Friday. The weekend.
And October starts Monday. So that's cool. Halloween will be here shortly. In the meantime, let's do Idiot of the Week.
It's not Danny Schechter. He had another strong column this week. (I disagreed with most of it but it was still a strong column, well written.) So while he doesn't deserve it, Matthew Rothschild does
What a sorry website The Progressive is. And how pathetic and cowardly their response was when they felt Barack's UN speech this week was threatening Iran.
They are so pathetic.
But I decided to go with someone else.
This week, the idiot of the week is . . .
Me!!!!
How come?
First did you read these by C.I. this week:
She notes two things. The first is Barack has sent another team of Special-Ops into Iraq.
That didn't surprise me. I knew Special-Ops didn't leave Iraq because I caught the Ted Koppel report last December.
But the news that the White House is now in negotiations with the Iraqi government to send US troops back into Iraq?
I shouldn't be surprised. But I was.
And I shouldn't be surprised that huge news like that was reduced to a single sentence in the 15th paragraph of a story about Syria in the New York Times.
But I was.
The same paper that sold the illegal war is now concealing that negotiations take place for more US forces to be sent back into Iraq. That should be a front page story. Instead, they bury it in the 15th paragraph of a story.
I should have known better. I was caught by surprise. I am the idiot of the week.
Where's the outrage over this?
Where's the outcry?
Next week, I won't be so kind and award myself this title. Next week, I may focus on all the 'left' outlets who still have not noted this reality.
I really think this needs to be one of the big issues of October: Why is Barack claiming credit for pulling (most) troops out of Iraq when he's negotiating to send them back in?
I'm voting for Jill Stein. I wish she'd call out the negotiations to send troops back into Iraq.
This is from her campaign:
Speaking before an audience of nearly 400 last night at a campaign
stop at Humboldt State University in Eureka, California, Green Party
candidate Jill Stein cited a report on drone warfare published
today from Stanford and NYU researchers as evidence that her intention
to stop drone warfare was the right course for America. The report
documented the number of civilians being killed by U.S. drone strikes,
as well as the antagonism that such strikes are producing among the
affected populations.
According
to Stein, "The Stanford and NYU report underscores the serious mistake
that has been made by the Obama Administration in turning to this type
of warfare. The inability of this technology to avoid civilian deaths is
just the first of its many problems. In using it, the Obama
administration has blurred the distinction between combatants and
non-combatants, and between the battlefield and civilian communities.
They have encroached upon the sovereign right of nations to have their
airspace free of unauthorized foreign aircraft. And they have truly
brought a reign of terror to entire populations. The arrogance with
which the Administration dismisses the concerns over this weaponry is
truly disturbing.”
"During the Vietnam war, it was said that the
real battle being fought was for the 'hearts and minds' of the
populace," Stein continued, "Nothing could be better calculated to lose
such the hearts and minds of a people than subjecting them to a war of
terror from the air using drone aircraft. The fact cited in the report -
that 74% of the people of Pakistan now regard the United States as
their enemy - is due, in part, to the use of drone warfare."
Green
Party vice-presidential candidate Cheri Honkala added "Imagine what it
must be like to know that wherever you go, bomb-carrying drones of a
foreign power are circling overhead, watching you, and possibly deciding
to bomb you based on their own secret and error-prone decision-making
process. This sounds like the bleak future from a science-fiction movie.
America is not winning friends with this approach."
George
Martin, a longtime leader of United for Peace and Justice, expressed his
agreement with Dr. Stein, saying that, "We are sinking into a moral
abyss in which we apply the rich man's tools of terrorism to fight those
whom we accuse of using the poor man's tools of terrorism. America
must take a stand as a nation of peace and compassion, not as a nation
of airborne terror with scant regard for innocent life. Let us tell the
White House, with our voices and with our votes, that it is time to end
drone warfare."
Here's C.I.'s "
Iraq snapshot:"
Friday,
September 28, 2012. Chaos and violence continue, Iraq War veteran
Brian Kinsella begins motoring across America to raise awareness of
soldier suicide, the Defense Dept releases their latest monthly suicide
figures, the State Dept reclassifies a group, the Wall St. Journal does
the best Western-English language report on the prison assault in
Tikrit, Bradley Manning's attorney calls for charges against Bradley to
be dropped, and more.
