Weekend!

It's the weekend!!!! :D Last night everyone excecpt me participated in a roundtable. Hold on and let me grab an easy link via Stan's site:


The Daily Jot
Roundtable
9 hours ago

Cedric's Big Mix
Talking
9 hours ago

Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude
the roundtable
9 hours ago

SICKOFITRADLZ
Roundtable and snapshot
9 hours ago

Thomas Friedman is a Great Man
The roundtable
9 hours ago

Trina's Kitchen
Iraq, sexual assault, feminism and more
9 hours ago

Ruth's Report
Discussion and Iraq snapshot
9 hours ago

Oh Boy It Never Ends
Movies, Iraq, sexual assault and more
9 hours ago

Like Maria Said Paz
A roundtable
9 hours ago

Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)
Roundtable time
9 hours ago

The Common Ills
Roundtable
9 hours ago

So that's Stan, Ma, Wally, Cedric, Betty, Rebecca, Kat, Marcia, Ruth, Ava, C.I., Elaine and a special guest. (Cedric's wife.) It's a really good roundtable that's a strong read. I didn't participate because we got to my folks and Dad had some stuff planned that fell through. He and a group of friends were bowling but about 80 different things came up and it was just him and Tony's Dad. Elaine said since the lanes were already rented, I should call my brothers and sisters. The latter group had a hundred excuses (basically "too cold!"). But I really leaned on my bros and any of them try the cry-baby "too cold" got called chicken which isn't fun when it's coming from your kid brother. :D (I'm the youngest son, I have one sister who is younger than me.) So Tony was working his phone and we ended up with a sizeable group.

So that's what we did last night.

I got back just as they were finishing. And we had my mother (of course, her house), Wally, Rebecca, Ruth, Stan, Marcia, Ava, C.I. and Elaine at the house. Rebecca waived like she was going to bring me in but I shook my head because I could tell they were winding down and I didn't want to butt in on their thing and be greedy: "Let me have my fun bowling and be part of the roundtable too!"

C.I and Ava took notes and if neither is speaking one of them is typing during the roundtable. That's why they were able to get that thing posted quickly. Because they were working on the typing while they were doing it.

So it's Saturday and I hope everyone's having a great weekend. I am and the sun seems a little brighter today but that may not be the sun, I just may be in a better mood. :D

Links. Remember my old professor that I loved? I still love him. He's a great guy. But he e-mailed me yesterday and asked for these:

"Iraq snapshot"
"What gets covered, what doesn't"
"Provincial elections take place tomorrow"
"I Hate The War"

Those are all by C.I. and the last three were discussed in my prof's classes Friday. He didn't discuss the snapshot because it wasn't up. But he says there was a very lively discussion on what ends up being covered and what doesn't in his class.

By the way, read C.I. this morning. Those are great entries. I just posted one of them and I'll post the other after I finish this. C.I. and the gang left early this morning for California. They should still be in the air right now. Wally came and woke me to go running with him and C.I. this morning and then I drove them to the airport and came back here and crawled back into bed. C.I. writes them in the morning before we go running. They are held for a number of reasons including pinging to Technorati -- which is not automatic as well as in case the US military announces a death. That's the last thing I always do before posting the second entry on Saturdays, checking to make sure that there's not a death announced. If one's announced, that becomes the first paragraph and the headline is changed to "US military announces a death" or something similar.

C.I.'s focused on the provincial elections which are taking place today. Oh, live blogging at the New York Times of the elections. C.I. mentions that in both entries so here's the link for that.

Okay, I promised Dumb Ass of the week in this post (which should have been written Friday, but oh well). The winners are: It's a tie! The US Socialist Worker and Libby Beldman for the crapfest that is "Madison forum on Obama and the left" which should be called "All the Bulls**ters in podunk Madison, Wisconsin Love Barry." Look, there's big zero Matty Rothschild -- the f**k ass who loathes women and wants to whine that his own mommy died. Maybe to get away from you, Matty and if so, can't blame her. Feel sorry for your daughter and your wife because I've never seen anyone so angry at women -- and all the time. And then there's the left's big joke John Nichols. Hey five-cents, remember when you LIED to defend Samantha Power by claiming she and Hillary were close friends? (Remember when C.I. punked your ass out by demonstrating where Samantha had said publicly that she'd met Hillary only once in her life? Poor punk ass John Nichols.) Remember when you lied and said Wesley Clark would be the 2004 Democratic nominee and that he was only running to lose? That would be news to Wesley Clark. You're just a cheap ass liar, Johnny Five Cents. Remember when you went on Democracy Now! after Barack was exposed for telling the Canadian government he didn't mean it on NAFTA? You lied and said it was actually Hillary and you were working on that story! You never had a story. You were LYING to protect your dream boat. Poor John Nichols, he can dream of choking on Barack's cock every night of the week but he'll never be Michelle Obama and, for John Nichols, that is "The Greatest Loss of All" (singing it Whitney!).


So those two non-names lead a group of 300 -- yeah, small number even for Madison which always thinks its Boston but never is and never was. Eat it, Madison, you're a sh**ty little town. Boston rules! (Boston's my hometown.)

The Haymarket losers sponsored the meet-up because this wasn't Dems -- or wasn't supposed to be -- it was supposed to be Socialists, Communists, anarachists and other radicals. Silly rabits, Madison's LOSERVILLE and has no radicals. Just a bunch of middle-aged assholes like Matty Roth. So other sponsors were the International Socialist Organization.

Here's Libby Bibby:

Coming so soon after the inauguration of President Barack Obama, the tone of the event was excited and motivated. Many of the speakers spoke of the need to continue the excitement that the majority of Americans felt around the election of Obama, and become even more active in the fight for social change.

John Nichols attacked Sarah Palin because Palin was born with a vagina. Now let's be clear, Matty attacks women because they have a vagina and he's scared of the vagina. John Nichols does it because he wishes he had a vagina.

So John Nichols, in his attack on Palin, tries to pull off the line of basically, "Today we're all Socialists."

Really? Socialists vote for Socialists, John Worthless Nichols. They don't vote for Corporatist War Hawks. My grandfather's an old guy but I bet he'd kick your ass if you came to Boston. Unlike you, Johnny punk, my grandfather's a real Socialist. He doesn't like your fake ass kind. And if he had any trouble kicking your ass, I'd be happy to help him out.

There's a question I have: Is Jennifer Lowenstein a sell-out? If not, she called out Barack. If she did, Libby Bibby leaves that out.

Coz it's love love love from Libby Bibby. And no, LIAR LIBBY, Barack is not "a Black president," he is bi-racial. You can LIE all you want, that won't change reality and in a decade you will be called out for your rank racism.

So that's all the liars Libby Bibby covers and she's a Dumb Ass and the Socialist Worker is a Dumb Ass. They stink up America with their pathetic, useless asses. There will never be a left when non-Democratic elements of it can do nothing but practice party envy and worship at the Corportist War Hawk alter.

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

Friday, January 30, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, provincial elections loom, Blackwater gets its walking papers from the US State Dept, Carl Levin declares the 'withdrawal' of US 'combat' troops from Iraq can wait, and more.

Yesterday on The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, Couric continued her look (link has text and audio) at domestic violence within the military.

Katie Couric: The United States has now been fighting two wars for nearly eight years and the strain on service men and women is enormous. The Army reported today that at least 128 took their lives last year alone -- the most since they began keeping records three decades ago. But sometimes soldiers direct their anger at others. Case-in-point, cases of assault against wives and girlfriends are on the rise and critics say the Army isn't doing enough about it. As you're about to see in this CBS News investigation, the results can be tragic. Sgt. James Pitts was a decorated soldier, part of the early ground offensive that stormed Baghdad. He had spent a year serving with a combat engineer group providing Army operational support. It wasn't long before the horrors of war became his daily reality.

Sgt James Pitts: The only thing you could predict was that you were going to get attacked. The worst part about it is smelling -- smelling dead bodies because it lingers forever.

Katie Couric: The terrifiying images began to take a toll.

James Pitts: Mortars you hear the 'phupt!' and that's it.

Katie Couric: Pitts started abusing prescription drugs as a way to escape and reached out to his command for help. He says they did nothing. When it was time to come home, he hoped the joy of seeing his wife and nine-year-old son would make everything better.

Footage of Tara Pitts speaking: I'm just overwhelmed. Excited and relieved.

Katie Couric: But the excitement and relief didn't last. He was drinking heavily, experiencing flashbacks having nightmares.

James Pitts: I can't sleep. I can't get the war out of my head. I've got my wife saying she doesn't love me anymore. I got no one in the military I can trust.

Katie Couric: Family members say that despite some obvious problems, no one in the Army required or even encouraged he get psychological help. According to this police report obtained by CBS News, Pitts was "increasingly agitated" and had threatened to "put a bullet" through his wife's head. Afraid for her life, Tara Pitts obtained a restraining order and notified his command who promised to help. But that help never came. A week later, Pitts murdered his wife, drowning her in a bathtub. They'd had a fight and her screams, he says, set him off.

James Pitts: It reminded me of those screams of fear with the mortars and stuff. . . . I grabbed her and she bumped her head bad. And when I looked down, she was under the water.

