Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Judith Miller, Law and Disorder

Tuesday. I'm opening with something. I'll put my comments in it, this is a story on Judith Miller giving a speech:

"People need to know what the government is doing in order to debate," she said.

I believe that was Patrick Fitzgerald's argument, wasn't it? I didn't slam her for refusing to name her source. I'm not going to pretend she was the only one at the Times getting it wrong and spitting out what they were told (Warren Hoge, Michael R. Gordon, Dexy Filkins are three others).

Did the government out Valerie Plame? I think that's pretty clear to most people. Maybe Miller didn't realize that was what was going on when Scooter was feeding her? Maybe you need to say, "Judy, this is what you're running with tomorrow"? Maybe you can't be subtle with her?

Miller said the American media, however, give the federal government reason to doubt its motives and competence each time it is discovered that an article is plagiarized or gossip is reported as fact.

What? I don't think the government gets a flying crap about Jayson Blair if that's who she's trying to drag into the argument.

As for "gossip . . . reported as fact," if the Times couldn't print "Officials say . . ." -- which is gossip -- every day, they'd have a lot of empty pages.

The blurring of entertainment and news and the relaxing of journalistic standards can be seen in online bloggers who are critical of people without giving them an opportunity to respond or who don't post corrections when they learn that what they have posted is wrong, she said.

What the hell is she talking about here? Blurring of entertainment and news? Okay, that's been going on forever. Good point, most media critics make it and have for years. Relaxing of journalistic standards? Let's give her the benefit of the doubt on her Iraq coverage before the war and say she believed in what she wrote, okay? Well if she had used journalistic standards, she wouldn't have egg on her face now. She didn't. She ran with what she was told. She scribbled it down like a stenographer.

Bloggers? What the hell is she talking about? I know C.I. posted Felicity Barringer's take on the commentary C.I. provided, I know Elaine posted Eric Alterpunk's laughable e-mail (and Rebecca, C.I. and Elaine responded to the "Cindy Brady of the faux left"). Corrections? Is she talking about the big-assed babies of the New York Times who e-mail C.I. saying, "You left a letter out of my name! A whole letter! How dare you!" When those come in, C.I. goes back and corrects it. Only for writers. Everyone else can go screw themselves. C.I. does try to get writing credit correct. Otherwise, you can get a nickname or you can get a typo and (as Cedric would say) Oh well . . .

To the best of my knowledge, Miller has never e-mailed C.I. A supporter of her's did (psuedo big name in the press). No request for a correction. Just a long gripe-fest about how Miller shouldn't be forced to testify. (The reply, from Jess, noted that C.I. had defended Miller's right not to testify. Had always defended it and still does. Jess provided links to over 30 entries. Did the whiner e-mail back, "Oops, my bad"? No. Hell no.) There is a reporter who wrote a hateful e-mail that Jess and Ava read. This reporter was all pissy about something C.I. said about an article. There was no correction, there would be none. The reporter was guilty of what C.I. wrote. C.I. knew it and knew it before a word got written. Ava knew it (and I'm being vague here because I don't want Ava and Jess to hear it from C.I. about talking about e-mails -- but this one so nasty and vile that they did forward it to me). Let's say the writer wrote about bananas. Ava knew from her father that the banana story was being pushed by the banana lobby. That they'd been pushing it for two weeks. C.I. heard about it from two friend in TV who were laughing about the idea that anyone would write about bananas and from a print editor who had a reporter who'd been hard sold on writing about bananas but had resisted the hard sell. There was a bet between C.I. and the two TV friends about who would be the idiot to go with the banana story. Two weeks after it started being pushed, X went with it. When noting how stupid the report was, C.I. noted that the story had been pushed for two weeks. X got all nasty in the e-mail (though didn't deny it was pushed -- guess he's a fool and not a liar) and just went off with the sort of stuff that would have Daniel Okrent screaming about 'threatening' e-mails. Only this didn't go to a reporter, it came from a reporter.

Jim's always telling C.I. that the last entry at The Common Ills should be a collection of those e-mails. (It won't happen.) But C.I. does read that crap. And someone who has a snit fit in an e-mail? C.I. doesn't hold a grudge. X has gotten compliments at The Common Ills before and since.

Now C.I. doesn't identify as a "blogger," but I can't imagine any blogger who wouldn't do, at the very least, what C.I. does. If it's a scream-fest by someone who was commented on at the site, C.I. does read that. C.I. does consider what's in the e-mail. Rebecca will tell you C.I. will try to see it from the reporter's side.

I don't think Judith Miller knows what she's talking about. Is she talking about Perez Hilton? Did one of her friends get outed at that site? If so, oh well. It's a gossip site.

Now their rumors that were hurtful to Miller. I know that because I saw them and was going to note them here. I called C.I. and was told, "I'm not going to tell you what to post or not but ___ says Miller's very upset about it and they also aren't true." So I didn't put them up here. I'm not doing it now. While it's probably true that some blogs did put them up, they didn't write 'em. They were posting what a mainstream magazine had printed. Bloggers may have popularized the rumors but they didn't start them.

"I'm worried about bloggers," she said. "(A post) starts as a rumor and within 24 hours it's repeated as fact."

The only other thing I can think of is Arianna Huffington's comments about Miller's book deal. I don't consider Huffington a blogger. I don't mean that as a slap but she was a best selling author before The Huffing Post (and probably still is one). I also think she understands journalistic standards and could probably tutor Miller on them if Miller would ask for help.

While she advocates a federal shield law to protect mainstream journalists from divulging their sources, she doesn't favor extending that to bloggers who don't follow the standards and ethnics of the journalism industry.

Now that's what pissed me off. I didn't attack her for not revealing her sources. But she's drawing a line saying she can do that but bloggers can't. Here's a question, what about when bloggers and reporters work together to 'create' a story? That happened not all that long ago and it happened in the AP and the New York Times.

The issue here is can they keep their source private? She wants to base it on whether or not 'bloggers . . . follow the standards and ethnics of the journalism industry." I think that's supposed to be "ethic" but the source for the article is CJR so don't expect much in their abilities to communicate. But if the rule for not naming a source is whether or not someone follows standards and ethcis, Miller wouldn't have gotten any defense. I doubt even C.I. would have said Miller had a right to not reveal her source if that was 'the rule.'

Still, she wouldn't restrict a blogger's right to publish online. She said some bloggers have been invaluable in uncovering government flaws.
"I'm glad to welcome them as long as they agree to the standards," she said.

I'm not trying to be cruel here, but what she's welcoming to? She's not an employed journalist anymore. It's doubtful she will be in the next few years (possibly never). So what she's welcoming them to? The unemployment line?

Even if she was I.F. Stone born anew, it's really not her job to welcome anyone.

I realize that she wants to redo her image. I know she tried to visit the blogger who is jailed (Josh White) for refusing to give the authorities what they want. I give her credit for that. But someone needs to pull her aside and let her know that her 'name' is not a good one. She used to have a site, for her defense, and if she thinks people need to do corrections when they get it wrong (something I agree with), then she needs to do corrections to her own pre-war work.

I'm really not interested in kicking her while she's down. I don't feel sorry for her but I think she's ended up the focus when there are a lot more who did their part to keep the truth from the people. But when she's making an idiot of herself and dragging other people into it, I will say something.

I do consider myself a blogger and, NEWSFLASH, I'm not waiting on Judy's invite or anyone else's. I'm not seeking her approval or anyone else's. I do my thing at my site. If people don't like it, they'll stop dropping by. That's their right. Just like if someone doesn't want to read a paper, they won't read it.

