Tuesday. Long day. If you haven't already read the snapshot, the US military announced 2 service members died and announced multiple cases of US forces shooting Iraqi civilians dead. There was one today, one yesterday and one Sunday. Get the feeling it's way past time for the US to end this illegal war already? (The illegal war the Bully Boy started and the Democrats refused to stop -- then or now.)
It's really interesting the way the mainstream media keeps selling 'improvements' in Iraq. It's really shameful that so few in independent media bother to call it out. But, hey, they don't have a lot of time to spare, they're too busy writing those "Obama is so groovy!" columns.
And don't all the 'groovy' candidates get endorsed by someone running a school with a sexual scandal? Think about the beating anyone else would have taken over that. Oprah dabbed her eyes a little and it was time to 'move on.' She should be ashamed of herself. And having just had the scandal break in the news, her first concern should be her school. Remember, when the next scandal breaks, that she was too busy going on the road with Obama to fix the school she started, the one she funds, the one she wanted a hell of a lot of credit for starting.
She's in denial as bad as any Church turning a blind eye to a priest molesting a kid. She's been going around buying off the parents. Hopefully one of them will sue her. For that to have happened repeatedly with girls makes it more than a 'mistake.' It goes to Oprah wanting to be a glory hog but not wanting to do the work.
Students are active in the United States and also elsewhere (anywhere they aren't imprisoned in one of Oprah's schools for sex). This is from Great Britain's Socialist Worker:
This article should be read after: » Sarkozy off the hook as French rail workers enter talks
"Student occupations at the crossroads"
Kohou Mbwelili, a student at Paris’s Sorbonne university, spoke to Socialist Worker about the student movement
The student movement in France against the LRU privatisation law will reach a crucial turning point this week.
When the rail strike was on, we felt connected to it and drew strength from it. Students felt that they were part of something wider.
But at the same time, many people couldn't come to our general assemblies -- where we discuss and decide our policies. We lost around half of the people there.
Now strike has stopped, more students are coming back. So it's a new phase. We have an opportunity to hold large general assemblies, but at a time when the government is on the offensive.
The government is trying to divide the students. Small groups of right wing students have organised against the blockades, and there is a huge propaganda drive against us.
We held a general assembly at the Sorbonne on Thursday of last week where some 400 students decided to occupy and set up a picket line.
The next morning the university administration announced it was closing the university from Friday noon till Monday, under the pretext of "avoiding violence".
The authorities want to avoid picket lines at all costs -- that’s why they shut down. It’s a strategy they prepared beforehand.
So the situation is much more polarised. Students have learned how to organise from previous movements, such as the movement against the CPE labour laws last year.
But there is a lack of political leadership.The Socialists and Communists are silent. The Unef student union leadership wants to negotiate rather than fight.
So far the movement has grown rapidly -- about twice as fast as the CPE movement last year. Now it can go in either direction.
Riots in Paris
Paris's suburbs were in flames again as Socialist Worker went to press this week. Young people fought with police following the deaths of two teenagers, Moushin and Larami, in an accident involving a police car.
The following should be read alongside this article: » Sarkozy off the hook as French rail workers enter talks» LCR: 'We need to build a political alternative to the neoliberal parties'
© Copyright Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original and leave this notice in place.
If you found this article useful please help us maintain SW by » making a donation.
From reality to the land of the brain dead. Here's the funniest headline I saw today, think of it as "joke of the day." It's from US News and World Report, "Obama Insiders Say Exposure Drives Up His Polls." They're talking about the Paris Hilton of politics. Has anyone been more ovexposed and still he can't claim to be leading nationally. He's been on the cover of all the 'men's magazines' (the dandy appealing for the dandy vote), Katrina vanden Heuvel has ensured he got a tongue bath near weekly at The Nation, everyone's been goo-goo over the junior Senator who still hasn't completed his first term. There were the "shirtless" moments in the YouTube video "Obama Girl." What's left for Obama? Full frontal nudity? If it will finally give him a lead -- or if he thinks it might -- he'll go for it.
Hey, he was seen in broad daylight with Sammy Power today -- guess the rumors are false that she's a vampire. Jury's still out on whether or not she's part wolf. :D Okay, here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Tuesday, November 27, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces deaths, the puppet enters into a death pact for Iraq, US presidential politics get 'star power' and more.
Starting with war resistance. Following the refusal of the Canadian Supreme Cour to hear the appeals of US war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, the best road to legal recognition appears to be the Canadian Parliament. Cindy Sheehan (OpEdNews) urges people to utilize Courage to Resist's easy to mail or e-mail resources to allow the Canadian government to know you are watching and to support organizations supporting war resisters as well as:
Support actual war resisters in Canada by sending them expense money. From my friend Ryan (I gave him and his wife money to get to Canada over two years ago):
In light of the recent Supreme Court denial in Canada, I (Ryan Johnson), My wife (Jen Johnson) and Brandon Hughey need help raising funds to travel to Ottawa to attend hearings before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, where War Resisters will be giving Testimony to the committee. At these hearings the committee will be deciding on whether or not to make a provision to allow war resisters to stay in Canada. This is one of our last chances to be able to continue living in Canada. We will be leaving December 7th because the hearings are December 11th, 2007 so we need to act fast. They may try to send guys back soon and we need to have a strong War Resister Presence. We appreciate all of the support and Want to thank all of you who can help.
Checks/money orders can be sent for Ryan, Jen and Brandon to:312 Tower RdNelson, BC V1L3K6
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who recently appeared on Democracy Now! addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
March 13th through 15th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
Let's dive into the nonsense. Bully Boy and his puppet Nouri al-Maliki came to an agreement -- in it al-Maliki sells out Iraq and gets his own ass protected. CBS and AP play dumb together stating of the agreement: "It would also help the Iraqi government thrwart any attempt to suspend or repeal a constitution drafted with U.S. help and adopted in a nationwide vote in 2005. That appeared to be a reference to any attempt to remove the government by violence or in a coup." Now there are a number of facts that are questionable in those two sentences but since when does repealing a constitution mean "violence" or "coup"? It doesn't. And Iraqis are (naturally) interested in writing their own constitution as opposed to having one written for them. Ron Jacobs (CounterPunch) explains reality, "Meanwhile the government in Baghdad's Green Zone is asking the US military to commit to a longterm agreement to stay in Iraq in substantial numbers. Besides the obvious fact that the Green Zone government really has no say in how long the US military occupies Iraq, the fact that those in power are asking the military to remain is an acknowledgement that their power does not come from the Iraqi people but from the military power of Washington. In fact, according to the November 26, 2007 Associated Press story discussing this 'request' by the Green Zone government, the request was made because 'Iraq's government, (is) seeking protection against foreign threats and internal coups.' One can be certain that those internal coups most likely refer to Washington's fear of a victorious insurgency." James Gerstenzang and Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) put their two brains together and all they can come up with that's worth noting is that the new 'agreement' "guarantee a U.S. troop presence in Iraq for at least a few more years." Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) can't find any current critics of al-Maliki's offensive attempt to circumvent the Iraqi parliament (Question: Who ratifies treaties in the United States? The Congress. One more aspect of 'democracy' that never got exported to Iraq.) but she does note that in al-Maliki has (rightly) "critized the U.S. military presence in palaces that formerly belonged to Saddam Hussein and chastised American forces for operating with 'impunity' in Iraq." Thom Shanker and Cara Buckley (New York Times) probably summarize the events better than any mainstream outlet: "In Iraq on Monday, there was little public discussion of the agreement. It is not a popular move politically because many Iraqis view the United Nations mandate as a reminder that they cannot yet control their own destiny and must rely on outsiders.In the past, members of the Iraqi Parliament have complained that allowing the continued presence of international forces abrogates the country's sovereignty. While some of the complaints can be labelled political rhetoric, there is also a real underlying resentment that the nation still needs American help." Well, the puppet government needs help. The Iraqi people are more than willing to take control of their country. It's only the US installed government that falters.
What's missing from the coverage? The voices of Iraqis who aren't the play toys of puppet al-Maliki. Haifa Zangan is the author of City of Widows: An Iraqi Woman's Account of War and Resistance (Seven Stories Press), and writes for al-Quds and the Guardian of London. Yesterday she was a guest on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show where she spoke of Paul Bremer dismantling the government, destroying military, the police, jobs for women (90% of women are employed) and much more.
Diane Rehm: The question becomes: If the US withdrew would all of that sectarian violence cease? Do you really believe that?
Haifa Zangan: If you give a minute. There was, there are the powers on the ground in Iraq now. The US army multi-national forces, there are 60,000 of them a parallel army to the US military there which is the mercenary contractors, the security firms, they are both of them enjoy complete immunity from Iraqi law. But the mercenary firms, the security firms, unlike the US army, they enjoy also immunity from the American law and the international law and those people are really creating havoc within the country. Those contractors have their own sub-contractors who are willing to kill more and more to continue the war.
Zangan spoke of Iraq's long, long history and explained why she doesn't believe it will be an Iraqi-Iraqi on violence bloodbath should the US military leave Iraq. Raed Jarrar (Raed in the Middle) also notes the history of the country -- that Baghdad recently celebrated it's 1245th anniversary and that in 20 previous occupations, when foreign forces left the country, there withdrawal was not followed with a "full scale war between Sunnis and Shiites". Haifa Zangan explained to Rehm, "It seems like every day of the extension of the staying of the American troops and what's called the multi-national forces in Iraq bringing with it new problems for Iraqi people deeping what is there already. . . . I think their support for the militias would stop, Iraqis themselves would take control of their country."
Rehm returns to the topic of violence later in the interview.
Haifa Zangan: It's not just the Apaches, the helicopters, not only the pre-dawn arrests by the US troops led by with . . . and in collaboration with what's called the Iraqi army and the Iraq police but also we are targeted by the militias and that is not the sectarian war between Iraqi people themselves. The militias? Each political party in Iraq at the moment taking part in what's called the political process as designed by Paul Bremer and the occupation, each one of them has its own militia. Take for example, the Supreme Court for Islamic Revolution --which was established in Iran and has no base whatsoever in Iraq -- went with the occupation and Iraq -- with its own powerful well trained militia -- they are in control of what's called the government now.
Ron Jacobs (CounterPunch) sums up the realities of the illegal war and occupation in four short sentences: "Making occupation and calling it peace. Killing fewer and calling it progress. Rotating troops and calling it a withdrawal. Setting up new death squads and calling them allies. Lowering standards and calling it opening new opportunities." Hence the violence continues.
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded a taxi driver, another that "near that Amana bus station" that wounded three, a Baghdad car bombing that wounded two, a Diyala bombing where the bomber killed himself and 7 others and thirteen wounded and "Around 9.30 a.m., a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol in an area of about 2 km of Suleiman Beck of Tuz Khurmatu (east of Tikrit). Eyewitnesses said that a Humvee was destroyed. Also they saw a helicopter came to the scene taking the killed and injured soldiers with them." Reuters notes a Mosul car bombing wounded four people.
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a clash in Basra that began last night and ended this morning involving multiple weapons and resulting in 1 death and a "few others injured." Al Jazeera reports a Baghdad shooting by US forces that claimed the lives of 4 "bank employees" traveling in a minibus to work ("three women and one man"). CBS and AP note that 1 child also died making the number shot dead by US forces to make five killed and quote a US military spokesperson (Gregory Smith) stating that "some of the warning fire ricocheted and may have killed two to three individuals." This follows a Monday shooting.
Reuters notes "two men and a child" were shot dead by US forces "near Baijia" while their car "approached a roadblock." CBS and AP note that the men died immediately, however, the child lingered until dying from the wounds received and that a US military spokesperson has expressed "regret that civilians are hurt or killed". Reuters notes that today the US military announced US forces had shot and killed a man in Ramadi at a checkpoint on Sunday.
Corpses?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad. Reuters adds to that to note 5 more discover for a total of eight corpses in Baghdad while 4 were discovered in Mosul and another 4 in Tikrit.
Turning to a mass shooting noted yesterday, Reporters Without Borders is calling for an investigation into "the murders of 11 close relatives of Dia al-Kawwaz, the Amman-based editor of the online newspaper Shabeqat Akhbar al-Iraq": "We call on the government to order an investigation to identify those responsible for this carnage and to bring them to justice. The impunity reigning in Baghdad for the past five years encourages attacks on journalists and their families. It is even more disturbing when security forces see what is happening and yet take no action. Police at a security checkpoint near the Kawwaz family home failed to intervene or give chase." CBS and AP note a spokesperson for Iraq's Interior Ministry denies that any shootings took place but al-Kawaz has "accused the Interior Ministry forces of involvement in the deaths. Dhia al-Kawaz said they raided a wake in Iraq for his slain family Tuesday in the predominatly Shiite city of Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, tearing down banners commemorating the dead." Mohammed al Dulaimy and Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) note that mass shooting "was the third mass killing reported in Baghdad since Friday".
And today the US military announced: "Two Multi-National Division - North Soldiers were killed as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion near their vehicle while conducting operations in Salah ad Din province, Nov. 27. Additionally, two Soldiers were wounded and transported to a Coalition medical facililty for treatment."
