to strangers, and because i was under age of 17 they didn't talk to me further that year. How ever in my junior and senior year they were calling my house with school rosters that they get from the schools. And each recruiter is assigned to a certain school." She recounts her experiences in Iraq, how her husband Mario found out information online, and how they made the decision to move to Canada and shares "we crossed the broader on Feb 18th 2007 i missed my cycle in febuary and in march and late april i started having sever pain and heavy clotting and was depressed because i know that i misscaried it last about 2 weeks." Now the Rivera family is trying to make a life for themselves and Canada's Parliament can do the right thing, they can step up and address the issue in a number of ways.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who recently appeared on Democracy Now! addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
March 13th through 15th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
"I think you heard about Cholera infections in Iraq," writes an Iraqi correspondent at Inside Iraq (McClatchy Newspapers). "If you read the statistic you will be astonished that this wounded country is able to withstand in front of this outbreak disease in spite of all the probems that surround it. When this disease showed for the first time in north of Iraq I thought that this disease will spread in our country like the fire spread in dry stalks." The reporter goes on to share a story of a woman in Baghdad who ended up with cholera but her relatives feared the "shame on our family" if she was taken to the hospital and placed "under quarantine" so, instead, the woman ended up dying. Cholera was first detected back in August and in Kirkuk. By mid-September cholera was showing up in "twenty one districts of Northern Iraq" according to the World Health Organization. On Sunday, David Smith (UK Observer) provided an update noting that the factors were in place to "create an epidemic" with 101 cases in Baghdad. Yesterday, AAAS Science and Techonology Policy Fellow Mark D. Drapeau (at the New York Times) observed that cholera "doesn't respect borders" and that includes who is at risk in Iraq: anyone. Children, adults, foreign forces, anyone. Drapeau argues, "Cholera is a grave threat for the American project in Iraq, but also an opportunity to capture the hearts and minds of the population." No, not really. The ship sailed on that long ago. More importantly, a people under threat -- and that's what it is to live under an occupation -- usually includes a healthy number of people who will assume that outbreaks of whatever are launched upon them by the occupiers. Cesar Chelala (Qatar's Gulf Times) quotes Oxfam's Jeremy Hobbs declaring, "The terrible violence in Iraq has masked the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Malnutrition amongst children has dramatically increased and basic services, ruined by years of wars and sanctions, cannot meet the needs of the Iraqi people. Millions of Iraqis have been forced to flee the violence, either to another part of Iraq or abroad. Many of those are living in dire poverty."
Dire poverty. A characteristic of those Iraqi refugees being tricked into returning from Syria. Hamza Hendai (AP) reports that Iraqi state television is broadcasting propaganda messages aimed at Iraqi refugees with tag lines such as "How sweet it is to return to Iraq". Yesterday on NPR's Morning Edition, Deborah Amos reported the reality revealed from refugees returning to Iraq: "many are going back because it is too difficult to stay in Syria. In October, Syria made it harder for Iraqis to enter the country. About 1,000 return to Iraq every day, but at least 500 cross into Syria daily -- running from kidnappings, bombings or personal threats. Falah Jaber, an Iraqi sociologist, says that those who have been personally targeted by violence will be the last ones to consider going home" and quoted Jaber stating, "What we have seen this far is just a trickle. We have one and a half million" external refugees so "the return of 30,000 is not yet a pro-return case." Jamie Tarabay (Morning Edition) broadcast the thoughts of Suad Moahmmed who explained, "We were kicked out of our home in Dora. They took my house and furniture" and, upon returning, discovered that a militia leader had sold the home. [The Red Crescent notes that the number of internal refugees has dipped from 2.3 million to 2.19 million.] Next month, as IRIN reported yesterday, Iraqis will discover that the items available to them will drop from ten to five and that the remaining five will be distributed in lower numbers. The food rations that Iraqis need just to struggle through are being cut because the (puppet) government wants to do the White House's bidding. Children's milk is not being reduced, it is being CUT OUT all together. This at a time when you have at least 28% of Iraqi children suffering from malnutrition and when over 11% of infants are underweight. This is criminal. The rations cards were something Paul Bremer tried to stamp out but couldn't. It took an allegedly independent puppet government to betray the already suffering children of Iraq. And these are the people that the White House says must be supported. Of course they say that, the White House wants to do away with the rations as well. But that's the sort of 'leadership' in the puppet government of Iraq: the already suffering children, living in a war zone, can suffer a lot more because the puppet government has other priorities (which we will no doubt learn, a year or so from now, included lining their own pockets).
And, in other bad news, the US Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, went to Iraq. Iraq trumpets greeted him -- if car and roadside bombings can pass for trumpets.
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing wounded two police officers, a Baghdad car bombing claimed 14 lives with at least thirty-three more wounded, a Mosul car bombing claimed 1 life and left seven more injured, a Diyala car bombing at a Baquba bus station claimed 5 lives leaving twelve more wounded and Biji roadside bombing claimed 1 life. Reuters reports a car bombing targeting Brig. Gen Kakamen Hameed that left him and nine other people wounded in Kirkuk and also killed 2 people (inlcuding one of Hameed's bodyguards).
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports "a Kurd security officer" was shot dead in Tuz Khurmatu. Reuters notes a sheikh was shot dead Kut.
Corpses?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 4 corpses were discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes a corpse discovered in Dhuluiya.
Today the US military announced: "Two Multi-National Division-North Soldiers were killed as a result of injuries sustained from a complex attack involving an improvised explosive device and small arms fire while conducting operations in Salah ad Din province, Dec. 4." And today they announced: "A Multi-National Division – North Soldier died Dec. 5 as a result of wounds sustained from an attack involving an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire while conducting operations in Salah ad Din province Dec. 4." And late yesterday, they announced: "A U.S. Soldier was killed as a result of injuries sustained from a vehicle explosion during a vehicle recovery operation in Al Anbar province Dec. 3. "
Turning to US politics, yesterday Democratic contenders for the 2008 presidential nomination (except Bill Richardson) took part in the NPR 'debate' that was pretty embarrassing. Click here for audio (and transcript link) and here for just transcript. First thing you may have noticed is that Iraq fell off the radar. That's not the first debate this has happened but Barack Obama didn't even appear jazzed to use his "I was against the war before it started" (while refusing to note his change of position beginning in 2004). What's happening? The public hasn't lost interest in the illegal war. In fact the latest poll found it the issue most noted by respondents -- you could take the second and third most cited issues (economy and healthcare), add them together and Iraq would still outrank them. But the media has lost interest. Commenting on a new report by Media Lens, John Pilger (New Statesman) summarizes, "Like the reported 'success' of the US 'surge' in Iraq, the Soviet equivalent allowed 'poor peasants [to work] the land peacefully'. Like the Americans and British in Iraq and Afghanistan, Soviet troops were liberators who became peacekeepers and always acted in 'self-defence'. The BBC's Mark Urban's revelation of the "first real evidence that President Bush's grand design of toppling a dictator and forcing a democracy into the heart of the Middle East could work" (Newsnight, 12 April 2005) is almost word for word that of Soviet commentators claiming benign and noble intent behind Moscow's actions in Afghanistan. The BBC's Paul Wood, in thrall to the 101st Airborne, reported that the Americans 'must win here if they are to leave Iraq . . . There is much still to do.' That precisely was the Soviet line." That really does summarize the nonsense of the 'debate.' Mike Gravel, naming one specific answer he didn't have, stated, "I don't have an answer to be able to persuade the American people that they are the solution, not their leaders. I wish I had the answer to convince them of that." The worst moment -- a tough call -- probably involved when this was declared: "Oh, come on. You know what you want to do on that. You want to impeach people." That was aimed at Dennis Kucinich. Which candidate decided to freak out Kucinich? No candidate. That was Steve Inskeep of NPR. And, no, he didn't speak to other candidates like that. Exactly what did NPR think of that? If that's NPR 'tude, it certainly wasn't spread out to the other candidates. More importantly, Kucinich doesn't want to "impeach people." He's introduced a resolution to impeach Dick Cheney and he thinks the Bully Boy needs to be impeached. "People" certainly sounds 'wilder.' 'Oh, that crazy Dennis, he just wants to impeach us all!' Steve Inskeep embarrassed himself and so did Ruth Conniff for failing to note that in her commentary (at The Progressive) or to note that Iraq -- the most cited issue by voters -- wasn't addressed seriously in the debate which, again, lasted two hours. Two hours and they couldn't explore Iraq. NPR needs to take a look at themselves. Were the 'moderators' unaware the Iraq War was still going on? That is shameful even before you note that NPR is 'public radio.' The public ranks Iraq as the most important issue, it's a damn shame the fools at NPR don't.
Staying on politics, we'll close with the opening of Sharon Smith's latest commentary at CounterPunch:
The December 17th issue of the liberal Nation magazine contains an article penned by former California Senator Tom Hayden, purporting to offer antiwar voters a glimpse of hope for mainstream relevance in the coming election year-which will certainly be a contest between two pro-war candidates from the two corporate political parties. Hayden's article, "How the Peace Movement Can Win: A Field Guide," exudes confidence that antiwar activists have a role to play in spreading a message of peace as the presidential primaries begin on January 3rd.