Miller needs to work on her image and she won't save it by making unnamed references to Jayson Blair or by hectoring bloggers. She got caught doing bad reporting. She can't blame bloggers for the fact that they noted her bad reporting.

Now let's talk about Law and Disorder which airs on Mondays on WBAI and on other stations as well. It's a one hour radio program (you can listen online) and Heidi Boghosian (National Lawyers Guild), Michael Smith, Dalia Hashad (Amnesty International) and Michael Ratner (Center for Constitutional Rights) are the four hosts. Michael Smith (and all of them) belong to all three organizations in parenthesis. But three got parenthesis because they hold offices in the organizations. They are all four lawyers and the Michaels are also authors.

So the week before they did part one of their series (four-part) on the increasing police state in the United States under the cover of 'national security.' This week was the second part and the focus was on the people who have been called 'enemy combatants' by the administration. In the first part, they stressed many things but I think the main point was that 9-11 was a crime but instead of treating it like such (in terms of enforcement and prosecution), the adminstration turned it into a "war" and made a power grab for powers they'd never be able to get any other way. And Ruth and I talked about the episode this evening so thanks to Ruth for pointing some stuff out, sharing and listening. And thanks to Tracey, her granddaughter, who dropped off the tape yesterday. Eddie did e-mail. He was listening on WBAI and he missed the end of the show because they just stopped it short with the claim that there wasn't time and supposedly the producer didn't get it to them in time -- Geoff Brady is the producer. If that's the case, I think they could still play the entire show. I really didn't need to hear the guy, I forget his name, telling me the show was over and what was about to start. Every program introduces itself in their opening so I think listeners who were new to WBAI could have figured out what the next program, Out FM, was in a matter of seconds. He also talked over the part of the show where Michael Ratner was telling people they could go to the Law and Disorder website. I also heard from Billie who asked me what happened on WBAI because she listened to the show at the show's website. I wrote her back and she said, she listened to the show Monday morning before WBAI airs it because it was up at the website so she wondered about the 'the program arrived late' thing. Billie and Eddie both wish the show aired on the radio in Dallas-Fort Worth.

So this episode, they looked at the ones who had been labeled 'enemy combatants' and how that had effected them and had effected the law. Because when you pass those 'war powers,' you destroy the law. This meant speaking with Gita Guitierezz who is also with the Center for Constitutional Rights and has represented clients held at Guantanamo. The point was made and I'll make it here that these prisoners (I don't use 'detainee') have never been found guilty of anything. They've just been locked up and some weren't even from Afghanistan. Some were just rounded up because somebody wanted to make money by turning people over or someone had a grudge against someone. Guitierezz (hope I spelled that right, C.I. spelled it to me over the phone but I may have screwed it up) talked about how you had to assume that your conversations with your client were being listened to. They talked about the force feeding of prisoners and other things that had stripped them of their rights. But they have no rights because they're not a real legal category, they're a created one by the Bully Boy. And they've been held all this time and are still being held. Could you take that? Four years, five years, six years? At what point does America say, "Enough!" The administration won't. What they've done is torture and they will never let the men out because that would reveal the crimes done to them while they have been held. They also talked about how the administration (and I think this is an argument Condi has made especially) pins the blame for not releasing on the host country the prisoners are from. They (adminstration) has all these rules about things after they're released and other countries respond, there's nothing you gave me that justifies me spying on them.

Jonathan Hafetz was a guest and he's with the Brennan Center for Justice. His client was
Jarallah Al-Marri who was kidnapped in Pakistan (by the US) and carried to Bagram. There was talk in the first segment and this one about how Bagram goes under the radar and the little changes made with Guantanamo aren't being made at Bagram because most people don't even know about. Not only was he kidnapped, but Donald Rumsfled authorized another 'kidnapping' where Al-Marri was supposed to think he had been moved to another country where torture was possible but he was still in US custody. Just screwing with his mind and that's torture. This adminstration practices torture and they need to be held accountable for it. Al-Marri was torturted (like when his head was slammed into walls -- that's just one example).

Remember Jose Padilla? The "dirty bomber." Colleen Rowley was testifying about the government's refusal to follow leads before 9-11 in Congress and J-Ass, who was attorney general then, holds a press conference, from Russia, to announce that a "dirty bomber" has been captured, but Padilla was taken into custody days before. It was all a show effort to change the day's news. Jose Padilla is a US citizen but Bully Boy created the "right" to call someone (any American) an "enemy combatant" and hold them as long as he damn well pleased. Andy Patel was the guest. He's one of Padilla's lawyers. There's also a woman who's been representing him since the beginning. I don't know how many other lawyers he has but he needs everyone of them. The administration is no longer calling him a "dirty bomber." They have no evidence of that and never did. But it changed the news cycle for a day and scared the hell out of a lot of Americans which keeps everyone stupid and afraid to ask questions or speak out. (I think speaking out is the topic next week.) So that was the show. Be sure to check out Like Maria Said Paz for Elaine's thoughts tonight. Now here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, November 14, 2006. Chaos and violence continue in Iraq, another mass kidnapping rocks Baghdad, Ramadi's under attack, Donald Rumsfled learns it's not a lot of fun to be seen as a war criminal (Kissinger makes it look so much easier!), and press estimates say "at least 82 people" have died from violence in Iraq today.
Starting with KPFA's Flashpoints on Monday, Nora Barrows Friedman interviewed activist, journalist, author and vet Mike Ferner.

Nora Barrows Friedman: Mike, as a veteran, what can you say about the growing momentum of combat of soldiers who are starting to organize and are refusing to serve, refusing to go to Iraq and fight Bush's illegal war?

Mike Ferner: "I think it's one of the best developments we've seen happen. I hope it increases exponentially. And I hope hundreds and hundreds of soldiers will take a look at their comrades who are doing this and say: 'That's something I should seriously think about.' I hope that we get large numbers of these soldiers just plain refusing to be deployed. If they're thinking about doing it, they need to call the G.I. Rights Hotline [(800) 394-9544; outside the US, (510) 465-1472 -- additional numbers are at the site], the need to seriously considering doing it prior to being deployed because once you're there [Iraq] it's far more difficult. But I would love to see whole companies and battalions of people just sit down and refuse to board that plane to be taken back to Iraq. I got out of the Navy as a Const. Objector during the Vietnam war and at some point you just have to look into your heart and ask can i continue to do this and can I live with myself given the culpability that I'm going to have given that I'm following the orders of a government engaged in an illegal war."

