Democracy Now, Sherry Wolf

Am I blogging on Christmas? I hadn't even thought about it, to be honest. My guess would be no. I hope C.I.'s not planning to do a snapshot. If there's a snapshot, I'll blog something. I realize that's a week away exactly due to the fact that Sunny told me 15 e-mails came in today asking me (a) did I know that and (b) would I be blogging?

"BROADCAST EXCLUSIVE: Yemeni Man Imprisoned at CIA 'Black Sites' Tells His Story of Kidnapping and Torture" (Democracy Now!):
AMY GOODMAN: Today, a Democracy Now! broadcast exclusive. A victim of the CIA rendition program--kidnapped, held in secret jails and tortured--speaks out in his own words. His name is Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah, one of hundreds of men to have passed through the CIA's so-called "black sites." Today, he tells his story.
A citizen of Yemen, Mohamed came to Jordan with his wife in the fall of 2003 to arrange surgery for his ailing mother. He was living in Indonesia at the time. Jordanian authorities took him into custody shortly after seizing his passport. There, he says he was tortured, threatened and forced to sign a false confession. He was turned over to the CIA within days and flown to a secret prison he later found out was in Kabul, Afghanistan.
In CIA custody, Mohamed says he was held in a freezing-cold cell, interrogated, shackled, force-fed, subjected to sleep deprivation and loud music for days. He attempted suicide at least three times. He talks about his interrogators and the American psychiatrists or psychologists who also played a role.
Mohamed has brought a lawsuit against a Boeing subsidiary accused of abetting his kidnapping. The American Civil Liberties Union is suing Jeppesen Dataplan on behalf of Mohamed and four other victims of CIA kidnapping and torture. The lawsuit accuses Jeppesen of providing direct logistical support for the CIA flights.
Yesterday, I spoke to Mohamed Bashmilah on the phone from his home in Yemen, in his first broadcast interview. We're going to play that interview in a moment, but first I want to turn to Meg Satterthwaite. She is director of the International Human Rights Clinic at New York University Law School. She's Mohamed Bashmilah's attorney, joining us from Washington, D.C. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Meg Satterthwaite.
MEG SATTERTHWAITE: Thank you very much.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the significance of what Mohamed Bashmilah describes happened to him.
MEG SATTERTHWAITE: So, one of the reasons that Mohamed Bashmilah's story is so important is that he is one of a very small number of individuals to have actually come out of the so-called "high-value detainee" program. This is a program that targeted individuals who were suspected of being quote/unquote "high-level al-Qaeda" members or had associations with such members. Mohamed is one of very few people who was later released from that program, rather than being sent to Guantanamo. And for that reason, he is able to tell about some of the black sites that, really, we haven’t heard much about from any perspective outside of the US government perspective.
AMY GOODMAN: He was never charged and then ultimately released, after being --
MEG SATTERTHWAITE: That's correct.
AMY GOODMAN: -- held in -- the last jail was in Yemen for ten months, he says, at the behest of the Americans.
MEG SATTERTHWAITE: Right. So he was never charged by the Americans in any way. In fact, he still doesn't know to this day why the Americans picked him up and why they requested his transfer from Jordan. He was charged finally by the Yemeni government. When he was transferred to Yemen, the Yemeni government has said that they were told to hold him on behalf of the US government. They later received a file from the US government, and essentially they felt that they didn't have any evidence that he was a terrorist, so they interviewed him and they found that he admitted to using a false identity document at one point when he was in Indonesia, and they charged him with forgery. They then sentenced him to time served, and they counted the time that he spent in secret prisons abroad.

That was an exclusive report and I only got to hear the first half but intend to catch the entire broadcast later on TV. I really am not a TV watcher so that should tell you, if you missed the report, how important it is. If you are hard of hearing, hearing impaired or deaf, remember the link will provide you with a transcript (in full). If you are someone with a partner who is blind, remember you can stream online and both listen. We have several community members who have a partner who is blind. That issue was raised the second or third month of The Common Ills and C.I. began adding audio as a result.

I was going to make that a parenthetical but I want to touch on that point just a little more. We're going to use elections as an example because I want to get the point across and I know a number of people are obsessed with elections. If, like Katrina vanden Heuvel, you think Obama will change the world and that it's necessary to rip apart others and flat out lie about them, if you have the Katrina disease, your goal is to get as many people to know Obama's name and to provide them with information that will make them vote for Obama.

How are you doing that? Text is big online. But is it reaching everyone? Community members raised the issue with C.I. (not about elections) noting that they loved the site and the sighted partner would read this or that to their blind partner. That's when you especially start to see a huge increase in Democracy Now! citations at The Common Ills because it's there for everyone. If you or your partner can get to the site, you can listen to it, you can watch it or you can read it. It's all inclusive.

C.I. can sign (sign language) and, being text based, the community has always had a number of hearing disabled members (probably because C.I. stressed the disability issues early on when The Common Ills covered a wide range of issues and before the focus became Iraq) but, as C.I. has noted in the community newsletters, the thought that anyone enjoying the site might not be able to read it hadn't occurred. When it did, even when it was only two couples with blind partners (there's many more now), C.I. made a point to up the audio links so that someone didn't have to just read outloud for them both keep up and also so that everyone had a chance at a larger understanding (by hearing things for themselves).

So that's my PSA. All news sites need to provide a variety if they want to reach the widest audience possible.


"In a Hole? Dig Deeper! A Reply to the Left on Ron Paul" (Sherry Wolf, Dissident Voice):
There is a section of the broad Left today that is so demoralized by the miserable state of the world, the repugnant electoral options for 2008, and the dismal place the antiwar movement is in that they are flailing -- both politically and organizationally. In response to my article, "Ron Paul, libertarianism, and the freedom to starve to death," written for the Jan.–Feb. International Socialist Review and posted on several Web sites, literally hundreds of people have written nasty screeds to comment boards or e-mailed me their invective. I want to respond to the small segment of them who are self-described leftists who continue to challenge my argument that the Left should not be embracing either Ron Paul’s candidacy or his libertarian constituency.
There is a deep cynicism informing the idea that since the Left is weak, we must turn rightward for strength. The Left’s primary weakness in this country is its refusal to jettison an electoral strategy that has led us to the political cul-de-sac of antiwar activists placing an effective moratorium on mass protest in deference to not embarrassing pro-war Democrats they feel they must support, as the movement did in 2004. The current crop of Democrats heading into the 2008 primaries murmurs their tactical differences with the losing strategy of Bush and Co. in Iraq, while it votes for more war funding, and exposes its liberal imperial aspirations by threatening war against Iran and Pakistan.
As Adolph Reed recently wrote: "The Democratic candidates who are anointed 'serious' are like a car with a faulty front-end alignment: Their default setting pulls to the right." In other words, the rightward drifting strategy of the movement has failed so the antidote, some insist, is move even further to the right by supporting a Republican. The prescription: In a hole? Dig deeper.

I didn't weigh in when Sherry Wolf's other piece went up at Dissident Voice. The reason for that was noted December 4th: C.I.'s draft pulled from the snapshot that day which became "Who's killing the peace movement?". In that piece, C.I.'s noting Joshua Frank's piece and the topic is the peace movement. So the only thing on that topic I noted the entire week was Sharon Smith's and I noted that I saw the headline and went into a panic thinking that she was going to be making the same points C.I. was. She wasn't. I stopped reading on that topic.

But she, Wolf, got some nasty e-mails and that really wasn't deserved. In her column before the only flaw, if there was one, was that she was writing at a higher level. This column is more plain spoken. (Her first piece was for ISR and was reposted elsewhere. It fit ISR. But I think, judging from the comments, it was way over the heads of some of the people who were so outraged.)

So check out her column which, for the record, I agree with.

"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Tuesday, December 18, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, Condi's on the move as is the Turkish military, CCR files a new lawsuit in DC representing hundreds of Iraqis, and more.

Starting with war resistance. s3nn5 has posted a video online that's one of the PSAs in support of war resisters in Canada. It's entitled "Let them stay: US war resisters in Canada (2 of 3)" and the 9 minutes and 53 seconds video features Ryan Johnson, Clifford Cornell and others. We're going to focus on Joshua and Brandi Key and I've switched the order a bit (others speak between the excerpts) and also moved around Josh and Brandi based on what they're talking about. "[. . .]" indicates a space and that's where I've plugged in and moved around, just FYI. This is the Keys telling their story starting with Josh describing his time in Iraq.

