Events are taking place around the country. But what if you do not have one in your area? That has been addressed.
"I want to support Bradley, but there’s no event in my area. What do I do?" (Bradley Manning Support Network):
Supporters who aren’t near one of the 19 cities hosting events for our International Days of Action have been contacting us asking: what can we do? Should I book a flight to, say, Quantico?
Don’t worry, supporters – you can still be part of the International Days of Action in support of alleged whistleblower and ethical human being Bradley Manning. You can do it from your own hometowns!
WHAT YOU NEED:
* Markers
* Poster board
* Digital camera (or good camera phone)
All you have to do is make an awesome sign supporting Bradley Manning and get your picture taken.
Read the full story »I think everyone did a wonderful job attempting to shine a light yesterday but I don't blog on Thursdays (I have group at night) so I wanted to note Bradley today.
Sunny pulled two e-mails for me to see today.
One is chiefly concerned with "Bradley." Why is it "Bradley" when C.I. writes of Bradley Manning? Anytime someone is in danger of being seen as less than human, anytime someone is being demonized, C.I. always use their first name to drive home the point that they are a person. It is effective, believe it or not. C.I. got the idea years ago when we were speaking out against Vietnam and there was a suspected kidnapping in our circle. (It ended up being one parent wanting custody of the child and was resolved without the justice system.) As we were doing our friend part and checking in to show support, two FBI agents were present and counseling on how to speak if a call came in from the kidnapper (at that point, it was assumed the kidnapper was some outsider). I was only half-listening. But we paid our respects and went on about our day which included two speaking gigs.
As C.I. spoke raising money for someone -- I do not remember who, it could have been a war resister who had been jailed, it could have been Abbie Hoffman, I do not remember -- she repeatedly spoke of the person using his first name. I noted how it changed the way the issue was received and I suddenly remembered the FBI agent telling our friend to use the child's name repeatedly in any call with the kidnapper to personalize the child, to force the kidnapper to see the child as a person.
So that is one e-mail. The other one Sunny highlighted wanted to know what I would do differently if I were doing the Iraq snapshots?
Short answer: Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) notes that 1 corpse was discovered in Kirkuk.
What do I mean? That is the only thing that is missed in today's snapshot and I know it's missed because C.I. got a call from a friend with McClatchy tonight asking why Sahar Issa didn't get included. C.I. said she hadn't seen it when she did links and when she dictated the snapshot, she'd asked the friend she was dictating to to look and he couldn't find anything.
I would never do the snapshots. I don't have that kind of time and I don't have that kind of mind.
C.I. and I went to college together so I long ago ceased being surprised by her but I still marvel over her accomplishments and strengths. She can and does juggle so much. With the snapshots alone, she's got one cell phone to her face as she dictates into that and she's got another cell to her ear with someone passing on whatever they think should be included and then you have Ava with two cells waiting to slide one to C.I. as soon as C.I. has a free ear. It's crazy and she has to dictate this and figure out what is going where and edit as she goes ("Pull the section on ___ so we can instead emphasize ____."). It can be stressful just watching. But she can handle it. There are days when it is upsetting to her (generally when she is under the weather) but she always handles it.
Along with processing all those calls during the time she's dictating (and I mean, she has a friend with some news outlet or peace organization or NGO speaking in her ear as she is dictating something else about Iraq for the snapshot, this happens at the same time), she also has to do tremendous work in terms of research and reading. She does all that. She's amazing. She always has been.
I think she is our country's strongest voice against the Iraq War. I love what she does.
What she does includes reporting on Congressional hearings. She reported on two this week (and attended six). I couldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. I have been at hearings before for various reasons (including offering testimony on some issues) but I loathe the sitting around and waiting. It tires me out, the start and the stop. C.I. can handle it. She can handle it while she's watching Rebecca's child. Remember, when Rebecca had to go to London this year to work on the Labour elections, C.I. had Rebecca's daughter for weeks. That wasn't, "Oh, I'm on break!" That was while maintaining the same schedule. C.I.'s amazing. (Rebecca's daughter had the time of her life and still talks about it.) C.I., who has never wanted to live in DC, now owns a home in the area because it just made more sense as they came to spend more and more time in DC. She has friends and family in the area and would often grab a brownstone of an ex-boyfriend's if a large number of us were converging on DC (for a peace rally, for example) but she finally ended up deciding she needed to buy a place there because they are there far too often so that they can attend hearings.