Katie Couric: He was sentenced to 20 years without parole. Pitts feels betrayed by an Army that once applauded his bravery.

James Pitts: Not only did they turn their back on me, not only did they talk me out of counseling -- four times -- but then they flew in from other units to testify against me.

Katie Couric: Lynn McCollum is the Army Director of Family Affairs.

Katie Couric: Doesn't it make you angry to hear these stories about wives who are being killed by soldiers who are actually calling out for help.

Lynn McCollum: There's a tremendous amount of, um, effort going in to provide, um, that safety network and assistance for those folks and it's very um frustrating and disturbing when we don't reach everyone.

Katie Couric: The numbers are alarming. Over the last decade there have been nearly 90 domestic homicides and 25,000 substantiated cases of domestic violence at US military installations. When we looked at the small town of Killeen, Texas, home of Fort Hood, we found another disturbing trend: Of the 2,500 domestic cases reported to police last year, half of them involved military personnel. The Army has developed a battle-mind training program to help soldiers transition back into life at home. Most agree that all the systems and services that the military may offer are only as effective as the people willing to use them. Only then will double tragedies like the case of James and Tara Pitts be prevented.

James Pitts: This war took my family from me I've lost everything. Everything that I thought I was, everything that I had lived for for a decade. Gone. Gone. Everything.

CBS News notes that the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE, that LovelsRespect.org (ofr Teen Dating Abuse) is 1-866-331-9474 and they recommend the Family Violence Prevention Fund and Military One Source as resources.


For our second panel, we're pleased to have two witnesses from the Department of Defense's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office and one from the California Coaliton Against Sexual Assault. Dr. Kaye Whitley is the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office -- what we all have been say SAPRO -- she holds a doctorate in counseling and human development. I also believe that this is her first appearance before our subcommittee. Welcome. and also from the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office is Teresa Scalzo. Ms Scalzo is the senior policy advisor for the Office and is a former director of the National Center for the Prosecution of Violence Against Women. Her purpose here today is to provide her subject matter expertise on the Department of Defense's policy of restrective reporting. And finally we were supposed to have Suzanne Brown-McBride, executive director of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault; however, Mother Nature was rooting against her and she wasn't able to fly into DC last night. But we're very fortunate to have Robert Coombs who did manage to arrive before the bad weather. Mr. Combs is the public affairs director for the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Mr. Combs will offer Ms. Brown-McBride's testimony and will be available for questioning.

That's US House Rep Susan Davis, chair of the House Armered Services Committee's Military Personnel Subcommittee which met Wedensday. Davis asked the three witnesses to share their "response to what you've heard today." And the response told you just how firmly the culture of denial was.

Dept of Defense's Kaye Whitley: I, too, want to thank Ms. Watterson because we all know, all of us who work with victims, that this is a really difficult thing to do. We also think she's a perfect example of why we needed our policy and why we needed our program. I do have some concerns because I felt when we were talking about the new program she thinks that there are still some things out there that are still going wrong through her work with victim advocates so I have offered to work with her to see if I can get some more concrete examples of what's happening to some of the victims and where it's happening so that we can follow up on it. [. . .]

Dept of Defense Teresa Scalzo: I have nothing additional to add to what Dr. Whitley said.

Dept of Defense contract labor from time to time Robert Coombs: Yes, well, first and foremost I want to acknowledge that I come here as a victim advocate, from my core, that's where I operate I happen to have a professional background in working in media and policy and so when I'm working with folks like the Dept of Defense, I have very little interest in defending the problems that they've had but rather seeking solutions. We've had a fantastic collaboration with the SAPRO office in particular after working with them for -- since about 2006, have met with

And we'll cut the little suck up off right there. What a difference the second panel could have made were they not all DoD or working with DoD. A point that ten victims rights advocates made when I e-mailed them copies of a transcript to the second panel. Why -- the biggest question they had -- were no civilians on the second panel? And they didn't count Coombs as civilian when the Coalition works with DoD. It's cute that Whitley wants to 'follow up on' what she should have already been aware of.


The second panel was garbage but when you put garbage before a committee that's what you're going to get. Three liars lying. Three liars pretending they give a damn about the victims and not even able to pull that off. Scalzo was asked to explain a restricted reporting option:
The Department has two reporting options: restricted reporting and unrestrictived reporting. Restricted reporting is quite simply confidential reporting where command and law enforcement are not involved. It was quite controversial and very novel when it was first created and it wasn't introduced until six months after our policy was initially passed. In the military it's a culture where commanders need to know and they do know everything that's going on underneath them. It was difficult to construct a system where we could protect victims privacy but give them just a little bit of information, Jane Doe information, non-identifying information, if you will that would enable them to keep the community safe.

That's garbage. First off, allowing a restricted reporting option means anyone wanting to keep something under the radar would recommend that to a victim. Second of all, who the hell does that help? The victim? If you and I are in the Army and you rape me and I don't want to press charges out of fear, shame or any other emotion, I'm not taking my issue anywhere on base. If I get help, I'm going to a civilian therapist off base.
This is nonsense. It does not help the victim, it is not about helping the victim. And to hear those ridiculous panelists speak was to want to scream -- especially the smug little Scalzo with her, "I have nothing additional to add to what Dr. Whitley said."

Here's reality -- and we'll stick with rape for this example. If I was in the Army and raped, my assailant wasn't 'sampling.' It's not as if he woke up that day and thought, "Hmm? I wonder if I would enjoy raping a woman?" And it's not as if -- as statistics demonstrate -- I will be his only victim.

Restricted Reporting is as offensive as Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It's telling victims that there are two options and one is we don't say anything.

Again, I'm raped, I don't want anyone to know, I'm not talking my rape anywhere on base, I'm finding a civilian therapist (if I talk to anyone) and I'm doing that because I don't want anyone to know. There is no benefit to restricted reporting -- not for the victim and not for the community. If I'm choosing Restricted Reporting and you and I still have to work together, what benefit do I have? If you're my rapist and we work together, we're still working together. We're still side-by-side. Where is the benefit for the victim?

There is no benefit to anyone but the military command benefits from this -- even if the community itself doesn't. A point US House Rep Niki Tsongas seemed to grasp when she quoted the number 1,896 Restricted Reports back to Whitley and pointed out, "It means a significant number of people who committed these assaults are not accountable." A base, which Whitley refuses to acknowledge, is a closed environment. She can yammer on all she wants about every detail but she's not acknowledging that there is no benefit to allowing 1,896 assaulters to walk around freely. "It renders," Whitley wanted you to know "a military woman unready and it just tears a unit apart." Whitley might try explaining what rape does to any woman because she seems to be under the impression that she's able to 'fix' victims and do so quickly. You kind of picture her with a hammer in one hand and a pick in the other saying, "Lobotomy gets 'em home!" As Niki Tsongas noted, "The question I have, and I think that's a worthy goal for the victim, on the other hand, we do have new women coming into the military who have no real understanding of the threat that might exist [ . . .] at the same time, we have many young people coming into the services who we want to protect." Whitley said not to word "hopefully" because when they enter the military they get a sexual assault training. Really? That's helping reduce what numbers because that sexual assault training has been going on for years and all studies indicate the number of rapes in the military has risen. Besides, Whitley wanted you to know, even if the report is unrestricted, "it's very difficult to get victims to stay with" militiary "justice." Of course it is. The civilian court system punishes rape. Military 'justice' has yet to demonstrate it does so consistently. No, that didn't address what Tsongas was asking about. Tsongas was asking about the larger community -- with its steady influx -- being protected from rapists and assailants and Whitley avoided the issue completely except to offer a lot of lame excuses.

And, important point, that panel and the first panel -- with the exception of Laura Watterson -- was garbage.

What happened was people in the military told Congress (on the first panel), there's no problem. And then came the second panel of the military and their civilian partner telling Congress there was no problem.

Golly, do you think maybe Walter Reed Army Medical Center was "not a problem" if Congress had asked the military? Do we need Dana Priest and Anne Hull to go around speaking with victims and asking for what happened?

What you had with every witness other than Laura Watterson was someone who really wasn't vested in honesty -- they were vested in protecting the DoD.

So maybe they minimized just a little -- as far as they know -- or maybe they minimized big time. But they were not honest and the second panel was nothing but defensive excuses.

As Susan Davis explained at the start of the hearing, there will be other hearings on this issue. When those hearing take place, the subcommittee needs to ensure that their witnesses are at least balanced. Laura Watterson was a wonderful witness who ripped her own heart apart to share what she went through. Out of seven witnesses, she was the only civilian. (She had earlier been in the military.) The make up had better a lot better.

Robert Coombs f--king lied. I'm furious with that asshole. "From the perspective of victim rights advocates ---" Uh, no, restricted reporting is not favored. And I polled in California and out of California last night. Robert Coombs, you lied to Congress or you so stupid that these 'voices' agreeing with you are in your damn head. At your "core," you're nothing but a PR hack acting as a front man for the boss in the Pentagon. If you're too stupid to grasp that, then you're a PR hack and an idiot.

Here's another issue for the subcommittee to consider. What the hell was with the genders of the witnesses? Seven witnesses. Three were men? I didn't realize that was the statistical equation for the military -- that for every four women raped or assaulted, three men were raped or assaulted. (Because that's not the statistic. Men are assaulted and raped, I'm not disputing that. I'm saying that the witnesses were non-reflective in every manner.)

