As if the Clinton era give-away of the public airwaves wasn't enough, now FCC chair Kevin Martin wants to go further. Ruth has posted the statement by Commissioners Copps and Adlestein opposing the move and you can read it here (she includes the link to the statement at the FCC but that is in PDF format). You need to contact the people in Congress that represent you and you also need to contact the following three members of the FCC who are in favor of this move:
Chairman Kevin J. Martin: KJMWEB@fcc.gov
Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate: dtaylortateweb@fcc.gov
Commissioner Robert McDowell: Robert.McDowell@fcc.gov
If it seems so familiar, it's because it is. During Bully Boy's first administration, the FCC -- then chaired by Colin Powell's son Michael -- attempted to do this as well. The results were Congressional hearings and judiciary involvement. Despite that, they're trying it again.
"Victory for Ehren Watada" (Laura Flanders, Common Dreams):
This country sets aside two days to honor military service. On Veterans Day we celebrate the living; on Memorial Day we remember the dead.
I'd like to propose a third national holiday: Active Duty day. A day to celebrate those who refuse to leave their conscience at home. A day to cherish those who elevate this nation’s morals by refusing to participate in illegal acts.
Leading this year's Active Conscience-on-Duty Day parade should be First Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to Iraq.
"To me," Watada told a court earlier this year, leading soldiers into battle in Iraq "means to participate in a war that I believe to be illegal."
Last Thursday a civilian judge handed Watada a victory against those in the military who would like to see him silenced, convicted and locked up.
In June 2006, Watada gained international attention when he publicly denounced the Iraq war as an illegal occupation and then refused to deploy with his Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade.
This February, his court-martial ended in a mistrial, after which his attorneys claimed that Fifth Amendment constitutional protections protected him from a second round in court.
On November 8, Judge Benjamin Settle agreed: "The same Fifth Amendment protections are in place for military service members as are afforded to civilians - . To hold otherwise would ignore the many sacrifices that American soldiers have made throughout history to protect these sacred rights," he wrote.
In issuing a preliminary injunction, the Judge concluded that "it is likely" that Watada will succeed in his claims that a second court-martial would violate constitutional protections against being tried twice for the same crimes.
That was a big victory. Loliese e-mailed wondering why C.I. didn't note more of the column in yesterday's snapshot? The snapshot went up late (due to two unplanned speaking events on Iraq that they grabbed at the last minute) so there was not time to note a great deal. The second reason is the end of the column, which is strong but might or might not be missing one person. In terms of? An Army captain was AWOL and about to be declared a deserter. C.I. didn't have time to find out what happened there (it's in today's snapshot, at the end of my post)? But no one knew if the man was missing, self-checked out or what? (Details in the snapshot.) So I told C.I. (who called asking if I'd heard anything about the Army captain -- I hadn't) yesterday that I would provide a lengthy excerpt. I'm glad Flanders wrote about it. (I do enjoy Flanders' work.) But Nation readers should be thrilled she wrote about it because if she hadn't written about it online at the magazine's site, no one would have known. I believe Katrina vanden Heuvel tired herself out with a weekend post about when she went off to college. Making a brief cameo in the story starring vanden Heuvel was the late Norman Mailer. vanden Heuvel seems to exist so that we can't say, "All women do the heavy lifting." Instead, we have to say, "Some women do the heavy lifting." Flanders is one carrying her weight as well as a lot of others (male and female).
I would love to tell you that I listen to her radio show but when we get done with the writing edition of The Third Estate Sunday Review, I just crash. I go to sleep. We're participating in the writing. Usually, we don't participate in the editing (that's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I. doing the editing -- or re-editing) so most of the time, we're done around six or seven in the morning. That's nothing like what the gang does, staying up five more hours, sometimes six or seven, but since we start on Saturday night, that's a very long time even so. In the 'old days,' we would start while Flanders' radio program was on. In those days, it was a three hour live broadcast on Saturday and Sunday. Now they've shortened it to a one hour broadcast and it airs, I believe, at one p.m. Sunday. I'm always asleep. I usually wake up shortly after because I'm at Mike's and Trina (his mother) usually gets back from church around 1:30 p.m. and begins cooking lunch. The smells from Trina's Kitchen usually wake me up. Although I have been so tired before that I've slept on through until 60 Minutes came on. (In which case, I'm rushing to get dressed and on the road back home.)
I miss the old show at the old time. (By the way, read Ava and C.I.'s "TV: The drip-drip of Carpoolers.")
Now, back on topic, tomorrow we learn whether another victory will take place. Tomorrow war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, now in Canada, should learn whether or not the Supreme Court of Canada will hear their appeal. (Details in C.I.'s snapshot at the end of this post.) I am hoping for the best and trying not to think about anything other than that hope.
Yesterday, Amy Goodman interviewed Studs Terkel [watch, listen and/or read "'Arbitrary Methods' of UN and EU Terrorism Blacklists Criticized" (Democracy Now!)]. She has a strong column about Terkel which I would also recommend.
"Studs Terkel: Curiosity Didn't Kill This Cat" (Amy Goodman, Common Dreams):
"I have, after a fashion, been celebrated for having celebrated the lives of the uncelebrated among us; for lending voice to the face in the crowd." That is the opening line of Studs Terkel's long-awaited memoir, "Touch and Go." I made a pilgrimage to Chicago to see Terkel, one of the 20th century’s greatest journalists, interviewers and storytellers.
After writing a dozen books, winning the Pulitzer Prize, having a play produced on Broadway, winning the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the George Polk Career Award and the presidential National Humanities Medal, and hosting a daily radio show on WFMT in Chicago for close to half a century, he has, at 95 years old, written his memoir. "I tape, therefore I am," he writes. "I tape, therefore they are. Who are they, these etceteras of history, hardly worth a footnote? Who are they of whom the bards have seldom sung?"
Though he won his Pulitzer for his oral history “The Good War,” about World War II, he says there is a greater generation:
"It was in the '60s, there was the civil rights movement, it flourished, at least for a time, and the rise, resurgence, of feminism; the gays and lesbians coming out as free people. So that's the generation, I think the greatest."
While he is a man of the 20th century, he continues to write about the 21st century. In fact, he has just sued AT&T for collaborating with the government in eavesdropping.
Terkel says this is not new. He was wiretapped in the 1950s, during the McCarthy era. Of the government spies and their telecom allies, then and now, Terkel says:
"They are un-American. Thomas Paine, the most eloquent visionary of the American Revolution, speaks of this country in which a commoner can look at a king and say, 'Bugger off!' I've known this before, because my phone was tapped in the days when the keyword was 'Commie.' "
So that's Goodman's column and you might try using the link not just to read all of it but to send it to your local paper (e-mail or regular mail) and ask them to run it.
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Wednesday, November 14, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the Green Zone is targeted, the US military announces deaths, an army captain who went AWOL turns himself in, news due out from Canada's Supreme Court, and more.
Indybay Media has posted an (audio) interview with war resister Brad McCall conducted by Courage to Resist. Brad McCall is the war resister who self-checked out and attempted entry into Canada only to be arrested (September 19, 2007) crossing the border. McCall explains in the interview that he applied for CO status and waited ("and begged and begged and begged") before realizing it wasn't happening.
Brad McCall: I made, the final decision, I made it one night. I found out -- or one day. I talked to a friend of mine in Colorado Springs and he told me about these GIs that were running to Canada and I was like, 'Wow, this is cool.' . . . I went to another one of my friends' house and got on my laptop at her house and we both looked and saw that it's very possible. And we found Resisters.ca on the internet and that night I made the choice that a week later we would leave. She traveled with me as just a friend and that we'd leave in a week which, as a matter of face, was payday. So I knew I would need some cash to get on the road and get moving."
Courage to Resist: So you drove to British Columbia?
Brad McCall: Yes.
Courage to Resist: And did you connect immediately with other resisters up there?
Brad McCall: Well, initially the first thing that happened to me up there when I got to British Columbia was I was arrested at the border. For that week that I was still in Fort Carson, I had e-mail contact with Canada and with people that were willing to help me and I didn't realize that my parents actually had my e-mail password and they were watching all of this go down. And they were e-mailing all these e-mails to my commander and first sergeant so they knew I was going to Canada.
Courage to Resist: Well I guess I don't need to ask about support from your family for this decision?
Brad McCall: Oh, oh, God, no. I've been disowned. But that's why I love Canada. I have nothing to go back to in the United States so I'm very content with staying here for the rest of my life.
Courage to Resist: So you were arrested at the border?
Brad McCall: Yes, I was arrested at the border on the command of the US army by Canadian Border Services Agency -- not by US services, but Canadian services -- put into a Canadian jail for two days until my lawyer showed up and got me.
Courage to Resist: Now this was a Canadian lawyer, yes?
Brad McCall: Yes.
Courage to Resist: From a Canadian support committee for GI resisters?
Brad McCall: No, he's just a, uh, young lawyer. He supports the cause. He's an immigration lawyer. And he said -- the first thing he told me -- he said. "Me helping you guys out is a no-brainer." He said, "I'm not associated with the War Resisters Support Campaign or the War Resisters League or any anti-war group. I'm a lawyer by myself and I'm helping you guys out. And he's really an awesome guy.
Courage to Resist: An unsung hero.
Brad McCall: Yes, very much so.
Courage to Resist: So he got you out of the clink --
Brad McCall: Yes.
Courage to Resist: And then what did you do next?
Brad McCall: Well, um, while I was in jail, I filed refugee claim stating that I was requesting to be a refugee from the United States on ground that if I go back to the United States, I will be persecuted or legally prosecuted for my beliefs -- politically, morally and spiritually.
Courage to Resist: Right.
Brad McCall: And so that's what I've done. I've started my refugee claim, working on that --
Courage to Resist: And what's the status of that claim right now? Where are you in the process?
Brad McCall: Right now it's just a claim. It has to come under review by the Refugee Board of Canada and they will determine whether or not I am liable for refugee status. . So far there's only been two that have come up to the Refugee Board, only two claims by war resisters, and they have both been denied. They're in the appeals process right now.
Courage to Resist: This is Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey.
Brad McCall: Exactly.
Courage to Resist: Exactly. They're going to the Supreme Court I understand?
Brad McCall: Exactly. So me I'm not really expecting a victory in the way of getting refugee status. I'm not expecting that so I'm having to go ahead and prepare for other plans.
Hinzman and Hughey are waiting to hear whether or not Canada's Supreme Court will grant a hearing to their appeal over the Immigration and Refugee Board (really one person) denying them refugee status. Hinzman was the first resister during the Iraq War who went to Canada to go public with his resistance. He became the first to apply for refugee status (January 2004). He lives there with his wife Nga Nguyen and their son Liam. Prior to making the decision, Hinzman applied for CO status and was denied. Hughey went to Canada in March 2004. McCall's stories of conflicts with his family are echoed in the early reaction of Brandon Hughey's father. However, at the 2005 Veterans for Peace conference held in Texas, David Hughey delivered an amazing speech explaining the conflicts and how they had been resolved concluding with "I just thought I'd come up and introduce myself. I do support my son." The War Resisters Support Campaign announces:
Supreme Court decision on Hinzman & Hughey expected on THURSDAY NOV. 15th, 2007
The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to post its decision on whether or not it will hear the appeal by US war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey THIS THURSDAY at 9:45 am.
The decision will be posted at . . . [click here] (the case number for Jeremy Hinzman is 32113, and for Brandon Hughey it is 32111).
If the decision is negative, join protests in cities across the country. Check the take action page for listing of protests locations.
If the decision is positive, we will celebrate right across the country -- but there will still be much work to do to ensure that US soldiers who refuse to fight in Iraq have refuge in Canada. In TORNOTO, join us at 7 p.m. at Grossman's Tavern, 379 Spadina Avenue (at Cecil Street) for a 'Leave to Appeal' party.
That is tomorrow. On Iraq, McCall declared, "I want people to realize this is new era of war and Iraq is not going to -- if we don't stop Iraq, Iraq is not going to be the last step, not going to be the last frontier or whatever that the United States tries to take, it's just the beginning of a long series of wars that I can see in the future. It's not going to be pretty. And we've got to do something about it now. We have to do something about it now."
