We're too busy looking for heroes -- and falsely claiming to have found one -- to address reality.
Yes, I'm again on the topic of Aung San Suu Kyi. Yes, she had a good position in the '00s. Yes, I supported that position. I also grasped that her support went down a different road. Take the Iraq War. A lot of us opposed it. I'm glad that we were a large group. But we weren't all for peace, those of us against the war.
Aung was never a hero. She reveled that to the world after the goal we all wanted was in practice. CNN reports:
Myanmar's deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged with corruption by the country's military junta, state media reported Thursday, adding to a raft of legal cases against the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
The new charge follows an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission into several accusations leveled at Suu Kyi. It found her "guilty of committing corruption using her rank," the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said. She was charged under the Anti-Corruption Law section 55, and if found guilty could face a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
Suu Kyi was overthrown from her position of state counselor and de facto leader of the country when the military seized power in a February 1 coup. She has been held in detention since then and charged with a series of crimes her lawyers and supporters consider to be politically motivated.
Are the charges true? Who knows. But there is some sort of karma in the military being turned on her after she used the military to target Muslims. As BBC reminds:
Since becoming Myanmar's state counsellor, her leadership has been partly defined by the treatment of the country's mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. In 2017 hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh due to an army crackdown sparked by deadly attacks on police stations in Rakhine state. Myanmar now faces a lawsuit accusing it of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), while the International Criminal Court is investigating the country for crimes against humanity.
Ms Suu Kyi's former international supporters accused her of doing nothing to stop rape, murder and possible genocide by refusing to condemn the still powerful military or acknowledge accounts of atrocities.
A few initially argued that she was a pragmatic politician, trying to govern a multi-ethnic country with a complex history. But her personal defence of the army's actions at the ICJ hearing in the Hague was seen as a new turning point for her international reputation.
She was no hero. We want heroes and that's an understandable need in a world that renders so many of us powerless and works to tell us that others can help us. The reality is we have to be our own heroes and work to make conditions better. Anyway . . .
Here's Jonathan Turley:
We have been discussing writers, editors, commentators, and academics who have embraced rising calls for censorship and speech controls, including book banning and blacklisting. That movement has now become retroactive. Authors are now being successfully pressured to remove lines from published books that are deemed objectionable by some readers. It appears that even speech that has published can be retroactively “corrected” under the threat of public accusation.
One of the authors who has agreed to curtail her own prior writing is Elin Hilderbrand who agreed to retroactively remove her own lines in the 2021 book, The Golden Girl. According to an article in Publishers Weekly, there was an objection to a line of the character Vivi who responded to the suggestion of her friend Savannah that they hide out for the summer in the attic of Savannah’s parents’ attic. Vivi asks. “Like … like Anne Frank?” The two friends laugh at the absurdity, but Vivi thinks, “Is it really funny, and is Vivi so far off base?”
That led to some readers to declare that the line was “horrifically” antisemitic and demanding an apology for thinking “antisemitism is funny.” Hilderbrand responded with a profuse apology and a promise to remove the line.
Author Casey McQuiston also yielded to such demands after readers objected to a line the gay romance novel Red, White & Royal Blue when the president in the United States in the book complains “Well, my UN ambassador fu**ed up his one job and said something idiotic about Israel, and now I have to call Netanyahu and personally apologize.” Readers decried that the line “normalizes the genocide & war crimes done by Israel that will always be backed up & unashamedly supported by America.” It was a bizarre objection since the line could be viewed as an implied criticism of deference shown to Israel in American politics. Nevertheless, McQuiston caved to the pressure and promised to remove the line.
What is striking is how few objections were made to these books and how quickly the authors yielded. The point of cancel campaigns is to create a chilling effect for academics, writers, editors, and others. No one wants to have their careers or lives altered by being labeled racist or anti-Semitic. It is easier to yield.
I have edited this site twice. After publishing. One time there was an Iraq War veteran currently serving who made a public statement. I agreed with the statement. It was included in an "Iraq snapshot" that C.I. did. The war veteran was still in the military and the statement was going to cause trouble so when a friend of the veteran -- also a veteran -- contacted C.I. to explain that, we all pulled the statement -- all the sites that repost the snapshot. I was fine with that.