Over the weekend, Christopher Brauchli (CounterPunch) provided an overview of the mammoth complex being called an embassy in Iraq noting it was over budget by $144 million thus far, that is is still empty and "[n]o one knows when anyone will move in." This despite Charles Williams, of the US State Dept.'s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, testifying in July that , "We are slated to complete the project in September of this year and personnel can begin to move into offices and residences shortly thereafter." To many the multi-acre compound in Baghdad is nothing more than a permanent US military base. On the subject of bases in Iraq, Chris Dodd's campaing for president released this statement yesterday: "Frankly, it's hard to believe that the Administration is just beginning to figure out what the future bilateral relationship with Iraq should look like after more than four years of military occupation. But, this [White House] declaration of principles is more notable for what it doesn't say than what it does. It does not require Iraqi leaders to make substantive progress on their political benchmarks nor does it end US military involvement in Iraq. Indeed, Senator Dodd is fearful that the lack of clarity on the long-term presence will be used as a justification by this Administration for a permanent military presence in Iraq, at precisely the time when we should be declaring the opposite. In a Dodd Administration, there will be no permanent bases in Iraq."
Staying with US politics. How stupid is Mark Halperin? We'll assume he was too busy rushing to get in a shout out to Sammy Power to do a reality check. Oprah Winfrey will be hitting Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire to campaign for Barack Obama. Really? That's the message a campaign wants to send? In October, Oprah's already questionable school for girls made headlines as various young females went public with sexual abuse. Oprah boo-hooed in public. As if she hadn't brought it all on herself. (See Margaret Kimberley's January 2007 piece on Oprah's school.) Tears allow Oprah to silence her fans but exactly whom does Campaign Obama think will be on the campaign trail? And as if that scandal wasn't bad enough -- let's be clear that as the victim of child sexual abuse it was incumbent upon Oprah Winfrey to ensure that any activity or organization she initiated was a safe environment for children which she clearly did not -- she's plugged/hawked plastic surgeon Jan Adams like crazy. Adams, of course, is the surgeon who peformed surgery on Donda West -- Kanye West's mother -- before she died. Chicago Sun-Times notes this embarrassing statement by Team Orpah today on their part in making Jan Adams a 'trusted' voice: "Since he was booked as a guest commentator on the subject of medical television, not in his capacity as a surgeon, and since we did not promote him as a cosmetic surgeon, there was no reason t do a background check on him." TMZ notes Adams' DUIs and mutliple malpractice suits as well as posts a clip of Oprah endorsing him on her show. It's never Oprah's fault. That may play on daytime TV to lonely viewers who have no where else to go but the news press isn't the entertainment press and what kind of a political campaign puts a celebrity on the road whose organization (school in Africa) is plagued by sexual abuse controversy and who has promoted a doctor many see as responsible for a high-profile death? Considering her own history of sexual abuse, the Big O should be spending all of her time addressing the sexual abuse at her school in Africa. She really can't 'transcend' that outside of her viewing 'dynasty'. How long ago was it that Oprah was 'testifying' that the school sexual abuse scandal was "one of the most devastating, if not the most devastating experience of my life"? Monday, November 5th.
Halpern quotes Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe yacking about how Oprah has never stepped into politics before. Incorrect. As Bill Moyers Journal aptly demonstrated in it's debut episdoe, Oprah sold the illegal war. She used her daytime show to sell the illegal war. Which makes her the perfect fit for Obama. Paul Street (Black Agenda Report) noted last month that Obama's "I was against the war" five-year anniversary was called out by US Senator and presidential contender Chris Dodd who reminded that Obama "forgot to celebrate another anniversary. Last July 26th marked the third anniversary of the New York Times story in which Obama admitted that he did not know how he would have voted on the Iraq resolution had he been serving in the United States Senate at the time of the vote."
Meanwhile, US Senator Joe Biden's presidential campaign is marketing a new advertisement featuring testimonials to Biden from fellow presidentidal candiates Senator Hillary Clinton ("Amen to Joe Biden because he's 100% right"), John Edwards ("I actually agree with what Senator Biden said"), Obama ("I think Joe is exactly right") and Bill Richardson ["(Biden's solution) may be ultimately the right solution"). Away from the love-fest, US House Rep Dennis Kucinich's presidential campaign announced: "The Congressman has the utmost respect for Senator Biden and his years of service to the nation. He just happens to be wrong on some very major issues; and, if the other candidates agree with him, then they're wrong, too. They voted to authorize the war in Iraq. They approved continued funding of the war. They voted for the Patriot Act. They supported trade agreements that have had a devastating impact on American workers. They have failed to challenge the President and the Vice President for their unrepentant and continued violations of the U.S. Constitution. There's a reason that Congressman Kucinich was the only candidate delberately excluded from the ad blitz. Joe Biden knows, and the other Democratic candidates know, that Dennis Kucinich doesn't walk their line. If voters are dissatisfied with the Biden tweedle-dums and tweedle-dees, they should vote for someone who represents their beliefs and their values. Not someone who says, 'I agree with Joe.' Dennis doesn't agree with Joe. Or Hillary. Or Barack. Or John. Or Chris. Or Bill." Bill Richardson is the subject of a blog post by Shailagh Murray (Washington Post) which maintains: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other D.C. Democrats are as unpopular in the Hawkeye state as President Bush. Richardson said an 'anti-Washington dysfunctional relationship-feeling' pervades the Iowa landscap and that the Democratic Congress has been a huge disappointment, by failing to end the war or find common ground with Republicans on a whole host of important issues." Mike Gravel is also running for the Democratic nomination and Mary MacElveen (OpEdNews) focuses on his strengths, "I want you to watch this feed in full as Mike Gravel so rightly states that this is an 'oil war' I feel that this is an important feed especially with the Iowa caucuses are only weeks away and right after many Christians celebrate Christmas. It is important that all Democrats watch this feed as they go to the polls in the New Hampshire primary in order to make an informed decision. He is the only one who is telling the American people the truth, yet CNN and NBC blocked him from telling it. In the spirit of Christmas, one must remember these Ten Commandments which are, you shall not murder, you shall not steal and you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. The war in Iraq has violated everyone of these commandments. . . . Our soldiers and their families are the ones who will pay the price when men like Gravel are marginalized by the media and the Democratic leadership. When Gravel speaks out, the phrase that comes to mind is: With age comes wisdom. And to prove so, he has fought this battle before where others have not."
Finishing out electoral politics, Ralph Nader has stated he will announce by the end of the year whether he will run for president. Richard Winger (Ballot Access News) reports on a very sad group of people. There are the sad ones who thought 'winning' came by attempting to deny ballot access to a candidate and there are Pennsylavnia Supreme Court Justices who had conflicts of interest (this is not disputed). Having tried to block Nader from the Pennsylvania ballot in 2004, sad group one and sad group two scheme to force "Nader's bank to seize almost $80,000 from Nader's account". Something to think about for 2008: When you endorse a "Don't Run, ___!" campaign, there are others who are going to carry it even further. Since America needs more choices and more access, the smartest thing to do is remember that in a democracy, anyone who wants to run for office should run. A US Socialist Worker editorial takes on the concept of "'realistic' strategy": "With the 2008 election season in full swing, the pressure is on for activists to start doing the 'reasonable' thing -- and adjust their expectations and demands to something that can be achieved. In fact, however, a look at the last several weeks of the Democrats' behavior -- both in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail -- offers object lessons about who the 'party of the people' really listens to (not us), and how much it will deliver (not much) unless it faces pressure. The problem with the politics of compromise is it accepts that the Democratic Party represents 'the people.' And it assumes that the rights and freedoms we have today are the product of what politicians achieved in the past, so we need to work for the best of them today to push back the Republican agenda. . . . The Democrats' failure to fulffill hopes that they would take action to end the occupation of Iraq needs to be understood the same way. They may have talked tough about the war to win their November 2006 victory, but the Democrats are every bit as committed as the Republicans to defending U.S. economic and military interests around the world. Some Democrats differ with the Bush administration on how the war was carried out and how the occupation should continue. But there's aggreement on the goal. That's why, in a recent debate, none of the three front-running presidential contenders [Clinton, Edwards and Obama] would commit to pulling all U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of a hypothetical first term -- 2013, a full decade after the invasion."
the common ills
mikey likes it
iraq
jeremy hinzmanbrandon hughey
cindy sheehan
ron jacobs
ned parker
the los angeles timesleila fadel
the new york timesthom shankercara buckley
anthony arnovehoward zinn
raed jarrar
the diane rehm show
the washington post
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Marjorie Cohn, Third
Monday, Monday. I'd be safe and warm . . . Yes, I'm mixing my Mamas and the Papas but it was a lot of fun in California from Wednesday to yesterday and the thing that stands out is how cold it is here! Seriously. :D
This is from Marjorie Cohn's "Remembering Victor Rabinowitz: Legal Giant of the Left:"
On November 16, 2007, Victor Rabinowitz, one of the giants of the legal profession and a tireless fighter for social justice, died at the age of 96. One of the founders of the National Lawyers Guild 70 years ago, Victor defended unpopular clients when other lawyers were afraid to touch them. During the McCarthy period, he and his partner Leonard Boudin represented unions that were considered to be left-wing. The firm counted as clients Daniel Ellsberg, Paul Robeson, Julian Bond, Dashiell Hammett, Dr. Benjamin Spock, the Rev. Philip Berrigan, Alger Hiss, the Black Panthers, the Salvador Allende government in Chile, and the Cuban government.Victor handled several landmark cases. In 1950, he challenged the provision of the Taft-Hartley Act that prevented unions from representing workers unless all union officers swore a loyalty oath that they were not members of or affiliated with the Communist Party. He lost the case 5 to 4 in the Supreme Court. His work in the Supreme Court case of United States v. Yellin was instrumental in the demise of the notorious House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). In 1964, in a 8 to 1 decision, the Supreme Court held in Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino that U.S. courts cannot review the legality of the Cuban nationalizations of U.S.-owned property under international law. Victor represented the government of Cuba in that case.
John Mage, prominent radical lawyer and Officer and Director of the Monthly Review Foundation, wrote a review of Victor's book, Unrepentant Leftist: A Lawyer's Memoir, for Monthly Review. Mage recalled his favorite Victor story: "In the Cuban bank litigation, Victor (representing the Cubans) was served with a discovery demand that he forwarded to the Cuban Finance Ministry, at that time headed by Che. Shortly afterwards he was in Havana for an anniversary celebration and was invited to accompany Guevara. Che directed Victor's attention to the confetti being thrown from an office tower and said 'remember that discovery demand? . . . There it is.'"
The Rabinowitz Boudin partnership "constituted the defining invention of radical lawyering," said Northwestern law professor Bernardine Dohrn, a leader of the Weathermen who became the Guild student organizer while Victor was NLG president in 1967. The firm "always represented the most controversial victims of oppressive state power: labor struggles, the Community Party cases, constitutional right to travel and political speech issues, defense of the Cuban revolution, support for the civil rights/Black Freedom Movement, defense of anti-Vietnam War activists, and legal defense of Palestinian political activists," Dohrn added.
In his book, Victor characterized McCarthyism as "the era of Great Fear." In those days, it was the fear of Communism; today, it is the fear of Terrorism that the administration uses as an excuse to decimate civil liberties. Describing the government repression against Communists, leftists, and those suspected of being associated with them, Victor wrote, "It was the worst of times . . . It was a terrible and terrifying time." Even the ACLU "succumbed to the red scare" in those days.
Ruth found the above and e-mailed it to all of us today. (C.I. will note it in tomorrow's snapshot. The snapshot had already been dictated today when Ruth found this.) If I could make a suggestion, someone needs to post this at the National Lawyers Guild's website. I had a lot of e-mails asking why his death hadn't been noted last week? I stuck with the thing C.I. had said about the press coverage, that everybody goes on holiday at Thanksgiving. It's a non-religious holiday so you've got a lot of people celebrating whereas in December, some might be off for Christmas, Hannakuh (did I spell that right?) or Kwanza or another holiday. But I know people have gone to the NLG website since last Monday looking for something and they haven't found anything. So my suggestion would be to take Cohn's essay and post it somewhere at the NLG (she's the president of the NLG in case this is your first time visiting my website :D).
Okay, let's do Third:
Truest statement of the week -- C.I. was the only one not wanting this pick. Too bad. (If you read it, you'll see we picked C.I. Lose the modesty, it was the only real possibility! :D Seriously.)
A Note to Our Readers -- Jim breaks down the edition. Let me give a shout out to Jim and everyone for a great, great 4 days & 1 night. I had the best time.
Editorial: Are you helping or hurting? -- Jim talks about how Ava called him when C.I. was dictating the snapshot that we pulled "truest" from and said she thought she knew the topic for this week's editorial. I think we all had that reaction when we read it. There is no draft today, get over it. Spare us the draft talk and how -- in your day -- you had a draft. We're not living in "your day," we're living in "today." History's important but there's a big different between history and ego tripping.
TV: The either or -- I love this. I said Friday I knew what Ava and C.I. were going to cover. I didn't know how they were going to cover it. They talked and talked and talked with friends all up to Sunday. I knew they were going to stop covering entertainment shows because of the strike but I didn't know they were going to work that into the commentary. I think this is a really strong one that takes several topics and wraps them together in this whole cohesive statement.
Howard goes down -- John Howard, get bent. :D That was the title of the column Pru wrote in the round-robin Friday. We were all hoping he'd be kicked out of office and he was. Good news for a change.
Shame of the Senate, shame of the magazine -- This is about Di-Fi and how Katrina vanden Heuvel killed the story that could have prepared people for the fact that she'd sell out. Di-Fi's sold out for some time. The Mukasy vote shouldn't have been a shock.
Tuesday Pacifica Radio Archives broadcast --That's tomorrow and you should make a point to listen. I want to check out the thing with Cass Elliot. I'd like to hear more but if I can only catch one thing, that's what I'm going to catch.