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Zinn will take part in the November 18th presentation (the official opening night -- but performances are already taking place) and musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who appeared on Democracy Now! Friday addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
IVAW's announcement above will be in tomorrow and Friday's snapshot and then it will appear summarized in each snapshot until the March testimony begins.
Turning to the topic of AWOL, Robert Przbylski (noted here and here and here) is no longer missing. The Army captain was stationed in Germany, due to deploy to Iraq early next year and has disappeared last month. From the beginning, Stars and Stripes' John Vandiver has owned the story because no one else could show interest. Sunday Vandiver
reported the Przbylski turned himself in last Friday: "When Przylski turned himself in Friday night he was on the brink of being declared a deserter, a designation that can take effect after 30 consecutive days of unauthorized absence. Officials said Przybylski was still in AWOL status when he turned himself in. It is unclear whether the prospect of being classified a deserter was a fact in Przybylski's return. It also remains unclear what prompted him to depart in the first place." What is known is that he went missing last month (October 10th -- if not before), that his unit had learned they were deploying to Iraq in March, that he comes from a military family (his father is a retired army Lt. Col.) and that Przybylski had already served one tour of duty in Iraq. Vandiver reports that the absence is under investigation and Przybylski is currently "restricted to Baumholder barracks and [will] be given a temporary assignment while the case is investigated."
Turning to the topic of Turkey and northern Iraq, Paul Schemm (AP) reports, "Kurdish guerillas watch the border for any signs that Turkey's military will carry out threats to sweep across. But other rumblings are coming from inside Iraq: a new ambivialence among Iraq's Kurds about support for their rebel cousins holed up in the mountains. The fear -- expressed by Kurdish officials and on the streets -- is that the showdown could threaten the relatively peaceful and prosperous enclave that Kurds have carved out since 1991 after generations of poverty and oppression." Meanwhile, following reports of the Turkish attacks on northern Iraq Monday and yesterday, China's Xinhua reports Aydogan Babaoglu (the commander of Turkey's air force) has declared it didn't happen stating: "None of the aircraft of Turkish Air Forces conducted a cross-border operation, and such reports are groundless." Bay Fang (Chicago Tribune) tries to track it down noting the following are on record stating attacks took place: Fouad Hussein (spokesperson for Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq) states two airplanes flew in and "dropped flares on five villages" on Monday, Iraqi army Col. Hussein Tamir ("who supervises border guards") states "helicopters opened fire on abandoned Iraqi villages". Damien Cave (New York Times) cited Iraqi officials for a "Turkish military aircraft" attack in northern Iraq Tuesday and noted, "Officials from Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region could not agree on whether helicopters or planes had been used" while also quoting Fouad Hussein. Today's Zaman, citing "[u]nnamed Kuridsh officials," report "that the villages" were "Pirbela, Birsaka, Avashin and the Norgole area". In addition, eye witnesses have reported what they saw and heard. Patrick Cockburn (Independent of London) quotes Ibrahim Mazori stating, "I was on the other side of the mountain when I heard huge explosions and could smell TNT powder all over the area" while . Meanwhile CBS and AP note that Jala Talabani, Iraq's Kurdish president, declared today, without any further comment, that, "The crisis with Turkey has passed." Similar statements have been made before.
Turning to some of today's reported violence . .
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing ("targeted an American patrol") that claimed the lives of 2 civilians and left three more wounded (this was the bombing that targeted the Green Zone -- a second Baghdad roadside bombing targeting "an American patrol" had no reported casualties) and a Babil car bombing targeting "a host tent for Sheikh Ammar Al-Gurtani" claimed the lives of 3 civilians and left eight more wounded. CNN notes, "The sheiks and the al-Kardani tribe are part fo the 'Iskandairya Awakening,' one of Iraq's emerging 'awakening' movements -- the grass-roots citizen groups opposing al Qaeda in Iraq." And, left unstated, taking money from the US.
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 Iraqi soldier shot dead in Hawija and, when police reported on the scene, 1 police officer was shot dead.
Kidnappings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a farmer was kidnapped "between Hawija and Abassiyah".
Corpses?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 5 corpses were discovered in Iraq.
Today, the US military announced, "A Multi-National Corps - Iraq Soldier was killed today during military operations near the city of Mosul. The Soldier was mortally wounded by gunfire while providing security to a Police Transitional Team training mission near an Iraqi Police Station." And they announced: "Two Multi-National Division -- North Soldiers died as a result of an explosion while conducting operations in Diyala Province, Nov. 13. Additionally, four MND-N Soldiers were wounded and evacuated to a coalition hospital." Reuters count is 3863 US service members have died thus far in the illegal war. ICCC's total is also 3863 with 19 for the month thus far. (Neither total includes the 4 US service members who are known to have died from the physical wounds they received in Iraq after leaving Iraq: Jack D. Richards, Gerald J. Cassidy, John "Bill" Smith and Raymond A. Salerno III.) And Paul Tait and Missy Ryan (Reuters) report that the roadside bombing "targeting a passing American military convoy, killed a U.S. soldier and a civilian and wounded seven people including five soldiers, the U.S. military said. . . . The explosion in Baghdad was close to a checkpoint where hundreds of Iraqis who work inside the sprawling complex queue every morning." The US military announcement reads: "An explosively formed penetrator detonated in Central Baghdad Nov. 14, killing a Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier and wounding five others. Also, one Iraqi civilian was killed and two others were wounded."
Another attack on the Green Zone? Guess it will be harder to spin that as "safety" -- but give the Operation Happy Talkers time, give them time. Meanwhile the central government in Iraq continues to be in shambles. AP reports: "Iraqi troops seized the west Baghdad headquarters of a powerful Sunni Muslim group Wednesday, cordoning off the building and ordering employees out, the group said. Iraqi security forces dispatched by the Sunni Endowment, a government agency that cares for Sunni mosques and shrines, surrounded the mosque complex where the group is based at 9 a.m. and demanded that the building be evacuated before noon, the Association of Muslim Scholars said in a statement posted on its Web site." CBS and AP note the Association of Muslim Scholars' spokesperson Mohammed Bahsar al-Faydi is of the opinion that the forces "were not government forces but the personal guards of Ahmed Abdul-Ghafoor al-Samarraie, the head of the Sunni Endowment". Reuters notes that they were Sunni Endowment security guards and that in addition to everyone being kicked out of the building "a radio broadcast from the mosque had been stopped." Paul Tait and Missy Ryan also note that a de-de-Baathification bill is being hailed as 'progress' even though it's just been given to parlaiment (from Nouri al-Maliki's cabinet) and "[o]fficals had previously said the bill had already been given to parliament." As Damien Cave (New York Times) notes, this follows yesterday's call by the Sadr bloc for Parliament to be dissolved.
On the issue of the displaced Iraqis, nothing's being done. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted today, "The leading refugee-advocate group Refugees International has issued a scathing critique of the Bush administration's treatment of displaced Iraqis. In a new report, Refugees International says the U.S. has been 'unforgivably slow' in resettling Iraqi refugees. Almost five million Iraqis are believed to have been displaced since the U.S. invasion. The U.S. is admitting more than three times as many Iranian immigrants as it is Iraqis." Hannah Allam (McClatchy Newspapers) quotes the report's co-author, Kristele Younes, declaring, "The first reason for this is the lack of political will. Until very recently, the Bush administration never even acknowledged the humanitarian crisis because they were concerned that it would be interpreted as acknowledging failure in Iraq. And President Bush still has yet to acknowledge that there are now almost 5 million Iraqis who've had to leave their homes." Younes co-authored the report with Jake Kurtzer and it includes the following policy recommendations:
1. The U.S. immediately appoint a senior PRM official to be based in the region and charged with coordinating both the assistance and resettlement components of its response; 2. The U.S. immediately appoint an ambassador level diplomat to be based in Syria; 3. The U.S. and other donors provide earmarked bilateral assistance to countries hosting large numbers of Iraqi refugees, either directly or through a Trust Fund established by the UN or the Arab League; 4. The U.S. fund all pending UN appeals at a level of 50% or more; 5. The UN country teams make responding to Iraqi refugees needs a priority, with the UN resident representatives acting as coordinators of the overall national UN response and as liaisons with the diplomatic and donor communities.
In mercenary news, David Johnston and John M. Broder (New York Times) report that the FBI investigation into Blackwater's slaughter of 17 Iraqis on September 16th have not released a report but reportedly "have found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, according to civilian and military officials briefed on the case."
In peace activism news, more activity in Olympia. On Monday, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted, "In Olympia Washington, 15 anti-war demonstrators were arrested over the weekend while attempting to block a military convoy carrying Stryker vehicles. The protests were organized by the Olympia Port Militarization Resistance which aims to stop the U.S. military from using the Port of Olympia to ship equipment to Iraq. Protest organizers also accused police of brutalizing dozens of peaceful demonstrators and journalists. On Saturday police dressed in riot gear repeatedly used pepper spray and batons to break up the protest." The actions have continued and AP reports, "Police wearing riot gear fired pepper spray bullets into a crowd of more than 150 protesters Tuesday night at the Port Olympia and several military convoys eventually moved out" with approximately 50 activists arrested. Jeremy Pawloski (The Olympian) reports, "Olympia police in riot gear wore gas masks as they prepared to remove protesters from the main entrance about 11 p.m. At the same time, military convoys left for Fort Lewis from the port exit to Marine Drive" and that in addition to the pepper spray and pepper spray bullets, there are reports that "police also threw two concussion grenades into the crowd." And last week, Morton West High School students learned that their protest -- following the guidelines the school imposed -- against the illegal war was resulting in suspension and possible expulsion. The Columbia College Chicago chapter of SDS has started an online petition:
We are writing in defense of the students who now face excessive disciplinary actions at the hands of various Morton West school administrators. Our sympathies lie with the courageous and moral struggle that the students have taken up, and with their parents who still support them. The struggle for a peaceful and just society absent of war should not be met with punishment, but should be supported by the community as a whole, especially from within the educational setting. Furthermore, It is our firm belief that an injury to freedom for students anywhere is an injury to freedom for students everywhere. This is why we urge all Morton West administrators to drop all disciplinary action against the said students, and to remove any indications of said events from their permanent records. We urge you to respect these students right to free expression now and in the future. (Written by Columbia College Chicago Students for a Democratic Society)
At Consortium News, Robert Parry's "Why We Write" explains the basics of the site, yes, but also explains the very real need for Consortium News. He and his sons Nat and Sam will be speaking at Busboys and Poets in Arlingtion, Virginia Saturday Nov. 17th from four p.m. to six p.m. discussing their new book Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush. Sam and Nat Parry have established their own journalist skills at Consortium News and they and Robert Parry can discuss any of the topics pertaining to the current administration but remember that Robert Parry has been doing investigative journalism for years -- long enough to have had neocon Daniel Pipes insult his reporting long, long before the Iraq War -- a sure sign his investigations cause discomfort.
iraq
brad mccall
jeremy hinzman
brandon hughey
robert przybylskijohn vandiver
democracy nowamy goodman
anthony arnovehoward zinn
robert parry
bay fang
patrick cockburn
hannah allemmcclatchy newspapers
the new york timesdamien cavemichael kramerdavid johnstonjohn m. broder
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Isaiah, Democracy Now!, etc.
First up, Isaiah's latest comic went up today due to Flickr problems. (I hate Flickr.) His comic that would have run Sunday is in Hilda's Mix (and it's hilarious). Since the comic was delayed due to Flickr, he created a new one yesterday that went up today. Below is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Donald Kerr on the job":
Donald Kerr is the Deputy Director of National Intelligence in the US. If you can believe that. He says Americans need to prepare for a new 'privacy.' In the past, privacy meant that we could expect not to be spied upon. Now, he argues, 'privacy' must mean that the government spies non-stop but they won't go running to the press, your neighbors, your creditors, etc. "New privacy" means none at all and it also requires that you trust that the government would neither intentionally or unintentionally release your information. Somewhere, Valerie Plame is laughing at that absurd notion.
"'Arbitrary Methods' of UN and EU Terrorism Blacklists Criticized" (Democracy Now!):
A European human rights panel have accused the United Nations and European Union of using totally arbitrary methods to determine who is on terrorism blacklists. The lists are used to freeze assets and ban individuals from traveling. The Council of Europe's legal committee is urging an overhaul of international regulations on blacklists in order to allow suspects to have access to evidence against them, rights to a fair trial or impartial review. The committee said current methods "violate the fundamental principles of human rights and rule of law." Approximately 370 individuals and 60 organizations worldwide have been blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council or the European Union.
