Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Florida and the Little Liars of Indymedia

Tuesday. And Blogger/Blogspot is a pain in the butt tonight. They did an upgrade yesterday and I'm having nothing but problems.

Today is a primary day. And I thought instead of waiting for Amy Goodman to do her usual b.s. damage, I'd note her mistake ahead of time. She ignored the Michigan primary on the Democratic side. Because what the Democratic National Committee says goes with her. They say "Jump!" and she asks, "With or without my eyes closed?" So she ignored Michigan. She'll probably try to ignore Florida as well. This is the BBC's "Q&A: The Florida primary:"

Voters in the US state of Florida go to the polls on 29 January to help choose the Republican and Democratic nominees for the presidential election in November.
But the state has been penalised for breaking party rules by holding these votes - or "primaries" - before 5 February.
The penalty is a reduction in the number of delegates the state can send to the parties' national conventions in the summer, where the nominations for the presidential election are officially made.

Think Amy Goodman's not whoring for the Democratic Party by ignoring Michigan and no doubt Florida's Democratic results? Here's what else the BBC says: "Yes. Both parties penalised Michigan, which held its primary on 15 January. The Republican party also penalised New Hampshire, South Carolina and Wyoming, which have also already voted." If that's true, it's a surprise because Amy Goodman reported on the Republican primary in Michigan. She also reported on the New Hampshire Republican primary.

Let me take a moment to call out one of my senators: John Kerry. John Kerry refused to fight in the 2004 election. He didn't fight at the DNC convention, he didn't fight when they made fun of his wind surfing or when they wore band aids with purple hearts drawn on them and he didn't fight when Ohio voters needed him. So Kerry a really weak presidential candidate. Trying to shore up his reputation, he decided to become Bambi Omaba's main squeeze. Today, Rolling Stone reports, John Kerry proved he was Bambi's girl:

The Obama campaign just held a conference call with Senator John Kerry who slammed Hillary Clinton for abandoning her previous commitment not to contest Florida or seek its forfeited delegates.

I love how Bambi can fight his own fights and has to bring John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy and all his other boyfriends. John Kerry, just work for us. We put you into office. You disgraced yourself in 2004 and we can take you out of office. So take your pretty little buns and focus on how you're going to help Big Mass and take your candy ass out of the election. Your days are over, your glory is gone. All you will ever be is a US Senator. So try being a good one and the way you do that is not by holding hands with Bambi, it's by representing the people of Big Mass. Do your job and get some loving on your own time.

It's really disgusting to see grown man get giddy and excited over Bambi. And of course Kerry hates John Edwards. It would be so funny if Edwards became president and just rubbed it in Kerry's face: "You loser. You pathetic loser. I kept saying we needed to fight and you just went wind surfing. Pathetic."

Meanwhile Bambi's first boyfriend, Tony Kingpin Rezko, is back in the news. From ABC News:

Accused Illinois political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko will be kept behind bars until his trial starts Feb. 25, a federal judge in Chicago ruled today.
Rezko's case has gained national prominence because of his close ties with Sen. Barack Obama and his role in helping to raise campaign money for the candidate. Obama is not considered a subject of the FBI investigation.
Rezko was arrested Monday after FBI agents learned Rezko had secretly received more than $3.5 million in a wire transfer from Beirut, Lebanon, a violation of his bail terms, according to prosecutors who said Rezko may have been preparing to flee the country prior to the trial.

Did you hear what the Dumb Ass said in Kansas? That Bambi had values because of his White mother and grandparents. What a racist!

I don't think she's a racist. She's a Bambi supporter (which doesn't mean she can't be a racist) but if this was a Clinton supporter, you'd have all the nut jobs showing up on the chat & chews to cry, "Racism!" I think her statements were appalling. But I'll guess she just doesn't know better and meant no harm. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt -- unlike the way everyone does to people who support Hillary Clinton. They just scream whatever they want, like crazy Bob Herbert. Elaine asked me to note Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kerry Kennedy's "Kennedys for Clinton:"

This is a wonderful year for Democrats. Our party is blessed with the most impressive array of primary candidates in modern history. All would make superb presidents.
By now you may have read or heard that our cousin, Caroline Kennedy, and our uncle, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, have come out in favor of Sen. Barack Obama. We, however, are supporting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton because we believe that she is the strongest candidate for our party and our country.
While talk of unity and compromise are inspiring to a nation wary of divisiveness, America stands at a historic crossroads where real issues divide our political landscapes. Democrats believe that America should not be torturing people, eavesdropping on our citizens or imprisoning them without habeas corpus or other constitutional rights. We should not be an imperial power. We need healthcare for all and a clean, safe environment.
The loftiest poetry will not solve these issues. We need a president willing to engage in a fistfight to safeguard and restore our national virtues.

Did you notice that Amy Goodman was reading off endorsements (for Bambi) on Democracy Now! today. The above was in Tuesday's morning paper. I doubt she missed it. I also doubt she'll note it tomorrow. Or that Maxine Waters has now endorsed Hillary.

Let's stay with liar Amy Goodman and how she'll distort on the news tomorrow. If she mentions Florida it will be to slam Hillary. Goodman will play dumb on the fact that Bambi broke the rules about advertising -- he's been advertising in Florida for weeks and claiming it was "national buys" so it was allowed (it wasn't by the DNC's rules). But Goody will say -- like Lie Face John Nichols -- that Hillary campaigned! She broke the rules! She'll lie through her teeth. Here's reality from CNN which is calling Florida for Hillary:

Though Democrats agreed to leave the state off their itineraries in a show of solidarity with the national party, Clinton attended permitted fund-raisers in Florida on Sunday and planned to appear with supporters there after polls closed.
And turnout was high for the race even though no delegates were at stake. Nearly 400,000 people cast early or absentee ballots ahead of the primary, and Tuesday's vote was expected to top the nearly 800,000 who turned out in 2004.

Permitted fund-raisers. Paul Roget Liar and John Nichols have both lied about that. The Liars of Independent Media can't tell the truth. So don't expect Amy Goodman to tell the truth tomorrow. She'll either ignore Florida or lie her way through it all.

I'm for John Edwards and here's something his campaign site is promoting:

January 30, 2008 - 12:00 p.m. CT
John Edwards will deliver a major policy address on poverty and volunteer on the Habitat for Humanity project at the Musicians' Village.
Musicians' Village
4000 North Roman Street (Intersection of Roman and Bartholomew)
New Orleans, Louisiana
Click here to RSVP for this event

So watch the news late tomorrow to see if the address gets attention or not.

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

Tuesday, January 29, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, Bully Boy bores the nation with more lies, Dems blow the chance to respond, Blackwater cries 'malpractice!' and more.

Starting with war resistance. Camilo Mejia is the first Iraq veteran to resist the illegal war. Yesterday, an interview with him was rebroadcast on KPFK. The station did have broadcasting problems yesterday and over the weekend. However, you can go to the KPFK archives or to Uprising Radio to hear the archived broadcast of Sonali Kolhatkar's interview with Mejia.

Camilo Mejia: Military justice is an oxymoron to me. I don't think the two words combine very well. The conviction rate in the military court room is 98 to 99%. So it's just basically a means for the military to enforce discipline and to punish dissent and disobedeince -- regardless of whether that disobedience is justified or not. And disobedience in the military is actually a duty when it's in response to an unlawful order which is the case of the entire war in Iraq which is illegitamate by international law standards. In the particular case of my trial we were basically denied basic guarantees, you know, that the law is supposed to afford a defendent. The vast majority of our witnesses were not allowed to testify. My reasons for not wanting to go back to Iraq were not allowed to reach the jury. My claims of war crimes were not allowed to reach the jury. My conscientious objector form was not allowed to reach the jury during the deliberations or the actual trial. And there was a lot of prejudice against me. I remember that the first day of the trial they had barricaded the entire block that the courthouse was in and they had working dogs sniffing around the courthouse and they had both military and civilian police officers patrolling the area. So the atmosphere was of them trying this incredibly dangerous, evil person.

Sonali Kolhatkar: Even though you turned yourself in.

Camilo Mejia: Even though I turned myself in and the basis of my defense was conscitious objection and non-violence. But the response on their part was to treat me as if I was some kind of like maximum security evil monster. So there was a lot of prejudice and a lot of violations of the law. Eventually, I think the military tried me politically, not legally, and they just sort of made a statement with my case that they would not tolerate dissent in the ranks and that they would not allow conscientious objection as a way out of this illegal war.

Sonali Kolhatkar: What is your current immigration status as well as your current military status? And, also, how much time did you serve in prison?

Camilo Mejia: Well my immigration status hasn't changed. I'm still a resident and that has been effected at all by

Sonali Kolhatkar: You never applied for citizenship?

