Iraq

"Iraq election: Sunnis get ready to make their mark" (Martin Chulov, Guardian):
Sheikh Hamid al-Hayis, a cherubic local chieftain, gestures from an ornate chair in his new concrete palace and states his case for being elected to Iraq's new parliament: "If the Shias only knew how much I loved them," he said, "They would weep on my shoulder like they weep for Imam Hussein."
The self-proclaimed Iraqi nationalist could have been campaigning anywhere in Iraq's Shia majority heartland, which is set to consolidate its hold on power in Sunday's general election.
But what makes Hayis's bid for office remarkable is that he is a key Sunni chief and his words are uttered from a base where once they would have been seen as a profanity – Ramadi, the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency.

Iraq votes through Sunday in their Parliamentary elections. I would not expect to know the results (unofficial) until Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest. From there, I would add at least a month before anyone will know who the prime minister will be. (The Parliament votes on the prime minister.)

That's basic and not uncommon. It's also based on the country's 2005 election. Not everyone agrees.

"Will Iraq explode again?" (Eric Ruder, Socialist Worker, US):
IF MALIKI doesn't win an outright victory, it seems likely that it will take weeks or months for a governing coalition to form. This presents any number of concerns for the U.S., including the anxiety that the first but still fragile advances made by Western oil corporations in Iraq since 1972 may come to a screeching halt.
"Parliamentary elections may produce a weak or unstable government incapable of tendering new oil contracts, [according to] Samuel Ciszuk, a London-based analyst at IHS Global Insight," noted a Bloomberg wire report.

How does Nouri get "an outright victory"? He's running for the Parliament. That's the seat he's running for. Even the best polling doesn't give his party a clear majority. So State of Law is not going to have that and can't install him as prime minister all by themselves.

Add in that a number of Shi'ite parties have made it clear that if they entered into a power-sharing coalition with his party, they would not vote for him to be the leader.

I don't understand where Ruder's getting his information from. It may be something I missed.

"Christians continue to stream out of war-torn Iraq" (Spero News):
Over a thousand Christian families have left Mosul in the past ten days, dispersing in the surrounding territory. All of these IDPs are not likely to participate in elections, as they are registered in Mosul. But, there is much to do: people are taken by fear and think about their safety.” This is what Fides has learned in an interview with Archbishop Georges Casmoussa, Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, in light of the upcoming elections on March 7.

I don't spend a lot of time on the topic of religion here, nor do I wish too. However, I do need to point something out. If this were a group of Muslims or Jews, it would be covered by the 'independent' media. But it's Christians and it does get ignored.

I have no idea why that is.

I'm not banging the cup for religion and playing Jean Simmons in Guys & Dolls here. But I would be dishonest if I pretended not to notice the lack of attention to Christians assaulted in Iraq. C.I. does such a wonderful job covering this and so many other topics. But I always notice how she's covering it for days and days and then maybe a brief item pops up -- and it's MSM, not independent media.

Some devout believers in Jesus have complained before publicly that they don't receive the attention they deserve and I always dismissed it. I have no idea why. But seeing Christians assaulted repeatedly in Iraq, forced to leave their homes, their businesses attacked (generally speaking, any liquor store in Iraq is run by a Christian) and more, I do see what those complaining were talking about. I would never have, on my own without seeing this to be true, believed that the press was hostile to or disinterested in Christianity. (It always felt to me like the press bent over backwards.) But that really has been the reality when it comes to the assaults in Iraq.

"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Friday, March 5, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, campaigning for elections continue, birth defects are on the rise, Gordon Brown appears before the Iraq Inquiry, we are not your sin eaters, and more.

This morning on the second hour of The Diane Rehm Show (NPR), Susan Page (USA Today) guest hosted for Diane and she spoke with the panelists Tom Gjelten (NPR), Susan Glasser (Foreign Policy) and David E. Sanger (New York Times).

Susan Page: Well Iraqis -- most Iraqis who are going to vote, go to the polls on Sunday, the first national election in five years. David Sanger, what seats are up?

David Sanger: Well an amazing number of candidates are up. Uh there are going to be 6127 candidates for 325 seats. So you could see a fair number of people who come in with one, two and even three votes if they, you know, get Moms and spouses to vote for them. You'll also see uh about 50,000 polling places. And I guess they must have all read those books about uh how Lyndon Johnson conducted polls in Texas in the 40s and 50s because not only are they writing this on special paper and numbering the ballots but the ballots then go into clear plastic boxes so that it gets a little bit harder to fiddle with. That said, the ingenuity of Iraqis with fiddling with uh ballots now may be as good as Americans have had at various points in our history. Uh, I think what you need to think about for this election are two things. First is it could be a long time before we see a serious result. When this happened in 2005, it took about five months to put the government together. Here it may not take as long but it could be a few months. And the second big question is: Does anything come up out of this that gets in the way of the American withdrawal strategy? And that is all linked to the divisions of Sunni and Shia, the levels of violence and so forth. For President [Barack] Obama who has already said that he's not out to make a Jeffersonian democracy and either Afghanistan or Iraq the big question is can he just stay on schedule.

Susan Page: Well what do you think, Susan, will he be able to stay on schedule with the withdrawal of US troops over the next two years or do you think that's in some peril?

Susan Glasser: Uh, well, you know, if I had a crystal ball for this one, we-we could all go home. But I do think that the election will be an intersting indicator. And what comes after it, as David mentioned, of just how riven is the political space in Iraq right now. There have certainly been some uh disturbing signs in the weeks leading up to the election that this is a highly polarized, highly sectarian environment going into the elections. Uhm, you know, there are signs of levels of divisions between Sunni and Shia that have probably reached their highest level of the last two years in the context of this campaign. So will renewed violence break out? What does it do to the potential unraveling of political space in Iraq? How much is the current prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki -- what is he willing to do to hold onto power over the next few weeks and months?

Susan Page: Tom, is there someone the US hopes emerges as the new leader of Iraq?

Tom Gjelten: No, I-I think what the United States hopes is simply stability. Uh, as David said, I think the, you know the prospect of divisions following this election is so unnerving that the United States would basically settle for any candidate that's able to keep the country more or less, uh, uh, on track and stable. I mean there seem to be -- You know, the good news is that all sectors of the Iraqi political spectrum are-are represented in this election. The bad news is that all sectors of the Iraqi political spectrum are represented in this election including some very violent, anti-American militia members. Moqtada al-Sadr who's responsible for a lot of the attacks even though he's currently living in Iraq, we think. His-his party is well represented. We've got an alleged former death squad leader who's represented. We have Sunni religious groups represented, Sunni secular groups, Shia religious groups, Shia secular groups. So everybody is represented but what that also does is it really is a recipe for what Susan and David are talking about, the kind of, the warring factions in the aftermath.

Susan Page: But I wonder if, to look on the bright side maybe, a second democratic election in five years, since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, does it indicate democracy or an Iraqi form of democracy is really taking root? Or do you think that goes too far, David?

David Sanger: It represents an Iraqi form of democracy. We've had other moments in Iraqi history, including in the 1950s, when there were similar forms of democracy and they didn't last. I mean, Iraq is a place that, at various moments, has gravitated towards strong-man leaders and that could well happen again.

Echoing that thought are Ernesto Londono and Leila Fadel (Washington Post) who explain, "After the ballots are cast and counted, voters will have provided the first conclusive evidence of what kind of democracy is likely to take root in the heart of the Middle East -- if one does at all." Charles Levinson (Wall St. Journal) reports, "Iraq's leading candidates made final appeals to voters and an influential anti-U.S. cleric unveiled a unqiue election-day strategy, on the final day of campaigning for Sunday's national polls." Iraqi refugees will vote in the US, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, the UAE, Lebanon, Iran, Canada, England, Denmark, Australia, Germany, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands. And in Iraq, Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) looks at the approximately 3 million young, first-time voters in Iraq who express frustration and note that their lives have been plagued by violence, unemployment and lack of basic services. The Iraq War started in March 2003 and that's seven years ago. 20-year-old Iraqis were 13 when this illegal war started. Arraf reports, "This should be an exciting threshold to a new future for young people. But a broad range of interviews reveal that for this generation, born into a decade of trade sanctions and raised in war, there is an overriding sense of frustration, fears about security, and the struggle to find their place in a country still emerging from conflict." Among the first time voters is Nada Hatem Farhan and Jane Arraf examines what the elections mean to her and her life: Not much at all. She's like to be an attorney or journalist but instead states she must become a teacher which is about it in terms of 'respectability' for women in her area -- but that's if she's able to go college. There is a push for her to get married to her cousin as soon as she finishes high school. At Inside Iraq, an Iraqi correspondent for McClatchy Newspapers notes that all the candidates are decrying foreign influence and foreign money in the process but that those who serve in Parliament refused to address the situation before the elections. The correspondent observes:

The parties that are ruling Iraqi now are the same, two were established in Iran, and that we can find an explanation because Saddam was hunting the opposition down and killing their beloved ones so they had to find a safe place to live and seek change, but what me and my fellow citizens cannot comprehend is why these parties still receiving money and show allegiance to Iran or other countries and then criticize the foreign support.
And the most important part, these parties didn't mind an invasion and called it a liberation in 2003, later they called it occupation and interference, and they keep forgetting that it is the foreign interference and invasion that brought the democracy to the country, so why Iraqis need to oppose foreign funds, when everything was and still coming from outside.

In other deveopments, Layla Anwar (An Arab Woman Blues) expresses her anger very clearly today over Zeinab Khadum Allwan (we covered her in Wednesday's snapshot) but she's confused George W. Bush with "Western feminists" and we won't play dumb, Layla, just because we respect you. Rage and scream and do so against "Western feminists" if you want but don't expect us to play dumb with you.

First off, there's nothing about a burqa in Zeinab's story as told by the BBC -- nor is she 'modestly' dressed. She's dressed in tennis gear, so why Layla wants to use shame of the human body and how the West has allegedly torn off the 'mystique' of the female form (that would be "the other" for all educated in feminist theory, that which is cloaked, that which is hidden) to try to score points is actually a mystery.

Let me be really clear before I go further, I've noted this before online. I've posed nude. I have no hang ups about being naked and anytime someone wants to play the shame game re: nudity, it's never going to work with me. So call that A and B. C, George W. Bush is not and never was the face of feminism. If the Iraq War was sometimes sold as 'liberation' for Iraqi women, that came from Bush and his supporters in the media. Western feminists, as a group, opposed the Iraq War. We won't be your sin eater on this, Layla. You're angry and you have every right to be. You can lash out at whatever grouping you want including Western feminists. But I'm not of the Chickie-baby-boom-boom 'school' who's confused a push-up bra and a party schedule with feminism nor do I stand still while hit with a two-by-four.