War resisters? Has independent media bothered to note, forget cover, that Ehren Watada will be court-martialed? No. D.D. Delaney (Port Folio Weekly) reports that Watada is facing up to "eight-and-a-half years in prison for the charges the Army has brought" against him. Meanwhile another war resister, Mark Wilkerson, who awaits word on what the military intends to do with his case, notes e.e. cummings' "I Sing of Olaf Glad and Big" -- a poem about a man "whose warmest heart recoiled at war; a conscientiour object-or". Wilkerson served one tour in Iraq and then applied for conscientious objector status only to see that denied. Following the denial, Wilkerson self-checked out for a year-and-a-half before announcing August 31st that he was turning himself in. As Wilkerson told
Dennis Bernstein on KPFA's Flashpoints August 31st, when his c.o. status was denied, he at first prepared a rebuttal but was told it would be shelved until he returned from his second deployment to Iraq. In an echo of Mike Lerner's comments yesterday, Wilkerson told Bernstein August 31st, "I completely stand by my decision. For me this was a time in my life when I decided I had to make a stand regardless of whether [it meant] prison or death".
While many avert their eyes, the war drags on. Today in Baghdad, another mass kidnapping -- the sheer number of those kidnapped may generate some interest. Most press estimates agree to at least 100 and many go with 150. (Christopher Bodeen of AP goes with 130 based upon a later statement by the Health Education Ministry.) CBS and AP note: "CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports . . . that about 80 men in some kind of Iraqi police uniforms surrounded the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education building in broad daylight and then fanned out inside the building, according to witnesses. The abductors then led the men and women captives out of the building to waiting pickup trucks and left the area, all before the real Iraqi police showed up." Pedistrians outside were encourage to clear the streets, inside the four story building, women and men were separated with the women locked in a room and only the men apparently kidnapped by people claiming to be with the Iraq Public Integrity Commission (which does not exist). What appears to be blood was noted on the floor of an entryway, phone receivers were ripped from phones, ashtrays knocked over. CNN reports that a witness "saw the gunmen check identity cards, pick out Sunni employees, including a man 'who was just delivering tea'." Sam Knight (Times of London) reports that the kidnappers used "around 40 new camouflaged pick-up vehicles" and "[a]round 80 gunmen dressed as police commandos" were involved. Whether or not they were part of the Iraqi police force has not been established.
AFP reports that "five police commanders" have been arrested and quotes Major General Abdel Karim Khalaf stating that they "should be held responsible." Reuters quotes a civil servant who witnessed the mass abductions stating that, while this was going on, "I saw two police patrols watching, doing nothing." Christopher Bodeen (AP) reports that "the commander of the police brigade in charge of the area and three other officers" were also "taken into custody." Reuters also quotes the minister of Higher Education, Abd Dhiab, who states: "As far as we know, this area is full of police and Defence Ministry checkpoints and we know police vehicles followed the kidnappers to a specific area and after that we don't know what happened." The New York Times notes that: "After the kidnappings, the minister of higher education, Abdel Salam Thiab, a Sunni, rushed to Parliament, where he interrupted a national televised session to denounce the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, for rebuffing repeated requests for improved security." CNN rounds that out: "Al-Ajili said he had sent a letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki last week, asking for better protection for universities and education buildings. The defense and interiour ministers had rejected earlier requests for 800 university guards, he said."
Reuters notes the targeting of educators since the beginning of the illegal war as well as this: "Just this month, Jasim al-Thahabi, the dean of Baghdad's University's Administration and Economics, was killed with his wife and son in a drive-by shooting." That was November 2nd and AP estimated he was at least the 155th educator killed since the start of the illegal war.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reports that Ramadi was attacked yesterday by US forces who "destroyed several houses in an attack on al-Dhubat district" and quotes Dr. Abdullah Salih, of a hospital in Ramadi stating that 35 corpses had been brought in. Though military flacks played dumb when asked for a quote by news services, they later issued their own statement that 11 'insurgent' were killed in Ramadi where alleged 'insurgents' allegedly intended to plant alleged explosive devices and later they observed more alleged 'insurgents' allegedly planting more alleged explosive devices but "Coalition Forces have conducted no air strikes in the vicinity of these events today."
Bombings?
Al Jazeera notes a car bombing in west Baghdad which took three lives and wounded seven people. Reuters notes a mortar attack that left six injured and four dead in al-Zuhur, a bus station bombing in Baghdad that wounded ten and left two dead, a car bombing in central Baghdad which killed 10 and injured 25, and a car bombing in Tikrit that left ten wounded. Christopher Bodeen (AP) reports a car bomb in "along a highway linking downtown Baghdad with the Shiite slum of Sadr City" left 21 killed and 25 injured and threw Mohammed Ali "from his motor cycle" as he was attempting to drive home after work -- Ali states: "I could see people on fire. We tried to rescue some women from a minibus, but they died in our arms."
Shootings?
Al Jazeera notes an ambush near the Iranian border that left seven people in a mini-bus dead and two others wounded while two police officers were shot dead in Diyala.
Corpses?
Reuters reports ten corpses were discovered in Baquba ("bound, blindfolded . . . gunshot wounds").
In addition, the British military has released the names of the four soldiers who died Sunday in Basra while on boat patrol: Jason Hylton (father of two, 33 y.o.), Ben Nowak (27 y.o.), Lee Hopkins (35 y.o.) and Sharron Elliott (34 y.o.). Reuters notes that Elliott is "the second British female servicewoman to die in action."
Returning to Nora Barrows Friedman's interview with Mike Ferner on KPFA's Flashpoints yesterday (this is the segment Rebecca was noting last night), the two of them spoke of Abu Sifa, which is near Balad, and what was taking place there as it was under the supervision of the US army's Fourth Infantry Division. Shortly before Ferner arrived (about six weeks), 80 males, of various ages, had been rounded up and taken away. Following that . . .

Mike Ferner: The army came again late one night with the Bradley fighting vehicle and just emptied the few remaining residents in this one particular house and just blew the hell out of it. And did that again a few days later. So when I was visiting the . . . interviewing some of the army troops it was from that very same batallion. and luckily I was able to have interviewed the iraqis so i had times and dates and names and all the details. And I asked Lt. Col Nathan Sassaman, who was the battalion commander, "What's the deal? How come you guys came and rounded up everybody in this village and you're only looking for one person?" And he said, "Yeah, we got him." And I said, "Yeah, I know. You took eighty-some --" He said, "Well it wasn't 80, it was 76." And I said, "Well, okay, whatever the number was." He said, "Well we found weapons buried in the surrounding fields there and these were all suspected terrorists." Including a couple of very elderly men that had to be helped into the truck and young teenagers and so forth. And I said, "Well then how come you came back a few days later and blew up this one house?" He said, "Well we had been getting mortar fire from that area and we wanted to send them a message." And I said, "Well what about -- came back a few days later and did the same thing?" He said, "Well they continued mortaring our base." Well this is a direct violation of the Geneva Convention. It's called Collective punishment and because you're getting mortar fire from one area, most of the time you don't know exactly where it's coming from, and uh to go into a village and just blow up a couple of houses to try to teach them a lesson is a war crimes. The American soldiers that were there told these folks, "We'll make this place look like the moon and you'll never be able to grow anything here again." If that isn't terrorism, I don't know what is. It was not even tried to be denied by the US Army officers that were repsonsible for it. So you start multiply this, over and over again and around the country. And it should be no surprise to anybody that we're not welcome there and that there's a violent armed resistance to our presence that's going to continue until we leave.
Fener's new book is entitled Inside the Red Zone and he'll be at Spritzers, 734 Central Ave., Alameda, CA on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
Before moving on to another topic, let's note that Nathan Sassaman expressed shock at another event (assault on Iraqis through the use of the Tigris River leading to one death). It would be so bad that the New York Times' Dexy Filkins, who spent a great deal of time with Sassaman (apparently in sleep quarters -- Dexy: "He never took his boots off" -- embedded much?) would later write of him in "The Fall of the Warrior King" (New York Times). Dexy went far back with Sassaman as Ira Chernus noted. In the 'Warrior King' piece, as Ty noted, Dexy's question of "Where is the line?" could apply to his own 'reporting' which addresses Sassaman ordering the destruction of homes and Dexy terming those sort of actions 'non-lethal force.'
In Germany, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the International Federation for Human Rights, the Republican Attorneys' Association, et al. have filed their criminal complaint against Donald Rumsfeld and others because "[f]rom Donald Rumsfeld, go down, the political and military leaders in charge of ordering, allowing and implementing abusive interrogations techniques in the context of the 'War on Terror' since September 11, 2001 must be investigated and held accountable." That includes then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, Jay Bybee, John Yoo, George Tenet, Ricardo Sanchez, David S. Addington and William James Haynes Jr. CCR notes, "The complaint is being filed under the Code of Crimes against International Law (CCIL), enacted by Germany in compliance with the Rome Statute creating the International Criminal court in 2002, which Germany ratified. It enables the German Federal Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute crimes constituting a violation of the CCIL, irrespective of the location of the defendant or plantiff, the place where the crime was carried out." CCR has set up a page at their website which focuses on this criminal complaint. AFP reports: "A key witness for the bid to put Rumsfeld and others on trial in Germany is the former commander of US prisons in Iraq, Brig. General Janis Karpinski, who alleges she was made a scapegoat for the Abu Ghraib scandal." Michael Ratner (president of the Center for Constitutional Rights) tells Germany's Der Spiegel, "These crimes are not the work of a few bad apples. They were planned and executed at the highest levels of the US government." Der Spiegel notes, "It's been a bad few days for former United States secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld."
In other legal news, CBS and AP report that the Pendleton Eight now has four agreeing to plea bargain with Jerry E. Shumate Jr. becoming the latest to cop a deal in the April death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdania. Schumate's attorney, Steve Immel, tells The Seattle Times that Shumate has admitted to the crime of kidnapping an Iraqi but that he thought it was an 'insurgent' until Awad was dead. The other three who have entered into plea bargains are Melson J. Bacos, John Jodka III and Tyler A. Jackson.
Finally, Ehren Watada's father, Bob Watada, and his step-mother, Rosa Sakanishi, continue their speaking tour to raise awareness on Ehren but that tour is winding down. It ends on the 17th (Joan noted Sunday that there's an event in Honolulu on Sunday). and then they'll be in Hawaii preparing for the court-martial. In addition, Ehren's mother Carolyn Ho has also been speaking out. The US military announced Thursday that they were planning to court-martial Ehren Watada. Those interested in catching the speaking tour, a full schedule can be found here, will need to grab the final dates which include:

Nov 14, TBA St. Louis, Mo. Location: Friends Meeting House, 1001 Park Avenue Sponsors: Veterans for Peace Chapter 161, 314-754-2651Contact: Chuc Smith, 314-721-1814, vfpch61@riseup.netiraq


Nov. 15, Norfolk, VA, Location: Norfolk/Virginia Beach, 40th Street Stage, 809 W 40th St (corner 40th St and Colley Ave -- across from Felini's), Sponsors: Veterans For Peace National In Affiliation with the Norfolk Catholic Worker, Local members of VFP, Military Families Speak Out, and the Active Duty Military Project, Contacts: Tom Palumbo, DissentingSoldier@Yahoo.Com, 757-470-9797, Ann Williams, 703-867-2174

Nov 16, Noon, Asheville, NC, Location: TBA -- Media Conference, Sponsor: Veterans For Peace Chapter 99, Contact: Tim Pluta, 828-645-1717, timpluta@hotmail.com

Nov 16, 2PM, Asheville, NC, Location: Mars Hill College -- Class Presentation
Sponsor: Veterans For Peace Chapter 99, Contact: Tim Pluta, 828-645-1717, timpluta@hotmail.com

Nov 16, 7PM, Asheville, NC, Location: University of North Carolina -- Public Presentation, Sponsor: Veterans For Peace Chapter 99, Contact: Tim Pluta, 828-645-1717, timpluta@hotmail.com , Lyle Peterson, 828-206-0245, Ahmad Daniels, War Resister Vietnam Era (appears in "Sir, No Sir!"), Mark Gibney Human Rights, International & Constitutional Law, Law, Ethics and Public Policy

Nov 17, 11:00AM, Asheville, NC, Location: Warren Wilson College, Sponsor: Veterans For Peace Chapter 99, Contact: Tim Pluta, 828-645-1717, timpluta@hotmail.com , Lyle Peterson, 828-206-0245, Professor Paul Magnarella (Peace Studies, Warren Wilson College)

Nov 17, 7PM, Atlanta, GA, Location: The First Iconium Baptist Church, Sponsor: Veterans For Peace Chapter 125, The Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition/Atlanta, Atlanta WAND, Contact: Debra Clark, 770-855-6163, dclark@antiwar.com




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Monday, November 13, 2006

Rumsfled -- even his friends think he's nuts!

Monday, Monday, just go away. :D I'm sure somebody out there loves Monday, but I hate them. Heads up to Friday -- I probably won't post Friday night and neither will Elaine. We're going to grab Casino Royale before our Iraq study group (the cool one) meets. I love the commercials. I really think it's going to be a good movie and that the new guy's going to make a good James Bond. I keep telling myself that the movie may not be as good as the commericals, but I'm still excited. :D It just looks like it's going to have a lot to offer. So Friday, I'll be "discovering how James became Bond." :D

Did you hear about how Rumsfled lost a friend? This is from Jeffrey Goldberg's "END OF THE AFFAIR:"

At the board's meeting this summer, Adelman said, he argued that the American military needed a new strategy.
"I suggested that we were losing the war," Adelman said. "What was astonishing to me was the number of Iraqi professional people who were leaving the country. People were voting with their feet, and I said that it looked like we needed a Plan B. I said, 'What's the alternative? Because what we’re doing now is just losing.' "
Adelman said that Rumsfeld didn't take to the message well. "He was in deep denial--deep, deep denial. And then he did a strange thing. He did fifteen or twenty minutes of posing questions to himself, and then answering them. He made the statement that we can only lose the war in America, that we can't lose it in Iraq. And I tried to interrupt this interrogatory soliloquy to say, 'Yes, we are actually losing the war in Iraq.' He got upset and cut me off. He said, 'Excuse me,' and went right on with it."

Does it not sound like the Donald is insane? Thing is, in that White House, probably no one noticed. That is just like insane and even with a friend trying to help him out, he's still wack. And he was running the Defense Dept. Think about that.

Now here's the part where I talk about The Third Estate Sunday Review.

Truest statement of the week -- some of the lyrics to a new song by Joni Mitchell.

A Note to Our Readers -- Jim talks about the edition. He also notes that when it's just the six or the six plus Kat out in California, they're in C.I.'s bedroom. That's because (a) it's big, (b) there are a lot of book cases in there (a lot of bookcases all over the house) and (c) when they're done, they usually put in a DVD and crash in C.I.'s bed. It's a huge bed. One more thing, C.I.'s always clipping stuff during the week and those folders are by C.I.'s computer in the bedroom. When I'm out there, we use the living room because there are so many of us and I know the living room is trashed by the time the edition is done.

Editorial: Now what? -- Dems control both houses of Congress -- are they going to do anything with the power?

TV: Saturday Night Dead -- This is incredible. It really is. I've read it twice since it went up and will probably read it one more time. Saturday Night Live, you used to be cool! What happened?
Jess did the illustration -- Jess and Rebecca. Jess really wants Ava and C.I. to have some cool art for their reviews and he keeps trying new ideas.

The Full Brobeck -- Remember Ivan Brobeck and how everybody but Flashpoints ignored the fact that he turned himself in? When the news came out last week that the military was going to court-martial Ehren Watada, where was independent media? C.I. called the silence: The Full Brobeck. This is about that process.