What is needed in the next panel hearing is a civilian with no ties to the Defense Dept for each Defense Dept witness. It should be a civilian who has a record of not being afraid to disagree or call out the US military's 'treatment' programs.

By not having that, the subcommittee allowed the Navy to agree with the Army to agree with the Air Force to agree with two Defense Dept employees and one DoD contract. Six people lined up against Laura Watterson. That is exactly what happened.

Laura Watterson showed bravery. Six little lackeys demonstrated the definition of "toady." Congress wants to evaluate how the programs are improving or not?

You're not going to get that evaluation from a DoD echo chamber. And, if nothing else, after Walter Reed, one would think Congress would grasp that on their own.

Victims rights advocates I spoke with helped shape the above with their comments and input. (I delayed the snapshot to give two -- who didn't have time last night -- the time today to add their input.)

The subcomittee needs to do a better job with witnesses. That said, the members of the subcommittee were professional -- on both sides of the aisle and Davis and Sanchez especially did strong work.

We'll again note Laura Watterson's testimony because (a) it was important, (b) it was powerful and (c) she was willing to destroy herself before the subcommittee to get the truth out.

Laura Watterson: I'll just start off. This is very difficult. I don't usually come out of my bedroom so coming all the way to DC is a little, well, freaking me out. But however uncomfortable I may be, I think it is more important that I be here instead of worrying about my own problems because this really needs to be done. [. . .]
When I entered the Air Force, I seriously considered making it a career for myself. I wanted to travel and I wanted to have a stable life and career. After I was assaulted, I no longer trusted anyone on base and my career was no longer an option for me. Because of my MST and PTSD that resulted from it, I was forced to move in with my mother at the age of thirty because I could not take care of myself, keep a job or feel safe even in my own apartment. I lived on cereal and microwaveable dinners so I did not end up causing a fire because I forgot that I was cooking something. I was so depressed that I actually quit smoking because the task of actually picking up a cigarette and lighting it was just too much. Of course, my doctors were happy about that but . . .
I had crying fits that were so powerful I could not even get my head off of wherever it landed because of exhaustion. One time my head landed in my shoe. And it would leave me hoarse for three days from crying so hard. I have gained over sixty pounds and I would go into violent rages. One time I ransacked the house to find every present I had ever given my mother, smashed them to bits and dumped them on her bed. I would swear at her and throw things at her as if I had Tourette Syndrome. Any attempt at communication with me, I would just flip her off. This behavior was . . . I had never treated my mother like this before. I didn't understand why this was happening and it ruined my self-esteem that much further.
I have missed most family functions since being in the Air Force because I am unable to be around many people -- especially people who are asking a lot of personal questions like "Oh, how is life? What are you up to? What are you doing?" That kind of brings the family celebration down a little. It has been only recently that I would even leave my bedroom. I used to have very good credit. And I was very proud of that. Because of not being able to pay my bills because I could not keep a job -- just recently I had an attempt to have my wages garnished. I was too afraid to wear anything at all 'inviting'. I.e. I would wear men's clothing, usually in all black and several sizes too big. I didn't want anyone to find me approachable. I'm afraid of being assaulted again. I used to have my hair and make up and nails match every day, no matter what I was wearing, for years. Now, with the exception of today, I would only wear chapstick and stick my hair up in a bun. And I rarely, if ever, painted my nails. I don't have the energy to look good due to depression. I have had meltdowns in the super market because if I saw someone -- especially if it was a man -- I knew they were stalking me and I would run from the grocery store.
My marriage to a man who I am still friends with ended due to my PTSD symptoms. I didn't realize why I was acting the way I was and neither did he. Nonetheless, it ruined our marriage. That's probably the hardest part [crying], excuse me.
I began . . . I began therapy at the VA because I had lost everything as a result. I began to see patterns and realized that I needed to get my life back. I realize that there are many other people who need to be helped to get back on track as well and that is also why I am a Veteran Advocate myself -- out of my bedroom and out of my own pocket.
Part of my wellness is testifying today, forcing me to get out and do things that are challenging because they're more important. I'll leave here today but hopefully my message will not leave. If I had a caring SARC representative I believe I would not have ended up in the mess that I have ended up in. I was never given a representative when I called to have some assistance. No one came. It got to the point that I called the 15th Air Force Commander who was in charge of the entire western half of the United States and whose name was also in all of the sexual assault booklets, leaflets and --
Since basic training, we'd all been taught the same thing. I trusted in that. I also trusted because I had friends before I went in, "Aren't you afraid after the sexual harassment, the whole Tail-hook thing?" I was like, "No. With all this media why would they -- they must be really careful about it now."
The 15th Air Force Commander said, "Well why don't you just keep this on base, have them take care of it?" They wouldn't. I reported it as I was supposed to -- to my supervisor, as well as his. They said it would be taken care of and I trusted that.
Two weeks later, I was at work and everyone was asked to stand up because there was going to be a pinning-on ceremony.
That pinning-on ceremony was for the man who assaulted me to now outrank me and become a supervisor. He was rewarded.
This was when I got very angry. After fighting and calling everyone I could possibly think of, my commander finally called me into his office with my supervisor who assaulted me here [call this Point A], the guy who assaulted me [Point B], my chair [Point C -- so they are seated right next to each other] and his supervisor [Point D]. So I was not even close to my supervisor, the one who should be protecting me or making me feel safe.
I was told by my commander that I needed to understand that, "Different people have different personal bubbles. For example, when you go to England, sometimes when you meet people over there and you shake their hand, they like to hold on to your hand while they're speaking and, as Americans, because we don't do that, it's uncomfortable for us." And that is how he told me that I needed to get over what had happened.
That is when I became --
I started drinking obscene amounts. Again, not knowing anything about PTSD, I started having, you know, yelling at my husband over the stupidest things and having absolute fits of rage. And, again, this is not me.
After this meeting I had with my commander, my SARC, or whatever he was called at the time, offered me therapy. I asked if it was going to be someone on base or if it was going to be civilian? He told me it was going to be from someone on base and from the treatment that I had gotten so far to try and help me there was no way I was going to trust another military member to tell them how I felt and what was going on. So when I refused help, they had me sign a waiver saying that because I refused treatment I was not going to be eligible for any VA treatment or benefits. I, of course, did not realize that that was a load of malarkey until several years later when I had to go to the VA because I couldn't handle my own life.
I was also told that punishment of my perpetrator was not my business. I think that is -- I don't know for sure what the real rule is about that now, but it is definitely the business because I trusted them in the first place to take care of it and promoting him two weeks later is not promoting it -- sorry, fixing it.
All of the evidence that had been in my files about this was sanitized. This is a normal and way too often thing that happens with files. Things that are important that would have some thing to do with a claim are taken out of your files so, when you request them, over half of your file is no longer there. So trying to fight the VA to get benefits is next to impossible because there's no proof any more -- even if you reported it to the on base police, even if you reported it to anybody who would listen, like I did, nothing. This, again, makes us trust the government even less.
I would be afraid even when the phone rang. That could make me cry. A few months ago, I was at a friend's house and her washing machine turned on and I had a panic attack from that. I don't know why. I have panic attacks all the time for the oddest reasons, I'm sure. As I get further in my treatment I will figure out why certain things trigger me.
I believe that there are some good SARCs but not enough. The SARCs need to be on top of their game. The victim is not going to seek out help. They're going to do what I did. They're going to stay in their room and drink. They're not going to trust anybody else to go help them. I also believe that a SARC should not be a dependent of a military member because the way that they would run their case may be far too influenced by their fear that if they go against the way the command is saying things should be done, that it could be detrimental to their spouse's career.
Excuse me just a second.
The SARC also needs to be able to have complete confidentiality. The things that a victim says and does with their SARC needs to be completely confidential. It is maybe a month or two ago that a victim's SARC was subpoenaed to testify against their own victim. And of course, they had no choice.
Just like you're doing now, let the MST victims be involved in the training of SARC personnel. They know how it feels, they know what needs to be changed. And commanders also need to be accountable when it comes to the rapist.
We have plenty of rules that are not worth the paper that they are printed on. For example, if somebody has done a sexual assault it is supposed to stay in their record, they are supposed to sign up as -- on the -- I'm sorry, I'm blanking on the name but whatever the civilian thing is that a sex offender has to register under, that's a rule. I've had very little -- in fact, I don't think I've ever seen that done now that I'm even doing advocacy work for people who are still in. The next base they [assailants] go to, that file does not follow them so the next command does not know it. They are put in the same situation and they know they can get away with it. I do not believe a lot of the rumors and the little two-bit ideas that most people have about "Well, it's the alcohol, well, women shouldn't be in the military, well, well, well." I believe it is due to the consistent and rewarded attitudes of misogyny. Thinking that women -- and also men -- there's plenty of men that I've worked with who have been sexually assaulted as well. They need to be able to be safe, feel like they have been taken care of and when you find out that a person who has sexually assaulted you did it at the last base, where is the safety?
I felt like I was entering the band of the brothers as their sister. I was then an outcast. Alone. And challenged on everything I did.
There is also the Troops to Teachers Act, so when the person who sexually assaulted a member, when they get out of the Air Force, or any Coast Guard or whatever, so they get to go be [. . .] teachers and their file does not follow them because they have not registered as a sex offender. So they get to be in schools with children as a sex offender.