Camilo Mejia: No, I never applied for citizenship. And my status with the military is that I'm on appellate leave because we are appealing the conviction. So I'm not really, for all practical purposes, I'm really not in the military anymore. I'm not wearing a uniform or training or reporting to any officers. And I was given a sentence of twelve months but I only served about nine -- a little bit less than nine -- because of good conduct, because I didn't get into any major problems in jail so I got out three months earlier.

Sonali Kolhatkar: And were you basically discharged with -- dishonorably discharged?

Camilo Mejia: No. My sentence was twelve months of incarciration in army jail, demotion to private from staff sergeant and a bad conduct discharge plus forfieture of my pay. . . . But the bad conduct discharge is not final until appeals are over. So we're appealing that and that means that I'm still in the military, I still have an i.d. I mean I don't get paid or anything but I'm still in the system.

Sonali Kolhatkar: Now is it important for you to be honorably discharged?

Camilo Mejia: It's important to set a precedent for people to have the right to apply as conscientious objectors and to bring to military courts the reasons why they don't want to participate in a war that they perceive as illegal and immoral. And I think that if war crimes are being committed we need to prosecute those who are committing those crimes beginning at the very top. Because of that I do think that it's important to get that honorable discharge -- not because I think there is honor in the actual discharge but I think it's a fight worth fighting.

Mejia reads from his book Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia during the interview.

Some war resisters attempt to seek asylum in Canada. Kathy Rumleski (London Free Press) reported on 20-year-old Josh Randall on Sunday who served in Iraq and elected to self-checkout and go to Canada. Like Brandon Hughey and Kimberly Rivera (two other war resisters in Canada), Josh Randall hails from Texas and was a medic. In Iraq, Randall's experiences included raiding a house where a young girl was left wounded "from explosive splinters" (from the US bombing the front door) and he was told he couldn't treat her, that she'd be fine at the local hospital. Similar incidents repeated and then came a US soldier who asked Randall "Why?" as he was dying. That was the final in a series of incidents that led Randall to decide to leave the military and go to Canada. He spoke with war resister Linjamin Mull on Saturday as part of the actions to lobby the Canadian Parliament to grant safe haven to war resisters.

You can still make your voice heard and three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Chuck Wiley, 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, Clara 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).


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 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'."

Starting with the United States. Last night Bully Boy gave his State of the Union speech. Prior to the speech, the Pentagon noted that they needed $70 billion more dollars. With Dick Cheney and Nancy Pelosi behind him, Bully Boy delivered a lot of nonsense. Sadly, many Congressional members (from both parties) applauded or chuckled. It's not funny, it's not cute. And Nancy and Dick's smiles and whispers to one another may have demonstrated more than anything else why there has been no impeachment of the Bully Boy. Maura Reynolds and James Gerstenzang (Los Angeles Times) observe this of the Iraq section, "He offered no new details about plans for troop withdrawals. The administration is awaiting a new assessment from Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, scheduled for March. Bush also did not mention what has been widely cited as the major failure of the surge: the failure of the Iraqi government to take major steps toward national reconciliation." After he finished his blah-blah-blah the Democratic Party proved that nothing is as a weak as Democrat trying to be a Republican. See Kat's "Cowardly Kathleen Sebelius throws in the towel" and Rebecca's "kathleen sebelius is a dumb ass" a and note that, unlike Katrina vanden Heuvel, they didn't repeat any media myths to make their point. As KvH repeatedly makes the same mistake over and over, you have to wonder whether the magazine's editor (and publisher) bothers to read the magazine's own editorials? Ava and I will tackle that nonsense this weekend at The Third Estate Sunday Review. Today press secretary for the Pentagon, Geoff Morrell, noted Bully Boy's speech -- lied that Bully Boy was asking "Congress to fully fund our troops" (the bulk of the money goes to military contractors to waste on weapons research) and declared, "We are still $102 billion short of the money requested and necessary". Well quit begging, cut out some of the pork in your budget. He also gave lip service to the wounded. People would be better served ignoring that nonsense and listening to the second hour of today's The Diane Rehm Show where guests Dr. Barbara Romberg, journalist Kristin Henderson, Dr. Stephen Xenakis, columnist and author Tanya Biank and Karie Darga of Military Spouse Legacy Association.

Diane Rehm: I just have to say how outrageous that we send these young men and women into harms way and then, when they come back emotionally or physically injured, somehow we can't find the money to heal them. It's outrageous, just outrageous.

While the Democratic Party wasted their chance at a response last night (on that KvH was right), John Edwards, who is still in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, issued the following statement after Bully Boy's nonsense:

"The president tonight renewed his call for an economic recovery plan. But the plan he and Congress have offered leaves out tens of millions of Americans who need help the most. This plan would take months to have any impact, and the people I meet everyday on the campaign trail do not have months to wait. These people are hurting now and need this help now. Over the past seven years, typical workers' paychecks have failed to keep up with inflation, millions of families are facing the loss of their homes to foreclosures, health insurance premiums have doubled, and families are spending $1,000 more a year on gasoline. The State of the Union may be interesting political theater, but until we find bold solutions to the challenges facing the country, we will be stuck with the same old small, Washington answers."And in the chamber of the House of Representatives where the president speaks, even though this Congress stopped listening to him a while ago, they will still applaud and cheer him. The truth is that Washington is out of touch with what's happening across the country. Between now and January of 2009, Democrats must stand up to this president, stand up for what's right, so he does not continue to forget about the middle class in this country."

Turning to Iraq, Ned Parker and Saif Hameed (Los Angeles Times) report that yesterday the Iraqi Parliament met but they still haven't approved the 2008 budget and, in fact, "postponed a vote on" it. Still no vote. January 2008 is almost over. Possibly in 2010, a 2008 budget will be passed and Bully Boy can claim 'victory'? In other news, Reuters notes that over "600 people demonstrated in Abu Ghraib district on Baghdad's western outskirts against detentions by the Iraqi army in the area, police said." Meanwhile Andrew Gray (Reuters) reports an ongoing investigation into "allegations of misconduct against [US] soldiers over the deaths of several detainees in Baghdad last year" citing Paul Boyce (military spokesperson) who states the time frame is the "spring or summer of 2007 in the southern Rashid district of the Iraqi capital". This comes as the US military continues to attempt to sell the belief of 'detainees' (they're prisoners) and 'justice.' On Sunday, Rear Admiral Greg Smith gave a briefing that looked back on last week and included this, "On Thursday, many who had failed to live up to the rule of law were given a nce chance. In a ceremony at a coalition detention facility in Baghdad, 100 men . . . Sunni and Shi'a . . . were reintegrated back into their neighborhoods. After passing through a rigorous review board examination, determinations were made that these Iraqis were ready to become contributing citizens. Each of their cases was individually considered. Each of them made a pledge before an Iraqi judge . . . swearing to live peacefully from that day forward." From that day foward? Translation, the prisons are overcrowded and even sitting up 'tent cities' doesn't allow the US the space needed to continue to imprison people forever so we're thinning the ranks a little. Just a little. Smith bragged that 785 had been released for all of January. Last week, Omar Al-Faris (Canada's Jihad Unspun) reported "the US intends to build the giant prison in Anbar province that will facilitate thousands of Iraqi prisoners currently behind held in Camp Bucca in Basra, at Saddam International Airport in Baghdad, and at Susa in Sulaymaniya in northern Iraq. . . . International human rights organizations have estimated that there are about 35,000 Iraqi prisoners in US jails in Iraq, most of them at Camp Bucca near Basra but all the major US-run detention facilities in the country are said to be nearing capacity as the US continues to hold Muslims illegally and without recourse." Gulf Daily News noted "thousands of detainees" at the end of last month and that "More than 26,000 detainees are held in two US prisons and thousands more in Iraqi-run detention centres." That number would include the 220 children IRIN noted in October -- the ones they are denied permission to meet with. Last month the Committee for Women's and Children's Affairs in the Iraqi Parliament issued a call for the release of female prisoners. A recent report from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (PDF format warning) entitled "Human Rights Report" covered the time period of April 1st through June 30th of this year expressed grave concerns about "continuing expansion of the detainee population," "absence of timely processing of detainees' cases" and, among other things, to remind: "There is no separation between human rights and international humanitarian law in Security Council Resolutions adopted under Chapter VII. In fact, the leading resolutions on Iraq, such as Resolution 1546 of June 2004, cite in the preamble: 'Affirming the importance of the rule of law, national reconciliation, respect for human rights including the rights of women, fundamental freedoms, and democracy'. This arguably applies to all forces operating in Iraq. The letter from the Government of Iraq attached to SC res. 1723 also states that 'The forces that make up MNF will remain committed to acting consistently with their obligations and rights under international law, including the law of armed conflict.' International law includes human rights law." Constructing prisons has been the 'answer' non-stop. It was the answer in 2004, in 2005 and on through today. How many prisons does one country need? IRIN noted in October of last year that "child prisoners between 13 and 17 are being accused of supporting insurgent and militias." But the 'answer' is always construct more prisons.