Feminists in the West have got to learn to fight back and that includes saying, "I understand your anger but your facts are wrong." And, Layla, your facts are wrong. No feminist in the US or England or Canada has hailed the Iraq War as a success for female liberation nor would they. What we have repeatedly noted in the West was that Iraq had a more progressive policy regarding women than any other country in the region and that the invasion actually set the rights of women backwards. In fact, Rebecca was just writing about that last night, before you posted your attack on Western feminists today:

it's women's history month and the recent history for iraqi women isn't a good 1. they were better off before the invasion. they had rights. they were not required to hide themselves away. iraq was a secular state. why is it that women are always the 1s to suffer in any society? it could be us in the united states to lose our rights. it's not as if we have an equal rights amendment in the constitution. even if we did, before the 2003 invasion, iraqis could point to their own constitution and show how women's rights were in it. the true story of women's history appears to be that every day we have to struggle and fight and that's largely just to remain in the same spot. forget getting ahead.

You can be angry, you can lash out any group you want to. But we're not going to play stupid here when you attack feminism and attack it with distortions. As for "you" have to watch? I watched. I watched and wrote about it on Wednesday. Two days later you show up? Welcome to the party, Layla, food's all gone but pour yourself a drink.

Layla's angry, she has every right to be. Her country's been destroyed. There's no band-aid for it. And while we'll understand that, I do not play the game where we're Western feminists so we turn the other cheek while some one attacks us with lies. (Ava and I wrote a piece calling out the refusal to fight back in November of last year.) Had second wave leaders stood up in real time, a lot of lies and distortions wouldn't have taken hold in the last decades. Layla's angry. It's a deep anger and it's completely understandable. And she can lash out if she wants at whomever she wants. But if that lashing out includes a distortion of feminism or feminists, I'm not going to play. I'm not your sin eater. You need to grow up and take accountability for your own actions and that includes knowing who your enemies are. I already raised my children, I'm not going to baby any grown up at this late date.

Turning to England where the Iraq Inquiry today took testimony from Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former UK Secretary of State (2007-2009) Douglas Alexander (link goes to transcript and video option). Brown became the current Prime Minister in June 2007, prior to that he served in Tony Blair's Cabinet beginning in 1997. John Chilcot chairs the Inquiry and he kicked things off in today's hearing.

Chair John Chilcot: It has been borne in on this Inquiry from the outset that the coalition's decision to take military action led directly or most often, indirectly to the loss of lives of many people, servicemen and women in our and the Multi-National Forces, the Iraqi security forces, and many civilians, men, women and children, in Iraq. Still more have been affected by those losses and by other consequences of the action. Given all that experience, I should like to ask right at the outset whether you believe the decision to take military action in March 2003 was indeed right.

Gordon Brown: It was the right decision and it was for the right reasons. But I do want, at the outset, to pay my respects to all the soldiers and members of our armed forces who served with great entourage and distinction in Iraq for the loss of life and the sacrifices that they have made, and my thoughts are with their families. Next week, we will dedicate at the national arboretum a memorial to the 179 servicemen and women who died in Iraq and I think the thoughts and prayers of us are with all the families today.

Sentences two and three might have taken some of the sting out of sentence one were it not for the fact that those assembled had already seen Gordon Brown strut into the room, glad handing and beaming as if he was going to a christening,

You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht
Your had strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot
You had one eye in the mirror
As you watched yourself gavotte
And all the girls dreamed
That they'd be your partner
They'd be your partner and . . .
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
I bet you think this song is about you
Don't you, don't you?
-- "You're So Vain" -- words and music by Carly Simon

And that number one song, which Carly's re-recorded as part of her reimaging classic songs from her canon on Never Been Gone, never had a video. But Carly Simon and Iris Records are having a contest:

BE THE FILMMAKER TO CREATE THE FIRST AND ONLY VIDEO FOR CARLY SIMON'S CLASSIC ROCK SONG "YOU'RE SO VAIN" IN ASSOCIATION WITH AOL MUSIC'S SPINNER.COM
THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER WILL HAVE THEIR VIDEO PREMIERED AT THE 2010 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL, FEATURED ON AOL AND MEET CARLY SIMON IN-PERSON
Los Angeles, California. Thirty seven Decembers ago, pop songstress Carly Simon tore up the record charts with her single "You're So Vain." The song captured the number-one slot on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Adult Contemporary charts, and to this day remains one of the most popular classic rock songs of all time. Perhaps more than any other track in pop music, the song's central mystery captivated the public. Ironically, even with all this speculation, the song has never had a music video to accompany it.
To coincide with her critically-acclaimed latest release, NEVER BEEN GONE, fans and filmmakers are invited to submit a music video to accompany the newly recorded version of "You're So Vain." If you'd like to add elements of the original 1972 version of the song feel free, but your video has to incorporate at least some of the 2010 recording, making the most of the new footage that can be downloaded here.
Carly will screen and judge all of the entries herself. The winning video will be featured on AOL Music's Spinner.com and screened at this years' Tribeca Film Festival in April, where the winner will also have the opportunity meet Carly Simon.
To help fans and filmmakers out, Carly has created a template of optional tools which can be utilized in the creation of the video including recently shot green screen footage, stills, video blogs and more all of which can be found and downloaded HERE.
You can submit your video from February 8th 2010 through April 15st 2010.


You don't have to include Gordon Brown in your video; however, if you're Sarah Brown, you certainly should consider doing so. Ann Treneman (Times of London) offers a textual sketch of Gordo in repose:

The Prime Minister yesterday was particularly stunning and I mean that in the same way that Brazilian tree frogs are stunning. He entered the first session with one of his awful smiles and immediately began to explain the Iraq conflict as a "paradigm" in a "post Cold War world", which occasionally came out as "postcode war world". Members of the public began to fall asleep almost immediately and, after the first coffee break, two people never returned, early victims of Browning.
His strategy was brilliantly simple -- attack early, attack often and never stop talking. He revealed straight away -- and not in response to any question -- that he had never turned down any request for funds from the military for Iraq -- ever. Full stop.

Gordon also quickly became Susan Megur's oil painting "The Two Sides of Ones Self." Gerald Warner (Telegraph of London) explains that in his first ten minutes, Gordon made it sound like he was in the loop but, after that, he pulled a blank whenever asked about key moments, key decisions and key events. Apparently, when the gang wanted fish & chips, they sent Gordo on a snack run and took care of business before he could get return.
While Gordon testified or testi-lied inside, Stop The War Coalition was present outside. The Telegraph of London reports the protestors included an activist wearing a Gordon Brown and holding a giant check, stained with blood, indicating 8.5 billion pounds were spent on the Iraq War by England. The organization's John Rees is quoted stating, "Gordon Brown was the paymaster for this most unpopular of wars and was the second most powerful man in the Government. He has cleverly avoided the political stigma Tony Blair attracted but he bears the same responsibility and should be held to account by this inquiry."


Committee Member Roderic Lyne: So you and other Cabinet ministers, except, of course, for the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister, were not aware that the Attorney General's position had been equivocal only two weeks beforehand in his document of 7 March and had been indeed directly opposed to the position he took in Cabinet up to about 11 February? You were completely unaware of this and you were unaware also that the Foreign Office's legal advisers, specialists in international law, did not agree with the position that the Attorney General presented to Cabinet?

Gordon Brown: I think there had been some press coverage about the Foreign Office. I may be wrong on that, but I think there may have been some press coverage.

Committee Member Roderic Lyne: The Foreign Secretary referred to some press coverage.

Gordon Brown: Look, the question that came before us was the advice of the Attorney General that this was lawful or not? The Attorney General gave unequivocal advice to the Cabinet. I think he has been along to the committee to explain the basis on which he gave that advice. I have heard him now give his evidence to the Committee, but he had a straightforward question to answer. It wasn't a simple question, but it was a straightforward question, "Was it lawful or was it not?" and he gave an unequivocal answer.

Committee Member Roderic Lyne: You don't think the Cabinet needed to know whether this was based on a robust position or a slightly controversial position?

Gordon Brown: I think, in retropsect, people as historians of this matter, will look at it very carefully and look at what happened and what was said between different people at different times and what were the first drafts, the second drafts and the third drafts. But the issue for us was very clear. I mean, we are a Cabinet making a decision. Did the Attorney General, who is our legal officer responsible for giving us legal advice on these matters, have a position on this that was unequivocal, and his position on this was unequivocal. He cited, as I have already done, the United Nations resolutions that led to us believe that Saddam Hussein had failed to comply with international law. He cited 1441 and the importance of the final opportunity for Saddam Hussein. All these things were said and it laid the basis on which we could make a decision, but it wasn't the reason that we made the decisions. He gave us the necessary means to make a decision, but it wasn't sufficient in itself.

The UK Liberal Democrats issued the following statement today:

"How can we trust a man who still believes that this illegal war and all the horror it has caused was right?" said the Liberal Democrat Leader.
Commenting on Gordon Brown's appearance at the Iraq inquiry, Nick Clegg said:
"This was the day Gorodn Brown finally had to come clean and admit that he believes the Iraq war was right.
"We now know we were betrayed by Gordon Brown and we were betrayed by the Labour Party.
"How can we trust a man who still believes that this illegal war and all the horror it has caused was right?
"When the Liberal Democrats were the only party to oppose this immoral invasion we didn't just speak for us, we spoke for the nation."

At the Guardian, Chris Ames explains that Brown indicated weeks ago that he would be arguing "the convention of collective cabinet responsiblity, which requires cabinet ministers to back policies that they do not agree with" and he concludes that the policy "is not just a licence to lie, but a requirement to do so." It also doesn't speak well to Brown's alleged leadership -- and his leadership is already in question in England just due to the economic disaster. But on top of that, Gordon wants to argue that we must all back policies even if we don't agree with them -- does not show leadership when he served under Blair and doesn't show leadership now that he's prime minister. It shows a disdain for an open process, for differening opinions and for the law itself.


Committee Member Roderic Lyne: If you had known that his position had been equivocal only ten days previously in formal advice presented to the Prime Minister, would it have changed your view?

Gordon Brown: I don't think it would have changed my view, because unless he was prepared to say that his unequivocal advice was that this was not lawful, then the otehr arguments that I thought were important played into place, and that was what I have already talked to you about [. . .]

It wouldn't have mattered said Gordon. Strange because before that exchange (page 51 of the transcript), he told Lyne, "No, and I think that -- look, I'm not a lawyer, I'm not an international lawyer." Which he isn't. So it's amazing that he wants to declare that if he'd been told that Peter Goldsmith, Attorney General, had just changed his mind in a matter of days on the legality of the war, it would not have changed his mind or even bothered him. Apparently, it's not just that he's not a lawyer, it's also that he just doesn't care too much. Again, his well rehearsed testimony did not inspire or demonstrate leadership. For Tony Blair, that wouldn't matter. But Blair's not the sitting prime minister, Brown is.