Hayden acknowledges that, even as a Congressional majority over the last year, Democrats have provided little more than an "echo" for the Bush administration. He also admits that leading Democratic presidential contenders refuse to guarantee troop withdrawal before 2013, arguing, "The platform of 'out by 2013' may be a sufficient difference from the Republicans for some, but it won't satisfy the most committed antiwar voters." He notes that all the leading candidates vaguely assert the need, as Hillary Clinton does, for "a smaller American force left behind dedicated to training Iraqis and counter-terrorism."
Nevertheless, Hayden's "Field Guide" exhorts antiwar activists to get out the vote for 2008-for whichever candidate becomes the anointed Democratic nominee. "Only in this way," Hayden argues without evidence, "will the peace movement succeed in expanding and intensifying antiwar feeling to a degree that will compel the politicians to abandon their six-year timetable for a far shorter one."
iraq
jeremy hinzmanbrandon hughey
kimberly rivera
cindy sheehan
anthony arnovehoward zinn
iraq veterans against the war
sharon smith the new york times
nprall things consideredmorning edition
john pilger
On October 23, 2007, the House of Representatives passed the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 by a vote of 404-6. The bill will be referred out of committee this week and will then go to the Senate floor. The National Lawyers Guild and the Society of American Law Teachers strongly oppose this legislation because it will likely lead to the criminalization of beliefs, dissent and protest, and invite more draconian surveillance of Internet communications.
This bill would establish a Commission to study and report on "facts and causes" of "violent radicalism" and "extremist belief systems." It defines "violent radicalism" as "adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change." The term "extremist belief system" is not defined; it could refer to liberalism, nationalism, socialism, anarchism, communism, etc.
"Ideologically based violence" is defined in the bill as the "use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to promote the group or individual's political, religious, or social beliefs." Thus, "force" and "violence" are used interchangeably. If a group of people blocked the doorway of a corporation that manufactured weapons, or blocked a sidewalk during an anti-war demonstration, it might constitute the use of "force" to promote "political beliefs."
The bill charges that the Internet "has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens." This provision could be used to conduct more intrusive surveillance of our Internet communications without warrants.
This legislation does not criminalize conduct, but may well lead to criminalizing ideas or beliefs in violation of the First Amendment. By targeting the Internet, it may result in increased surveillance of Internet communications in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
The National Lawyers Guild and the Society of American Law Teachers strongly urge the Senate to refuse to pass the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.
Founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
The Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) is a community of progressive law teachers working for justice, diversity and academic excellence. SALT is the largest membership organization of law faculty and legal education professionals in the United States.
Mike and I are both opening with that press release. I was actually hoping to write about Guantanamo tonight but I was so busy today I barely finished one newspaper and, during lunch, Sunny and I didn't even have Democracy Now! on. There was actually an e-mail on that. Sunny told me someone had e-mailed about how we -- the entire community, apparently -- had not linked to Democracy Now! yesterday. In my office, we're busy. I really can't talk about it other than that. But we are busy all week. I doubt I will hear it tomorrow. I hope to hear the program on Friday. So that is one reason I didn't note it. It's equally true, that when I thought about it, I realized what show it was. We noted the Lou Dobbs interview Sunday at Third. I know for a fact, without calling, that Ava, C.I. and Kat did not listen on the road. Ava's not going to waste her time listening to Lou Dobbs the xenophobe. They don't watch him on cable, they're certainly not going to listen to him. That's true of all three, not just Ava. I went to Ava because the immigration issue and the illegal war are the two issues she's focusing on. That doesn't mean Goodman's interview with him wasn't worth others catching. Last week she was asking for input on questions to ask him. But Ava's not going to sit there and listen to Dobbs. Nor should she have to. So I'm sure all three of them skipped it. In fact, I know it because C.I. and Ava are always in agreement and there's no way Kat was going to say, "Ava, I know you think Dobbs is a xenophobe, but I really want to hear it!" Kat wouldn't say that because she doesn't like Dobbs, but even if she did, she still wouldn't say it out of respect for Ava.
Whether others took cues from it not being in the snapshot or not, you'd have to ask them. But I know why it didn't make yesterday's snapshot: they didn't listen. There are some people who are anti-immigrants that Ava could listen to but she considers Lou Dobbs to be such a liar that it's just not worth the anger it would create for her if they listened. That's a wise decision.
Others who were able to listen, or watch or read, probably had a very enjoyable experience.
"When NOT to Vote Black (at least in Memphis)" (Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report):
Memphis is home to probably the largest concentration of backward clergy in Black America, and proved it in August when Black Baptists declared:
"The Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association stands in total opposition to any legislation that will silence churches on the matter of sin and abomination. It is our belief that the New Hate Crime bill is a subtle attempt on the part of the Gay Community to further legitimize itself as an acceptable lifestyle. We find nothing in Biblical Scripture to support the same.
"We also recognize the difference between homosexuals and homosexuality; God loves the homosexual but hates homosexuality. We further believe that all citizens of these United States of America are equally protected under the 14th Amendment of our Constitution.
"The new Hate Crime Bill spelling out specific groups is immediately a red flag for suspicion - attaching it to the Defense Authorization Bill raises further concern. All citizens are protected under the present laws.
"We go on record that we detest the alignment of African-Americans with homosexuals and lesbians as being equal. There is absolutely nothing immoral about being African American." - Dr. Basil Brooks, President
Ugly words - and stupid, too, unless one understands that this federal issue is being used as a local club to bludgeon the not-gay Rep. Cohen, whom key members of the Baptist group seek to associate with tolerance for sin and “abomination.” It does not matter that, as Cohen has accurately noted, the entire Congressional Black Caucus (and 30 Republicans) support the Hate Crimes bill.
What we have in Memphis and across Black America is a confluence of old-line conservative Black preachers who know they will cash in politically and monetarily if they deliver their congregations to the boss-man’s camp, and an equally ancient corporate enemy that has learned in recent years the art of grooming secular Black minstrel-politicians. Harold Ford, Jr. was once their favorite performer, not just in Memphis, but nationally. Nikki Tinker is his designated successor.
It appears that this type of despicable political tag-team - well-dressed corporate-trained Negroes from the suites operating in tandem with vile, spittle-spewing preachers working their shows in the ghetto - is the current model for corporate takeover of Black electoral politics, especially in the South. However, Memphis, in this primary season, presents a particular, transcendent challenge to African Americans. A white incumbent has reversed ten years of abject betrayal of Blacks by the previous, Black representative. He is challenged by the very same deceitful forces, who would no doubt continue the sell-out legacy. Will Blacks in Memphis vote their fundamental interests, or be hoodwinked by sucker-solidarity with the skin color of the criminal that is preparing to rob them?
If the answer is the latter, then Black Memphis will have shown itself to be too deeply mired in the Jim Crow experience, too addicted to hollow "Black faces in high places" celebrations to defend itself in the modern world, or to be of use to any of the rest of us.
Harold Ford Jr.'s protege should be scary just because she is his protege. Glen Ford offers many other reasons to be concerned.
"The Anti-War Enablers" (Sharon Smith, CounterPunch):
Perhaps more alarming than Hayden's election year strategy is one from the Institute for Policy Studies' Phyllis Bennis that appeared in the November issue of Peaceworkmagazine.org: "Deepening the Majority: Anti-War Organizing in an Election Year." Bennis, a long-standing champion of Palestinian rights, might appear an unlikely bedfellow for the has-been Hayden. Yet she likewise argues, "It is very hard, at an emotional level, for people to understand that none of the Presidential candidates likely to win in 2008 is committed to ending the war Still, it matters very much who gets elected in 2008."
"Even those of us whose work is focused almost exclusively on ending the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan don't have the luxury to say that all candidates, for Congress or for the presidency, are the same," Bennis continues. Here Bennis strikes down a straw figure, since virtually no one opposed to supporting Democrats in this election year has argued that all Democrats and all Republicans hold identical political positions.
I am going to be moving really fast because I just looked at the time and I had promised Rebecca I'd call before she started blogging. I really enjoy Sharon Smith's writing and I enjoy this piece. I cringed twice while reading it. That's fine. Truth can be uncomfortable from time to time. I don't know that I've given up hope on Tom Hayden (that's another section of the article). I understand why Smith has no hope for him. She may very well be right and he did write what C.I. called a "voters' guide" last week (and C.I. noted that students need leaders, not voters guide). The reason I disagree with Smith slightly on Hayden has to do with the points C.I.'s made in the essay which will probably (Kat is right) go up at The Third Estate Sunday Review and not at The Common Ills. That essay has similar conclusions to Smith's but gets there by a different road. The other cringe was over the part I quoted above. I am not in disagreement there and think Smith may be too kind. But, reading it, I thought, "Bennis is referred to." In C.I.'s piece and one of the reasons I didn't want it to be a group piece of writing at Third was because of the fact that there will be a number of us who will want to expand the Bennis section. I'm going to be fighting that, to be honest. It's not an individual issue in C.I.'s piece, it's a whole crowd.