Construction is the topic James Glanz (New York Times) again explores via the report issued yesterday by Stuart W. Bowen Jr.'s office, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, which has "examined nearly 200 Parsons construction projects contained in 11 major 'job orders' paid for in a huge rebuilding contract. There were also three other nonconstruction orders. The total cost of the work to the United States was $365 million. The new report finds that 8 of 11 rebuilding orders were terminated by the United States before they were completed, for reasons including weak contract oversight, unrealistic schedules, a failure to report problems in a timely fashion and poor supervision by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which managed the contracts." James Glanz has owned this story throughout the illegal war and possibly the finest piece he's written on the subject of reconstruction in Iraq that also focuses on Parsons appeared in September of 2006 and is entitled "Congress Is Told of Failures of Rebuilding Work in Iraq." (Today's story is not given enough the space needed to tell the story as it needs to be told.)

Turning to some of the violence reported today . . .

Bombings?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing wounded six civilians and four Iraqi soldiers, another Baghdad bombing left three police officers and five civilians wounded, while a third Baghdad bombing left three people wounded and a Baghdad mortar attack wounded two people. Dropping back to yesterday, Reuters notes that the attacks on officials continue with a "tribal leader" Abbas Jassim al-Dulaimi being targeted (and killed) via a bomb planted in his car.

Shootings?

Reuters notes a man was shot dead in Iskandariya, 2 police officers were shot dead in Mosul (with two more injured) and, in continued attacks on officials, there was an armed attack on "a local governor" in Sulaiman Pek today.

Corpses?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Mqudadiyah was the location for a discovery of "9 unidentified bodies by the road and also found 10 mutilated bodies some way away at noon today." Paul Tait (Reuters) adds, " Police said some of the nine complete bodies were partially decomposed while others had been killed more recently. The bodies were all handcuffed and blindfolded and had bullet wounds, police and hospital officials said.
The 10 heads found nearby were all also blindfolded, some with bullet wounds, said Ahmed Fouad, the chief of the morgue in Baquba hospital. Baquba is the provincial capital of ethnically and religiously mixed Diyala."

Turning to the topic of the mercenary corportation Blackwater, Jeremy Scahill (at Common Dreams) reports on the latest:

Last week in Currituck County, N.C., Superior Court Judge Russell Duke presided over the final step in securing the first criminal conviction stemming from the deadly actions of Blackwater Worldwide, the Bush administration's favorite mercenary company. Lest you think you missed some earth-shifting, breaking news, hold on a moment. The "criminals" in question were not the armed thugs who gunned down 17 Iraqi civilians and wounded more than 20 others in Baghdad's Nisour Square last September. They were seven nonviolent activists who had the audacity to stage a demonstration at the gates of Blackwater's 7,000-acre private military base in North Carolina to protest the actions of mercenaries acting with impunity -- and apparent immunity -- in their names and those of every American.

Meanwhile Robert O'Harrow Jr. (Washington Post) reports that Blackwater's latest attempt to avoid answering the families of the four Blackwater employees killed in Falluja in 2004 is to file charges against Wiley Rein -- Blackwater's own counsel -- claiming that they (Blackwater) are the victims of legal malpractice.
















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Monday, January 28, 2008

War resisters, John Edwards & more

Monday, Monday, can't trust that day. :D Actually, pretty good for a Monday. Let's kick things off with a smile. Here's Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Caroline Speaks"

carolinespeaks

I'm guessing Caroline Kennedy is supposed to shore up The National Enquirer vote? I don't see her shoring up the Irish-Catholic vote. Ted might help with that but Caroline's not considered Irish-Catholic. She's too WASPy. I can't imagine, outside the tabloids, she speaks to many. Or for many. She always has to say she's a patriot. What's that about? Is there concern that the Kennedys aren't? Or is there just concern about her? She's like Laura Bush with a less charming smile.

:D

I'll talk about the way Amy Goodman spat on peace today in a moment. Right now, let's talk The Third Estate Sunday Review:



Truest statement of the week -- Glen Ford and he gets not one but two.

Truest statement of the week II -- Again, Glen Ford and he got two because they are audio with no transcript. There were other nominees but we all agreed to go with Ford for both because CounterSpin doesn't do a weekly transcript (sometimes one interview will appear in the bi-monthly magazine).

A Note to Our Readers -- Jim breaks down the edition.

Editorial: War resistance and war resisters matter... -- I really love this. We were all tired and were actually considering making another feature (about 90% written already) the editorial just to get some sleep. Then C.I. pointed out the obvious, "We haven't written one word about the actions to pressure the Canadian government to grant asylum to war resisters." We hadn't. There was a groan (me, Wally and I think Ty) but we all agreed we needed to do it. So we did. Unlike some people, we did what needed to be done. Even though we were tired. Check your alleged 'independent' media to find out who else did any work.

TV: Cullum's Big B.O. -- I told you on Friday this was going to be something. I told you watching the DVD made Ava and C.I. sick, physically sick. I didn't lie. This is brilliant. Elaine was talking about the tension they create in the writing and I really didn't notice that until she pointed it out but that's true. And probably part of the reason it's such a great read. You've got humor, you've got a stunning critique, you've got everything. Another instant classic from Ava and C.I.

Roundtable -- This wasn't planned. We were supposed to do a book discussion of Naomi Wolf's book. This happened at the last minute. And even though it's strong and has many great parts, for me the big point is that The Nation declared a winner in South Carolina before even 15% of the votes had been counted. That's not journalism.

What doesn't get covered -- We narrowed down our focus to one thing that wasn't getting covered (Iraq related) but we could have gone on and on. This was the piece that, when we were all tired, there was some discussion about just makng it an editorial. It's strong enough to be one.

Smut Merchant of the Week: Matthew Rothschild -- Matthew Rothschild disgraced himself last week. He owes readers and visitors to The Progressive and apology.

The Primary System -- CounterSpin got mentioned in three articles this week and that's becuase it was so strong last Friday. This is about how Michigan and Florida are being punished & bullied among other things.

Ty's beef -- Ty really was about to lose it when that woman kept calling and calling. I didn't realize how much nonsense can get piled up on one person. C.I. suggested we do this as a feature (the woman was calling at like three in the morning or something) and Ty was like, "No, forget it." But Ty was wound like a clock. He was so tense. You could hear it in his voice. And when we did start writing this, you could hear him relax as he just got it out.

Laura Flanders' Blue Grit reissued in new format -- Blue Grit's out in paperback.

Highlights -- Kat, Betty, Rebecca, Cedric, Wally, Elaine and I wrote this and picked the highlights.

Bambi & the Kingpin -- repost of a Wally & Cedric piece using a Joni Mitchell song (which Cedric knows via Tina Turner's new recording of it and which Wally knows the original thanks to his mother).

"Democracy For Who!" -- Repost of Ava and C.I.'s Democracy Now! parody.

Here's who worked on the edition plus Dallas who pulls together the links and more:

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,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
and Wally of The Daily Jot

Now, in a second, you'll get C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot." When you do, you'll see C.I. made a choice to emphasize war resisters. C.I. covers them in every snapshot, true. But C.I. made them the bulk of the snapshot today and just underscored how it could be done even though independent media doesn't. Independent media doesn't give a damn about war resisters and that was really clear when Amy Goodman 'noted' war resisters on Democracy Now! today. She reduced it a headline and not a lead headline. It was the 16th headline. After a lot of nonsense, the kind Goodman's becoming infamous for.

And because she doesn't cover war resistance anymore, she screwed up big time. Here's one sentence, "A group of Iraq War veterans and peace activists protested outside the Canadian Embassy in Washington Saturday calling for the government to allow hundreds of US war resisters to remain in Canada." Uh, no, Amy Goodman. The DC action took place on Friday. Repeating, it took place on Friday. It's reduced to headlines and she can't even get the day right. Do you get how damn little she follows or cares about war resistance?

When you read the snapshot, grasp how easily it would have been for Amy Goodman to have done a full show on war resisters. Instead, they didn't even get a segment. She was too busy going to Indonesia -- mainly to promote herself and to trash Clinton.

She could have talked about things that matter. Instead, she offered a clip fest on Indonesia -- a story we get over and over from the show. One person died and it was time to go to Indonesia again and hear crazy Allan Nairn again. What is it, 142 times he's appeared on the program now? I never need to hear him speak again after he created that "Bambi takes money from big business but just because if he didn't they might attack him" excuse/nonsense. He stopped being a journalist on that day in my book. Just one more Bambi cheerleader. One more liar. Which is too bad because I once liked his work. But journalists are like those cheap t-shirts you buy from a street vendor. They look good for a few washes and then they fall apart.