Andrew Sparrow (Guardian) live blogged the testimony. At this Sky News webpage, there are multiple options on Brown's testimony including Glen Oglaza once again live blogging testimony. Chris Ames live blogged at Iraq Inquiry Digest. Channel 4 News Iraq Inquiry Blogger live blogged at Twitter. Also live blogging at Twitter was BBC News' Laura Kuenssberg. Alice Tarleton (Channel 4 News) offers a look at how Brown's statements to the Inquiry differ from those made by his predecessor Tony Blair. And Vicki Barker (NPR's All Things Considered) has an audio report here.

The Scottish National Party issued the following statement:

Commenting on Gordon Brown's appearance at the Chilcot inquiry, SNP Westminister Leader and Defence Spokesman Angus Robertson MP said:
"Where Blair spun, Brown ducked, but he still confirmed he was part of the inner circle that led the country into the worst foreign policy disaster in modern times.
"The Iraq inuqiry has been massively damaging for Labour. With every evidence session, the UK Government's case for war and the actions of Labour Ministers are further discredited.
"The people won't forget Labour's role in planning and executing this illegal war. The Chilcot inquiry has laid out the eivdence -- it's now up to the voters to cast their verdict at the ballot box.
"It's no wonder Brown wanted the inquiry conducted behind closed doors. He's clearly keeping a great deal hidden.
"Contradicting Sir Kevin Tebbit's claim that the MoD was operating a crisis budget, the Prime Minister insisted every request for funding was met.
"Sadly, for all of those who opposed the Iraq invasion and for the thousands who lost thier lives to it, truth of the Iraq invasion may have been forever lost to the New Labour spin machine."

As his turn before the committee, Brown remembered a note and wanted to insist that the loss of life "leaves us all sad" and "leaves me very sad indeed". He squeezed it in twice in his closing remarks because he threw it out once in his opening remarks in the first half of the day ("any loss of life is something that makes us very sad indeed") but forgot to work it in again and again, as advised, so he could demonstrate some resource. Sian Ruddick (Great Britian's Socialist Worker) notes how two bodies heard explored war today:

A war criminal and an anti-war soldier both faced questioning this Friday. One will get off with no repercussions -- the other could be sent to prison for two years.
Gordon Brown has tried to keep his distance from the Iraq war, hoping that the legacy of mass murder will be left with Tony Blair. But Brown's hands are far from clean.
He wrote the cheques for the war, funding the destruction that rained down on Iraq.
And in the run up to the war Brown was "absolutely core" in shoring up support amongst backbenchers, insists Sally Morgan, one of Blair's key aides.
Brown says the Iraq war is all over now -- but it isn't. There are still thousands of US and British troops in the country.
And the lasting legacy of devastation and chaos created by the occupation continues to blight the lives of millions of Iraqis.

The legacy includes a country destroyed, lives lost and birth defects among other issues.
John Simpson (BBC News) reports on the birth defects stemming from the illegal war and weapons used in it (some exploded, some still not exploding) which have contaminated the country:We went to a house where three children, all under six, were suffering from birth defects.Two boys were partially paralysed, and their sister clearly had serious brain damage.Like all the other parents we spoke to, their mother had no doubt that the American attacks were responsible.Outside, a man who had heard we were there had brought his four-year-old daughter to show us. She had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot.She was also suffering from a number of other serious health problems. The father told us that the house where they still lived had been hit by an American shell during the fighting in 2004.There may well be a link with drinking-water, especially in al-Julan.After the fighting was over, the rubble from the town was bulldozed into the river bank, and most people in this area get their water from the river. Ben Leach (Telegraph of London) adds, "The level of heart defects among newborn babies in the city is now said to be 13 times higher than in Europe.Some doctors have reported they are seeing as many as two or three cases a day, mainly cardiac defects." Alex Sundby (CBS News) notes the issue here. I believe we last noted the birth defects in the January 4th snapshot when we covered this episode of Inside Iraq (Al Jazeera):

Jasim al-Azzawi: Dr. Jawad al-Ali, you are a physician, you are a member of the Iraq Cancer Board and you have seen the astronomical rate in cancers rise as well as defects in children. Explain to me what is going on in Basra?

Dr. Jawad al-Ali: Really, as you know, Iraq is effected by three wars, three destructive wars. The last two -- the 1991 war and the 2003 war -- where depleted uranium is used for the first time in history. The 1991 war, they used depleted uranium at the western part of Basra and also they dropped some of the uranium weapons [. . .] during the withdrawal of the Iraqi army. And also they dropped some of the depleted uranium at the eastern part of Basra where it was the only way to withdraw our army from Kuwait.

Jasim al-Azzawi: Did that cause such an astronomical rise in the cancer rates in 1991 and the 90s? And also in the 2003?

Dr. Jawad al-Ali: After three or four years, that is in 1994, I, myself, I noticed that the hospital receiving many patients with cancer. And we were surprised at that time. And we don't what was the link. But, after two years, that is 1996, one of the intelligent persons, worked with the intelligence and he's escorting one of the delegations, he told me that depleted uranium is used. And he told me this is a secret, please keep it inside your brain.

Jasim al-Azzawi: It is no longer a secret, Dr. al-Ali, let me bring in Christopher Busby. Mr. Busby, you were a witness expert in one of the British trials regarding a soldier who developed cancer immediately after returning from deployment in southern part Iraq.

Christopher Busby: In September of this year, I was asked by the coroner in the West Midlands near Birmingham to attend an inquest as an expert witness. I've become a witness on the health effects of depleted uranium. I sat on a number of government committees including a [UK] Ministry of Defense committee and I've studied the health effects of Uranium for almost 15 years and I've closely followed these arguments about the increase in cancer in Iraq and in other areas where uranium has been used. So I was -- I was asked to give evidence as an expert witness in this case. This man, Stuart Dyson, has worked as an Ordnance Corps support soldier. So basically what he did, he cleaned up the vehicles and, as a result, he became contaminated with depleted uranium which collected on the vehicles which were used in the 2003 Gulf War and he then developed cancer at a very early age, about 38. I mean, it's very, very rare to get that cancer, colon cancer, at that age. The normal rate is about 6 in a million people. Now we know as a result of cancer research that cancer is caused by exposure to something that causes a mutation in cells. So we have to look to something that he was exposed to that caused mutations in cells.

Jasim al-Azzawi: Yes.

Christopher Busby: And really there isn't anything else but depleted uranium.

Jasim al-Azzawi: Dr. Jawad al-Ali, you were also a member of a research team in Iraq, especially in the south, and you have seen the deformities and the defects among newly born babies in Iraq. How bad is that?


Dr. Jawad al-Ali: You know, depleted uranium, it's not only a cancer inducing factor but also it might effect the chromosomes whether in the husband or the mother of a child. And many, many children are born with deformities, with loss of limbs, with a big head, with deformed legs and the rate of this -- these deformities is increasing about seven times since 1991until 2002. And also another phenomena we noticed here that families cluster -- cluster of cancer in families -- a husband and a wife are effected. And many families, I got their pictures with me. The other phenomena is the appearance of double and triple cancers. That is three cancers in one patient or two cancers in the same patient. These phenomena are very strange for us. I haven't seen it before. Because I worked in Basra for about 39 years. And I haven't seen such cases of cancer [before]. The other thing is the change of pattern of cancer as said by Dr. Busby. We have a change in the pattern that is the cancers of elderly people appearing now in a younger age group. And this is surprising. Even the breast cancer which is disease of middle and elderly ladies now appearing at the age of 20.

Back to the US where A.N.S.W.E.R. and other organizations are sponsoring March 20th marches in DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The march is to demand the withdrawal of all US and NATO troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan and Peace of the Action will be staging a Camp Out NOW but they have had to push the start-up date back two days:

Due to an unexpected crimp in our permit, Camp OUT NOW will be erected on March 15th instead of the 13th -- but we will still have St. Stephen's to sleep in that weekend.
The reason we're not setting up Camp on the 13th is that the people who are running the St. Patty's Day parade won't allow us to keep Camp up during the parade. So on Sunday during the parade, we will be passing out info and making an anti-war presence --
We will gather in Lafayette Park (across from the White House) at 10am the morning of the parade.
We are still looking for donations, and you can donate here:
http://peaceoftheaction.org/give/



TV notes. NOW on PBS begins airing Friday on most PBS stations (check local listings):

Americans have a longstanding love affair with food -- the modern supermarket has, on average, 47,000 products. But do we really know what goes into making the products we so eagerly consume? On Friday, March 5 at 8:30 PM (check local listings), David Brancaccio talks with Robert Kenner, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc., which takes a hard look at the secretive and surprising journey food takes on the way from processing plants to our dinner tables. The two discuss why contemporary food processing secrets are so closely guarded, their impact on our health, and another surprising fact: how consumers are actually empowered to make a difference.
Staying with TV notes, Washington Week begins airing on many PBS stations tonight (and throughout the weekend, check local listings) and joining Gwen around the table this week are Jeanne Cummings (Politico), Michael Duffy (Time magazine) and John Harwood (CNBC, New York Times). And along with catching the show, you can click here for Gwen's take on two of the current political scandals (text report). Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Sam Bennett, Karen Czarnecki, Nicole Kurokawa and Patrice Sosa to discuss the week's events on PBS' To The Contrary. And at the website each week, Bonnie and her guests offer an extra video on a topic not covered on the show. The current web extra is a discussion of retirement proposals to 401(k)s and IRA accounts. For the broadcast program, check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes:
"60 Minutes Presents: Blood Brothers""60 Minutes" will be pre-empted this week for a special edition of "60 Minutes Presents: Blood Brothers." This hour explores the world of Spanish bullfighting brothers Francisco and Cayetano Rivera-Ordonez, top matadors from one of Spain's most famous bullfighting families. Bob Simon follows the bullfighters outside and in the ring, where the "dance of death" nearly ends the life of Cayetano in a horrifying moment caught on camera. Watch Video
"60 Minutes Presents: Blood Brothers", Sunday, March 7, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.


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Los Angeles Times takes dictation from military

Brian Mockenhaupt has never directed a film but really thinks he can. He also thinks his opinion matters before I buy a movie ticket. He may want to try to stand up when he gets out of the military. At The Altantic, he whines:

Present a movie as a hyper-realistic look at today's wars and those fighting them, and you have a responsibility to deliver because—for better or worse—without first-hand experience, we rely on our storytellers to fill in the those gaps with texture, and meaning and context. That was director Kathryn Bigelow's intent. She wanted the audience to experience war as the soldiers do and used shaky hand-held camera shots for a documentary-style effect.