The hiring and firing of Peter Laufer -- I think this is really a good article and I got to help with some of the interviews for it instead of just helping with the writing so that was fun. Peter Laufer shouldn't have been fired because he wasn't given a chance. If there were problems, you tell him. You don't just fire him and say, "It's not working." He wasn't given a chance and that's what most people at the station felt.
Passings -- This is on Victor Rabinowitz.
Highlights -- Kat, Betty, Rebecca, Cedric, Wally, Elaine and I wrote this.
Thanksgiving note -- This was the note saying we'd post late. That was partly because Jim wanted us to grab some fun before Elaine and I headed back and also because C.I. and Elaine got to talk but they didn't really get to talk. So this gave them time too.
Here's who worked on the writing:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,
and Wally of The Daily Jot
And Dallas too. It's good to be back home, but I did have a lot of fun. A lot. As usual, I watched NBC's Chuck while writing this -- like I need a reason to be any slower typing. If anyone's bothered that I'm writing about the show during the writers' strike, let me know. I'm not doing reviews or commentaries. I'm just addicted to the show. Briefly, tonight Bryce was back from the dead and Chuck found out. Bryce is now going to be working (deep cover) for the NSA. Chuck caught Sara and Bryce kissing. The end of the episode was Chuck calling Sara and Bryce calling her. If she answer her regular phone, she's going to meet up with Bryce. If she answers her cell phone she's going with Chuck. The episode ended before she answered either phone. Just so you know if you haven't watched (most of you are checking it out), there's a lot of action and a lot of comedy in each episode.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Monday, November 26, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, a Bully Boy down under goes down, Damien Cave explodes the myth of "The Great Return" and more.
Starting with war resistance. Sonali Kolhatkur returned to hosting duties of KPFK's Uprising (she was on maternity leave) and her first guest was Lee Zaslofsky of the War Resisters Support Campaign. Kolhatkur began by noting "the Canadian Arab Federation is the latest" organization to rally around the call that US war resisters should be allowed to remained in the US. Kolhatkur and Zaslofsky then addressed the basics of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey whose appeal the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear. What of the reception among Canadian, Kohlhatkur asked and Zaslofsky explained both the polling in Ontario (64.6% state that the war resisters should be permitted to remain in Canada) and that, in terms of personal interation, the response has been "great warmth and a great welcome actually" with a diverse based support from labor, the United Church of Canada, the Quakers and the Mennonites among others. "We have always had a two pronged approach to this, one of them being the legal process," Zaslofsky stated. "Essentially the courts are finished with this. So we've intensified our efforts on the political front which we've always been doing" but this became the best path in the wake of the Supreme Court refusal to hear Hinzman and Hughey's appeals. The Canadian Parliament has not gotten behind legislation at this point; however, they will hold hearings next month.
Zaslofsky explained that when he went to Canada (during Vietnam), at the border you could apply for permanent residence but today you either apply in your home country and wait a year for the process or you come into Canada and apply for refugee statues. Also regarding then and now, he made the point, "First of all, there were quite a few enlistees that came to Canada" referring to then and, referring to now, explained "we believe there is a poverty draft in the United States." This is based on the resisters they enounter in Canada, the fact that they enlisted for basics such as health care, college, etc. Things that are seen as rights in other 'advanced' countries but are seen as 'luxuries' in the United States. Zaslofsky estimates that, in addition to the forty to fifty US war resisters who have applied for refugee status in Canada, "we estimate there may be several hundred" US war resisters who have come to Canada, are working jobs without documentation and are waiting to see what happens to the known war resisters before going public. Also noted was the concern that deportation might kick in: "We're concerned that what will happen is that the Canadian government will start becoming an enforcement arm for the Pentagon and start rounding up war resisters and sending them back." Zaslofsky pointed out Canada's resistance to the illegal war, refusal to take part in it and stated "it seems very consistent that Canada would then protect other Americans who agree" with the same stand regarding the Iraq War's illegality. As he noted, both the War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist have launched campaigns to force the Canadian parliament to step up and do the job that the Canadian government once did: provide a haven to war resisters.
Corey Glass, another US war resister in Canada, shared his story yesterday with Brett Clarkson (Toronto Sun): "For Corey Glass, the last straw was a video of Iraqi children talking about how they wanted to grow up to be suicide bombers so they could kill Americans. It's the moment when Glass, who was born and raised in small-town Indiana, decided to quit the war. . . . For him, he says it was the right decision. Glass, in fact, doesn't see his decision to desert as breaking his word. Instead, he says the U.S. government broke its word by mounting a war based on a now widely discredited claim Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction." Clarkson notes that the hearings in Parliament are scheduled to take place December 6th.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who recently appeared on Democracy Now! addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
March 13th through 15th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
Turning to The 'Great Return' -- bussed in and bought. You've heard the lies, you've heard the myths. Today, Damien Cave (New York Times) becomes the first big or small media reporter to bring you some reality. You learn that "Under intense pressure to show results after months of political stalemate, the government has continued to publicize figures that exaggerate the movement back to Iraq and Iraqis' confidence that the current lull in violence can be sustained." You learn that, yes, the trickle of returnees are coming from Syria and often from busses since Iraqi's central (puppet) government is sending busses into Syria and paying off refugees to return. You learn about the United Nations polling 110 families who have returned: 46% returned because they had no money, 25% due to Syria's increased requirements for a visa "and only 14 percent said they were returning because they had heard about improved security." And you learn that the refugee criisis continues with the United Nations figure for October being 28,017 internally displaced Iraqis. It's the sort of reporting many outlets could have done but refused to. Just last week the BBC has some of the same information but attempted to spin it. While the article succeeds by Times standards, it is also a major article by any standard. Sadly, the same New York Times that sold the myth of the returns and the myth of 'safer' on their front pages elects to hide the strongest piece they've contributed on Iraq in some time on page A7.
"On Saturday," Danny Schechter (News Dissector) observes of the paper, "a front page story reported yet another major horrific casualty-causing bomb blast in Baghdad. On Sunday, two side by side front page stories spoke of 'military successes' as if the military battle had been won. Did they read Saturday's paper?" The article referred to was by Stephen Farrell (whose earlier version was noted in Friday's snapshot) and noted Friday's Baghdad bombing that claimed 13 lives and left at least fifty-seven people wounded. The paper should have run the early version in print. Instead, readers were fed the lie that for "months" there was a "lull in violence" ("had extended from weeks into months"). It hadn't even made it to two months despite the hype. The twin car bombings on September 26th were not "months" before November 23rd. And of course yesterday Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reported a Baghdad Sunday car bombing which claimed 9 lives with at least thirty-nine wounded. (Farrell reports on that in today's New York Times.)
There has been no lull. Violence has continued throughout the escalation. 'Success' is actually the buying off of milita groups as Ali al-Fadhily (IPS) has pointed out. As Robert Parry (Consortium News) has pointed out, the prisons in Iraq (US prisons and Iraqi) are overcrowded with new people being arrested constantly. At some point, the mass graves that keep getting discovered might clue some people in. November 22nd, Damien Cave (New York Times) reported on 40 discovered "near Ramadi" and argues the "area [was] controlled until recently by Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia". Kathleen Lucadamo (New York Daily News) reported on the November 17th discovery of 30 corpses "in southern Baghdad"Of course, November 6th, Waleed Ibrahim (Reuters) reported on mass graves containing 30 corpses discovered "north of the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi." These are far from the only ones discovered this month. The US threw a lot of money around to questionable sources who then did whatever they wanted and as long as it could be portrayed as 'safer' (easy to do when mass graves aren't discovered until months after) the majority of the media didn't care all that much. Hala Jaber (Times of London) reports today: "Members of the Baghdad Brigade receive $300 a man each month from the Americans, who also provide vehicles, uniforms and flak jackets. In return the brigade keeps out Al-Qaeda, dismantles roadside bombs and patrols the area, a task performed with considerable swagger by many of its 4,000 recruits." Jaber is reporting on the Sunni militias. The US 'plan' of addressing the frustrations and anger of the Sunni population from the US arming Shi'ite thugs is to turn around and upset Shi'ites by arming Sunni thugs. And people wounded why civilians leave Iraq and why Iraq is the biggest refugee crisis currently. These 'sweethearts' funded and armed by the US show the 'love' by, for instance, entering a school, going "from one class to the next, looking for mobile phones with 'unIslamic' ringtones. One child with a pop music ringtone was slapped and kicked in the legs as a warning to others." Thugs. Armed thughs patrolling inside a school and harassing the young. Armed and funded by the US. And their 'school patrol' is far from the worst of their 'duties.' Thugs, death squads, will not bring 'security' to Iraq. They will, however, buy time for distractions. As Ava I noted (The Third Estate Sunday Review), Martha Raddatz (ABC News) spoke some basic truth on PBS' Washington Week: "Every day that Iraq is not in the news is a good day for the president." Radditz also noted that the administration would shift the 'measures' for 'success' in Iraq. You see that today as Paul Tait (Reuters) that despite the US military swearing control of fourteen provinces could be handed over to Iraqis by the end of the year, Lt. Gen. James Dubik states they will not be able "to take control of most of Iraq's 18 provinces by the end of the year". There's no movement foward on the de-de-Baathification. Yesterday the measure was raised in the Iraqi Parliament and Mariam Karnouny (Reuters) reported that "a row" broke out: "It was the first time parliament had taken up any major bills this year that Washington believes will help heal the deep divide between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs. Objections to the bill from a key Shi'ite faction and arguments over whether it had been submitted properly prevented the draft law from being read out fully, participants at the closed-door session told Reuters." Meanwhile the tensions between Turkey and northern Iraq have not eased -- 100,000 Turkish troops remain stationed on the border and the US continues to send military generals into Turkey for talks. Reuters reported yesterday that US General Bantz Craddock was in Ankara on Saturday and his visit followed recent trips by US General David Petraeus and US General James Cartwright.
Over the weekend, Philip Pullella (Reuters) reported Pope Benedict "made a pressing appeal on Saturady for an end to the war in Iraq and decried the plight of the country's Christian minority." On Sunday, another call was made by a religious leader. Barbara Miller (AM on Australia's ABC) reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams ("the leader of the world's 70 million Anglicans") again called out the illegal war, compared the US "unfavourably to . . . the British Empire" and stated that attacks against Iraqn or Syria would be "criminal."
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Kirkuk car bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left five more wounded and a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded two people. Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing that claimed 1 life and left another person wounded.
Shootings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "Around midday A gunman killed a woman as she was shopping in Al Banat (girls in Arabic) market according to eye witnesses" in Basra, that Jabar Kadhim was shot dead in Babil, an attack using bombs and gunfire that killed at least 1 person in Kanan and a clash in Al Muqdadiyah that resulted in 4 deaths. Reuters notes that 1 police officer was shot dead in a Kut home invasion.
And Jordan's Al Bawaba reports another attack on a journalist, Shabeqat Akhbar al-Iraq's editor Dia al-Kawwaz whose home was invaded Sunday by "militiamen [who] sprayed his relatives with bullets". Ammar Karim (AFP) quotes al-Kawwaz declaring, "Four gunmen entered my family house in Shab area. Two of my sisters, their husbands and seven children between five and 10 years old were killed yesterday (Sunday) morning" in Baghdad. BBC notes, "The police in Baghdad have not confirmed the attack, but one officer told the BBC the killings had occured".
Corpses?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 4 corpses discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes that 3 corpses were discovered in Mosul.
Aaron Glantz has long observed that the signature wound for US service members serving in the Iraq War is brain injury. Ruth noted on Friday that USA Today's Gregg Zoroya studied "military and civilian records" and determined that "At least 20,000 U.S. troops . . . were not classified as wounded during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have been found with signs of brain injuries". Audio of Zoroya discussing the discovery with Madeline Brand (NPR's Day by Day) can be found here. Meanwhile Simon Basketter (Great Britain's Socialist Worker) reports a study of the British military commissioned by General Sir Richard Dannatt has found "morale is at an all time low. . . . This report highlights the depth of anger among troops about shortages in equipment and manpower, poor food and housing. It says soldiers are deliberately taking 'sickies' to avoid going on operations."
Earlier we noted the 'preventive' 'security' the US has bought by arming and funding death squads/militias. The issue of the preventive paradigm was addressed today on WBAI's Law and Disorder with Jules Lobel who has co-authored with David Cole Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror (The New Press).
Michael Ratner: But if I look at the preventive paradigm on Iraq, for example, that we went to war, at least publicly -- for their reasons -- to prevent an imminent attack on the United States, a dangerous attack, or to stop them from attacking us, or developing a bomb or weapons of mass destruction, that was essentially b.s. They went to war against Iraq -- we can't all articulate exactly the reasons but it has to do with a combination of oil, presence in the Mid East, those kind of issues, and the preventive paradigm was just put up there as a way of trying to get people to go along with an attack for really imperialist reasons around Iraq. How does your book address that issue?
Jules Lobel: Yeah, I think that, obviously, in many cases the preventative rational is simply a smoke screen for something that they want to do for other reasons and the war in Iraq might be a good example of this. But the trouble is that in a time of crisis or a time when people feel an emergency, they're very susceptible to this preventive rational and even if it masks other reasons we felt that you had to take on what was the rational and show why it was counter-productive -- even if it was the true rational. From our perspective, even if Bush and company really believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and if they weren't lying to us -- which we think that they were -- but even if they weren't the underlying analysis is still the same: It still is illegal to engage in preventive war and it's still counter-productive and very dangerous as we have seen. So I think the second point of the book was really to show that these actions taking under this preventive rational are usually counter-productive and have been counter-productive in this situation. What is viewed by many people -- even people of goodwill.