That's going to be it. Blogger/Blogspot's acting up and I was also watching Bully Boy lie through his teeth during the State of the Union address. And watching Nancy Pelosi make a fool of herself. And really everybody. What was with all that applause. And don't forget Pelosi -- supposed opposition leader -- stood up and forced a standing ovation. It was so disgusting. It was just disgusting.

I thought I was done but C.I. just called to tell me John Edwards (that would be my candidate) has posted a response to the State of the Union speech. I go, "What's it say?" C.I. hasn't seen it, a friend with the campaign called to pass that on. This is "Edwards Response To The State Of The Union Address:"

"The president tonight renewed his call for an economic recovery plan. But the plan he and Congress have offered leaves out tens of millions of Americans who need help the most. This plan would take months to have any impact, and the people I meet everyday on the campaign trail do not have months to wait. These people are hurting now and need this help now. Over the past seven years, typical workers' paychecks have failed to keep up with inflation, millions of families are facing the loss of their homes to foreclosures, health insurance premiums have doubled, and families are spending $1,000 more a year on gasoline. The State of the Union may be interesting political theater, but until we find bold solutions to the challenges facing the country, we will be stuck with the same old small, Washington answers.
"And in the chamber of the House of Representatives where the president speaks, even though this Congress stopped listening to him a while ago, they will still applaud and cheer him. The truth is that Washington is out of touch with what's happening across the country. Between now and January of 2009, Democrats must stand up to this president, stand up for what's right, so he does not continue to forget about the middle class in this country."

Yeah! That's my reaction. In better words. But he summed up exactly what I was thinking watching and that's why he's my candidate, he gets it. He's not trying to talk pretty with a beautiful sermon that carries no weight because it actually has no meaning. He's just calling it like it is.

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

Monday, January 28, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces more deaths, the US and Canada sees support for war resisters, and more.

Starting with war resistance. "Every training that I went through as a US soldier and as a non-commissioned officer was that we had an obligation to refuse illegal order when the time came -- and I knew that the war in Iraq was wrong and I knew that the war in Iraq was illegal -- and I didn't have the courage to stand up for my convictions and say no at the time these young men and women do have that they have that courage of conviction and I think it's something that we should foster and we shouldn't turn our backs on," Iraq Veterans Against the War Geoff Millard explains to Aaron Glantz (The War Comes Home). Supporting war resisters? On Friday, actions took place in the US and on Saturday in Canada to show support for war resisters who had gone to Canada and ask the Canadian Parliament to provide a safe haven for them. Millard was among at least fifty people participating Friday on DC at the Canadian Embassy. The CBC quotes Millard stating, "These war resisters are leaving the U.S. not because they're afraid to fight in a war but because their conscience will not allow them to fight in a war that clearly violates Common Article 3 of the Geneva Accord." Jeff Paterson (here for Indybay Media, here for Courage to Resist) reported on the rally at the San Francisco Canadian Consulate (photos and text) noting Ying Lee, Stephen McNeil were among the many present and that "Pablo Paredes, a former sailor turned Iraq War resister and current GI Rights Hotline counselor, and Mike Wong, a Vietnam War era veteran who chose exile in Canada for five years, hand delivered the letters to Canadian Consul Nadia Scipio Del Campo, Political/Economic Relations and Public Affairs, on behalf of the larger delegation." Paterson's report is pooled with other at Courage To Resist including Gerry Condon who reports from Seattle and notes, "Thanks to all for your great work on this! Regardless of how much media coverage we may or may not get in the U.S., these actions weren't really aimed at people in the U.S. so much as they were aimed at the Canadian government and people, and our brother and sister war resisters. But we have achieved a valuable goal in the U.S. too. This is the first nationally coordinated actions in the U.S. in support of our war resisters in Canada." Condon's more kind regarding the lack of media attention in the US than I am. The reason for the pressure is that November 15th, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the appeals of war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. That most likely means that war resisters not as far in the appeals process (to receive asylum in Canada) would meet the same fate. Hinzman and Hughey were the first public resisters in Canada (during the Iraq War).

Friday Katharine Jarmul (Free Speech Radio News) reported on the day's events.

Katharine Jarmul: War resistance supporters protested today in front of Canadian Embassies in major US cities to push the Canadian government to allow war resisters and their families to stay in Canada. Although some veterans go public with their stories, many other soldiers quietly flee the conflict, going AWOL at bases around the county. According to Army figures, in 2006, the number of desertions broke 3,000. In 2007, 4698 soldiers deserted. The Canadian government was a strong supporter of Vietnam war resistance but the current conservative government offers a much colder response to the fleeing veterans. At least two more veterans are currently facing deportation proceedings in Canada despite their assertion of refugee status as soldiers fleeing what they call an illegal war. Steve Theberge works for the War Resisters League in New York City. He explains the current political climate in Canada.

Steve Theberge: The majority of Canadians, Canadian citizens support letting war resisters stay. Their reception has been very warm. They've been welcomed by the peace and justice community and by folks who live in Canada in general. It's interesting because the Canadian government in many ways is not representing the popular perspective of people across the country.

Katharine Jarmul: Iraq Veterans Against the War was founded in 2004 the organization, made primarily of US service members, calls for immediate withdrawal of troops, reparations for Iraqi citizens and full mental and physical coverage for veterans returning from the war. Jose Vasquez is a board member and president of the New York City chapter. He says veteran war resistance is nothing new to the United States but it does signify a strong critique of the current war

Jose Vasquez: The people that have to live the reality of the policies that are set at the highest level by of government have some real questions about the reasons that we are being given to continue there and also don't see their stories reflected in the mainstream media.

Katharine Jarmul: The Canadian War Resisters Support Campaign has protests and rallies scheduled for Saturday in many cities throughout Canada. The group hopes to support a recent motion by the Canadian Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to allow war resisters and their families to remain in the country. For Free Speech Radio News, this is Katharine Jarmul in Washington, DC.


To the north, Carol Mulligan (The Sudbury Star) focused on war resister Michael Espinal in the lead up to Saturday's actions in Canada and noted that he would be attending the Saturday rally "with his pregnant partner" Jennifer Harrison and that, "Espinal participated in the siege of Fallujah when he was serving with the U.S. military in Iraq. Hundreds of civilians were killed in the attack, and Espinal suffers post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his experience there." Rachel Punch (Sudsbury Star) notes today that the Sudbury rally had approximately 20 people and Reverand David Nicol's speech included this statement, "They had the boldness and the braveness to say 'no' and we need to respect them for that." On Saturday, Caroline Franks of 580 CFRA News Talk Radio noted the rallies taking place to call for safe haven to be granted to US war resisters in Canada.

That's one story and there are many. Sgt. Allen Robert "Robby" Keller explained his journey to Canada in "Sgt. Keller in his own words" (Daytona Beach News-Journal) on Saturday:

I was having an emotional breakdown at work, seeking aide from the combat stress people we had there. I told them of my lack of sleep and loss of appetite. They put me on a med called Seroquel. It was not working for me too well for I was having bad dreams and was unable to focus. During a fire fight, when I was shot at, I froze, which was something that never had happened to me in any of my past engagements. It was not fear, but it was me thinking of my family, it was all that was rushing tough my head. In a few days the preterm problems at home were getting bad. I rushed and traded out my leave dates with another solider and came home earlier. The night I came home in early December, my wife went right into early labor. We went to the hospital in NY. She was only 33 weeks, so they stopped the labor and gave her meds. We went home and enjoyed some time together. We started to have a bit of a falling out, when I told her it was out of my power to go back to Iraq and that I would have to go. She kept telling me she couldn't do it all alone and why should she have to. I told her that I did not want to leave her and the kids. I was very stressed out about our new born son, who had some health concerns; going back to Iraq; finance issues; and just so much was going on in my head. I still was not sleeping or eating right I just did not have the urge.So I went to mental health, where they said that they wanted to treat me further, but could not, due to the nature of my deployment and the fact they could not hold me back unless I was either suicidal or homicidal. So they put me on new meds called "TRAZODONE". The new pills help me sleep more at night, so at this point in the story I'm stuck because I know I have a big issue and that I need to fix it and take back control, but the Army just will not allow it. So what I did was go to my representative for my Unit here in the States and he got a hold of my Commander. I talked to my Commander a few times on the phone and he kept telling me that he understands and that he was on my side with this issues. He believes in family and my well being. My Commander knows me as a person. We have talked several times before and I had even seen him before I left Iraq to tell him about my issues a bit, so this was not a fully new issue to him. At this time I'm doing the right thing. By going to my Chain of Command, and trying to get this all settled the right way. My Commander told me that there was nothing he could do for me except write a letter to the Battalion Commander on my behalf. Witch he did...My wife wanted to be close to family and did not want to be in the States. I really wanted the baby born in the States, but at this time nothing was going my way, so I followed her up to Canada. On Christmas Eve she went in to labor again and on Christmas morning at 6:01 a.m., we had our new baby boy, Grai Jacob William Keller. Christmas night I got a voicemail from my Commander telling me, all that he could advise at this time was for me to get on the plane and head back to Iraq. I was to leave on the December 26th at 5:00 a.m. in the morning. My Commander told me that there was too much going on in Iraq at this time to settle my problem right now and that they would want me to come back and fix it there. I know what they have to offer there and there's nothing to fix me over there, so after spending 2 days in the hospital with my wife and son, I made up my mind that I was not going back. I was staying to be with my family. No matter what.So now I'm AWOL and on the run but to me it is worth it 100%! I've done my time. I fought the battles (and continue to do so every time I fall asleep) and I came home and I'm staying home. The Army can take the hard road, but bring your worst, because I'm not going back to Iraq. As of Jan 26th, 2008, I should be officially marked AWOL. I make myself eat, because I know that I must. I can't stand crowds around me, so shopping for our children, before Christmas was almost impossible. I believe that I'm suffering from undiagnosed post traumatic stress and when you have that, you suffer and so does everyone around you. I've suppressed my issues and as long as I'm awake, I seem to be fine. After much struggle, when I can finally fall asleep, I have hideous dreams that are so real. My wife can't sleep in the same bed as me, because apparently I jerk, talk out loud and moan all night long, so she lays beside me, so that we can cuddle and be close, but when I finally fall asleep, she has to get up and go into the next room. When I wake up in the morning, I follow her into that bed, because I need to feel her beside me again. I need to know that "she" is not just a good dream. I wake up exhausted. I believe that my problems sleeping are caused by a fear of dreaming. My dreams bring me back to Iraq every night.

Along with Robby Keller telling his story, Audrey Parente (Daytona Beach News-Journal) also reported on it, "For the first time in his four-year military career, during his second deployment, Keller was losing control, having an emotional breakdown. He made it safely out of the streets and sought help. He was soon going to be headed home on leave to Holly Hill. He had "aid from the combat stress people" in the form of medication, and surely everything would be OK. While Keller was on leave, his wife went into early labor, and on Christmas Day she had her baby boy in Canada, her native land. Keller was supposed to be away from his post for only a few weeks, but on Dec. 26 things changed. That's when Keller went absent without leave. He hasn't returned to his unit, and as of today he remains in Canada and will be dropped from the rolls at Fort Drum, N.Y., as a deserter and a warrant will be issued for his arrest."

Jenny Yuen (Toronto Sun) focused on two war resisters who were now living in Canada: Jeremy Hinzman and Chuck Wiley. Hinzman spoke to approximately 300 people Saturday at the Bloor Street United Church in Toronto where he explained, "I was trained to be desensitized to humanity. The way you learn to kill is start by shooting weapons and, week by week, they become more human and you don't even realize it." If the Canadian Parliament does not take action, Hinzman fears he could be exiled from Canada within five months. Chuck Wiley served for 17 years in the US military before serving in the Iraq War forced him to self-checkout and go to Canada and declared at the Toronto gathering, "I actually thought we were good guys, helping the world. I learned early on that the truth is never afraid of honest inquiry." AM 640 Toronto notes, "Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae and federal NDP immigration critic Olivia Chow also spoke at the rally."

You can still make your voice heard and three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Robby Keller, Chuck Wiley, 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, Clara 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).


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 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'."

On Sunday, Deborah Sontag and Lizette Alvarez (New York Times) continued their series on veterans returning with PTSD and the effects that has on them and the people around them when they seriously need help and are dealing with a health care system that is falling apart. The reporters focus on Iraq War veteran James Allen Gregg who murdered James Fallis after Fallis and another man beat him at a local hangout (the Pit Stop) which led Gregg to be sentenced to 21 years. In the trrial, Gregg took the stand and was asked didn't the US military build the minds of soldiers? He responded, "Not really. They actually break down your mind. . . . They break down your mind, and then they try to build you back up." "Into a killer?" he was asked and he replied, "Yes." Gregg maintains that his military training kicked in in the lead up to the shooting.

Earlier this month, IVAW's Jen Hogg addressed the claims circulating by some that the New York Times is doing a disservice with this series and distorting veterans, "It's too easy to blame a NYT article or the anti-war movement. It is also false. In March Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) will be conducting the Winter Soldier testimony for just this type of reason, to show that service in the military can lead to things you may not agree with but it is imperative that we understand the service members who do them are influenced by the military itself and are most often not 'bad apples'. It is high time we start looking at our military policy instead of blaming those on the ground who are just doing their job. Left, right, conservative, liberal and everything else if you care about the troops you want to make sure they are able to work in the most just situation possible. Winter Soldier aims to show just how unjust the rules have been made. Any person who actually cares about the troops will want to see the issues that the NYT article brings up addressed and resolved. Recently one family of a woman murdered by a combat Marine stated that they don't want to see the man who murdered their daughter, the father of their two grand children, to use his military experience as an excuse for his actions. It's unfortunate that ones military experience is being used in the justice system to put a family through more pain as a senseless murder turns into a blameless one as well. This is where I have the biggest problem with those who downplay the NYT article as 'smearing' the troops. I believe there are two aspects to these crimes, the lead-up and the punishment. I think it is disgusting and utterly reprehensible for anyone to say that it is a smear campaign to research the pain that veterans are going through in order to attempt to find ways to stop the taking of life once they are off the battlefield." Hogg writes at length on the topic, that's just an excerpt.

Over the weekend, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorialized on the topic of Bully Boy's attempt to circumvent Congress and the Constitution and ensare US forces in Iraq for many years to come noting very clearly that the administration was utilizing "slyly edited statements, woven to obscure their true meaning and aim: What's being crafted is a treaty" and suggesting the people "Imagine what this will mean for the next adminstration: A pre-packaged deal, leaving our military stuck in Iraq for decades to come, to guard against 'external threats' -- which external threats are they talking about?" In other news, The Iraqi Diplomates Association has issued an urgent appeal to the International Committee of the Red Cross:

The Iraqi sectarian Government established under the US occupation is about to agree with the occupying power to transfer all Iraqi prisoners of war (POW) and detainees held in the Baghdad International Airport prison from US authority to its authority. This information was confirmed by the American airport prison authority who informed the defense lawyers of Iraqi POW that beginning with 31 March 2008 it will relinquish the responsibility of their safety during their visits to the prison .This means that the handover is imminent, and a new carnage is about to take place, similar to that when president Saddam Hussein and his comrades were handed over to the same sectarian Government and its Militias. The International public opinion witnessed the mockery of law of the illegal Iraqi High Criminal Court .In addition to its illegal status, the court lacks the minimum conditions for fair trial .This illegal Court was established mainly to revenge Iraqi legitimate leadership and to propagate the sectarianism and ethnic cleansing in Iraq . Iraqi POW and detainees could also face summary execution and dropped in the streets of Baghdad as (unidentified tortured and killed bodies). The ICRC has a permanent mandate to take impartial action to uphold International Humanitarian Law , supervise its implementation, denounce its violations ,and endeavors to stop these violations .The ICRC is well aware that United Nations Security Council Resolution 1546(2004), which pretended the end of US occupation of Iraq , was a flagrant violation of the International Law. Iraq is still under the rule of the occupying power. Thus, the rules of the International Humanitarian Law are still applicable to the Iraqi POW and detainees in US detention centers. Article 118 of Third Geneva Convention of 1949 stipulates that (Prisoners of war shall be released and repatriated without delay after the cessation of active hostilities.). The US declared the end of its military operations in Iraq the first of May 2003. Furthermore, the US did not announce any judicial prosecution on Iraqi PWO during their detention, which could justify the continuation of their detention.



Last week, the bulk of the media was pimping Iraq's "new" flag as a sign of progress. One exception was Leila Fadel (Baghdad Observer, McClatchy Newspapers) who noted, "The latest version of the Iraq flag, which is to be raised across the nation and in Iraq embassies immediately, is temporary. . . . it is another band-aid solution. The constitution requires that the parliament pass a new law to pick a flag for Iraq and a national anthem. . . . In technical terms Iraq still has no flag and no anthem. Little has been decided that lasts in Iraq. The heads of political blocs put the problem off for another year. In a year maybe the problem will again be solved at a later date." Over the weekend, Fadel and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) followed up on the topic noting, "Officials in Iraq's mostly Sunni Muslim Anbar province are refusing to raise Iraq's new national flag, which the parliament approved earlier this week. . . . Although parliament speaker Mahmoud al Mashhadani said the new flag would be raised immediately across Iraq after the parliament approved it Tuesday, it's nowhere to be seen. In fact, when the parliament met Wednesday, the old flag was still behind the speaker and his two deputies."