I do not know Kathryn Bigelow as well as C.I. does. (Nor do I vote in the Academy Awards -- C.I. does.) But I do know her and I know that a ton of people couldn't get her film right when it came out and a new group can't get it right today. Brian, you don't know her intent. You don't know her. As for hand-held camera shots -- have you never watched ER? Did you miss Husbands & Wives?

I would call Brian a silly little boy but he's not. He's an errand boy sent by the grocer to collect the bill. Let me come back to that point in a bit.

First, via ABC World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer, meet Jeffrey Sarver. He's an Iraq War veteran still in the military and he sued the producers of the film today. Why?

He says it's his life up on the screen.

Wait a moment! Brian just told us it was all fake!

Jeffrey, it's your life?

According to Sarver, Mark Boal met him while working on an article he later turned into the script and this is his life and what he did up on screen. (I am not doubting or endorsing Sarver's view. It may be true and, if pressed, I'd say that I'm more inclined to believe Sarver. Whether that means he's entitled to money or not, I don't know. I would guess 'no.' Because he didn't co-write and the reporter -- Boal -- was embedded to write. You can't copyright the events of your life if others are around to witness them.) (That doesn't mean I'm not sympathetic to Sarver. I am. A friend of C.I.'s once wrote down notes in the middle of one of my break ups. I had no idea. The man was a screenwriter and director. I saw the film later on, with that as a scene in it, remembered I had broken up at a party at C.I.'s and that the director was there and I called C.I. for that man's number and then dialed him and chewed him out. I am very sympathetic to Sarver.)

But I have no sympathy for Brian. Whether he's trying to be 'cool' or was ordered to do what he did, I don't know. But, errand boy for the grocer? Marlon Brando line, as I'm sure everyone already knew. Turns out the US military has organized the military's attack on The Hurt Locker.

"'Hurt Locker' Under Military Attack as Oscars Approach" (Ed Barnes, Fox News):
The Hurt Locker," a Best Picture nominee that portrays coalition soldiers disarming bombs in the heat of battle, is being criticized by some veterans and current members of the military, who say it presents them as being “too much John Wayne.” Moreover, the attack seems to have the outright support of the military itself, despite its endorsement by the secretary of defense.
Last week the Army arranged a series of interviews for the Los Angeles Times with enlisted men and officers who have questioned the authenticity of the movie and its depiction of the members of Army Explosives Ordinance Team (EOD) working in Iraq. The movie, written by a journalist, Mark Boal, who was embedded with an EOD in Iraq, focuses on the character of Staff Sergeant William James, played by Jeremy Renner, who becomes addicted to the adrenaline rush of his job, often to the detriment of his unit.

Julian E. Barnes is a joke. He's one of the three reporters for the paper. Did we know when the article ran that the amry arranged it? No. Now we do. It's very interesting that the US military -- while it's supposed to be fighting two wars -- has the time and the money to launch an attack on a film. On whose orders? Also ask why the Los Angeles Times participated?

But wait, they always take their marching orders. Their employees have always been embeds. That's how the trashing of Jean Seberg got started, remember.


"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Wednesday, March 3, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, Baquba is slammed by bombings, Iraqis talk about voting, candidates take broadsides at one another, KBR gets a huge contract from the US government, and more.

Today suicide bombers target Baquba in Diyala Province. Marc Santora (New York Times) reports, "The attacks began with two car bombings targeting government buildings, followed by an attack on a local hospital where victims from the earlier explosions were being treated." Press TV describes the city as "bathed in blood after a third explosion struck a hospital swarming with casualties from two car bombs". Ernesto Londono and Hassan Shimari (Washington Post) explain, "The initial explosion, a car bomb, targeted an Iraqi police station about 9:45 a.m. in a western district of Baqubah, the provincial capital, according to Maj. Ghalib Aativa, a police spokesman. The detonation ripped through a nearby building and reduced it to rubble." Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) adds, "Two minutes later, a second suicide car bomb went off near the party headquarters of former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in central part of the city." NPR's Mark Memmott has posted an audio report by NPR's Quil Lawrence and we'll note Lawrence on the third bomber, "In what has become a familiar pattern a third attacker dressed as a police man entered the hospital where emergency workers had carried the wounded and detonated a suicide vest in the middle of the crowded ward." Charles Levinson (Wall St. Journal) offers of the third bombing, "It was the final bomber, however, who caused the most casualties, by donning a military uniform, pretending to be wounded and riding an ambulance back to the hospital where he blew himself up, said Capt. al-Karkhi, killing many of the wounded from the first two bombs." Hilmi Kamal, Alistair Lyon and Michael Christie (Reuters) add, "The bomber had tried to target the provincial police chief, who had been visiting the hospital, but security guards stopped him. Many people were killed or wounded. More chaos erupted as the police chief's bodyguards shot randomly in the air." Richard Spencer (Telegraph of London) reports, "" Caroline Alexander (Bloomberg News) offers, "Baquba, a mixed Sunni and Shiite Muslim city, is the provincial capital of Diyala and lies about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad. The blasts were the deadliest to hit Iraq since Feb. 5 when at least 40 Shiite pilgrims were killed on the last day of a religious festival near Karbala, south of Baghdad." Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) provides these numbers, "The explosions killed at least 33 people and injured 55 most of whom were policemen. Toll may rise because of the serious injuries sustained by many of the wounded, Iraqi police said." Andrew England (Finanical Times of London) explains that "the violence may damage the credibility of Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, who has sought to portray himself as the leader responsible for the security gains." Hannah Allam (McClatchy Newspapers) quotes Diyala police spokesperson Maj Ghalib Atiyah al Jubouri stating, "The timing is a message to prevent people from participating in elections because it happened just a few days before the general voting and less than 24 hours before the special vote for security forces. We feel people will challenge this message and reject it." Liz Sly and Usama Redha (Los Angeles Times) note that "a spokeswoman for the governor promised that polling centers would be secured on election day and that a curfew on vehicles would prevent bombings." Kim Landers and Ben Knight (Australia's ABC News) inform, "This is not the massive Al Qaeda [in Mesopotomai] had been threatening. [. . .] Curfews are about to go in place all over the country and police are voting early to be ready for the poll. The capital Baghdad is on high alert and is expected to shut down almost coompletely in the days ahead of the vote."

Surveying the news of the bombings and the current climate, Michael Hastings (The Daily Beast) offers this take:

I've spent a number of months in Iraq covering the run up to the elections, and I'll be there on March 7th to see the results. I've spoken to dozens of Iraqi officials, U.S. diplomatic and military types, scores of Iraqi voters, and some of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's closest friends and advisors. All of which has made me very suspicious of the American claim -- made recently by Vice President Joe Biden when he said Iraq might be one of President Obama's "greatest achievements -- that Iraq's democratic future is sunny, peaceful, and bright.
In fact, I suspect we could be seeing Iraq's final gasp of democracy this weekend, a last purple-fingered salute before the country slips back into a more familiar authoritarianism. It's not this election we need to worry about, in other words -- it's the next one, four years from now.
This uncomfortable truth was hard to ignore after the Iraqi government banned hundreds of candidates -- mostly secular and Sunni leaders -- from running in the election. The move was supported by Maliki, and it took the direct intervention of Vice President Biden to force the Iraqis to ban only 400 rather than the original 500. The Shiite Islamist-dominated government in Baghdad was sending a clear signal to its political opponents: they're not very interested in reconciliation. (The U.S. "surge" strategy was intended to give the Iraqi government what U.S. officials called "political breathing room." The Iraqi government has now made it clear they are going to use the breathing room to choke whatever air is left out of the opposition.) It seems rather unlikely that, in four years from now, when the Americans have even less influence in shaping events, that the Iraqi government will be more willing to share in the democratic way the Americans are hoping for.


This morning Nebraska's Journal Star editorialized, "For some Americans, concern over the future of Iraq has been reduced to one question: When will U.S. troops come home? The national election in Iraq in four days could affect the answer to that question. The issue hits close to home, with 1,300 Nebraska National Guard members slated for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan this year." Early voting begins March 5th, voting ends Sunday March 7th. Hannah Fairfield (New York Times) offers a look at some of the parties and candidates, Al Jazeera offers a series of basic points about the elections in Q&A form, while BBC News offers three videos of Iraqis speaking about changes in Iraq, we'll note the middle video.

Rob Walker: This is Zeinab Khadum Allwan, born and raised in Baghdad. 19-years-old and tennis mad. Her dream? To become number one -- and not just Iraq's number one.

Zeinab Khadum Allwan: I hope to be a world champion. I'm determined to achieve that.

Rob Walker: But like many Iraqis, Zeinab's life has been turned upside down by violence.

Zainab Khadum Allwan: I was at home and I heard some rockets fall on the neighborhood near us. So I went out to see what was happening. Suddenly, I felt something falling behind me and then it felt like my legs were on fire. And, when I looked, I couldn't see my legs.

Rob Walker: Zeinab's sister and her sister-in-law were killed in the rocket attack. At first, she says she felt depressed and isolated.

Zeinab Khadum Allwan: Before the incident, I was the most active child in the street. My dream was to become a tennis player. The first thing I felt, when I woke up in the hospital and they told me that I'd lost my legs, was that my dream was gone. But then when I told my family I still wanted to play tennis and be a champion, they were very happy because it was my old self coming back. And now, when I hold the racket, I remember the days when I was an active child. I have the same dream ahead of me. The only difference is that I want to achieve that dream in a wheel chair. I try hard not to spend time at my house because, when I'm there, I remember the things that happened there and the things I lost. I dropped out of school after the attack but I hope to go back.

Rob Walker: In a few months Zainab will compete at the Wheel Chair World Cup in Turkey. Her dream is now within reach.

Zeinab Khadum Allwan: I hope I will achieve something. I want to achieve a small victory for the Iraqi people.

Rob Walker: Zainab, like many other young Iraqis, will soon have her first chance to choose a Parliament and a government. She says she hopes the outcome will be what's best for Iraq. Zainab's dreams for the future of going back to school and continuing to play tennis depend in part on Iraq's future after these elections.