Joshua Key: Then they go outside, what we call zip-cuffed -- which is just basically, you just tie their hands together. Then from that point, they put them on a truck and I don't ever know whatever else happened to them after that. After that you don't ever see them again, to our standpoint. You, uh, when you're in the house you usually . . . You demolish all of it. And it's real dramatic because you have women and kids -- you know, they're screaming because, hell, you just scared the hell out of them. You woke them up with an outrageous bang. I mean, C4 is very explosive. Um, you do that, you just ripped their brothers or their husbands from their arms, they threw 'em out, they don't know where there husbands, sons are going, they don't know when they're going to be back, if they'll be tortured, they don't know . . . you know? And you can't communicate with the people because you don't know how to communicate with them. And it adds more, I guess, grief to yourself and a lot more questions because you have to do it on a constant basis. And it rips people's families apart. And it rips you apart as well because you're the one having to do it and you don't have no say in 'Well I don't want to participate in this any longer,' you can't do that.
[. . .]
I didn't go trying to kill innocent farmers and kids trying to protect their own country. You have innocent people all around you dying all the time. Then you have, on the other hand, you have your friends, your American soldiers, either getting maimed, you know, with their legs blown off and then you start thinking to yourself for what purpose is any of this, you know? And then the only thing you can come up with after all's said and done, after you think and it drives you nuts, is that we're here for the benefit of the Bush administration. That's why we're here. And then nobody, even your superiors, big time superiors, they can't sit there and tell you what your goal is, what are we here for? They don't know that either. They couldn't even tell you. So then it comes to the point where, 'Okay, then I'm obviously I'm here for the oil.'
[. . .]
I was coming home for a two-week leave and I was supposed to return to Iraq for an unknown amount of time but by the time I got home, I mean, the whole entire time I pretty well know what I've got to do but I have to talk it over with my wife and see how everybody sees -- if they see it my way or if they don't see it my way. Well we did so we decided we're going to have to leave. So basically at that time, I considered, I deserted at that time.

Brandi Key: He didn't want to go and do the things he was doing to the civilians -- that part of what he had to do was tearing him up inside. So we thought, well, he might go to jail. That was very scary. And we thought about, um, he would be dishonorably discharged
which really upset him because that would follow you for the rest of his life in any job he tried to get or anything like that. We had to do what we had to do to keep our family together.

Joshua Key: So all I knew was we had to run. So then basically we left Colorado Springs and just took off driving. So we started driving east and we ended up in Philadelphia which was, you know, big enough for us. We lived there for fourteen months, basically from hotel to hotel. You, uh, you know you still have to work because you have to provide which is very nerve wracking and stressful at the time. And basically you have to, you have to be in the shadows constantly. You can't let nobody know who you are really. You have to be very very quiet. You have to constantly lie because nobody can know the real situation. Then it just got to the point where . . . I mean, then it was like in October, you have to start thinking of something, there has to be another way out of this because I was pretty paranoid, you might say, and pretty nervous. But I had a reason to be. So then it got to the point well, 'Well there's got to be something there, there's got to be something out there.' So I started looking on the internet and that's when I found Jeremy was up here, Jeremy Hinzman was up here and how Jeffry House had helped him and that there was a war resister campaign. So then I tried to contact them people but even then you really don't know, you know what I mean?

Brandi Key: Before Josh went to Iraq, he was very passive, very calm -- always calm. He never was nervous or got upset. The boys could do whatever, he was all fine with them. Like when he came back, we went out to have a drink, right at first to, you know, celebrate, he's home, whatever. And he totally flipped out because there was so many people in the place and he kept doing like this and like this [Brandi shifts her body to act out discomfort and looking around] cause he didn't want anybody behind him and he was like having flashbacks -- with a crowd of people around him. He would just freak out. He was just freaking out totally. That same night, he got so mad. He like flipped out in the house and was throwing things and cussing and yelling and ripping drawers out, and tear the ceiling fan down. It was just . . . things that . . . way different from him. It's kind of hard when you try to talk to him sometimes -- his mind'll be somewhere else and for the kids it's kind of hard because you try to interact but he's thinking about Iraq. Like he'll see something and that triggers it to where that's all he thinks about even though he tries to talk to us . . . um, he's just not there. He's gone.

March of 2005 was when the Keys moved to Canada and they had four children at that time, they now have five. Joshua Key tells their story in The Deserter's Tale which he wrote with Lawrence Hill. It's an incredible book (and has been optioned to be turned into a film). It makes a wonderful gift. And it's apparently moving to all readers including [language warning] The Stateside Army Book Club who apparently were so moved by the book, they crossed over into Canada and posed as Canadian police officers in a desperate attempt to meet their literary hero whose book had moved them so. When a book has a devoted fan base like that, it's a must-read. Jordy-boy (Propagandhi) notes that the book covers everything: "From the lies told in recruiting offices, to the racist indoctrination of soldiers-in-training, to the terrorizing of iraqi citizens, to the systematic pilfering of their possessions . . . all the way to the refusal of a soldier to go back to war, putting himself and his family underground, ending up in canada, and truly seeking refuge from a nation that wishes to criminalize his decision to note take part in what of course amounts to the genocidal program of the united states of america, and their s**t-eating allies."

The Canadian Parliament has the power to let war resisters stay in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. Both War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist are calling for actions from January 24-26.


There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).


Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:

In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan


March 13th through 15th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.

Today Turks and Condi Rice visited Iraq. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted, "More than 300 Turkish ground troops entered northern Iraq early today less than 48 hours after Turkish warplanes bombed 10 Iraqi villages. It is believed to be the first major Turkish deployment of troops in Iraq since the Turkish Cabinet backed a ground invasion last month. The Turkish army accuses rebels from the Kurdistan's Workers' Party of using bases inside Iraq to launch attacks on Turkey. . . . Meanwhile Pentagon officials have revealed the US is providing the Turkish military with real-time intelligence on northern Iraq. The Washington Post reports US military personnel have set up a center for sharing intelligence in Ankara providing imagery and other immediate information gathered from U.S. aircraft and unmanned drones flying over northern Iraq. One US military official said the United States is 'essentially handing them their targets'." Deborah Haynes (Times of London) states this "overshadowed a surprise visit" by Condi. Camilla Hall and Janine Zacharia (Bloomberg News) report that Turkish troops that entered Iraq are starting "to withdraw from several areas in Iraq's Kurdish region" and they note: "The U.S., alarmed about the prospect of a conflict in a relatively peaceful area of Iraq, has been working with Turkey to prevent a broad military offensive across the border. The Turkish government had complained by more than two years that Iraq and the U.S., which classifies the PKK as a terrorist group, hadn't done enough to stop the group from using northern Iraq as a base." Scott Peterson (Christian Science Monitor) offers, "Iraqi Kurds, many of them sympathetic to fellow Kurds of the PKK, condemned the Turkish moves, and Washington's apparent green light. . . . Analysts say the attacks will have more negative political impact than positive military results, and will further increase tensions in Baghdad between Iraqi Kurdish, Shiite, and Sunni parliamentarians who are struggling to overcome many political difference rooted in sectarianism." The Turkish Press quoted Abullah Gul, the country's president, declaring that the military did "what is necessary in the fight against terrorism" and Rice offering that the US, Turkey and Iraq have a "common interest" in teaming up. Teaming up? We'll get to that. Moming Zhou and Polya Lesova (MarketWatch) report, "Crude-oil futures erased earlier gains on Tuesday and fell for a fourth consectuve session after officials said Turkish troops have started withdrawing from nothern Iraq, reducing fears that a military clash may cripple oil supplies from the Middle East."