When I heard the above today, I wondered, "Doesn't Europe realize that true 'freedom' is giving up every freedom?" That seems to be the American way these days. Donald Kerr can only get away with destroying America because Congress won't hold him accountable. A real Congress, a working Congress, would have immediately summoned him, put him under oath and questioned him at length. Instead, it is apparently no big deal and nothing for the Congress sworn to uphold the Constitution to worry about.
"Veterans For Peace Activists Arrested at Boston Veteran's Day Parade" (Democracy Now!):
In Boston, 15 members of Veterans for Peace and three supporters were arrested on Sunday after they were barred from holding anti-war signs or speaking during the city's Veterans Day Parade sponsored by the American Legion. They were charged with disturbing a public assembly.
Mike and I are both noting that. "Disturbing a public assembly" -- by attempting to participate. I thought it was called "Veterans Day." I guess it has multiple meanings?
From last week, this is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "When Front Runners Attack:"
I had intended to post that on Friday but then we did a roundtable. Due to Flickr hassles, I couldn't get in yesterday to grab the code for the comic. (I'm surprised C.I. was able to upload last night but understand it was late last night.) If I had a gun to my head and had to vote for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, I'd vote for Hillary. (I'm supporting Dennis Kucinich.) Obama's a fake whose wasted how many months being gently stroked by the press and has nothing to show for it?
"American dream a nightmare for many blacks: study" (Alister Bull, Reuters):
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Black Americans are failing to climb the social ladder, while a worrying number born into the middle classes are now actually poorer than their parents, according to a study released on Tuesday.
The report by Brookings Institution scholar Julia Isaacs found blacks were missing out on a cherished American dream that their children will be economically better off.
"Children from middle- and upper middle-class black families experience a generational drop in income that is in sharp contrast to the traditional American expectation that each generation will do better than the one that came before it," she wrote.
The study was part of the Pew Charitable Trusts' Economic Mobility Project.
Help me out on this, who was it that said there weren't "two Americas"? Who was it that implied the civil rights struggle was over? I believe that was Barack Obama. But even the centrist Brookings Institute says otherwise. Obama, to the right of Brookings.
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Tuesday, November 13, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, attacks in northern Iraq, IVAW announces an upcoming event, the myth of the 'returning home' in Iraq gets challenged and more.
Starting with war resistance. Today on KPFK's Sojourner Truth, Margaret Prescod spoke with Kenneth Kagan about where things stood for Ehren Watada currently. Watada is the first officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq. Kagan, along with Jim Lobsenz, is Watada's civilian attorney and he explained Judge Benjamin Settle's ruling and what it means. Last Thursday, following the issuance of two stays in the US military's attempt to court-martial Watada a second time, Judge Settle ruled that no court-martial could take place until the double-jeopardy issue was resolved and that his opinion was Watada had strong standing on that issue and the courts would find in his favor. Kagan declared that it was highly unlikely that there would be futher court action this year. He also thinks it's doubtful the US military will be able to proceed with a court-martial period. (Following the rest of the year, Kagan ticked off 2008 and the next.) As Laura Flanders (Nation via Common Dreams) notes of Settle's ruling today, "In issuing a preliminary injunction, the Judge concluded that 'it is likely' that Watada will succeed in his claims that a second court-martial would violate constitutional protections against being tried twice for the same crimes. But army officials aren't giving up. In a statement, they said they will file briefs in U.S. District Court to try to prevent the injunction from becoming permanent. Now is the time for all moral men and women in uniform to stand up -- not just behind Lt. Watada, but at his side. So far, not one other officer has followed in the lieutenant's footstep." As Ruth noted, yesterday on Free Speech Radio News, Iraq Veterans Against the War's chair Camilo Mejia declared this was a victory, "Here we have the first commissioned officer who at great risks to a public, personal stance on the war calling it illegal and refusing to deploy."
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Zinn will take part in the November 18th presentation (the official opening night -- but performances are already taking place) and musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who appeared on Democracy Now! Friday addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
The Winter Soldier Investigation during Vietnam took place from January 31st to February 2nd (1971) and was held in Detroit. By holding theirs in DC, IVAW already has improved. That's not a slap at Detroit, that's noting the concentration of media.
Turning to Iraq. CBS and AP file a story telling us things are good, real good, damn good. Great. No more Iraq snapshots! We get to shut down shop. Oh, wait. It's just another wave of Operation Happy Talk and it's a story so bad it took TWO outlets to write it. But they shouldn't feel that bad, the outlet with the most egg on their face today is Fars News Agency which ran the feel good story of the month yesterday, headlined, "Iraq-Turkey Border Problems Resolved." Oh really now? BBC: "Turkish military helicopters bombed suspected Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, Iraqi officials have said." AP quotes Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declaring, "This business needs to happen before winter conditions worsen. If we don't see concrete things from the other side an operation is near." Mark Bentley and Ali Berat Meric (Bloomberg News) report, "Turkey is gathering intelligence on the whereabouts of PKK positions in northern Iraq before starting the operation, Erdogan told party officials in Ankara late yesterday after talks with Ergin Saygun, deputy head of the Turkish military, according to a lawmaker who attended the meeting and rquested anonymity." CNN's Jomana Karadsheh quotes Jamal Abdullah, spokesperson for Iraq's KRG, stating that stun grenades were dropped from "two Turkish military aircrafts crossed into Iraqi border" Monday night. Yahya Barzanji (AP) reports Turkish helicopters firing today within Iraq which the Turkey government denies and Iraqi Col. Hussein Tamir states did take place -- both on the record and, in addition, an unnamed "Turkish government official" states that the attacks did take place. Al Jazeera notes that 4 Turkish soldiers are dead and two more wounded according to the Turkish military. Mark Bentley and Ali Berat Meric (Bloomberg News) note the US Pentagon continues to maintain they intend to share intelligence with Turkey.
In other reported violence . . .
Bombings?Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing this morning left four wounded while two Diyala bombings resulted in the deaths of 2 Iraqi soldiers, two Iraqi soldiers wounded and three civilians wounded. Reuters notes that a roadside bombing outside Baquba claimed the lives of 4 Iraqi soldiers and left seven more wounded today while a Jurf Al-Sakhar roadisde bombing claimed 2 lives with two more wound while, also yesterday, Col. Samir Atrous was killed in a Samarra bombing that left two of his bodyguards wounded. And the air war continues as well. Reuters reports the US military is claiming 15 'terrorists' were killed in Adwaniya on Monday after they dropped two 500 pound bombs from the air on the area.
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 police officer was shot dead and his wife injured in a Kirkuk shooting today while yesterday 2 sons, 2 daughters and a mother from the same family were killed. Reuters notes 1 police officer and 1 Iraqi soldier were shot dead in Hawija today while yesterday a man was shot dead in Kifl.
Corpses?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 6 corpses in Baghdad and 1 corpse was discovered in Kirkuk.
Meanwhile IRIN reports "[m]ale gynaecologists are being targeted by Islamic extremists in Iraq as they are accues of invading the privacy of women," that at least 22 have received threatening letters while there is a shortage on male gynaecologists and very few female ones left in Iraq.
In political news, AP reports that Bahaa al-Araji, apparently speaking for all 30 members of the Sadr bloc in the Iraqi parliament, has called for the "parliament to be dissolved and new elections held." This takes place while puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki's cabinet continues with empty spots after he refused to agree to the requests of Sunni ministers. Those who keep giving lip service to a "political solution" that really means a US imposed "political situation" must be hoping no one notices al-Maliki's puppet government is as chaotic as it was in May 2006 when he kept missing deadlines to announce his complete cabinet. The escalation Bully Boy dubbed the 'surge' is ending as it was always planned to. 3,000 US service members stationed in Diyala Province will begin returning to the United States. And what got accomplished in the 'surge'? Puppet al-Maliki traveled a great deal (as did Iraq's president) but nothing's been accomplished. Not even the theft of Iraqi oil -- the White House pushed, big business written bill that would open Iraqi oil fields to foreign corporations and allow them to keep as much as 70% of the profits -- has been pushed through and the year is almost over. The United Nations' Relief Web has a list of things that still show no improvement such as: "Only one in three Iraqi children under the age of five has access to safe drinking water, according to UNICEF(4)."
Turning to the myth of civilians returning to Iraq. One return can be verified, McClatchy Newspaper's Leila Fadel has returned to Iraq. Of course, she's a journalist and American but her return can be verified placing her in a minority. As Baghdad Observer, she explains the checkpoints, the body searches, the delays (including stand-still traffic) and everything else it takes to move through the Green Zone for two scheduled meetings -- one with a US military general: "Two are body searches, two are just badge checks. At one checkpoint pedestrians are asked to walk through a spaceship looking X-ray machine. The elderly Iraqi woman in front of me starts to cry when she is asked to spread her legs and arms and step inside the machine.'I'm scared,' she says between sobs. When I'm done there a dog sniffs my camera, cell phone and recorder for explosive substances." Along with the body searches, "a woman gropes for anything illegal under my clothes and searches through my bag." Meanwhile on the much talked up in the press returns (that cannot be proven), organizations aren't continuing to be silent in the face of these false claims made by the puppet government and the US military. Australia's ABC reports the Red Crescent Society has released their report for September which found "almost 370,000 Iraqis fled their homes" and that "almost 2.3 million Iraqis have been internally displaced since the US-led invasion in 2003." uruk.net reports the Iraqi Red Crescent has stated the numbers being tossed around by the Iraqi government regarding the internally displace are not accurate and "were not related realities of the situation faced by the displaced," that they stood by their numbers and their methodology (remember, as we noted last week, this is the same nonsense that was pulled with The Lancet study, a push to discredit the science with numbers the US military and the Iraqi government refused to backup by making public their own alleged tabulations) and quotes their statement: "The real number of displaced persons by October (was) well over two million, three hundred thousand displaced inside the country." In addition, the United Nations Secretary General's office today released findings on displaced around the world and included this: "In Iraq, there are some 2.2 million internally displaced that we know of." As the Iraqi government's laughable claims get questioned, Reuters reports, "U.S. Catholic bishops on Tuesday described the situation in Iraq as 'unacceptable and unsustainable,' and urged the Bush administration to pull out American troops in a responsible way as quickly as possible."
Ali al-Fadhily (IPS via Common Dreams) reports, "Claims are going the rounds that sectarian violence in Iraq has fallen, and that the U.S. military 'surge' has succeeded in reducing attacks against civilians. Baghdad residents speak of the other side of the coint -- that they now live in a largely divided city that has brought this uneasy calm." And repeating 'political solution' hasn't happened. Waleed al-Ubaidy tells al-Fadhily, "All that has happened is a dramatic change in the demographic map of Iraq" and that, "Most of the honest journalists have left." While, reflecting Leila Fadel's report on moving through the Green Zone, Ahmad Ali tells al-Fadhily, "Baghdad has been torn into two cities and many towns and neighbourhoods. There is now the Shia Baghdad and the Sunni Baghdad to start with. Then, each is divided into little twon-like pieces of the hundreds of thousands who had to leave their homes."
Along with the human costs, there is the issue of the money. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted today, "A new study by Congressional Democrats estimates the total economic costs to the United States of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan now total approximately $1.5 trillion dollars. The study estimates the 'hidden costs' of the conflict including higher oil prices, the expense of treating wounded veterans and interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars. The Washington Post reports this amount is nearly double the $800 billion the White House has spent or requested to wage the wars through 2008." Josh White (Washington Post) reports that the calculated cost for the Iraq invasion is "$15,900 for a [US] family of four".
iraq
ehren watada
camilo mejiademocracy nowamy goodman
laura flanders
the washington post
josh white
anthony arnovehoward zinn
kpfk
mcclatchy newspapersleila fadel
bloomberg newscnn
ruths report
ali al-fadhily
Donald Kerr is the Deputy Director of National Intelligence in the US. If you can believe that. He says Americans need to prepare for a new 'privacy.' In the past, privacy meant that we could expect not to be spied upon. Now, he argues, 'privacy' must mean that the government spies non-stop but they won't go running to the press, your neighbors, your creditors, etc. "New privacy" means none at all and it also requires that you trust that the government would neither intentionally or unintentionally release your information. Somewhere, Valerie Plame is laughing at that absurd notion.