Repeating, C.I. reports on those hearings in the snapshots. This week, where did you read about Republican House member Steve Buyer's snapping at witnesses and storming out of a hearing saying his personal integrity was at stake? You read about that via C.I.'s report or you didn't read about it.
But she's able to do all of that and she does an amazing job. She puts so much time into it. I don't know if most people realize how this started. In 2003, a friend of C.I.'s was booked for some college campus speaking in February against the impending war (which would start in March). It was some smaller colleges. The friend then got asked to do some larger campuses at the same time. She didn't know what to do. C.I. said to grab the larger ones and she'd honor the commitment to the smaller ones. Which she did. But there were also March engagements scheduled and C.I. grabbed those as well. Then, because she was speaking out, other people wanted to book her. Well the Iraq War had started and a lot of people were scared to speak out because of the shaming and attacking of protests. So C.I. didn't feel she could stop.
She ended up speaking every month, often every other week, sometimes every week. She told herself it was just through the November election. She was hoping that Bush could not be elected. Of course, he sadly was. (He was not re-elected. In 2000, the Supreme Court gave him the election that Al Gore won.) In November of 2004, immediately after the election, she and others speaking out had a strategy session where they talked about what worked and what didn't -- on micro and macro levels. Included in that was a discussion of which columnists reached people. In a jumping off moment, someone said that they should have had a really strong online presence and that included blogging. Now I had already been telling C.I. she needed to do a blog. She's a wonderful letter writer and I was getting these great dispatches from the road as she spoke on this campus and that campus. She's infamous for her wonderful letters. But she rejecte the idea for a variety of reasons whenever I or another friend brought it up.
During that strategy meeting, she heard a man say that was good idea but he didn't know how to blog. That had been C.I.'s excuse (that and not having time). She left that meeting, hearing her own words, and went home and immediately started The Common Ills.
Which is a typical C.I. move. Confronted with fear or something she doesn't know, she will just plunge in.
So that is the story behind The Common Ills and I think she's created the most amazing site online. It is a voice of peace and it is a global voice of peace. There are huge numbers of people reading it from all over the world. This year's biggest increase has been readers in China.
Today, she wrote about Bradley and you can see her genius in that. Her special talent that no one else has.
She's covered Bradley at length this week, in past weeks, etc. How do you keep it fresh and how do you keep people paying attention? Especially when you have a wonderful speech by Daniel Ellsberg that you want to draw attention to?
C.I. always knows. She brings in Barbra Streisand to the discussion. She falls back to the 1973 benefit Streisand did for Ellsberg. It's fresh news -- many of us long ago forgot about that benefit and many of us never even knew about it. But there it is, a new piece of information, a new way of discussing the issue.
How would I do the snapshots differently? I wouldn't be able to do them the way they are now. It is a gift I do not, sadly, have. But I am so glad C.I. does.