This as CBS and AP report, "Facing criticism that the Iraqi government has failed to take advantage of the lull in violence to make political progress, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki threatened to form a new government if ministers from the main Sunni bloc refused to end a boycott of his Cabinet. Six Sunni Arab ministers quit al-Maliki's government in August to protest his perceived Shiite bias, but the main Sunni Accordance Front raised hopes it could reconsider the decision after the Iraqi parliament approved a law that would open the way for low-ranking members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to reclaim government posts and pensions." The puppet of the occupation, al-Maliki, is threatening a new cabinet and he's actually made that threat before, mere months ago, in fact. This is the puppet who was installed with the promise that he would assemble a cabinet quickly and push through the theft of Iraqi oil legislation the US government wanted. It still hasn't worked out that way. In April of 2006 he was made puppet and had one promise after another as the world waited and waited for him to assemble a cabinet. When he finally did it was mere months before ministers began leaving the cabinet. Meanwhile BBC reports that the truce Moqtada al-Sadr had agreed to (widely credited with cutting down on attacks) is "due to expire at the end of February" and al-Sadr's "allies" are stating "that they had urged him to follow through on threats not to extend a ceasefire . . . They are angry at the continued pursuit by US and Iraqi forces of so-called rogue elements not observing the ceasefire." CNN reports today that the Central Bank in Baghdad caught fire today and "spread to three floors of the five-sotry structure".

On Sunday, the Iraqi Red Crescent released a report on last week's Mosul bombing (Wednesday) noting that the death toll was much higher than reported. The report [PDF format warning] is entitled "Zanjili Incident -- Ninawa Governorate" which opens, "The violent actions in Iraq continues as more than 60 people were killed and 280 wounded in a massive bomb attack on Wednesday 23 January 2008, at 4:30 pm. The attack destroyed a building and adjacent houses in Zanjili area in Mosul, Iraq's third main city and capital of Ninawa governorate. The Zanjili area lies 3 km to the west of Mosel city center. The residents of the Zanjili area are mainly destitute families. The attack led to the destruction of at least 100 houses. Initial statistics reported the killing of 28 people, as 28 dead bodies were registered at the Forensic Medicine department. But many families had buried their killed relatives immediately after the attack without getting them registered. This had brought the estimate of the number of killed people to 60; most of them were children, women and elderly." On Wednesday the little covered by Little Media bombing was already known to have killed at least 15. By Thursday, the toll was being placed at 40. As noted Thursday night, "The Iraq War hasn't stopped. A real independent media would be covering it. They'd be covering the 'Awakening' Councils, they'd be refuting the 'success' of the escalation. They'd damn well be noting that a bombing in Mosul yesterday resulted in 40 deaths and 220 wounded. Instead, they want to 'cover' the campaigns." The death toll is now at 60.

Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that claimed 3 lives and left ten wounded and a Basra roadside bombing that claimed 2 lives -- "seucrity guards . . . who work for 'Heart' which is responsible for transferring generators from Kuwait to Iraq."

Shootings?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an armed clash in Anbar Province that resulted in 1 death, Tariq Bdr Al-Deen.

Corpses?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 corpses discovered in Baghdad.

Today the US military announced: "Coalition Force Soldiers were conducting a mounted patrol in Ninewah Jan. 28 when insurgents detonated an improvised explosive device, killing five Soldiers. Insurgents attacked the other Soldiers in the patrol with small fire from a nearby mosque." Paul Tait and Wisam Mohammed (Reuters) note the five deaths made the bombing "one of the deadliest single attacks against American forces in months." Kim Gamel and Qassim Abdul-Zahra (AP) state it was "a daring ambush" where, following the bombing, assailants "showered survivors with gunfire from a mosque" and note that the deadliest day for the US military this year was January 9th. That's when the US military announced: ""Six Multi-National Division -- North Soldiers were killed by a house born improvised explosive device while conducting operations in Diyala Jan. 9. Additionally, four MND-N Soldiers were injured in the explosion and evacuated to a Coalition Forces' hospital." Haroon Siddique (Guardian of London) observes, "Today's fatalities come before President George Bush's final state of the union address, when he is expected to emphasise recent security gains in Iraq." Sunday the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier was killed Jan. 26 while conducting a dismounted patrol near Kadamiyah when an improvised explosive device detonated." And they announced (also Sunday): "A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier was killed Jan. 27 when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive devise in northeastern Baghdad. " ICCC's current total for the month thus far is 36 with 3940 being the number for US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war. Since Sunday January 20th, the US military has announced 13 deaths.


















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Friday, January 25, 2008

Margaret Kimberley, Marjorie Cohn

It's Friday! :D

Starting with a tip. C.I. is puking. You do not want to miss their TV commentary Sunday. They watched that and I came in on a break from the Iraq study group and they were yelling at the computer (they were watching a disc a friend burned for them) and as it was winding down, C.I. said, "That show made me sick." And wasn't joking. They both had a very violent reaction to that crap, that right-wing crap that airs on a PBS station. Ava's gone in search of Pepto Bismol for herself and I'm not joking about this. They are sickened by what they watched. You do not want to miss their commentary on Sunday. (Ava said, "If I've ever been that the writers were on strike, it's right now because I had to watch that s**t.") From the host's voice (I only caught the last of it and it was pretty frightening), it's a program from the south but I don't know where in the south. This is the program Jim mentioned in his "A Note to Our Readers" and, as C.I. said tonight, "We knew it was going to be bad from the cover note but we had no idea it was going to be this bad."


Elaine's ticked off, read her tonight. I'm following her lead in removing a link in the snapshot (for the same reasons). Speaking of strong women, this is from Margaret Kimberley's "Why We Write About Obama:"

In the week before the Nevada caucuses Barack Obama responded to our critics for us. If the stakes were not so high, we might exult in saying, "We told you so." The dangers presented by an Obama presidency are becoming clearer every day, and that is no reason for celebration.
In an editorial board meeting with the Reno Gazette-Journal, Obama said the following about Ronald Reagan:
"I do think that for example the 1980 election was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."
Not only did Obama praise Reagan, but he used racist, conservative code words from the GOP play book to do it. Obama's supporters should be the first to ask him what he believes to be the "excesses of the 60s and 70s." Does he think the Voting Rights Act was an excess? What about the Civil Rights Act? Were the protests against the Vietnam War excessive? What about Fair Housing legislation, was it all too much for the Republic to handle? Was abortion legalization an excess?
Obama's very vocal fans should speak up. Their candidate is praising the right wing rollback of civil rights. Do they think the 60s and 70s were full of excess? If so, what were those excesses? If they don't agree with Obama, will they say so? What does this statement portend for the policies of an Obama administration? It is past time for the love fest to end, and hard questioning to begin.

Let's stick with strong women, this is from National Lawyers Guild president Marjorie Cohn's "Senate Poised to Capitulate to Cheney’s Fear-Mongering:"

After a January 24 debate in the Senate on amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the Senate appears ready to capitulate once again to the Bush administration’s agenda of sacrificing liberty for questionable security.
On the day before Congress was slated to take up this issue, Dick Cheney addressed the Heritage Foundation, the most influential right-wing think tank. He was given a thunderous reception, to which he quipped, "I hold an office that has only one constitutional duty - presiding over the Senate and casting tie-breaking votes." But the most powerful vice president in this nation's history was about to strong-arm Congress into doing the administrations' bidding.
Invoking the memory of September 11, 2001 twelve times, Cheney said it was "urgent" that Congress update the FISA law immediately and permanently. Notwithstanding the administration's well-known violations of FISA months before 9/11, Cheney claimed they had used "every legitimate tool at our command to protect the American people against another attack." He omitted the illegal tools the administration has admitted using, that is, Bush's so-called "Terrorist Surveillance Program" and a massive data mining program. FISA makes it a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison, for the executive to conduct a wiretap without statutory authorization. The TSP has been used to target not just the terrorists, but also critics of administration policies, particularly the war in Iraq.
Although Cheney repeatedly linked amending FISA with protecting America, there is no evidence Bush's secret spying program has made us any safer. Indeed, in 2006, the Washington Post reported that nearly all of the thousands of Americans' calls that had been intercepted revealed nothing pertinent to terrorism. About the same time, the New York Times quoted a former senior federal prosecutor, who described tips from intelligence officials involved in the surveillance. "The information was so thin and the connections were so remote, that they never led to anything, and I never heard any follow-up," he said.