The other time? A woman made a foolish and incredibly dumb statement about the war in a piece she wrote. (I may be remembering wrong on the topic. I don't think so, but it could be. I don't have C.I.'s memory. I can't stop a second look to the left and review everything the way she does. There's a reason we nicknamed her Memorac in college.) So the woman didn't like what I wrote which is her right. Fine. She then e-mailed again wanting it taken down. No, not going to do it. I said it, it's out there. Then she e-mailed again saying it showed up in the top three Google entries when you Goolged her name and that she was trying to adopt a child. For that reason, I changed the post. I noted that here in real time and also that I wasn't ever going to change it again. She was attempting to adopt her nephew and niece who had just lost their parents. If you know my story, you know that with that issue, she could have anything she wanted.
If you don't know my story, I lost both parents at an early age. My brother Brad raised me. So two kids in need and she was a family member wanting to assist them? I can relate.
Again, I did note that I had changed the post -- both in the changed post and in a post I did the day I did the change.
Changing books? I am strongly opposed to it -- period. But I am even more strongly opposed to changing published dialogue. So the character said something you didn't like? Good, lesson there. No heroes, we are all flawed.
"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Thursday, June 10, 2021. Attacks on US-interests in Iraq, a probable killer walks free, and much more.
The most dominant Iraq item in the news cycle? Another attack.
Multiple rockets have targeted two Iraqi military bases hosting US-led coalition troops and foreign contractors but nobody was hurt in the attacks.
Iraq’s joint operations command said in a statement on Thursday one attack near a military base next to Baghdad’s airport was spearheaded by three explosives-laden drones, and one of the UAVs was intercepted and destroyed.
Three rockets also hit Balad airbase, north of the capital, on Wednesday without causing any casualties or damage, a military statement said. The base houses foreign military contractors.
AFP explains, "Balad air base, north of Baghdad, is used by US company Sallyport to service F-16 fighter jets flown by Iraq’s air force and has repeatedly been targeted by rocket fire. Another US company, Lockheed Martin, withdrew its staff from the base last month amid concerns about the safety of its personnel." Qassim Abdul-Zahra (AP) provides this context, "The attacks are the latest in a string that continue to target the U.S. presence in Iraq. Over a dozen have targeted Iraqi military bases and Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone since U.S. President Joe Biden assumed office this year. More than 10 people have been killed, including two foreign contractors." Sura Ali (RUDAW) notes, "In May, a leader in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) affiliated with the Iraqi Ministry of Defense said there are Iranian-made drones in Iraq that are ready to be used against US combat troops." THE NEWSHOUR's Leila Molana-Allen Tweets:
In other news, Qasim Muslih was released yesterday ending a brief, momentary hope many Iraqis had that someone might be held accountable for the wave of assassinations targeting Iraqi activists. Balsam Tweets:
You really don't need to ask that question. Qasim Muslih and his cohorts have designated activists as terrorists. When their wave or propaganda took place in January of 2000, they attacked and beat Shi'ites hanging truths around Baghdad about their fallen wet dream -- assassinated by the US government -- who was nothing but a thug who terrorized Sunnis, Iraq's LGBT community and freedom. Putting a poster is an offense that can get you executed in Qasim's mind, it is terrorism. And taking down a poster promoting Qasim and his fellow thugs? It's cause to murder.
Qasim Muslih: "Any hand which [takes down] posters of the Hashd and Abu Mahdi AlMuhandis, I will cut it and send it back to you" Many such audio recordings of direct threats, but still "insufficient evidence" for his role in assassinations of activists.
Terrorists, in Qasim's mind, are those activists who make up The October Movement, a group of largely Shi'ite Iraqis who came together to demand better public services -- we'll come back to that in a minute -- and an end to corruption. Making those demands? In Qasim's mind is an act of terrorism. The militias were always a bad thing but since they were folded into the official Iraqi military, they've been even worse. They have threatened and bullied the current prime minister. And they got away with it.
Louisa Loveluck and Mustafa Salim (WASHINGTON POST) report:
The arrest had sparked immediate controversy. Iran-linked militiamen arrived at the gates of Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone within hours. The army was deployed. That standoff ended only when one of Kadhimi’s predecessors and political foes, Nouri al-Maliki, stepped in to defuse tensions, officials say.
In a statement Wednesday, Iraq’s judiciary said that it had not seen sufficient evidence to convict Musleh and that he had provided a document showing that he was out of the country during the killing of at least one of two civil society activists in Karbala whose deaths he is being linked to. Iraqi officials had previously said that they had a case file proving his connection to the killing.
Better public services? I said we'd come back to that. Though not reported on that often these days, Iraq still has a problem of providing potable water -- safe drinking water. For example, Khazan Jangiz (RUDAW) reported yesterday:
Sulaimani’s health directorate on Wednesday expressed its concern over
increasing cases of diarrhea among the public, urging residents to
refrain from using unsuitable drinking water.