Earlier this month, Ranter was named the 2007 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship. On the broadcast, Ratner gave credit to ("too modest," stated co-hosts Heidi Boghosian and Michael Smith) to the Center for Constitutional Rights (of which he is president) and joked prizes came your way if you lived long enough. The three also noted that a future broadcast would note the life and recent passing of Victor Rabinowitz.
Today on Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman noted the US military was again trying to implicate Iran in Iraqi violence, "The U.S. military's claim comes as new statistics show that the vast majority of foreign fighters in Iraq are not coming from Iran but Arab allies of the United States. The New York Times reports Saudi Arabia and Libya were the source of about 60 percent of the foreign fighters who came to Iraq in the past year. While American officials have accused Iran of aiding anti-U.S. militants, only 11 Iranians are in U.S. detention in Iraq."
Goodman also spoke with journalist Tara McKelvey about the Democratic Party response to Bully Boy's radio address on Saturday -- a response they elected to turn over to an Abu Ghraib torture czar: Ricardo Sanchez.
AMY GOODMAN: That was University of Wisconsin Professor McCoy. We're joined today from Washington, D.C., by Tara McKelvey. She's author of a new book; it's called Monstering: Inside America's Policy of Secret Interrogations and Torture in the Terror War. Tara is also senior editor at the American Prospect and a research fellow at New York University's Center for Law and Security. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Tara McKelvey.
TARA McKELVEY: Thanks for inviting me.
AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Were you surprised the Democrats chose retired General Sanchez to give their Saturday radio address?
TARA McKELVEY: Yeah. I was at home over the long weekend, and I got an email about Sanchez's doing the radio address, and I just kept staring at the email and thinking, like, how could they do this? I was really, really surprised by it.
AMY GOODMAN: You write about him extensively, among many other issues, in Monstering. Talk about his significance.
TARA McKELVEY: Well, one of the things that he did was he spoke a lot with General Geoffrey Miller, who had come over from Guantanamo in the fall of 2003, and they talked about the types of interrogations that would take place at Abu Ghraib. And at that point, Miller had decided that Abu Ghraib would be the central intelligence collection place in Iraq, and it was tremendous pressure on these officers, as well as the entire military, to get what was known as "actionable intelligence" from detainees who were held in Iraq, because there were so many attacks on American troops. And it was in September of 2003 that Sanchez issued a memo that outlined certain guidelines for interrogations. And these included many of the things that had been used at Guantanamo, like sleep deprivation or stress positions.
And when you first hear of these things, you don't think that they sound so bad, you know, like Giuliani was saying, "You know, I stay awake all the time on the campaign trail. You know, sleep deprivation, what's so horrible about that?" But the fact is that over a period of time, sleep deprivation, it causes a body to collapse entirely, and a person will die.
As far as stress positions go, again, according to the official guidelines, it can mean something like having a person crouch in a position for no more than, say, forty-five minutes. And the truth of the matter at Abu Ghraib was somewhat different. The stress positions were used for much longer periods of time, and they also encompassed a wide variety of positions, one of which was something called a Palestinian hanging, which is where they have the person's hands tied behind their back and then they're suspended from their hands. So then, at a certain point, the person's shoulders would become dislocated. And according to a lot of people who were at the prison at the time, you could hear people screaming in their cells at night since they were being held in these positions. And in addition, there was this photograph, what was known as "the Iceman." It was a prisoner named al-Jamadi. Maybe you remember that picture. He actually died while being held in what was known as the Palestinian hanging. So stress positions are anything but benign.
And then, the other thing to remember is that at Guantanamo, you know, however you feel about these interrogation techniques, at Guantanamo they were done under highly controlled circumstances. For instance, the prisoner-to-detainee [sic] ratio at Guantanamo was one-to-one. At Abu Ghraib, the prison was overcrowded. They didn't have enough people working there. You know, they were getting mortared at night. And the ratio of prisoner to guard at Abu Ghraib was seventy-five-to-one. So these techniques were being introduced in an environment that was utterly chaotic.
Goodman mentions McKelvey's exclusive interview with Lynndie England during the broadcast. Click here to read McKelvey's "A Soldier's Tale" (marie claire).
In other news, on the heels of Poland's announcement that they will withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2008, Australia held elections on Saturday. Prime Minister John Howard -- a Bully Boy wannabe -- has held power for eleven years. He was not victorious on Saturday.
Patrick Barta and Rachel Pannett (Wall St. Journal) called the results "a humiliating defeat," as Australia's littlest bully John Howard has been sent packing in the country's federal election. Gemma Daley (Bloomberg News) summed up the Labor Party's winning platform: "tackle climate change, restore workers' bargaining power and withdraw Australian troops from Iraq." Michelle Grattan (Sydney Morning Herald) explained the winning side of the election: "Kevin Rudd will be prime minister and, as John Howard said in his last desperate days during the campaign, Australia will change. Just how much, we will learn over coming months and years." AP observed, "Australia has elected a new prime minister who has promised to withdraw his country's 550 combat troops from Iraq, and leave twice that number there in mostly security roles. Kevin Rudd succeeds John Howard, who had said all the troops would stay as long as needed. Rudd is also promising to change Australia's approach to climate change, and make the issue his top priority." Combat troops are not "all troops." Australia's troops have largely been stationed in the Green Zone at an embassy (although they did enter Iraq right before the start of the illegal war in one of the least noted episodes of the Iraq War).
Remember the Pacifica Radio Archives special broadcast begins tomorrow (7:00 a.m. EST) and the lineup can be found here.
marjorie cohn
the national lawyers guild
the common ills
like maria said paz
kats korner
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
the daily jotcedrics big mix
mikey likes it
thomas friedman is a great man
the third estate sunday review
iraq
jeremy hinzmanbrandon hugheybrett clarksoncorey glass
kpfkuprising
sonali kolhatkar
gregg zoroyausa todayruths reportday by daynpr
democracy nowamy goodman
anthony arnovehoward zinn
damien cavethe new york times
stephen farrell
ali al-fadhily
robert parry
law and disorder
michael ratner
michael smith
heidi boghosian
This is from Marjorie Cohn's "Remembering Victor Rabinowitz: Legal Giant of the Left:"
On November 16, 2007, Victor Rabinowitz, one of the giants of the legal profession and a tireless fighter for social justice, died at the age of 96. One of the founders of the National Lawyers Guild 70 years ago, Victor defended unpopular clients when other lawyers were afraid to touch them. During the McCarthy period, he and his partner Leonard Boudin represented unions that were considered to be left-wing. The firm counted as clients Daniel Ellsberg, Paul Robeson, Julian Bond, Dashiell Hammett, Dr. Benjamin Spock, the Rev. Philip Berrigan, Alger Hiss, the Black Panthers, the Salvador Allende government in Chile, and the Cuban government.Victor handled several landmark cases. In 1950, he challenged the provision of the Taft-Hartley Act that prevented unions from representing workers unless all union officers swore a loyalty oath that they were not members of or affiliated with the Communist Party. He lost the case 5 to 4 in the Supreme Court. His work in the Supreme Court case of United States v. Yellin was instrumental in the demise of the notorious House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). In 1964, in a 8 to 1 decision, the Supreme Court held in Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino that U.S. courts cannot review the legality of the Cuban nationalizations of U.S.-owned property under international law. Victor represented the government of Cuba in that case.
John Mage, prominent radical lawyer and Officer and Director of the Monthly Review Foundation, wrote a review of Victor's book, Unrepentant Leftist: A Lawyer's Memoir, for Monthly Review. Mage recalled his favorite Victor story: "In the Cuban bank litigation, Victor (representing the Cubans) was served with a discovery demand that he forwarded to the Cuban Finance Ministry, at that time headed by Che. Shortly afterwards he was in Havana for an anniversary celebration and was invited to accompany Guevara. Che directed Victor's attention to the confetti being thrown from an office tower and said 'remember that discovery demand? . . . There it is.'"
The Rabinowitz Boudin partnership "constituted the defining invention of radical lawyering," said Northwestern law professor Bernardine Dohrn, a leader of the Weathermen who became the Guild student organizer while Victor was NLG president in 1967. The firm "always represented the most controversial victims of oppressive state power: labor struggles, the Community Party cases, constitutional right to travel and political speech issues, defense of the Cuban revolution, support for the civil rights/Black Freedom Movement, defense of anti-Vietnam War activists, and legal defense of Palestinian political activists," Dohrn added.
In his book, Victor characterized McCarthyism as "the era of Great Fear." In those days, it was the fear of Communism; today, it is the fear of Terrorism that the administration uses as an excuse to decimate civil liberties. Describing the government repression against Communists, leftists, and those suspected of being associated with them, Victor wrote, "It was the worst of times . . . It was a terrible and terrifying time." Even the ACLU "succumbed to the red scare" in those days.
Ruth found the above and e-mailed it to all of us today. (C.I. will note it in tomorrow's snapshot. The snapshot had already been dictated today when Ruth found this.) If I could make a suggestion, someone needs to post this at the National Lawyers Guild's website. I had a lot of e-mails asking why his death hadn't been noted last week? I stuck with the thing C.I. had said about the press coverage, that everybody goes on holiday at Thanksgiving. It's a non-religious holiday so you've got a lot of people celebrating whereas in December, some might be off for Christmas, Hannakuh (did I spell that right?) or Kwanza or another holiday. But I know people have gone to the NLG website since last Monday looking for something and they haven't found anything. So my suggestion would be to take Cohn's essay and post it somewhere at the NLG (she's the president of the NLG in case this is your first time visiting my website :D).
Okay, let's do Third:
Truest statement of the week -- C.I. was the only one not wanting this pick. Too bad. (If you read it, you'll see we picked C.I. Lose the modesty, it was the only real possibility! :D Seriously.)
A Note to Our Readers -- Jim breaks down the edition. Let me give a shout out to Jim and everyone for a great, great 4 days & 1 night. I had the best time.
Editorial: Are you helping or hurting? -- Jim talks about how Ava called him when C.I. was dictating the snapshot that we pulled "truest" from and said she thought she knew the topic for this week's editorial. I think we all had that reaction when we read it. There is no draft today, get over it. Spare us the draft talk and how -- in your day -- you had a draft. We're not living in "your day," we're living in "today." History's important but there's a big different between history and ego tripping.
TV: The either or -- I love this. I said Friday I knew what Ava and C.I. were going to cover. I didn't know how they were going to cover it. They talked and talked and talked with friends all up to Sunday. I knew they were going to stop covering entertainment shows because of the strike but I didn't know they were going to work that into the commentary. I think this is a really strong one that takes several topics and wraps them together in this whole cohesive statement.
Howard goes down -- John Howard, get bent. :D That was the title of the column Pru wrote in the round-robin Friday. We were all hoping he'd be kicked out of office and he was. Good news for a change.
Shame of the Senate, shame of the magazine -- This is about Di-Fi and how Katrina vanden Heuvel killed the story that could have prepared people for the fact that she'd sell out. Di-Fi's sold out for some time. The Mukasy vote shouldn't have been a shock.
Tuesday Pacifica Radio Archives broadcast --That's tomorrow and you should make a point to listen. I want to check out the thing with Cass Elliot. I'd like to hear more but if I can only catch one thing, that's what I'm going to catch.
The hiring and firing of Peter Laufer -- I think this is really a good article and I got to help with some of the interviews for it instead of just helping with the writing so that was fun. Peter Laufer shouldn't have been fired because he wasn't given a chance. If there were problems, you tell him. You don't just fire him and say, "It's not working." He wasn't given a chance and that's what most people at the station felt.
Passings -- This is on Victor Rabinowitz.
Highlights -- Kat, Betty, Rebecca, Cedric, Wally, Elaine and I wrote this.
Thanksgiving note -- This was the note saying we'd post late. That was partly because Jim wanted us to grab some fun before Elaine and I headed back and also because C.I. and Elaine got to talk but they didn't really get to talk. So this gave them time too.
Here's who worked on the writing:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,
and Wally of The Daily Jot
And Dallas too. It's good to be back home, but I did have a lot of fun. A lot. As usual, I watched NBC's Chuck while writing this -- like I need a reason to be any slower typing. If anyone's bothered that I'm writing about the show during the writers' strike, let me know. I'm not doing reviews or commentaries. I'm just addicted to the show. Briefly, tonight Bryce was back from the dead and Chuck found out. Bryce is now going to be working (deep cover) for the NSA. Chuck caught Sara and Bryce kissing. The end of the episode was Chuck calling Sara and Bryce calling her. If she answer her regular phone, she's going to meet up with Bryce. If she answers her cell phone she's going with Chuck. The episode ended before she answered either phone. Just so you know if you haven't watched (most of you are checking it out), there's a lot of action and a lot of comedy in each episode.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Monday, November 26, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, a Bully Boy down under goes down, Damien Cave explodes the myth of "The Great Return" and more.
Starting with war resistance. Sonali Kolhatkur returned to hosting duties of KPFK's Uprising (she was on maternity leave) and her first guest was Lee Zaslofsky of the War Resisters Support Campaign. Kolhatkur began by noting "the Canadian Arab Federation is the latest" organization to rally around the call that US war resisters should be allowed to remained in the US. Kolhatkur and Zaslofsky then addressed the basics of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey whose appeal the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear. What of the reception among Canadian, Kohlhatkur asked and Zaslofsky explained both the polling in Ontario (64.6% state that the war resisters should be permitted to remain in Canada) and that, in terms of personal interation, the response has been "great warmth and a great welcome actually" with a diverse based support from labor, the United Church of Canada, the Quakers and the Mennonites among others. "We have always had a two pronged approach to this, one of them being the legal process," Zaslofsky stated. "Essentially the courts are finished with this. So we've intensified our efforts on the political front which we've always been doing" but this became the best path in the wake of the Supreme Court refusal to hear Hinzman and Hughey's appeals. The Canadian Parliament has not gotten behind legislation at this point; however, they will hold hearings next month.