Dan Damon (BBC News -- audio link) reports that some Iraqis are syaing they won't vote but others are eager to vote. Two young women share with Damon that they felt it is their duty ("We have to"). In the same report, Jim Muir checks in with the wholesale newspaper market in central Baghdad where paper vendors are present as early as five a.m. to pick up papers. And the newspaper sales have picked up as people in Baghdad attempt to follow the back and forth of the campaigning. Dan Damon feels two people likely to be vying for the position of prime minister (which will be voted on by Parliament, not by the people of Iraq) are Nouri al-Maliki and Ayad Allawi. Today's bombings put a dent (another one) in Nouri's "State of Law" image. In addition, Richard Spencer (Telegraph of London) reports that Ayad Allawi is launching a broadside at Nouri:Mr Allawi, who was the American-backed interim prime minister after the fall of Saddam Hussein and is once again a leading candidate, said he would boycott parliament if he felt the election was fixed. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he upped a war of words over the recent banning and arrests of opposition candidates and supporters, saying the present prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, was beginning to assert his authority "just as Saddam Hussein did".



At the New York Times' At War blog, Michael Kamber offers a video interview with Iraqi police officer Thaer Ahmad Farhan whose statements include, "We hope that all Iraqis vote in order to lead the country to a better situation -- economically, socially and to be more prosperous." Among the parties vying for votes is the Ahrar Party:

With only three days to go until voting begins in Iraq's elections, the leader of Ahrar 374 - Ayad Jamal Aldin - urged all Iraqis to get out and vote.
In advance of Sunday's vote, he argued that all Iraqis, regardless of religion, need a government that is focused on delivering better public services and uniting the country.
Ayad Jamal Aldin said: "This government has lost control. We need radical change to throw out the foreigners and corruptors who are intent on dividing us Iraqis.
"These outside influences are responsible for the violence and intimidation that blight the lives of all Iraqis every day. And the violence and bloodshed on our streets is getting worse, because the people around our government are scared of what the people's verdict will be.
"They are fearful of the people of Iraq because they know that on Sunday we, the people of Iraq, have all the power.
"Every Iraqi faces a choice this weekend. You can vote for more violence, more division, and more corruption. Or you can vote for real plans for providing security, unity, and jobs.
"But you must vote. Your vote is your voice. Any Iraqi who does not vote is supporting the decline, division, and destruction of Iraq. Together we can build a strong and united Iraq with security, jobs, and electricity."

For further information, contact:

Ahrar Media BureauTel: +964 (0)790 157 4478 / +964 (0)790 157 4479 / +964 (0)771 275 2942press@ahrarparty.com

About Ayad Jamal Aldin:

Ayad Jamal Aldin is a cleric, best known for his consistent campaigning for a new, secular Iraq. He first rose to prominence at the Nasiriyah conference in March 2003, shortly before the fall of Saddam, where he called for a state free of religion, the turban and other theological symbols. In 2005, he was elected as one of the 25 MPs on the Iraqi National List, but withdrew in 2009 after becoming disenchanted with Iyad Allawi's overtures to Iran. He wants complete independence from Iranian interference in Iraq. He now leads the Ahrar party for the 2010 election to the Council of Representatives, to clean up corruption and create a strong, secure and liberated Iraq for the future.

Middle East Online reports on Nejm Eddine Karim who is a Kurd running in Kirkuk and who states, "I propose that an Arab becomes vice president of Kurdistan and a Turkmen is made prime minister, if we succeed in making Kirkuk part of Kurdistan." Karim is closely connected to Kurdistan despite living in the US until very recently -- whenever Jalal Talabani's bad eating lands him in health trouble and sends him scurrying to the US, he usually sees Karim. In Iraq, Seth Robbins (Stars and Stripes) reports, "As Sunday's national election approaches, the atmosphere has become more tense in Anbar, once a stronghold of the insurgency but more recently a relatively peaceful province. A string of deadly bombings, one of which severely injured the provincial governor, has been blamed on rival camps left out of the government and its lucrative American contracts or on al-Qaida in Iraq, which may be seeking to renew the insurgency as American troops prepare to withdraw."
Layla Anwar (An Arab Woman Blues) offers her take on the elections:So let's see how this democratic process is unfolding shall we ?Kurds are at Arabs throats in Nineveh province, where a joint US/Kurdish/Iraqi Forces is patrolling the area...Clownish candidates are continuing their comic show with distributing i.e buying votes, either with cash, guns, sports shoes and carton of eggs...hahahahahaA few revelations, not rumors I promise you.One candidate from INA (the Iranian National Alliance) presented himself as a Doctor...Upon investigation, this Doctor from Mayssan Province, turned out to have never finished university. He did a teacher's training course for elementary classes. And his exams results were shown on TV, he failed miserably in all subjects except PE. i.e Physical Education.Another candidate spent 450'000 Dollars printing posters of his ugly face in Beirut, and shipping them to Baghdad in cartons.The above two are just small examples of the kind of specimens that are ruling Iraq...Middle East Online reports on Nejm Eddine Karim who is a Kurd running in Kirkuk and who states, "I propose that an Arab becomes vice president of Kurdistan and a Turkmen is made prime minister, if we succeed in making Kirkuk part of Kurdistan." Karim is closely connected to Kurdistan despite living in the US until very recently -- whenever Jalal Talabani's bad eating lands him in health trouble and sends him scurrying to the US, he usually sees Karim. Mohammed A. Salih (IPS) reports on the KRG and doesn't see indications that the Kurds will be united after the elections thereby guaranteeing a powerful Kurdish bloc in the Parliament. How true or false that is, no one knows. It's a guess, like any other these days. It's also a guess that depends heavily on what right-wingers see (check out Salih's quoted US sources). Seth Robbins (Stars and Stripes) reports, "As Sunday's national election approaches, the atmosphere has become more tense in Anbar, once a stronghold of the insurgency but more recently a relatively peaceful province. A string of deadly bombings, one of which severely injured the provincial governor, has been blamed on rival camps left out of the government and its lucrative American contracts or on al-Qaida in Iraq, which may be seeking to renew the insurgency as American troops prepare to withdraw." And we'll note this from the Ahrar Party:

In an exclusive interview with Al-Jazeera this afternoon, Ahrar Party Leader Ayad Jamal Aldin reminded voters that the appalling security situation within Iraq was the result of weak political leadership. The first priority of the Ahrar Party once in power would be to pass a new law to end the de-Ba'athification process and to start a true reconciliation within Iraq. This would finally allow the country to put an end to the foreign influences that are controlling the country at present.
Jamal Aldin went on to discuss the relationship with the United States and that he recognized the importance of a strategic relationship with the USA similar to that of other Gulf countries, such as Jordan or Qatar.
When asked how he anticipated incorporating the Federation of Kurdistan into a national parliament, Jamal Aldin responded: "Ahrar is not against the Kurdistan Federation but the central government has to know where they spend the money which is allocated to the region - which amounts to 17% of the total Iraqi budget."
Turning to violence reported today besides the Baquba bombings . . .

Bombings?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad drug store bombing (damaged store, no people), a Baghdad roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left three more plus one civilian injured, a second Baghdad roadside bombing which wounded two people, a third Baghdad roadside bombing which claimed 1 life and left two people injured, a Basra bombing at a cafe which left eight college students wounded and a Mosul sticky bombing which claimed the life of 1 police officer. Reuters notes a Mosul grenade attack which left six people wounded, a Mosul mortar attack which injured "a woman and two children" and a Tux Khurmato roadside bombing which injured two guards for a police lieutenant-colonel.

Shootings?

Reuters notes 1 Imam shot dead in Mosul.

Corpses?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 corpse discovered in Baghdad.

Staying with the topic of destruction, last week, Congress was denying KBR $25 million in fees and, as Press TV notes, this week they get "a massive contract for support work in Iraq [. . . .] worth $2.8 billion." Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) catches this important detail about the contract: "The KBR contract only covers a single base year, but includes options for up to four additional years, meaning it could keep them in Iraq through 2015. The fact that the military is keeping its options open for contractors in Iraq in 2015 is significant, as officials publicly insist all troops will be out by the end of 2011." This follows Ditz' report earlier this week, Ditz' "Iraq DM: Army Won't Be Ready to Provide Security Until 2020" (Antiwar.com), which noted:

With the prospect of the US delaying their withdrawal from Iraq already growing, Iraqi Defense Minister Abdel Qader Jassim added fuel to the fire today, warning that Iraq's military won't be nearly completed with the training designed to enable it to provide security by the 2012 date the pullout was supposed to be completed on. "We cannot say that we have finished building the Iraqi army as a modern army," Jassim admitted, adding that the training of the army likely wouldn't be completed until at least 2020. Jassim warned that he was expecting violence to increase in the leadup to next week's election, and officials have also warned that violence might actually get even worse after the vote, as post-election negotiations are expected to take quite some time.



Iraq Veterans Against the War are calling for support and action for Marc Hall:


March 1, 2010 Update - Army Spc Marc Hall, who had been jailed in Georgia county jails since December 12, 2009 for producing an angry hip-hop song about "stoploss" was placed on a military flight bound for Iraq Friday night. Marc flew out of Hunter Army Airfield, with a stop in Spain, before arriving in Balad, Iraq. He is expected to be transported to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait for continued pre-trial confinement. The Army has made it clear that Marc will face a General Courts Martial that could result in years in prison and a dishonorable discharge. Eleven violations of Article 132 are now being cited going into the Article 32 (pre-trial) hearing. While we had all hoped to be able to stop this 'extradition', hopefully this underscores the seriousness of the situation and will serve to "jump start" our efforts. We have a lot of work to do if we are going to free Marc.
Take action at: http://stoplossmusic.org/
Sign the letter to Marc's Commanding General "Dear Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Phillip; I'm writing to request that the charges against SPC Marc A. Hall related to his recording of a hip-hop song critical of the Army's "stop-loss" policy be dropped, and that he be allowed to leave the Army at the end of his current enlistment..." We will print it with your name and address, and mail it to the commanding general on your behalf.
Calling musicians and artists We are asking musicians and artists to make public statements in support of Marc. We are also counting on folks to hold benefit gigs large and small in support Marc, free speech, and opposed to endless war and the military's stop-loss policy. More information coming.
Write to Marc in jail We are currently trying to identify the correct address for Marc in Kuwait.
Donate online to Marc Hall's defense fund We currently estimate that it will cost approximately $50,000 to cover Marc's defense, including legal fees due to travel and expenses related to traveling to Iraq. Progress updates will be posted here. Donations are tax-deductible. To make a donation by check or money order, make payable to "Courage to Resist" and mail to: Courage to Resist, 484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610--please note "Marc Hall defense" on the check's memo line.