“The data that we have, we will not hide it, it’s caused us worry and
fear because the number of people infected with diarrhea has tripled and
now a large number of people are suffering from diarrhea,” Sabah
Nasraddin, the general director of Sulaimani’s health directorate, said
in a press conference on Wednesday.
“We suspect if it’s not controlled, it could be a cause for the spread
of cholera,” Nasraddin warned. “One of the reasons as you know is the
drought, because the water has decreased and people are resorting to
well water and water that is not suitable for drinking, which will
spread disease.”
However, a senior Iraqi government official denounced the decision to release Muslah.
“Telephone communications on the topic of these assassinations between Muslah and the direct perpetrators, threats to relatives, witness testimony, explanations received under questioning — all were supplied,” the official said.
“The government presented all available evidence, but the judges have decided to release him because of pressure exerted on them.” Muslah’s release coincided with the arrival in Baghdad of Gen. Esmail Ghaani, head of the Quds Force, the overseas unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Ghaani met militia and political leaders to discuss tensions between the government and the Hashd Al-Shaabi. Muslah’s arrest last month sparked tensions and fears of violence.
Hashd Al-Shaabi forces surrounded Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s headquarters inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of the Iraqi government, and Iraqi security forces and the elite Counter-Terrorism Service were deployed to protect the government and diplomatic missions.
We'll note this Tweet.
The two remain dead. Their alleged killer walks free.
A friend at the Pentagon asked me to note the following which was posted by the US Defense Dept yesterday:
The Defense Department celebrates the extraordinary achievements of its LGBTQ+ service members, civilian employees and their families' sacrifices during Pride Month, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said today at the Pentagon.
Speaking to an audience that included the department's senior-most leadership, the secretary said as DOD reflects on the progress it's made in making sure that everyone who wants to serve and is qualified, can do so with dignity and respect.
"We know we have more work to do, but thanks to your courage, advocacy and dedication, the Department of Defense has been able to do more to secure LGBTQ+ rights than at any other time in history," Austin said.
That includes efforts to ensure all military families and spouses receive the benefits their loved ones have earned, and to which they are entitled; to helping veterans who previously were forced out because of their sexual orientation to apply to correct their records, or — where appropriate — to return to service, he said.
"[It's] often said that progress is a relay race [and] not a single event. That's certainly been true when it comes to the pioneers who fought for this community’s civil rights in the military," the secretary said.
Throughout American history, LGBTQ+ citizens have fought to defend our rights and freedoms — from the founding of our nation to the Civil War, from the trenches of two World Wars to Korea and Vietnam and from Afghanistan to Iraq, the secretary said. "They fought for our country even when our country wouldn't fight for them."
Austin noted how not every advocate of this community's rights has been an LGBTQ+ community member. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, was one leader who took a courageous stand against the law, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which led directly to its repeal 10 years ago.
Today, the department commemorates the repeal of that law and welcomes a new generation of soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardians and Marines, openly and proudly serving their country, Austin said.
"And today, we reaffirm that transgender rights are human rights and that America is safer — it is better — when every qualified citizen can serve with pride and dignity," the secretary said.
He called such efforts real progress and emphasized how the repeal was hard-fought and hard-won.
However, DOD's work isn't done until it tackles the challenge of sexual assault and harassment in the force, he emphasized.
"And we know that service members from this community are at elevated risk of this crime. Our work isn't done until we recognize that the health of the force fully incorporates mental health, including for LGBTQ+ service members," the secretary pointed out.
"That's why we must recommit to treating all wounds, both visible and invisible. And our work still isn’t done until we create a safe and supportive workplace for everyone — one free from discrimination, harassment and fear," Austin said.
"No one should have to hide who they love to serve the country they love," he said. "No service member who is willing to put their life on the line to keep our country safe should feel unsafe because of who they are."
Further, the secretary said, "No citizen who is qualified, willing and able to do the job should be turned away. So yes, we've got more to do. But I'm confident we'll get there because of all of you, and because of the LGBTQ+ service members and civilians around the world who never stop living the values they so bravely defend."
The secretary said he knows this community is especially proud this month and rightfully so. "I'm proud, too," he said, adding, "proud every month and every day to call you my teammates and to serve alongside you — because your lives, careers, service and stories are living proof that we are stronger and more effective together."
Austin thanked the LGBTQ+ community for their service, their skill, and change and progress as they continue to lead. "It matters very much to the defense of this nation," he said.
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