Saturday, July 21, 2007

The power of "no"

So Saturday morning. Elaine and I are trying to figure out what to blog. We went out tonight and drug C.I. along (Ruth was kind enough to watch all the little kids -- her grandchildren Jayson and Tracey are not little kids, they're young adults and they went along). C.I. kept saying, "No, you go." Ruth said, "You're crazy! ____ is one of my favorite writers. I'm staying here!" :D (He was one of the guests at C.I.'s tonight.) The vacation has been great but there were some questions about my column in Polly's Brew last week. (I wrote about how C.I. does the entries at The Common Ills.) So, to answer those, I basically shadowed C.I. all day yesterday and today.

I'm glad I did. Most morning's have been fairly calm and the only problem has been in getting started for the day (after online). C.I.'s been speaking (Ava and Jess too) and that's meant traveling in the morning but today I got to see a really crazy morning.

I'll talk about that a little (specifics in Polly's Brew Sunday). C.I. is up, it's early, early in the morning (remember it's three hours difference than the East Coast). If C.I.'s home, it's generally boot up the computer (non-laptop) in the bedroom. So, C.I.'s logging on, has several screens open, including checking the e-mails, flipping through the papers that have arrived and flipping around on the computer. And checking with the service for messages. C.I.'s making notes on the messages (some personal, some to do with things that should be noted at The Common Ills) and hangs up. The phone (in the bedroom, landline) starts ringing. C.I.'s talking to a friend with ITV (I think it's okay to note that) and then walking around (while talking) to grab one of the cell phones off the charger. Talking on the phone, dialing a number on the cell, seated in front of the computer now and working on the morning entry (first one) while talking on the landline and on the cell phone. C.I. was starting to get up so I figured it was for the other cell so I pulled it off the charger and handed it over. C.I.'s now marking things in the print editions of four papers, talking into two phones, typing on the computer about the British soldiers, pulling up information on other computer screens and the second cell goes off. C.I.'s off the landline, juggling the two cell phones and typing and the landlane's ringing again and this is all going on during about 90 minutes that C.I.'s writing the two entries. The key phrases are "Hold on," "Wait, wait, wait, go over that again," and "I'm not sure I can use that." On some of the not sure phone calls, C.I. will say, "Let me see if I can work it into the snapshot but I doubt I can." This was the busiest morning I'd seen (and Jess said that's actually a more normal morning) while studying to write about it in Polly's Brew.

And I was freaking out during it. There were these different threads C.I. pulled together for the second entry ("Illegal War Helper") and at first it didn't look like that was going to work. It was about the 20th call where C.I. said, "Hold on, this is actually a pattern." The last thing in that entry is the opening. It didn't start out to be a pattern. And it wasn't even going to be on that. But that's how the entries go. Most of what C.I. had spent time marking up in the papers didn't make it because of the other stuff, like the British soldiers and the whole thing on the push-back.

The night before, it was a different kind of crazy/hectic in the room because a lot of C.I.'s friends were over talking about the drones push to launch the "Cindy Don't Run" campaign. C.I. planned to write about that for Maria, Francisco and Miguel's newsletter and everyone was saying, "You've got to call it out online." C.I. was going through the e-mails and found one from Keesha noting it so that made it okay (for C.I.) to write about it online. (A whole different topic had been planned for Thursday's "And the war drags on . . ." but that got dumped.) You had an agent, a director, two studio people and an actress all tossing out 100 things at once while C.I. was trying to write and that was so confusing. I couldn't have written like that. Some of the stuff (including on the record quotes) will go into El Espirtio (I hope I spelled that right) on Sunday. People were saying, "Quote me and name me" and C.I. was going, "You say that now, but you don't realize how things will live on and on online." The Hurricane Clones was 'created' by the director who hates guess who? C.I. will use the better term for it in the newsletter Sunday. But the drones obey their queen. ("Their ugly queen," said the agent, "big hair has never concealed that nose." :D) And when it was done, C.I. read it out loud and pulled some stuff (that stuff will also go into the column in the newsletter) and everyone was like, "How did you do that?" Because I mean it was loud, everyone was shouting at once with "Put in this!" and "Don't forget this!" and it was just crazy.

So I'll be going into specifics in the column. I'll note that Ty's boss (a film director) showed up near the end. He loves C.I. and is very upset that his praise for C.I. (passed on through Ty) didn't make it up at Third Sunday. C.I. had it pulled because C.I. didn't want the man misquoted (Ty hadn't written it down).