"'Arbitrary Methods' of UN and EU Terrorism Blacklists Criticized" (Democracy Now!):
A European human rights panel have accused the United Nations and European Union of using totally arbitrary methods to determine who is on terrorism blacklists. The lists are used to freeze assets and ban individuals from traveling. The Council of Europe's legal committee is urging an overhaul of international regulations on blacklists in order to allow suspects to have access to evidence against them, rights to a fair trial or impartial review. The committee said current methods "violate the fundamental principles of human rights and rule of law." Approximately 370 individuals and 60 organizations worldwide have been blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council or the European Union.
When I heard the above today, I wondered, "Doesn't Europe realize that true 'freedom' is giving up every freedom?" That seems to be the American way these days. Donald Kerr can only get away with destroying America because Congress won't hold him accountable. A real Congress, a working Congress, would have immediately summoned him, put him under oath and questioned him at length. Instead, it is apparently no big deal and nothing for the Congress sworn to uphold the Constitution to worry about.
"Veterans For Peace Activists Arrested at Boston Veteran's Day Parade" (Democracy Now!):
In Boston, 15 members of Veterans for Peace and three supporters were arrested on Sunday after they were barred from holding anti-war signs or speaking during the city's Veterans Day Parade sponsored by the American Legion. They were charged with disturbing a public assembly.
Mike and I are both noting that. "Disturbing a public assembly" -- by attempting to participate. I thought it was called "Veterans Day." I guess it has multiple meanings?
From last week, this is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "When Front Runners Attack:"
I had intended to post that on Friday but then we did a roundtable. Due to Flickr hassles, I couldn't get in yesterday to grab the code for the comic. (I'm surprised C.I. was able to upload last night but understand it was late last night.) If I had a gun to my head and had to vote for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, I'd vote for Hillary. (I'm supporting Dennis Kucinich.) Obama's a fake whose wasted how many months being gently stroked by the press and has nothing to show for it?
"American dream a nightmare for many blacks: study" (Alister Bull, Reuters):
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Black Americans are failing to climb the social ladder, while a worrying number born into the middle classes are now actually poorer than their parents, according to a study released on Tuesday.
The report by Brookings Institution scholar Julia Isaacs found blacks were missing out on a cherished American dream that their children will be economically better off.
"Children from middle- and upper middle-class black families experience a generational drop in income that is in sharp contrast to the traditional American expectation that each generation will do better than the one that came before it," she wrote.
The study was part of the Pew Charitable Trusts' Economic Mobility Project.
Help me out on this, who was it that said there weren't "two Americas"? Who was it that implied the civil rights struggle was over? I believe that was Barack Obama. But even the centrist Brookings Institute says otherwise. Obama, to the right of Brookings.
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Tuesday, November 13, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, attacks in northern Iraq, IVAW announces an upcoming event, the myth of the 'returning home' in Iraq gets challenged and more.
Starting with war resistance. Today on KPFK's Sojourner Truth, Margaret Prescod spoke with Kenneth Kagan about where things stood for Ehren Watada currently. Watada is the first officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq. Kagan, along with Jim Lobsenz, is Watada's civilian attorney and he explained Judge Benjamin Settle's ruling and what it means. Last Thursday, following the issuance of two stays in the US military's attempt to court-martial Watada a second time, Judge Settle ruled that no court-martial could take place until the double-jeopardy issue was resolved and that his opinion was Watada had strong standing on that issue and the courts would find in his favor. Kagan declared that it was highly unlikely that there would be futher court action this year. He also thinks it's doubtful the US military will be able to proceed with a court-martial period. (Following the rest of the year, Kagan ticked off 2008 and the next.) As Laura Flanders (Nation via Common Dreams) notes of Settle's ruling today, "In issuing a preliminary injunction, the Judge concluded that 'it is likely' that Watada will succeed in his claims that a second court-martial would violate constitutional protections against being tried twice for the same crimes. But army officials aren't giving up. In a statement, they said they will file briefs in U.S. District Court to try to prevent the injunction from becoming permanent. Now is the time for all moral men and women in uniform to stand up -- not just behind Lt. Watada, but at his side. So far, not one other officer has followed in the lieutenant's footstep." As Ruth noted, yesterday on Free Speech Radio News, Iraq Veterans Against the War's chair Camilo Mejia declared this was a victory, "Here we have the first commissioned officer who at great risks to a public, personal stance on the war calling it illegal and refusing to deploy."
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Zinn will take part in the November 18th presentation (the official opening night -- but performances are already taking place) and musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who appeared on Democracy Now! Friday addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
The Winter Soldier Investigation during Vietnam took place from January 31st to February 2nd (1971) and was held in Detroit. By holding theirs in DC, IVAW already has improved. That's not a slap at Detroit, that's noting the concentration of media.
Turning to Iraq. CBS and AP file a story telling us things are good, real good, damn good. Great. No more Iraq snapshots! We get to shut down shop. Oh, wait. It's just another wave of Operation Happy Talk and it's a story so bad it took TWO outlets to write it. But they shouldn't feel that bad, the outlet with the most egg on their face today is Fars News Agency which ran the feel good story of the month yesterday, headlined, "Iraq-Turkey Border Problems Resolved." Oh really now? BBC: "Turkish military helicopters bombed suspected Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, Iraqi officials have said." AP quotes Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declaring, "This business needs to happen before winter conditions worsen. If we don't see concrete things from the other side an operation is near." Mark Bentley and Ali Berat Meric (Bloomberg News) report, "Turkey is gathering intelligence on the whereabouts of PKK positions in northern Iraq before starting the operation, Erdogan told party officials in Ankara late yesterday after talks with Ergin Saygun, deputy head of the Turkish military, according to a lawmaker who attended the meeting and rquested anonymity." CNN's Jomana Karadsheh quotes Jamal Abdullah, spokesperson for Iraq's KRG, stating that stun grenades were dropped from "two Turkish military aircrafts crossed into Iraqi border" Monday night. Yahya Barzanji (AP) reports Turkish helicopters firing today within Iraq which the Turkey government denies and Iraqi Col. Hussein Tamir states did take place -- both on the record and, in addition, an unnamed "Turkish government official" states that the attacks did take place. Al Jazeera notes that 4 Turkish soldiers are dead and two more wounded according to the Turkish military. Mark Bentley and Ali Berat Meric (Bloomberg News) note the US Pentagon continues to maintain they intend to share intelligence with Turkey.
In other reported violence . . .
Bombings?Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing this morning left four wounded while two Diyala bombings resulted in the deaths of 2 Iraqi soldiers, two Iraqi soldiers wounded and three civilians wounded. Reuters notes that a roadside bombing outside Baquba claimed the lives of 4 Iraqi soldiers and left seven more wounded today while a Jurf Al-Sakhar roadisde bombing claimed 2 lives with two more wound while, also yesterday, Col. Samir Atrous was killed in a Samarra bombing that left two of his bodyguards wounded. And the air war continues as well. Reuters reports the US military is claiming 15 'terrorists' were killed in Adwaniya on Monday after they dropped two 500 pound bombs from the air on the area.
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 police officer was shot dead and his wife injured in a Kirkuk shooting today while yesterday 2 sons, 2 daughters and a mother from the same family were killed. Reuters notes 1 police officer and 1 Iraqi soldier were shot dead in Hawija today while yesterday a man was shot dead in Kifl.
Corpses?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 6 corpses in Baghdad and 1 corpse was discovered in Kirkuk.
Meanwhile IRIN reports "[m]ale gynaecologists are being targeted by Islamic extremists in Iraq as they are accues of invading the privacy of women," that at least 22 have received threatening letters while there is a shortage on male gynaecologists and very few female ones left in Iraq.
In political news, AP reports that Bahaa al-Araji, apparently speaking for all 30 members of the Sadr bloc in the Iraqi parliament, has called for the "parliament to be dissolved and new elections held." This takes place while puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki's cabinet continues with empty spots after he refused to agree to the requests of Sunni ministers. Those who keep giving lip service to a "political solution" that really means a US imposed "political situation" must be hoping no one notices al-Maliki's puppet government is as chaotic as it was in May 2006 when he kept missing deadlines to announce his complete cabinet. The escalation Bully Boy dubbed the 'surge' is ending as it was always planned to. 3,000 US service members stationed in Diyala Province will begin returning to the United States. And what got accomplished in the 'surge'? Puppet al-Maliki traveled a great deal (as did Iraq's president) but nothing's been accomplished. Not even the theft of Iraqi oil -- the White House pushed, big business written bill that would open Iraqi oil fields to foreign corporations and allow them to keep as much as 70% of the profits -- has been pushed through and the year is almost over. The United Nations' Relief Web has a list of things that still show no improvement such as: "Only one in three Iraqi children under the age of five has access to safe drinking water, according to UNICEF(4)."
Turning to the myth of civilians returning to Iraq. One return can be verified, McClatchy Newspaper's Leila Fadel has returned to Iraq. Of course, she's a journalist and American but her return can be verified placing her in a minority. As Baghdad Observer, she explains the checkpoints, the body searches, the delays (including stand-still traffic) and everything else it takes to move through the Green Zone for two scheduled meetings -- one with a US military general: "Two are body searches, two are just badge checks. At one checkpoint pedestrians are asked to walk through a spaceship looking X-ray machine. The elderly Iraqi woman in front of me starts to cry when she is asked to spread her legs and arms and step inside the machine.'I'm scared,' she says between sobs. When I'm done there a dog sniffs my camera, cell phone and recorder for explosive substances." Along with the body searches, "a woman gropes for anything illegal under my clothes and searches through my bag." Meanwhile on the much talked up in the press returns (that cannot be proven), organizations aren't continuing to be silent in the face of these false claims made by the puppet government and the US military. Australia's ABC reports the Red Crescent Society has released their report for September which found "almost 370,000 Iraqis fled their homes" and that "almost 2.3 million Iraqis have been internally displaced since the US-led invasion in 2003." uruk.net reports the Iraqi Red Crescent has stated the numbers being tossed around by the Iraqi government regarding the internally displace are not accurate and "were not related realities of the situation faced by the displaced," that they stood by their numbers and their methodology (remember, as we noted last week, this is the same nonsense that was pulled with The Lancet study, a push to discredit the science with numbers the US military and the Iraqi government refused to backup by making public their own alleged tabulations) and quotes their statement: "The real number of displaced persons by October (was) well over two million, three hundred thousand displaced inside the country." In addition, the United Nations Secretary General's office today released findings on displaced around the world and included this: "In Iraq, there are some 2.2 million internally displaced that we know of." As the Iraqi government's laughable claims get questioned, Reuters reports, "U.S. Catholic bishops on Tuesday described the situation in Iraq as 'unacceptable and unsustainable,' and urged the Bush administration to pull out American troops in a responsible way as quickly as possible."
Ali al-Fadhily (IPS via Common Dreams) reports, "Claims are going the rounds that sectarian violence in Iraq has fallen, and that the U.S. military 'surge' has succeeded in reducing attacks against civilians. Baghdad residents speak of the other side of the coint -- that they now live in a largely divided city that has brought this uneasy calm." And repeating 'political solution' hasn't happened. Waleed al-Ubaidy tells al-Fadhily, "All that has happened is a dramatic change in the demographic map of Iraq" and that, "Most of the honest journalists have left." While, reflecting Leila Fadel's report on moving through the Green Zone, Ahmad Ali tells al-Fadhily, "Baghdad has been torn into two cities and many towns and neighbourhoods. There is now the Shia Baghdad and the Sunni Baghdad to start with. Then, each is divided into little twon-like pieces of the hundreds of thousands who had to leave their homes."
Along with the human costs, there is the issue of the money. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted today, "A new study by Congressional Democrats estimates the total economic costs to the United States of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan now total approximately $1.5 trillion dollars. The study estimates the 'hidden costs' of the conflict including higher oil prices, the expense of treating wounded veterans and interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars. The Washington Post reports this amount is nearly double the $800 billion the White House has spent or requested to wage the wars through 2008." Josh White (Washington Post) reports that the calculated cost for the Iraq invasion is "$15,900 for a [US] family of four".
iraq
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ali al-fadhily
Monday, November 12, 2007
Ali Al-Fadhily, Iraq, etc.