During
the two-week ride, Kinsella will make stops at 12 military
installations where he plans to promote SSS's mission, raise awareness
about soldier suicide and form partnerships.
He's also encouraging people to join him on different lengths of the ride to show their support.
"Our
desire is for people to join the ride as I pass through towns. It will
really show how much people care and support our brave veterans,"
Kinsella said over coffee last week on September 11th in the Flatiron
District.
The Ride For Life comes as the suicide rate is such that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has rightly termed it a crisis.
July 25th, he appeared before the House Veterans Affairs Committee. From that day's snapshot:
US
House Rep Mike Michaud: Quick question, and I want to read from a
Veterans Service Organization letter that they actually sent to Senator
[Jim] Webb just last week. And just part of it says, "The only branch
of the military to show a marked improvement decreasing the number of
persons taking their own life is the United States Marines. They should
also be praised for their active leadership from the very top in
addressing the problem and implementing the solutions. The remaining
services have yet to be motivated to take any substanative action. "
Secretary Panetta, I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan several times and
I've looked the generals in the eye and I've asked them what are they
doing personally to help the stigmatized TBI, PTSD? And the second
question is: Do they need any help? I get the same answer over there as
I do over here in DC: 'Everything's okay. We've got all the
resources we need. We don't need any help.' But the interesting thing
is someone much lesser ranked came up to me, after I asked the general
that question, outside and said, "We need a lot more help." And he
suggested that I talk to the clergy to find out what they are seeing
happening. And I did that trip and every trip since then. And I'm
finding that our service members are not getting the help that they
need. And my question, particularly after looking at this letter that
was sent to Senator Webb, it appears the Marines are doing a good job so
why is it so different between the Marines, the Army and other
branches? And can you address that?
Secretary
Leon Panetta: You know -- Obviously, there's no silver bullet here. I
wish there were to try to deal with suicide prevention. We-we have a
new suicide prevention office that's trying to look at programs to try
to address this terrible epedemic. I mean, we are looking. If you look
at just the numbers, recent total are you've got about 104 confirmed
and 102 pending investigation in 2012. The total of this is high,
almost 206. That's nearly one a day. That is an epedemic. Something
is wrong. Part of this is people are inhibited because they don't want
to get the care that they probably need. So that's part of the problem,
trying to get the help that's necessary. Two, to give them access to
the kind of care that they need. But three -- and, again, I stress this
because I see this in a number of other areas, dealing with good
discipline and good order and, uh, trying to make sure that our troops
are responding to the challenges -- it is the leadership in the field.
It's the platoon commander. It's the platoon sergeant. It's the
company commander. It's the company sergeant. The ability to look at
their people, to see these problems. To get ahead of it and to be able
to ensure that when you spot the problems, you're moving that individual
to the kind of-of assistance that they need in order to prevent it.
The Marines stay in close touch with their people. That's probably one
of the reasons that the Marines are doing a good job. But what we're
stressing in the other services is to try to develop that-that training
of the command. So that they two are able to respond to these kinds of
challenges.
Yesterday the
Defense Dept released the latest suicide data: "
During
August, among active-duty soldiers, there were 16 potential suicides:
three have been confirmed as suicides and 13 remain under
investigation. For July, the Army reported 26 potential suicides among
active-duty soldiers: 13 have been confirmed as suicides and 13 remain
under investigation. For 2012, there have been 131 potential
active-duty suicides: 80 have been confirmed as suicides and 51 remain
under investigation. Active-duty suicide number for 2011: 165
confirmed as suicides and no cases under investigation. During
August, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty,
there were nine potential suicides (five Army National Guard and four
Army Reserve): none have been confirmed as suicide and nine remain
under investigation. For July, among that same group, the Army reported
12 potential suicides (nine Army National Guard and three Army
Reserve); four have been confirmed as suicides and eight remain under
investigation. For 2012, there have been 80 potential not on
active-duty suicides (49 Army National Guard and 31 Army Reserve): 59
have been confirmed as suicides and 21 remain under investigation. Not
on active-duty suicide numbers for 2011: 118 (82 Army National Guard
and 36 Army Reserve) confirmed as suicides and no cases under
investigation." The Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-TALK,
1-800-273-8255. (FYI, Cell phones have different lettering than
landlines. That's a fact that seems to escape people giving out letters
for phone numbers currently.)