So he brought that up after he applauded (when C.I. finished reading "" out loud) and I told him I'd put it in here.

He's known C.I. for years. They've always gotten along. He was friends with C.I.'s husband. Really good friends. But in 2003, he said he really got the measure of C.I. They were at an invitation only function. It was "high rollers" and everyone in town wanted an invite. Only around fifty got one. The person throwing the "shin dig" announces at dinner, this is right after the illegal war started, a few weeks after, that he thought it was time to really show some support "in the industry" for the Bully Boy. Ty's boss goes everyone's face just went blank. Due to who it was, most were just stunned and C.I. was obviously outraged.

As it became obvious that this was for real and not a misunderstanding, C.I. stood up and said something to the effect of, "I do not support the illegal war and if you do, shame on you. Shame on you and everything you have supposedly stood for. You cheapen your legacy with your efforts to hop on a bandwagon." Now everyone's just stunned (this was a big guy C.I. was calling out) and C.I. turns and starts walking out. Ty's boss hollers, "Wait" and C.I. says without looking back, "I am not returning." Ty's boss catches up and says no, he just wanted to join C.I. in walking out.

Ty's boss wanted Ty to note (and this is word for word), "There was a lot of power in that room and every bit of left with [C.I.]. It took real power to walk out on that. I was just a follower. I knew [C.I.] for years and had heard stories like that but never seen it because that really wasn't the nature of our friendship. That took real bravery and real guts. Everyone in the room knew it. And I got all these calls the next day asking me about it from people who weren't there and a few people who were there saying they wished they could have walked out too. I'd point out, I just followed. I'd say I wish I had led. But that's the kind of power [C.I.] has and the reason for that is because [C.I.] isn't afraid to use it. The day after, the talk was whispers about what a great thing C.I. did. There was real awe. The realities of the illegal war have taken it from whispers to legendary. And the Grand Pooh-Bah who wanted to lead support for the Bully Boy and his illegal war is now a laughing stock and [C.I.]'s stock has only soared. Mine too but that's the thing I wanted Ty to talk about. I always point out that [C.I.] led and I followed. When [C.I.] gets compliments on it, first thing it's mention my name and note I walked out too. That's partly because that's the way [C.I.] is, generous, but it's also true that there was no calculation about it for [C.I.]. It was a clear case of right and wrong and if there was even a second of 'I could be about to ruin myself here,' it was dismissed immediately because there was only response for [C.I.]. I still get a lot of mileage out of that 2003 moment, just for following [C.I.]'s lead. But that could have gone either way. In fact, at that point, Bully Boy was about to gear up for his 'Mission Accomplished' speech so it probably looked like it would go wonderfully [the illegal war]. But there was no calculation on [C.I.]'s part. Me, I was offended and thinking I should do something. But [C.I.] had already spoken and was walking away when I got up the nerve to walk out with."

Ty's boss goes C.I. has real power and that comes from not being afraid to say no to anyone, not being afraid to walk out on anything. C.I.'s always written at The Common Ills about the "power of 'no'" and how that's a power we have, we can say "no." Ty's boss explained that in the industry, that's sometimes the only real power people have but they are afraid to use it. C.I.'s never been afraid to use it personally or professionally and "that's where the power comes from." He said the easiest thing in the world was to grab everything offered to you or the best of what was offered to you and that was easy because there's always the fear that whatever was the last thing you'll ever do. C.I.'s "no" is legendary and that he hopes everyone gets the power they have with their own "no." He said that can be used by anyone. If they're at work and someone's trashing Muslims, they can use their "no" and make it clear (by statement and/or walking away) that they will not accept that. He listed all these ways and it's really true that our "no" is very powerful. We can say "yes" just to go along. "Yes" is always so much easier to say. "Yes" is a crowd pleaser and puts in you good with everyone. Saying "no" may not be easy but it's really important.

He also wanted me to note that Ty is doing an outstanding job. He gave Ty the summer internship last year as a favor to C.I. He didn't care if Ty was good or bad, it was a friend of C.I.'s and that was fine. He usually has several who don't work out but he finds busy work for them. Ty is doing an outstanding job and was offered full employment in the fall but Ty wasn't sure so it became a fall internship until he could convince Ty this wasn't a favor. He says Ty's incredible and can go from fun and games talk to business talk in an instant. That Ty absorbed things he wasn't even taught (like accounting and stuff) and that he hopes Ty stays with him for a long time but he'd completely understand if Ty said tomorrow "I'm going to move on" because Ty's really absorbed everything at this point. I wasn't asked to put that in but Ty's grandmother reads my site (Hi!) and I know his whole family is proud of him so I want to be sure they get that they have every reason to be proud of Ty.