If you missed Wednesday's Congressional hearing, it's covered in Wednesday's "Iraq snapshot," Kat's "When I tried to smoke a banana," Thursday's "Iraq snapshot," Ruth's "Laura Watterson's testimony and its meaning" and Kat's "Laura Watterson's testimony."

In Iraq, provincial elections are scheduled to take place tomorrow in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces. Today, as is often case lately, Kim Gamel (AP) stakes out the ground the discussion will be moving to. Gamel's reporting on Mosul -- the city that replaced Baghdad as the most violent by the end of 2008 if you measure solely by the number of deaths. "Mosul is a show down for power between Arabs and Kurds," Gamel notes of the Iraqi city dominated currently by Kurds on their council despite the fact that Kurds do not constitute the largest segment of the population. Throughout Iraq, borders and airports will close for Saturday's elections (through early the next morning and beginning on Friday) but Gamel informs that Mosul will be banning street traffic starting on Monday and the citizens have been told "to stay at home until they are ready to vote the following day."Gamel identifies the hopes of US officials: A large Sunni turn out which they believe will vest Arabs in the government and cut down on the tensions. That's only one of the tensions in Mosul; however, there's also the competition between Sunni and Kurd and Sunni's taking control of the council will increase more tensions on Sunni v. Kurd front. Earlier this week, Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) became the first to grasp, "Maybe US audiences aren't all grasping what 'provincial elections' mean?" He offers that they are "the equivalent of an American state legislature" and today Gamel adds to that: "Provincial councils choose the governor and wield tremendous power at the local level. The current Kurdish-dominated council has been heavily criticized for failing to provide local services or security." Ian Fisher (New York Times) observes of the province:

And thus these elections are studded with contradictions: On one side, the prospect for fairer representation and less violence in the city. Most parties, Arab and Kurdish alike, are pledging to work together in a possible coalition government after the elections (Mr. Goran, however, has ruled out working with the candidates on the slate from al-Hudba.) On the other side, there appears to be rising suspicion between Arabs and Kurds, worsened by the widening gap, in safety and prosperity, between Iraq proper and Kurdistan.
More and more, the roads out of Mosul feel like an international boundary, with checkpoints and virtual customs stops before the Kurdish cities of Dohuk and Erbil. While Mosul is battened down and tense, Kurdistan is safe and lively, full of construction, car dealerships and nice Turkish washing machines for sale. Arabs say that, despite their holding Iraqi passports, Kurdish pesh merga troops harass them and admit them only grudgingly.

Xinhau crunches numbers to remind that there are 14,400 candidates running in the elections, 3,900 of them are women, that only 444 seats are up for grabs and that there are supposed to be "15 million eligible voters". They also see the elections as "an opinion poll on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki". al-Maliki also sees it that way. Wisam Mohammed (Reuters) adds, "He won power in 2006 as a compromise figure selected by bigger Shi'ite groups, but is hoping Saturday's election will give him his own power base. The outcome will probably be mixed. In many Shi'ite areas, the vote is still likely to expose Maliki's weakness. Across much of Iraq's southern Shi'ite heartland, his main rivals, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI), are expected to maintain their grip on provincial power with an effective political machine and overtly sectarian pitch."

This morning at the US State Dept, spokesperson Robert Wood declared, that "we have yet to receive further clarification and details in that regard from the Iraqis, but we are talking with them. To answer the question that was posed yesterday, yes, Blackwater is still providing protective services on the ground for us." Robert O'Harrow Jr. (Washington Post) revealed this afternoon that State has decided it "will not renew Blackwater Worldwide's contract for securities services in Iraq". Monte Morin (Los Angeles Times) quotes Blackwater stating that they have not heard anything and an unnamed "U.S. Embassy official" is quoted stating, "We have been informed that Blackwater's private security company operating license will not be granted. We don't have specifics about dates. We are working with the government of Iraq and our contractors to address the implications of this decision." US House Rep Jan Schakowsky released the following statement this afternoon:

U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, released the following statement today after news reports that the State Department decided not to renew Blackwater's contract in Iraq. Earlier this week, the Iraqi government denied Blackwater's request for a license to operate in Iraq. The State Department's contract with Blackwater expires in May 2009. "In October 2007, I wrote the former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging her to terminate Blackwater's contract after its employees killed 17 innocent Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisoor Square a month earlier. Instead of terminating Blackwater's contract, the State Department renewed Blackwater's contract in April 2008. At that time, I went down to the House floor and said that the State Department was so 'dependent on private security contractors that it is willing to turn a blind eye to gross misconduct.' Under the leadership of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, we finally have a State Department that will no longer ignore the gross misconduct of contracting companies, like Blackwater. The State Department's decision not to renew Blackwater's contract in Iraq shows a dramatic departure from the previous administration. Instead of overriding the Iraqi government's decision to deny Blackwater a license to operate, the Obama Administration respected the sovereignty of the Iraqi government and did not renew Blackwater's contract. While the State Department;s decision will remove Blackwater from Iraq, it does nothing to stop other contracting companies from operating outside the law. Shortly, I will reintroduce my Stop Outsourcing Security Act to phase out the use of ALL private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Today's violence? China's Xinhua reports, "Three Iraqi policemen were killed by a collected bomb in a southern city, sources with Iraqi police said on Friday." The bombing took place in Diwaniyah yesterday. Sixteen people were also wounded.

In the United States today, US Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced a bill which "would grant U.S. service members the same rights as civilians to appeal their convictions to the U.S. Supreme Court." Currently those convicted by military 'justice' can appeal up to the US Courts of Appeals for the Armed Forces and no higher. Feinstein declared, "Americans who wear the uniform of the United States should not be penalized with the loss of a basic due-process right. We need to correct this disparity, and this legislation will do exactly that." Barack Obama, the new US president, is not withdrawing troops from Iraq. He may withdraw -- as his plan was supposed to -- combat troops. On Washington Week last Friday, ABC News Martha Raddatz attempted to clarify this:

Martha Raddatz: They laid out plans or started to lay out plans for the sixteen-month withdrawal, which President Obama says he wants, or the three-year withdrawal which is the Status Of Forces Agreement that the US has gone into with the Iraqis. And they talked about the risks with each of those. Ray Odierno, who is the general in charge of Iraqi forces, said, 'If you run out in sixteen months -- if you get out in sixteen months, there are risks. The security gains could go down the tube. If you wait three years, there are other risks because you can't get forces into Afghanistan as quickly.' So President Obama made no decisions. Again, he's going to meet with Joint Chiefs next week and probably will make a military decision. But also a key there is how many troops he leaves behind. That's something we're not talking about so much, he's not talking about so much. This residual force that could be 50, 60, 70,000 troops even if he withdraws --Gwen Ifill: That's not exactly getting out of Iraq.Martha Raddatz: Not exactly getting out completely.

With that in mind, Rick Maze (Army News) reports a disturbing development today, US Senator Carl Levin has indicated Barack has "wiggle room" when it comes to withdrawing combat troops -- that Barack would be fine now with only 80% of combat troops being pulled. Let's use the 80,000 remaining number. (The White House unofficially says the number that would remain under the 16-month plan would be 70,000.) There are approximately 146,000 US troops in Iraq currently. That would mean 66,000 troops ('combat') could be withdrawn (before Levin's statement). But if only 80% of the 66,000 are withdrawn, what does that mean? If you do the math, it means there would be approximately 97,000 US troops in Iraq after Barack's "withdrawal". For point of reference, prior to the "surge" (escalation) announced by the (former) White House in January 2007, the number of US troops in Iraq was approximately 132,000. A minus of 35,000 US troops and that's what's being passed off as 'withdrawal'.

Public broadcasting notes. Bill Moyers Journal features Marilyn Young who always (to date, anyway) has something interesting worth hearing. The program airs on PBS and begins airing tonight in many markets -- check local listings on this and other PBS programs all of which begin airing tonight in many PBS markets. NOW on PBS continues it's must-watch tradition and offers:President Obama has issued a scathing critique of Wall Street following news that Wall Street employees were paid more than $18 billion in bonuses last year as the financial sector melted down. What should his administration do to crack down on banks, given that some experts are suggesting an additional $1 trillion to $2 trillion may be needed to bail them out?This week, David Brancaccio sits down with financial reporter Bethany McLean -- who broke the Enron story -- to look at options on the table for stabilizing the country's financial system. Is nationalizing our banks a viable solution?Almost everyone agrees that our banks need federal money to avoid even more calamity, but how much is too much, and who's watching how they spend it?And then there's Gwen. Washington Week features Gwen, Greg Ip (The Economist), John Dickerson (Slate), Alexis Simendinger (National Journal) and Doyle McManus (Los Angeles Times).

cbs newsthe cbs evening news with katie courickatie couric
pbswashington weeknow on pbs
the new york timesian fisher
the washington posternesto londono
kim gamel

Malcolm Shore, A.N.S.W.E.R., Chomsky

Thursday means? We're almost to the weekend. And for those wondering, I will have a Dumb Ass of the week tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I know who it is.