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
September 28, 2012
The
Secretary of State has decided, consistent with the law, to revoke the
designation of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and its aliases as a Foreign
Terrorist Organization (FTO) under the Immigration and Nationality Act
and to delist the MEK as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under
Executive Order 13224. These actions are effective today. Property and
interests in property in the United States or within the possession or
control of U.S. persons will no longer be blocked, and U.S. entities may
engage in transactions with the MEK without obtaining a license. These
actions will be published in the Federal Register.
With
today's actions, the Department does not overlook or forget the MEK's
past acts of terrorism, including its involvement in the killing of U.S.
citizens in Iran in the 1970s and an attack on U.S. soil in 1992. The
Department also has serious concerns about the MEK as an organization,
particularly with regard to allegations of abuse committed against its
own members.
The Secretary's decision today
took into account the MEK's public renunciation of violence, the
absence of confirmed acts of terrorism by the MEK for more than a
decade, and their cooperation in the peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf,
their historic paramilitary base.
The
United States has consistently maintained a humanitarian interest in
seeking the safe, secure, and humane resolution of the situation at Camp
Ashraf, as well as in supporting the United Nations-led efforts to
relocate eligible former Ashraf residents outside of Iraq.
Some
would be seers have insisted all week that the move was a mistake and
that the MEK deserved to be labeled terrorists (in 1997 by the Clinton
administration) yet they never found an argument to make on behalf of
the Camp Ashraf residents. If Glen Glen and the other Three Faces of
Eve are unhappy with the way things were headed, they should have
factored in that there was a legal obligation to the Camp Ashraf
residents on the part of the US government and then they should have
come up with a suggestion of how to honor that obligation without taking
the MEK off the list. As Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed
earlier this year that "since 2004, the United States has considered
the residents of Camp Ashraf 'noncombatants' and 'protected persons'
under the Geneva Conventions."
Paul Richter (Los Angeles Times) observes,
"The Iranian government condemned the decision and blamed the group for
an incident in which a senior Iranian diplomat in New York for the U.N.
General Assembly was assaulted on the street." CNN notes
today that "since 2004 the United States has considered the group,
which has lived for more than 25 years at a refugee camp in Iraq,
'noncombatants' and 'protected persons' under the Geneva
Conventions." So if the Three Faces of Eve had objections to changing
the status of the MEK, they should have made time to propose how to
address the issues of the Camp Ashraf residents. It's not as though,
for example, Antiwar.com hasn't spent years savaging the MEK. If they
had a way to address the legal obligations to Camp Ashraf, they should
have proposed it.
Yesterday's violence included the assault on the Tirkit prison which left prisoners and guards dead and wounded. Mohammed Lazim (CNN) notes,
"The attackers wore police uniforms and used cars similar to those
driven by police, a police source told the National Iraqi News Agency."
BBC offers,
"The raid appeared to be well co-ordinated between the gunmen and some
of the inmates, the BBC's Rami Ruhayem in Baghdad reports." Possibly
well coordinated with others? Ayad al-Tamimi (Al Mada) reports
that accusations are flying insisting that the police chief of the
province received warnings -- "warnings," three -- ahead of the attack
but that the warnings were ignored. The Saudi Gazette adds,
"And a traffic police lieutenant colonel who was near the scene of the
attack said militants blew up part of the prison fence, and between 30
and 40 inmates were able to escape. A police colonel said a riot broke
out in the prison, while witnesses said inmates seized the guards'
weapons, and that more than 100 of them escaped and fought security
forces in the surrounding area." Not only did a number of prisoners
escape but Radio New Zealand and Alsumaria report
that they were smart enough to grab their own files and, as a result,
there are no records on them. Apparently Iraq is an oil-rich country
that's not worried about going green or paperless since all files are
apparently paper.