On that, a woman who I will call Penny called me today. She was very active during Vietnam and I hadn't spoken to her in years. She got very burned out in the late
70s (for good reason). I was happy to hear from her and told her I'd call her this evening (which I did, after work). Last week, C.I. and the gang showed up at her doorstep and basically kidnapped her. C.I. told her, "Students need to hear from you, you're coming with us." She hadn't spoken in public in years. She said C.I. gave her an intro that made her want to cry (every word was more than earned, I'm sure) and she was just so blown away by the reaction to what she had to share. There's a reason for that but I can't go into it until C.I.'s piece posts. (Where ever it ends up posting.) Since that college campus was in her town, she gave out her number to a few students after and they asked her to come and speak to another group which she did yesterday. Good. That's what's needed. Not "voters guides" or Phyllis Bennis offering nonsense. Reality is needed.
I hadn't read Smith's piece when I spoke to her briefly or when I called her back this evening but I was using Smith as an example. She was explaining the reactions of the students and was just really surprised. I explained to her the landscape today and also told her that we have a lot of women who avoid the topic of the illegal war and a lot of women who go all namby pamby. Penny's a strong voice and we were joking on the phone that C.I.'s going to start "activating the Old Girls Network across the country." That would be wonderful and amazing. It would also get the truth out there. The campus was one C.I. had visited several times during this illegal war to speak with students and already once this fall because it's a very active campus. There are so many lies being told about the earlier period of resistance that C.I. apparently made a spur of the moment decision (or more likely feared Penny would beg off if she had notice) and they just stopped on the way and grabbed her. We need the strong women. Whether it's Sharon Smith or Penny, we need them out there fighting. Not acting like they float on a cloud above us all, but telling the hard truths that students today largely are not hearing. I am stopping on that or I'll end up poaching C.I.'s essay.
But I really love Sharon Smith's writing and I loved that column. I only quoted those two paragraphs out of fair use concerns (C.I. quotes the opening in the snapshot). I hope you will read it in full because, to repeat, we need strong women. Smith is a very strong woman.
I have to call Rebecca so I'm stealing one of Kat's tricks. I've written about the following tonight:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
and Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)
Usually I insert the links but I don't have time tonight.
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Wednesday, December 5, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, Bobby Gates gets greeted with trumpets (well . . . car bombs) as he visits Iraq, realities continue to emerge about the myth of the 'great return' and more.
Starting with war resistance. December 11th the Canadian Parliament will hold public hearings on the issue of war resisters. A legislative remedy to allow war resisters to remain in Canada is necessary following the Supreme Court of Canada's November 15th announcement that they would not hear the appeals of US war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Various war resisters hope to testify and Cindy Sheehan (OpEdNews) urges people to utilize Courage to Resist's easy to mail or e-mail resources to allow the Canadian government to know you are watching and to support organizations supporting war resisters as well as supporting war resisters:
Support actual war resisters in Canada by sending them expense money. From my friend Ryan (I gave him and his wife money to get to Canada over two years ago):
In light of the recent Supreme Court denial in Canada, I (Ryan Johnson), My wife (Jen Johnson) and Brandon Hughey need help raising funds to travel to Ottawa to attend hearings before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, where War Resisters will be giving Testimony to the committee. At these hearings the committee will be deciding on whether or not to make a provision to allow war resisters to stay in Canada. This is one of our last chances to be able to continue living in Canada. We will be leaving December 7th because the hearings are December 11th, 2007 so we need to act fast. They may try to send guys back soon and we need to have a strong War Resister Presence. We appreciate all of the support and Want to thank all of you who can help.
Checks/money orders can be sent for Ryan, Jen and Brandon to:312 Tower Rd Nelson, BC V1L3K6
One of the war resisters in Canada is Kimberly Rivera who lives there now with her husband and two children. At her site, she reflects, "Its funny how Recruiters work, every year in high school they are allowed to set up a table in the lunch room and discuss your future as a Soldier or what have you and every school had a ROTC program. I was never in ROTC or have I ever thought of becoming a soldier, on several occassions I had the recruiters approach me and ask me what my plans where and I told them I am just 16 i don't need to disclosing info about my self to strangers, and because i was under age of 17 they didn't talk to me further that year. How ever in my junior and senior year they were calling my house with school rosters that they get from the schools. And each recruiter is assigned to a certain school." She recounts her experiences in Iraq, how her husband Mario found out information online, and how they made the decision to move to Canada and shares "we crossed the broader on Feb 18th 2007 i missed my cycle in febuary and in march and late april i started having sever pain and heavy clotting and was depressed because i know that i misscaried it last about 2 weeks." Now the Rivera family is trying to make a life for themselves and Canada's Parliament can do the right thing, they can step up and address the issue in a number of ways.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who recently appeared on Democracy Now! addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
March 13th through 15th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
"I think you heard about Cholera infections in Iraq," writes an Iraqi correspondent at Inside Iraq (McClatchy Newspapers). "If you read the statistic you will be astonished that this wounded country is able to withstand in front of this outbreak disease in spite of all the probems that surround it. When this disease showed for the first time in north of Iraq I thought that this disease will spread in our country like the fire spread in dry stalks." The reporter goes on to share a story of a woman in Baghdad who ended up with cholera but her relatives feared the "shame on our family" if she was taken to the hospital and placed "under quarantine" so, instead, the woman ended up dying. Cholera was first detected back in August and in Kirkuk. By mid-September cholera was showing up in "twenty one districts of Northern Iraq" according to the World Health Organization. On Sunday, David Smith (UK Observer) provided an update noting that the factors were in place to "create an epidemic" with 101 cases in Baghdad. Yesterday, AAAS Science and Techonology Policy Fellow Mark D. Drapeau (at the New York Times) observed that cholera "doesn't respect borders" and that includes who is at risk in Iraq: anyone. Children, adults, foreign forces, anyone. Drapeau argues, "Cholera is a grave threat for the American project in Iraq, but also an opportunity to capture the hearts and minds of the population." No, not really. The ship sailed on that long ago. More importantly, a people under threat -- and that's what it is to live under an occupation -- usually includes a healthy number of people who will assume that outbreaks of whatever are launched upon them by the occupiers. Cesar Chelala (Qatar's Gulf Times) quotes Oxfam's Jeremy Hobbs declaring, "The terrible violence in Iraq has masked the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Malnutrition amongst children has dramatically increased and basic services, ruined by years of wars and sanctions, cannot meet the needs of the Iraqi people. Millions of Iraqis have been forced to flee the violence, either to another part of Iraq or abroad. Many of those are living in dire poverty."
Dire poverty. A characteristic of those Iraqi refugees being tricked into returning from Syria. Hamza Hendai (AP) reports that Iraqi state television is broadcasting propaganda messages aimed at Iraqi refugees with tag lines such as "How sweet it is to return to Iraq". Yesterday on NPR's Morning Edition, Deborah Amos reported the reality revealed from refugees returning to Iraq: "many are going back because it is too difficult to stay in Syria. In October, Syria made it harder for Iraqis to enter the country. About 1,000 return to Iraq every day, but at least 500 cross into Syria daily -- running from kidnappings, bombings or personal threats. Falah Jaber, an Iraqi sociologist, says that those who have been personally targeted by violence will be the last ones to consider going home" and quoted Jaber stating, "What we have seen this far is just a trickle. We have one and a half million" external refugees so "the return of 30,000 is not yet a pro-return case." Jamie Tarabay (Morning Edition) broadcast the thoughts of Suad Moahmmed who explained, "We were kicked out of our home in Dora. They took my house and furniture" and, upon returning, discovered that a militia leader had sold the home. [The Red Crescent notes that the number of internal refugees has dipped from 2.3 million to 2.19 million.] Next month, as IRIN reported yesterday, Iraqis will discover that the items available to them will drop from ten to five and that the remaining five will be distributed in lower numbers. The food rations that Iraqis need just to struggle through are being cut because the (puppet) government wants to do the White House's bidding. Children's milk is not being reduced, it is being CUT OUT all together. This at a time when you have at least 28% of Iraqi children suffering from malnutrition and when over 11% of infants are underweight. This is criminal. The rations cards were something Paul Bremer tried to stamp out but couldn't. It took an allegedly independent puppet government to betray the already suffering children of Iraq. And these are the people that the White House says must be supported. Of course they say that, the White House wants to do away with the rations as well. But that's the sort of 'leadership' in the puppet government of Iraq: the already suffering children, living in a war zone, can suffer a lot more because the puppet government has other priorities (which we will no doubt learn, a year or so from now, included lining their own pockets).
And, in other bad news, the US Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, went to Iraq. Iraq trumpets greeted him -- if car and roadside bombings can pass for trumpets.
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing wounded two police officers, a Baghdad car bombing claimed 14 lives with at least thirty-three more wounded, a Mosul car bombing claimed 1 life and left seven more injured, a Diyala car bombing at a Baquba bus station claimed 5 lives leaving twelve more wounded and Biji roadside bombing claimed 1 life. Reuters reports a car bombing targeting Brig. Gen Kakamen Hameed that left him and nine other people wounded in Kirkuk and also killed 2 people (inlcuding one of Hameed's bodyguards).
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports "a Kurd security officer" was shot dead in Tuz Khurmatu. Reuters notes a sheikh was shot dead Kut.
Corpses?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 4 corpses were discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes a corpse discovered in Dhuluiya.