But tonight, let's note someone who deserves noting. This is from Malcolm Shore's "Just Say It:"

So, it’s the day after the Inauguration, and I had just opened the New York Times.

I turn to the Editorial page and encounter these words in a piece about Obama’s address: “In about 20 minutes, he swept away eight years of President George Bush’s false choices and failed policies and promised to recommit to America’s most cherished ideals.”

Wow! Naturally, after reading this, I instantly assumed that Obama had immediately withdrawn all U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. That he had closed down not only Guantanamo, but Bagram, along with the other secret, and not-so-secret, U.S. torture sites throughout the world. That he had issued an executive order overturning Bush’s spying program, and apologized for voting in favor of it in July. That he had called on California to immediately repeal Proposition 8, and apologized for marching in lockstep with its supporters during the November election. That he had reversed his earlier stance, and vowed to end Bush’s faith-based initiative immediately. That he had announced a massive aid package to New Orleans, specifically geared towards building new homes for all the displaced residents Bush abandoned after Katrina. That he declared an immediate end to all ICE immigrant raids.

And, of course, that he had announced he would prosecute Bush Regime officials for their innumerable crimes against humanity.

That’s obviously what the Times meant when they said Obama “swept away” eight years of Bush, right? I mean, why else --

(Hold on, somebody is whispering something in my ear)…

I’m back. I’ve just been informed that Obama did not do all of these things. Any of these things, excuse me. He did not do any of these things.

Ok, fine, but give the guy a break: It’s his Inauguration Day! He had a whole national unity address to prepare for! What was I thinking?! How could Obama be expected to do any of these things I mentioned when he was hard at work making Americans feel good about themselves again? Come on – priorities, people!

But, tell me this: Obama at least said he was going to do all of these things, right? That’s it, yeah. I’m so silly. I took the Times literally when they said he had “swept away” the Bush years. Of course he didn’t actually reverse the Bush agenda all at once! They just mean he promised to do that in his speech.

Phew! For a minute there, I was starting to worry- -

(You’ll have to excuse me, but somebody is whispering something in my ear again)…

That's an excerpt and he uses that devices throughout both for humor and to underscore how much the new boy emperor is wearing the same threads and dancing the same dance. I really love that column and that's the one I've been talking about all week that I kept saying I would get around to noting. It's really something.

That's World Can't Wait, by the way. And since we're doing Dumb Ass of the Week tomorrow, let's make this about the non-Kool Aid drinkers, the truth tellers who always tell the truth even if it makes some little babies cry and stamp their feet. So I'm going to note this from A.N.S.W.E.R.:

Statements from the Free Palestine Alliance
The Free Palestine Alliance, a member group of the ANSWER Coalition National Steering Committee, has been writing daily statements about the Gaza Strip Massacre. These are important statements of political orientation from the Palestinian-American community. Click here to read the statements issued by the Free Palestine Alliance.
Send a letter to the State Department and Congress Send a letter to the State Department and Congress: Join with people around the country and around the world who are demanding an end to U.S. aid to Israel. This is an urgent situation and we must all act now. You can send a letter with our easy click and send system demanding an end to U.S. aid to Israel. Without U.S. aid, the Israeli military attacks, siege and blockade of Gaza could not be continued. Click this link now to send a letter to the State Department and elected officials in Congress.
Read a comprehensive report from demonstrations across the U.S. and world Read a report about the December 30 National Day of Action

Now let me note CODESTINK. Oh wait, they're Kool Aid drinkers, fakes and frauds. And, ha ha, all the money Jodie plowed in to getting Barack in office and she didn't even get a good time at the inauguration. Poor Jodie.

They treated her like hired help. But, really, isn't that what she is and isn't that what she turned CODESTINK into?

MoveOn? Stop, you're making me laugh!!!!! :D That's as funny as CODESTINK. They don't call out anyone. They don't demand change. They do nothing. Over and over. Repeatedly.

Here's Noam Chomsky trying to warn you about War Hawk Corporatist Barack:

During the murderous assault, Obama remained silent apart from a few platitudes, because, he said, there is only one president - a fact that did not silence him on many other issues. His campaign did, however, repeat his statement that "if missiles were falling where my two daughters sleep, I would do everything in order to stop that." He was referring to Israeli children, not the hundreds of Palestinian children being butchered by US arms, about whom he could not speak, because there was only one president.

On January 22, however, the one president was Barack Obama, so he could speak freely about these matters - avoiding, however, the attack on Gaza, which had, conveniently, been called off just before the inauguration.

Obama's talk emphasized his commitment to a peaceful settlement. He left its contours vague, apart from one specific proposal: "the Arab peace initiative," Obama said, "contains constructive elements that could help advance these efforts. Now is the time for Arab states to act on the initiative's promise by supporting the Palestinian government under President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad, taking steps towards normalizing relations with Israel, and by standing up to extremism that threatens us all."

Obama is not directly falsifying the Arab League proposal, but the carefully framed deceit is instructive.

The Arab League peace proposal does indeed call for normalization of relations with Israel - in the context - repeat, in the context of a two-state settlement in terms of the longstanding international consensus, which the US and Israel have blocked for over 30 years, in international isolation, and still do. The core of the Arab League proposal, as Obama and his Mideast advisers know very well, is its call for a peaceful political settlement in these terms, which are well-known, and recognized to be the only basis for the peaceful settlement to which Obama professes to be committed. The omission of that crucial fact can hardly be accidental, and signals clearly that Obama envisions no departure from US rejectionism. His call for the Arab states to act on a corollary to their proposal, while the US ignores even the existence of its central content, which is the precondition for the corollary, surpasses cynicism.

The most significant acts to undermine a peaceful settlement are the daily US-backed actions in the occupied territories, all recognized to be criminal: taking over valuable land and resources and constructing what the leading architect of the plan, Ariel Sharon, called "Bantustans" for Palestinians - an unfair comparison because the Bantustans were far more viable than the fragments left to Palestinians under Sharon's conception, now being realized. But the US and Israel even continue to oppose a political settlement in words, most recently in December 2008, when the US and Israel (and a few Pacific islands) voted against a UN resolution supporting "the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination" (passed 173 to 5, US-Israel opposed, with evasive pretexts).

Obama had not one word to say about the settlement and infrastructure developments in the West Bank, and the complex measures to control Palestinian existence, designed to undermine the prospects for a peaceful two-state settlement. His silence is a grim refutation of his oratorical flourishes about how "I will sustain an active commitment to seek two states living side by side in peace and security."

And only one person can top that. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Thursday, January 29, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, provincial elections loom, 3 candidates in them are shot dead today, US House Rep Loretta Sanchez shocks the military by asking about accountability, and more.