Remember Ehren Watada? -- Watada's being court-martialed. Maybe you heard? Probably you didn't if you were just counting on independent media. Tony says Democracy Now! still ignored the news today. Going where the silences are! Yeah, right.

You gotta' stay loose, limber and prepared -- Check out the illustration. There was a poem with it in the print version but this is pretty cool. This is the last thing they wrote and the rest of us had bailed. There were too many problems with Beta. So at the last minute, the gang ended up writing new text for the illustration.

Go down, Dexy -- I love the illustration here too. I'll probably run it here this week.

Junior campaigned in strange places -- Harold Ford Junior was a victim of racism during the campaign! His own racism. Read it, look at the photo of him campaigning . . . ar a "Rebel" bar . . . standing in front of a wall with a Confederate flag painted on it. Remember how I was talking about C.I. clipping stuff? I can't believe anyone didn't notice the Ford photo in the New York Times on Wednesday. Then I thought about it and realized most people writing about the Times probably don't read it in print. They just go there online.

10 CDs we listened to during the writing of this e... -- the playlist. And yeah, we did hear John Mayer's Continuum over and over. :D

Just FYI -- Noting one of the technical problems.

Highlights -- Technical problems include not being able to e-mail posts to their site so they just provide this. That's all they could do.

Tomorrow, I'll write about Law and Disorder. It was pretty cool today, dealing with Guantanamo among other stuff. Connecting it all. If I wasn't tired (it's a Monday), I'd write about it tonight. Tracey (Ruth's granddaughter) even came over today to bring me a tape of it Ruth made. (Tracey also wanted to have an excuse for a long drive. :D) Ruth got it off WBAI and I've been listening while I've been typing (I type real slow). WBAI cut the show off before it was over. That was pretty dumb. Eddie (a community member in Texas), if you listened already, e-mail me. Be sure to check out Like Maria Said Paz because Elaine's always got it more together than me. Oh, Dalia Hashad (co-host of Law and Disorder) sounds like one of my sisters and that just reminded me that my oldest sister was ragging on me this weekend saying, "If I had a site, I'd mention it when Mom put up a post." (I call her "Ma" -- so do most of my sisters and all my brothers.) Ma posts on Saturdays and on Mondays, I'm just trying to keep my eyes open when I'm posting. So I usually forget but let me note that Ma's "Turkey in the Kitchen" went up Saturday and it's got a recipe, it's got humor, it's got political. Check it out.


Now here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Monday, November 13, 2006. Chaos and violence continue in Iraq, Bully Boy meets with tutors (we didn't say they were good tutors), the US military starts the day announcing the deaths of more US troops, the decision to court-martial Ehren Watada continues to receive The Full Brobeck from independent media, and Nouri al-Maliki continues to go on about a "Cabinet Shuffle."
Last week (Thursday), the US military announced they were moving to a court-martial of Ehren Watada -- the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq. The court-martial is expected to be held early next year. Sunday, Teresa Watanabe (Los Angeles Times) reported that Eric Seitz, Watada's attorney, is predicting the court-martial will "be a spectacle. It's going to raise a lot of issues that frankly I don't understand why the Army wants to raise." Ehren Watada refused to deploy to Iraq because his studies, encouraged by his superior, led him to realize the Iraq war is illegal. Courage to Resist quotes Ehren Watada explaining, "The reason I spoke out, I saw that what was being in terms of this war was so illegal and so immoral and not being checked. It was a danger to our troops and a danger to our country. So, I think what needs to be done is some kind of accountability in Washington, D.C. and also investigations into how this war started in the first place."
In the first place? The fact that many would rather talk fine-tuning, the reality that the war is illegal and built on lies is too little examined. Speaking with Joshua Scheer (Truthdig) last week, Congress member Dennis Kucinich declared, "We need to have hearings on Iraq again. We need to go over again why we went there. We need to review the statements and all the errors that were made, and from that we bring the country together to take a new direction. It's all fact-based. And then we start to heal our nation. But we cannot heal America if we continue with policies that are based on lies. We'll never be able to bring closure to this Iraq matter unless we tell the truth about what happened. So America needs a new approach of truth and reconcialiation." [Micah noted that yesterday.] In March of this year, Kucinich declared "Not One more Dime" noting: "After three years arrogance and incompetence, contempt and lies, death and destruction, Congress should say enough is enough and provide not one more dime for this Administration's ill-conceived, ill-advised, misguided and failed Iraq policy." Quite a bit more than many asked by Aaron Glantz on Countdown 2006 were willing to state. Writing for IPS, Glantz notes Pratap Chatterjee on the issue of stopping the war via the Congressional purse: "The main control Congress has is financial. Congress can refuse to pay for the war, which is what they did in Vietnam, but they can't really dictate how it's waged." For the article, Glantz also speaks with Tom Hayden who sees some hope in the public stance Democrats offered against the war but "[w]here they aren't so good yet is what to do about it, and they don't have that obligation yet because they aren't to take back the presidency -- if they ever do -- for two years. There will be an attempt by both parties to keep the war going and get rid of Iraq as a public issue, but that seems to me to be impossible." Writing at The Huffington Post, Hayden advises: "The peace movement needs to gear up for the 2008 elections, by establishing anti-war coalitions that no candidate can avoid in the primary states. The first four states -- Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina -- have large peace-and-justice constituencies."
Mobilizing took place Saturday in Chicago. Ofelia Casillas and Charles Sheehan (Chicago Tribune) report that Vietnam Veterans Against the War held a ceremony that brought out at least fifty and the closer was US war resister Kyle Snyder who stated: "I followed my conscience. And I'm being persecuted for that." Kyle Snyder self-checked out and moved to Canada after serving in Iraq. He returned to the United States last month and, on October 31st, turning himself in at Fort Knox only to self-check out again after discovering the military had lied yet again. As Courage to Resist notes, "At the risk of arrest, he is speaking out bravely on behalf of war resisters and active duty GI's." They are asking that you: "Call Ft. Leonard Wood Fort Leonard Wood Office of the Commanding General Major General William McCoy, Jr., 573-596-0131 and the Public Affairs Office, 573-563-4013 email: alleym@wood.army.mil -- Demand that the Army 'Discharge Kyle Snyder with No Punishment'."
Obscuring the reality of the illegal war's basis provides the coverage for the continuation of it. And all the deaths that come with it. Sunday, the US military announced the Saturday deaths of three troops in Al Anbar Province. Also Sunday, the British military reports that four of their troops have died and three are injured while they were on boat patrol in Basra which brings the total number of British troops killed in Iraq to 125. The four deaths came on the same day that "UK Forces personnel at home and overseas have been united in paying their respects to the fallen of past and current conflicts" in their annual day of Rememberance.
Today, the US military announced: "Two Task Force Lightning Soldiers assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, were killed Sunday when a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle while conducting operations in Salah ad Din Province. Two other Soldiers were wounded in the blast and were transported to a Coalition forces medical treatment facility." They also announced today: "Two Multi-National Division -- Baghdad Soldiers were killed during combat operations when an improvised-explosive device detonated at approximately 10:20 a.m. in Baghdad Nov. 13. Two additional Soldiers were wounded in the same incident." That makes four announced deaths of US troops today. (Seven deaths announced so far this week.) In other violence . . .
Bombings?
CBS and AP report the mini-bus bomb in Baghdad which took the lives of 20 and left 18 wounded when it exploded "at a major intersection in the northeast Baghdad neighborhood."
Reuters notes that a mortar attck in Baghdad left two injured; a roadside bomb in Baghdad left two people wounded; and a roadside bomb outside Kirkuk wounded three guards of General Anwar Amin. Al Jazeera reports a bomb attack on the "outskirts of the Green Zone" using a car bomb which destroyed 13 cars in the garage but only one person was injured. CNN notes that the bombing was "near the Iranian Embassy and the Green Zone."
Shootings?
CNN reports that Mohammed al-Ban of al-Sharqiya TV and al-Massar newspaper was shot dead in Mosul while, in Baghdad, an attack on an adviser to one of Iraq's vice president resulted in the shooting deaths of "two of his bodyguards". AFP reports that a "Brigadier General of Iraq's traffic police and his driver were shot dead by gunmen as he was driving to work" in Baghdad. CBS and AP report the shooting death of a "civilian" in Baquba,the shooting death of Sunni Sheik Namis Karim in Baquba and the shooting death of Assim Mahmoud Abbas in Diyala. Reuters notes a police officer shot dead in Kut, "[f]our male primary school teachers" shot dead in Kirkuk and five people "ambushed and killed" just outside Baghdad.
Corpses?
Al Jazeera reports that 46 corpses have been discovered in Baghdad today. CBS and AP report that the corpses "of two women who had been shot to death" were discovered. Reuters notes that the man with the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Yildirim Tek, kidnapped July 23 was "found dead near Baghdad's airport". Reuters also notes that five corpses were discovered in Yusufiya.
In addition to the above, there were kidnappings. Reuters notes ten people kidnapped in Latifiya on Saturday, Muhammed Salim (a major in the police force) kidnapped in Baghdad and discovered dead; while another major with the police force, Maher Moussa was kidnapped (from his own home) and hasn't been discovered.
As the chaos and violence continue to rage, al-Maliki, puppet of the occupation, continues to make noises about a "Cabinet Shuffle" -- all the while very aware that just as likely as that happening is "The al-Maliki Shuffle" which would leave the puppet on the outside (possibly running the streets of London with 'rolldog' Chalabi). Kirk Semple (New York Times) reports that al-Maliki is now whining that he didn't get to pick his cabinet and that some posts were filled by names handed to him right before he announced them.
CBS and AP report that he is also "blaming Sunni Muslims for the country's raging sectarian conflict". On Sunday, Richard A. Oppel Jr. (New York Times) reported on the observations of American army Col. Brian D. Jones who speaks of Iraqi Brig. Gen. Shakir Hulail Hussein al-Kaabi showing up with a list (reportedly composed in Baghdad by Shi'ite leaders) of people who wanted arrested -- Sunni politicians.
Possibly setting himself up to be the next puppet, Iraq's Defense Minister Abdul-Qadir al-Obaidi is making soothing noises for the US administration (the bosses of the illegal occupation). CBS and AP report that al-Obaidi is stating that he doesn't want "to speed transfer of security operations throughout the country to the Iraqi army, saying his men were too porrly equipped and trained to do the job." AFP reminds: "On Wednesday, the main Sunni bloc threatened to quit the national unity government -- cobbled together after December 2005 elections -- warning that they would take up arms if rampaging Shiite militias were not quickly dismantled." Sabrina Tavernise (New York Times) reports on Moktada al-Sadr and notes that "parties loyal to him control the single larest protion of seats in Parliament and elevated the prime minister to power. They control five government ministeries"; however, "the more settled he becomes in the establishment, the looser his grip is over his fighters on the streets and those increasingly infiltrating the security forces."
While the above goes on, Bully Boy plays like he's Rodney Dangerfield and he's living out Back to School. Ben Feller (AP) reports Bully Boy met with the tutors his father endorsed, the Iraqi Study Group led by Lee Hamiliton and James Baker and that, afterwards, Bully Boy stated: "I was impressed by the questions they asked." It's rather sad that over three years after he started an illegal war, there are questions that can be asked which surprise the Bully Boy. Not just anyone can meet with the Bully Boy to discuss Iraq, he refused to meet religious leaders before launching his illegal war. For all his supposed piety, he couldn't make time for them. Ahmed Amr dubs them "the fabulous Baker boys" (let's all hope Cheney doesn't put on something slinky and attempt to warble "Making Whoopeee"), notes that it's a dog-and-pony show "to save Bush's face" and concludes: "We should openly declare that we intend to leave ASAP and dismantle each and every American garrison. Immediately cut troop strength by half. The enduring bases will not and should not survive this plan. We should retreat humbly and in sorrow -- for their losses and ours."
Steve Holland (Reuters) reports that the meeting went over the one-hour-and-fifteen minutes scheduled. No confirmation to the rumors that Bully Boy refused to take his fingers out of his ears until Condi gave him a juice box. What is confirmed, as Alieen Alfandary noted today on KPFA's The Morning Show, is Bully Boy's enduring unpopularity which "has plunged to 31% [approval ratings] in the lowest poll by Newsweek."
Finally, Ehren Watada's father, Bob Watada, and his step-mother, Rosa Sakanishi, continue their speaking tour to raise awareness on Ehren -- the first commissioned officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq and, as of Thursday, facing a court-martial in 2007. The speaking tour winds down on the 17th, a full schedule can be found here and upcoming dates include:

Nov 13 , TBA, Ann Arbor, MI, "The Ground Truth" and Bob Watada,Location: University of Michigan, Angel Hall, Auditorium B,Sponsors: Michigan Peace Works http://michiganpeaceworks.org/,Contact: Phillis Engelbert, work - 734-761-5922, home - 734-662-0818, cell- 734-660-489, philliseng@yahoo.com

Nov 14, TBA St. Louis, Mo. Location: Friends Meeting House, 1001 Park Avenue Sponsors: Veterans for Peace Chapter 161, 314-754-2651Contact: Chuc Smith, 314-721-1814, vfpch61@riseup.netiraq

Nov. 15, Norfolk, VA, Location: Norfolk/Virginia Beach, 40th Street Stage, 809 W 40th St (corner 40th St and Colley Ave -- across from Felini's), Sponsors: Veterans For Peace National In Affiliation with the Norfolk Catholic Worker, Local members of VFP, Military Families Speak Out, and the Active Duty Military Project, Contacts: Tom Palumbo, DissentingSoldier@Yahoo.Com, 757-470-9797, Ann Williams, 703-867-2174

Nov 16, Noon, Asheville, NC, Location: TBA -- Media Conference, Sponsor: Veterans For Peace Chapter 99, Contact: Tim Pluta, 828-645-1717, timpluta@hotmail.com
Nov 16, 2PM, Asheville, NC, Location: Mars Hill College -- Class Presentation
Sponsor: Veterans For Peace Chapter 99, Contact: Tim Pluta, 828-645-1717, timpluta@hotmail.com

Nov 16, 7PM, Asheville, NC, Location: University of North Carolina -- Public Presentation, Sponsor: Veterans For Peace Chapter 99, Contact: Tim Pluta, 828-645-1717, timpluta@hotmail.com , Lyle Peterson, 828-206-0245, Ahmad Daniels, War Resister Vietnam Era (appears in "Sir, No Sir!"), Mark Gibney Human Rights, International & Constitutional Law, Law, Ethics and Public Policy

Nov 17, 11:00AM, Asheville, NC, Location: Warren Wilson College, Sponsor: Veterans For Peace Chapter 99, Contact: Tim Pluta, 828-645-1717, timpluta@hotmail.com, Lyle Peterson, 828-206-0245, Professor Paul Magnarella (Peace Studies, Warren Wilson College)

Nov 17, 7PM, Atlanta, GA, Location: The First Iconium Baptist Church, Sponsor: Veterans For Peace Chapter 125, The Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition/Atlanta, Atlanta WAND, Contact: Debra Clark, 770-855-6163, dclark@antiwar.com




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Friday, November 10, 2006

Ehren Watada's going to be court-martialed and indymedia doesn't bother to tell you

Friday! Running late and blame it on Dad! Elaine brought some CDs with her and Dad's got most of them (on CD or vinyl) but his first question is always, "What did you bring?" He greets her with that. Then they go through them. She brought Let It Bleed by the Rolling Stone and you would have thought Dad didn't have a copy and it was the Holy Grail. :D

We had to listen to it. Had to, according to Dad. That was cool because we really did have to set up the living room for the study group (and that starts an hour late due to two families having to go to a wedding). While I'm mentioning Elaine, let me remind everyone, get your butts to Like Maria Said Paz tonight to check out her thoughts.