Turning to US Secretary of State Condi Rice who, darting in and out of Iraq today, visited Kirkuk and Baghdad. Alexandra Zavis (Los Angeles Times) notes of Stop-over Rice's visit that it was "the latest in a string of high-profile attempts at reigniting the country's stalled reconciliation process"/ Citing Iraqi television, CNN reports she met with Iraqi president Jalal Talabani who is Kurdish: "It came as Turkish troops crossed into Iraq to attack Kurdish separatist rebels" which has more to do with Rice's visit than is being noted. Talabani may have met with her but Masoud Barzani wouldn't. Daniel Dombey (Financial Times of London) reports that the president of the Kurdish government (Barazni) refused to meet with Rice and observes Rice "has suffered a seback". Teaming up? It appears Condi's talk of teamwork didn't do a thing to change the reaction of the Kurds who, no doubt, feel betrayed at this point. When not attempting to interject herslef into Kirkuk -- which again has rumors attached to it of a referendum that will determine whether it becomes part of the Kurdish region in the north or is part of the central government (out of Baghdad) -- Rice chatted with contractors. But, as CBS and AP report, Rice declared "Kirkuk is very critical." Of her statements? No, she's referring to the referendum. CBS and AP describe it (rightly) as "the hub of Iraq's northern oil fields." December 9th, Stephen Farrell's "As Iraqis Vie for Kirkuk's Oil, Refugee Kurds Becomes Pawns" ran on the front page of the New York Times and revealed some realities that are rarely told regarding the power struggle going on outside of Kirkuk. In the Kurdish region, people were being evicted, forced to move to Kirkuk in anticipation of the upcoming referendum in which 'the people of Kirkuk' would determine their fate. It was a strong piece and interesting to read Talabani repeatedly claim that no one was being evicted, had been evicted, would be evicted and then to see Farrell provide the stories of the many who were forced out, the ones who, for instance, now live in "the squalor of the Kirkuk soccer stadium." It's very critical to many people.
Her meeting with contractors in Kirkuk comes one day before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security has a hearing scheduled to begin at 10:15 a.m. where they will address the assault of and abuse of US women in Iraq by contractors (which has been under Condi's umbrellas) and by the State Department (ditto). The hearing results from the investigative reporting done by ABC News. Brian Ross, Maddy Sauer and Justin Rood reported on Jamie Leigh Jones last week. Jones was gang-raped while working in Iraq, gang-raped by and then imprisoned by KBR. Her father contacted US House Rep Ted Poe who immediately contacted the State Department -- that would be the department Condi is supposed to be in charge of. Though the State Department would free Jones from a KBR 'pod,' nothing appears to have happened in terms of punishing the criminals. In addition, Ross, Sauer and Rood also reported on Tracy Barker who was sexually assaulted while working in Iraq and that assault came via the State Department's Ali Mookhtare -- who remains employed by the State Department. The links to Ross, Sauer and Rood's reports contain the video option because the reports were combined for the first segment of last Friday's 20/20. Condi had many, many reasons to go to Iraq and that includes giving the impression that she's doing her job on the eve of a Congressional hearing that will likely explore the realities of her department.

In other legal news, the Center for Constitutional Rights is representing over 250 Iraqi "torture victims" in their "complaint in Washington federal court last night against CACI, the private military contractor involved in torturing and abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib and other prisons in Iraq. The complaint alleges that these victims were repeatedly sodomized, threatened with rape and harm to their family members, stripped naked, kept naked in their cells, chained and handcuffed to the bars of their cells, forced to wear women's panties on their heads and bodies, subjected to electric shock, subjected to extream heat and cold, attack by unmuzzled dogs, subjected to serious pain inflicted on sensitive body parts, and kicked, beaten and struck. CACI employees did not play a limited, passive, or secondary role in this torture, according to the complaint. Rather, two CACI interrogators – Stephen Stefanowicz (known as 'Big Steve') and Daniel Johnson (known as 'DJ') – were viewed as among the most aggressive. These two men were responsible for directing former U.S. military personnel Charles Graner, Ivan Frederick, and others to torture and abuse prisoners. Indeed, CACI employees Big Steve and DJ directed such harsh torture that both Graner and Frederick, who were convicted and sentenced, respectively, to 10 and 8 years in prison for abusing prisoners, refused to follow the CACI directives to torture prisoners."
Turning to some of today's violence . . .

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad mortar attack that left three people wounded, a Baghdad car bombing that claimed 4 lives and left seven more people wounded, a Baquba car bombing claimed the lives of 2 people with fifteen wounded and a Diyala Province bombing where a person blew themselves up and killed 16 other people with another twenty-four wounded.

Shootings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports yet another educator targeted: "Dean of al-Ma'moun college, Mohammed Abdulhasen al-Mayahi, was shot dead by gunmen as he got out of his car in front of his home in Qadisiyah neighbourhood, central Baghdad at 6:30 pm. The gunmen, in a civilian vehicle, used silencers." In the continued targeting of officials, Reuters reports "an employee of the committee in charge of purging members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party from public life" was shot dead in Baghdad with two more people wounded.

Corpses?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 5 corpses were discovered in Baghdad.

Staying on the topic of violence but with specific targets, women and the LGBT community. MADRE's "Promising Democracy, Imposing Theocracy: Gender-Based Violence and the US War on Iraq" pointed out (in March of this year) noted:

A corollary to the systematic violence against women in Iraq is the campaign of torture and killing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, and intersex (LGBTTI) Iraqis under US occupation. Homophobic attacks intensified in early 2006, after Grand Ayatollah Sistani issued his fatwa (religious decree) saying that anyone accused of "sodomy or lesbianism" should be killed "in the worst, most severe way possible." The fatwa triggered a systematic witch-hunt by SCIRI's Badr Brigade, which was carried out while the group was receiving military training from the US. Badr militiamen began ordering Iraqis to kill gay and lesbian family members in "honor killings." In so-called religious courts with no official authority, self-appointed clerics--including those affiliated with Sistani--preside over the "trials" and executions of those accused of homosexuality.

In today's New York Times, Cara Buckley examines the LGBT community in Baghdad where rumors float that militias (thugs) stop suspected gay men, shear their hair and force them to eat it, where money is the only thing preventing the shrinking community from leaving the country and where they talk of "an underground existence, eked out behind drawn curtains in a dingy safe house in southwestern Baghdad. Five people share the apartment -- four gay men and one woman, who says she is bisexual. They have moved six times in the last three years, just ahead, they say, of neighborhood raids by Shiite and Sunni death squads." The death squads the US armed and trained because it was 'easy' and 'practical' and these fundamentalists had a ready squad of followers that could be used to attack the larger people as a whole since they were such zealots. The US government did this. Meanwhile, Ali al-Fadhily (IPS) reports on the women in Basra and the way they are targeted "by the Shia Badr Organisation and the Medhi Army" who "are leading imposition of strict Islamic rules" and insisting on hijabs, banning make-up while the same thugs now control the universities in Baghdad and Mazin Abdul Jabbar of Baghdad University explains that these thugs now "harass female students all the time with religious restrictions" which is why "many families have stopped sending their daughters to high schools and colleges" and al-Fadhily notes that the Ministry of Education states "that more than 70 percent of girls and young women no longer attend school or college." Repeating, the illegal war did this, the people the US government elected to 'elevate' did this.

Closing with a historical note (details after quote):

Well, I think, in the early sixties, we were very full of hope and that was because we had a relationship with the Civil Rights Movement which defined the entire sixties -- that here was a movement that had been planned strategically for decades before, although I wasn't aware of that at the time, planning a focus on school integration, using court cases as a way to provoke the federal government to become involved in opposing segregation and so on and forth. And then young people, young Black students became involved in the south and expanded and the movement just exploded in a way. And they began to win and change the conversation in the United States about race and they forced the federal government to become involved after years of working on it. So we had a sense that you could engage with power and win. And that sense of hope and power sustained us all through the middle sixties and extended itself to our hope to end the war in Vietnam but by 1968 two things had changed. King was killed, Kennedy was killed, the civil -- the Black Panther party attempted to move, and other organizations, attempted to move the spirit of the Civil Rights to northern urban cities which had begun to demand attention through a series of riots all through the sixties. And . .. um, and the federal government began to instead of supporting the movement which they did to some degree in the south began to systematically attack the leadership and particularly of the Black Panther Party of the Mexican-American of the Native American movement. And also these public leaders like King and Kennedy were killed. Likewise the government became increasingly committed to escalating the war despite years of anti-war demonstrations that had been growing increasingly massive. So by 69 people were angry and felt, beginning to feel somewhat desperate and powerless. And everybody felt that. There were many responses to it. Weatherman was one response to that.

That's Cathy Wilkerson from this week's Progressive Radio where she's interviewed by Matthew Rothschild. Wilkerson's new book is Flying Close to the Sun: My Life and Times as a Weatherman. The interview can be heard over the radio and streamed online (to see if it airs in your area, go to Progressive Radio).

iraq
jeremy hinzman
joshua key
iraq veterans against the war
democracy nowamy goodman
ali al-fadhily
matthew rothschildthe progressive
the center for constitutional rights
the new york timescara buckley
stephen farrell
justin roodmaddy sauerbrian ross
the los angeles timesalexandra zavis