Laura Watterson: I'll just start off. This is very difficult. I don't usually come out of my bedroom so coming all the way to DC is a little, well, freaking me out. But however uncomfortable I may be, I think it is more important that I be here instead of worrying about my own problems because this really needs to be done. [. . .]
When I entered the Air Force, I seriously considered making it a career for myself. I wanted to travel and I wanted to have a stable life and career. After I was assaulted, I no longer trusted anyone on base and my career was no longer an option for me. Because of my MST and PTSD that resulted from it, I was forced to move in with my mother at the age of thirty because I could not take care of myself, keep a job or feel safe even in my own apartment. I lived on cereal and microwaveable dinners so I did not end up causing a fire because I forgot that I was cooking something. I was so depressed that I actually quit smoking because the task of actually picking up a cigarette and lighting it was just too much. Of course, my doctors were happy about that but . . .
I had crying fits that were so powerful I could not even get my head off of wherever it landed because of exhaustion. One time my head landed in my shoe. And it would leave me hoarse for three days from crying so hard. I have gained over sixty pounds and I would go into violent rages. One time I ransacked the house to find every present I had ever given my mother, smashed them to bits and dumped them on her bed. I would swear at her and throw things at her as if I had Tourette Syndrome. Any attempt at communication with me, I would just flip her off. This behavior was . . . I had never treated my mother like this before. I didn't understand why this was happening and it ruined my self-esteem that much further.
I have missed most family functions since being in the Air Force because I am unable to be around many people -- especially people who are asking a lot of personal questions like "Oh, how is life? What are you up to? What are you doing?" That kind of brings the family celebration down a little. It has been only recently that I would even leave my bedroom. I used to have very good credit. And I was very proud of that. Because of not being able to pay my bills because I could not keep a job -- just recently I had an attempt to have my wages garnished. I was too afraid to wear anything at all 'inviting'. I.e. I would wear men's clothing, usually in all black and several sizes too big. I didn't want anyone to find me approachable. I'm afraid of being assaulted again. I used to have my hair and make up and nails match every day, no matter what I was wearing, for years. Now, with the exception of today, I would only wear chapstick and stick my hair up in a bun. And I rarely, if ever, painted my nails. I don't have the energy to look good due to depression. I have had meltdowns in the super market because if I saw someone -- especially if it was a man -- I knew they were stalking me and I would run from the grocery store.
My marriage to a man who I am still friends with ended due to my PTSD symptoms. I didn't realize why I was acting the way I was and neither did he. Nonetheless, it ruined our marriage. That's probably the hardest part [crying], excuse me.
I began . . . I began therapy at the VA because I had lost everything as a result. I began to see patterns and realized that I needed to get my life back. I realize that there are many other people who need to be helped to get back on track as well and that is also why I am a Veteran Advocate myself -- out of my bedroom and out of my own pocket.
Part of my wellness is testifying today, forcing me to get out and do things that are challenging because they're more important. I'll leave here today but hopefully my message will not leave. If I had a caring SARC representative I believe I would not have ended up in the mess that I have ended up in. I was never given a representative when I called to have some assistance. No one came. It got to the point that I called the 15th Air Force Commander who was in charge of the entire western half of the United States and whose name was also in all of the sexual assault booklets, leaflets and --
Since basic training, we'd all been taught the same thing. I trusted in that. I also trusted because I had friends before I went in, "Aren't you afraid after the sexual harassment, the whole Tail-hook thing?" I was like, "No. With all this media why would they -- they must be really careful about it now."
The 15th Air Force Commander said, "Well why don't you just keep this on base, have them take care of it?" They wouldn't. I reported it as I was supposed to -- to my supervisor, as well as his. They said it would be taken care of and I trusted that.
Two weeks later, I was at work and everyone was asked to stand up because there was going to be a pinning-on ceremony.
That pinning-on ceremony was for the man who assaulted me to now outrank me and become a supervisor. He was rewarded.
This was when I got very angry. After fighting and calling everyone I could possibly think of, my commander finally called me into his office with my supervisor who assaulted me here [call this Point A], the guy who assaulted me [Point B], my chair [Point C -- so they are seated right next to each other] and his supervisor [Point D]. So I was not even close to my supervisor, the one who should be protecting me or making me feel safe.
I was told by my commander that I needed to understand that, "Different people have different personal bubbles. For example, when you go to England, sometimes when you meet people over there and you shake their hand, they like to hold on to your hand while they're speaking and, as Americans, because we don't do that, it's uncomfortable for us." And that is how he told me that I needed to get over what had happened.
That is when I became --
I started drinking obscene amounts. Again, not knowing anything about PTSD, I started having, you know, yelling at my husband over the stupidest things and having absolute fits of rage. And, again, this is not me.
After this meeting I had with my commander, my SARC, or whatever he was called at the time, offered me therapy. I asked if it was going to be someone on base or if it was going to be civilian? He told me it was going to be from someone on base and from the treatment that I had gotten so far to try and help me there was no way I was going to trust another military member to tell them how I felt and what was going on. So when I refused help, they had me sign a waiver saying that because I refused treatment I was not going to be eligible for any VA treatment or benefits. I, of course, did not realize that that was a load of malarkey until several years later when I had to go to the VA because I couldn't handle my own life.
I was also told that punishment of my perpetrator was not my business. I think that is -- I don't know for sure what the real rule is about that now, but it is definitely the business because I trusted them in the first place to take care of it and promoting him two weeks later is not promoting it -- sorry, fixing it.
All of the evidence that had been in my files about this was sanitized. This is a normal and way too often thing that happens with files. Things that are important that would have some thing to do with a claim are taken out of your files so, when you request them, over half of your file is no longer there. So trying to fight the VA to get benefits is next to impossible because there's no proof any more -- even if you reported it to the on base police, even if you reported it to anybody who would listen, like I did, nothing. This, again, makes us trust the government even less.
I would be afraid even when the phone rang. That could make me cry. A few months ago, I was at a friend's house and her washing machine turned on and I had a panic attack from that. I don't know why. I have panic attacks all the time for the oddest reasons, I'm sure. As I get further in my treatment I will figure out why certain things trigger me.
I believe that there are some good SARCs but not enough. The SARCs need to be on top of their game. The victim is not going to seek out help. They're going to do what I did. They're going to stay in their room and drink. They're not going to trust anybody else to go help them. I also believe that a SARC should not be a dependent of a military member because the way that they would run their case may be far too influenced by their fear that if they go against the way the command is saying things should be done, that it could be detrimental to their spouse's career.
Excuse me just a second.
The SARC also needs to be able to have complete confidentiality. The things that a victim says and does with their SARC needs to be completely confidential. It is maybe a month or two ago that a victim's SARC was subpoenaed to testify against their own victim. And of course, they had no choice.
Just like you're doing now, let the MST victims be involved in the training of SARC personnel. They know how it feels, they know what needs to be changed. And commanders also need to be accountable when it comes to the rapist.
We have plenty of rules that are not worth the paper that they are printed on. For example, if somebody has done a sexual assault it is supposed to stay in their record, they are supposed to sign up as -- on the -- I'm sorry, I'm blanking on the name but whatever the civilian thing is that a sex offender has to register under, that's a rule. I've had very little -- in fact, I don't think I've ever seen that done now that I'm even doing advocacy work for people who are still in. The next base they [assailants] go to, that file does not follow them so the next command does not know it. They are put in the same situation and they know they can get away with it. I do not believe a lot of the rumors and the little two-bit ideas that most people have about "Well, it's the alcohol, well, women shouldn't be in the military, well, well, well." I believe it is due to the consistent and rewarded attitudes of misogyny. Thinking that women -- and also men -- there's plenty of men that I've worked with who have been sexually assaulted as well. They need to be able to be safe, feel like they have been taken care of and when you find out that a person who has sexually assaulted you did it at the last base, where is the safety?
I felt like I was entering the band of the brothers as their sister. I was then an outcast. Alone. And challenged on everything I did.
There is also the Troops to Teachers Act.
so when the person who sexually assaulted a member, when they get out of the Air Force, or any Coast Guard or whatever, so they get to go be [. . .] teachers and their file does not follow them because they have not registered as a sex offender. So they get to be in schools with children as a sex offender.

That's Laura Watterson's testimony to the Military Personnel Subcommittee yesterday, chaired by US House Rep Susan Davis. The subcommittee is part of the US House Armed Services Committee and watch the military reaction in the following exchange when US House Rep Loretta Sanchez proposes an accountability measure.

US House Rep Loretta Sanchez: Thank you, Madame Chair and thank you to all the panel for being here. I have just one question because in the 12 years that I have been on this committee and in the Congress, we've had this problem and I believe it is a major problem. When we are a volunteer force in particular and when we are looking at 50% of Americans being women and the fact that we need to draw the talents from that pool just as we do from the men. And I believe women should be in the military. And that this problem is continuing to happen and has for so many years . . . drives me crazy. We were able to pass, as you know, a new UCMJ section that dealt with this and I hear back from the prosecutors that they love using this new law, that they are more effectively using it to get the prosecutions that they need. But you know I've always said that there are three things that we need to do. One, change the culture. Two, change the law so that we do prosecute and we can prosecute. And three, work well with those who, the victims who have had this happen and make sure that they don't lose their lives. So let's go back to the first one: Change the culture. Because this shouldn't be happening at all. I've zero tolerance for this. And it seems to me that no matter what we try, no matter how many rules we put on and how many administrative issues and everything, it all comes down to how the top is handling this. How the commander handles this, where ever it is, whether it's Iraq or the Air Force Academy or whether it's a base in Camp Pendleton in California or where ever it might be, that it's really about how the chain of command deals with this. And they don't seem to deal with this very well. And so my question is to Ms. Watterson who so bravely came forward today and I thank you for that because I, believe it or not, I personally know how difficult it is. Uhm. It's been my contention that the only way we're going to make the command understand how important this issue is is that it's actually a section on every promotion that they receive. That in order for them to be promoted, they have to deal with, "What did you do about this? How much of this has happened under you? How come you were ineffective about this?" And that they don't get promoted if they don't take this seriously. Now that runs counter to so many people who say "Oh, we're just care about making fighting machines." Ms. Watterson, do you think that if these people in command that you go to thought that if they didn't handle this correctly or didn't make an attempt to handle it, if they thought they would lose their ability to be promoted, that they might have taken this more seriously for you?

Laura Watterson: Yeah, that sounds like an excellent idea. That way they're held accountable.

Loretta Sanchez: Because they're not held accountable. This is not an accountability issue for the people in uniform. Some do it well. Some don't do it very well. Some say, "Oh, the handshake was just a little too long." Or, "Take care of it yourself." Or, "You're a big girl." And these are all things that I have heard from so many women who have been put in this spot. So do you think that that would make a difference if they thought that they wouldn't get promoted if they just told you to handle it yourself?

Laura Watterson: I think that would be a great incentive. I think that part of it should also be interview or contact with whoever the victim was and ask them how they were treated and if they think that everything was done fairly?

US House Rep Loretta Sanchez: Now that would be part of it. I mean, the way that we would judge whether this person, whomever was actully in command, took care of it would be that there would be some input from those that had suffered the acts and had been treated one way or the other by this person. What about the rest of you? What do you think? Because you probably come across some commanders who really care about this thing and really do something right away about it and you probably come across people who sort of move the pieces on the checker board around. What do you'll think? Captain?

Capt Daniel Katka: Well, ma'am, in the ten seconds we have, you know, a culture change, I would love to be able to see genuine. Disingenuous, uhm, using people as ranks, and things like that, perhaps would promote disingenous culture change. Rather than real cultural change. Completely my opinion. But I understand where you're going and in a criteria issue, what would you put in that promotion? What would be, you know, the criteria for that promotoin, the statistics -- if statistics are up, is that good on the commander? Or is that bad on the commander? So there are a lot of questions that I just immediately have that we probably don't have time, maybe, to get into.
US House Rep Loretta Sanchez: Thank you. Chief?