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Friday, September 17, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, support mounts for Bradley Manning, the US military announces yet another death in Iraq, reports insist the political stalemate is about to be a thing of the past, and more. Starting with Bradley Manning. Monday April 5th, WikiLeaks released US military video of a July 12, 2007 assault in Iraq. 12 people were killed in the assault including two Reuters journalists Namie Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh. Monday June 7th, the US military announced that they had arrested Bradley Manning and he stood accused of being the leaker of the video. This month, the military charged Manning. Leila Fadel (Washington Post) reported in August that Manning had been charged -- "two charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The first encompasses four counts of violating Army regulations by transferring classified information to his personal computer between November and May and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system. The second comprises eight counts of violating federal laws governing the handling of classified information." Manning has been convicted in the public square despite the fact that he's been convicted in no state and has made no public statements -- despite any claims otherwise, he has made no public statements. Manning is now in Virginia, under military lock and key and still not allowed to speak to the press. As Daniel Ellsberg reminded from the stage in Oakland last night, "We don't know all the facts." But we know, as Ellsberg pointed out, that the US military is attempting to prosecute Bradley. Daniel Ellsberg was a RAND Corporation military analyst alarmed by the Pentagon Papers charting the government's continuation of a lost and illegal war. He copied the papers to pass to the press (the press feared receiving the originals would be receiving stolen property and leave them open to prosecution). Lengthy court battles ensued via Richard Nixon and his so-called Justice Dept but the press -- for a change -- didn't buckle. Ellsberg was targeted by Tricky Dick with various efforts to smear him and to harm him. He also faced imprisonment. Back then, fundraisers were held. Barbra Streisand, for example, sang to a group of people -- including Joni Mitchell, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and David Geffen -- present, singing their requests for donations to the defense fund and she also took requests over the phone at the event (Carl Reiner was among those calling in and making a request). Nixon kept an enemies list and Barbra ended up on it for fundraising (over $50,000 was raised from Barbra's event if I remember correctly) on behalf of Daniel Ellsberg's defense. We'll note some of Daniel Ellsberg's remarks from last night: Thank you very much, Let me echo what you just heard, my wife, when I set out for this, said how many people do you think will be out there? I said "who knows? Half a dozen? A dozen? What will it be?" It's wonderful to see this place filled, standing room only. And I was thinking who would like to see this? And I thought of a way to do it. I was just talking an hour ago to Bradley's aunt, Deborah van Alstyne, who was possibly his relative who was closest to him, mother's sister and who's seen him several times in jail. And she did want to say -- I told her what was happening tonight -- and she said, "Let people know how much he appreciates the support thaty he's getting. It means a tremendous amount to him. He was in prison, you know, in Kuwait for a long time, a couple of months. No communication with anybody. I don't even think he was seeing military lawyers at that point. Who knows what was happening? But no news whatever. And until he got to Quantico, he had no news of what happened, how anything had been received. He didn't know how well, actually, the [New York] Times, der Spiegel, the Guardian had dealt with the early disclosuers -- which I think would probably be very important for him to know. Or the reaction to the video and so forth. So, when she sees him, it's through heavy glass with somebody listening at the side at all times -- which brings back memories of what I expected to happen to me. People have asked me why I had my children help me copy papers for a couple of nights? Seemed very strange to them and I can understand that. But there was a reason. At that point in the fall of '69, when I was copying these 7,00 pages of top secret documents, I reallly expected them to come out shortly to Senator [James Willism] Fullbright, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, within a couple of weeks, and I expected to be in prison almost surely. Oh, I'm sorry, where do you want me? Oh, sorry, okay. Okay. Do I have to be behind this [podium]? Just in the light, right? [Laughter.] Okay. Third degree here, right? I knew that what they'd be hearing then within weeks was that their father had gone crazy. Just what Bradley Manning's friends and relatives are hearing right now. And what I suppose he's getting. He's heard that I'm sure. And that he was a traitor. But that he 'snapped,' that he'd gone crazy. And I wanted my children to see before I started a lifetime, perhaps of talking to them through glass that I'd done this because I thought it was the right thing to do, in a business like way, just