Today the US military announced: "Two Multi-National Division-North Soldiers were killed as a result of injuries sustained from a complex attack involving an improvised explosive device and small arms fire while conducting operations in Salah ad Din province, Dec. 4." And today they announced: "A Multi-National Division – North Soldier died Dec. 5 as a result of wounds sustained from an attack involving an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire while conducting operations in Salah ad Din province Dec. 4." And late yesterday, they announced: "A U.S. Soldier was killed as a result of injuries sustained from a vehicle explosion during a vehicle recovery operation in Al Anbar province Dec. 3. "
Turning to US politics, yesterday Democratic contenders for the 2008 presidential nomination (except Bill Richardson) took part in the NPR 'debate' that was pretty embarrassing. Click here for audio (and transcript link) and here for just transcript. First thing you may have noticed is that Iraq fell off the radar. That's not the first debate this has happened but Barack Obama didn't even appear jazzed to use his "I was against the war before it started" (while refusing to note his change of position beginning in 2004). What's happening? The public hasn't lost interest in the illegal war. In fact the latest poll found it the issue most noted by respondents -- you could take the second and third most cited issues (economy and healthcare), add them together and Iraq would still outrank them. But the media has lost interest. Commenting on a new report by Media Lens, John Pilger (New Statesman) summarizes, "Like the reported 'success' of the US 'surge' in Iraq, the Soviet equivalent allowed 'poor peasants [to work] the land peacefully'. Like the Americans and British in Iraq and Afghanistan, Soviet troops were liberators who became peacekeepers and always acted in 'self-defence'. The BBC's Mark Urban's revelation of the "first real evidence that President Bush's grand design of toppling a dictator and forcing a democracy into the heart of the Middle East could work" (Newsnight, 12 April 2005) is almost word for word that of Soviet commentators claiming benign and noble intent behind Moscow's actions in Afghanistan. The BBC's Paul Wood, in thrall to the 101st Airborne, reported that the Americans 'must win here if they are to leave Iraq . . . There is much still to do.' That precisely was the Soviet line." That really does summarize the nonsense of the 'debate.' Mike Gravel, naming one specific answer he didn't have, stated, "I don't have an answer to be able to persuade the American people that they are the solution, not their leaders. I wish I had the answer to convince them of that." The worst moment -- a tough call -- probably involved when this was declared: "Oh, come on. You know what you want to do on that. You want to impeach people." That was aimed at Dennis Kucinich. Which candidate decided to freak out Kucinich? No candidate. That was Steve Inskeep of NPR. And, no, he didn't speak to other candidates like that. Exactly what did NPR think of that? If that's NPR 'tude, it certainly wasn't spread out to the other candidates. More importantly, Kucinich doesn't want to "impeach people." He's introduced a resolution to impeach Dick Cheney and he thinks the Bully Boy needs to be impeached. "People" certainly sounds 'wilder.' 'Oh, that crazy Dennis, he just wants to impeach us all!' Steve Inskeep embarrassed himself and so did Ruth Conniff for failing to note that in her commentary (at The Progressive) or to note that Iraq -- the most cited issue by voters -- wasn't addressed seriously in the debate which, again, lasted two hours. Two hours and they couldn't explore Iraq. NPR needs to take a look at themselves. Were the 'moderators' unaware the Iraq War was still going on? That is shameful even before you note that NPR is 'public radio.' The public ranks Iraq as the most important issue, it's a damn shame the fools at NPR don't.
Staying on politics, we'll close with the opening of Sharon Smith's latest commentary at CounterPunch:
The December 17th issue of the liberal Nation magazine contains an article penned by former California Senator Tom Hayden, purporting to offer antiwar voters a glimpse of hope for mainstream relevance in the coming election year-which will certainly be a contest between two pro-war candidates from the two corporate political parties. Hayden's article, "How the Peace Movement Can Win: A Field Guide," exudes confidence that antiwar activists have a role to play in spreading a message of peace as the presidential primaries begin on January 3rd.
Hayden acknowledges that, even as a Congressional majority over the last year, Democrats have provided little more than an "echo" for the Bush administration. He also admits that leading Democratic presidential contenders refuse to guarantee troop withdrawal before 2013, arguing, "The platform of 'out by 2013' may be a sufficient difference from the Republicans for some, but it won't satisfy the most committed antiwar voters." He notes that all the leading candidates vaguely assert the need, as Hillary Clinton does, for "a smaller American force left behind dedicated to training Iraqis and counter-terrorism."
Nevertheless, Hayden's "Field Guide" exhorts antiwar activists to get out the vote for 2008-for whichever candidate becomes the anointed Democratic nominee. "Only in this way," Hayden argues without evidence, "will the peace movement succeed in expanding and intensifying antiwar feeling to a degree that will compel the politicians to abandon their six-year timetable for a far shorter one."
iraq
jeremy hinzmanbrandon hughey
kimberly rivera
cindy sheehan
anthony arnovehoward zinn
iraq veterans against the war
sharon smith the new york times
nprall things consideredmorning edition
john pilger
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
NOW, peace, Patrick Cockburn
How does a democracy decide to wage war? Next time on NOW
At 8:30 pm (check local listings) on Friday, December 7 -- the very day
Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese warplanes 66 years ago -- David
Brancaccio interviews filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick and the Rev.
James Forbes Jr. about Burns and Novick's epic World War II documentary
"The War". Looking to the past as a mirror to the present, the four
discuss how the waging of war intersects with our notion of democracy.
"It's incumbent upon a democratic society to evaluate what the
arithmetic is -- the cost of war," Burns tells the group.
Sharp insight about the year's must-see documentary, and the modern
lessons contained therein. Next on NOW.
That is this week's NOW with David Brancaccio. I heard about this show from C.I. over the weekend. My reaction was the same as C.I.'s: They couldn't invite Gore Vidal to participate? I am not a Ken Burns fan. I think he's an embarrassingly bad filmmaker with a history of undercutting contributions (if not outright racism) in his 'bore-athons." The only good decision he ever made was to have Carly Simon sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" for his bore-athon on baseball. I really don't think PBS should be interviewing people whose programs are airing on PBS. It's too much like an infomercial. A guest like Gore Vidal could have mitigated that aspect. Speak of the devil. C.I. just phoned (I'd left a message playing phone tag.) In terms of what we're discussing, Howard Zinn suggests for Edward W. Wood Jr.'s Worshipping the Myths of World War II: Reflections on America's Dedication to War for people "who want an antidote to the sentimental and superficial Ken Burns documentary The War." That's in the December issue of The Progressive. C.I. asked what I was doing and I explained I was journaling on Ken Burns. I don't have that issue of The Progressive yet. I'll have to check for it. (It was in the bookstore this weekend when Trina and I were checking.)
I'll get back to C.I. in a moment.
"Kidnappers threaten to kill hostage unless UK troops leave Iraq" (Patrick Cockburn, Independent of London):
Kidnappers holding five British hostages have threatened to kill one of them in 10 days unless British forces leave Iraq. The threat came in a video which shows one of the men sitting on the floor surrounded by gunmen pointing assault rifles at him.
"My name is Jason," says the bearded hostage in the video which was shown on al-Arabiya television. "Today is 18 November. I have been here now 173 days and I feel we've been forgotten."
The five Britons – four security guards and a computer consultant -- were seized from the finance ministry in Baghdad on 29 May by 40 men in police uniforms driving police vehicles. The hostage yesterday was sitting in front of a banner reading Shia Islamic Resistance in Iraq. Previously the kidnappers were reported to be demanding the release of a senior Shia cleric being held by the Americans.
A written statement from the hostage-takers said that if Britain failed to leave Iraq within 10 days "this hostage will be killed as a first warning, which will be followed with details that you do not want to know". It said the hostages had admitted to plans to plunder Iraqi wealth under the cover of working as consultants in the finance ministry.
That's Patrick Cockburn laying it out pretty straightforward and I don't have anything to add.
What I was planning to blog about was the "Iraq snapshots" today. Plural. There were two. Only one went up at the site. C.I. was dictating the first one and reached 40 K -- with two links. C.I. was going to scrap the whole thing but Ava grabbed the phone and told the friend C.I. was dictating it too to send it to me. C.I. then quickly did today's snapshot.
Nothing against today's snapshot which has important information in it (and a critique of Katrina -- over a bad article by Katrina that was noted in 17 voice mails by friends in the mainstream media) but . . .
Ava left a message with Sunny while I was in a session. When I was done, I saw the message but didn't have time to read the e-mail before my next session. So I read it when I got home this evening.
Amazing. That's the only word for it. Ava's message was that it needs to go up. She suggested serializing it in the snapshots. She noted that it could be taken over to The Third Estate Sunday Review and we could all work on it but she thought (from hearing it as C.I. was dictating) that it's really better if C.I. do it.
So I was curious to read over it. C.I.'s addressing two dueling articles on the peace movement but really addressing the problems with the peace movement. (The writers of the pieces, Joshua Frank is one, are young, they're not being taken to task. People C.I. and my age -- and older -- are being taken to task.) It's really an amazing essay. It's brilliant.