Isaiah, Cat Radio Cafe, Harvey Wasserman

That is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "A Bully Boy and Pelosi Christmas" and it went up yesterday. It's funny because it's true. Let me note a few things. "Kat's Korner: Smashing Pumpkins, tilted windmills" went up Sunday and wow. Kat really cut through the nonsense and got to the point. I heard that CD and wanted to ask her about it but I knew she was having trouble with the review. She'd written it in longhand on the road and felt it needed a major edit. There was never time. She ended up doing a rewrite that was really a completely different draft. We spoke on the phone about it many times but about the writing itself. I didn't want to offer my take when I knew she was having trouble finding time to write about it and also didn't think she had a handle on it. I think she captured the CD perfectly. "Ruth's Report" is another I love. I'll talk about that later in the entry. C.I.'s "Whispers and whisperers" was posted by accident by Mike. He posts C.I.'s Saturday morning entries because C.I.'s in the air and on the way home by the time everyone has posted. C.I. holds the entry until everyone in the community has posted so that they can all be linked to in that post. C.I. usually has several things that get pulled into different drafts and Mike knows he can pull those in if he thinks the entry needs it. So Saturday, Mike thought C.I.'s entry Saturday morning needed something. (Because the New York Times offered nothing on Iraq so C.I. could only note that they offered nothing.) He was waiting for two sites to post and going through various drafts. He found a draft from Friday that he thought was worth including and he merged it with the Saturday morning entry. I went in and pulled them apart. I hope I explained that well because that's my third time online explaining it and there still seems to be confusion. Trina's "Potato, Onions and Carrots in the Kitchen" went up this weekend and Trina continues to cover Dennis Kucinich's campaign (as well as offer recipes -- I tried this one without the carrots, by the way). Betty's
"Psghetti with Pollitt" is funny. Betty doesn't think so. She hates this chapter. Two or three weeks ago, she broke from her outline because she had seen Brian De Palma's brilliant film Redacted and she wanted to weigh in. So she made Betinna (her lead character) see the movie in a chapter. Since then she's been scrambling to get back to her outline which isn't easy because where this one ends is where she was before: Thomas Friedman and Katrina vanden Heuvel. She had to do two or three chapters to get back to that point.

Cat Radio Cafe. We listened during lunch today, Sunny and I. I was working on presentation (which I gave last week) and it had to do with my field (and a little with Iraq), so I won't bore you. But that's what I've been focused on during my lunches and why, the last week or so, it's
been difficult to listen to anything at work. Thank you to Sunny who listened to my various drafts over and over. We caught Janet Coleman and Reno discussing . . . Pretty much everything. We caught them discussing everything. The war, political campaigns, state of the union, art, comedy, the gulags, you name it. Reno's always a good radio guest (I've heard her on Laura Flanders' program before, for instance) and this was no exception. The environment! I almost forgot that was also addressed. She was talking about some 'environmentalists' who really aren't doing the planet any good and then noted she was just as bad because she listens to music all the time. Are you confused? I was as well -- and very glad Janet Coleman brought her back to that point after Reno finished a funny bit. (The reason is she has her stereo playing the entire time if she's home and she feels she's burning too many watts.) Coleman is always a good interviewer and creates a real conversation. The CCCP is a comedy program she and others started and I'm not sure of the status currently; however, when Isaiah draws "Condi" for the comic strip, he always think of Janet Coleman. That's due to the fact that she plays Condi in skits on The CCCP. They are thinking about interviewing or checking in with Isaiah for a feature this Sunday at Third Estate Sunday Review and I think I'm going to stop that story right there because, if there is an interview, that may be the only thing I can contribute: Asking Isaiah to explain that. I also was able to hear most of the Robert Cenedella interview. He is an artist and has done a basket sculpture of a trash can as a commentary on the current administration. I enjoyed that as well and strongly agreed with his comments regarding the MOMA and funding. Cat Radio Cafe airs on Mondays and if you miss it, WBAI provides archives that you can stream -- for free -- online.

Okay, I was going to pair two things. I can't. I had left a voice-mail for C.I. when I used the link for Democracy Now! in the snapshot and got an error message. That was a mistake. The error is Democracy Now! which, if you go to their home page, is showing November 29th as their most recent show (Trent Lott announcing his retirement from the Senate, Romney & McCain, etc.) They had switched the look of their site recently and this may have caused a problem or not. One moment.

That was C.I. and I've written down the web address I needed (thank you, C.I.). Click here for Goodman's interview with Harvey Wasserman. C.I. says whenever the trouble's resolved, the link will take people to that report. (So if you get a '404 error,' try again later or tomorrow.) Since I don't have the transcript, I'll have to be general. (C.I. was reading me a Janet Coleman quote from today's show that will go in the snapshot tomorrow and asking me if the "that" was where Coleman put it? I didn't know and wasn't then going to ask, "Hey, do you remember when . . .")

During the interview with Harvey Wasserman -- which was a good interview -- there was one mistake on Wasserman's point. He answered Goodman too quickly. I don't believe she was asking the question he thought she was. I think she was attempting to ask about individuals who are promoting nuclear energy and he cut her off to answer but was answering about how the 'movement' wasn't a movement and just a few people. He was referring to the p.r. push for nuclear energy being pushed by some alleged 'greens' (that's been going on since 2005). I really think Goodman was asking about individuals who are presenting as environmentalists and showing up in independent media (including on Pacifica) advocating for nuclear energy. So I wish I could pull up the transcript and provide an excerpt -- I really thought that was what she was asking.

It's a point Ruth makes in Saturday's "Ruth's Report". This has been just one guest (though George whatever his name is -- "Moonbat" is the nickname he's been given) has been on Uprising promoting nuclear energy as "clean" and he certainly springs to mind as he insists he's an environmentalist wanting to save the planet but the US needs to build more nuclear plants, according to GM. If he really supports nuclear energy, focus on British plants. I don't respect any alleged environmentalist who pushes nuclear energy.

Wasserman also discussed recent revelations regarding the Ohio voting machines. (The new Secretary of State, a woman and I forget her name, has found numerous problems with the touchscreen voting machines. Wasserman was a leader on this issue regarding the 2004 election in Ohio.)


"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Monday, December 17, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the Turkish military attacks northern Iraq, the US military announces a death, the British levae Basra and more.

Starting with war resistance. Today, from eight p.m. to ten p.m. at NYC's The Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery at Bleecker St.) Jazz for Peace -- Radam Schwartz & Conspiracy For Positivity will perform for the amazingly low price of $8 admission with a one drink minimum and the proceeds going to Peace Action NY and the War Resisters League. The War Resisters League started in 1923 and advocates action (such as tax resistance), "war resistance and individual conscience." Among their many efforts are the War Resisters League Youth and Countermilitarism Program. Also on a musical and resistance note, Different Drummer Cafe (12 Paddock Arcade, Watertown, NY) will host the opener of Greene Reveal and Forever Falls Through's national tour on December 27th (that's a Thursday) starting at 7:00 p.m. Different Drumer is the first and, thus far only, GI coffeehouse in the country. You can click here to see a YouTube music video of Greene Reveal and here for an interview with the band on YouTube.

Meanwhile, Aimee Allison and David Solnit address resistance in terms of the young people in their amazing book Army Of None which Emily Drabinski (Left Turn) reviews the book and notes that "Allison, a veteran, and Solnit suggest that counter military recruitment campaigns offer a concrete way to challenge the military at its base-the individual soldier" and concludes, "Allison and Solnit insist on the importance of offering an alternative vision of the world. They don't color in that vision here, but give readers the necessary tools to begin the process themselves. Army of None is, above all, a hopeful book. Poetry and visual art are included throughout the text, along with success stories from activists who have helped young people stay out of the war machine. In a time of increasingly oppresive public and political life, Allison and Solnit's conviction that counter recruitment work will lead to a better world is refreshing." Also working with today's young people is Agustin Aguayo. Madeline Chambers (Reuters) reports that he is now working to get "the grim realities of war" to young people "before they join the military" and quotes Aguayo as stating, "I want to bring young people awareness. We ask them to sacrifice so much yet we don't educate them about the realities of war." Aguayo is currently engaged in a battle to be awarded CO status that he deserves. Aguayo was wrongfully denied CO status by the military which refuses to operate under its own stated purpose. Aguayo clearly fits the religious critieria. The US military stated he did not because they refuse to recognize the fact (though the military's policy does) that someone's religious beliefs can grow -- not just start -- when they engage in a war. Serving in Iraq strengthened Aguayo's religious beliefs. (And to be clear, religion is not a requirement for CO status. The criteria for religion is what Aguayo fits, however.) Chambers notes that Aguayo is appealing the CO refusal to the Supreme Court -- as he should. The US military's actions with denying COs during this illegal war are appalling period. However, in terms of Aguayo, the militay is not only refusing to follow their own written policies, they are creating barriers that they are not allowed to and since this involves religion (and potential discrimination), the Supreme Court is the venue to address the issues and hopefully they will grant cert and hear the case.