Last thing on Ty's boss and this isn't about Ty. He asked me if I thought everyone in the community got how much work the site is for C.I.? I don't think so because I really didn't until I was shadowing last week. But it really is a lot of work and C.I. really does push beyond the limits. He said if The Nation put even a tenth of the work into ending the illegal war that C.I. does, the war would be over tomorrow. He hates The Nation. He didn't used to. But he thinks they are useless today and he points the blame at Katrina vanden Heuvel. He thinks she's an idiot and that she's dragging down and destroying the magazine. He told me if I put that in C.I. might get ticked but I told him I've said much worse about Katrina vanden Heuvel at my site. He says that's pretty much industry wisdom, that Katrina vanden Heuvel's destroyed the magazine. He also says, C.I.'s defense for Katrina vanden Heuvel has gotten weaker and weaker. (C.I. still defends her but not passionately.)

C.I.'s a nice person but what's obvious is obvious. And it's obvious that Katrina vanden Heuvel has ruined an independent magazine by turning it into the pep rally for the Democratic Party. "Koo Koo Katrina" is what she's called in the entertainment industry and everyone laughs about her big plans to get the party in power and then throw her own weight around. They think she's not only stupid, she's historically ignorant. The party will use her and when they're in power she'll find out like everyone else ("including one of C.I.'s closest friends," Ty's boss said -- I'll identify the close friend in my column Sunday) that the party has no use for the servents ("or as C.I. calls them, 'the toilet scrubbers'" :D). She will too. Everyone says she's riding for a big fall. There was a producer on Monday, a movie producer, talking about that. He was saying, "She thinks she's hot sh*t right now but that's just because she's going along." See, the power of "no" matters. She's enlisted in service of the Democratic Party and she'll be kicked to the curb when they don't need her but before that day comes, she's destroyed an independent magazine.

(I heard a lot worse this vacation. She's really pissed people off. C.I. truly is the only defender she has. People tell "Koo Koo Katrina" jokes like they were Dumb Blonde jokes. They don't do that around C.I. but I'm sure C.I.'s aware of it. I'll tell two of the best in my column, okay? I'll open with one and I'll close with one.)

So, to give this some larger meaning, do you want to start using your power of "no" or become a Koo Koo Katrina? Do you want to end the war and be independent or do you want to act as the cheering section for the Democratic Party? Ending the illegal war means not going along to get along, it means saying "NO!" loudly and making waves. You can follow along or you can leave behind your own imprints.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Friday, July 20. 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the death toll mounts, a military judge sends the message that even if you're convicted in the killing of an innocent Iraqi you won't get any prison time, and the latest wave of Operation Happy Talk is Operation Push-Back.

Starting with war resisters. Ian Munro (Australia's The Age) explores the "estimated 250" US service members who have self-checked out and moved to Canada and zooms in on Dean Walcott and Phillip McDowell. Munro writes, "Mr Walcott's life was up-ended in 2004 at a military hospital in Germany when burns survivors from the Mosul mess tent bombing were shipped in." Like Walcott, McDowell served in Iraq before deciding to self-check out. Munro quotes McDowell stating, "I believed everything the Government told us about weapons of mass destruction, that there were links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. I was aware of the international opposition to going in, but growing up I always trusted my government" and reports, "By the end of his tour he saw the war as wrong, illegal and counterproductive, and was disturbed by the treatment of some prisoners. But he thought he was clear by the middle of last year when his enlistment expired. Then the army called him back. With his family's support, he and his partner Jamine took the Canada option in Ocotber." Jeffry House tells Munro that he estimates the number of war resisters in Canada to be 250 and, "Some don't want to go through the war resisters because they are a political group. Some people want to make the point about their concern but don't want to be part of a campaign." House represents many including Kyle Snyder, Joshua Key and Jeremy Hinzman. Lee Zaslofsky of the War Resisters Support Campaign tells his story, how he self-checked during Vietnam and moved to Canada -- where he's lived ever since and happily (to refute some of the nonsense offered earlier this week by a spokesperson for a group that does not represent self-checkouts) and he estimates there are hundreds who have self-checked out from today's illegal war and moved to Canada.