something that I thought had to be done. And that I hadn't gone crazy. I wanted them to see me doing it. And so it just occured to me, of course, Bradley had a technology here that I didn't have, that I'm very jealous of, I must say, if he did what he's accused of. It does imply, by the way, that the possibility of telling the truth about a policy that's reckless, criminal, murderous, disasterous, of various kinds. The power to change that by telling the truth is literally at the finger tips of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people. Just a few key strokes can actually -- the policy is vulnerable to that. They have to rely -- "they," the ones who are running this policy -- have to rely on the trustworthiness or what they call the loyalty, the faithfulness, the patriotism -- in their eyes. Of the thousand people, even more who know what's happening, but the thousand who know that its wrong and who could change it if they told the truth but they have to count on those people. And they do. And on the whole, I'm sorry to say, they're right to rely on those people keeping their mouths shut. The three of us here, you saw before, two in the army, one in the Marine corps, were all in the service. We share a number of things in common and one of them is that there were times when there were truths that we could have told but didn't. And could have made a real difference. And we've learned to be real regretful of that and to want to use our lives differently and to urge other people to do the same. And okay, it finally, when I first spoke to Deborah van Alstyne a month ago after she'd just seen him. She said he'd finally learned of his support. The Guardian article a while ago on the support that was quite good. And he'll be learning of this. I asked her whether he knew that Michael Moore was campaigning for him, was supporting. She said that she didn't know directly but that one of the lawyers had mentioned it to her so she was pretty sure he had discussed it with Bradley. And that's very good. But as I say with all this new technology in the world here, I can now get your pictures to Bradley in a matter of days because Debraorah going to see him this weekend. And it just occured to me, I have her e-mail. So those of you who wish to hide your faces because this is going over e-mail -- that means copied to NSA and the FBI and who knows who ever else. But there were 25,000 people who contributed to my trial and so I have learned to appreciate that and I have been doing fundraisers for other people every since -- never more enthusiastically than tonight. So another way to use that technology -- You may not have had much cash here, you may not even have had your checkbook with you, but at home, if you have computers, the Bradley Manning -- what is it? Dot org? BradleyMannning.org will give you a chance with Paypal to send as much as you can possibly send. And the people who are watching on the internet should now turn to your computers and don't bother watching me. It's much more important to send a contribution right now before you forget. while you have the impulse to this because it really is essential. And so here we go, I can actually send Bradley a video. Thank you for standing up for me, how about standing up for Bradley? [Cheers and applause.] Okay. Now. Great. Okay and as I say that's very good. That's virtually as important as I say of going to your computers and doing your own e-mail and getting it all to him. What are we doing? We're honoring an American hero. I'm glad that Ray [McGovern] made the point here, let's no go through locution, we don't know the facts. We don't know the facts and, in particular, as I know, it's up to the government to prove their case beyond a reaonsable doubt, and we can't hand it to them anyway. We don't know anymore than they do or less. But let's just assume that for once the army is telling the truth about what they accuse him of. [Laughter.] They're hardly the last word on any subject but maybe on this one. Whoever was the source, and let's call him Bradley Manning, deserves our thanks and deserves honor. Not everybody, of course, honors him. I actually am very happy to see this room fuli -- If not in Oakland and Berkeley, then where? But I am glad to see it. And he'll be glad to see it. But there are a lot of people who see him differently, obviously and in terms, by the way, that are not very well grounded in American history, in America principals., I was just a few days ago in New York on a show called The Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC and he quoted at me in his brief interview, an article by a guy Marc Thiessen who is a former George W. Bush speechwriter -- obviously deserving of indictment himself. And I'll explain why a minute. He's now a Washington Post columnist, of course. And so Ratigan quoted him saying to me, "WikiLeaks is a criminal enterprise." Well interesting that Thiessen would say that since he's just retired from a very large criminal enterprise, I would say, the George W. Bush administration. And I must say that the, let me give you a little piece of current history probably most people here don't know. Barack Obama, who said that he doesn't want to look back at the crimes -- or the alleged crimes -- of the George W. Bush administration, wants to look forward and move forward and, in effect, has decriminalized torture, a war of