I laughed at one section that mentioned me. I'm not a problem, just to clarify. Or, I'm not listed as a problem. C.I.'s talking about what we witnessed and noting my reaction to Howard Zinn the first time we heard him speak -- all those decades ago. Howard Zinn was a HUGE breath of fresh air. C.I.'s explaining that and explaining the realities of the peace movement then because there are so many lies being told today. I think it's an amazing essay.
I would gladly work on it. I'd be flattered to. But, like Ava, I'd prefer it go up at The Common Ills. C.I.'s done it. It's not finished. When it was being dictated, C.I. looked at the time and asked that it be saved and then asked how many K it was? It was already at 40K. So C.I. stopped on that. 42K is really the maximum on the snapshots. If they're more K than that, they won't "hit" The Common Ills when they're e-mailed in.
I also think the reason Ava wants it to be a C.I. only piece is because it really needs that authority. It needs to be by someone who lived through it. I did. I would gladly help with it in anyway. But how do you reimagine the piece to invite everyone to work on it?
There are a lot of lies being told about the peace movement of the past. This piece just calls them all out, cuts through the nonsense and explains how damaging these lies are for the movement although they help some people.
Okay, Ava just called. I asked C.I. to have her call (she was talking to someone while C.I. and I were on the phone). We had the same thought: Don't show this to Jim. If Jim sees it he will argue for it to be at The Third Estate Sunday Review this weekend. If that's C.I.'s decision in the end, that's fine and Jim has every reason to advocate for it to be there. But C.I.'s done so much work on this already that the decision has to be C.I.'s. I told Ava I was journaling about it but if Jim saw this and asked for a copy, I'd say no. I have the only copy of this. It was going to be trashed, left on the scrap heap, which is why Ava grabbed the phone and told the friend to send it to me.
There's a time issue. Ava and I were talking about where the essay was headed when it stopped and we know that if one change is to be advocated, now is the time to make it. She also said that C.I. had told her and Kat that there's really not going to be time to work on it further. So we both assume it will probably become a Third piece. If that's the decision, that's fine and it might even be better that way since the only other way it will go up would be if it were serialized in the snapshot. We're not sure that serialization would work.
But it's a really important essay that really addresses one of the most significant problems of the peace movement today: the elephant in the room that no one's supposed to notice. The essay is a bucket of cold water thrown in the face. It's really that powerful. If it goes up at The Common Ills, you'll see that. If it goes up at Third, Ava and I aren't sure. That's due to the fact that the first person quality (that's the authorative voice I was speaking of) is where the essay gets so much of its power.
I was reading one section of it over the phone to Mike this evening (I didn't e-mail it to Mike before Jim thinks, "I'll get it from Mike!") and Mike saw several levels to it. He also got why C.I. has refused to be a leader and wishes others would follow suit. Mike also pointed out that it's one more of the "we've got one more year online and we're not going to spend it playing stupid" pieces that have been writing lately.
Before someone e-mails, "Are you mad at Jim?" -- I'm not mad at Jim. Jim has been upfront about his habit of saying, "That would be great for Third!" That is his right. He can advocate that way and that's not a bad thing or a problem. But this is one of those pieces that should really just be a solo one by C.I.
Speaking of taking it up a notch, two amazing commentaries from the weekend: "Kat's Korner: Ann Wilson sings and stands tall" and "Ruth's Report." The first one covers the music realities today and praises Ann Wilson's Hope & Glory which you should really check out. The second one asks, "Why have standards if they're not going to be used?"
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Tuesday, December 4, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, Katrina provides the jokes, the 'great return' never was, oil deals are encouraged and Iraqis are told there's no money in the budget for children's milk . . .
Starting with war resisters. On November 15th, Canada's Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of US war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. David Stein (Canadian National Newspaper) examines some of the issues involved in their case and notes the work of the War Resisters Support Campaign. Stein notes, "The Supreme Court decision appeared to disrespect Canadian constitutional precedence in relation to the safe haven that Canada provided . . . during the 1960's, and current law associated with refugees fleeing oppression and persecutory law." Along with those points there is also a court ruling that came down at the end of November. Hinzman and Hughey wanted to be recognized as a refugees. The verdict they received appeared based on (and certainly the US ambassador to Canada echoes this line) the fact that Canada and the United States are so 'tight.' Not all that tight. Nicholas Keung (Toronto Star) reported November 30th, "Canada will no longer have the right to turn back asylum seekers at the American border under a federal court ruling that deems the United States not a safe country for refugees -- opening the door for a potential flood of northbound claimants." What's going on? This has to do with refugees who land first in the United States and then continue onto Canada intending to apply for asylum there. These are not the same issues involved in Hughey and Hinzman's case, true, but one of the beliefs is that the US is peachy keen and no harm can come from expelling war resisters back to the United States. But, notice, with another class of refugees, a Canadian federal court says asylum seekers who land in the US and then continue onto Canada can not be refused entry and returned to the US. Keung notes the following as areas of concerns to Judge Michael Phelan: "the issues over the American authorities' use of expedited removals and use of detention, combined with concerns over the U.S.'s rigid application of the one-year bar to refugee claims, the provisions governing security issues and terrorism based on a lower standard, called into question whether the U.S. is safe for asylum seekers." Again, that case and the issues involved in the asylum claims by US war resisters are different, but one federal court is saying that one class of refugees cannot be refused entry into Canada and the Judge also specifically noted the United States' violation of the Convention Against Torture. The courts have failed war resisters and now the energy is focused on the Canadian Parliament which will hold hearings on the subject December 11th.
Cindy Sheehan (OpEdNews) urges people to utilize Courage to Resist's easy to mail or e-mail resources to allow the Canadian government to know you are watching and to support organizations supporting war resisters as well as supporting war resisters:
Support actual war resisters in Canada by sending them expense money. From my friend Ryan (I gave him and his wife money to get to Canada over two years ago):
In light of the recent Supreme Court denial in Canada, I (Ryan Johnson), My wife (Jen Johnson) and Brandon Hughey need help raising funds to travel to Ottawa to attend hearings before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, where War Resisters will be giving Testimony to the committee. At these hearings the committee will be deciding on whether or not to make a provision to allow war resisters to stay in Canada. This is one of our last chances to be able to continue living in Canada. We will be leaving December 7th because the hearings are December 11th, 2007 so we need to act fast. They may try to send guys back soon and we need to have a strong War Resister Presence. We appreciate all of the support and Want to thank all of you who can help.
Checks/money orders can be sent for Ryan, Jen and Brandon to:312 Tower Rd Nelson, BC V1L3K6
Courage to Resist profiles war resister Kimberly Rivera explaining how she ended up checking out and moving with her husband and children to Canada: "Kimberly Rivera grew up in Mesquite, Texas, a suburb east of Dallas. She had never thought of becoming a soldier until she was seventeen and the Army recruiters visited her home to meet with Kimberly and her parents. The recruiters offered money for college that her family did not have. Her mother was supporting Kimberly, her father, and her two sisters after her father suffered a work related accident. She took an aptitute test for job placement out of 'curiosity', but later signed up to be a mechanic. She was given an elistment date following graduation for the Army Resevers." She was released from the military due to pregnancy at the end of 200. With the costs of raising two children, she decided to re-enlist and found herself stationed in Iraq. "I felt like I was losing my mind. I was so close to death so many times. It scares me now. My life as I knew it was falling apart and I was unable to pull it together. I was surrouned by males who were filled with filthy comments and talking about all kinds of sexual things. I was there for three months and was scared that some of the guys might try to get me to trust them just so later they could have their chance to abuse me." A not uncommon nor unrealistic fear based on reported cases of sexual assault in the military. "While in Iraq losing soldiers and civilians was part of daily life. I was a gate guard. This was looked down on by infantry soldiers who go out in the streets, but gate guards are the highest security of the Foward Operation Base. We searched vehicles, civilian personnel, and military convoys that left and came back every hour. I had a huge awakening seeing the war as it truly is: people losing their lives for greed of a nation and the effects on the soldiers who come back with new problems such as nightmares, anxieties, depression, anger alcohol abuse, missing limbs and scars from burns. Some don't come back at all. On December 21, 2006 I was going to my room and something in my heart told me to go call my husband. And when I did 24 rounds of mortars hit the FOB in a matter of minutes after I got on the phone . . . the mortars were 10-15 feet from where I was. I found a hole from the shrapnel in my room in the plywood window. That night I found the shrapnel on my bed in the same place where my head would have been if I hadn't changed my plans and gone to the phone." The death of an Iraqi civilian and a base visit by an Iraq father and his daughter took place before her leave. While in Texas on leave, she and her husband made the decision to go to Canada. In the Iraq War, there are many resisters who never go public. Of those who go public, Stephen Funk is the first to resist. Camilo Mejia is the first Iraq veteran to resist, Jeremy Hinzman is the first resister to go public in Canada, Ehren Watada is the first officer to resist, Eli Israel is the first to resist while stationed in Iraq and Kimberly Rivera is the first female resister to go public in Canada.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who recently appeared on Democracy Now! addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
March 13th through 15th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
A lot to cover and we can probably use a joke before getting started. Fortunately editor & publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel (The Nation via Common Dreams) provides it, "But here's the real problem (because we all know horserace coverage is what we're going to get at this stage in this endless campaign). . . Even if the Post or the Times devoted a full story analyzing the leading candidates' healthcare proposals, how much attention would the two papers give to alternatives offered by someone like Congressman Dennis Kucinich -- the only candidate supporting a truly universal, Medicare for all, healthcare plan, that according to recent polls, has majority support? I suspect very little." Are you sides aching yet? The Nation has featured Dennis Kucinich on the cover once this year -- in a drawing of all the Democratic presidential candidates. Barack Obama was on that cover. He's also had two solo covers this year. On Iraq, Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate to publicly oppose the illegal war consistently. (In 2002, Obama was against it. By 2004, he was stating the US had to stay and telling the New York Times that if he had been in Congress in 2002, he didn't know how he would have voted. He gets into the Senate and votes to fund the illegal war over and over. Somehow The Nation repeatedly misses everything that followed his 2002 'anti-dumb war' speech.) So vanden Heuvel is truly the last to lecture daily papers about their coverage of the campaign. She can't even include Kucinich's name in her post title. And, it gets better, after getting her high horse about how little coverage the New York Times or the Washington Post would give to Kucinich's health care proposal . . . she goes on to review the plans of . . . John Edwards, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. 24 paragraphs of 'coverage' and 'analysis' and she can't even include Kucinich in the mix -- after getting castigating others who might do . . . what she just did. Smooth down your skirt, your hypocrisy's showing.