First off, "To non-members and non-regular readers" went up Sunday and there were a number of e-mails about that. I figured there would be. I only read the ones from people who've written before -- mainly community members -- that I knew. Yes, you are right, the stuff being repeated was vile and disgusting. It also wasn't true. It has really soured me on opening anything from anyone whose e-mail I don't recognize. We were vague about the e-mails because whatever you think of Noam Chomsky, we've got no reason to repeat lies about him.
Everyone likes Chomsky's writing by the way. Howard Zinn is my Bible, absolutely. But if we seem detached on Chomsky in that section it's because we were detached. We were detached because if we were anything but cold, I was afraid something might slip out. A joke might be made about who could believe Chomsky ____. These weren't things about his work. I'd been sitting on this nonsense for about four weeks, it's been coming in here steady for about four weeks and off and on for about three months. I was tired and someone mentioned e-mails and I ended up sharing how sick I was of this one guy who keeps e-mailing all these disgusting lies. There are certain things that are known and I assume everyone knows where Chomsky lives if I do. So it didn't help the liar e-mailing when he placed Chomsky in the wrong location for his lies.
So when Jim proposed we do a feature on e-mails, my only condition was that we were detached and not make any jokes on the Chomsky section. The lies are laughable and it could be very easy to make fun of the e-mailer and his lies. I didn't want to take part in that -- not because I'm not someone who believes in humor but because I didn't even want a joke going out on this nonsense. I felt if it did, it would reward the jerk who has been e-mailing.
I've noted Chomsky here before. I've noted that I prefer Howard Zinn but I prefer Zinn to any academic. I'm not sure that if the list was "living or dead" that anyone deceased could top Zinn.
I prefer Chomsky in interviews because he can be a bit too cut and dry in his writing for me. Zinn, by contrast, is someone who gets under my skin and into my dreams. He can write about something, immigrant rights, whatever, and it comes to life for me while I'm reading and I will dream about it. I'll dream his column or essay or book as I read along.
So I wanted to be clear, and told them before we wrote it that I would be here on Monday, that we weren't allowing for any digressions, any humor, in that section. The feature lightens up as it goes along, which is fine, but on those e-mails I've been sent, I didn't want a joke.
There's another guy who always sends me stuff on how Chomsky is really against the Palestinians. I don't believe that. But the guy is working from his interpretations of Chomsky's writings. That's fine. I don't read them anymore because I'm just not interested. But the e-mailer I was talking about was this man who attempts to churn out e-mails that are the equivalent of The National Enquirer. I'm not interested and I am offended.
That's really all I have to say on the issue.
"Iraq: A Tale of One City, Now Two: Beneath Rosey Assessments Bitter Truths" (Ali al-Fadhily, IPS via Common Dreams):
Claims are going the rounds that sectarian violence in Iraq has fallen, and that the U.S. military "surge" has succeeded in reducing attacks against civilians. Baghdad residents speak of the other side of the coin -- that they live now in a largely divided city that has brought this uneasy calm.
"I would like to agree with the idea that violence in Iraq has decreased and that everything is fine," retired general Waleed al-Ubaidy told IPS in Baghdad. "But the truth is far more bitter. All that has happened is a dramatic change in the demographic map of Iraq."
And as with Baquba and other violence-hit areas of Iraq, he says a part of the story in Baghdad is that there is nobody left to tell it. "Most of the honest journalists have left."
"Baghdad has been torn into two cities and many towns and neighbourhoods," Ahmad Ali, chief engineer from one of Baghdad's municipalities told IPS. "There is now the Shia Baghdad and the Sunni Baghdad to start with. Then, each is divided into little town-like pieces of the hundreds of thousands who had to leave their homes."
Many Baghdad residents say that the claims of reduced violence can be tested only when refugees go back home.
Many areas of Baghdad that were previously mixed are now totally Shia or totally Sunni. This follows the sectarian cleansing in mixed neighbourhoods by militias and death squads.
You know what the e-mails I do read point out? That in the face of phoney claims the left and 'left' is caving. They're avoiding the issue of Iraq. Ali Al-Fadhily isn't which is why I'm highlighting him. The e-mails all point out that C.I.'s not and that is true, give C.I. credit. But C.I. was one of the few to regularly call out Dexter Filkins. C.I. was calling out Michael R. Gordon when people were going on about Judith Miller and not aware that Gordon co-wrote some of Miller's stories.
How did that happen? Because there's a pack mentality. Because a lot of people online are just gasbags. The work on exposing Judith Miller was already done. They could raid the work of others and make their jokes.
The reality is that C.I. tackles the nonsense every day. It doesn't matter if Iraq is "hot" or not. That's why C.I. called out the New York Times dog-pile on Naomi Klein. In real time. When it mattered.
While, and this isn't really an insult, I'm not surprised that's the case with a lot of bloggers, I am surprised it's the case with so many "media watchdogs."
While they act useless, a few people do stand up. C.I. is one and I would never undervalue what C.I. does. But the reason I'm not Ali Al-Fadhily tonight is that is another one. Even the organizations working with refugees are afraid to tell you the US government is lying. That's understandable. Remember the Red Cross wouldn't call out the majority of the abuse at Guantanamo. Doing so could mean they'd be kicked out.
But you are being lied to by the government and by the media. Very few are bothering to tell you the truth.
When this all blows, some people will be surprised. Iraq's a pressure cooker right now with most reporters going along with the government's lies. There is no "progress" in Iraq. Those of us who lived through Vietnam are aware of this dance and there were cowards who fell silent in the face of propaganda then as well.
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Monday, November 12, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, Di-Fi steps up for the ones who brought her to the dance, another mercenary organization shoots and kills another Iraqi civilian, and more.
Starting with war resisters. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) explained the latest about US Senator Dianne Feinstein ("Miss Dianne: Girl Senator -- the non-action figure"). Di-Fi's a war resister? No, she's a War Hawk with blood on her filthy hands. But as Goodman explained, Di-Fi is concerned that the illegal spying issue needs some "legal immunity for telecomunications companies . . . because the companies are unable to defend themselves in court since the governments insist their activities be kept secret." [Click here for Bob Egelko's San Francisco Chronicle report from Friday.] How very interesting. Ehren Watada, like Camilo Mejia before him, was subject to a military court-martial in which a military 'judge' refused to allow him to defend himself, ruled that his reasons for refusing to deploy were immaterial. Di-Fi didn't raise an objection. But then war resisters haven't been the big donors to Di-Fi; however, the telecommunications industry has deep pockets and certainly Pacific Telesis has reached deeper than most. The San Francisco located company (don't forget that the chief witness against AT&T is talking about a switching station located in San Francisco) was merged with/folded into SBC in 1997 and SBC folded in with AT&T Corporation to form AT&T Inc. in 2005. So Di-Fi has no interest in whether or not a defendant can present their best defense, she's only (yet again) protecting her big donors -- the hallmark of her shameful Senate career. The mergers and foldings meant all her big telecommunications donors were "bundled" allowing her to "reach out and touch someone" much easier while giving the public the finger.
Ehren Watada is the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq (June 2006). In February 2006, Judge Toilet (aka John Head) presided over a rigged court-martial -- that Di-Fi never raised an objection to -- and, when the prosecution was losing, Judge Toilet ruled a mistrial over defense objection. Despite the Constition's provision against double-jeopardy, the US military has repeatedly attempted to force another court-martial -- again, Di-Fi never raised an objection. US District Judge Benjamin Settle heard and appeal, issued two stays while weighing the briefs from both the prosecution and the defense and ruled last week that the US military could not proceed with any court-martial until Watada's double-jeopardy claim was addressed. He futher stated in his ruling that his judgement was the Constitutional provision against double-jeopardy would prevail. The Honolulu Advertiser reported Friday that Bob Watada, Ehren's father, explaining, "We talked for a few minutes and he said he's happy" and that Eric Seitz "believes the latest federal court decisions means the case against Watada essentially is dead." Seitz was Watada's civilian attorney prior to and throughout the February court-martial. Watada is currently represented (on the civilian side) by Kenneth Kagan and Jim Lobsenz. AP notes, "Watada contends the war is illegal and that he would be party to war crimes if he served in Iraq. The Army refused his request to be posted in Afghanistan or elsewhere." That's . . . some of the story. Watada researched the Iraq War when he got his orders -- researched as his superiors recommended -- not only did he feel he could be party to war crimes, as an officer he felt those serving under him could also be party to war crimes. In addition to offering to go to "Afghanistan or elsewhere," Watada offered other things including resigning his commission. The US military only offered him a desk job in Iraq where he would be 'safe' which was not what his objections to the illegal war were about. Jeff Paterson (at Indybay Media and Courage to Resist) explains, "No court martial can now take place unless Judge Settle reverses himself, or the military successfully appeals to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, or the U.S. Supreme Court -- all of which are unlikely."
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Zinn will take part in the November 18th presentation (the official opening night -- but performances are already taking place) and musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who appeared on Democracy Now! Friday addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project. Stacyann Chinn will take part this weekend, Anthony Arnove stated today on WBAI's Cat Radio Cafe where he discussed the project and how the rotating, non-permanent cast members allowed them to mix it up from performance to performance. With Janet Coleman (co-host with David Dozer), Arnove discussed how so much of the history -- the hidden history -- resonates today and specifically cited an editorial, from Frederick Douglass' newspaper the North Star, entitled "The War With Mexico" has a great deal to say today about the Iraq War. From the editorial, "No politician of any considerable distinction or eminence, seems willing to hazard his popularity with his party, or stem the fierce current of executive influence, by an open and unqualified disapprobation of the war. None seem willing to take their stand for peace at all risks; and all seem willing that the war should be carried on, in some form or other. . . . We have no preference for parties, regarding this slaveholding crusade. The one is as bad as the other. The friends of peace have nothing to hope from either." True then, true today.
Turning to Iraq, Jessica Pupovac (In These Times) highlights the Iraqi collaborators with the foreign military in the illegal occupation which the US military is calling "grassroots" and, like any grassroots group?, they "have signed contracts with the U.S. military" and "earn about $300 per month for their services -- more than three times Iraq's average monthly per capita income. They also receive $50 to $100 bonuses for 'actionable intelligence'." Pupovac informs that by October 20th, 67,000 Iraqis had 'enslisted' and that "[t]he vast majority of Concerned Citizens (79 percent) are Sunni, while 9 percent are Shiite and the remaining 12 percent are 'mixed'." Joshua Partlow and Ann Scott Tyson (Washington Post) report on this topic that the collaborators are known as "volunteers" and that "more than 80 percent of whom are Sunni" leading to a panic on the part "Of Iraqi's Shiite-dominated government" who worry they "could eventually mount an armed opposition".
Turning to the topic of Blackwater. On Thursday, Steve Fainaru's "How Blackwater Sniper Fire Felled 3 Iraqi Guards" (Washington Post) covered the latest revelations of the mercenary company's past actions in Iraq, specifically a February 7, 2007 incident where the mercenaries "opened fir from the roof of the Iraqi Justice Ministry" killing 3 Iraqi Media Network guards with 8 witnesses stating Blackwater's actions were not responding to anything. On Friday's Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez spoke with Fainaru about his report :
JUAN GONZALEZ: Now, Steve, in your investigation, obviously, you went at it many months later, but you found that virtually none of the witnesses had actually been interviewed by any American investigators about what actually happened?
STEVE FAINARU: Yeah, I think that was the thing that was most striking. You know, it's still very unclear sort of what precipitated the shooting. You know, the Iraqi guards -- I mean, we interviewed, you know, probably two dozen people inside that compound, and no one said that the Iraqi guards had fired first. Blackwater, of course, reported to the embassy that they had come under fire and responded with targeted rounds.
But what I think was most striking is that there was no real investigation that occurred on behalf of the US embassy's Regional Security Office, which is responsible for overseeing Blackwater. And, you know, their position was that they had conducted extensive interviews with the Blackwater team. They didn't really explain why they had never returned to the scene where it had taken place to try to interview witnesses, but that had not happened. There wasn't any real investigation that occurred. Now, the embassy claimed that there were other people who were interviewed, in terms of their own inquiry or review, but it was never entirely clear who those people were.