agression, warantless wiretapping -- obviously criminal under both the Fourth Amendment and American domestic law at that time -- years of criminal activity. Renditions, kidnappings, indefinite detention, the suspension of Habeaus Corpus in effect meaning, which most people really don't have a very clear idea of that, meaning detention without charges indefinitely. We now have a president actually who has declared the right to keep detained people indefinately that he suspects should not be out, even if they've been acquitted, he can keep them. In other words, as well as before without charges, following in the foot steps of George W. Bush in virtually all those respects. He claims that torture has ended but there is lots of evidence that it has not ended in Bagram and probably other secret sites at various places. The rendention, the kidnapping. Still. He's gone actually further than Bush in terms of open claims, the claim of the right -- through his intelligence chief at that time, Dennis Blair, who announced that the president had a hit list of American citizens and others that he felt -- that he'd given orders to kill, to assasinate, to execute, to murder abroad American citizens basically. But I just happened to read the words of the Magna Carta of 1215 today. I'd seen it before, I looked it up, but somebody else was referring to it. And the words are: "No free man shall be deprived -- shall be harmed, shall be destroyed or deprived of freedom except by a jury of his peers." In other words, this is a wiping out of rights that go back to 1215 -- almost 800 years right now. In short, in these Constitutional matters, we have an administration -- and in the foreign affairs matters, we have an administration that is a third term of George W. Bush. I'm not saying that's true in every respect. I'm not saying that the Republicans are not much, much worse. Actually they are in domestic matters. Actually Obama has not been strikingly better or different in matters of foreign affairs or Constitutional policy. In fact, we thought we were getting something here with a Constituational lawyer, a teacher of Constitutional law, Barack Obama, I haven't seen any opinions his Dept of Justice has been putting out [with] any difference in the opinion of Berkeley tenured professor John Yoo. From across the Atlantic, support is expressed by people who knew Bradley when he lived in Wales. BBC News quotes James Kirkpatrick stating, "He is an absolute hero, anybody who is going to bring up such injustices, you've got to consider them a hero. I found out the first week he was being held and was shocked. I couldn't believe it. I felt proud of him really, whistleblowing against such controversies, it's quite a heroic thing. I was shocked but really impressed by him as well." United States Los Angeles, California Top of the Santa Monica Pier (Palisades Park, just north of the pier at the cannon) Sunday, September 19, 1-3pm Oakland, California Forum Thursday, September 16, 7-9pm Humanist Hall, 390 27th Street, Oakland CA (Between Telegraph and Broadway) Presented by Courage to Resist, with the help of National Lawyers Guild Bay Area Military Law Panel, Veterans for Peace-Bay Area Chapter, CodePink, War Resisters League-West, Iraq Veterans Against the War-Bay Area, and BAY-Peace. San Diego, California Rally and film showing Sunday, September 19, 12-2 pm Horton Plaza, 4th & Broadway Sponsored by Activist San Diego, San Diego Peace and Justice Coalition San Francisco, California March and rally Saturday, September 18 Rally at 2pm, march at 3pm, ending at 4pm at Union Square in front of the SF War Memorial Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue Organized by Courage to Resist, Veterans for Peace-SF Bay Area, ANSWER Coalition, Bay Area United for Peace and Justice, and CodePink New Haven, Connecticut Vigil Friday September 17, 4 pm 59 Elm Street, New Haven, CT 06510. In front of Rosa DeLauro's office. Sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council Cambridge, Massachusetts Rally Sunday, September 19, 4 pm In front of 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA (MIT building with the dome.) Sponsored in part by Veterans for Peace, Chapter 9, Smedley Butler Brigade Minneapolis, Minnesota Rally & Film Showing Friday, September 17, 4:30-6 pm Mayday Bookstore – 301 Cedar Avenue – Minneapolis Rochester, Minnesota Peace Happening Thursday September 16, 5 pm South Broadway & 2nd Street SW Sponsored by the Southeastern Minnesota Peace Makers Keene, New Hampshire Vigil Keene town commons Saturday September 18, 11:00 am NH Peace Action, in conjunction with the Free State Project New York City, New York Film showing and speakers September 16th, 7pm St. Mary's Church, 521 West 126th Street Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Demonstration Sponsored by the Oklahoma Center for Conscience Friday, September 17, 5-6 pm SE Corner of S. 59th and Western Avenue Corvallis, Oregon Rally Friday September 17, 5 pm Benton Country Courthouse, Corvallis, OR, 97330 Supported by Veterans for Peace Knoxville, Tennessee Thursday, September 16th University of Tennessee, Knoxville Norfolk, Virginia Vigil Friday, September 17, 11:30 am-1 pm Granby St. & City Hall Ave. Sponsored by the Norfolk Catholic Worker Quantico, Virginia Rally followed by outreach Sunday, September 19, 11:30 am Town of Quantico Municipal Park (River Road and 4th