Now to serious issue, Ira Chernus (Common Dreams) warns readers that various mouthpieces are trying to declare Iraq is no longer an issue: "If Iraq is disappearing from the headlines, there is some other factor at work here. I suspect it's that editors and cable show hosts are watching what's going on, not only in Iraq, but in Washington and in elite policymaking circles (like the Council on Foreign Relations, where [Peter] Beinart is a senior fellow). They know that at the highest levels the debate about what to do in Iraq pretty much ended over this summer." What is about the Council on Foreign Relations and how they refuse to get serious about the illegal war. You get the feeling that if they ran an allegedly left magazine, they'd be ignoring the war, war resisters, et al and doing cover stories on rubber duckies and horseraces. Hey, that describes The Nation. Oh, yeah, KvH, Council on Foreign Relations.
In the real world, Cara Buckley (New York Times) notes that the Red Crescent says 25,000 Iraq refugees have returned to Iraq since mid-September -- 25,000, only 25,000. CBS and AP note: "Officials in Iraq and Syria have said more than 46,000 refugees returned in October and claimed the flow has continued unabated." Far from the inflated numbers the puppet government has repeatedly told the press. Meanwhile the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Steffan de Mistura held a news conference to emphasize that "this is not a massive return" and that Iraq couldn't hanlde a massive return. CBS and AP quote the Iraqi Red Crescent report on why some are returning: "The high cost of living and rented apartments and the limited employment opportunities contributed to lack of stability of Iraqi families and increased their passion to return to their country." And of course being bribed and bused in doesn't hurt either. Who is the central (puppet) government in Iraq preying on? Hannah Allam and Miret el Naggar (McClatchy Newspapers) examine at life in Syria:Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees in Syria face a bleak winter, with rising fuel costs that could leave many without enough money for food, the director of the World Food Program said Monday.About a third of Iraqi respondents in a recent United Nations study said they skipped one meal a day to feed their children. Nearly 60 percent said that they're buying cheaper, less nutritious food to cope with a dramatic increase in prices.With the weather turning colder and heating prices rising, humanitarian workers predict more Iraqis will go hungry in order to keep up with rent and utilities."We need more help here," WFP executive director Josette Sheeran said in an interview.The WFP, a U.N. agency that is the world's largest humanitarian organization, provides food to about 50,000 Iraqi families who've sought refuge in Syria. Sheeran said that her organization doesn't have the funds to maintain its $5.6 million operation and that she soon will call for more international assistance.There are the refugees being preyed upon, being told it is 'safe' in Iraq, being bribed to return. And let's talk about what happens when they return. The United Nations' IRIN reports that Abid Falah al-Soodani (Trade Minister) announced yesterday that, starting next month, "the quantity of national food rations delivered freely to all Iraqi families will be futher reduced -- from 10 to five items." Now let's be clear, this isn't just halfing the food supplies. He told the Iraqi Parliament that the five items provided will be provided in lower numbers. Here's what's getting cut out: tea, beans, children's milk, soap detergent and tomato paste. Here's what's getting reduced: rice, sugar, cooking oil, flour and milk for adults. What a way to say, "Welcome Home!" And to be clear, despite the lies, this has nothing to do with a government 'shortfall.' This is about ending the subsidies which Paul Bremer already tried once. The Iraqi government has more money than they spend at this point (though a great deal ends up in personal pockets) and this claim that they can't afford to supply children with milk is nothing but a lie. In other attacks on the Iraqi people, UPI reports that the Samuel Bodman (US Secretary of Energy) met with the "Kurdish region's oil minister" to push for the Iraqi theft-of-oil law proposal and, in contradiction to previous White House public positions, he's giving a green light to "international oil companies" to start signing Iraqi oil deals.
Meanwhile Reuters reports US forces shot 4 Iraqi civilians at a checkpoint in Tamiya on Monday and that one has died. In other reported violence today . . .
Bombings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing that wounded two people, a Dalli Abbas mortar attack that left eight people wounded and a Jalawla bombing that claimed the lives of 6 people with twenty-five more injured.
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports the latest attacks on an official: today "gunmen opened fire attacking the house of the ministry of electricity Kareem Waheed in Zayuna neighborhood east Baghdad wounding three of his guards"; yesterday "Atallah Eskander, the member in the local council of Hawija town west of Kirkuk and his driver Hamad Ali Hussein" were shot dead; on Saturday Mun'im Hadi ("employee of Diwaniyah city intelligence directorate office") was shot dead in Najaf. Reuters notes 1 "security officer" was shot dead in Tuz Khurmato (his brother was injured).
Corpses?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 6 corpses discovered in Baghdad and 2 outside Kirkuk. Reuters notes 3 corpses discovered in Mosul and 2 in Mahaweel.
Walter Cronkite and David Krieger (Common Dreams) explore the topic of the illegal war and what needs to be done:
The American people no longer support the war in Iraq. The war is being carried on by a stubborn president who, like Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War, does not want to lose. But from the beginning this has been an ill-considered and poorly prosecuted war that, like the Vietnam War, has diminished respect for America. We believe Mr. Bush would like to drag the war on long enough to hand it off to another president.
The war in Iraq reminds us of the tragedy of the Vietnam War. Both wars began with false assertions by the president to the American people and the Congress. Like Vietnam, the Iraq War has introduced a new vocabulary: "shock and awe," "mission accomplished," "the surge." Like Vietnam, we have destroyed cities in order to save them. It is not a strategy for success.
The Bush administration has attempted to forestall ending the war by putting in more troops, but more troops will not solve the problem. We have lost the hearts and minds of most of the Iraqi people, and victory no longer seems to be even a remote possibility. It is time to end our occupation of Iraq, and bring our troops home.
iraq
david steinjeremy hinzmanbrandon hughey
cindy sheehan
anthony arnovehoward zinn
iraq veterans against the war
the new york timescara buckleyhannah allammiret el naggarmcclatchy newspapers
At 8:30 pm (check local listings) on Friday, December 7 -- the very day
Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese warplanes 66 years ago -- David
Brancaccio interviews filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick and the Rev.
James Forbes Jr. about Burns and Novick's epic World War II documentary
"The War". Looking to the past as a mirror to the present, the four
discuss how the waging of war intersects with our notion of democracy.
"It's incumbent upon a democratic society to evaluate what the
arithmetic is -- the cost of war," Burns tells the group.
Sharp insight about the year's must-see documentary, and the modern
lessons contained therein. Next on NOW.
That is this week's NOW with David Brancaccio. I heard about this show from C.I. over the weekend. My reaction was the same as C.I.'s: They couldn't invite Gore Vidal to participate? I am not a Ken Burns fan. I think he's an embarrassingly bad filmmaker with a history of undercutting contributions (if not outright racism) in his 'bore-athons." The only good decision he ever made was to have Carly Simon sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" for his bore-athon on baseball. I really don't think PBS should be interviewing people whose programs are airing on PBS. It's too much like an infomercial. A guest like Gore Vidal could have mitigated that aspect. Speak of the devil. C.I. just phoned (I'd left a message playing phone tag.) In terms of what we're discussing, Howard Zinn suggests for Edward W. Wood Jr.'s Worshipping the Myths of World War II: Reflections on America's Dedication to War for people "who want an antidote to the sentimental and superficial Ken Burns documentary The War." That's in the December issue of The Progressive. C.I. asked what I was doing and I explained I was journaling on Ken Burns. I don't have that issue of The Progressive yet. I'll have to check for it. (It was in the bookstore this weekend when Trina and I were checking.)
I'll get back to C.I. in a moment.
"Kidnappers threaten to kill hostage unless UK troops leave Iraq" (Patrick Cockburn, Independent of London):
Kidnappers holding five British hostages have threatened to kill one of them in 10 days unless British forces leave Iraq. The threat came in a video which shows one of the men sitting on the floor surrounded by gunmen pointing assault rifles at him.
"My name is Jason," says the bearded hostage in the video which was shown on al-Arabiya television. "Today is 18 November. I have been here now 173 days and I feel we've been forgotten."