Ehren Watada is scheduled for a court-martial. I noted that last night and it's in the snapshot. This morning, Rebecca's "remember the ladies? forgotten at the democracy now round-table" runs down who is noting Ehren Watada today. When she wrote, the following hadn't: BuzzFlash, Common Dreams, Democracy Now!, The Nation and The Progressive. I asked her and she'd forgotten to check Truthout? I'm providing the update. Democracy Now! won't air again until Monday so they have nothing still. Truthout has nothing now (so had nothing this morning), BuzzFlash still has nothing, Common Dreams still has nothing, and The Progressive has nothing.
Free Speech Radio News didn't note it either. Even Courage to Resist hasn't. I'll cut them slack and only them. I have no idea how many people work at that site. They usually send out e-mails (I'm signed up) when there's news. I'm assuming it's a site with a few people and they work really hard. But there's so little coverage of Ehren Watada that I'm going to have to be fair and note that they don't have the news that Watada's being court-martialed. Who is covering it? Not in Our Name. And of course C.I.'s addressed the court-martial announcement: "Iraq Snapshot" (today), "And the war drags on" (last night), "Ehren Watada and another issue that matters to the community" (this morning). The KPFA Evening News covered it last night.


Elaine just hollered done. And she's been on the cell phone while typing! I can't believe that. I am the slowest typer in the world. She tossed me something. Dona passed on that the most popular feature piece on entertainment, other than TV reviews by Ava and C.I., at The Third Estate Sunday Review is "Tina Turner: A retrospective." Dona says the e-mails are still coming in on that. Elaine wrote about it at her site and got a nice response to it. She was planning to expand it at her site but Jim and Dona had called to compliment her on it and, while they were on the phone, she offered it as a topic The Third Estate Sunday Review could explore. I know that it was a favorite of Dad's too. Tina Turner's pretty cool and it's too bad so many of the songs she's been stuck with haven't been as cool. (They're tracking it in case they end up doing a best-of one week. They're trying to prepare for anything due to the Blogger/Blogspot problems -- but they have moved over to Beta already.)

In really sad news, Molly Ivins has a third outbreak of breast cancer. She's a really funny writer who uses humor to make some really strong points and I know for me at least, she was the ambassador for Texas. As ugly a face as the Maine-born Bully Boy has put on Texas, Ivins has been a strong alternative proving that intelligence and genuine humor is homegrown in Texas.

Let me wind down. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" and, no, I didn't get "White Queen." I thought, "Rummy's got a new nickname?" I knew Rumsfeld became "Rumsfled" when C.I. found out about the resignation talk. (What was that, two weeks ago?) So we all started using "Rumsfled" because it was coming (his resignation) (and Wally and Cedric do humor posts but they do sneak in reality bits that C.I. passes on which is why they're probably the only ones who have told you when the resignation was discussed -- it wasn't on the day after election or the day before). But "White Queen"? I had it explained to me. It's a character in Alice in Wonderland. Here's the snapshot:

Friday, November 10th. Chaos and violence continue in Iraq, the US military announces they will court-martial Lt. Ehren Watada, the US military also announces the death of five more US troops in Iraq, John Howard makes Australians and the rest of the world glad that there's only one of him, and David Swanson explains what really happened in DC.

Starting with news on US war resister Ehren Watada. In June, Watada went public with his refusal to deploy to Iraq because the war is illegal and deploying would subject both himself and those serving under him to war crimes. In standing up, Watada became the first US commissioned officer to publicly refuse to serve in the illegal war. On August 17th, Article 32 hearing was held. [For details on Ann Wright's testimony, click here, Dennis Halliday click here, and here for Francis A. Boyle.] Following the hearing on the 17th, the US military announced August 24th that the presiding officer of the hearing, Lt. Colonel Mark Keith, had made a recommendation, court-martial. Yesterday, The KPFA Evening News reported that the US military had decided to court-martial Watada. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that "Lt. Gen. James Dubik, agreed with the recommended charges of missing a military movement and conduct unbecoming an officer." Gregg Kakesako (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) reports that conviction during the court-martial ("held next year") could result in "six years in jail and a dishonorable discharge." Honolulu's KITV spoke with Eric Seitz, attorney for Watada, who stated, "Unfortunately the army does want to make a martyr out of him. They have told us they will not enter into any agreement that doesn't include at least a year of incarceration, and that's just simply something we are unable to agree to." Rod Ohira (Honolulu Advertiser) notes the following statements by Watada after learning of the recommendation to court-martial him:"I feel the referral of the charges was not unexpected and at this time, I'm moving forward as I always have with resilience and fortitude to face the challenges ahead. . . . I think as the recent elections show more and more Americans are opening their eyes, but we aren't there yet. It is my hope that actions such as my own continue to call for the truth behind the fundamental illegality and immorality of those who perpetrated this war."Coverage of war resisters in the US independent media has been embarrassing and shameful. Rebecca checks in on several independent outlets only to find that none have anything on Watada this morning. He appears to getting the full-Brobeck from independent media. (CBS notes Watada here.) War resister Ivan Brobeck returned to the US from Canada to turn himself in Tuesday and he didn't even make the indy headlines. (Nora Barrows Friedman did interview him on Monday's Flashpoints.) It's not cutting it. Not for Brobeck, not for Kyle Snyder who's also been ignored after returning to the US and, on October 31st, turning himself in at Fort Knox only to self-check out again after discovering the military had lied yet again. Not for Joshua Key who learned that the Canadian government was denying him refugee status.

A list of war resisters within the military would include Watada, Key, Snyder, and Brobeck. It would also include many other names such as Darrell Anderson, Ricky Clousing, Mark Wilkerson, Camilo Meija, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Jeremy Hinzman, Corey Glass, Patrick Hart, Clifford Cornell, Agustin Aguayo, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, and Kevin Benderman. That's just the ones who have gone public. (Over thirty US war resisters are currently in Canada attempting to be legally recognized.) It is a movement and should be covered as such. Ehren Watada's father and step-mother are currently on a speaking tour (tonight they're in NYC) and details on that will be at the end of the snapshot.

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Appeal for Redress is collecting signatures of active duty service members calling on Congress to bring the troops home -- the petition will be delivered to Congress in January.

Grabbing headlines is Ali al-Shemari. The Iraqi Health minister announced a number for the death toll of Iraqis due to the illegal war. AP notes that he places the death toll at 150,000. The KPFA Evening News pointed out on Thursday that is he was actually basing his 'count' on the United Nations estimate of at least 100 Iraqis dying each day "that calculation would be closer to 130,000." CBS and AP note that he rejects the number of approximately 655,000 in the Lancet Study but thinks his own number is "OK." Sabrina Tavernise (New York Times) calls the number "an off-the-cuff estimate". Puppets can't go off-the-cuff or off-script which may be why AFP is reporting that the estimates being watered down (the Health Ministry is now saying between 100,000 and 150,000).