Turning to Canada, Great Britain's Socialist Worker reports on war resister Phil McDowell's testimony to the Canadian Parliament's Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration noting, "McDowell joined the army in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks on the US. He served a year in Iraq, ending his tour of duty in March 2005. But a month and a half after being discharged, he was ordered back into the army under the notorious 'stop-loss' policy which allows the US army to re-enlist former soldiers. Disillusioned with the war, McDowell fled to Canada in October 2006 where he joined a growing number of soldiers who have refused to join the illegal occupation. He told a recent anti-war rally that 'thousands of soldiers in the military have told me that they feel the same way'." War Resisters Support Campaign's Michelle Rodibdoux says of the resolution now sent on to the House of Commons, "I want to make sure that nobody leaves thinking that this is won. It's very important that we understand that now the work begins." In terms of e-mailing, where the pressure needs to be currently is on the these three: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. That's because the Parliament is now on break until February and because many are expecting elections to be called. Action from the Parliament is necessary due to the fact that on November 15th, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the appeals of war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Aaron Glantz covered that in real time (one of the very few) and if you missed his report then, you can read "No refuge for U.S. war resisters in Canada" at The Final Call.com News. The Boggs Center's Shea Howell (The Michigan Citizen) notes "Every day more soldiers are voting with their feet. According to an Associated Press report released in mid-November, the number of AWOL Army soldiers has increased 80 percent since March of 2003. The Army says 4,698 soldiers deserted their posts in fiscal year 2007, an increase of over 2,000 from 2006. GI rights advocates the number is far higher. Of course, soldiers go AWOL for many reasons, and the majority of them don't denounce the war. However an increasing number publicly oppose the war, even though this could mean harsh punishments or jail time."

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).


Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:

In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan


March 13th through 15th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Shea Howell (The Michigan Citizen) observes, "These soldiers, along with survivors of the war from both countries, will provide public testimony of what they saw and experienced."

Over the weekend, Kelly Kennedy (Army Times) reported on a platoon's revolt in Iraq following tremendous losses, lack of support and a host of other issues including the suicide of Master Sgt. Jeffrey McKinney. Captain Cecil Strickland explains, "If my guys had stayed at Adhamiya, they would have taken the gloves off. We were afraid somebody was going to get in trouble." Kennedy reports, "They decided as a platoon that they were done, DeNardi and Cardenas said, as did several other members of 2nd Platoon. At mental health, guys had told the therapist, 'I'm going to murder someone.' And the therapist said, 'There comes a time when you have to stand up,' 2nd Platoon members remembered. For the sake of not going to jail, the platoon decided they had to be 'unplugged'." After intimidation, warnings and threats didn't work, the brass broke up the platoon. That was the third report. For the first report click here, for the second here and for part four here.

Also over the weekend, Hannah Allam (McClatchy Newspapers) continued to cover the issue of the Iraqi refugees: "One in five Iraqi refugees in Syria has been tortured or suffered from other violence, and more than a third fled their homeland between July and October, at the height of the U.S. troop buildup that was intended to quell sectarian violence in Baghdad, preliminary data from a new United Nations study show." On Sunday, Karen DeYoung (Washington Post) reported on the topic and noted that both the US military and the United Nations "reacted with horror" to the central (puppet) government in Baghdad bussing in and buying off refugees and quotes Iraqi Kareem Sadi Haadi (who did return to Baghdad) objecting to claims "that the country is secure" and bus rides back because, "They are misleading Iraqis 100 percent. Eighty percent of those who want to come back is because of residencey complications in Syria."

The Turkish military launched an attack on villages in northern Iraq over the weekend. Ali al Basri and Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) report that "Turkish military planes hit Kurdish border towns in a three-hour attack aimed at the Kurdistan Workers Party, a violent separatist movement that seeks to establish a Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey. One woman was killed, a local mayor said, and hundreds of families fled their homes." Noting that an average of 100,000 Turkish troops remain on the border of northern Iraq, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) observed the attack was "Turkey's most aggressive action against Kurdish rebels in years. Turkey's military chief said the United States gave the go-ahead for the attacks and opened Iraqi airspace for the bombing raid. Turkish ground forces continue to shell areas of Northern Iraq in its fight against the Kurdistan Workers Party. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to continue attacks on northern Iraq." On Sunday there were disputes as to what the US government knew ahead of time and what they didn't as well as what they'd said. Reuters reported Sunday that Turkish General Yasar Buyukanit ("head of Turkey's military General Staff") stated the bombings took place with US approval, "America last night opened Iraqi airspace to us. By opening Iraqi airspace to us last night America gave its approval to the operation." The US denied any approval was granted; however, Sherko Raouf (Reuters) noted that while denying granting approval, "The United States said only that it had been informed in advance of the operation." Today, citing "[a] press attache at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara," CNN noted "that the United States had been told about the plans for the strikes and reiterated that it is Turkey's decision on whether to carry out such actions." AFP reports that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey, has hailed the military attack as a "success" and quotes US State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack declaring that the US "welcomes such efforts by Turkey's leaders to resolve the PKK problem and eliminate terrorism. The United States supports Turkey in its efforts to end the PKK terrorist threat to its citizens and will continue to use all diplomatic, military, and intelligence means to do so." Sabrina Tavernise (New York Times) informs, "The commander of the Turkish Army, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, said the United States had helped the operation by offering intelligence and clearance to enter Iraqi airspace Saturday night." CBS and AP note that the Iraqi parliament issued a statement today: "We condemn this outrageous attack on Iraq's ssovereignty."

Marnia Lazreg is the author of Torture and the Twilight of Empire: From Algiers to Baghdad. On this week's Law and Disorder (which aired on WBAI this morning), she spoke with hosts Michael Ratner, Michael Smith and Heidi Boghosian.

Marnia Lazreg: The whole explanation of the war in Iraq, the whole fight against "the insurgency," establish a democracy in Iraq, and explaining that, you know, to establish a democracy, you actually have to do certain things. You have to expertate out of the society all of these subversive elements and we are always told that they're really foreigners, you know, they come from outside of Iraq -- which is a good way of making the war popular but one would need to know whether on the ground you're really dealing only with outside elements or whether there is not a home grown opposition to the, you know, invasion. Even the guys who are on our side, the Kurds, see we don't tend to think about them as Muslims but we always outlining the fact that you have the Shia and the Sunni and the Sunni were the bad guys. And, in fact, we are helping the bad guys on the Shia side to control the government and we're also partitioning the country, you know along secetarian lines. It's not ethnic really, that's sectarian. They have Shia, Sunni and the only ethnic really is the Kurds.

Bombings?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 Baghdad roadside bombings that claimed 2 lives and left fifteen wounded and a Mosul truck bombing which "targeted Mosul dam bridge" which was "fully destroyed. The bridge connects west Mosul and Syria with east Mosul and the other governorates," and a Diyala mortar attack that claimed 1 life and left four people wounded and a Diyala roadside bombing targeting attorney "Muslim Lateef Al-Shaibani". Reuters notes that Mosul truck bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and left another wounded. Reuters also notes a Balad Ruz bike bombing that claimed the lives of 4 people and left twenty-three wounded.

Shootings?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1person shot dead in Basra with two more wounded and an attack in Baquba that claimed 3 lives and left four wounded. Reuters notes armed clashes in Baiji left 2 police officers dead and "four Awakening members were wounded" while, in Baquba, the same left 3 "neighbourhood patrol members" dead with four more injured.

Corpses?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 9 corpses discovered in Baghdad and 1 in Dhuluiya.

Today the US military announced: "A U.S. Soldier died as a result of a non-combat related injury in the vicinity of Camp Taji, Iraq, today."

Meanwhile in the US the Democrats again caved. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) explained this morning, "On Capitol Hill, the Democratic-led Senate has authorized another $189 billion dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate approved the spending by a vote of 90 to 3. The only Senators voting against the war funding were Democrats Robert Byrd and Russ Feingold and independent Bernie Sanders. None of the Democratic Senators running for president were in Washington for the vote. The bill also expands the size of the U.S. Army by 13,000 soldiers." As we noted at The Third Estate Sunday Review yesterday, also not voting were Republican John McCain who is running for the GOP presidential nomination and Democratic senators Barbara Boxer and Daniel Inouye. Isaiah's take on it was Nancy Pelosi dressed as Santa Clause providing Bully Boy with everything he wanted. For those who have forgotten, US Speaker of the House Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were going to stand firm this time -- according to them. The caving comes as Peter Spiegel and Julian E. Barnes (Los Angeles Times) report that US "commanders in Iraq have decided to keep their forces concentrated in Baghdad when the buildup strategy ends next year, removing troops instead from outlying areas of the country." That is most likely due to the fact that the US can't 'control' Iraq and focusing on Baghdad protects the puppet government and also allows reporters (MSM is based in Baghdad) the illusion that the capital is 'safe.' The caving also comes as Reuters reports the puppet government's spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh declared on Iraqi TV yesterday, "Of course we need international support. We have security problems. For 10 years our army will not be able to defend Iraq." Catch it? Ten more years. The puppet government needs US troops in Iraq because the puppets have no real authority and they do not represent the Iraqi people.