There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Jared Hood and James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Augstin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one 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, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.

Yesterday, Elaine (Like Maria Said Paz) noted that alleged 'withdrawals' pushed by Democratic leadership in the US Congress some how tend to factor in leaving troops in northern Iraq and the effects the Kurdish separatist movement has on neighboring Turkey which has its own Kurdish separatist movement. Today on Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales addressed the issue with the independent journalist Scott Peterson (Peterson reports for The Christian Science Monitor which actually is an independent publication and structured as one). As noted before, Turkey has an upcoming election and the tensions flaring between the regions has only increased -- whether or not for electoral gain is for someone else to determine. The region of northern Iraq has its own elections coming up which will determine its autonomy and with very little coverage from Western media, Kurdish flags have been planeted, families run off and those belonging to religious minorities have been either run off from the region or killed. Turkey alleges and identifies the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) as a terrorist organization and has argued that it is granted harbor in northern Iraq. Mortars have been exchanged and, on at least one occassion, Turkish troops have recently entered northern Iraq. From the broadcast:


JUAN GONZALEZ: Scott Peterson, this allegation by Turkey that the United States is indirectly assisting the PKK, is there any evidence of that, given the fact, obviously, that the -- isn't the PKK really a more, historically more of a leftwing insurgency, a secular insurgency that would be unlikely to be supported by the United States?
SCOTT PETERSON: Well, the PKK really disappeared as an organization for the past five or six years. In 1999, its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was captured by the Turks, in fact. And in his first appearance in court, Ochalan said that the PKK had made a number of mistakes during the fifteen-year separatist war, that they should now try and work within the state and with state structures to find recognition of Kurdish rights and recognition of Kurdish culture. And he also said that they're no longer fighting for a separate Kurdish state. So those were all quite important changes that really kind of took the wind out of the PKK sails for many years. What we've seen in the last year or two now is a surge of PKK activity in terms of attacks -- certainly in terms of attacks that the government attributes to the PKK, and those are both in Ankara, others also in Istanbul, some targeting civilians and many targeting also soldiers, especially in Kurdish areas in southeast Turkey. Now, of course, the issue of who is supporting the PKK is a very thorny one, because, of course, the PKK remains on the list of terrorist groups, as officially designated by the US State Department. The United States has identified and chosen a special envoy specifically for countering the PKK. That's the title of Joe Ralston, General Joe Ralston. And so -- and, of course, the US denies that it is giving any support to the PKK, but from the Turkish point of view they say, Wait a minute, there are American forces who control all of Iraq, and therefore since the PKK has bases in northern Iraq, that means that by definition there are -- you know, that the US is somehow involved, if nothing else, in turning a blind eye. And you've also got apparently safe haven given to the PKK by Iraqi Kurds in northern Iraq. And the reason for these latest accusations or allegations is, just in the past ten days or so there was a press conference that was purported to be from four PKK members who had fled northern Iraq. They appeared in Ankara at a press conference wearing masks and saying, we have just fled, that PKK militants are leaving their bases, expecting a Turkish invasion, and that also they had witnessed, they say, American troops actually offloading weapons at PKK bases for the PKK. And I have spoken to senior Turkish police officers who feel that the entire story is concocted, and I'm sure that would be the American view, too, but, again, it really does raise a lot of popular questions in the minds of Turks.

Elections in Turkey take place Sunday and for more on that you can read Scott Horton's latest piece in today's Christian Science Monitor. In addition, Katharine Kendrick (Turkish Daily News) reports that political parties in Turkey have forgotten to court one group: "recent Turkish citizens." Some context re: the conflict between northern Iraq and Turkey. The US administration is attempting to lay the groundwork for a potential attack on Iran with a lot of loosely sourced claims which -- at best -- if true would only demonstrate that some Iranians have involvement in Iraq. The US administration uses that unproven link to argue that the Iranian government, therefore, must be assisting.