Zaslofsky explained that when he went to Canada (during Vietnam), at the border you could apply for permanent residence but today you either apply in your home country and wait a year for the process or you come into Canada and apply for refugee statues. Also regarding then and now, he made the point, "First of all, there were quite a few enlistees that came to Canada" referring to then and, referring to now, explained "we believe there is a poverty draft in the United States." This is based on the resisters they enounter in Canada, the fact that they enlisted for basics such as health care, college, etc. Things that are seen as rights in other 'advanced' countries but are seen as 'luxuries' in the United States. Zaslofsky estimates that, in addition to the forty to fifty US war resisters who have applied for refugee status in Canada, "we estimate there may be several hundred" US war resisters who have come to Canada, are working jobs without documentation and are waiting to see what happens to the known war resisters before going public. Also noted was the concern that deportation might kick in: "We're concerned that what will happen is that the Canadian government will start becoming an enforcement arm for the Pentagon and start rounding up war resisters and sending them back." Zaslofsky pointed out Canada's resistance to the illegal war, refusal to take part in it and stated "it seems very consistent that Canada would then protect other Americans who agree" with the same stand regarding the Iraq War's illegality. As he noted, both the War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist have launched campaigns to force the Canadian parliament to step up and do the job that the Canadian government once did: provide a haven to war resisters.
Corey Glass, another US war resister in Canada, shared his story yesterday with Brett Clarkson (Toronto Sun): "For Corey Glass, the last straw was a video of Iraqi children talking about how they wanted to grow up to be suicide bombers so they could kill Americans. It's the moment when Glass, who was born and raised in small-town Indiana, decided to quit the war. . . . For him, he says it was the right decision. Glass, in fact, doesn't see his decision to desert as breaking his word. Instead, he says the U.S. government broke its word by mounting a war based on a now widely discredited claim Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction." Clarkson notes that the hearings in Parliament are scheduled to take place December 6th.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who recently appeared on Democracy Now! addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
March 13th through 15th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
Turning to The 'Great Return' -- bussed in and bought. You've heard the lies, you've heard the myths. Today, Damien Cave (New York Times) becomes the first big or small media reporter to bring you some reality. You learn that "Under intense pressure to show results after months of political stalemate, the government has continued to publicize figures that exaggerate the movement back to Iraq and Iraqis' confidence that the current lull in violence can be sustained." You learn that, yes, the trickle of returnees are coming from Syria and often from busses since Iraqi's central (puppet) government is sending busses into Syria and paying off refugees to return. You learn about the United Nations polling 110 families who have returned: 46% returned because they had no money, 25% due to Syria's increased requirements for a visa "and only 14 percent said they were returning because they had heard about improved security." And you learn that the refugee criisis continues with the United Nations figure for October being 28,017 internally displaced Iraqis. It's the sort of reporting many outlets could have done but refused to. Just last week the BBC has some of the same information but attempted to spin it. While the article succeeds by Times standards, it is also a major article by any standard. Sadly, the same New York Times that sold the myth of the returns and the myth of 'safer' on their front pages elects to hide the strongest piece they've contributed on Iraq in some time on page A7.
"On Saturday," Danny Schechter (News Dissector) observes of the paper, "a front page story reported yet another major horrific casualty-causing bomb blast in Baghdad. On Sunday, two side by side front page stories spoke of 'military successes' as if the military battle had been won. Did they read Saturday's paper?" The article referred to was by Stephen Farrell (whose earlier version was noted in Friday's snapshot) and noted Friday's Baghdad bombing that claimed 13 lives and left at least fifty-seven people wounded. The paper should have run the early version in print. Instead, readers were fed the lie that for "months" there was a "lull in violence" ("had extended from weeks into months"). It hadn't even made it to two months despite the hype. The twin car bombings on September 26th were not "months" before November 23rd. And of course yesterday Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reported a Baghdad Sunday car bombing which claimed 9 lives with at least thirty-nine wounded. (Farrell reports on that in today's New York Times.)
There has been no lull. Violence has continued throughout the escalation. 'Success' is actually the buying off of milita groups as Ali al-Fadhily (IPS) has pointed out. As Robert Parry (Consortium News) has pointed out, the prisons in Iraq (US prisons and Iraqi) are overcrowded with new people being arrested constantly. At some point, the mass graves that keep getting discovered might clue some people in. November 22nd, Damien Cave (New York Times) reported on 40 discovered "near Ramadi" and argues the "area [was] controlled until recently by Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia". Kathleen Lucadamo (New York Daily News) reported on the November 17th discovery of 30 corpses "in southern Baghdad"Of course, November 6th, Waleed Ibrahim (Reuters) reported on mass graves containing 30 corpses discovered "north of the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi." These are far from the only ones discovered this month. The US threw a lot of money around to questionable sources who then did whatever they wanted and as long as it could be portrayed as 'safer' (easy to do when mass graves aren't discovered until months after) the majority of the media didn't care all that much. Hala Jaber (Times of London) reports today: "Members of the Baghdad Brigade receive $300 a man each month from the Americans, who also provide vehicles, uniforms and flak jackets. In return the brigade keeps out Al-Qaeda, dismantles roadside bombs and patrols the area, a task performed with considerable swagger by many of its 4,000 recruits." Jaber is reporting on the Sunni militias. The US 'plan' of addressing the frustrations and anger of the Sunni population from the US arming Shi'ite thugs is to turn around and upset Shi'ites by arming Sunni thugs. And people wounded why civilians leave Iraq and why Iraq is the biggest refugee crisis currently. These 'sweethearts' funded and armed by the US show the 'love' by, for instance, entering a school, going "from one class to the next, looking for mobile phones with 'unIslamic' ringtones. One child with a pop music ringtone was slapped and kicked in the legs as a warning to others." Thugs. Armed thughs patrolling inside a school and harassing the young. Armed and funded by the US. And their 'school patrol' is far from the worst of their 'duties.' Thugs, death squads, will not bring 'security' to Iraq. They will, however, buy time for distractions. As Ava I noted (The Third Estate Sunday Review), Martha Raddatz (ABC News) spoke some basic truth on PBS' Washington Week: "Every day that Iraq is not in the news is a good day for the president." Radditz also noted that the administration would shift the 'measures' for 'success' in Iraq. You see that today as Paul Tait (Reuters) that despite the US military swearing control of fourteen provinces could be handed over to Iraqis by the end of the year, Lt. Gen. James Dubik states they will not be able "to take control of most of Iraq's 18 provinces by the end of the year". There's no movement foward on the de-de-Baathification. Yesterday the measure was raised in the Iraqi Parliament and Mariam Karnouny (Reuters) reported that "a row" broke out: "It was the first time parliament had taken up any major bills this year that Washington believes will help heal the deep divide between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs. Objections to the bill from a key Shi'ite faction and arguments over whether it had been submitted properly prevented the draft law from being read out fully, participants at the closed-door session told Reuters." Meanwhile the tensions between Turkey and northern Iraq have not eased -- 100,000 Turkish troops remain stationed on the border and the US continues to send military generals into Turkey for talks. Reuters reported yesterday that US General Bantz Craddock was in Ankara on Saturday and his visit followed recent trips by US General David Petraeus and US General James Cartwright.
Over the weekend, Philip Pullella (Reuters) reported Pope Benedict "made a pressing appeal on Saturady for an end to the war in Iraq and decried the plight of the country's Christian minority." On Sunday, another call was made by a religious leader. Barbara Miller (AM on Australia's ABC) reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams ("the leader of the world's 70 million Anglicans") again called out the illegal war, compared the US "unfavourably to . . . the British Empire" and stated that attacks against Iraqn or Syria would be "criminal."
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Kirkuk car bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left five more wounded and a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded two people. Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing that claimed 1 life and left another person wounded.
Shootings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "Around midday A gunman killed a woman as she was shopping in Al Banat (girls in Arabic) market according to eye witnesses" in Basra, that Jabar Kadhim was shot dead in Babil, an attack using bombs and gunfire that killed at least 1 person in Kanan and a clash in Al Muqdadiyah that resulted in 4 deaths. Reuters notes that 1 police officer was shot dead in a Kut home invasion.
And Jordan's Al Bawaba reports another attack on a journalist, Shabeqat Akhbar al-Iraq's editor Dia al-Kawwaz whose home was invaded Sunday by "militiamen [who] sprayed his relatives with bullets". Ammar Karim (AFP) quotes al-Kawwaz declaring, "Four gunmen entered my family house in Shab area. Two of my sisters, their husbands and seven children between five and 10 years old were killed yesterday (Sunday) morning" in Baghdad. BBC notes, "The police in Baghdad have not confirmed the attack, but one officer told the BBC the killings had occured".
Corpses?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 4 corpses discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes that 3 corpses were discovered in Mosul.
Aaron Glantz has long observed that the signature wound for US service members serving in the Iraq War is brain injury. Ruth noted on Friday that USA Today's Gregg Zoroya studied "military and civilian records" and determined that "At least 20,000 U.S. troops . . . were not classified as wounded during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have been found with signs of brain injuries". Audio of Zoroya discussing the discovery with Madeline Brand (NPR's Day by Day) can be found here. Meanwhile Simon Basketter (Great Britain's Socialist Worker) reports a study of the British military commissioned by General Sir Richard Dannatt has found "morale is at an all time low. . . . This report highlights the depth of anger among troops about shortages in equipment and manpower, poor food and housing. It says soldiers are deliberately taking 'sickies' to avoid going on operations."
Earlier we noted the 'preventive' 'security' the US has bought by arming and funding death squads/militias. The issue of the preventive paradigm was addressed today on WBAI's Law and Disorder with Jules Lobel who has co-authored with David Cole Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror (The New Press).
Michael Ratner: But if I look at the preventive paradigm on Iraq, for example, that we went to war, at least publicly -- for their reasons -- to prevent an imminent attack on the United States, a dangerous attack, or to stop them from attacking us, or developing a bomb or weapons of mass destruction, that was essentially b.s. They went to war against Iraq -- we can't all articulate exactly the reasons but it has to do with a combination of oil, presence in the Mid East, those kind of issues, and the preventive paradigm was just put up there as a way of trying to get people to go along with an attack for really imperialist reasons around Iraq. How does your book address that issue?
Jules Lobel: Yeah, I think that, obviously, in many cases the preventative rational is simply a smoke screen for something that they want to do for other reasons and the war in Iraq might be a good example of this. But the trouble is that in a time of crisis or a time when people feel an emergency, they're very susceptible to this preventive rational and even if it masks other reasons we felt that you had to take on what was the rational and show why it was counter-productive -- even if it was the true rational. From our perspective, even if Bush and company really believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and if they weren't lying to us -- which we think that they were -- but even if they weren't the underlying analysis is still the same: It still is illegal to engage in preventive war and it's still counter-productive and very dangerous as we have seen. So I think the second point of the book was really to show that these actions taking under this preventive rational are usually counter-productive and have been counter-productive in this situation. What is viewed by many people -- even people of goodwill.
Earlier this month, Ranter was named the 2007 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship. On the broadcast, Ratner gave credit to ("too modest," stated co-hosts Heidi Boghosian and Michael Smith) to the Center for Constitutional Rights (of which he is president) and joked prizes came your way if you lived long enough. The three also noted that a future broadcast would note the life and recent passing of Victor Rabinowitz.
Today on Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman noted the US military was again trying to implicate Iran in Iraqi violence, "The U.S. military's claim comes as new statistics show that the vast majority of foreign fighters in Iraq are not coming from Iran but Arab allies of the United States. The New York Times reports Saudi Arabia and Libya were the source of about 60 percent of the foreign fighters who came to Iraq in the past year. While American officials have accused Iran of aiding anti-U.S. militants, only 11 Iranians are in U.S. detention in Iraq."
Goodman also spoke with journalist Tara McKelvey about the Democratic Party response to Bully Boy's radio address on Saturday -- a response they elected to turn over to an Abu Ghraib torture czar: Ricardo Sanchez.
AMY GOODMAN: That was University of Wisconsin Professor McCoy. We're joined today from Washington, D.C., by Tara McKelvey. She's author of a new book; it's called Monstering: Inside America's Policy of Secret Interrogations and Torture in the Terror War. Tara is also senior editor at the American Prospect and a research fellow at New York University's Center for Law and Security. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Tara McKelvey.
TARA McKELVEY: Thanks for inviting me.
AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Were you surprised the Democrats chose retired General Sanchez to give their Saturday radio address?
TARA McKELVEY: Yeah. I was at home over the long weekend, and I got an email about Sanchez's doing the radio address, and I just kept staring at the email and thinking, like, how could they do this? I was really, really surprised by it.
AMY GOODMAN: You write about him extensively, among many other issues, in Monstering. Talk about his significance.