Those
reporting this morning on the violence were hard pressed to nail down
the numbres as various officials gave various figures. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) cited
Raed Ibrahim ("health official") for a death toll of 10 prison guards
and 2 prisoners with thirty-two injured and cites politician Qutaiba
al-Jubouri as the source of 81 prisoners escaping with 36 of them being
captured after escape. UPI stated that
14 died in the assault and, citing Salaheddin Province Governor Ahmed
Abdallah al-Jabouri said 33 escaped prisoners had been captured. Tang Danlu (Xinhua) offered 15 dead and forty-five injured and the source is the police who also state 200 prisoners escaped and that 81 remain at large. Hassan Obeidi (AFP) noted,
"A hospital official in Tikrit, the ancesestral home of now-executed
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, said 13 police were killed and 34 wounded
in the violence." And Duraid Adnan and an unnamed stringer in Tikrit (New York Times) were the only ones this morning to note
the death penalty aspect by quoting Tikrit's head of security, Muhammad
Hassan, stating, "They were sentenced to death, so they were ready to
do anything to escape." Kuwait's KUNA notes,
"The mass breakout started as the security services began transferring
40 convicts on the death roll fromt he jail to a Baghdad jail."
The death penalty aspect is not a minor issue. It's what fuels support for the attacks on prisons in Iraq. Ali A. Nabhan and Sam Dagher (Wall St. Journal) reported this afternoon:
Frustration
among Iraqi Sunnis with what they regard as the government's sectarian
bias has colored parliamentary deliberations over a controversial
amnesty law, which if passed could see thousands of prisoners freed for
the sake of furthering national reconciliation.
On
Thursday, a Shiite parliamentary bloc that had adopted the bill
withdrew it from voting after failing to agree on whether those
convicted under a terrorism law known as Article Four should be
considered for amnesty as advocated by Sunni lawmakers.
[. . .]
Many
of those held at the Tikrit prison were on death row and were scheduled
for transfer to Baghdad to carry out their sentences, said Mr. [Mishaan
al-]Jubouri [, former MP], and other officials in the province.
Good for the Wall St. Journal
for being the only English language publication to address what's going
on. The Iraqi press can and does address it. By English language
outlets refusing to do the same they're encouraging the confusion many
Americans encounter when they learn of the armed conflict between the
PKK and the Turkish government today.
As
the numbers make clear, it's not a surprising issue. The US Census
Bureaus says the US population is 311.5 million. Iraq's population is
about one-tenth of that. (28 to 31 million is the usual estimate --
they haven't had a census since the middle-stages of Saddam Hussein's
rule; the CIA estimates its 31.1. million while the World Bank goes for
32.9 million). So with Iraq being one-tenth of the population, let's
now look at the execution rates because both countries ignorantly
continue to use the death penalty.
Doug Craig (Redding.com) reported
at the start of this month that there were 27 executions in the US so
far this year. That's 27 too many and you can be sure the number will
be much greater by the end of the year.
Iraq, by contrast, has executed at least 96 people so far this year with another 200 scheduled for execution.
With
one-tenth of the population the US has, they've already executed over
three times as many people this year. At the end of last month,
Human Rights Watch noted of Iraq's executions:
Authorities
said that all had been convicted on charges "related to terrorism," but
provided little information about what crimes they had committed. Human
Rights Watch has previously documented the prevalence of unfair trials and torture in detention, particularly in national security and terrorism-related cases. "There
is no doubt that Iraq still has a serious terrorism problem, but it
also has a huge problem with torture and unfair trials," said Joe Stork,
deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The lack of
transparency around these convictions and executions, in a country where
confessions that may have been coerced are often the only evidence
against a person, makes it crucial for Iraq to declare an immediate
moratorium on all executions."This comes as mass arrests
continue -- yesterday there were 78 mass arrests (that does not count
recaptured prisoners). In a country where mass arrests take place
daily, where the arrested (some innocent, some guilty) disappear into a
system that makes it impossible for most families to find their loved
ones, where the judicial system is a joke, where even get a trial make
take years, you've created an environment where people can feel
sympathetic to the Islamic State of Iraq's actions. They can imagine
it's them and not the person down the street, especially since the mass
arrests have not only taken place for years now in Iraq but they
continue.