The five Britons – four security guards and a computer consultant -- were seized from the finance ministry in Baghdad on 29 May by 40 men in police uniforms driving police vehicles. The hostage yesterday was sitting in front of a banner reading Shia Islamic Resistance in Iraq. Previously the kidnappers were reported to be demanding the release of a senior Shia cleric being held by the Americans.
A written statement from the hostage-takers said that if Britain failed to leave Iraq within 10 days "this hostage will be killed as a first warning, which will be followed with details that you do not want to know". It said the hostages had admitted to plans to plunder Iraqi wealth under the cover of working as consultants in the finance ministry.
That's Patrick Cockburn laying it out pretty straightforward and I don't have anything to add.
What I was planning to blog about was the "Iraq snapshots" today. Plural. There were two. Only one went up at the site. C.I. was dictating the first one and reached 40 K -- with two links. C.I. was going to scrap the whole thing but Ava grabbed the phone and told the friend C.I. was dictating it too to send it to me. C.I. then quickly did today's snapshot.
Nothing against today's snapshot which has important information in it (and a critique of Katrina -- over a bad article by Katrina that was noted in 17 voice mails by friends in the mainstream media) but . . .
Ava left a message with Sunny while I was in a session. When I was done, I saw the message but didn't have time to read the e-mail before my next session. So I read it when I got home this evening.
Amazing. That's the only word for it. Ava's message was that it needs to go up. She suggested serializing it in the snapshots. She noted that it could be taken over to The Third Estate Sunday Review and we could all work on it but she thought (from hearing it as C.I. was dictating) that it's really better if C.I. do it.
So I was curious to read over it. C.I.'s addressing two dueling articles on the peace movement but really addressing the problems with the peace movement. (The writers of the pieces, Joshua Frank is one, are young, they're not being taken to task. People C.I. and my age -- and older -- are being taken to task.) It's really an amazing essay. It's brilliant.
I laughed at one section that mentioned me. I'm not a problem, just to clarify. Or, I'm not listed as a problem. C.I.'s talking about what we witnessed and noting my reaction to Howard Zinn the first time we heard him speak -- all those decades ago. Howard Zinn was a HUGE breath of fresh air. C.I.'s explaining that and explaining the realities of the peace movement then because there are so many lies being told today. I think it's an amazing essay.
I would gladly work on it. I'd be flattered to. But, like Ava, I'd prefer it go up at The Common Ills. C.I.'s done it. It's not finished. When it was being dictated, C.I. looked at the time and asked that it be saved and then asked how many K it was? It was already at 40K. So C.I. stopped on that. 42K is really the maximum on the snapshots. If they're more K than that, they won't "hit" The Common Ills when they're e-mailed in.
I also think the reason Ava wants it to be a C.I. only piece is because it really needs that authority. It needs to be by someone who lived through it. I did. I would gladly help with it in anyway. But how do you reimagine the piece to invite everyone to work on it?
There are a lot of lies being told about the peace movement of the past. This piece just calls them all out, cuts through the nonsense and explains how damaging these lies are for the movement although they help some people.
Okay, Ava just called. I asked C.I. to have her call (she was talking to someone while C.I. and I were on the phone). We had the same thought: Don't show this to Jim. If Jim sees it he will argue for it to be at The Third Estate Sunday Review this weekend. If that's C.I.'s decision in the end, that's fine and Jim has every reason to advocate for it to be there. But C.I.'s done so much work on this already that the decision has to be C.I.'s. I told Ava I was journaling about it but if Jim saw this and asked for a copy, I'd say no. I have the only copy of this. It was going to be trashed, left on the scrap heap, which is why Ava grabbed the phone and told the friend to send it to me.
There's a time issue. Ava and I were talking about where the essay was headed when it stopped and we know that if one change is to be advocated, now is the time to make it. She also said that C.I. had told her and Kat that there's really not going to be time to work on it further. So we both assume it will probably become a Third piece. If that's the decision, that's fine and it might even be better that way since the only other way it will go up would be if it were serialized in the snapshot. We're not sure that serialization would work.
But it's a really important essay that really addresses one of the most significant problems of the peace movement today: the elephant in the room that no one's supposed to notice. The essay is a bucket of cold water thrown in the face. It's really that powerful. If it goes up at The Common Ills, you'll see that. If it goes up at Third, Ava and I aren't sure. That's due to the fact that the first person quality (that's the authorative voice I was speaking of) is where the essay gets so much of its power.
I was reading one section of it over the phone to Mike this evening (I didn't e-mail it to Mike before Jim thinks, "I'll get it from Mike!") and Mike saw several levels to it. He also got why C.I. has refused to be a leader and wishes others would follow suit. Mike also pointed out that it's one more of the "we've got one more year online and we're not going to spend it playing stupid" pieces that have been writing lately.
Before someone e-mails, "Are you mad at Jim?" -- I'm not mad at Jim. Jim has been upfront about his habit of saying, "That would be great for Third!" That is his right. He can advocate that way and that's not a bad thing or a problem. But this is one of those pieces that should really just be a solo one by C.I.
Speaking of taking it up a notch, two amazing commentaries from the weekend: "Kat's Korner: Ann Wilson sings and stands tall" and "Ruth's Report." The first one covers the music realities today and praises Ann Wilson's Hope & Glory which you should really check out. The second one asks, "Why have standards if they're not going to be used?"
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Tuesday, December 4, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, Katrina provides the jokes, the 'great return' never was, oil deals are encouraged and Iraqis are told there's no money in the budget for children's milk . . .
Starting with war resisters. On November 15th, Canada's Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of US war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. David Stein (Canadian National Newspaper) examines some of the issues involved in their case and notes the work of the War Resisters Support Campaign. Stein notes, "The Supreme Court decision appeared to disrespect Canadian constitutional precedence in relation to the safe haven that Canada provided . . . during the 1960's, and current law associated with refugees fleeing oppression and persecutory law." Along with those points there is also a court ruling that came down at the end of November. Hinzman and Hughey wanted to be recognized as a refugees. The verdict they received appeared based on (and certainly the US ambassador to Canada echoes this line) the fact that Canada and the United States are so 'tight.' Not all that tight. Nicholas Keung (Toronto Star) reported November 30th, "Canada will no longer have the right to turn back asylum seekers at the American border under a federal court ruling that deems the United States not a safe country for refugees -- opening the door for a potential flood of northbound claimants." What's going on? This has to do with refugees who land first in the United States and then continue onto Canada intending to apply for asylum there. These are not the same issues involved in Hughey and Hinzman's case, true, but one of the beliefs is that the US is peachy keen and no harm can come from expelling war resisters back to the United States. But, notice, with another class of refugees, a Canadian federal court says asylum seekers who land in the US and then continue onto Canada can not be refused entry and returned to the US. Keung notes the following as areas of concerns to Judge Michael Phelan: "the issues over the American authorities' use of expedited removals and use of detention, combined with concerns over the U.S.'s rigid application of the one-year bar to refugee claims, the provisions governing security issues and terrorism based on a lower standard, called into question whether the U.S. is safe for asylum seekers." Again, that case and the issues involved in the asylum claims by US war resisters are different, but one federal court is saying that one class of refugees cannot be refused entry into Canada and the Judge also specifically noted the United States' violation of the Convention Against Torture. The courts have failed war resisters and now the energy is focused on the Canadian Parliament which will hold hearings on the subject December 11th.
Cindy Sheehan (OpEdNews) urges people to utilize Courage to Resist's easy to mail or e-mail resources to allow the Canadian government to know you are watching and to support organizations supporting war resisters as well as supporting war resisters:
Support actual war resisters in Canada by sending them expense money. From my friend Ryan (I gave him and his wife money to get to Canada over two years ago):
In light of the recent Supreme Court denial in Canada, I (Ryan Johnson), My wife (Jen Johnson) and Brandon Hughey need help raising funds to travel to Ottawa to attend hearings before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, where War Resisters will be giving Testimony to the committee. At these hearings the committee will be deciding on whether or not to make a provision to allow war resisters to stay in Canada. This is one of our last chances to be able to continue living in Canada. We will be leaving December 7th because the hearings are December 11th, 2007 so we need to act fast. They may try to send guys back soon and we need to have a strong War Resister Presence. We appreciate all of the support and Want to thank all of you who can help.