[. . .]
AMY GOODMAN: And now, what is happening now, after the September 16th incident, attack by the Blackwater forces in Baghdad have opened up this whole question of responsibility and culpability?
STEVE FAINARU: Well, with regard to this specific incident or more generally?
AMY GOODMAN: In regard to this specific attack, is it being re-looked at?
STEVE FAINARU: Well, as in before yesterday, no, not really. I mean, we had looked into it because -- really, we were interested in it -- but we've been covering the private security issue all year -- and we were interested in it because we wanted to try to find out -- we were aware that an incident had taken place, but only sort of generally, that it was one of the incidents that the Iraqi Ministry of Interior had brought to the embassy to try to figure out what had happened and see if the Americans would respond. So the goal was to find out what happened and what, if any, response there was on behalf of the Americans.
So, you know, in terms of what's going on with it now, it's not totally clear. You know, there is a joint Iraqi commission that has been set up that's addressing private security matters in the wake of the September 16th Nisoor Square incident. And so, that commission is supposed to, among other things, look into previous incidents, presumably this one, although it was -- it's not clear to us that this specific incident is on the agenda of that commission. So I think it's the hope of the Iraqi Media Network that some resolution will occur, whether it's, you know, compensation or clarification for why the shooting took place, you know, an actual investigation. But up to now, nothing has really happened.
Friday, David Martin (CBS News) reported on "Removing the legal immunity" -- a letter the Iraqi Interior Ministry sent to 'security' contractors advising them that "all immunities . . . shall be cancelled." Blackwater is far from the only mercenary guns in Iraq. Today Missy Ryan (Reuters) reports on another Iraqi civilian killed by mercenaries in Iraq, this time by DynCorp who shot dead an Iraqi cab driver in Baghdad Saturday. James Glanz (New York Times) reports 3 "witnesses said the taxi had posed no threat to the convoy, and one of them, an Iraqi Army sergeant who inspected the car afterward, said it contained no weapons or explosive devices" and quotes the Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul-Karim Khalaf declaring, "They just killed a man and drove away." Camilla Hall (Bloomberg News) reports that the US State Department's Baghdad embassy spokesperson Philip Reeker says (apparently with a straight face) that they are "closely" examining the shooting.
CBS has [PDF format warning] posted the letter David Martin was reporting on the text of which reads: "According to the directions of the Minister Council regarding moving the legal immunity from all the foreign private security companies and deal with it according to Iraqi law. Please notify that in all your future missions and give the direction to all your staff. For your information all the Iraqi security departments were informed about it. The MNF confirming taking the legal actions against any violator in the future. Including signing your passports from the traveling and Jinsseya directorate to make your residence in Iraq legal. And the violator will face legal punishment from the Iraqi law." Only the Iraq Parliament has the power to pass laws so [PDF format warning] what CBS has posted is proposal from al-Maliki's cabinet at present and nothing more:
Article 1:
Non-Iraqi security companies and its non-Iraqi employees and contractors shall be subject to the Iraqi legislation and the jurisdiction of the Iraqi judiciary in all civil and criminal cases. All immunities granted to them in accordance with any valid legislation shall be canceled.
Article 2:
The categories mentioned in Article 1 of this law shall be subject to the Iraqi legislations including those related to the residency, granting visas, possessing and carrying weapons, paying taxes, fees and customs, registering companies and granting them license to work in the Iraqi territories.
Article 3:
The vehicles, ships, airplanes belonging to the categories mentioned in Article 1 of this law shall be subject to the procedures of registration, licensing, checking and inspection stipulated in the Iraqi legislations.
Article 4:
This law shall be deemed as an amendment for the Dissolved CPA Order No17 of 2004.
Article 5:
This Law shall enter in force on the date of its publishing in the Official Gazette.
At issue as well is whether Order 17 can be overturned? Before fleeing Iraq like a thief in the night, Bwana Paul Bremer signed Coalition Provisional Autority Order 17:
Contractors shall not be subject to Iraqi laws or regulations in matters relating to the terms and conditions of their Congrats, including licensing and registering employees, businesses and corporations; provided, however, that Contractors shall comply with such applicable licensing and registration laws and regulations if engaging in business or transactions in Iraq other than Contracts. Notwithstanding any provisions in this order, Private Security Companies and their employees operating in Iraq must comply with all CPA Orders, Regulations, Memoranda, and any implementing instructions or regulations governing the existence and activities of Private Security Companies in Iraq, including registration and licensing of weapons and firearms.
Elizabeth Schulte (US Socialist Worker) explains, "Order 17 effectively barred the Iraqi government -- to which the U.S. was preparing to 'hand over' power -- from prosecuting contractors in Iraqi courts. Moreover, as private contractors, Blackwaters' goons aren't bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, as regular U.S. soldiers are. [The US} Congress is debating rescinding the immunity of security firms like Blackwater and giving U.S. civilian courts the right to prosecute contractors."
Over the weekend, the attacks on officials continued. Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reported two Sunday attacks: police Gen Brig. Wathiq al-Hamadni and the Mosul governor Dureed Kashmoola were targeted with roadside bombings (both survived) while Wajihiyah village's deputy governor was targeted and two bodyguards were wounded, also five people wounded by a grenade in Baghdad. McClatchy's Laith Hammoudi reported a Friday bombing claimed the life of Sheikh Lafta Al Obeidi.
Turning to some of today's reported violence . .
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports three civilians were wounded in a Baghdad roadside bombing, a mortar attack on a military base, a Tirkit roadside bombing left one police officer wounded and "Iraqi army officer LC Salam Ismaeel" car was bombed -- from inside -- while he was driving it in Baghdad -- Reuters reports the bomb was under the car -- demonstrating that not only are officials being targeted but that the methods are being fine tuned (Ismaeel was wounded) also evidenced by a roadside bomb targeting "Al Rashad town police chief in Al Rashad". Al Dulaimy also notes that on Sunday a 10-year-old girl was killed in a Baghdad bombing while a Kirkuk roadside bombing claimed the life of 1police officer Sunday. Reuters notes that today's Tikrit roadside bombing's count has gone with three injured and 1 dead.
Shootings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "Iraqi police said an American military convoy killed Khalaf Hussein and his wife Safra Ibraheem as he was approaching the convoy on a main road west of Kirkuk yesterday. The US military said the shooting was related to convoy operation adding that the Iraqi police fired from an outpost on a truck was coming against the traffic." Reuters notes 2 police officers were shot dead in Baghdad.
Corpses?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 5 corpses were discovered in Baghdad today.
Meanwhile Cara Buckley (New York Times) reports on the al-Malikik government's claims of a mass return due to 'improved security conditions' with Buckley noting that "it was not clear how he tallied the number of returning families, which officials say have been exceedingly difficult to locate. The significance of the returns is also a subject of debate." IRIN does not provide any of their own numbers (IRIN is part of the United Nations) but looks at one family that has returned from Syria and notes that those moving back do so "not because they are confident of Iraq's future but because they have run out of money." (Yes, we did cover that point last week.)
Turning to peace news. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted, "In Olympia, Washington, 15 anti-war deomnstrators were arrested over the weekend while attempting to block a military convoy carrying Stryker vehicles. The protests were organizaed by the Olympia Port Militarization Resistance which aims to stop the US military from using the Port of Olympia to ship equipment to Iraq. Protest organizers also accused police of brutalizing dozens of peaceful demonstrators and journalists. On Saturday police dressed in riot gear repeatedly used pepper spray and batons to break up the protest." Goodman also noted today that Bethesda Maryland, one of the children winning cash prized from Lego, has garnered a great deal of attention because her winning essay explains, "I don't want kids to lose any parents in the war" and because her father filmed a video [portions of the video are included the report] of her singing "Happy Springtime" which reworks John Lennon and Yoko Ono's classic peace anthem "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" into "Happy Springtime (Bush Is Over)."
Sunday was Veterans' Day. New Brunswick's Home News Tribune editorialized today, "The National Alliance to End Homelessness reported Thursday that, although one in 10 Americans is a veteran, they account for 25 percent of the homeless population. Already veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have been found living on the streets." The Boston Globe's editorial highlights this statistic, "On any given night in 2006, an estimated 196,000 veterans were homeless in America, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a Washington nonprofit. Over the course of the year, nearly a half-million veterans were homeless." Megan Ingerson (Indianapolis Star) reports that those supplying care and/or assistance to the homeless "say the actual numbers may be triple what's reported in the new study. . . . Veterans working with the Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation say the study's estimates could be low because many veterans don't want to admit they're in trouble." Nashville's WKRN offers text and video as they highlight Vietnam veteran Frederick Keys who is hopeful that things will improve via the Matthew 25 Shelter's assistance in contrast to John who suffers from crippling medical bills and declares, "I'm not proud to be a veteran. I'm sorry to be a veteran." Meanwhile, the Bully Boy of the United States declared in his radio address Saturday, "Veterans Day also reminds us of our solemn responsibility to care for those who have fought our Nation's wars. Under my Adminstration, Federal spending for our veterans has increased by more than two-thirds. We have extended medical treatment to a million additional veterans, including hundreds of thousands returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. And we have expanded grants to help homeless veterans across the country." Lies. Lies. And more lies. From the liar Non-FactCheck.org decided to carry water for in 2004 and claim that the White House had a wonderful program. They accused Senator John Kerry of lying in his presidential campaign when the reality Non-FactCheck.org failed to grasp was that programs such as Veterans Affairs need increases each year in peace time. When two wars are going on (Iraq and Afghanistan), they need huge increases. That was the point Kerry made repeatedly in his 2004 presidential campaign that the 'non-partisan' Non-FactCheck.org chose to ignore. Meanwhile Matthew Cardinale (Atlanta Progressive News) reports that Veterans for Peace Chapter 125 and American Veterans for Equal Rights Georgia were informed they weren't allowed to participate in Sunday's Veterans Day parade for "FAILURE TO FOLLOW GUIDELINES IN PREVIOUS YEAR!" as was written on their applications this year and President of the Parade Association, Melvin Myers, when not asking if Cardinale was "a communist or something," insisted that the parade "doesn't allow anyone out there to promote ideas." No ideas? A parade without a message? Only in the United States under Bully Boy. On KPFK's Uprising today, Aura Bogado (filling in for Sonali Kolhatkar who is on maternity leave) noted a Denver parade was barring Military Families Speak Out from participating today (yesterday was Veterans' Day, today ) while speaking with MFSO's Larry Syverson "what we want Congress to do is step up to the plate and defund the war. Our campaign is: 'Funding the war is killing our troops'."
Syverson also spoke of the first year of the illegal war and the toil it took on his wife and himself as they worried about the phone call, the sound of a car bearing bad news about their son as the tires rolled over the gravel
Meanwhile journalist Robert Parry does battle that all of his previous investigative work may have prepared him for but it's a monumental task: wading through the many, many lies of the Bully Boy. Parry (Consortium News) notes, "But my personal favorite Bush lie is when he insists that the United States invaded Iraq to enforce a United Nations resolution and that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein 'chose war' by barring U.N. weapons inspectors. Bush dusted off that old canard on Nov. 7 while standing next to French President Nicolas Sarkozy during a press conference at George Washington's estate at Mount Vernon in Virginia. Responding to a question from a French journalist about Bush's dispute with France over the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the U.S. president said: 'We had a difference of opinion with your great country over whether or not I should have used military force to enforce U.N. demands. . . . I just want to remind you that [U.N. Resolution] 1441 was supported by France and the United States, which clearly said to the dictator, you will disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences. Now I'm the kind of person that when somebody says something, I take them for their word.' Bush has made this same false argument scores of times dating back to July 2003, several months after the invasion when it was becoming clear that Saddam Hussein had told the truth when his government reported to the U.N. in 2002 that Iraq's WMD stockpiles had been eliminated." Robert Parry and sons Nat and Sam will be speaking at Busboys and Poets in Arlingtion, Virginia Saturday Nov. 17th from four p.m. to six p.m. discussing their new book Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush. Sam and Nat Parry have established their own journalist skills at Consortium News and they and Robert Parry can discuss any of the topics pertaining to the current administration but remember that Robert Parry has been doing investigative journalism for years and, if you're in that area or are visting it on the 19th, you'll have access to one of the most straighforward and determined journalists in this country.
iraq
ehren watadajeff paterson
democracy nowamy goodmansteve fainaru
the washington post
joshua partlow
ann scott tyson
anthony arnovehoward zinn
wbaicat radio cafe
kpfkuprising
robert parry
the san francisco chronicle
the new york times
cara buckley
Everyone likes Chomsky's writing by the way. Howard Zinn is my Bible, absolutely. But if we seem detached on Chomsky in that section it's because we were detached. We were detached because if we were anything but cold, I was afraid something might slip out. A joke might be made about who could believe Chomsky ____. These weren't things about his work. I'd been sitting on this nonsense for about four weeks, it's been coming in here steady for about four weeks and off and on for about three months. I was tired and someone mentioned e-mails and I ended up sharing how sick I was of this one guy who keeps e-mailing all these disgusting lies. There are certain things that are known and I assume everyone knows where Chomsky lives if I do. So it didn't help the liar e-mailing when he placed Chomsky in the wrong location for his lies.