Alsumaria reports
the spokesperson for the Sadr bloc in Parliament, Mushriq Naji, is
pointing out that yesterday's assault and escape is what happens when
corruption reigns and the institutions of reform fail and he
specifically notes the faliure of the Parliament to pass the amnesty
law. All Iraq News adds that there is a demand to reform state institutions immediately. The National Alliance line comes
from one of their MPs who insists that political parlies helped with
the prison break and this is an attempt to provide pressure to pass the
amnesty law. Al Mada notes
Ahmed Chalabi is calling for MPs to propose amendments to the amnesty
law to address whatever concerns they have. This is most likely aimed
at State of Law since they've been the biggest obstacle to the passage
of an amnesty law.
The prison assault was part of yesterday's
violence, it was not the only violence. A number of Iraqi outlets are
focusing on the assassination of former Basra Governor (2005 - 2009)
Hussein al-Asadi.
Alsumaria reports
that MP Hussein al-Asadi, from Basra, states that the assassination is
proof of how weak the security remains in Iraq. He notes an increase
in recent bombings and called on Nouri al-Maliki and the Ministry of the
Interior to make changes immediately.
Dar Addustour covers the assassination
here.
Alsumaria notes
the Ministry of the Interior has announced the formation of three
committees to examine the assassination. Prior to that announcement,
the Islamic Virtue Party (political party) was calling for an investigation to be started.
All Iraq News notes that MP Hussein al-Asadi is insisting that the fault for the assassination lies with the Barra police.
Alsumaria adds
that MP Shawn Mohammed Taha is calling for the security leaders in the
Iraqi government to be changed. What he should bbe noting is that Nouri
al-Maliki has refused to nominate heads of the security ministries
making him the de facto head of the Ministry of the Defense, the
Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of National Security.
Yesterday,
Parliament was in session. They were to vote on bills regarding a line
of credit, infrastructure and amnesty. Over infrastructure, members
of Iraqiya and the Kurdish Alliance walked out. Deprived of a quorum,
the session ended.
Al Mada notes
that State of Law is now accusing Speaker of Parliament Osama
al-Nujaifi of blocking the infrastructure law. While al-Nujaifi is a
member of Iraqiya, he has not taken part in any of their walk-outs,
including the first day of the current Parliament back in 2010. Since
he didn't walk out and since he's scheduled the infrastructure bill for a
Monday vote, State of Law's latest attempt to uncork the crazy falls
flat and then some. In the meantime,
Al Mada notes, Parliament is denying that they have a draft law for compulsory service in the Iraqi military.
Iraq
has had two political stalemates since the March 2010 elections.
Immediately after the elections, when Nouri al-Maliki's political slate
State of Law came in second to Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya, Nouri caused the
first stalemate by refusing to allow the Constitution to be followed
(the results meant that Allawi's group should get named prime
minister-designate and be given 30 days to form a Cabinet or someone
else would be named prime minister-designate). Nouri refused to allow
the process to take place. This created an eight month political
stalemate. Nouri was able to create this because he had the backing of
the US White House. In November 2010, the stalemate was finally ended
as a result of a contract the US government brokered. This contract,
the Erbil Agreement, found the political blocs agreeing that Nouri could
have a second term as prime minister provided he meet certain
agreements -- implement Article 140 of the Constitution, create an
independent national security council, etc. Nouri used the agreement to
become prime minister and then trashed the agreement Since the summer
of 2011, the Kurds, Iraqiya and Moqtada al-Sadr have been publicly
calling for the Erbil Agreement to be followed. This is the beginning
of political stalemate II which is ongoing.
Right
now, hopes are pinned on a national conference. Supposedly, it will be
able to resolve the political stalemate that has transitioned into a
political crisis.