Cheney demands and Congress gives. They're like weaklings forking over their lunch money each day. Rebecca's started blogging (the Iraq study group is over) and she's next to me. She just found an article I'm pulling up right now. Okay, this is from AP's "Link to man in scandal goes back years:"

The Democratic presidential hopeful also has been forced to explain how Rezko got tangled in the purchase of the Obama family home and other ties to Rezko, some of them going back more than 15 years. If federal prosecutors are right, his ties to Rezko may even mean Obama's campaign unwittingly accepted money generated by illegal activities.
Obama, who has a spotless reputation after 11 years in public offices, has been accused of no wrongdoing involving Rezko or anyone else.
Nevertheless, the first-term U.S. senator seemingly missed plentiful warning signs that Rezko was headed for trouble with the law.
"The senator exhibited some bad judgment in continuing the relationship once it became clear that Tony Rezko had such serious clouds overhead," said Cindi Canary, director of the nonpartisan Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.

That's it. I'm tired. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Friday, January 25, 2008. Chaos and violence continue in Iraq, actions gear up in support of war resisters in Canada, the US military announces another death, Glen Ford offers a look at coded terms in the political races, the treaty that would tie the US and Iraq together (in combat) for years, and more.

Starting with war resistance. Candace Hechman (Seattle Post Intelligencer) notes that Project Safe Haven is staging a "vigil in front of the Canadian consulate in downtown Seattle to plead that AWOL Iraq veterans be allowed to remain in sanctuary in the Great White North" and quotes Gerry Condon explaining, "Canada has a rich tradition of providing sanctuary to those who conscientiously refused to fight in war. Now it is time for the Canadian government to do the right thing, before it's too late."

What's Condon referring to? On November 15th, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the appeals of war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Parliament is the solution. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. Both War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist are calling for actions. The War Resisters Support Campaign has more on the action in Canada:

The War Resisters Support Campaign has called a pan-Canadian mobilization on Saturday, January 26th, 2008 to ensure : 1) that deportation proceedings against U.S. war resisters currently in Canada cease immediately; and 2) that a provision be enacted by Parliament ensuring that U.S. war resisters refusing to fight in Iraq have a means to gain status in Canada. For listings of local actions, see our Events page. If you are able to organize a rally in your community, contact the Campaign -- we will list events as details come in.

Courage to Resist notes:

Join and support January 25 vigils and delegations in support of U.S. war resisters currently seeking sanctuary Canada. Actions are being planned in Washington D.C., New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Supporters will meet with officials at Canadian Consulates across the United States in order underscore that many Americans hope that the Canadian Parliament votes (possible as early as February) in favor of a provision to allow war resisters to remain. Download and distribute Jan. 25-26 action leaflet (PDF).Supporting the war resisters in Canada is a concrete way to demonstrate your support of the troops who refuse to fight. Help end the war by supporting the growing GI resistance movement today!
Details January 25-26 actions/events in support of U.S. war resisters.
Sign the letter "Dear Canada: Let U.S. War Resisters Stay!" and encourage others to sign.
Organize a delegation to a Canadian Consulate near you .
Host an event or house-party in support of war resisters.

War resister Patrick Hart states, "It's great that people all across Canada and the US are coming out to show support for the war resisters. My family could be told we have to go back to the States anytime now. We just want to be able to live here in peace and raise our son, Rian. We hope that the politicians will let us do that." Among the actions taking place in Canada on Saturday the 26th:

* Toronto at the Bloor Street United Church, 300 Bloor St. West, beginning at 1:00 p.m. and will feature, among others, activist and actress Shirley Douglas, Lawrence Hill (co-author of The Deserter's Tale with Joshua Key) and Member of Parliament Olivia Chow who has led on the issue of war resisters from early on.

*Saskaton at Frances Morrison Library Theatre, 311 23rd Street East, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in which Joshua Key will be the featured speaker, Navdeep Sidhu and Friends will provide music and Michelle Mason's documentary on war resisters () will be shown.

*Vancouver at the main branch of Vancouver Public Library (Georgia and Homer), starting at 1:00 p.m., and featuring IVAW's Ash Woolson and Canadian MP Bill Siksay.

A full list of Canadian actions can be found here.

War resister Brad McCall will speak in Saturday at Fairfield United Church Hall in Victoria (1303 Fairfield Road) starting at 10:00 am, along with MP Denise Savoie. McCall explains his story in "From the U.S. Army to Canada: a resister's journey" (The Rabble) "One Sergeant explained how he shot a man in an alleyway just for being out after dark. He expressed how easy it was to kill "hajjis" once you did it for the first time. I listened as one soldier told how a specialist in my unit kept a human finger in his wall locker during his entire tour of duty. The laughing ensued as I heard the story of a soldier in another company eating the charred flesh of an Iraqi civilian, the unfortunate victim of an IED attack aimed at American forces. I thought about how callous these men had become, and how horrified I was at the idea of disrespecting human life in such a manner. This is when doubt began to flood my mind."

Laura Kaminker (writing at Common Dreams) observes, "In discussing this issue with supposedly progressive Americans, I was shocked - and frankly disgusted - to learn that some people who oppose the war in Iraq do not support the war resisters' cause. Their argument: 'If they didn't join in the first place, there wouldn't be a war!' This strikes me as both extremely naive and horribly selfish. Many of us were fortunate to grow up in homes where questioning authority was encouraged, where dissent and protest were a way of life - not to mention in families that could afford higher education and health care. If you cannot imagine what kind of background might lead someone to enlist in the US military, I again recommend The Deserter's Tale. But even if we never would have made such a choice, do we want to see people who have experienced such a radical change of mind punished for their beliefs? Isn't this the very change of heart that we wish to instill in others? And most importantly, should a person be imprisoned for refusing to kill?"

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, Clara 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).


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 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'."

In the United States yesterday the Green Party issued a call "on Americans who oppose the Iraq War to rebuff an agreement among pro-Democratic 'antiwar' lobbies to scale back pressure to end the war." IVAW's Jason Wallace, running as a Green for the US House of Representatives from Illinois 11th District, is quoted stating, "MoveOn.org, Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, and other groups have decided that passing legislation in Congress that does nothing to end the war makes their favorite Democratic candidates look better than demanding action to end the war quickly. The big myth of the 2008 election is that Democrats are the antiwar candidates. In reality, a vote for a Democrat is a vote for a longer occupation in Iraq and possibly a war with Iran." Earlier this month PR Watch explained that "Ryan Grim reports that the biggest and best-funded organizations in the liberal peace movement, primarily MoveOn and the groups in its Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (AAEI) coalition, are no longer advocating that Congress end the war. This year "the groups instead will lower their sights and push for legislation to prevent President Bush from entering into a long-term agreement with the Iraqi government that could keep significant numbers of troops in Iraq for years to come. ... The groups believe this switch in strategy can draw contrasts with Republicans that will help Democrats gain ground in November." The Green Party also quotes Titus North who is running for the US House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 14th district stating, "Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both said they'd maintain a permanent US military presence in Iraq with only a limited draw-down of combat troops that could then be redeployed 'just over the horizon.' This military misadventure is not in the best interests of Americans or Iraqis and only benefits the oil and weapons industries. Groups like MoveOn that divert the energies of peace activists towards Democrat candidates who fail to push for a prompt and total withdrawal only undermine the peace movement and advance the war agenda. Voters need genuine peace candidates like thos from the Green Party." Bob Kinsey, who is running for the US Senate out of Colorado, explains, "The position of Green candidates is that we are not willing to accept any more dying by violence -- American or otherwise. It has been the willingness of US military policy to accept collateral damage in the hundreds of thousands and forcing people to live under governments of our choosing, which drives hostility towards us and decreases our own security. The recent statement by NATO leaders urging maintenance of a first strike nuclear policy is one more example of a dangerous position that has been supported by both Republicans and Democrats." July tenth through thirteenth is when the Green Party will be holding their National Nominating Convention in Chicago. Click here for the Green Party News Center, here for a database of Green candidates, here for video of the Green presidential candidates and of course, if it's Green news, Kimberly Wilder (On The Wilder Side) is probably posting about it. The Green Party has scheduled another presidential candidate forum for February 2nd at Busboys & Poets in DC (14th and V Streets) at ten in the morning -- Jesse Johnson and Kent Mesplay are confirmed to appear others may or may not. More info click here. This will be their second presidential forum for the 2008 election. Meanwhile, Glen Ford (Black Agenda Report) observes that the same exclusion practiced in the Democratic debates "will happen to the Green Party -- which, if they have any sense at all, will nominate former Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney as their standard bearer. But only those who keep up with such things will be aware that the Greens have a candidate" as a result of the media blackout.

Having ignored a real issue all week, it's not pretty when people try to play catch up. Today, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) declared during headlines, "The New York Times is reporting the Bush administration plans to insist the Iraqi government agree to effectively extend the legal immunity enjoyed by foreign contractors operating inside Iraq. The demand is one of several expected from the White House as it negotiates an extension of its UN-backed occupation mandate set to expire at the end of the year."