At MakeThemAccountable, Caro offers that her theory on the disappointing Congress places the blame on the Senate where things are bottled up and not advancing and even when the House does pass measures that Democrats can applaud, the bill hits a wall in the Senate. Caro is a female blogger and MakeThemAccountable is one of the oldest left sites online. She started it, she continues it. Worth noting it at any time but especially during Women's History Month. So take a moment to note and appreciate one of the online pioneers and grasp that, while the revisionary history took hold long ago and made it the Blogger Boyz, one of the real bloggers for the left, blogging for the left from the start (never a protege of Henry Hyde, for example, never a buddy of Newt Gingrich), was Caro and that women like Caro were there and doing it just as well as any bad book on blogging will pretend only the boys were. Half of the men weren't even online when Caro BUILT the club house. They have to work so hard to write women out of history because, it usually turns out, if they didn't, they wouldn't have room for all the boys who came after. Applause for Caro and for all women who blaze new trails. Nancy McDonald of HerStory Scrapbook notes:

March 2010 is the 30th anniversary of National Women's History Month. The HerStory Scrapbook is a "you-are-there" account of the women who were fighting for, and against, suffrage from 1917 - 1920, as reported by The New York Times.

To celebrate Women's History Month, the HerStory 360° Challenge on the HerStory Scrapbook will answer the question: "What's her story?" by highlighting a different story each day of ninety women who fought for the right to vote. Each woman's story includes internet links to rare, original source material.

Please let your network of friends, colleagues, and students of history know about the HerStory Scrapbook.


TV notes. NOW on PBS begins airing Friday on most PBS stations (check local listings):

Americans have a longstanding love affair with food -- the modern supermarket has, on average, 47,000 products. But do we really know what goes into making the products we so eagerly consume? On Friday, March 5 at 8:30 PM (check local listings), David Brancaccio talks with Robert Kenner, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc., which takes a hard look at the secretive and surprising journey food takes on the way from processing plants to our dinner tables. The two discuss why contemporary food processing secrets are so closely guarded, their impact on our health, and another surprising fact: how consumers are actually empowered to make a difference.

In 17 days, marches against the wars are supposed to take place in the US. March 20th, marches in DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Students for a Democratic Society are an organization that will be participating and they note:
While the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan is growing ever larger, the occupation of Iraq is still raging, nearing its seventh anniversary. With over 4,300 US soldiers and over 1.3 million Iraqi civilians estimated dead, something has to be done to stop this senseless slaughter.
This year Students for a Democratic Society will hold a national week of action March 15th to 20th where students will organize protests and direct actions at campuses across the country in opposition to the ongoing, brutal occupations.
The need for a vibrant anti-war movement has rarely been felt more than this very moment, while the United States drops trillions of dollars into unjust wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, during the worst economic crisis in 80 years. Students are struggling to pay for school while tuition skyrockets, and states lose billions of dollars to two continuing occupations.
On Saturday, March 20th, SDS will participate in a massive National March & Rally in D.C. hosted by A.N.S.W.E.R. to finish the week of action with tens of thousands of people in the street!
We're calling on students and youth from across the country to join us the week of March 15-20th in demanding: Fund Education, Not Occupation!
For more information visit: http://sdsantiwar.wordpress.com/

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Melissa Silverstein: Sexist and stupid

Women's Media Center has an awful piece. It so bad, it's vile.

C.I.'s made it very clear to one friend at WMC (at least to one), that if that article is still up and unchallenged by WMC, there going to get a schooling on feminism this weekend at Third.

To tell you the truth, I kind of hope they leave it up because C.I. and I were brainstorming two articles we can do in response to it and I'm sure we can get three with no problem.

Melissa Silverstein is not a feminist and shame on feminists who allowed that garbage to be posted. It's not like they didn't get complaints when Silverstein pulled that crap orally on WBIA's pilot program of WMC. In fact, WBAI heard more about the radio program WMC when people e-mailed and called to complain about Silverstein then they did in any of the six weeks that the radio show aired.

There's only one word for Melissa Silverstein but I'll hold onto that for Third.

I will note she's ignorant and uninformed.

I will note Martha's e-mailed me that she just left a comment because Melissa Silverstein thinks it's okay to change her column after it's published without noting that a change was made. That's not okay. That was long ago established as not okay.

I want to know what people were thinking when this column was posted?

I'm not talking about her like or disliking someone. I'm talking about a column she wrote that is offensive, blatantly offensive. Disgustingly so. Excuse me, but some of the sexist s**t she hurls? We called it out back in the day when that same s**t was thrown at Gloria Steinem. Now Gloria thinks it's okay for another woman to have to experience that sexism?

Fact of the matter is that Silverstein doesn't know a damn thing. She made that very clear on the radio when she was so ignorant she kept insisting that no woman had ever directed a film that was nominated for best picture when the woman wasn't nominated for Best Director.

What a f**king idiot.

Melissa Silverstein wants to present herself -- mousy whine -- as an expert on film. She goes on the WMC radio program to talk about the Oscars and women directors. Yet she doesn't even know the most famous shut out? She's an idiot and airhead.

She's not a film critic, she's a bland gossip.

That's all she is, that's all she ever will be. At her age, in her chosen field, she should by now have some expertise. She does not. Because she's very lousy at her job.

Again, I hope WMC leaves that article up because we're going to take Little Missy to school and give her the education she so obviously lacks.

"Iraq snapshot " (The Common Ills):
Tuesday, March 2, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, the elections heat up, charges and countercharges fly, Nouri's desire to continue as prime minister meets obstacles, 2880 US service members have died in the Iraq War in the last five years, and more.

Yesterday evening, US Gen David Petraeus spoke with Law Professor Mike Newton at Vanderbilt University and the college has posted the talk online. Along with showing a lighter side than many may be used to -- he joked about when he was shot and how "You don't get a Purple Heart for getting shot by your own troops -- unfortunately" and, we'll note, he had the assembled laughing repeatedly. No one laughed -- though maybe they should have -- when he declared Iraq "the most democratic country in the Central Command area of responsibility" ("It might actually be Iraq, believe it or not."). He went to

Gen David Petraeus: What we have done there is been part of the international community, led by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, other elements that help with election monitoring and guidance and expertise. We have supported the Iraqi development of the security plan which they will carry out. We'll do some enabling, you know, our UAVs will be up, our intelligence gathering platforms, we'll provide a vareity of different forms of assistance. But they'll be the ones securing the polling places. And there will be thousands of polling places in Iraq. I forget how many tens of thousands of candidates there are, by the way. So this is certainly the way we'd like as we approach it. Now again, touch wood, there are threat streams out there, there are challenges -- al Qaeda desperately wants to disrupt this process. There are some other elements in society there that want to intimidate people. But at the end of the day, I think this is again roughly what we'd like to see in other countries. You know, by the way, one of the test questions that somebody gave me in one of these the other day is one that we've asked ourselves: "What's the most democratic country in the Central Command area of responsibility?" Remember those 20 countries? Egypt in the West, Pakistan in the North, Kazakstan in the west, Yemen in the south. It might actually be Iraq, believe it or not. Now you know some will argue Lebanon -- a pretty tough one. It's an itneresting political dynamic there. It's a pretty tough one. If you get it wrong there, you may not see the sun rise again. But, by and large, this is, in that region, an example of some form of representative and responsive governence -- again, touch wood -- that it continues and a strong man doesn't try take over and pull all the reigns of power to himself But I'm not sure that they'll let him. Again to elect the next prime minister will require a cross-sectaraian, cross-ethnic, cross-political coalition. You cannot be elected as a prime minister if you don't pull in -- Obviously it's going to be a Shia. We would suspect -- it's a Shia predominate country, well over 50% are Shia, 20% or so or Sunni, 18 percent or so Kurd, somewhere in there, and then some other minority elements Christians, Yazidis, Shabbat, Turkmen and so on. Well at the end of the day it's going to take one of the major Shia parties, probably pulling in some of the minor Shi'ite parties. It's going to take a major Sunni contribution. And it's going to take the Kurdish parties which tend in national elections to unify. And that's what it will require so it's going to be a team effort.

As Dominic Waghorn (Sky News) observes, "Iraq is preparing to go to the polls in an election that will be turning point for the country, for better or for worse." Waghorn reports from Jordan which is one of 16 foreign countries that voting will take place in. Voting begins March 5th and ends Sunday March 7th. In Iraq, Patrick Martin (Globe and Mail) says that "fear has become the currency of this campaign" and how it is thought to be unlikely that any single political party will win enough seats in the Parliament to appoint a prime minister without entering into coalition sharing agreements with other political parties. Martin informs that Nouri al-Maliki states publicly that he will form an alliance with the Iraqi National Alliance after the election but that's news to them and Sheik Jalal Eddin al-Saghir pronounces it "Impossible" and adding, "There can be no dictator in a true coalition." Gulf News offers a look at the candidates they consider to be contenders for prime minister. War Hawk Kenneth M. Pollack (Brookings Institution) gets one right, "The Iraqi elections are wide open and it is impossible to predict a clear winner with any degree of confidence." Hasan Kanbolat (Today's Zaman via Turkish Press) states, "The most powerful political party in Iraq is Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa Party. However, nationawide this party can count on only about 20 percent of the vote, so it will have to search for coalition partners." Martin Chulov (Guardian) reports that, while some polling indicates Nouri's State of Law Party will perform well, "it cannot win a majority of the new parliament's 352 seats without one of two post-election coalitions, both of whom say they will not countenance him being renominated as prime minister." Cholov quotes voter Hassan al-Kaisi on the campaigning by all the politicians, "All of them want to talk to us for two weeks every four years. Then they will disappear again behind their barricades, and start counting all the money they have stolen." Marc Santora (New York Times) adds, "Across the country, voters are reaping a windfall as candidates in Sunday's parliamentary elections offer gifts like heating oil and rice. When a candidate recently showed up in a poor village outside Baquba to distribute frozen chickens -- in literal homage to the political slogan 'a chicken in every pot' -- so many people rushed to get the free birds that many left disappointed after the supply ran out."


Reporting from Diyala Province, Andrew Lee Butters (Time magazine)notes Abdul-Nasser al-Mahdwe, the governor, is "more worried about an elite counterterrroism unit run by Maliki's office, which ihe acuses of arresting scores of opposition politicians and government critics in Diyala." Rebecca Santana (AP) reports on Kirkuk where election excitement/frenzy appears to be at a peak within Iraq as people stand in the streets waving flags and campaign paraphernalia while Gabriel Gatehouse (BBC News) reports, "With less than a week to go until the Parliamentary vote, the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities have become crowded with election posters." Andrew England (Financial Times of London) provides this view of Baghdad, "Security is noticeably tight as the Imams' Bridge, even by Baghdad standards. Pedestrians are frisked from shoulder to toe; vehicles are thoroughly searched at a police checkpoint lined by concrete blast walls and none carrying weapons is allowed to pass."Today on NPR's Morning Edition, Quil Lawrence discussed various issues of the election with Renee Montagne.

Renee Montagne: Now one thing that American officials who are trying to stay out of this, you know, but they have long worried about Arab-Kurdish tension in Iraq. Are you seeing those tensions coming out in the election?