TARA McKELVEY: Well, one of the things that he did was he spoke a lot with General Geoffrey Miller, who had come over from Guantanamo in the fall of 2003, and they talked about the types of interrogations that would take place at Abu Ghraib. And at that point, Miller had decided that Abu Ghraib would be the central intelligence collection place in Iraq, and it was tremendous pressure on these officers, as well as the entire military, to get what was known as "actionable intelligence" from detainees who were held in Iraq, because there were so many attacks on American troops. And it was in September of 2003 that Sanchez issued a memo that outlined certain guidelines for interrogations. And these included many of the things that had been used at Guantanamo, like sleep deprivation or stress positions.
And when you first hear of these things, you don't think that they sound so bad, you know, like Giuliani was saying, "You know, I stay awake all the time on the campaign trail. You know, sleep deprivation, what's so horrible about that?" But the fact is that over a period of time, sleep deprivation, it causes a body to collapse entirely, and a person will die.
As far as stress positions go, again, according to the official guidelines, it can mean something like having a person crouch in a position for no more than, say, forty-five minutes. And the truth of the matter at Abu Ghraib was somewhat different. The stress positions were used for much longer periods of time, and they also encompassed a wide variety of positions, one of which was something called a Palestinian hanging, which is where they have the person's hands tied behind their back and then they're suspended from their hands. So then, at a certain point, the person's shoulders would become dislocated. And according to a lot of people who were at the prison at the time, you could hear people screaming in their cells at night since they were being held in these positions. And in addition, there was this photograph, what was known as "the Iceman." It was a prisoner named al-Jamadi. Maybe you remember that picture. He actually died while being held in what was known as the Palestinian hanging. So stress positions are anything but benign.
And then, the other thing to remember is that at Guantanamo, you know, however you feel about these interrogation techniques, at Guantanamo they were done under highly controlled circumstances. For instance, the prisoner-to-detainee [sic] ratio at Guantanamo was one-to-one. At Abu Ghraib, the prison was overcrowded. They didn't have enough people working there. You know, they were getting mortared at night. And the ratio of prisoner to guard at Abu Ghraib was seventy-five-to-one. So these techniques were being introduced in an environment that was utterly chaotic.
Goodman mentions McKelvey's exclusive interview with Lynndie England during the broadcast. Click here to read McKelvey's "A Soldier's Tale" (marie claire).
In other news, on the heels of Poland's announcement that they will withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2008, Australia held elections on Saturday. Prime Minister John Howard -- a Bully Boy wannabe -- has held power for eleven years. He was not victorious on Saturday.
Patrick Barta and Rachel Pannett (Wall St. Journal) called the results "a humiliating defeat," as Australia's littlest bully John Howard has been sent packing in the country's federal election. Gemma Daley (Bloomberg News) summed up the Labor Party's winning platform: "tackle climate change, restore workers' bargaining power and withdraw Australian troops from Iraq." Michelle Grattan (Sydney Morning Herald) explained the winning side of the election: "Kevin Rudd will be prime minister and, as John Howard said in his last desperate days during the campaign, Australia will change. Just how much, we will learn over coming months and years." AP observed, "Australia has elected a new prime minister who has promised to withdraw his country's 550 combat troops from Iraq, and leave twice that number there in mostly security roles. Kevin Rudd succeeds John Howard, who had said all the troops would stay as long as needed. Rudd is also promising to change Australia's approach to climate change, and make the issue his top priority." Combat troops are not "all troops." Australia's troops have largely been stationed in the Green Zone at an embassy (although they did enter Iraq right before the start of the illegal war in one of the least noted episodes of the Iraq War).
Remember the Pacifica Radio Archives special broadcast begins tomorrow (7:00 a.m. EST) and the lineup can be found here.
marjorie cohn
the national lawyers guild
the common ills
like maria said paz
kats korner
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
the daily jotcedrics big mix
mikey likes it
thomas friedman is a great man
the third estate sunday review
iraq
jeremy hinzmanbrandon hugheybrett clarksoncorey glass
kpfkuprising
sonali kolhatkar
gregg zoroyausa todayruths reportday by daynpr
democracy nowamy goodman
anthony arnovehoward zinn
damien cavethe new york times
stephen farrell
ali al-fadhily
robert parry
law and disorder
michael ratner
michael smith
heidi boghosian
Friday, November 23, 2007
Dennis Kucinich, Australia's Bully and more
Friday! Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving. I know what Ava and C.I. are reviewing Sunday for Third. I'd encourage you not to miss it but I'm sure most of you already make sure to check them out each week. Jim asked me to note that, by the way, because there's concern that there wouldn't be a TV commentary this week. They'll also be making an announcement regarding that.
Isaiah always done strong cartoons. You get a strong point and a laugh. On Sunday, he just wanted to make a strong point. This is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Canada in Distress":
Canada's flag is crying because justice went out the window as a result of the country's Supreme Court refusing to hear the appeals of war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. There are campaigns at both War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist to contact Canadian legislatures and ask them to take up the issue for Hinzman and Hughey and all the war resisters in Canada. Courage to Resist has it so that you can even e-mail the legislatures at their site. So make a point to weigh in and show your support for those who have the, yes, courage to resist. If you'd prefer to do a written letter, both organizations provide you with information for that as well.
Who is standing up against the illegal war? Doesn't seem to be a lot of people. There's Dennis Kucinich. This is from Nashua Telegraph's "Dennis Kucinich blasts Democratic leadership, says the vow from his party's leadership in Congress to stand up to President Bush on ending the war in Iraq amounts to a 'total fraud':"
Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said Wednesday the vow from his party's leadership in Congress to stand up to President Bush on ending the war in Iraq amounts to a "total fraud."
The Ohio congressman said the most recent House-passed plan to set a timetable for ending the war still would permit permanent bases in Iraq and allow Americans soldiers to train Iraqi military and police and to fight off insurgents.
"This is a fraud, a total fraud, and it breaks the promise the Democrats made to the voters that we would get out of Iraq," Kucinich said of his own party's congressional leadership during an interview Wednesday.
"They want to be on all sides of the issue. Instead of getting out of Iraq, we are getting in deeper," Kucinich said.
State Rep. Betty Hall, D-Brookline, said she decided to endorse Kucinich after watching him unsuccessfully pursue impeachment charges against Vice President Dick Cheney.
"I was inspired by his boldness and tence," Hall said at a news conference in Manchester.
I was thinking about 2007 -- due to the holiday -- and what I had to be thankful for and all. I've got a lot personally but in terms of Iraq one of the things I'm proudest of -- and this is community wide and give the credit to C.I. first and foremost -- we never bought into the fraud. Kucinich is right that it's a fraud. But it's also the same fraud they've been pulling all year. The same shell game to trick voeters. And when this first started going down in March, you had very few people willing to call it out. I had an e-mail asking why I don't care for Leigh Ann Caldwell? Well she's on what program? Free Speech Radio News. So why in March was she selling this fraud as troops out now? She is the DC correspondent and I don't cut her any slack for getting that so wrong and so repeatedly wrong. I saw an AP article yesterday explaining how the troops wouldn't come home from Congress' latest attempt to push this through again. And it took a lot of calling out to get to that point.
And this community didn't need prodding. We didn't need at our sites and those of us who blog didn't need prodding and members of the community didn't need prodding. If you've forgotten how that went down, you had people like David Sirota writing these rants against the grassroots and saying the Democrats were trying and they were doing a good job and Tina Richards is mean to question David Obey (who Sirota used to work for) and blah, blah, blah. We were being hyped out the wazoo. And a lot of people did fall for it. A lot of news outlets fell for it and a lot of websites fell for it and a lot of people fell for it. This community didn't.
And I'll credit C.I. for that because C.I. hits harder than any of us. And does so more often. But Elaine didn't blink to call this nonsense out. And none of us did. There were embarrassing e-mails from Democratic enablers telling us to knock it off and leave the Democrats alone and don't we know we're going to hurt the election chances in 2008?
So, according to those idiots, we're supposed to be silent when we're being lied to?
No party hacks in this community, sorry. It's funny to see the ones who covered for the Democrats try to set themselves up again as 'friends' of the grassroots and it's funny to see the ones who were silent during it all try to act now like they were back there calling it out when they weren't. There's a lot of dumb asses online. They're the ones who are always dumb asses. The jerk who tossed his lot in with the religious right always comes to mind because I've heard about that crap and I remember when it was going on. After the 2004 election when the myth of 'values voters' was being sold, those idiots were pushing for Democrats to step away from abortion. There was one jerk that C.I. had linked to and pulled the link. It wasn't one post (not even the one slamming C.I. for calling James Dobson a "fool" -- yeah, that's how cowardly your 'strong' voices are, they were tsk-tsking in January 2005 that C.I. called Dobson a 'fool'), it was many. It didn't help that the same jerk trashed someone C.I. knows (C.I. knows her husband better) and told her to "shut up" about abortion. C.I. went to the trouble of e-mailing that blogger and saying, "Look, I know ____ and she really doesn't deserve that." The blogger -- a man -- didn't care. Didn't care that the woman he was trashing had raised more money for Democrats than he will make in ten years or twenty. He just wanted to win races and win 'em easy and the easy way was to toss your lot in with the right-wing crazies. He doesn't stand for anything. You'll see his suck up posts to Atrios or whomever (I'm not insulting Atrios, I'm just noting that when he blogs now -- I go there for laughs -- he's always begging for attention by praising Atrios, begging for links). He's an asshole and his only purpose is to provide laughter. In fact, let me check out his dumb ass site because I haven't been there in two weeks. Let's see what lies he's got for us lately.
What a tool. In one of his brief posts (he used to do long ones) he's repeating the US military spin on Iraq (he doesn't follow the news), in another he's talking about how voters want a "Dad" (well, he's a dumb little sexist pig, isn't he?) and he's sucking up to Kevin Drum throughout. He's the best example of how useless the web can be. He has no opinions except uninformed ones. He spends the rest of his time practically sucking the penis (I'm keeping it clean, folks) of the men (only the men, he's only interested in the men) he thinks are important.
What a dumb ass. He's useless. Hopefully, his posts will continue to shrink until they're just one word and then until they're nothing at all.
When the Toilet Scrubber was pushing Simon Rosenberg for DNC chair, by the way, the dumb ass I'm talking about endorsed Simon. While claiming to be against the illegal war. Simon Rosenberg was for the illegal war before it began and was for it when he ran for DNC chair. You got that reality (with links) at The Common Ills. From the blow job types, you just got spin and lies. What a tool. What a fool. And the real reason the internet sucks is little suck ups like him who are both uninformed and desperate to write mash notes. Independence? Ha!
By the way, I also give Howard Zinn HUGE credit for getting reality across. He wrote a column during the March-April nonsense and it would have been easy for him to sit it out. But he didn't. And that was a really big thing. Howard Zinn doesn't hype. He doesn't coddle the powerful. If bloggers wanted to make a difference they could use people like Zinn as a role model.
It's already Saturday in Australia and I'm really hoping John Howard goes down. I know everyone in the community is, especially our Australian members. This is from Australia's ABC:
Australians right across the country are casting their votes today, as polling booths in every state and territory open for the federal election.
Today's poll will see voters decide whether to re-elect Prime Minister John Howard's Coalition for a fifth straight term, or opt for a new government in Kevin Rudd's Labor Party.
After months of polls showing a Labor landslide victory, the latest poll in the Australian newspaper shows the ALP and the Coalition virtually neck and neck.
Newspoll has put Labor on 44 per cent in the primary vote, compared with the Coalition's 43.
But the two-party-preferred vote shows a slightly bigger gap, with Labor at 52 per cent against the Coalition's 48.
Hopefully there will be some good news tomorrow that the Bully Boy of Australia has been sent packing. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, November 23, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the mainstream press continues to issue spin, the so-called 'coalition of the willing' receives notice that one member is leaving the club, and more.
Starting with war resistance. Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey are US war resisters in Canada who have sought refugee status. That status was denied and Canada's Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals to that decision. Matt Mernagh (Canada's NOW magazine) reports the status on legislative efforts: the leaders of Canada's Liberal party are cowards. Instead of addressing the situation, they're attempting to buy time by scheduling a hearing. Mernagh notes that war resisters will be allowed to testify at the hearings and quotes war resister Phil McDowell declaring, "We'll give them an understanding of what we're doing here. I think we can make a great case." Dee Knight (Workers World) ties the refusal by the Canadian Supreme Court with other recent actions and decisions and notes, "In the U.S., the organization Courage to Resist has organized a letter-writing campaign to Canadian government officials. The letter asks them "to make a provisionfor sanctuary" for U.S. war resisters, and cites Vietnam-era Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's statement that "Canada should be a refuge from militarism." (To sign, go to Courage to Resist.)"
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who recently appeared on Democracy Now! addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
March 13th through 15th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
On Thursday, NPR's Melissa Block and Guy Raz (All Things Considered) reported that the US military was saying that violence in Iraq had been reduced. Block and Raz are both self-effacing and not interested in giving credit to their peers. The reality is the US military said it and then the neutered and spaded press repeated it over and over -- including Block and Raz. Truth didn't matter. Actual reporting didn't matter. It only mattered that they all file the claim and then -- if they hadn't already strained themselves taking down dictation -- they grab onto some anectdotal 'evidence' (which Centcom has been happily supplying) and offer that as proof. From the Abbey of Non-think, St. Thomas filed in the New York Times this morning the absurd claim that, "It's clear that the surge by US troops has really dampened violence in Iraq." Never one to be left out on a misinformation campaign, the paper's own War pornographer Michael Gordon (Judith Miller's co-writer on several of the more fictious 'reports') was given room to prance around naked on the front page shreiking "violence in Iraq on the decline"! And I thought that was his career that was on the decline? Gordo and St. Thomas and all the other cowardly peers missed the fact that Thursday saw at least 54 deaths reported in Iraq with reports of over 29 injured. And that doesn't Cara Buckley (New York Times) reporting today on an attack on Hawr Rajab village that claimed the lives of "at least 11 people" with the attackers wearing the uniforms of either the Iraqi military or the US collaborating Awakening Council. That would take the 54 to 65 dead. However the number is higher and AFP's reporting suggests that Buckley's referring to one incident but using the numbers from another. AFP reports that there was an attack in Hawr Rajab but it killed 3 Iraqi soldiers and 10 citizens while 11 died in another attack -- an attack on the village of Al-Kulaiyah. Regardless of where the attacks took place, that's another thirteen bringing Thursday's total to 78 dead. At least 78 deaths that were reported. And the press organs sends their dancing monkeys out to entertain with lies of safety. Dance, little monkeys, dance, prove that training didn't go to waste.