In Bite Back In Your Own Ass news, Today's Zaman reports that not only has Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdulla Gul declared that the US is arming the PKK in Turkey but also: "The US Department of Defense has launched an investigation into US-registered weapons sent to the Iraqi army ending up in the hands [of] the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq."In addition, the paper reports, "Former members of the PKK escaping from mountain camps in northern Iraq recently gave testimony in which they told securities authorities and prosecutors they had seen US trucks delivering arms to PKK camps." By the US administration's 'logic' with regards to Iran, Turkey should be drawing up their battle plans. Reuters reports that Turkey was shelling northern Iraq. Meanwhile the Turkish Daily News reports conflicts between Turkey and Austria after Austraia refused to arrest "Ali Riza Altun, a founding member and the chief financial operator of the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States" when he surfaced in Austria this month before moving on to northern Iraq.

Turning to England, the United Kingdom's Military of Defence announced: "It is with profound sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm the deaths of one serviceman from 504 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force and two servicemen from 1 Squadron RAF Regiment on Thursday 19th July 2007. They were killed in an indirect fire attack on the Contingency Operating Base in Basra, Iraq." Robin Stringer (Bloomberg News) noted that British forces are "the second-largest contingent of the American-led coalition in Iraq." ICCC lists the total number of British troops who have died in Iraq since the start of the illegal war at 162. ITV News reports that 126 of the deaths are classified as having "died in action" while the BBC reports the three deaths come after the announcement that "british troops in Iraq will be cut to 5,000 by the end of 2007." Michael Evans and Fiona Hamilton (Times of London) observe that the three deaths come "ten days after three British soldiers were killed in the same area of southern Iraq" Earlier this week, Sean Rayment (Telegraph of London) reported, on a new study by the Royal Stastistical Society that "found the death rate of British troops has now surpassed that of Americans, following a sustained upsurge of violence in the southern city of Basra."


Turning to the United States, today on KPFK's Uprising, Sonali Kolhatkar spke with Erik Leaver of IPS (Institute for Policy Studies) on the topic of empire, Iraq and more topics addressed in the new report [PDF format warning] "Just Security." With regards to Iraq, the first step, stressed repeatedly, is getting all foreign troops out of Iraq. Kolhatkar brought up the demonizing the administration is attempting to do with regards to US Senator Hillary Clinton. As The Chicago Tribune reports: "Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman, a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, accused Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) of aiding the enemy by calling for contingency plans for a troop pullout. 'Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq,' Edelman wrote in reply to Clinton's May inquiry. Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines called Edelman's letter 'outrageous'." The demonization of Clinton for reqeusting information on contingency plans (which do already exist) is part of a full out assault by the administration, a push-back effort attempting to resell the illegal war long after the majority of Americans have turned against it and are calling for a withdrawal from Iraq.
That's why, yesterday, US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, did a song and dance (via video link) for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Wally ("THIS JUST IN! THAT'S A CROCK!") and Cedric ("It's a Crock") covered it in their joint-post. Crocker was selling the 'fear' because the administration knows to get what they want, honesty doesn't work; however, if they can scare the American public, they might stand a shot. Starting with the Crock which existed to sell the fear (as did all parts of the marketing). Reneee Schoof (McClatchy Newspapers) reports US Senator Richard Lugar asked, "Are you planning for an eventual change of mission or redeployment of American forces in Iraq?" But Crocker refused to admit a Plan B existed or was being created. Thom Shanker and David S. Cloud (New York Times) report that Crock said the benchmarks weren't being met and probably wouldn't. Cloud's whines were laughable since the US administration created the benchmark talk long before Congress even considered legislation on it. But with more bad news coming, they needed to stall with something. Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) would be reporting today, "A committee directed by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and President Bush to accelerate the transfer of security responsibility to Iraq's army and police has warned that Iraq is lagging in a number of categories. The quarterly report, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, says the Finance Ministry is blocking the Iraqi military from spending $660 million to build a logistical network; that militias are an obstacle to handing over to Iraqis responsibility for security in three mainly Shiite Muslim provinces; and that competition among rival security organizations has prevented the country from settling on a national security structure."

None dare call it progress. Which is why the big talking point is "Forget September, We Need To Wait Until November." As Kat noted last night, the new 'deadline' is supposed to November. Barbara Slavin's "General: September too soon to assess Iraq" (USA Today) noted that "the number two" (in Iraq), Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, was leading that pushback. Shanker and Sanger (New York Times) report, "Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, told Pentagon reporters that while he would provide the mid-September assessment of the new military strategy that Congress has required, it would take 'at least until November' to judge with confidence whether the strategy was working."To really make the push, Bully Boy left DC and the national press corps hoping to yet again get soft press from local outlets. James Gerstenzang (Los Angeles Times) reports the stop yesterday was Nashville to the always hyper-enthused audience of a local Chamber of Commerce, "Such visits draw little national attention, but the out-of-town stops gain extensive local coverage sought by the White House to counter the steady beat of the Iraq war on news pages, websites, television and radio. And they provide a backdrop of a White House seeking, city by city, to portray the president as focused on the breadth of his job and not just the war."