Sgt 1st Class Michael Horwath: I agree ma'am that if it were done right it would be an effective way of pushing the program forward.

US House Rep Loretta Sanchez: That is would not or would be?

Sgt 1st Class Michael Horwath: That is would.

US House Rep Loretta Sanchez: That it would.

Sgt 1st Class Michael Horwath: But again that would be a threat. That's my opinion

US House Rep Loretta Sanchez: I'm just asking your opinion. It's not threats. It's sort of like this is important to us for you to be graded on. I mean when you go to a class in college, you, if you're a smart student, you understand what the professor wants and what they're going to grade you on. And you tend to work on those issues that are going to get you the A if you care about the grade.

Sgt 1st Class Michael Horwath: I can see it being effective. [. . .] I can see that a soldier may look on that as being more important if they see it officially in their paperwork, yes.

US House Rep Loretta Sanchez: Thank you. Chief?.

US House Rep: Susan Davis: Thank you, Ms. Sanchez. [To Chief McKennie] Can you respond really quickly?

Chief Petty Officer Tonya D. McKennie: I can. I believe that it would be effective but it would also take training as well in combination with that. So that it would be genuine and effective.

US House Rep Loretta Sanchez: Thank you. Thank you, Madame Chair.

The idea that adding a grading measure to performance evaluation -- one grading measure -- is cause for a freak out goes to the problem with the culture. Grading measures are added all the time. What caused the freak out was that a military culture that refuses to take assaults seriously might be graded on their response. As if supervision wasn't already needed? Sanchez was 100% correct, it's not a threat. It's a criteria. And commanders are supposed to be responsible supervisors so they should be graded on how they are handling -- or not handling -- sexual assault complaints. We covered the hearing yesterday and will cover some more of it tomorrow. Kat offered some of her observations of the hearing here. [She also covered last night's theme of rumors as did Mike's "Barney, Debra Sweet," Rebecca's "rod stewart," Marcia's "Porn Star ON-J," "Eddie Murphy," Trina's "The cross dressing J. Edgar Hoover," Ruth's "Liberace," Stan's "Wonder Years rocker," Elaine's "Paul is dead" and Kat's "When I tried to smoke a banana." -- You just mentioned Kat! Yes, and she says it will be easier for people to copy and paste the theme posts if I toss her in there. Cedric's "How to make the economy worse" and Wally's "THIS JUST IN! FIX THE ECONOMY BY CUTTING JOBS!" continued there humorous joint-posts.]


From sexual assault to all kinds of assault including domestic abuse, on the prime time special yesterday of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, Couric filed a report on spousal abuse in the military noting that "more than 25,000 spouses and domestic partners have been attacked over the past decade. Nearly 90 spouses have died." Among those she spoke with was Jessacia Patton about Patton's husband Lenny McIntire. Below is a transcript to the online bonus footage of their interview:


Katie Couric: He went to Iraq, came back. How had he changed once he came back?

Jessacia Patton: He hardly ever slept. He was awake all the time. Didn't want to be at home. Didn't want to be around me, Bella [their daughter], couldn't take the crying, didn't like the noise we made when we ate. He was always out at bars. I'd come home from work and he'd have girls over at the apartment. And -- and, just never wanted to be around us. Always was always about the [Army] Rangers and I just didn't take into that life. I didn't -- I grew up in Washington, around Fort Lewis, I had my own friends. And that made it really hard too, the fact that I didn't pay enough attention to him, I was paid too much attention to our infant daughter than him. That sparkle that he used to have, that I fell in love with was gone. He was just blank in the eyes and angry and mad all the time.

Katie Couric: When you were having problems initially when he first came home, did you contact anyone at the base or anyone with the US military?

Jessacia Patton: We went to the chapel and I talked to the chaplain --

Katie Couric: Together with your husband?

Jessacia Patton: Mmm-hmm. And then I went separately by myself. And if you're not there with your spouse, you don't get any help. They'll just push you off to someone else. "Well, we can't help you. But go to this service, they can help you." So then we go to another service. "Go to Family Advocate, they can help you." Somebody else can always help you. "Call LG, he can help you." And they "We can't help you but go here".

Katie Couric: So they gave you the run around?

Jessacia Patton: Mmm-hmm. I came home and she had a bloody lip and there's red blood all over her face and he'd just left her in her crib. I said, "What happened?" "Well the dogs jumped on her." "How did the dogs jump on her?" She doesn't even crawl, she just lays on the ground or is held.

Katie Couric: How old is she?

Jessacia Patton: Five months old. And he said, "Well the dogs must have done it."

Katie Couric: Four months later, he attacked again, but this time you were the victim.

Jessacia Patton: I'm glad my daughter wasn't. I'm not glad that it happened but I'm glad that Bella wasn't there because it could have been much worse.

Katie Couric: What happened?

Jessacia Patton: If I just could have run a little bit faster I might have made it but he tackled me out back and started kicking and hitting me and I started screaming for help but nobody came. And that's when he grabbed my face and slammed it into the ground and said that if I yelled again, he would kill me right there. Cause after the incident, I went to the chaplain and I'm crying and I need help and I don't know who to turn to and I went to the Rangers even though he's not in the battalion anymore and they're like, "Well we washed our hands of him." And I went to his battalion and nobody would help me out. Nobody -- and being a civilian, how do you deal with martial law? I don't know martial law. So I'm stuck in between --

Katie Couric: Or military law.

Jessacia Patton: Yeah. I'm just in that gray area.

Katie Couric: Well having been through what you've been through, what do you think is the major flaw in the way the US military, at least in your experience deals with domestic violence?

Jessacia Patton: I think that spouses don't get enough attention. When it's a soldier then soldiers get all the attention. But when a soldier beats his wife, the wife falls through the crack. They make it very impossible to get through the system and get anything done. You just get the run around. They need to listen to military wives. They need to have something -- some organization, some club something set up that a wife can go into and speak about this instead of just getting shrugged off because problems just get worse.

In the report last night, Couric explained that even though he later entered a guilty plea to child abuse, even though "he attacked and raped his wife," it was only when "threatened his fellow soldiers and went AWOL that the Army decided to press charges. Three weeks ago, he was sentenced to seven years in a military prison." This evening, CBS Evening News with Katie Couric tells Sgt James Pitts' story. On a related noted, David Morgan and Philip Barbara (Reuters) report that US Army suicides have increased eleven percent continuing the increase that has been evident "among active duty soldiers and reservists since 2004."

Turning to Iraq where provincial elections will be held in fourteen of the eighteen provinces this Saturday. Jafar Jani (Wall St. Journal's Baghdad Life) reports a reason for excitement in Iraq:

Many Iraqis are wishing the provincial elections would occur every few months, instead of every four years, because of the benefits they are receiving from the campaign season, from new construction projects to mobile phone cards and blankets given as gifts by political parties or candidates.

Early voting already began. Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) notes that the early voters are "soldiers, police, prisoners and hospital patients". She notes that authoritieis are claiming 15 million people have register to vote. That figure may suggest voter fraud. The CIA's current (July 2008) estimate for the population is 28,221,180 Iraqis. That's an estimate and it's only remotely accurate if Iraq's had a baby boom in the midst of the illegal war (it may have). You have had the "brain drain" (the flight of the technocrats, medical profession, etc), you have had the refugee flight (which follows the "brain drain" -- follows it several years later). It also doesn't appear (short of an ongoing baby boom in Iraq) to acknowledge the approximately 1.5 million Iraqis killed since the start of the illegal war.But let's stick with 28 million while noting the figure is questionable. That would mean 13 million are not registered to vote. Since we know some adult Iraqis are refusing to take part in the process, that means the 13 million is made up more of than just the youth (defined here as "under legal voting age"). The 15 million figure seems rather high considering all the deaths during the illegal war, the brain drain, the refugee crisis, etc. (And note, the US State Dept estimates the population in Iraq to be 27,499,638 -- an estimate that still seems high.)Susman notes there are 440 council seats up for grabs with 14,467 people competing for those slots and that, unlike in 2005, Sunnis are expected to participate in this election at higher rates. Zaid Sabah (Washington Post) notes early voting also includes "residents forced from contested towns". Sabah informs that "three Kurdish provinces" intend to vote later this year and no one knows when Kirkuk will be allowed to vote. And al-Maliki continues trolling for votes in an election he's not a candidate in:The Dawa party of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose popularity has been bolstered by the decline in violence, is seeking to chip away at the power of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, which controls four of the nine predominantly Shiite southern provinces. Followers of Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric whose men have fought rival Shiites, the army and the U.S. military, are backing lists of nominally independent candidates."What makes us happy is the preparations we are seeing today -- a slap in the face of those who are betting that Iraqis will not go to the ballot boxes because they are despairing," Maliki said during a televised election rally in the southern city of Amarah.