Checks/money orders can be sent for Ryan, Jen and Brandon to:312 Tower Rd Nelson, BC V1L3K6
Courage to Resist profiles war resister Kimberly Rivera explaining how she ended up checking out and moving with her husband and children to Canada: "Kimberly Rivera grew up in Mesquite, Texas, a suburb east of Dallas. She had never thought of becoming a soldier until she was seventeen and the Army recruiters visited her home to meet with Kimberly and her parents. The recruiters offered money for college that her family did not have. Her mother was supporting Kimberly, her father, and her two sisters after her father suffered a work related accident. She took an aptitute test for job placement out of 'curiosity', but later signed up to be a mechanic. She was given an elistment date following graduation for the Army Resevers." She was released from the military due to pregnancy at the end of 200. With the costs of raising two children, she decided to re-enlist and found herself stationed in Iraq. "I felt like I was losing my mind. I was so close to death so many times. It scares me now. My life as I knew it was falling apart and I was unable to pull it together. I was surrouned by males who were filled with filthy comments and talking about all kinds of sexual things. I was there for three months and was scared that some of the guys might try to get me to trust them just so later they could have their chance to abuse me." A not uncommon nor unrealistic fear based on reported cases of sexual assault in the military. "While in Iraq losing soldiers and civilians was part of daily life. I was a gate guard. This was looked down on by infantry soldiers who go out in the streets, but gate guards are the highest security of the Foward Operation Base. We searched vehicles, civilian personnel, and military convoys that left and came back every hour. I had a huge awakening seeing the war as it truly is: people losing their lives for greed of a nation and the effects on the soldiers who come back with new problems such as nightmares, anxieties, depression, anger alcohol abuse, missing limbs and scars from burns. Some don't come back at all. On December 21, 2006 I was going to my room and something in my heart told me to go call my husband. And when I did 24 rounds of mortars hit the FOB in a matter of minutes after I got on the phone . . . the mortars were 10-15 feet from where I was. I found a hole from the shrapnel in my room in the plywood window. That night I found the shrapnel on my bed in the same place where my head would have been if I hadn't changed my plans and gone to the phone." The death of an Iraqi civilian and a base visit by an Iraq father and his daughter took place before her leave. While in Texas on leave, she and her husband made the decision to go to Canada. In the Iraq War, there are many resisters who never go public. Of those who go public, Stephen Funk is the first to resist. Camilo Mejia is the first Iraq veteran to resist, Jeremy Hinzman is the first resister to go public in Canada, Ehren Watada is the first officer to resist, Eli Israel is the first to resist while stationed in Iraq and Kimberly Rivera is the first female resister to go public in Canada.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who recently appeared on Democracy Now! addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
March 13th through 15th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
A lot to cover and we can probably use a joke before getting started. Fortunately editor & publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel (The Nation via Common Dreams) provides it, "But here's the real problem (because we all know horserace coverage is what we're going to get at this stage in this endless campaign). . . Even if the Post or the Times devoted a full story analyzing the leading candidates' healthcare proposals, how much attention would the two papers give to alternatives offered by someone like Congressman Dennis Kucinich -- the only candidate supporting a truly universal, Medicare for all, healthcare plan, that according to recent polls, has majority support? I suspect very little." Are you sides aching yet? The Nation has featured Dennis Kucinich on the cover once this year -- in a drawing of all the Democratic presidential candidates. Barack Obama was on that cover. He's also had two solo covers this year. On Iraq, Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate to publicly oppose the illegal war consistently. (In 2002, Obama was against it. By 2004, he was stating the US had to stay and telling the New York Times that if he had been in Congress in 2002, he didn't know how he would have voted. He gets into the Senate and votes to fund the illegal war over and over. Somehow The Nation repeatedly misses everything that followed his 2002 'anti-dumb war' speech.) So vanden Heuvel is truly the last to lecture daily papers about their coverage of the campaign. She can't even include Kucinich's name in her post title. And, it gets better, after getting her high horse about how little coverage the New York Times or the Washington Post would give to Kucinich's health care proposal . . . she goes on to review the plans of . . . John Edwards, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. 24 paragraphs of 'coverage' and 'analysis' and she can't even include Kucinich in the mix -- after getting castigating others who might do . . . what she just did. Smooth down your skirt, your hypocrisy's showing.
Now to serious issue, Ira Chernus (Common Dreams) warns readers that various mouthpieces are trying to declare Iraq is no longer an issue: "If Iraq is disappearing from the headlines, there is some other factor at work here. I suspect it's that editors and cable show hosts are watching what's going on, not only in Iraq, but in Washington and in elite policymaking circles (like the Council on Foreign Relations, where [Peter] Beinart is a senior fellow). They know that at the highest levels the debate about what to do in Iraq pretty much ended over this summer." What is about the Council on Foreign Relations and how they refuse to get serious about the illegal war. You get the feeling that if they ran an allegedly left magazine, they'd be ignoring the war, war resisters, et al and doing cover stories on rubber duckies and horseraces. Hey, that describes The Nation. Oh, yeah, KvH, Council on Foreign Relations.
In the real world, Cara Buckley (New York Times) notes that the Red Crescent says 25,000 Iraq refugees have returned to Iraq since mid-September -- 25,000, only 25,000. CBS and AP note: "Officials in Iraq and Syria have said more than 46,000 refugees returned in October and claimed the flow has continued unabated." Far from the inflated numbers the puppet government has repeatedly told the press. Meanwhile the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Steffan de Mistura held a news conference to emphasize that "this is not a massive return" and that Iraq couldn't hanlde a massive return. CBS and AP quote the Iraqi Red Crescent report on why some are returning: "The high cost of living and rented apartments and the limited employment opportunities contributed to lack of stability of Iraqi families and increased their passion to return to their country." And of course being bribed and bused in doesn't hurt either. Who is the central (puppet) government in Iraq preying on? Hannah Allam and Miret el Naggar (McClatchy Newspapers) examine at life in Syria:Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees in Syria face a bleak winter, with rising fuel costs that could leave many without enough money for food, the director of the World Food Program said Monday.About a third of Iraqi respondents in a recent United Nations study said they skipped one meal a day to feed their children. Nearly 60 percent said that they're buying cheaper, less nutritious food to cope with a dramatic increase in prices.With the weather turning colder and heating prices rising, humanitarian workers predict more Iraqis will go hungry in order to keep up with rent and utilities."We need more help here," WFP executive director Josette Sheeran said in an interview.The WFP, a U.N. agency that is the world's largest humanitarian organization, provides food to about 50,000 Iraqi families who've sought refuge in Syria. Sheeran said that her organization doesn't have the funds to maintain its $5.6 million operation and that she soon will call for more international assistance.There are the refugees being preyed upon, being told it is 'safe' in Iraq, being bribed to return. And let's talk about what happens when they return. The United Nations' IRIN reports that Abid Falah al-Soodani (Trade Minister) announced yesterday that, starting next month, "the quantity of national food rations delivered freely to all Iraqi families will be futher reduced -- from 10 to five items." Now let's be clear, this isn't just halfing the food supplies. He told the Iraqi Parliament that the five items provided will be provided in lower numbers. Here's what's getting cut out: tea, beans, children's milk, soap detergent and tomato paste. Here's what's getting reduced: rice, sugar, cooking oil, flour and milk for adults. What a way to say, "Welcome Home!" And to be clear, despite the lies, this has nothing to do with a government 'shortfall.' This is about ending the subsidies which Paul Bremer already tried once. The Iraqi government has more money than they spend at this point (though a great deal ends up in personal pockets) and this claim that they can't afford to supply children with milk is nothing but a lie. In other attacks on the Iraqi people, UPI reports that the Samuel Bodman (US Secretary of Energy) met with the "Kurdish region's oil minister" to push for the Iraqi theft-of-oil law proposal and, in contradiction to previous White House public positions, he's giving a green light to "international oil companies" to start signing Iraqi oil deals.
Meanwhile Reuters reports US forces shot 4 Iraqi civilians at a checkpoint in Tamiya on Monday and that one has died. In other reported violence today . . .
Bombings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing that wounded two people, a Dalli Abbas mortar attack that left eight people wounded and a Jalawla bombing that claimed the lives of 6 people with twenty-five more injured.
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports the latest attacks on an official: today "gunmen opened fire attacking the house of the ministry of electricity Kareem Waheed in Zayuna neighborhood east Baghdad wounding three of his guards"; yesterday "Atallah Eskander, the member in the local council of Hawija town west of Kirkuk and his driver Hamad Ali Hussein" were shot dead; on Saturday Mun'im Hadi ("employee of Diwaniyah city intelligence directorate office") was shot dead in Najaf. Reuters notes 1 "security officer" was shot dead in Tuz Khurmato (his brother was injured).
Corpses?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 6 corpses discovered in Baghdad and 2 outside Kirkuk. Reuters notes 3 corpses discovered in Mosul and 2 in Mahaweel.
Walter Cronkite and David Krieger (Common Dreams) explore the topic of the illegal war and what needs to be done:
The American people no longer support the war in Iraq. The war is being carried on by a stubborn president who, like Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War, does not want to lose. But from the beginning this has been an ill-considered and poorly prosecuted war that, like the Vietnam War, has diminished respect for America. We believe Mr. Bush would like to drag the war on long enough to hand it off to another president.
The war in Iraq reminds us of the tragedy of the Vietnam War. Both wars began with false assertions by the president to the American people and the Congress. Like Vietnam, the Iraq War has introduced a new vocabulary: "shock and awe," "mission accomplished," "the surge." Like Vietnam, we have destroyed cities in order to save them. It is not a strategy for success.
The Bush administration has attempted to forestall ending the war by putting in more troops, but more troops will not solve the problem. We have lost the hearts and minds of most of the Iraqi people, and victory no longer seems to be even a remote possibility. It is time to end our occupation of Iraq, and bring our troops home.
iraq
david steinjeremy hinzmanbrandon hughey
cindy sheehan
anthony arnovehoward zinn
iraq veterans against the war
the new york timescara buckleyhannah allammiret el naggarmcclatchy newspapers
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