The pushback comes as Nouri al-Maliki's promise that Iraqi troops would be ready to take over responsibilities in Iraq is revealed to be just one more bad sales pitch. CBS and AP report Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, the national security adviser, did everything but sing Don Henley's "Not Enough Love In The World" as he declared that promise was no more: "We had hopes and intentions to take over security in all provinces and command of all army divisions before the end of the year. But there are difficulties and challenges that appeared along the way, in arming, equipping, recruiting and training our armed forces."

Al-Rubaie droned on about how difficult it was "to predict a certain time." A difficulty al-Maliki wasn't bothered by in April. And the endless, illegal war that doesn't result in the puppet or his masters getting upset has now claimed the lives of 52 US service members this month and the lives of 3631 US service members since the start of the illegal war (ICCC). The number of Iraqis killed since the start of the illegal war gets closer to one million but no reason for a puppet government, hidden away in the Green Zone and protected and flattered by foreign forces and government, to care too much.

In the real world . . .Bombings?

Jenan (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Diyala mortar attack that injured eleven. Reuters notes a Baghdad roadside bombing that injured a police officer. DPA reports, "An Iraqi civilian was killed in a US helicopter attack in Mosul . . . The Iraqi civilian was killed and five others wounded Friday morning when a US helicopter bombed a residential area in Mosul" and two of the injured were children while two more women.

Shootings?

Jenan (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 person was shot dead in an attack on a car in Baghdad (three were wounded) and notes 2 more shot dead in Al Muqdaya suburb and 2 women shot dead "in Nawfal" and that an attack in Al Wajehia has left numerous people displaced and at least 5 dead -- Jenan also notes that on Wednesday "gunmen attacked Waheda Abd Al Muhsan Member of Salahudding governorate council. The gunmen shot her convoy when she was going to Tikret."

Corpses?

Jenan (McClatchy Newspapers) reports and that a corpse was turned over to Al Muqdadya hospital while, yesterday, the corpses of Zena ans Suha Khusai (sisters kidnapped two days prior) were discovered in Mosul. Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Abdul Razzaq al-Saiedi (New York Times) report that 17 corpses were discovered in Baghdad yesterday.

Turning to legal news. Yesterday, we noted that Trey A. Corrales and Christopher P. Shore were each charged with the murder of an Iraqi civilian on or around June 23rd. Today, AP reports that Albert Corrales Sr. has stated his son is innocent (though "he hadn't talked to his 34-year-old son about the death") and quotes him stating, "I think that it's wrong because the people he supposedly shot, they were terrorists and he was under orders to clean them out, and he did." In other father and son legal news, Michael Vick (19-year-old) and James Vick (44-year-old) have both been charged. Lindsay Wilcox (KLTV, Tyler, TX) reports that the father's been held by authorities since May while the son "was arrested at DFW Airport [Dallas, TX] on Tuesday after returning home from Iraq" and that the two men are charged in the sexual assault of an eight-year-old girl and a nine-year-old girl who had been foster children in the Vick home during 2003 and 2004. Cindy Mallette (Tyler Morning Telegraph) spoke with Sgt. Wendell Wilcher of the Anderson county's sheriff's department who stated that "the Army released Michael Vick from his Iraq duties after the sherrif's department obtained a warrant for his arrest. He said the Army is considering Vick's status and may discharge him at some point in the future." Paul Stone (The Palestine Herald) also spoke with Wilcher who has been interviewing other children who stayed with the Vicks and states there will be more names added: "There's definitely going to be more than two. We may have a considerable amount of children. It's hard to say." AP notes the bail for each man is set at $300,000 and that Michael Vick is "assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington." On Wednesday, marine Trent Thomas was found guilty in the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad who was dragged from his home, bound and murdered. Thomas was convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy to murder by a jury of his military peers. Although he could have been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole, the military judge instead decided murder, lying, and more was no big deal. AP reports Trent Thomas' 'punishment' is to be discharged from the military and face a reduction in pay. And? That's it. No prison time for the man convicted by his peers in the murder of an innocenct civilian.







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