Al Mada reports
that Iraqiya would be represented in the talks by Allawi; however,
'would be.' The paper notes many are starting to doubt a national
conference will actually take place. Nouri has opposed it from the
start, it was first proposed December 21st -- by Speaker of Parliament
Osama al-Nujaifi and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
In
2011, the Women's Affairs Ministry attempted to institute a dress code
for female public workers. The order came from the Higher National
Committee for the Advancement of Iraqi Women who demanded that women
working for the government wear "moderate dress" in September 2011. The
committee was under the Women's Affairs Minister Ibtihal al-Zaidi of the
Dawa Party. One committee member said that the ruling came as a result
of public workers not dressing according to Islamic traditions. The
Planning and the Higher Education Ministries, which were run by the
Sadrists and State of Law respectively read the rules to all their
female employees. Other ministries run by other parties did not comply.
Again, this was an instance where Dawa members were acting against what
they saw as violations of their interpretation of religion. Iraqi
public workers wear all types of dress from traditional to Western. Some
members of the Women's Affairs Ministry were getting offended by the
latter, and attempted to put an end to it. The fact that Iraq has a
divided government with different parties controlling different
ministries also showed the limited power the Dawa actually had over the
matter. Those ministers with Islamist leanings attempted to enforce the
ruling, but others who were either non-religious or opposed to Maliki,
ignored it. That highlighted the unwillingness of Maliki and Dawa to go
beyond those jurisdictions that they had direct control over.
The
latest example of Islamist inspired action was far more violent. In
2012, there were reports that anywhere from six to forty emos and gays
were murdered in Baghdad. This came after the Interior Ministry posted a
statement on its website calling emos Devil worshippers in February.
The Ministry then called for a police crackdown, while at the same time
claiming that any deaths were being made up by the media. Stories
emerged that Shiite militants were handing out lists of people they were
going to kill. In March, Human Rights Watch blamed the government for
the attacks, which was later substantiated by a BBC investigation. The
BBC found that the Interior Ministry statement about emos being
Satanists led to a concerted and covert campaign to murder gays and emos
in the capital by members of the security forces. While Adnan Asadi
is the deputy Interior Minister, he was appointed by Prime Minister
Maliki in 2011, who is still the acting Interior Minister. Like the
alcohol banning, this appears to be an instance where the premier has
used the security forces to go after those he feels are in violation of
his image of what an Islamic society should be like. Unlike those
earlier events however, this one has led to several deaths, which will
go unpunished since they are at the behest of the central government. At
the same time, this again shows that Maliki and Dawa have only felt
comfortable imposing their views on a limited scale, only going after
emos and homosexuals in certain districts of Baghdad, rather than the
whole city, other provinces or the entire country.
Julian
Assange: Today I want to tell you an American story. I want to tell
you the story of a young American soldier in Iraq. The soldier was born
in Crescent, Oklahoma, to a Welsh mother and to a U.S. Navy father. His
parents fell in love. His father was stationed at the U.S. military base
in Wales. The soldier showed early promise as a boy, winning top prizes
at science fairs three years in a row. He believed in the truth, and
like all of us, he hated hypocrisy. He believed in liberty and the right
for all of us to pursue it and happiness. He believed in the values
that founded an independent United States. He believed in Madison, he
believed in Jefferson, and he believed in Paine. Like many teenagers, he
was unsure what to do with his life, but he knew he wanted to defend
his country, and he knew he wanted to learn about the world. He entered
the U.S. military and, like his father, trained as an intelligence
analyst. In late 2009, age 21, he was deployed to Iraq. There, it is
alleged, he saw a U.S. military that did not often follow the rule of
law and, in fact, engaged in murder and supported political corruption.
It is alleged it was there, in Baghdad, in 2010 that he gave to
WikiLeaks, he gave to me, and, it is alleged, he gave to the world,
details that exposed the torture of Iraqis, the murder of journalists
and the detailed records of over 120,000 civilian killings in Iraq and
in Afghanistan. He is also alleged to have given WikiLeaks 251,000 U.S.
diplomatic cables, which then went on to help trigger the Arab Spring.