Avenue) Sponsored by IVAW, Code Pink, and other area activists Seattle/Fort Lewis, Washington Rally Saturday, September 18, 2-4 pm "Freedom Bridge" and gate area at I-5 exit 122 (Madigan Hospital exit). Sponsored by Greater Seattle Veterans For Peace (VFP 92) Spokane, Washington Rally Thursday, September 16, 12:00 noon Corner of Wellesley and Division International Toronto, Ontario, Canada Rally Sunday, September 19, 12:00 noon U.S. Consulate, University Avenue Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia Speakers and cultural performances Friday, September 17, 7-9pm SCU Room, upstairs in the Byron Community and Cultural Centre Last night World Can't Wait attempted an NYC web broadcast but due to problems substituted an August 1st webcast on Bradley. Elaine Brower and Debra Sweet anchored the webcast. Marcia notes Elaine: "She observed, 'In 1971 there was a very strong antiwar sentiment in the country and Nixon was frightened by the Pentagon Papers coming out. I believe that the White House is frightened because they don't want to see an anti-war movement like we had in the late sixties and early seventies'." To keep the webcast free of charge, commercials run every 20 minutes or so which can mean a break in streaming. Trina explained Debra asked people what the number one thing that needs to be carried to the general population is: "And what did the people say? My stream went to the commercial. But when the commercial was over, they were discussing Barack Obama's continuation of George W. Bush's crimes and wondering why do we support him and what's a war criminal and what does it mean when civilians get killed in war? (Debra's words.)" Ann had trouble with the stream and specifically when attempting to hear Ethan McCord speak: "I'm sure he was amazing. That's why I picked him. But I just couldn't hear what he was saying, sorry. Now there will be a DVD made of this event (to raise awareness of and money for Bradley Manning) that World Can't Wait will sell and I'm sure Ethan will be easier to understand on that because they'll probably have him plugged into the sound board. Whereas on the livestream, he's echoing and the connection is bad." Stan enjoyed Josh Steiber's remarks but disagreed with an aspect of them, "But I really think that in the movement there's been too much effort to glorify soldiers. I think Josh probably sees a lot of stuff and he speaks from that and that's great. But there's also the reality that either everyone's welcome or no one really is in which case, it's not a movement, it's a clique. I don't think he's trying to start a clique. I think he's trying to address serious problems and I believe him that he's seen these serious problems; however, I also believe there's a lot of group-think and a lot of 'let's hide behind soldiers' and other stuff like that." Kat covered Matthis Chiroux who stated, "Debra, you know me, and the type of messages I put out tend to be very direct. These things are resonating with folks, they are identifying  with the truth. Which in our current situation are very radical." Ruth noted Matthis stated that people in the military he was in contact with were looking through their old videos to see if they have anything like the WikiLeaks vidoe and she quotes him stating: "We need you to hear this call to action. Whoever released this video didn't do it because they wanted to be a hero or whatever, they did it because the contents were so shocking and so disturbing." Rebecca did not enjoy Ray McGovern or McGovern's inability to call out Barack Obama while aiming 'jokes'/smears at Hillary Clinton and offered McGovern had issues: "no, cause he's a little, witty boy coward. still angry that mommy pulled him off her tits and going to take that out on every woman in the world. what a pig." Betty was so angered by McGovern's stunt that she stopped streaming and only turned it back on when Rebecca called her to say Dahr Jamail was on. Betty quotes Darh stating "I'm very excited about the WikiLeaks situation I think Julian Assange should get nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. I think it's the most important journalism this year." and "Someone put their butt on the line to get this information out there, taking huge, huge risks." Cedric and Wally offer a humor take on McGovern, focusing on a young McGovern playing football: "AS THE OPPOSING TEAM'S RUNNING BACK BARRELLED PAST HIM, YOUNG RAY-RAY MADE THE 'STRATEGIC' (COWARDLY) CHOICE TO IGNORE THE RUNNING BACK AND INSTEAD LAUNCHED A FLYING TACKLE AT 7-YEAR-OLD BOBBY MASON WHO WAS CHEERING FROM THE SIDELINES AND CONSIDERED 'SMALL FOR HIS AGE'." Isaiah wasn't planning on covering the stream but Cindy Sheehan came on and he quoted her stating, "We do have to realize that the traditional antiwar movement is mostly anti-Republican and they're not so antiwar when a Democrat is in power but Barack Obama owns the drone bombings, they've increased, they've more than tripled since he's been president." Mike also covered Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan who spoke about the weak turnout in opposition to the latest war funding. Mike outlines her points:* Many people on the left on the so-called left on Tuesday they responded like it was a victory because so many more Democrats voted against it this time than last time. * We have to decide what's the response of the so-called two-party system. * As an antiwar