Staying on the topic of lies there's The Myth of the Great Return. Things are so safe in Iraq, that people are eager to return. That's the lie anyway. BBC tried to enlist and do their part this week. Like a battered woman confronted by the stares of her neighbor, they repeated the lies they were told to, that a large number of Iraqis were returning to Iraq. They used the numbers the puppet government of Iraq fed them. They didn't try to verify the numbers. Maybe because the numbers can't be verified and they figured, "Why bother?" But buried in their own 'reporting' were certain uncomfortable realities. The Iraqi government is sending buses into Syria to bring Iraqis back and paying them to return. That explains the small trickle. But don't let the press off the hook because desperate though the refugees may be, if the media hadn't popularized the lie of 'safety' in Iraq, some might have elected not to return. The families of any who die should closely scrutinize the reports and columns to determine whether they have a case for litigation. The United Nations today issued a statement condemning the claims which noted, "UNHCR does not believe that the time has come to promote, organize or encourage returns. That would be possible only when proper return conditions are in place -- including material and legal support and physical safety. Presently, there is no sign of any large-scale return to Iraq as the security situation in many parts of the country remains volatile and unpredictable." Repeating from the statement "no sign of any large-scale return to Iraq".
Patrick Martin (WSWS) zooms in on the lies of the New York Times regarding the alleged 'Great Return': "A front-page report in Tuesday's New York Times gave the newspaper's stamp of approval to the Bush administration's policy in Iraq. The report, spread across four columns under the headline, 'Baghdad's Weary Start to Exhale as Security Improves,' described improving conditions of life and security in the war-torn Dora neighborhood in southern Baghdad, portraying it as the outcome of the massive US military buildup in the Iraqi capital. The Times report consists of a single anecdotal account--the story of one Shiite family who fled sectarian violence in Dora and has now returned--buttressed by figures supplied by the US military and the Iraqi regime, showing a decline in violent attacks from the highs recorded in the early part of this year. . . . After laying it on thick in this fashion, the Times is compelled to admit that the Shiite family profiled is more the exception than the rule. It describes the condition of a second Shiite family, the Nidhals, who fled violence in the west Baghdad neighborhood of Ghazaliya and have not returned because a Sunni family now occupies their home. . . . Why then the rose-colored portrayal of conditions in the Iraqi capital, prominently displayed in the most important American newspaper? Clearly what is involved here is a political adaptation by the Times, the most influential voice of official liberalism, to the Bush administration's policies in Iraq."
Operation Happy Talk never ends, it's just one wave after another. In the real world . . .
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Salahuddin roadside bombing that left four police officers wounded, a Mosul truck bombing targeting an Al-Qayara bridge in which "[t]wo of the bridge pillars" were destroyed, 2 Mosul car bombings that claimed 9 lives and left twenty-one wounded and a Baghdad roadside bombing on a pet market that claimed the lives of at least 13 people with fifty-seven more wounded. CNN puts the wounded toll at fifty-eight. Stephen Farrell (New York Times) reports, "The explosion left headless bodies, dead birds and shattered fish tanks around the Ghazil animal market in east Baghdad, where many families of all sects visit one of the most popular attractions in the city on the Muslim day of prayer." Paul Tait (Reuters) calls it the worst attack in Baghdad since car bombings on September 26th and notes, "Body parts were strewn among bird carcasses as bystanders piled victims into carts and rushed them to ambulances after the blast at the crowded Ghazil pet market. Police said four policemen were among the wounded." Reuters notes a Jurf Al Sakhar car bombing that killed 2 people visiting a mosque and injured two others. That's at least 24 reported dead today with at least eight-five wounded.
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that yesterday a "husband and wife" team of journalists for Al-Hayatt were shot at while traveling in their car but survived unharmed while today a boys school in Diyala was where a security "guard and his wife" were beheaded because "their two daughters are not following the Islamic laws." Reuters reports the beheadings differently: "Three suspected al Qaeda militans, including two sisters, beheaded their uncle and his wife forcing the couple's children to watch, Iraqi police said on Friday. The militans considered that school guard Youssef al-Hayali was an infidel because he did not pray and wore western-style trousers, they told police interrogators after being arrested in Diyala province northwest of Baghdad. The three cousnins executed Ayali and his wife Zeinab Kamel at the all-boys school in Jalawlah in Diyala province, village police chief Captain Ahmed Khalifa said." Reuters notes that yesterday "a doctor who was working with the US military" was shot dead in Kut.
That's two dead today (other reports were from yesterday but reported today).
Kidnappings?
Reuters notes "the manager of a grain company in Dhi Qar province" was kidnapped today.
Corpses?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 6 corpses were discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes 3 corpses discovered in Dhuluiya.
That's at least 9 corpses reported found today. Add it to the previous figures and you have 35 reported dead so far today.
Free Bilal Huessein -- the Pulitzer Prize award winning photo journalist who has been imprisoned by the US military since April 12, 2006. AP reports, "A media watchdog on Thursday urged the U.S. military to show good cause for the detention [of] an Associated Press photographer in Iraq, and described his incarceration as 'unjust.' Military officials have alleged that Bilal Hussein, who has been detained for 19 months, had links to terrorist groups but are refusing to disclose what evidence or accusations would be presented. An AP investigation of the case, made public Wednesday, shows no support for allegations that Hussein, 36, took part in insurgent activities or bomb-making, and few of the images he provided deal directly with Iraqi insurgents. In a statement, Johann P. Fritz, director of the Vienna-based International Press Institute, said that the only grounds for Hussein's detention appeared to be the suspicion that he committed an offense. The burden of proof lies with the U.S. military to prove Hussein's guilt, Fritz said, adding it was fundamental to any criminal system that those holding the accused show good cause as to why they arrested him. This, he added, should then be tested in an independent court." David Crary (AP) reported on the AP investigation noting that, "Evidence and testimony collected by the AP shows no support for allegations that Bilal Hussein took part in insurgent activities or bomb-making, and few of the images he provided dealt directly with Iraqi insurgents" and then quotes from the fifty-page investigative report, "compiled last spring by lawyer and former federal prosecutor Paul Gardephe," noting, "Despite the fact that Hussein has not been interrogated since May 2006, allegations have been dropped or modified over time, and new claims added, all without any explanation. . . . The best evidence of how Hussein conducted himself as a journalist working for AP is the extensive photographic record. There is no evidence -- in nearly a thousand photographs taken over the 20-month period -- that his activities ever strayed from those of a legitimate journalist." The fifty-page investigative report can be read in full here (and it's not PDF format so there shouldn't be any problems for anyone attempting to read it). Bilal's 'crime' was documenting reality at a time when other trained (or 'trained') journalists were happy to supply fluff and stenography.
Ali al-Fadhily (IPS) continues to report reality from Iraq and notes that the true escalation of the year was the money the US tossed around to thugs and militias creating the roots for warlords (similar to the 'success' that is Afghanistan) and quotes Iraqi historian Wayil Hikmet explaining, "It is said in the Arab world that if thieves were not seen while stealing, they would be seen while dividing the loot. That is what goes for the accelerating collapse of the Iraqi political system that was made in the USA. The thieves of the Green Zone are now giving me and my colleagues good material to write down for the coming generations." and
Lukman Jassim explaining why the American-imposed 'parternship' of Abdul Aziz Hakim's Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq and Mutqtada al-Sadr's Sadr Movement will not work, "Hakim and Muqtada were brought to the scene by the Americans who employed the two ambitious clerics in order to fight side by side against any Iraqi resistance. But it is well known in Iraq that the two groups cannot put up with each other because of the historic disputes between their fathers and grandfathers and the conflict between them over power in Iraq. It was another American mistake."
Meanwhile the 'alleged' coalition continues to shrink. Press TV reports Donald Tusk, new prime minister, has declared Poland will be withdrawing from Iraq: "In a year's time, I will tell you here in parliament that our military mission in Iraq is over."
dennis kucinich
the common ills
like maria said paz
mikey likes it
the world today just nuts
iraq
dee knightjeremy hinzmanbrandon hugheyali al-fadhily
matt mernagh
patrick martinthe new york timesmichael gordoncara buckley
Isaiah always done strong cartoons. You get a strong point and a laugh. On Sunday, he just wanted to make a strong point. This is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Canada in Distress":
Canada's flag is crying because justice went out the window as a result of the country's Supreme Court refusing to hear the appeals of war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. There are campaigns at both War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist to contact Canadian legislatures and ask them to take up the issue for Hinzman and Hughey and all the war resisters in Canada. Courage to Resist has it so that you can even e-mail the legislatures at their site. So make a point to weigh in and show your support for those who have the, yes, courage to resist. If you'd prefer to do a written letter, both organizations provide you with information for that as well.
Who is standing up against the illegal war? Doesn't seem to be a lot of people. There's Dennis Kucinich. This is from Nashua Telegraph's "Dennis Kucinich blasts Democratic leadership, says the vow from his party's leadership in Congress to stand up to President Bush on ending the war in Iraq amounts to a 'total fraud':"
Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said Wednesday the vow from his party's leadership in Congress to stand up to President Bush on ending the war in Iraq amounts to a "total fraud."
The Ohio congressman said the most recent House-passed plan to set a timetable for ending the war still would permit permanent bases in Iraq and allow Americans soldiers to train Iraqi military and police and to fight off insurgents.
"This is a fraud, a total fraud, and it breaks the promise the Democrats made to the voters that we would get out of Iraq," Kucinich said of his own party's congressional leadership during an interview Wednesday.
"They want to be on all sides of the issue. Instead of getting out of Iraq, we are getting in deeper," Kucinich said.
State Rep. Betty Hall, D-Brookline, said she decided to endorse Kucinich after watching him unsuccessfully pursue impeachment charges against Vice President Dick Cheney.
"I was inspired by his boldness and tence," Hall said at a news conference in Manchester.
I was thinking about 2007 -- due to the holiday -- and what I had to be thankful for and all. I've got a lot personally but in terms of Iraq one of the things I'm proudest of -- and this is community wide and give the credit to C.I. first and foremost -- we never bought into the fraud. Kucinich is right that it's a fraud. But it's also the same fraud they've been pulling all year. The same shell game to trick voeters. And when this first started going down in March, you had very few people willing to call it out. I had an e-mail asking why I don't care for Leigh Ann Caldwell? Well she's on what program? Free Speech Radio News. So why in March was she selling this fraud as troops out now? She is the DC correspondent and I don't cut her any slack for getting that so wrong and so repeatedly wrong. I saw an AP article yesterday explaining how the troops wouldn't come home from Congress' latest attempt to push this through again. And it took a lot of calling out to get to that point.
And this community didn't need prodding. We didn't need at our sites and those of us who blog didn't need prodding and members of the community didn't need prodding. If you've forgotten how that went down, you had people like David Sirota writing these rants against the grassroots and saying the Democrats were trying and they were doing a good job and Tina Richards is mean to question David Obey (who Sirota used to work for) and blah, blah, blah. We were being hyped out the wazoo. And a lot of people did fall for it. A lot of news outlets fell for it and a lot of websites fell for it and a lot of people fell for it. This community didn't.
And I'll credit C.I. for that because C.I. hits harder than any of us. And does so more often. But Elaine didn't blink to call this nonsense out. And none of us did. There were embarrassing e-mails from Democratic enablers telling us to knock it off and leave the Democrats alone and don't we know we're going to hurt the election chances in 2008?
So, according to those idiots, we're supposed to be silent when we're being lied to?
No party hacks in this community, sorry. It's funny to see the ones who covered for the Democrats try to set themselves up again as 'friends' of the grassroots and it's funny to see the ones who were silent during it all try to act now like they were back there calling it out when they weren't. There's a lot of dumb asses online. They're the ones who are always dumb asses. The jerk who tossed his lot in with the religious right always comes to mind because I've heard about that crap and I remember when it was going on. After the 2004 election when the myth of 'values voters' was being sold, those idiots were pushing for Democrats to step away from abortion. There was one jerk that C.I. had linked to and pulled the link. It wasn't one post (not even the one slamming C.I. for calling James Dobson a "fool" -- yeah, that's how cowardly your 'strong' voices are, they were tsk-tsking in January 2005 that C.I. called Dobson a 'fool'), it was many. It didn't help that the same jerk trashed someone C.I. knows (C.I. knows her husband better) and told her to "shut up" about abortion. C.I. went to the trouble of e-mailing that blogger and saying, "Look, I know ____ and she really doesn't deserve that." The blogger -- a man -- didn't care. Didn't care that the woman he was trashing had raised more money for Democrats than he will make in ten years or twenty. He just wanted to win races and win 'em easy and the easy way was to toss your lot in with the right-wing crazies. He doesn't stand for anything. You'll see his suck up posts to Atrios or whomever (I'm not insulting Atrios, I'm just noting that when he blogs now -- I go there for laughs -- he's always begging for attention by praising Atrios, begging for links). He's an asshole and his only purpose is to provide laughter. In fact, let me check out his dumb ass site because I haven't been there in two weeks. Let's see what lies he's got for us lately.