Yesterday, control of the Basra province was turned over to Iraq by the British. Mona Mahmoud, Maggie O'Kane and Ian Black (Guardian of London) note:

As British forces finally handed over security in Basra province, marking the end of 4½ years of control in southern Iraq, Major General Jalil Khalaf, the new police commander, said the occupation had left him with a situation close to mayhem. "They left me militia, they left me gangsters, and they left me all the troubles in the world," he said in an interview for Guardian Films and ITV.But in the film, to be broadcast on the Guardian Unlimited website and ITV News, Khalaf lists a catalogue of failings, saying:· Basra has become so lawless that in the last three months 45 women have been killed for being "immoral" because they were not fully covered or because they may have given birth outside wedlock;· The British unintentionally rearmed Shia militias by failing to recognise that Iraqi troops were loyal to more than one authority;· Shia militia are better armed than his men and control Iraq's main port.
Finally, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted a passing today, "Meanwhile another Iraqi journalist has been killed. Ali Shafeya Al-Moussawi died on Friday when Iraqi National Guard forces raided his house in Sadr City. He was reportedly shot 31 times. Al-Moussawi was a journalist working for the Iraqi video website Alive In Baghdad." Liz Gannes adds:

Ali Shafeya Al-Moussawi, a 22-year-old reporter for web news program Alive in Baghdad, was killed at home in Iraq on Friday. During an Iraqi National Guard raid in his neighborhood of Sadr City, Al-Moussawi was shot 31 times in the chest and head and died at the scene, according to the Alive in Baghdad blog.


Ali Shaefeya Al-Moussawi died two days before his 23 birthday.

iraq
jeremy hinzmanbrandon hughey
phil mcdowell
aaron glantz
shea howell
iraq veterans against the war
democracy nowamy goodman
army of noneaimeee allisondavid solnit
kelly kennedy
ali shafeya al-moussawialive in baghdadliz gannes
mcclatchy newspapersleila fadelali al basri
hannah allam
law and disordermichael ratnermichael smithdalia hashadheidi boghosian
the new york timessabrina tavernise
mona mahmoudmaggie o'kaneian black
peter spiegeljulian e. barnesthe los angeles times
the washington post
karen deyoung

David Price, Robert Parry

DAVID PRICE: Well, this debate very much cuts to the core of what the appropriate uses of anthropology are, regarding warfare and regarding large ethical issues about what does it mean to have anthropologists embedded with military forces during a time of war. You know, there are large ethical issues about embedding ethnographers with troops. Basically, fundamental research ethics require that research subjects have voluntary meaningful informed consent, that they're told, you know, what's going to be done with the research, and that no harm come to those who are studied. The executive board of the American Anthropological Association weighed these and others issues and made a very strong statement against the Human Terrain program, because it saw it clearly wandering into these very ethical problematic areas and not really showing due concern for the people who are studied.

JUAN GONZALEZ: What specifically is the Human Terrain program? How did it start, and how does it typically operate now in places like Afghanistan and Iraq?

DAVID PRICE: The Human Terrain program is run through BAE, which is a contracting agency. You know, in some ways it's very similar to Blackwater in the way that it works. What they do is they take ethnographers, they take anthropologists, who may or may not have cultural expertise in the areas where they're working, and they take these ethnographers, embed them with the troops, they travel with them, and then they try and advise commanders about taking culturally appropriate action. Now, the claim by Human Terrain is that they can reduce casualties by giving more nuanced information to people in battle situations. But there's a lot more to it than that, especially in that people in the Pentagon see this as being linked to the CORDS program. CORDS program in Vietnam was used to map human terrain, to identify suspected individuals and groups that the military believed were sympathizers for the Viet Cong, who were, in the Vietnam era, targeted for assassination. Now, supposedly what's going on with Human Terrain is that, you know, it's essentially a manners lesson for people in the battlefield. But the problem is, is that there are armed ethnographers. Not all the ethnographers working for Human Terrain carry weapons, but we do know there are instances where they do. They're given the option to do so. So they travel with troops and independently in the countryside, gathering culture information that they bring back and give to the command.

That's from "Anthropologists Up in Arms Over Pentagon's 'Human Terrain System' to Recruit Graduate Students to Serve in Iraq, Afghanistan" on Democracy Now! Thursday and I told myself yesterday when Sunny and I were listening at lunch that I would note it when I blogged Friday. Hopefully, you already caught the broadcast. If not, please remember that you can listen to it online, watch it online or read the transcripts online. Price is with the Network of Concerned Anthropologists so you can also visit that site for more information.

Robert Parry's addressing the latest efforts of the US military to kill suspects (there's no hearing, only 'sentencing') and focusing on biometrics at the top of his report; however, I wanted to note the conclusion.

"Mobile Labs to Target Iraqis for Death" (Robert Parry, Consortium News):
The case of Army sniper Jorge G. Sandoval Jr., who served under Hensley, also revealed a classified program in which the Pentagon’s Asymmetric Warfare Group encouraged U.S. military snipers in Iraq to drop “bait” – such as electrical cords and ammunition – and then shoot Iraqis who pick up the items, according to evidence in the Sandoval case. [Washington Post, Sept. 24, 2007]
(Like Hensley, Sandoval was acquitted of murder but convicted of a lesser charge, the planting of copper wire on one of the slain Iraqis to make it look as if the dead man were involved in making explosive devices.)
Another case of a targeted killing of a suspected insurgent surfaced at a military court hearing at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in mid-September. Two U.S. Special Forces soldiers took part in the execution of an Afghani who was suspected of heading an insurgent group.
As described at the hearing, Staffel and Anderson were leading a team of Afghan soldiers when an informant told them where a suspected insurgent leader was hiding. The U.S.-led contingent found a man believed to be Nawab Buntangyar walking outside his compound near the village of Hasan Kheyl.
While the Americans kept their distance out of fear the suspect might be wearing a suicide vest, the man was questioned about his name and the Americans checked his description against a list from the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Afghanistan, known as "the kill-or-capture list."
Concluding that the man was insurgent leader Nawab Buntangyar, Staffel gave the order to shoot, and Anderson -- from a distance of about 100 yards away -- fired a bullet through the man’s head, killing him instantly.
The soldiers viewed the killing as "a textbook example of a classified mission completed in accordance with the American rules of engagement," the International Herald Tribune reported. "The men said such rules allowed them to kill Buntangyar, whom the American military had designated a terrorist cell leader, once they positively identified him." [IHT, Sept. 17, 2007]
According to evidence at the Fort Bragg proceedings, an earlier Army investigation had cleared the two soldiers because they had been operating under "rules of engagement" that empowered them to kill individuals who have been designated "enemy combatants," even if the targets were unarmed and presented no visible threat.
In effect, Duong's mobile labs would streamline the process for identifying suspected insurgents like Buntangyar.
Rather than relying on physical descriptions, U.S. forces could scan a suspect's eyes or check his fingerprints -- and instantaneously cross-check it with data stored in West Virginia -- before deciding, in Duong's words, "Do I let him go? Keep him? Or shoot him on the spot?"

On the above excerpt, the only thing I can see that's missed is James Burmeister who told the Canadian press, in June of this year, about the sniper program.

The two featured excerpts should alarm you because these are not the actions of a military preparing to leave the country. These are longterm attacks on a population. They are crimes. The crimes are being made public to acclimate us to their nature which means that as ugly as the illegal war has been it's about to get even uglier.

I think that's one thing that my generation has done a very poor job preparing younger people for. We largely sidestepped the crimes of Vietnam after US forces left and, trying to be a good sport, thought we could all go on about our lives because that illegal war had ended. The tactics used in Vietnam, the crimes, are being repeated and, as Parry notes earlier in the article (prior to what I excerpted), there are huge technological advances being used to destroy a people. But the US is not going to win in Iraq and that realization appears to have set in with the White House so now they're going for desperation measures -- which we saw in Vietnam. This is the period where even lip service to freedom is tossed aside and it's nothing more than punitive actions to punish a people. We really didn't get that point across, my generation, as we handed it down. We didn't get the very real issue of the bombing of the dikes. Those weren't military targets.

The point there was collective punishment (against the Geneva Convention) whereby a people would be starved off and flooded. LBJ was no saint (and I'm no fan of LBJ) but you could see scattered War Crimes and think it was getting very ugly (and very criminal). Nixon, in desperation, began targeting more than villages, he began targeting the entire North. As the so-called 'Awakening Councils' fail (which they will, you can't buy loyalty), the US response will be one of personal anger, of how could 'they' do this to us and we will see larger regions targeted. We've seen Falluja slaughtered already and it's far from the only city. But this is where it moves away from a city here or there and into entire regions.