Meanwhile Sam Dagher (New York Times) covers the topic too often ignored: Iraqi women.
Dagher reports women make up nearly 4,000 of the 14,400 candidates (vying for 440 seats) and that posters have been defaced with mud or beards drawn on, torn down and that a Baghdad home invasion yesterday targeted a female member of the Iraqi Islamic Party and she was murdered, shot "10 times in the chest". She's the second women known/thought to be killed as a result of the upcoming elections. Last month, Calwiz-Nahla Hussein of the Communist Party in Kirkuk was shot dead. Click here for UNAMI statement. The violence aimed at the candidates and political parties continued today. Wisam Mohammed (Reuters) reports, "Gunmen killed three Iraqi election candidates in separate incidents on Thursday, two days before Iraq holds provincial polls that will test the war-weary country's fragile democracy." Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports political candidate Omar Faruq al-Ani was shot dead not far from his Baghdad home and that candidate Hazim Salim Ahmed was shot dead Mosul today. Wisam Mohammed explains the third candidate shot dead today was Abbas Farhan. Al Jazeera adds, "The three, all from the Sunni Arab minority, were killed by assailants in separate incidents on Thursday."

On the upcoming elections, Dagher notes that women were supposed to be legally guaranteed a certain percentage of seats in the elections but that somehow disappeared when the law was rewritten and no one still can provide an explanation as to how that happened and that some Iraqi women see the quota system as worthless to begin with. Mahdiya Abed-Hassan al-Lami feels it is "manipulated by major political parties" in order "to marginalize women" by choosing women who are ineffective and will not challenge or question their male peers. She says, "If women are simply followers they cannot fulfill their roles properly." Dagher details how Liza Hido runs in secret ("private gatherings") due to threats when she served "on a municipal council". Law professor and women's rights advocate Bushra al-Obeidi tells Dagher that the system is fixed against women and the religious extremists control the game, "I assure you, they are against women. They are lying to us." Abigail Hauslohner (Time magazine) explains that the tensions between the provinces not voting and the central Iraq government is thought by "U.S. commanders" to be the 'hotspot' that "could produce one of the most dangerous flash points. U.S. officers in Diyala have spent weeks mediating between Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi military over security arrangements for next week's provincial elecitons. The national army had planned to set up security checkpoints in northern Diyala, just as they will do all over the country on polling day. But the Kurds were furious. While ethnically mixed Diyala is under the jurisdiction of Baghdad, the province's northern section is predominantly Kurdish and falls along the fuzzy but increasingly agitated fault line that separates the Kurdish north from the rest of Iraq." Throughout the lead up to the provincial elections, the KRG president and Iraq's prime minister have publicly taken shots at one another despite the fact that the KRG provinces are not holding provincial elections at this time and al-Maliki is not running in the provincial elections.

In mercenary news, Ernesto Londono and Qais Mizher (Washington Post)report that Iraq's Interior Ministry told the US Embassy/Fortress in Iraq that Blackwater will not receive "a new operating license" in what the paper dubs "one of the boldest moves the [Iraqi] government has made since the Jan. 1 implementation of a security agreement". If you were or are a Blackwater employee, the reporters explain, and you "have not been accused of improper conduct," you can switch over to another mercenary company operating in Iraq. They quote the US State Dept spokesperson Noel Clay: "We will work with the government of Iraq and our contractors to address the implications of this decision in a way that minimizes any impact on safety and security of embassy Baghdad personnel." And they give Blackwater a chance to speak which is the usual Blackwater/KBR/et al dance of "We haven't heard this so we can't comment blah blah blah." Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) reminds, "Blackwater was accused of an improper use of force in a series of fatal incidents in Iraq, among them the killing of a bodyguard of Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi in 2006 in the heavily fortified Green Zone by an employee who was drunk and off duty." She also notes the September 16th slaughter of Iraqis by Blackwater. Monte Morin (Los Angeles Times) offers, "At the time, the Iraqi government demanded that Blackwater be banned, but backed down when the U.S. Embassy approved the firm's resumption of work activities."

In some of today's other reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports two Diyala Province roadside bombings that resulted in eight Iraqi service members being injured

Shootings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 men were shot dead after being kidnapped outside of Baquba and 1 person shot dead in Kirkuk yesterday.
Meanwhile, the hapless insist, "There's Got To Be A Withdrawal The Morning After" being sworn in. But, as Peter Baker and Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) explain, maybe not. The reporters see Barack as "recommitted to ending the war in Iraq but not to his specific campaign pledge to pull out roughly one combat brigade a month for the first 16 months of his presidency." He's never pledged to end the illegal war. He did infer -- in statements at rallies -- that he would pull all US troops out of Iraq but his actual 'plan' was combat troops out of Iraq in 16 months leaving behind as many as 80,000 potentially (the White House unofficially says the number would be 70,000). That 'plan' was revealed as empty words by then-foreign policy advisor Samantha Power when speaking to the BBC in March 2008 and by Barack when speaking to CNN in June of last year. We'll note this section of the article:Among those consulted by the president was Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander in Iraq, who has developed a plan that would move slower than Mr. Obama's campaign timetable, by pulling out two brigades over the next six months. In an interview in Iraq on Wednesday, General Odierno suggested that it might take the rest of the year to determine exactly when United States forces could be drawn down significantly."I believe that if we can get through the next year peacefully, with incidents about what they are today or better, I think we're getting close to enduring stability, which enables us to really reduce," General Odierno said as he inspected a polling center south of Baghdad in advance of provincial elections on Saturday.General Odierno said the period between this weekend's elections and the national elections to be held about a year from now would be critical to determining the future of Iraq. While some American forces could be withdrawn before then, he suggested that the bulk of any pullout would probably come after that.In other words, after nearly six years of illegal war, it's still too soon to judge whether or not the US can drawdown -- drawdown, not withdraw. No one's promised withdrawal -- Barack refused to pledge that, if elected, all US troops would be out of Iraq by the close of 2012.
We'll close with this from Refugees International:Relocation of Palestinian Refugees from Iraq to Sudan Moving ForwardWashington D.C. -- The new U.S. administration must join with othercountries and urgently resettle 3,000 Palestinian refugees from theSyrian-Iraqi border, Refugees International (RI) announced today. The UNRefugee Agency (UNHCR), the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)and Sudan will soon be relocating this population to pre-fabricatedhousing in Khartoum. As the three parties prepare to take the refugeesto Sudan, RI called for the U.S. and other resettlement countries toensure a voluntary, dignified process that allows this vulnerablepopulation to find a permanent, stable home."The Obama administration must step in and send a clear message to theworld that we are interested in helping displaced people find stablehomes," said Kristele Younes, Senior Advocate with RefugeesInternational. "The plan to send Palestinians trapped at theIraqi-Syrian border to Sudan is outrageous. The U.S. has finally startedresettlement processing for vulnerable, displaced people inside Iraq whohave not had the resources to flee their country. These Palestinians areamong the most vulnerable, and the U.S. should prioritize theirresettlement."Approximately 34,000 stateless Palestinians have lived in Iraq since2003. Since the beginning of U.S. military operations in Iraq, manysuffered persecution at the hands of the Iraqi government and otherarmed groups. More than 3,000 fled to the Syrian-Iraqi border, wherethey live in makeshift tents in the desert with limited access to basicservices. Syria refuses to allow them to enter its territory and only afew have been resettled, mostly to Sweden and Chile. Failure to act onthe part of the U.S. government and other resettlement countries ledUNHCR to sign a tripartite agreement with the PLO and the Government ofSudan that called for the relocation of this population to aneighborhood of Khartoum."The international community's failure to act and resettle thisextremely vulnerable population has led the United Nations to considerSudan as the only viable option for them," said Younes. "This is not adurable solution. Sudan will not provide them with a path to citizenshipand the Palestinians will be vulnerable to civil unrest and threats ofexpulsion."The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has established unique,discriminatory criteria to assess the vulnerability of Palestinians fromIraq for the purpose of resettlement to the U.S. Refugees Internationalurges President Obama to insist that the criteria be the same for Iraqisand Palestinians in Iraq, and to request that the U.S. StateDepartment's Refugee Bureau create a special category to process theapplications. Any process should be conducted without prejudice to thePalestinians' right to return to their homeland."While the U.S. resettled nearly 14,000 Iraqi refugees in 2008, only3,000 refugees have been allowed in for the first few months of the 2009fiscal year," Younes added. "Many Iraqis can never return home, but astable Iraq will only occur when displaced Iraqis find solutions totheir plight. The U.S. and its allies must continue to increase thenumber of Iraqis resettled, and should start with this group ofPalestinians."Refugees International is a Washington, DC-based organization thatadvocates to end refugee crises. In the last two years, the organizationhas conducted seven missions to the Middle East to identify the problemsfacing Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people in Iraq. InNovember 2008, a delegation of NGOs including Refugees Internationalconducted a field mission to Palestinian camps at the Syria-Iraq borderand released, "From Fast Death to Slow Death: Palestinian Refugees fromIraq Trapped on the Syria-Iraq Border."


iraqthe new york timessam dagher
alissa j. rubinpeter bakerthe washington postqais mizherernesto londono
zaid sabah
the los angeles timestina susmanrefugees international
cbs newsthe cbs evening news with katie courickatie couric
mcclatchy newspapersleila fadel
like maria said pazkats kornersex and politics and screeds and attitudethomas friedman is a great mantrinas kitchenthe daily jotcedrics big mixmikey likes itruths reportsickofitradlzoh boy it never ends