So when Jim proposed we do a feature on e-mails, my only condition was that we were detached and not make any jokes on the Chomsky section. The lies are laughable and it could be very easy to make fun of the e-mailer and his lies. I didn't want to take part in that -- not because I'm not someone who believes in humor but because I didn't even want a joke going out on this nonsense. I felt if it did, it would reward the jerk who has been e-mailing.
I've noted Chomsky here before. I've noted that I prefer Howard Zinn but I prefer Zinn to any academic. I'm not sure that if the list was "living or dead" that anyone deceased could top Zinn.
I prefer Chomsky in interviews because he can be a bit too cut and dry in his writing for me. Zinn, by contrast, is someone who gets under my skin and into my dreams. He can write about something, immigrant rights, whatever, and it comes to life for me while I'm reading and I will dream about it. I'll dream his column or essay or book as I read along.
So I wanted to be clear, and told them before we wrote it that I would be here on Monday, that we weren't allowing for any digressions, any humor, in that section. The feature lightens up as it goes along, which is fine, but on those e-mails I've been sent, I didn't want a joke.
There's another guy who always sends me stuff on how Chomsky is really against the Palestinians. I don't believe that. But the guy is working from his interpretations of Chomsky's writings. That's fine. I don't read them anymore because I'm just not interested. But the e-mailer I was talking about was this man who attempts to churn out e-mails that are the equivalent of The National Enquirer. I'm not interested and I am offended.
That's really all I have to say on the issue.
"Iraq: A Tale of One City, Now Two: Beneath Rosey Assessments Bitter Truths" (Ali al-Fadhily, IPS via Common Dreams):
Claims are going the rounds that sectarian violence in Iraq has fallen, and that the U.S. military "surge" has succeeded in reducing attacks against civilians. Baghdad residents speak of the other side of the coin -- that they live now in a largely divided city that has brought this uneasy calm.
"I would like to agree with the idea that violence in Iraq has decreased and that everything is fine," retired general Waleed al-Ubaidy told IPS in Baghdad. "But the truth is far more bitter. All that has happened is a dramatic change in the demographic map of Iraq."
And as with Baquba and other violence-hit areas of Iraq, he says a part of the story in Baghdad is that there is nobody left to tell it. "Most of the honest journalists have left."
"Baghdad has been torn into two cities and many towns and neighbourhoods," Ahmad Ali, chief engineer from one of Baghdad's municipalities told IPS. "There is now the Shia Baghdad and the Sunni Baghdad to start with. Then, each is divided into little town-like pieces of the hundreds of thousands who had to leave their homes."
Many Baghdad residents say that the claims of reduced violence can be tested only when refugees go back home.
Many areas of Baghdad that were previously mixed are now totally Shia or totally Sunni. This follows the sectarian cleansing in mixed neighbourhoods by militias and death squads.
You know what the e-mails I do read point out? That in the face of phoney claims the left and 'left' is caving. They're avoiding the issue of Iraq. Ali Al-Fadhily isn't which is why I'm highlighting him. The e-mails all point out that C.I.'s not and that is true, give C.I. credit. But C.I. was one of the few to regularly call out Dexter Filkins. C.I. was calling out Michael R. Gordon when people were going on about Judith Miller and not aware that Gordon co-wrote some of Miller's stories.
How did that happen? Because there's a pack mentality. Because a lot of people online are just gasbags. The work on exposing Judith Miller was already done. They could raid the work of others and make their jokes.
The reality is that C.I. tackles the nonsense every day. It doesn't matter if Iraq is "hot" or not. That's why C.I. called out the New York Times dog-pile on Naomi Klein. In real time. When it mattered.
While, and this isn't really an insult, I'm not surprised that's the case with a lot of bloggers, I am surprised it's the case with so many "media watchdogs."
While they act useless, a few people do stand up. C.I. is one and I would never undervalue what C.I. does. But the reason I'm not Ali Al-Fadhily tonight is that is another one. Even the organizations working with refugees are afraid to tell you the US government is lying. That's understandable. Remember the Red Cross wouldn't call out the majority of the abuse at Guantanamo. Doing so could mean they'd be kicked out.
But you are being lied to by the government and by the media. Very few are bothering to tell you the truth.
When this all blows, some people will be surprised. Iraq's a pressure cooker right now with most reporters going along with the government's lies. There is no "progress" in Iraq. Those of us who lived through Vietnam are aware of this dance and there were cowards who fell silent in the face of propaganda then as well.
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Monday, November 12, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, Di-Fi steps up for the ones who brought her to the dance, another mercenary organization shoots and kills another Iraqi civilian, and more.
Starting with war resisters. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) explained the latest about US Senator Dianne Feinstein ("Miss Dianne: Girl Senator -- the non-action figure"). Di-Fi's a war resister? No, she's a War Hawk with blood on her filthy hands. But as Goodman explained, Di-Fi is concerned that the illegal spying issue needs some "legal immunity for telecomunications companies . . . because the companies are unable to defend themselves in court since the governments insist their activities be kept secret." [Click here for Bob Egelko's San Francisco Chronicle report from Friday.] How very interesting. Ehren Watada, like Camilo Mejia before him, was subject to a military court-martial in which a military 'judge' refused to allow him to defend himself, ruled that his reasons for refusing to deploy were immaterial. Di-Fi didn't raise an objection. But then war resisters haven't been the big donors to Di-Fi; however, the telecommunications industry has deep pockets and certainly Pacific Telesis has reached deeper than most. The San Francisco located company (don't forget that the chief witness against AT&T is talking about a switching station located in San Francisco) was merged with/folded into SBC in 1997 and SBC folded in with AT&T Corporation to form AT&T Inc. in 2005. So Di-Fi has no interest in whether or not a defendant can present their best defense, she's only (yet again) protecting her big donors -- the hallmark of her shameful Senate career. The mergers and foldings meant all her big telecommunications donors were "bundled" allowing her to "reach out and touch someone" much easier while giving the public the finger.
Ehren Watada is the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq (June 2006). In February 2006, Judge Toilet (aka John Head) presided over a rigged court-martial -- that Di-Fi never raised an objection to -- and, when the prosecution was losing, Judge Toilet ruled a mistrial over defense objection. Despite the Constition's provision against double-jeopardy, the US military has repeatedly attempted to force another court-martial -- again, Di-Fi never raised an objection. US District Judge Benjamin Settle heard and appeal, issued two stays while weighing the briefs from both the prosecution and the defense and ruled last week that the US military could not proceed with any court-martial until Watada's double-jeopardy claim was addressed. He futher stated in his ruling that his judgement was the Constitutional provision against double-jeopardy would prevail. The Honolulu Advertiser reported Friday that Bob Watada, Ehren's father, explaining, "We talked for a few minutes and he said he's happy" and that Eric Seitz "believes the latest federal court decisions means the case against Watada essentially is dead." Seitz was Watada's civilian attorney prior to and throughout the February court-martial. Watada is currently represented (on the civilian side) by Kenneth Kagan and Jim Lobsenz. AP notes, "Watada contends the war is illegal and that he would be party to war crimes if he served in Iraq. The Army refused his request to be posted in Afghanistan or elsewhere." That's . . . some of the story. Watada researched the Iraq War when he got his orders -- researched as his superiors recommended -- not only did he feel he could be party to war crimes, as an officer he felt those serving under him could also be party to war crimes. In addition to offering to go to "Afghanistan or elsewhere," Watada offered other things including resigning his commission. The US military only offered him a desk job in Iraq where he would be 'safe' which was not what his objections to the illegal war were about. Jeff Paterson (at Indybay Media and Courage to Resist) explains, "No court martial can now take place unless Judge Settle reverses himself, or the military successfully appeals to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, or the U.S. Supreme Court -- all of which are unlikely."
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Zinn will take part in the November 18th presentation (the official opening night -- but performances are already taking place) and musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who appeared on Democracy Now! Friday addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project. Stacyann Chinn will take part this weekend, Anthony Arnove stated today on WBAI's Cat Radio Cafe where he discussed the project and how the rotating, non-permanent cast members allowed them to mix it up from performance to performance. With Janet Coleman (co-host with David Dozer), Arnove discussed how so much of the history -- the hidden history -- resonates today and specifically cited an editorial, from Frederick Douglass' newspaper the North Star, entitled "The War With Mexico" has a great deal to say today about the Iraq War. From the editorial, "No politician of any considerable distinction or eminence, seems willing to hazard his popularity with his party, or stem the fierce current of executive influence, by an open and unqualified disapprobation of the war. None seem willing to take their stand for peace at all risks; and all seem willing that the war should be carried on, in some form or other. . . . We have no preference for parties, regarding this slaveholding crusade. The one is as bad as the other. The friends of peace have nothing to hope from either." True then, true today.
Turning to Iraq, Jessica Pupovac (In These Times) highlights the Iraqi collaborators with the foreign military in the illegal occupation which the US military is calling "grassroots" and, like any grassroots group?, they "have signed contracts with the U.S. military" and "earn about $300 per month for their services -- more than three times Iraq's average monthly per capita income. They also receive $50 to $100 bonuses for 'actionable intelligence'." Pupovac informs that by October 20th, 67,000 Iraqis had 'enslisted' and that "[t]he vast majority of Concerned Citizens (79 percent) are Sunni, while 9 percent are Shiite and the remaining 12 percent are 'mixed'." Joshua Partlow and Ann Scott Tyson (Washington Post) report on this topic that the collaborators are known as "volunteers" and that "more than 80 percent of whom are Sunni" leading to a panic on the part "Of Iraqi's Shiite-dominated government" who worry they "could eventually mount an armed opposition".
Turning to the topic of Blackwater. On Thursday, Steve Fainaru's "How Blackwater Sniper Fire Felled 3 Iraqi Guards" (Washington Post) covered the latest revelations of the mercenary company's past actions in Iraq, specifically a February 7, 2007 incident where the mercenaries "opened fir from the roof of the Iraqi Justice Ministry" killing 3 Iraqi Media Network guards with 8 witnesses stating Blackwater's actions were not responding to anything. On Friday's Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez spoke with Fainaru about his report :
JUAN GONZALEZ: Now, Steve, in your investigation, obviously, you went at it many months later, but you found that virtually none of the witnesses had actually been interviewed by any American investigators about what actually happened?
STEVE FAINARU: Yeah, I think that was the thing that was most striking. You know, it's still very unclear sort of what precipitated the shooting. You know, the Iraqi guards -- I mean, we interviewed, you know, probably two dozen people inside that compound, and no one said that the Iraqi guards had fired first. Blackwater, of course, reported to the embassy that they had come under fire and responded with targeted rounds.
But what I think was most striking is that there was no real investigation that occurred on behalf of the US embassy's Regional Security Office, which is responsible for overseeing Blackwater. And, you know, their position was that they had conducted extensive interviews with the Blackwater team. They didn't really explain why they had never returned to the scene where it had taken place to try to interview witnesses, but that had not happened. There wasn't any real investigation that occurred. Now, the embassy claimed that there were other people who were interviewed, in terms of their own inquiry or review, but it was never entirely clear who those people were.
[. . .]
AMY GOODMAN: And now, what is happening now, after the September 16th incident, attack by the Blackwater forces in Baghdad have opened up this whole question of responsibility and culpability?
STEVE FAINARU: Well, with regard to this specific incident or more generally?