Iraqis do not want the US in their country and as the last bits of attempting to buy them off finally explode, there is going to be a very ugly approach taken that will make the crimes that have come before look very mild. (You can look at what happens in Israel today for a sign of how an entire people is punished. Look at the attacks on Gaza over the summer of 2006 which were about making an entire people suffer.)

"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Friday, December 14, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces deaths, the refugee crisis has new news, Nancy Pelosi tries a stand-up career and more.

Starting with war resistance, the War Resisters Support Campaign works to assist individual resisters in Canada and to fight for the rights of asylum of war resisters. They are calling for a national mobilization in Canada on January 26th. Courage to Resist is calling on people in the US to call the Canadian consulates in the US on January 24th and January 25th as well as to mobilize and with actions and vigils. Actions can take place around the world at Canadian consulates in every country.

In terms of e-mailing, where the pressure needs to be currently is on the these three:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. Brave stands need to be supported.

US war resister Aidan Delgado received CO status and was discharged. He shares his story in The Sutras Of Abu Ghraib: Notes From A Conscientious Objector In Iraq which Forbes offered a book excerpt of after Thanksgiving:

In a larger sense, what happened to me in Iraq is completely irrelevant. The sights, the sounds, the tastes are all just curiosities that I present in an effort to paint the picture. I could give you an endless series of vignettes: what Iraq looked like, what we ate, the interesting characters in my unit, but it would all be meaningless. If you want to read about daring military exploits, there are many authors with stories more dashing than mine. It would be vain and empty merely to chronicle what happened to me, as if I were somehow so important that you needed to hear every event of my life in excruciating detail. I am not telling parlor stories.
I wrote this book because I want to share a lesson I learned in the desert, in the hope that it will inform your view of the war in Iraq, of politics, of religion, of all the choices you make as a moral person. I can't bear to hear any more stories about battles and uncompromising heroes, with flags waving gently in the background. I want this book to serve as a hanging question about what it means to be an ethical soldier, to live an honest life. I want to give you a military life in shades of gray, filled with doubt, moral courage and moral cowardice.

Delgado's book (and other books, DVDs, CDs, clothing, etc.) can be purchased via Courage to Resist (as well as at bookstores) and part of the proceeds will go towards helping the organization working to end the illegal war.

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).


The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through Sunday December 16th at Culture Project -- this is your LAST WEEKEND to catch it -- and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who recently appeared on Democracy Now! addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $41.. The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.

Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:

In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan

March 13th through 15th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.

Starting with legal news. Delano Holmes was sentenced today. For? Killing Iraqi soldier Munther Jasem Muhammed Hassin by repeatedly stabbing him over forty times. Lance Cpl. Delano Holmes then, after Hassin was dead, fired Hassin's gun. As Rick Rogers (San Diego Union-Tribune) notes, Holmes declared on video that, "I picked up (Hassin's) AK and fired it, as to give myself a way out ... for getting into it with this Iraqi soldier." The court-martial was a joke as was the sentencing. Holmes had a high school teacher, a foster parent and others there to speak of his good character. Where were the people speaking for the dead Hassin? Had the court-martial been held in Iraq, since Hassin was an Iraqi soldier, there might have been people who grew up with him and/or trained with him who could vouch for his character. Since the defense (and to a degree the prosecution) dependent solely on the account of Holmes as to what happened (the defense attempted to argue a fight broke out over a lit cigarette and a cellphone), it might have been relevant to know whether or not Hassin was prone to engaging fights let alone (as the defense maintained) starting them. But for that to happen, the court-martial would have had to take place in Iraq. Since the crime took place in Iraq (Falluja), the court-martial should have as well. AP reports that yesterday Holmes was found guilty "of negligent homicide" but not of "unpremeditated homicide." AP also notes the prosecution's statement regarding the alleged fight Holmes stated had ensued: "Not a scratch. Not a blemish. . . . There is not a mark on him. There is no self-defense. There can be lawful killins during a time of war. This is not a lawful killing." Despite being found guilty of two charges, NBC's KNSD reports Holmes will receive no jail time -- receiving 'credit' instead for the 10 months he was held in custody leading up to the court-martial. What 'credit' does the dead Hassin receive? Or is that life less important? Other 'punishments' for Holmes include being busted down from Lance Cpl. to private and receiving "a bad-conduct discharge." So this is 'justice' -- kill an Iraqi and the time you're jailed before the trial will count as time-served and you won't receive any additional time. Hassin is dead. No one stood up at the sentencing for Hassin. No one offered stories of what he was like as a child, no religious figure stepped forward to vouch for his good soul. Considering that the court-martial took place in California and that California has been one of the leaders in the US on allowing the families of victims to speak at sentencings, that's offensive on every level imaginable. Rick Rogers (San Diego Union-Tribune) reports, "'Wow,' Maj. Christopher Shaw, a prosecutor, said under his breath when the sentence was read in a courtroom at Camp Pendleton." Wow indeed. Rob Schneider (Indianapolis Star) notes the maximum prison sentence Holmes could have received was 8 years. Instead, he received no prison time. Hassin, however, remains dead.

In other justice or 'justice' news, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) reports, "The Justice Department has announced the FBI is investigating the top official overseeing corruption and abuse in the US-led reconstruction of Iraq. Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuwart Bowen is under suspicion for a series of improprieties including tampering with employee emails. Bowen's investigations have indicted several American officials on corruption charges, documented wasteful and inept work by large contractors and found the Pentagon did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons given to Iraqi troops. The Bush administration tried to close down his office last year but backed off following Congressional opposition." Robin Wright (Washington Post) notes a number of allegations against Bowen in particular and the office in general and by the time it gets down to "Cruz threatened to put hexes on employees," readers may be skeptical whether this is an investigation or the sort of thing used by Republicans before -- see Robert Parry's Secrecy & Privilege or read articles at Consortium News such as "Rise of the 'Patriotic Journalist':" "Iran-Contra special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh, a Republican, also encountered press hostility when his investigation finally broke through the White House cover-up in 1001. Moon's Washington Times routinely lambasted Walsh and his staff over minor issues, such as the elderly Walsh flying first class on airplanes or odering room-service meals."

Parry reports most recently on the latest wave of biometrics in Iraq which will further the targeting of Iraqis by making mobile labs which, no, do not determine guilt or innocent but may lead to more 'suspects' dying. Parry notes, "In effect, the Bush administration is transforming Iraq into a test tube for modern techniques of repression, which already include use of night-vision optics on drone aircraft, heat resonance imaging, and firepower that is both deadly and precise. The new techniques represent a modernization of tactics used in other counterinsurgencies, such as in Vietnam in the 1960s and in Central America in the 1980s. . . . The U.S. news media mostly has reacted to these developments with gee-whiz enthusiasm, like the [Washington] Post story about [Anh] Duong, which breezily depicts her complicated life as a devoted mom whose personal history as a Vietnamese refugee led her to a career developing sophisticated weapons for the U.S. government. The Post feature article expressed no alarm and no criticism of Duong's comment about shooting Iraqi suspects 'on the spot'."

Turning to the issue of Iraqi refugees, John Ross joins Robert Parry in calling out the lies of Operation Happy Talk. Writing at CounterPunch, Ross notes that the latest waves roll out as primaries approach "the usual unholy alliance of Bushites, Democrats and Big media . . . doing their damndest to skam a skeptical electorate into swallowing the lie that the surge has worked, the drawdown has begun, and the war in Iraq is just about over. . . . All this happy talk gets Bush and the Republicans off the hook for an overwhelmingly unpopular war just in time for the U.S. presidential election season. It also means that the Democrats won't have to defend their half-hearted call for withdrawal and risk being tarred as traitors on the 24 House news cycle."

Will come back to the Congress in a bit, but staying on Iraqi refugees. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office issues the latest findings of their studies of Iraqi refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Most are living on savings and assistance from relatives with UNHCR's Jennifer Pagonis explaining, "33 percent say their financial resources will last for three months or less, while 24 percent are relying on remittances from family abroad to survive." Significant numbers are suffering from illnesses and lack of medication due to money issues while 10% of Iraqi children are working. Meanwhile the UN's IRIN reports that "Jordan is now demanding that Iraqis wishing to enter the kingdom first secure entry visas, the official Jordanian news agency Petra said on 11 December." The most recent edition of RCRC The Magazine of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement notes, "In the largest population movement in the Middle East since 1948, a huge influx of Iraqis is putting pressure on services in Jordan and Syria. . . . Security in Iraq has deteriorated to such an unprecedented level, due to the international armed conflict that began in 2003 and internal fighting, that many Iraqis find it nearly impossible to live in their own country. The result is that an estimated 4.2 million Iraqis have left their homes, the largest population movement in the Middle East since more than 800,000 Palestinians fled to neighbouring countries in 1948, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)."