movement we have to be more organized and we have to be more outspoken now than we were when George Bush was president. Today the DoD announced: "The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation New Dawn. Sgt. John F. Burner III, 32, of Baltimore, Md., died Sept. 16, in Iskandariya, Iraq, in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 63rd Signal Battalion (Expeditionary), 35th Signal Brigade, Fort Gordon, Ga. For more information media may contact the Fort Gordon public affairs office at 706-791-6001 or 706-791-6839." Add today's death to the DoD count and that's [PDF format warning] 4425 Americans who have died serving in Iraq. USF (formerly MNF) did not issue a release on the death -- which is their job, they announce deaths, DoD issues releases identifying the fallen. Yet again, USF is caught still not doing their job but they work for a president who wants to lie that the Iraq War is over (it's not) so don't look for any discipline to take place as USF continues to earn tax payer dollars while failing to do the most basic of their jobs. John Burner III is the fourth US service member to die in Iraq since Barack announced the 'end' of 'combat operations' in Iraq August 31st. In other news of deaths and injuries, Reuters notes a Hawija bike bombing claimed 2 lives and left nine people injured, a Baghdad sticky bombing claimed the life of 1 Ministry of Interior employee, a Baghdad roadside bombing injured two police officers, 1 Iraqi soldier shot dead in Mosul, 1 suspect killed in an Iraqi military raid in Mosul and 1 corpse discovered in Kirkuk. Today Alsumaria TV reports that the leaders of Syria and Iran's governments -- Bashar Al Assad and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- will meet to discuss many issues including Iraq's government: "A well informed source in Damascus said last Saturday that Syria tends to nominate Syrian Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki for a second term stressing that Damascus currently wants to form an Iraqi government that encompasses all the components of the Iraqi society disregarding the candidates to Premiership." What's going on? March 7th, Iraq concluded Parliamentary elections. The Guardian's editorial board noted last month, "These elections were hailed prematurely by Mr Obama as a success, but everything that has happened since has surely doused that optimism in a cold shower of reality." 163 seats are needed to form the executive government (prime minister and council of ministers). When no single slate wins 163 seats (or possibly higher -- 163 is the number today but the Parliament added seats this election and, in four more years, they may add more which could increase the number of seats needed to form the executive government), power-sharing coalitions must be formed with other slates, parties and/or individual candidates. (Eight Parliament seats were awarded, for example, to minority candidates who represent various religious minorities in Iraq.) Ayad Allawi is the head of Iraqiya which won 91 seats in the Parliament making it the biggest seat holder. Second place went to State Of Law which Nouri al-Maliki, the current prime minister, heads. They won 89 seats. Nouri made a big show of lodging complaints and issuing allegations to distract and delay the certification of the initial results while he formed a power-sharing coalition with third place winner Iraqi National Alliance -- this coalition still does not give them 163 seats. They are claiming they have the right to form the government. In 2005, Iraq took four months and seven days to pick a prime minister. It's six months and ten days with no government formed. There Will Be War offers a timeline of Iraq which they believe illuminates the current political stalemate while Falah Mustafa Bakir (Washington Times) offers a series of questions: However, if the situation remains at a standstill, other measures may be necessary. How long can a state hold out without a government, awaiting consensus? The lack of progress may force Iraq to take some difficult decisions to overcome this crisis and preserve the possibility of a democratic and pluralistic nation. If all four blocs do not agree, should we consider a government formed by only three blocs? Should Iraq convene a caretaker government and hold a new election in a year's time? Should the Kurdistan Alliance itself consider identifying a compromise candidate? If the three blocs will not budge and cannot move forward, does the bloc system any longer serve its purpose of representing the Iraqi people in a federal government? The principal blocs all contain a number of moderate parties. If the blocs are not capable of forming a government very soon, is it preferable to bring together the factions of each bloc genuinely interested in forming a government? WERMAN: What is at stake for the US if something doesn't get sorted out with Iraq's civilian government? SHADID: It's already embarrassing, the American government at this point, that it's gone on as long as it has. We're talking about six months here and the Americans they expected to have a government far before this August 31 deadline that they had set up as a turning point in this seven-year experience there. So there is the issue of embarrassment. There's also the issue of growing frustration in Iraq. Discontent across the board where you think you're reaching a point where