AMY GOODMAN: In regard to this specific attack, is it being re-looked at?
STEVE FAINARU: Well, as in before yesterday, no, not really. I mean, we had looked into it because -- really, we were interested in it -- but we've been covering the private security issue all year -- and we were interested in it because we wanted to try to find out -- we were aware that an incident had taken place, but only sort of generally, that it was one of the incidents that the Iraqi Ministry of Interior had brought to the embassy to try to figure out what had happened and see if the Americans would respond. So the goal was to find out what happened and what, if any, response there was on behalf of the Americans.
So, you know, in terms of what's going on with it now, it's not totally clear. You know, there is a joint Iraqi commission that has been set up that's addressing private security matters in the wake of the September 16th Nisoor Square incident. And so, that commission is supposed to, among other things, look into previous incidents, presumably this one, although it was -- it's not clear to us that this specific incident is on the agenda of that commission. So I think it's the hope of the Iraqi Media Network that some resolution will occur, whether it's, you know, compensation or clarification for why the shooting took place, you know, an actual investigation. But up to now, nothing has really happened.
Friday, David Martin (CBS News) reported on "Removing the legal immunity" -- a letter the Iraqi Interior Ministry sent to 'security' contractors advising them that "all immunities . . . shall be cancelled." Blackwater is far from the only mercenary guns in Iraq. Today Missy Ryan (Reuters) reports on another Iraqi civilian killed by mercenaries in Iraq, this time by DynCorp who shot dead an Iraqi cab driver in Baghdad Saturday. James Glanz (New York Times) reports 3 "witnesses said the taxi had posed no threat to the convoy, and one of them, an Iraqi Army sergeant who inspected the car afterward, said it contained no weapons or explosive devices" and quotes the Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul-Karim Khalaf declaring, "They just killed a man and drove away." Camilla Hall (Bloomberg News) reports that the US State Department's Baghdad embassy spokesperson Philip Reeker says (apparently with a straight face) that they are "closely" examining the shooting.
CBS has [PDF format warning] posted the letter David Martin was reporting on the text of which reads: "According to the directions of the Minister Council regarding moving the legal immunity from all the foreign private security companies and deal with it according to Iraqi law. Please notify that in all your future missions and give the direction to all your staff. For your information all the Iraqi security departments were informed about it. The MNF confirming taking the legal actions against any violator in the future. Including signing your passports from the traveling and Jinsseya directorate to make your residence in Iraq legal. And the violator will face legal punishment from the Iraqi law." Only the Iraq Parliament has the power to pass laws so [PDF format warning] what CBS has posted is proposal from al-Maliki's cabinet at present and nothing more:
Article 1:
Non-Iraqi security companies and its non-Iraqi employees and contractors shall be subject to the Iraqi legislation and the jurisdiction of the Iraqi judiciary in all civil and criminal cases. All immunities granted to them in accordance with any valid legislation shall be canceled.
Article 2:
The categories mentioned in Article 1 of this law shall be subject to the Iraqi legislations including those related to the residency, granting visas, possessing and carrying weapons, paying taxes, fees and customs, registering companies and granting them license to work in the Iraqi territories.
Article 3:
The vehicles, ships, airplanes belonging to the categories mentioned in Article 1 of this law shall be subject to the procedures of registration, licensing, checking and inspection stipulated in the Iraqi legislations.
Article 4:
This law shall be deemed as an amendment for the Dissolved CPA Order No17 of 2004.
Article 5:
This Law shall enter in force on the date of its publishing in the Official Gazette.
At issue as well is whether Order 17 can be overturned? Before fleeing Iraq like a thief in the night, Bwana Paul Bremer signed Coalition Provisional Autority Order 17:
Contractors shall not be subject to Iraqi laws or regulations in matters relating to the terms and conditions of their Congrats, including licensing and registering employees, businesses and corporations; provided, however, that Contractors shall comply with such applicable licensing and registration laws and regulations if engaging in business or transactions in Iraq other than Contracts. Notwithstanding any provisions in this order, Private Security Companies and their employees operating in Iraq must comply with all CPA Orders, Regulations, Memoranda, and any implementing instructions or regulations governing the existence and activities of Private Security Companies in Iraq, including registration and licensing of weapons and firearms.
Elizabeth Schulte (US Socialist Worker) explains, "Order 17 effectively barred the Iraqi government -- to which the U.S. was preparing to 'hand over' power -- from prosecuting contractors in Iraqi courts. Moreover, as private contractors, Blackwaters' goons aren't bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, as regular U.S. soldiers are. [The US} Congress is debating rescinding the immunity of security firms like Blackwater and giving U.S. civilian courts the right to prosecute contractors."
Over the weekend, the attacks on officials continued. Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reported two Sunday attacks: police Gen Brig. Wathiq al-Hamadni and the Mosul governor Dureed Kashmoola were targeted with roadside bombings (both survived) while Wajihiyah village's deputy governor was targeted and two bodyguards were wounded, also five people wounded by a grenade in Baghdad. McClatchy's Laith Hammoudi reported a Friday bombing claimed the life of Sheikh Lafta Al Obeidi.
Turning to some of today's reported violence . .
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports three civilians were wounded in a Baghdad roadside bombing, a mortar attack on a military base, a Tirkit roadside bombing left one police officer wounded and "Iraqi army officer LC Salam Ismaeel" car was bombed -- from inside -- while he was driving it in Baghdad -- Reuters reports the bomb was under the car -- demonstrating that not only are officials being targeted but that the methods are being fine tuned (Ismaeel was wounded) also evidenced by a roadside bomb targeting "Al Rashad town police chief in Al Rashad". Al Dulaimy also notes that on Sunday a 10-year-old girl was killed in a Baghdad bombing while a Kirkuk roadside bombing claimed the life of 1police officer Sunday. Reuters notes that today's Tikrit roadside bombing's count has gone with three injured and 1 dead.
Shootings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "Iraqi police said an American military convoy killed Khalaf Hussein and his wife Safra Ibraheem as he was approaching the convoy on a main road west of Kirkuk yesterday. The US military said the shooting was related to convoy operation adding that the Iraqi police fired from an outpost on a truck was coming against the traffic." Reuters notes 2 police officers were shot dead in Baghdad.
Corpses?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 5 corpses were discovered in Baghdad today.
Meanwhile Cara Buckley (New York Times) reports on the al-Malikik government's claims of a mass return due to 'improved security conditions' with Buckley noting that "it was not clear how he tallied the number of returning families, which officials say have been exceedingly difficult to locate. The significance of the returns is also a subject of debate." IRIN does not provide any of their own numbers (IRIN is part of the United Nations) but looks at one family that has returned from Syria and notes that those moving back do so "not because they are confident of Iraq's future but because they have run out of money." (Yes, we did cover that point last week.)
Turning to peace news. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted, "In Olympia, Washington, 15 anti-war deomnstrators were arrested over the weekend while attempting to block a military convoy carrying Stryker vehicles. The protests were organizaed by the Olympia Port Militarization Resistance which aims to stop the US military from using the Port of Olympia to ship equipment to Iraq. Protest organizers also accused police of brutalizing dozens of peaceful demonstrators and journalists. On Saturday police dressed in riot gear repeatedly used pepper spray and batons to break up the protest." Goodman also noted today that Bethesda Maryland, one of the children winning cash prized from Lego, has garnered a great deal of attention because her winning essay explains, "I don't want kids to lose any parents in the war" and because her father filmed a video [portions of the video are included the report] of her singing "Happy Springtime" which reworks John Lennon and Yoko Ono's classic peace anthem "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" into "Happy Springtime (Bush Is Over)."
Sunday was Veterans' Day. New Brunswick's Home News Tribune editorialized today, "The National Alliance to End Homelessness reported Thursday that, although one in 10 Americans is a veteran, they account for 25 percent of the homeless population. Already veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have been found living on the streets." The Boston Globe's editorial highlights this statistic, "On any given night in 2006, an estimated 196,000 veterans were homeless in America, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a Washington nonprofit. Over the course of the year, nearly a half-million veterans were homeless." Megan Ingerson (Indianapolis Star) reports that those supplying care and/or assistance to the homeless "say the actual numbers may be triple what's reported in the new study. . . . Veterans working with the Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation say the study's estimates could be low because many veterans don't want to admit they're in trouble." Nashville's WKRN offers text and video as they highlight Vietnam veteran Frederick Keys who is hopeful that things will improve via the Matthew 25 Shelter's assistance in contrast to John who suffers from crippling medical bills and declares, "I'm not proud to be a veteran. I'm sorry to be a veteran." Meanwhile, the Bully Boy of the United States declared in his radio address Saturday, "Veterans Day also reminds us of our solemn responsibility to care for those who have fought our Nation's wars. Under my Adminstration, Federal spending for our veterans has increased by more than two-thirds. We have extended medical treatment to a million additional veterans, including hundreds of thousands returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. And we have expanded grants to help homeless veterans across the country." Lies. Lies. And more lies. From the liar Non-FactCheck.org decided to carry water for in 2004 and claim that the White House had a wonderful program. They accused Senator John Kerry of lying in his presidential campaign when the reality Non-FactCheck.org failed to grasp was that programs such as Veterans Affairs need increases each year in peace time. When two wars are going on (Iraq and Afghanistan), they need huge increases. That was the point Kerry made repeatedly in his 2004 presidential campaign that the 'non-partisan' Non-FactCheck.org chose to ignore. Meanwhile Matthew Cardinale (Atlanta Progressive News) reports that Veterans for Peace Chapter 125 and American Veterans for Equal Rights Georgia were informed they weren't allowed to participate in Sunday's Veterans Day parade for "FAILURE TO FOLLOW GUIDELINES IN PREVIOUS YEAR!" as was written on their applications this year and President of the Parade Association, Melvin Myers, when not asking if Cardinale was "a communist or something," insisted that the parade "doesn't allow anyone out there to promote ideas." No ideas? A parade without a message? Only in the United States under Bully Boy. On KPFK's Uprising today, Aura Bogado (filling in for Sonali Kolhatkar who is on maternity leave) noted a Denver parade was barring Military Families Speak Out from participating today (yesterday was Veterans' Day, today ) while speaking with MFSO's Larry Syverson "what we want Congress to do is step up to the plate and defund the war. Our campaign is: 'Funding the war is killing our troops'."
Syverson also spoke of the first year of the illegal war and the toil it took on his wife and himself as they worried about the phone call, the sound of a car bearing bad news about their son as the tires rolled over the gravel
Meanwhile journalist Robert Parry does battle that all of his previous investigative work may have prepared him for but it's a monumental task: wading through the many, many lies of the Bully Boy. Parry (Consortium News) notes, "But my personal favorite Bush lie is when he insists that the United States invaded Iraq to enforce a United Nations resolution and that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein 'chose war' by barring U.N. weapons inspectors. Bush dusted off that old canard on Nov. 7 while standing next to French President Nicolas Sarkozy during a press conference at George Washington's estate at Mount Vernon in Virginia. Responding to a question from a French journalist about Bush's dispute with France over the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the U.S. president said: 'We had a difference of opinion with your great country over whether or not I should have used military force to enforce U.N. demands. . . . I just want to remind you that [U.N. Resolution] 1441 was supported by France and the United States, which clearly said to the dictator, you will disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences. Now I'm the kind of person that when somebody says something, I take them for their word.' Bush has made this same false argument scores of times dating back to July 2003, several months after the invasion when it was becoming clear that Saddam Hussein had told the truth when his government reported to the U.N. in 2002 that Iraq's WMD stockpiles had been eliminated." Robert Parry and sons Nat and Sam will be speaking at Busboys and Poets in Arlingtion, Virginia Saturday Nov. 17th from four p.m. to six p.m. discussing their new book Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush. Sam and Nat Parry have established their own journalist skills at Consortium News and they and Robert Parry can discuss any of the topics pertaining to the current administration but remember that Robert Parry has been doing investigative journalism for years and, if you're in that area or are visting it on the 19th, you'll have access to one of the most straighforward and determined journalists in this country.
iraq
ehren watadajeff paterson
democracy nowamy goodmansteve fainaru
the washington post
joshua partlow
ann scott tyson
anthony arnovehoward zinn
wbaicat radio cafe
kpfkuprising
robert parry
the san francisco chronicle
the new york times
cara buckley
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