From harsh reality to comedy, on yesterday's PBS' NewsHour US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was yucking it up:
GWEN IFILL: I want to point out to you -- I'm sure you've seen them -- page one of today's Capitol Hill newspapers, "Dems Cave," another ones says, "Democrats set to cave on Iraq, on the budget." What do you say to people who call this a cave-in Democratic Congress?REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, I guess they're trying to sell papers, but the fact is, is that I will never confine the hopes, aspirations of the American people, as reflected in the legislation of the House of Representatives, to what the president of the United States, George W. Bush, will sign.We set a high watermark. We negotiate. We compete. We debate for our position to be held. And I'm pleased that, when we come out of this process, our priorities will be largely intact. It won't be funded to the levels that we want, but I'll never start at the president's bottom line. We'll always start at a high watermark.Her leadership started on a "high watermark"? How very, very, very sad that is considered a personal high. The Democrats refuse to 'compete' and refuse to force a vote on Iraq every day. This isn't new or novel. The May 22nd snapshot noted the following:

Meanwhile James Ridgeway (Mother Jones via Common Dreams) explores the presidential campaign of Mike Gravel who tells Ridgeway, "What we need to do [on Iraq] is to create a constitutional confrontation between the Congress and the president. Most people have forgotten the Congress is more powerful than the president. . . The Democrats have the votes in the House to pass it. In the Senate, they will filibuster it. Fine. The Majority Leader starts a cloture vote the first day. Fails to get cloture. Fine. The next day -- another vote on cloture. And the next day, and the next day, Saturdays and Sundays, no vacation -- vote every single day. The dynamic is that now you give people enough time to weigh in and put pressure on those voting against cloture. . . . I would guess in 15 to 20 days you would have cloture and the bill would pass and go to the president. He would veto it. Wonderful. It comes back to the House and Senate. Normal thing is to try to override and fail. No guts. No leadership. So in the House and Senate. Normal thing is to try to override and fail. No guts. No leadership. So in the House and Senate every day at noon, you have a vote to override the veto. The Democrats are the leaders -- they control the calendar. It only takes half an hour to have these votes."

That's not novel, that's not unknown. Congress has used that before. Gravel's been repeatedly advocating it all this year so for Pelosi to LIE to the American people is really sad. She declares that, "We know what to do to further meet the needs of the American people with this president and the obstructionism in the United States Senate. We can only do so much." FILIBUSTER. They could force a vote over and over. They don't do what's in their power to do. "We will only do so much" is a more honest answer than "we can only do so much." But Pelosi obviously hopes we've all forgotten the repeated caves or the fact that it took people like Cindy Sheehan, Tina Richards and many others to even force them to pretend to address the illegal war. "Vote for us in 2006, we'll end the war!" They were given control of both houses of Congress and . . . did nothing. But the 2008 elections are gearing up and it's time to trot out the "Vote for us . . ." cry again. We'll return to Congress in a moment but let's note some of the reported violence in the ongoing illegal war today:


Bombings?

Reuters notes an Anbar Province that left six police officers wounded

Shootings?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a village attack in Mansouriat with at least 3 people shot dead and two wounded. Reuters notes 1 person was shot dead in Kirkuk by people "posing as Iraqi army soldiers," and US forces "killed three 'terrorists'" in Baghdad.

Corpses?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 corpses discovered in Baghdad.



Today the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division -- Center Soldier died of wounds suffered when the Soldier's dismounted patrol encountered an improvised explosive device south of Baghdad Dec. 13." And they announced: "A Soldier from Multi-National Division -- Baghdad was killed Dec. 13 in a small-arms fire attack in southern Baghdad. The deceased Soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense."

Pelosi told Ifill yesterday, "But there's no question, ending the war was a -- is a high priority for us and a big disappointment to many people that we weren't able to do it." The two deaths brought the total number of US service members who have died while serving in Iraq to 3891. Pelosi wasn't quick to offer Ifill the number of how many service members have died since she assumed control. The 110th Congress was sworn in January 4, 2007 -- Democrats having control of both houses. That evening the total number stood at 3006. 885 deaths since Pelosi became the Speaker of the House and Harry Reid became the Senate Majority Leader. When voters gave Dems control of both houses in the November 2006 elections, they weren't saying, "Dilly-dally around and do con jobs on us while nearly 900 US service members die in an illegal war." They were saying "END THE WAR!" As Ron Jacobs (CounterPunch) notes:

Okay. I'm going to state the obvious here. After all, somebody needs to say it. In fact, everybody who sees it needs to say it. Are you ready? Then here goes. The men and women calling themselves Democrats and sitting in Congress are the biggest bunch of liars this country has ever seen. Given today's political situation, what with Bush and Cheney running the White House, that's a pretty big claim to make. Unfortunately for those who believed those men and women might actually stop the war in Iraq and begin getting the US military out of there, this is the only conclusion one can make.I mean, take a look. There are more troops in Iraq now than there were when the Democrats won (yeh, won) both houses of Congress a little over a year ago. If my calculations are correct, more than $100 billion have been spent to keep those troops there, keep them in supplies both lethal and otherwise, and to top it off, more troops have died since those elected "representatives" took their places than in any other year of this loathsome war and occupation. Add to this list of calamities the untold numbers of Iraqis killed, wounded and uprooted from their homes. No matter how you look at it, there is no way this can be called ending the war. In fact, not only could it be called enabling this debacle to continue, the more truthful description would be to call what the Democrats have done is conspire to commit murder.

That is reality and Pelosi can call it 'pretty' and paint it up all she wants but it is an ugly reality and one that should cause the Dems to hang in their heads in shame until they end the illegal war.

The Dems have done Americans and Iraqis no favor but in Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki's happy to play a favor game. Ali al-Fadhily (IPS) details how Iraqis are being prevented from making the yearly pilgrimage by the Iraqi government: " Iraqis who want to go on the pilgrimage say officials have issued approvals only for relatives and party members. The Iraqi government led by U.S.-appointed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is Shia dominated, and many Iraqis say selection for the pilgrimage is sectarian." al-Fadhily quotes Sheik Fadhil Mahmood explaining, "It is a shame that corruption now goes as far as the Hajj. This is the fifth year that many Iraqis are deprived of their right to go to Mecca, while those who are members of parties in power, and militiamen, go every year. Most of our pilgrims are going for political and commercial purposes." While the pilgrimage to Mecca can't be made, Basra Christians can't publicly celebrate Christmas; however, Damien McElroy (Telegraph of London) reports that if Santa can't come, the US more than likely will: "American troops may have to be sent to Basra once British force levels are halved next year" according to Major General Graham Binns.Molly Bingham and Steve Connors amazing documentary is Meeting Resistance. As Bill Stamets (Chicago Sun-Times) notes, the film starts today (Friday) at Chicago's Facets, 1517 W. Fullerton with Bingham and Connors appearing "at screenings there tongiht and Saturday, and at an added screening at 3 p.m. Sunday at Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W. 111th St." Lastly, this is nothing but a stunt but if you're going to do a stunt, do it to help others and not for ratings. Ann Curry will bungee jump live Monday morning on NBC's Today Show as part of a fundraising effort for the charities Save the Children and the United Way. You can find out more information at The Today Show's website. Tonight on ABC's 20/20 there will be a report on the latest US woman to come forward about being assaulted in Iraq. ABC's Brian Ross, Maddy Sauer and Justin Rood report on the sexual assault of Tracy Barker in Iraq:The Department of Justice declined to prosecute a State Department employee who allegedly sexually assaulted a female Halliburton/KBR worker in Iraq, despite a recommendation from the State Department that he be charged, according to an internal document obtained by ABC News.Ali Mokhtare, who is still employed by the State Department, was investigated in2005 after a female Halliburton/KBR employee said he sexually assaulted her at the company-run camp in Basra, Iraq. Mokhtare was a diplomatic official in Basra who first came to Iraq as a Farsi translator interviewing detainees.The U.S. Diplomatic Security Service investigated the allegations against Mokhtare and presented the case to the Justice Department for prosecution, but "the case was declined for prosecution" states the document.

Barker is quoted stating, "I'm an American citizen being assaulted by a State Department employee and nobody cares and nothing's being done about it." Tonight, ABC's 20/20 will explore the topic further. And Barker's not to be confused with Jamie Leigh Jones whose story (gang-raped and held in a 'container') ABC also broke this week.


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aidan delgado
cindy sheehan
anthony arnovehoward zinn
iraq veterans against the war
democracy nowamy goodman
robert parry
ron jacobs
the washington post
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