What a tool. In one of his brief posts (he used to do long ones) he's repeating the US military spin on Iraq (he doesn't follow the news), in another he's talking about how voters want a "Dad" (well, he's a dumb little sexist pig, isn't he?) and he's sucking up to Kevin Drum throughout. He's the best example of how useless the web can be. He has no opinions except uninformed ones. He spends the rest of his time practically sucking the penis (I'm keeping it clean, folks) of the men (only the men, he's only interested in the men) he thinks are important.
What a dumb ass. He's useless. Hopefully, his posts will continue to shrink until they're just one word and then until they're nothing at all.
When the Toilet Scrubber was pushing Simon Rosenberg for DNC chair, by the way, the dumb ass I'm talking about endorsed Simon. While claiming to be against the illegal war. Simon Rosenberg was for the illegal war before it began and was for it when he ran for DNC chair. You got that reality (with links) at The Common Ills. From the blow job types, you just got spin and lies. What a tool. What a fool. And the real reason the internet sucks is little suck ups like him who are both uninformed and desperate to write mash notes. Independence? Ha!
By the way, I also give Howard Zinn HUGE credit for getting reality across. He wrote a column during the March-April nonsense and it would have been easy for him to sit it out. But he didn't. And that was a really big thing. Howard Zinn doesn't hype. He doesn't coddle the powerful. If bloggers wanted to make a difference they could use people like Zinn as a role model.
It's already Saturday in Australia and I'm really hoping John Howard goes down. I know everyone in the community is, especially our Australian members. This is from Australia's ABC:
Australians right across the country are casting their votes today, as polling booths in every state and territory open for the federal election.
Today's poll will see voters decide whether to re-elect Prime Minister John Howard's Coalition for a fifth straight term, or opt for a new government in Kevin Rudd's Labor Party.
After months of polls showing a Labor landslide victory, the latest poll in the Australian newspaper shows the ALP and the Coalition virtually neck and neck.
Newspoll has put Labor on 44 per cent in the primary vote, compared with the Coalition's 43.
But the two-party-preferred vote shows a slightly bigger gap, with Labor at 52 per cent against the Coalition's 48.
Hopefully there will be some good news tomorrow that the Bully Boy of Australia has been sent packing. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, November 23, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the mainstream press continues to issue spin, the so-called 'coalition of the willing' receives notice that one member is leaving the club, and more.
Starting with war resistance. Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey are US war resisters in Canada who have sought refugee status. That status was denied and Canada's Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals to that decision. Matt Mernagh (Canada's NOW magazine) reports the status on legislative efforts: the leaders of Canada's Liberal party are cowards. Instead of addressing the situation, they're attempting to buy time by scheduling a hearing. Mernagh notes that war resisters will be allowed to testify at the hearings and quotes war resister Phil McDowell declaring, "We'll give them an understanding of what we're doing here. I think we can make a great case." Dee Knight (Workers World) ties the refusal by the Canadian Supreme Court with other recent actions and decisions and notes, "In the U.S., the organization Courage to Resist has organized a letter-writing campaign to Canadian government officials. The letter asks them "to make a provisionfor sanctuary" for U.S. war resisters, and cites Vietnam-era Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's statement that "Canada should be a refuge from militarism." (To sign, go to Courage to Resist.)"
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who recently appeared on Democracy Now! addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
March 13th through 15th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
On Thursday, NPR's Melissa Block and Guy Raz (All Things Considered) reported that the US military was saying that violence in Iraq had been reduced. Block and Raz are both self-effacing and not interested in giving credit to their peers. The reality is the US military said it and then the neutered and spaded press repeated it over and over -- including Block and Raz. Truth didn't matter. Actual reporting didn't matter. It only mattered that they all file the claim and then -- if they hadn't already strained themselves taking down dictation -- they grab onto some anectdotal 'evidence' (which Centcom has been happily supplying) and offer that as proof. From the Abbey of Non-think, St. Thomas filed in the New York Times this morning the absurd claim that, "It's clear that the surge by US troops has really dampened violence in Iraq." Never one to be left out on a misinformation campaign, the paper's own War pornographer Michael Gordon (Judith Miller's co-writer on several of the more fictious 'reports') was given room to prance around naked on the front page shreiking "violence in Iraq on the decline"! And I thought that was his career that was on the decline? Gordo and St. Thomas and all the other cowardly peers missed the fact that Thursday saw at least 54 deaths reported in Iraq with reports of over 29 injured. And that doesn't Cara Buckley (New York Times) reporting today on an attack on Hawr Rajab village that claimed the lives of "at least 11 people" with the attackers wearing the uniforms of either the Iraqi military or the US collaborating Awakening Council. That would take the 54 to 65 dead. However the number is higher and AFP's reporting suggests that Buckley's referring to one incident but using the numbers from another. AFP reports that there was an attack in Hawr Rajab but it killed 3 Iraqi soldiers and 10 citizens while 11 died in another attack -- an attack on the village of Al-Kulaiyah. Regardless of where the attacks took place, that's another thirteen bringing Thursday's total to 78 dead. At least 78 deaths that were reported. And the press organs sends their dancing monkeys out to entertain with lies of safety. Dance, little monkeys, dance, prove that training didn't go to waste.
Staying on the topic of lies there's The Myth of the Great Return. Things are so safe in Iraq, that people are eager to return. That's the lie anyway. BBC tried to enlist and do their part this week. Like a battered woman confronted by the stares of her neighbor, they repeated the lies they were told to, that a large number of Iraqis were returning to Iraq. They used the numbers the puppet government of Iraq fed them. They didn't try to verify the numbers. Maybe because the numbers can't be verified and they figured, "Why bother?" But buried in their own 'reporting' were certain uncomfortable realities. The Iraqi government is sending buses into Syria to bring Iraqis back and paying them to return. That explains the small trickle. But don't let the press off the hook because desperate though the refugees may be, if the media hadn't popularized the lie of 'safety' in Iraq, some might have elected not to return. The families of any who die should closely scrutinize the reports and columns to determine whether they have a case for litigation. The United Nations today issued a statement condemning the claims which noted, "UNHCR does not believe that the time has come to promote, organize or encourage returns. That would be possible only when proper return conditions are in place -- including material and legal support and physical safety. Presently, there is no sign of any large-scale return to Iraq as the security situation in many parts of the country remains volatile and unpredictable." Repeating from the statement "no sign of any large-scale return to Iraq".
Patrick Martin (WSWS) zooms in on the lies of the New York Times regarding the alleged 'Great Return': "A front-page report in Tuesday's New York Times gave the newspaper's stamp of approval to the Bush administration's policy in Iraq. The report, spread across four columns under the headline, 'Baghdad's Weary Start to Exhale as Security Improves,' described improving conditions of life and security in the war-torn Dora neighborhood in southern Baghdad, portraying it as the outcome of the massive US military buildup in the Iraqi capital. The Times report consists of a single anecdotal account--the story of one Shiite family who fled sectarian violence in Dora and has now returned--buttressed by figures supplied by the US military and the Iraqi regime, showing a decline in violent attacks from the highs recorded in the early part of this year. . . . After laying it on thick in this fashion, the Times is compelled to admit that the Shiite family profiled is more the exception than the rule. It describes the condition of a second Shiite family, the Nidhals, who fled violence in the west Baghdad neighborhood of Ghazaliya and have not returned because a Sunni family now occupies their home. . . . Why then the rose-colored portrayal of conditions in the Iraqi capital, prominently displayed in the most important American newspaper? Clearly what is involved here is a political adaptation by the Times, the most influential voice of official liberalism, to the Bush administration's policies in Iraq."
Operation Happy Talk never ends, it's just one wave after another. In the real world . . .
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Salahuddin roadside bombing that left four police officers wounded, a Mosul truck bombing targeting an Al-Qayara bridge in which "[t]wo of the bridge pillars" were destroyed, 2 Mosul car bombings that claimed 9 lives and left twenty-one wounded and a Baghdad roadside bombing on a pet market that claimed the lives of at least 13 people with fifty-seven more wounded. CNN puts the wounded toll at fifty-eight. Stephen Farrell (New York Times) reports, "The explosion left headless bodies, dead birds and shattered fish tanks around the Ghazil animal market in east Baghdad, where many families of all sects visit one of the most popular attractions in the city on the Muslim day of prayer." Paul Tait (Reuters) calls it the worst attack in Baghdad since car bombings on September 26th and notes, "Body parts were strewn among bird carcasses as bystanders piled victims into carts and rushed them to ambulances after the blast at the crowded Ghazil pet market. Police said four policemen were among the wounded." Reuters notes a Jurf Al Sakhar car bombing that killed 2 people visiting a mosque and injured two others. That's at least 24 reported dead today with at least eight-five wounded.
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that yesterday a "husband and wife" team of journalists for Al-Hayatt were shot at while traveling in their car but survived unharmed while today a boys school in Diyala was where a security "guard and his wife" were beheaded because "their two daughters are not following the Islamic laws." Reuters reports the beheadings differently: "Three suspected al Qaeda militans, including two sisters, beheaded their uncle and his wife forcing the couple's children to watch, Iraqi police said on Friday. The militans considered that school guard Youssef al-Hayali was an infidel because he did not pray and wore western-style trousers, they told police interrogators after being arrested in Diyala province northwest of Baghdad. The three cousnins executed Ayali and his wife Zeinab Kamel at the all-boys school in Jalawlah in Diyala province, village police chief Captain Ahmed Khalifa said." Reuters notes that yesterday "a doctor who was working with the US military" was shot dead in Kut.
That's two dead today (other reports were from yesterday but reported today).
Kidnappings?
Reuters notes "the manager of a grain company in Dhi Qar province" was kidnapped today.
Corpses?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 6 corpses were discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes 3 corpses discovered in Dhuluiya.
That's at least 9 corpses reported found today. Add it to the previous figures and you have 35 reported dead so far today.
Free Bilal Huessein -- the Pulitzer Prize award winning photo journalist who has been imprisoned by the US military since April 12, 2006. AP reports, "A media watchdog on Thursday urged the U.S. military to show good cause for the detention [of] an Associated Press photographer in Iraq, and described his incarceration as 'unjust.' Military officials have alleged that Bilal Hussein, who has been detained for 19 months, had links to terrorist groups but are refusing to disclose what evidence or accusations would be presented. An AP investigation of the case, made public Wednesday, shows no support for allegations that Hussein, 36, took part in insurgent activities or bomb-making, and few of the images he provided deal directly with Iraqi insurgents. In a statement, Johann P. Fritz, director of the Vienna-based International Press Institute, said that the only grounds for Hussein's detention appeared to be the suspicion that he committed an offense. The burden of proof lies with the U.S. military to prove Hussein's guilt, Fritz said, adding it was fundamental to any criminal system that those holding the accused show good cause as to why they arrested him. This, he added, should then be tested in an independent court." David Crary (AP) reported on the AP investigation noting that, "Evidence and testimony collected by the AP shows no support for allegations that Bilal Hussein took part in insurgent activities or bomb-making, and few of the images he provided dealt directly with Iraqi insurgents" and then quotes from the fifty-page investigative report, "compiled last spring by lawyer and former federal prosecutor Paul Gardephe," noting, "Despite the fact that Hussein has not been interrogated since May 2006, allegations have been dropped or modified over time, and new claims added, all without any explanation. . . . The best evidence of how Hussein conducted himself as a journalist working for AP is the extensive photographic record. There is no evidence -- in nearly a thousand photographs taken over the 20-month period -- that his activities ever strayed from those of a legitimate journalist." The fifty-page investigative report can be read in full here (and it's not PDF format so there shouldn't be any problems for anyone attempting to read it). Bilal's 'crime' was documenting reality at a time when other trained (or 'trained') journalists were happy to supply fluff and stenography.
Ali al-Fadhily (IPS) continues to report reality from Iraq and notes that the true escalation of the year was the money the US tossed around to thugs and militias creating the roots for warlords (similar to the 'success' that is Afghanistan) and quotes Iraqi historian Wayil Hikmet explaining, "It is said in the Arab world that if thieves were not seen while stealing, they would be seen while dividing the loot. That is what goes for the accelerating collapse of the Iraqi political system that was made in the USA. The thieves of the Green Zone are now giving me and my colleagues good material to write down for the coming generations." and
Lukman Jassim explaining why the American-imposed 'parternship' of Abdul Aziz Hakim's Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq and Mutqtada al-Sadr's Sadr Movement will not work, "Hakim and Muqtada were brought to the scene by the Americans who employed the two ambitious clerics in order to fight side by side against any Iraqi resistance. But it is well known in Iraq that the two groups cannot put up with each other because of the historic disputes between their fathers and grandfathers and the conflict between them over power in Iraq. It was another American mistake."
Meanwhile the 'alleged' coalition continues to shrink. Press TV reports Donald Tusk, new prime minister, has declared Poland will be withdrawing from Iraq: "In a year's time, I will tell you here in parliament that our military mission in Iraq is over."
dennis kucinich
the common ills
like maria said paz
mikey likes it
the world today just nuts
iraq
dee knightjeremy hinzmanbrandon hugheyali al-fadhily
matt mernagh
patrick martinthe new york timesmichael gordoncara buckley
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