Meanwhile the US military has announced today "One Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 died Thursday from wounds sustained due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province" and also "Two 89th Military Police Brigade Soldiers were killed and one Soldier was wounded Thursday after their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device at 12:48 p.m. Thursday in west Baghdad." Later in the day would come more announcements. This: "One Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died today from non-hostile causes while operating in Al Anbar Province," and this: "One Soldier assigned to the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) was killed and another wounded Nov. 10 during a combat logistics patrol when their truck was hit by an improvised explosive device west of Hadithah" for a total of five deaths announced today. ICCC currently lists 24 as the number of US troop deaths in Iraq for the month, thus far (2842 since the start of the illegal war). As the numbers continue to climb, Michael Luo and Michael Wilson (New York Times) report that funerals have become so common for the First Battalion, 22nd Infantry in Iraq that planning time for services have been cut from 45 minutes to five minutes.

While the numbers (on all sides) continue to mount, AP notes Donald Rumsfled stated (yesterday), "I will say this -- it is very clear that the major combat operations were an enormous success." Oh White Queen, get someone to help you a-dress quickly. Forgetting the illegal nature of the war for a moment, that's a bit like a drunk driver who plows into a car and kills an entire family stating, "I will say this -- I pulled away from the curb nicely."In some of the reported violence today . . .

Bombings?

AFP reports: "In violence on the ground, a powerful blast killed an Iraqi army colonel and his five bodyguards in the northern town of Tall Afar. Reuters notes it was a car bombing and that 17 people were wounded while, in Kirkuk, a roadside bombing injured two Iraqi soldiers.Reuters notes that, in Yusufiya, 14 people were kidnapped (by "gunmen") and then found dead and a man was shot dead in Diwaniya. Christopher Bodeen (AP) reports that three family members were shot dead in Baghdad (home invasion).

Corpses?

Reuters reports, "Police fished the body of a woman, bearing signs of torture and bullet wounds, from the Tigris river in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said." In addition, Christopher Bodeen (AP) informs that 33 corpses were discovered "in Baghdad and several nearby cities."

In Australia, War Hawk and prime minister John Howard's laughable comments yesterday have resulted in more punch lines. Gillian Bradford observered to Eleanor Hall (ABC's PM) that "Whatever the opinion polls here may say here about Australians' desire to get out of Iraq, the Prime Minister isn't swayed" and he intended to ring Tony Blair up just as soon as he (Howard) finished his cricket match. Give 'em Flair, Howie. AAP reports that: "Prime Minister John Howard should tell George W Bush that he's pulling Australian troops out of Iraq when the two leaders meet next week, Opposition Leader Kim Beazley says. Mr Howard will have lunch with the US president during next week's APEC meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam - their first meeting since Mr Bush's Republican party was thumped in US mid-term elections." Bully Boy gets to Vietnam a lot more today than when he 'served,' doesn't he? Meanwhile Xinhau reports: "Howard said he will commiserate with Bush in person at the APEC meeting in the second half of next week.Howard said he had always accepted that the majority of the Australian public had been against the military commitment to Iraq." Howard 'accepts' the majority opinion, he just doesn't 'respect' it.

In peace news, yesterday's snapshot noted Cindy Sheehan was arrested outside the White House while attempting to deliver a petition (with over 80,000 signatures) calling for the US troops to be brought home. Not quite. David Swanson (Let's Try Democracy) reports she was arrested outside the White House long after the petition: "Late Wednesday afternoon Cindy decided to lead a sit-in right in front of the White House, and then -- finally -- the Park Service arrested her. The Associated Press changed the lede to its article to read as follows: 'Activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Wednesday as she led about 50 protesters to a White House gate to deliver anti-war petitions.' Not quite accurate. The petitions had been delivered several hours before the arrest. But what the heck, it probably got more editors to pick up the story. Thanks, again, Cindy!" Swasnon outlines the events as being stalled at the gates of the White House when attempting to deliver the petition leading activists to place pages in the fence and to send pages over the fence. Hours later, Cindy Sheehan staged the sit-down.

In other news of activists who refuse to hit the snooze button, Wendell Harper reported on yesterday's The KPFA Evening News and today on KPFA's The Morning Show that Medea Benjamin was among those activists participating in a rally outside the soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco office calling for troops home now.

Finally, Ehren Watada's father, Bob Watada, and his step-mother, Rosa Sakanishi, continue their speaking tour to raise awareness on Ehren -- the first commissioned officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq. Due to increased interest there have been some date changes and a full schedule can be found here. Upcoming dates include:

Nov 10, Early PM, New York City, NY., Press ConferenceLocation: UN, 777 United Nations Plaza, First Avenue and E. 44th StreetSponsors: Veterans For Peace Chapters 138 & 34Contact: Thomas Brinson, 631-889-0203, ltbrin@earthlink.netGeorge McAnanama, gmacan@aol.com

Nov 10, 7:30PM, New York City, NY.Location: St. Paul/St. Andrews Methodist Church -- West End Avenue and West 86th Streets,Sponsors: Veterans For Peace Chapters 138 & 34Contacts: Thomas Brinson, 631-889-0203, ltbrin@earthlink.net

Nov 11, 10AM-2:30PM, New York City, NY.,Veterans Day ParadeSponsor: Veterans For Peace Chapters 34 & 138, IVAW, MFSOContacts: Thomas Brinson, 631-889-0203, ltbrin@earthlink.netGeorge McAnanama, gmacan@aol.com

Nov 11, 3-5 PM, Flushing, NY.,Location: Macedonia AME Church (718) 353-587037-22 Union St.Sponsors: "United for Lt. Watada"Contact: Gloria Lum 646-824-2710, lumgloria@yahoo.com

Nov 11, 7 PM, New York City, NY., Manhattan,Location: Columbia University, Broadway and W 116 St., Bldg- Mathematics Rm 312Sponsors: Asian American Alliance, "United for Lt. Watada",Veterans For Peace Chapters 138 & 34Contact: Gloria Lum 646-824-2710

Nov 12, 11AM-1PM, Providence, RI., Location: Brown University, The John Nicholas Brown Center, 357 Benefit Street at WilliamsSponsor: Veterans For Peace NationalContact: Naoko Shibusawa, 401-286-1908, Naoko_Shibusawa@brown.edu

Nov 12, 7PM, Rockland County, NY., Location: TBASponsor: Rockland Coalition for Peace and Justice, Veterans For Peace National and Veterans For Peace Chapter /Rockland CountyContact: Nancy Tsou, LYTHRN@aol.comBarbara Greenhut

Nov 13 , TBA, Ann Arbor, MI, "The Ground Truth" and Bob Watada,Location: University of Michigan, Angel Hall, Auditorium B,Sponsors: Michigan Peace Works http://michiganpeaceworks.org,Contact: Phillis Engelbert, work - 734-761-5922, home - 734-662-0818, cell- 734-660-489, philliseng@yahoo.com

Nov 14, TBA St. Louis, Mo. Location: Friends Meeting House, 1001 Park Avenue Sponsors: Veterans for Peace Chapter 161, 314-754-2651Contact: Chuc Smith, 314-721-1814, vfpch61@riseup.netiraq








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joshua key

ehren watada
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