Quil Lawrence: Absolutely, it's almost part of the campaign, particularly in the province of Nineveh, the capital of which is Mosul, in the north of Iraq. There is an extremely -- well, an Arab nationalist governor up there and he won his election essentially by stoking ethnic tensions and we had the same thing break out last month. Governor Atheel al-Najafi decided to take a trip into one of the disputed territories near the city of Mosul. He has every right to go there legally. He's the governor of the province, but he certainly knew that he would be going through a Kurdish town. It's sort of like the Nazi march through Skokie, Illinois, if you ask the Kurds about it. It's extremely inflammatory.

Reneee Montagne: And Skokie, of course, many of its citizens had survived the Holocaust.

Quil Lawrence: Exactly, exactly. That would be the way the Kurds would interpret this. When the governo came through, there were peple who greeted him with eggs and tomatoes and he says that there was even an assassination attempt. His bodyguards grabbed 11 people from the crowd and arrested them and took them all the way back to Mosul.

Rumors are political currency in Iraq. Alalam reports rumors, which Nouri denies, that popular cleric Muqtada al-Sadr would be arrested if he returned to Iraq (he is presumed to be in Iran currently). DPA reports that Nouri and Sadrists are in the midst of an accusation exchange and they quote the spokesperson for the Sadrist bloc, Salah al-Obeidi, stating that the rumors of arresting al-Sadr came from Nouri's office. . Henry Meyer (Bloomberg News) reports Nouri's charging "unspecified neighboring countries of funding his opponents in" the election. Buying elections? We'll again note Martin Chulov (Guardian) report that Saad al-Alusi, formerly of Iraq's National Intelligence Service, has accused Nouri of giving southern tribal leaders huge numbers of guns (apparently 10,000) in order to buy their votes. Nouri's mouthpiece Ali al-Dabbagh insists that, yes, the guns were given, but it was long planned for them to be given so this wasn't a bribe and had nothing to do with the elections. Hassen Jouini (AFP) reports on another candidate vying for votes, Sharif Ali bin Hussein who is a relative, on his mother's side, of Iraq's King Ghazi who rulled from 1933 through 1939. Hussein now heads the Constitutional Monarchy Party in Iraq. Jouini notes, "The realities of Iraq have hampered any effort at campaigning for most would-be MPs, however - violence in the country remains high, despite having fallen markedly from its peak from 2005 to 2007, and candidates fear political assassinations. Sharif Ali is no different. While he has some posters scattered across the capital and conducts interviews with television news stations in his home, he is not organising public rallies or distributing flyers on the street."

KPCC offers another report from Quil Lawrence which includes:The race even includes a prominent cleric running with his own strictly secular party. Ayad Jamal al-Din studied at the world's most famous Shiite religious schools in Najaf and the Iranian city of Qom. The black turban he wears indicates that his family descends directly from the Prophet Muhammad. But Jamal al-Din says this doesn't mean he wants an Islamic state.Iran and the theocracy there have hijacked the Shiite turban, he says, adding that he believes the vast majority -- even among clerics -- thinks that Iranian-style government has been a failure. What people in Iraq want is very simple, he says."The Iraqi on the street wants security and services. [He] does not think of a secular or religious government, just services and security," Jamal al-Din says.Ayad Jamal Aldin is the leader of the Ahrar Party and today they issued the following:

The leader of the Ahrar Pary 374, Ayad Jamal Aldin, today urged voters not to boycott this weekend's parliamentary elections
He targeted the Iraqi diaspora who will vote on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with his message of change.
Ayad Jamal Aldin said: "It is vital that every Iraqi living outside the country that can vote, does vote.
"Every Iraqi who does not vote is tacitly supporting the decline, division and destruction of our country. Those who do not vote are choosing an Iraq of violence, intimidation, and sectarianism.
"This government has lost control and is being driven by people determined to divide and destroy Iraq for their own ends.
"There is more violence and more bloodshed today because these influences are fearful of the Iraqi people. They fear us because they know that this weekend, the power is with the people.
"This weekend, every Iraqi gets to make a choice between more of the same - more violence, more division, and more corruption or a change for the better with security, unity, and jobs.
"I urge all Iraqis, regardless of religion or sect, to exercise your power and vote for a peaceful and united Iraq, free from corruption and outside influences."
For further information, contact:

Ahrar Media BureauTel: +964 (0)790 157 4478 / +964 (0)790 157 4479 / +964 (0)771 275 2942press@ahrarparty.com

About Ayad Jamal Aldin:

Ayad Jamal Aldin is a cleric, best known for his consistent campaigning for a new, secular Iraq. He first rose to prominence at the Nasiriyah conference in March 2003, shortly before the fall of Saddam, where he called for a state free of religion, the turban and other theological symbols. In 2005, he was elected as one of the 25 MPs on the Iraqi National List, but withdrew in 2009 after becoming disenchanted with Iyad Allawi's overtures to Iran. He wants complete independence from Iranian interference in Iraq. He now leads the Ahrar party for the 2010 election to the Council of Representatives, to clean up corruption and create a strong, secure and liberated Iraq for the future.
Iraqi voters are also outside the country which is why 16 other countries will have plling stations. Iraq's Sunni vice president Tarek al-Hashemi is in Syria. For those who have forgotten, al-Hashemi vetoed (as a member of the presidency council) an early election law in late 2009 citing the fact that it did not take into account Iraq's large refugee population. Alsumaria TV reports that he "thanked Syria for its 'historic' stand of embracing refugees despite bilateral political rows." Iran's Press TV notes that he "is also expected to meet with representatives of hs countr's expatriates" while in Syria.

While the candidates cannot move freely and many Iraqis are out of the country, the drones will move freely and have free reign in Iraq. Alsumaria TV reports that drones will be used to patrol throughout the elections. Meanwhile Afif Sarhan (IslamOnline.net) reports on Christian candidates in Mosul where Christians are being persecuted with some being murdered (at least 12) and many more fleeing. Candidate Kammar Bashar tells Sarhan, "The only loser in all this violence is our minority which, although representing only 5 percent of the parliamentary seats, is being the first choice for extremists and militants in the northern region."Independent Catholic News reports, "Pax Christi International have submitted a written intervention for the 13th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva which opened yesterday. In the [document], Pax Christi highlights the desperate situation of Iraq's minorities which are in danger of being wiped out." Yesterday's snapshot included:The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued a [PDF format warning] four-page report entitled "Iraq Displacement in Mosul, Situation Report No. 1" which notes the 683 families who have fled Mosul between Feb. 20 and 27, and notes that 12 Iraqi Christians have been killed during this time period. (At least one other was wounded but survived a shooting.) The displaced have scattered but the largest number, 331 families, have settled for now in Qaraqosh.OCHA has released [PDF format warning] "Iraq Displacement in Mosul Situation Report No. 2" which notes the total number of Iraqi Christians fleeing Mosul has now reached 4,320 (720 families -- a 5% increase)The 720 displaced families are in the two Ninewa districts of Al Hamdaniyah and Tilkaif (204 families) and have also crossed over to Erbil and Dahuk governorates (17 families in Dahuk and 23 families in Ainkawa in Erbil governorate). The number of IDPs in Qaraqosh in Al Hamdaniya district has increased to 278 families (1,668 people) and 35 families (210 people) have moved to Namrood, while the number of IDPs in other Al Hamdaniya districts remains the same as reported on 28 February, i.e. 60 families (360 people) in Bartalah; 66 families (396 people) in Bashiqa; and 22 families (132 people) in Krmales. Those in Tilkaif town in Talkaif district have decreased from 40 to 16 families; Batnay has increased to 63 families (378 people); Tal Usquf has increased to 91 families (546 people); and Alqosh has increased to 84 families (504 people).There are protection concerns for the Christian families who have remained in Mosul. Unconfirmed reports indicate that many individuals cannot move freely beyond their homes, such as going to work or attending university, out of fear for their safety. At present, it remains unclear how many Christian families were residing in Mosul before the displacement. Furthermore, the motives for and perpetrators of the killings of 12 Christians during January and February 2010, which triggered the recent displacement, are still not clear.

Saturday February 20th, AFP reported that Adnan al-Dahan has become the fifth Iraqi-Christian killed that week (at least one other has been wounded) and that the shopkeeper's corpse was found today in Mosul. His family is among the over 700 that have fled Mosul as Christians have again been targeted. Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) speaks with them including Warda, his widow, who explains why they didn't leave Mosul earlier (her husband had been kidnapped and returned when a ransom was paid), "He said 'if all of us Christians leave, who is going to stay in the land of the prophets and pray in our churches?' He said 'we were all born in Mosul and we will die in Mousl'." (You can also read Arraf's article here.) Independent Catholic News reports, "Pax Christi International have submitted a written intervention for the 13th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva which opened yesterday. In the [document], Pax Christi highlights the desperate situation of Iraq's minorities which are in danger of being wiped out." Yesterday's snapshot included:The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued a [PDF format warning] four-page report entitled "Iraq Displacement in Mosul, Situation Report No. 1" which notes the 683 families who have fled Mosul between Feb. 20 and 27, and notes that 12 Iraqi Christians have been killed during this time period. (At least one other was wounded but survived a shooting.) The displaced have scattered but the largest number, 331 families, have settled for now in Qaraqosh.OCHA has released [PDF format warning] "Iraq Displacement in Mosul Situation Report No. 2" which notes the total number of Iraqi Christians fleeing Mosul has now reached 4,320 (720 families -- a 5% increase)The 720 displaced families are in the two Ninewa districts of Al Hamdaniyah and Tilkaif (204 families) and have also crossed over to Erbil and Dahuk governorates (17 families in Dahuk and 23 families in Ainkawa in Erbil governorate). The number of IDPs in Qaraqosh in Al Hamdaniya district has increased to 278 families (1,668 people) and 35 families (210 people) have moved to Namrood, while the number of IDPs in other Al Hamdaniya districts remains the same as reported on 28 February, i.e. 60 families (360 people) in Bartalah; 66 families (396 people) in Bashiqa; and 22 families (132 people) in Krmales.Those in Tilkaif town in Talkaif district have decreased from 40 to 16 families; Batnay has increased to 63 families (378 people); Tal Usquf has increased to 91 families (546 people); and Alqosh has increased to 84 families (504 people).There are protection concerns for the Christian families who have remained in Mosul. Unconfirmed reports indicate that many individuals cannot move freely beyond their homes, such as going to work or attending university, out of fear for their safety. At present, it remains unclear how many Christian families were residing in Mosul before the displacement. Furthermore, the motives for and perpetrators of the killings of 12 Christians during January and February 2010, which triggered the recent displacement, are still not clear.