NO! There are mistakes already but we're not going further after that one. This isn't "an extension of its UN-backed occupation." The United Nations is being written out of the picture. How you fail to grasp that, I don't know. But this isn't a new topic and we've covered and re-covered it for nearly two months now. There is no extension of the UN mandate. That's the whole point of what is going on, to escape the minor guidelines imposed by the United Nations. al-Maliki ignored the Iraqi Parliament and renewed the mandate for one last year -- he says it's the last year -- which would carry the illegal war through December 2008 (and the UN ignored that he didn't have the authority to renew it by himself). The White House and their Baghdad puppet are now attempting to sidestep the UN's 'oversight' and enter into a treaty which would bind the US to Iraq for many years to come. Back to Goodman, "Democrats are demanding congressional oversight over what it says amounts to a full-on treaty. The White House also wants to expand the immunity for all U.S. military and extend its authority to hold Iraqi prisoners." No, it's not just the Democrats. There are Republicans wanting Congressional oversight as well. Now, believe it or not, the big issue isn't the contractors. The biggest issue is that it's a treaty and the Congress is bypassed. So is the Iraqi parliament and, Goodman, they're objecting too. So are legal scholars. That headline was no help at all and just demonstrated that you can't rush in after ignoring an important topic and dispense with it in a few sentences. This wasn't even the lead headline. Bully Boy's attempting to circumvent the Constitution and, if he does, he will tie US forces to Iraq far beyond his departure from the White House.

Here's how Charlie Savage (Boston Globe) explains it today:

President Bush's plan to forge a long-term agreement with the Iraqi government that could commit the US military to defending Iraq's security would be the first time such a sweeping mutual defense compact has been enacted without congressional approval, according to legal specialists.After World War II, for example - when the United States gave security commitments to Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and NATO members - Presidents Truman and Eisenhower designated the agreements as treaties requiring Senate ratification. In 1985, when President Ronald Reagan guaranteed that the US military would defend the Marshall Islands and Micronesia if they were attacked, the compacts were put to a vote by both chambers of Congress.By contrast, Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki have already agreed that a coming compact will include the United States providing "security assurances and commitments" to Iraq to deter any foreign invasion or internal terrorism by "outlaw groups." But a top White House official has also said that Bush does not intend to submit the deal to Congress.

Goodman's mistake is in citing the New York Times which always supports the State Department (regardless of who is in the Oval Office) and sent the clean up crew of Thom Shanker and Steven Lee Myer to 'cover' the story today. They accept the premise that the treaty is fine but there's a sticky point -- those pesky contractors. That's like arguing the only problem with the illegal war is that white phosphorus is used. Peter Spiegel and Julian E. Barnes (Los Angeles Times) do a little better job than Shanker and Myer and note US Senator Hillary Clinton spoke out against the treaty in Monday's Democratic presidential debate.

Hillary Clinton: We don't know what we're going to inherent from President Bush, but there is a big problem looming on the horizon that we had better pay attention to, and that is President Bush is intent upon negotiating a long-term agreement with Iraq which would have permanent bases, permanent troop presence. And he claims he does not need to come to the United States Congress to get permission, he only needs to go to the Iraqi parliament. That is his stated public position. He was recently in the region, and it is clear that he intends to push forward on this to try to bind the United States government and his successor to his failed policy. I have been strongly opposed to that. We should not be planning permanent bases and long-term troop commitments. Obvioulsy, we've got to rein in President Bush. And I've proposed legislation and I know that members of the Congressional Black Caucus are looking at this, as well. We need legislation in a hurry which says, "No, Mr. Bush, you are the president of the United States of America. You cannot bind our country without coming to the United States Congress." This is a treaty that would have to be presented and approved, and it will not be.

Charlie Savage notes, "The New York senator has filed legislation that would block the expenditure of funds to implement any agreement with Iraq that was not submitted to Congress for approval. Her rival, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, became a cosponsor to the bill on Tuesday." As the true dean of the DC press corps, Helen Thomas (Boston Channel), notes, "Congress should keep Bush from making commitments concerning Iraq that could tie the hands of his successor and trap the next president in his pointless war. In responde to my question, deputy White House press secreatry Tony Fratto said Bush had not signed any documents to keep the war going, but he added that work is under way on an agreement to cement the U.S. relationship with Iraq." Lane Lambert (Sandwich Broadsider) notes, "U.S. Rep. William Delahunt is sounding the alarm about a new U.S.-Iraq security agreement that he says could bind this country to an unprecedented, possibly unconstitutional, commitment of American military force" and quotes Delahunt declaring, "This is one of the most significant foreign policy decisions that will be made this year or next year. If this doesn't rise to the level of a treaty, I don't know what does."

As noted in yesterday's snapshot Hoshyar Zebari (Iraq's Foreign Minister) is already calling it a treaty. Patrick Cockburn (Independent of London) reports on Zebari today and notes, "The Iraqi leaders are eager to sign by July a bilateral treaty with the US which would in effect determine who rules Iraq." Treaty. Ali Gharib (IPS) notes that Brookings Boy Mikey O'Hanlon thinks Congress has no say -- and we all know what a liar and war cheerleader O'Hanlon is. Brian Beutler (Mother Jones) notes the legal scholars that testified at Delahunt's subcommittee hearing Wednesday, "If covered within a treaty, Congress could block the president from making this sort of agreement with Maliki. But without one the president could provide similar assurances informally, leaving the future president -- Democrat or Republican -- in a tricky diplomatic position if he or she decides not to honor Bush's promise. Testifying on Wednesday, [conservative AEI's Michael] Rubin noted that any guarantee that U.S. troops would defend Iraqi territory would demand a treaty."

On US politics, Tom Hayden (writing at the San Francisco Chronicle) points out that the Democratic candidates for president (Clinton, Obama and John Edwards) have not been pinned down and that "combat troops" does not equal "all troops," "To sum up, if all American combat troops ever are withdrawn, there still will remain 50,000 to 100,000 Americans involved in a low-visibility, dirty war in Iraq, just like those that involved death squads in Central American in the '70s, or the earlier Phoenix program in South Vietnam, in which the Viet Cong infrastructure was decimated by assassinations and torture. Top American advisers in Baghdad today operated the El Salvador counter-insurgency and have praised the Phoenix program. This, in fact, already is happening. The Baghdad regime is described by a source in the Baker-Hamilton report as a Shiite dictatorship. The recent lessening of violence in Baghdad largely is due to the ethnic cleansing of its Sunni population. At least 50,000 detainees are imprisoned today without charges or trial dates. The United States is paying Sunnis to fight Sunnis, funding the Shiite-dominated security forces, and has increased its bombardment from the air by fivefold since last year."

Let's turn to some of today's violence and it's Friday which means very little gets reported.

Bombings?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded a police officer and a civilian and a Diyala Province roadside bombing claimed 1 life and left another person wounded.

Shootings?Reuters reports US collaborators in the 'Awakening' Council in Samarra shot two people while outside Falluja they teamed up with the Iraqi police to shoot one person and leave another injured.

Corpses?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 corpses discovered in Saidiyah.

Today the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division - Center Soldier died Jan. 25 of noncombat related causes." ICCC's total currently stands at 3932 US service members killed in Iraq while serving in the illegal war.

On this week's CounterSpin, Peter Hart spoke with Black Agenda Report's Glen Ford addressed the issue of candidate Barack Obama (Ford is not a Hillary supporter and notes the two are siamese twins).

Glen Ford: He has garnered White support at the expense of Black folks. Now he has done this in so many ways I've had to pare it down. But here are two. He said in Selma that Blacks have already come 90% of the way to equality with the inference of course that if he gets to be president we will have come all the way. Of course that's a signal to White people that this is almost over -- all this talk about race, all these 'complaints' from the likes of and they always fill in the blanks -- Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. 'But I'm with you, it's almost over, the progress has been almost completed.' That is so blatantly an appeal to White folks who just don't want to hear about race. If it had come out of White man's mouth, Barack Obama would have been excoriated by Black people. And now, most recently, in fact, effectively, he praised the Republicans for their ideas in the 90s and on Ronald Reagan. And he talks about all the excesses of the 60s and 70s. I have never heard a more blantant code phrase than that. Which, of course, again, if it had come out of a White Democrat's mouth, that candidate would be persona non grata in all progressive quarters of the Democratic Party. So Obama is in a very real sense -- and he's been doing this from the beginning -- running a campaign on race but one that's appealing to White people.

On the campaigns quickly, Taylor Marsh is covering everything but there's a problem for some with her site loading -- if you're checking out one post at her site, this one will give you the basics today including Matt Lauer's nonsense and it has a video clip.


















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