This young soldier's name is Bradley Manning.
Monday April 5, 2010,
WikiLeaks released US military video of a July 12, 2007 assault in Iraq. 12 people were killed in the assault including two
Reuters journalists Namie Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh.
Monday June 7, 2010, the US military announced that they had arrested Bradley Manning and he stood accused of being the leaker of the video.
Leila Fadel (Washington Post) reported
in August 2010 that Manning had been charged -- "two charges under the
Uniform Code of Military Justice. The first encompasses four counts of
violating Army regulations by transferring classified information to his
personal computer between November and May and adding unauthorized
software to a classified computer system. The second comprises eight
counts of violating federal laws governing the handling of classified
information." In March, 2011,
David S. Cloud (Los Angeles Times) reported
that the military has added 22 additional counts to the charges
including one that could be seen as "aiding the enemy" which could
result in the death penalty if convicted. The Article 32 hearing took
place in December. At the start of this year, there was an Article 32
hearing and, February 3rd, it was announced that the government would be
moving forward with a court-martial. Bradley has yet to enter a plea
and has neither affirmed that he is the leaker nor denied it. The
court-martial was supposed to begin this month has been postponed until
after the election .
On 19 September 2012, the Defense filed its Motion to Dismiss All Charges and Specifications With Prejudice for Lack of a Speedy Trial. PFC
Manning has been in pretrial confinement since 29 May 2010. As of the
date of the filing of this motion, PFC Manning had been in pretrial
confinement for 845 days. To put this amount of time into perspecive, it
took only 410 days to construct the Empire State Building. By the
time the Government actually brings PFC Manning to trial in February of
2013 (983 days after he was placed into pretrial confinement), the
Empire State Building could have been constructed almost three times
over.
On 29 October 2012, the Defense will argue that the military
judge should dismiss this case with prejudice due to the Government's
abject failure to honor PFC Manning's fundamental speedy trial rights.
During
August, among active-duty soldiers, there were 16 potential suicides:
three have been confirmed as suicides and 13 remain under
investigation. For July, the Army reported 26 potential suicides among
active-duty soldiers:
Despite
the Democrat and Republican candidates' near silence on the issue,
climate change is happening, the impacts are getting more severe, and
it's not something we can choose to ignore.
Join us online
this Sunday, September 30th at 4pmPST/7pmEST to hear how Jill Stein's
Green New Deal would curb climate change and transition the United
States to a sustainable economy.
Who:
- Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein
- Colin Beavan, aka No Impact Man, Green Party Candidate for Congress, will moderate the event
- Bill McKibben, author and climate change expert, will offer scientific, non-partisan background on the issue
Here's how to participate in the event:
- Click here on Sunday 9/30 at 4pmPST/7pmEST. (Yes, it's that easy!)
- Host a house party! (Of
course, this is optional, but we'd be grateful if you chose to!) Have a
little BBQ with neighbors and friends and watch the event together. If
you and your guests are impressed with what you learn about the vision
of the campaign, collect donations to help that dream become reality!
- Join the conversation online! Use the hashtag #ClimateTownHall to share your thoughts and questions with us on Twitter. Post comments on our Facebook wall, as well as your own (be sure to tag our page).
Have a question you'd like Jill to answer? You can submit questions both before and during the event in the following ways:
- Tweet your question using the hashtag #ClimateTownHall
- Post your question on our Facebook wall. (Please still tag it #ClimateTownHall, so we know it's related to this event.)
- Share your question with us on Google+ (again, using the hashtag above).
- Submit your question during the event on LiveStream.
And, here's how to help us demand action now!
This
event is just one part of an entire day of action. The Green Party is
urging local supporters to organize events (or issue a release) in your
community to highlight our demand that the US take action now on climate
change. The Green Party of NY has drafted a Green Climate Change Model Media Release and Green Climate Change Action Plan you can use for local releases, news conferences, and media events.
The Republicans are climate change deniers, the Democrats are climate change evaders. Contact dunleamark@aol.com or visit the Green Party of New York State website for more information.
the los angeles times
paul richter