We'll again note that Vatican Radio (link has text and audio) provided Pope Benedict XVI speaking Sunday at St. Peter's Square where he addressed the persecution in Mosul:

Pope Benedict XVI: I have learned with profound sadness of the tragic news of the recent killings of several Christians in the city of Mosul, and I follow with great concern other episodes of violence, perpetrated in the troubled land of Iraq against defenceless people of different religious affiliation. In these days of intense meditation, I often prayed for all victims of those attacks, and today I wish to join in the spirit to pray for peace and the restoration of security, promoted by the Council of Bishops of Nineveh. I am affectionately close to the Christian communities of the entire country. Never tire of being a leaven for good in the country in which you have fully belonged for centuries. In the delicate political phase that Iraq is going through I appeal to the civil authorities, to make every effort to restore security to the population and, in particular, the most vulnerable religious minorities. I hope the temptation is not given into temporary and partisan interests allowing them to prevail over the safety and fundamental rights of every citizen. Finally, while greeting the Iraqis here in the square, I urge the international community to strive to give the Iraqis a future of reconciliation and justice, as I invoke Almighty God with confidence for the precious gift of peace.


Catholic News Agency quotes Auxilary Bishop of Baghdad Shlemon Warduni on the reaction to Pope Benedict XVI's words, "We are thankful to Benedict XVI, we know how much he cares about our community: we hope that his voice has a resonance in the world and especially in the hard of heart." Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing left one woman and her son injured, a Mosul grenade attack on a school that will also be a polling station -- two Iraqi soldiers were injured.

Shootings?

Reuters notes 1 person was shot dead in Mosul.

It was five years ago today, Pete Brekus (Express-Times) reminds that, "the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq reached 1,500." Five years later, the death toll stands at 4380. The wounded count is less reliable. There are those with obvious wounds and those who carry wounds not readily visible. Citizen Soldier is organizing a conference on PTSD:

When the War Comes Home: Soldiers and Civilians in Crisis National Conference on PTSD co-sponsored by Citizen Soldier and the Trauma Studies Center of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy
Saturday, Apri 3, 20101, 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. University Settlement: 273 Bowery


Alison Boggs (Spokesman-Review) reports on Iraq War veteran Kenny McAnally who is among the over 40,000 US troops diagnosed with PTSD in the last seven years: McAnally carried those memories for a year with no outlet, until a writing assignment for a North Idaho College class unexpectedly began to release them. It seemed harmless -- write a descriptive story -- but what poured out of him left him bathed in sweat and crying uncontrollably.His writing described his worst day, the one that yanks him from sleep, gasping for air. Some 30 Iraqi National Guardsmen in the camp next door were hit in a mortar attack and he rushed to help. He looked into the eyes of a dying man as he tried to stop the blood pouring from the man's side and leg. He prayed to God that the man would live, only to be told he was already dead."I can still hear those men, lying in the sand, bleeding to death, pleading with their God," he wrote. "Screaming at him. Begging to live another day."Susan Frick Carlman (Naperville Sun) reports on Iraq War veterans Sarah Raby and Keith Ellis who also have been diagnosed with PTSD:The couple, former Marines who have both served two tours of duty in Iraq, can't forget that in some places, a plain-looking box can contain deadly explosives. They are part of a swelling population of military veterans who are bringing home from Iraq and Afghanistan memories of sights, sounds, smells and scars that now dog them, every day. Although Raby and Ellis both exhibit the aftereffects of battle that show themselves as post-traumatic stress disorder, they are doing their best to get on with their lives. They're both working toward associate's degrees at College of DuPage, and Ellis is employed part-time in contractual security work. Normalcy doesn't come easily. The couple and their three young children were homeless for a while last fall, after it became clear that their living arrangements weren't going to work out as they had hoped. Tensions ran too high in the quarters they were sharing with some of Raby's relatives after moving back to the area from California in July. Boston's WCVB reports on PTSD, "Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, took brain scans of vets with PTSD. In those vets, a specific area of the brain responsible for memory was much smaller. Researchers said this discovery could lead to better diagnosis and treatments." Meanwhile Katherine Noble (Daily Texan Staff) reports that University of Texas professors and researchers Ivan Ponomarev and R. Adron Harris are working with others to devise new methods of treatment for PTSD: "When a person undergoes a traumatic event, the parts of the brain set to regulate stress can be overrun to the point where they cannot normalize new fear and stress stimuli. The victim's amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory, is incapable of processing fear-related stimuli. Instead, the amygdala can respond incorrectly to stress, causing the person to be overly anxious in mild-stress situations. Cases of post-traumatic stress disorder are rising among returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. At UT, veterans enrolled at the University can find support through counseling at the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center and through student groups." Susan Goldsmith (The Oregonian) reports on the Portland Vet Center where Lori Daniels works on an effort "to rewrite our own nightmares and make them less troubling" -- a treatment she and Terry McGuire have worked on developing:McGuire and Daniels guided vets to talk about their dream lives and used their answers to help them understand what the trauma meant to them. The technique taught them that "they can be in control of their trauma." These days, Daniels uses guided writing exercises to help patients delve into what haunts them at night. Once the content of the dream is laid out, she encourages vets to come up with a plan for responding to those nightmares. That plan, she explains, might be writing a letter or any other action that ritualizes their grief."The action plan is an essential piece," she says. "One vet really wanted to connect with the guys who died in his unit, and he wrote them a letter."

Susan Donaldson James (ABC News) reports on Kristine Wise's biggest problem which wasn't being an Iraq War veterans or having PTSD, "They [the VA] had a hard time comprehending I was a combat vet and didn't treat me with the same respect." Wise is part of the over 230,000 women in the US military that have been deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan in the last decade. March is Women's History Month and Ruth noted last night that the ACLU (via Chelsea Zimmerman's ACLU Blog of Rights post) celebrated that fact while the feminist (not 'feminist,' it is actually feminist) Women's Media Center decided to 'honor' Women's History Month by publishing a column informing readers of what did and didn't qualify for 'feminity.' That crap needs to stop. That column was offensive and it never should have been posted. You think Kristine Wise, on top of the other flack she gets from the VA, doesn't also catch it from other men and women that either "you weren't in combat!" or "the military's really a job for men"? This crap needs to stop. Feminism (a) isn't concerned with feminity and (b) never attempts to judge which woman is or isn't 'feminine.' In the real world, Nancy McDonald of HerStory Scrapbook notes:

March 2010 is the 30th anniversary of National Women's History Month. The HerStory Scrapbook is a "you-are-there" account of the women who were fighting for, and against, suffrage from 1917 - 1920, as reported by The New York Times.

To celebrate Women's History Month, the HerStory 360° Challenge on the HerStory Scrapbook will answer the question: "What's her story?" by highlighting a different story each day of ninety women who fought for the right to vote. Each woman's story includes internet links to rare, original source material.

Please let your network of friends, colleagues, and students of history know about the HerStory Scrapbook.

Staying with the US for a moment, John Halle (Corrente) notes the issue of those who were wrong about Iraq (cakewalk, et al) such as Thomas Friedman suffered no fall out and points that's true as well for those who refused to see the truth about the Corpratist War Hawk Barack Obama. He covers a wide terrain but we'll note the section on Lie Face Melissa Harris-Lacewell:

Among those selling the Obama product most successfully was another Ivy league Professor, Melissa Harris-Lacewell of Princeton. In increasingly high-profile appearances, Harris-Lacewell repeatedly compared the Obama campaign to iconic moments in the civil rights movements such as the Montgomery Bus Boycotts. Once the Obama administration assumed office, apologetics for neo-liberal rhetoric smoothly transitioned to apologetics for the implementation of neo-liberal policies. These required some logical contortions and more than a little cynicism. Thus, in a stunning Martin Luther Day King posting at the Nation, Harris-Lacewell chose to focus on instances of King's dealmaking, personal failings and sell-outs of core constituencies. The conclusion, according to Harris-Lacewell, was that the comparison of Obama and King remained in force: "extraordinary change can be achieved even through imperfect leadership . . . wholeheartedly groping toward better and fairer solutions for our nation."
It would seem that very few leftists remain who are willing and able to accept the Polyannish equation of the current occupier of the Oval Office with the author of the letter from Birmingham jail. Nor would many grant the benefit of doubt that Obama's "gropings" are anything other than simple capitulations to his primary consistency, the Wall Street brokerage houses, megabanks, insurance companies, energy consortia, and lobbyists who financed his campaign. Given this emerging consensus, one might have expected that Harris-Lacewell's commentaries would be seen as having a limited shelf life while Prof. Reed inconvenient truths would be recognized for what they are: as what we needed to hear then-and need to hear now.
But nothing of the sort has occurred. Prof. Harris Lacewell's remains a regular guest frequently encountered not only on the liberal wing of the corporate media represented by MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman but at seemingly authentic alternative left outlets such as Laura Flanders's GritTV. More disconcertingly, a continuing flow of Obamapologetics will likely be offered through Harris-Lacewell's recently announced "Sister Citizen" to appear weekly in the Nation, an editorial decision which will reduce the contributions of iconic left columnist Alexander Cockburn to once a month.

For those late to the pary, we don't have time for the complete breakdown. She attacked Tavis Smiley (for which I do not forgive), she lied repeatedly to get on TV (failing to disclose that she was working for Barack's campaign as she appeared over and over throughout the primaries) and, oh, so very much more.


Turning to England where Robert Winnett (Telegraph of London) reports Tony Blair experienced a fleeting moments of reality according to Andrew Rawnsley's new book which paints the Poodle as blanking out while taking questions from Parliament, waking up with night terrors and considering resigning in 2004 -- all over the Iraq War. May those conditions return, increase and plague him until his dying day. Michael Savage (Independent of London) reports on papers the Iraq Inquiry has but has not yet released to the public:A policy of "regime overthrow" is proposed, but roundly condemned. In an eerily portentous assessment of the consequences of taking military action, it states: "Such a policy would command no useful international support. An overt attempt to be successful would require a massive military effort, probably including a land invasion: this would risk considerable casualties and, possibly, extreme last-ditch acts of deterrence or defiance by Saddam." The mandarins add: "It would also be illegal. Covert attempts, on the other hand, seem very unlikely to succeed and run the risk of fragmenting Iraq, which runs clearly contrary to our wider interests in the region." Iraq descended into violence in the wake of the March 2003 invasion. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed in the aftermath, as well as more than 100 British troops. The document also calls into question Mr Blair's claim that using troops to bring down Saddam Hussein was only discussed after the 9/11 terror attacks on New York – and will increase pressure on the inquiry to call Mr Blair back to give further public evidence this summer. At the Financial Times of London, Jim Pickard runs through the "frenemies" Gordon Brown and Tony Blair in preparation for Brown's testimony to the Iraq Inquiry this Friday.

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