you may have the entire political system discredited. It's always struck me in [ Iraq that the country's still a lot like it did in 2003 in some respects. And I don't want to overstate that comparison. Back in 2003, as you have now, a country that's anxious, a country that has an unclear political future. There's a question about American intentions and there's a lot of ambiguity covering almost everything that goes on in the country today. That's not to mention, of course, more practical issues. Electricity, water, sewage, lack of housing for education. It's an unsettled place right now and it's probably going to stay that way for a little while. Alsumaria TV reports today, "A well informed political source said that the Sadrist bloc tends to work from within the Iraqi National Alliance in order to prevent State of Law Coalition Leader, Nouri Al Maliki and Head of National Coalition Adel Abdul Mahdi from winning Premiership position and aim at bringing another candidate for this position. The same source added that Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq might withdraw from the Iraqi National Alliance and form a parliamentary opposition bloc if Maliki wins for a second term. In an interview with Alsumaria News the source uttered that the Sadrist Bloc aims at complicating choosing a candidate for Premiership by nominating Adel Abdul Mahdi which leads to undermining the candidature of both Maliki and Abdul Mahdi because there is a mutual rejection between the two parties." UPI adds, "Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, himself a candidate for prime minister, said he was close to securing backing from a Shiite political alliance but was blocked by former Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari." And, if DPA is correct, that alliance might have been Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc, "Former prime minister Iyad Allawi's Sunni-backed bloc on Friday backed Adel Abdul-Mahdi, Iraq's Shiite vice-president, to form a government, a blow to efforts by Shiite incumbent Premier Nuri al-Maliki's to form a ruling coalition." UPI also reports that, "Aliya Nusseif, a key figure in the secular Iraqiya slate, told the Voices of Iraq news agency that there was an 'initial agreement' to give Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi the position of prime minister and Iraqiya leader Iyad Allawi the position of president. A member of a Kurdish alliance would get the position of the speaker of parliament." Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) adds, "Ayad Allawi, who led his secularist Iraqiya bloc to the largest plurality in the election despite the notable handicap of having a number of its members banned by the ruling party, is said to be tapped as the next president replacing Jalal Talabani. The Kurdistan Alliance would get the parliament chairmanship." Turning to the US, Senator Daniel Akaka is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and his office notes: WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) introduced a bill to extend the age limit for coverage of veterans' dependents through the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) to the level set by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. "Thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, families with private health insurance coverage can keep their children on their plans until age 26. Surely coverage for veterans' family members in need should meet this new national standard," said Senator Akaka. CHAMPVA was established in 1973 to provide health care services to dependents and survivors of certain veterans. CHAMPVA enrollment has grown over the years, and now covers over 336,000 unique beneficiaries. Under the current law, dependent children lose eligibility for CHAMPVA at 23-years-old if they are full-time students, or 18-years- old if they are not. To read Senator Akaka's introductory remarks and the text of the bill (S. 3801) in the Congressional Record, click here: LINK Yesterday's snapshot mentions Libbyliberal's post a Corrente but does't include a link. My apologies. And I noted the wisdom of her post here. TV notes. On PBS' Washington Week, Jeanne Cummings (Politico), John Dickerson (CBS News, Slate) and John Harwood (New York Times, CNBC) join Gwen around the table while Dan Balz (Washington Post) files a report from Des Moines on the speech Sarah Palin makes to Iowa's GOP. Gwen now has a weekly column at Washington Week and the current one is "Who Exactly Are the Bums?" This week, Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Debra Carnahan, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Leslie Sanchez and Tara Setmayer on the latest broadcast of PBS' To The Contrary to discuss the week's events. And this week's To The Contrary online extra is on college tuition -- its cost and its worth is debated. Need To Know is PBS' new program covering current events. This week's hour long broadcast airs Fridays on most PBS stations -- but check local listings -- and it explores US combat in Afghanistan, the US role in institutionalizing Afghan corruption; abuse and mistreatment of US seniors at home-based senior centers, Jon Meacham discussing "superlativism" and more. Turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers: Jimmy Carter Football Island 60 Minutes, Sunday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. . |