latest news on corey glass

rebecca here posting this with mike's permission. there's a big development in corey glass' case. he is a u.s. war resister in canada. below is c.i.'s morning entry in full with the news.

Corey Glass is not AWOL, is not a deserter

In a dramatic development for US war resister Corey Glass, currently residing in Canada, there are no charges against him. May 21st was when Corey Glass was told he would be deported. Corey Glass is an Iraq War veteran and a US war resister. He went to Canada seeking asylum -- the kind of welcoming Canada provided to war resisters ("draft dodgers" and "deserters") during Vietnam. After being told he was being deported, he's been 'extended' through July 10th. June 3rd Canada's House of Commons voted (non-binding motion) in favor of Canada being a safe harbor for war resisters. Today is when Russell Goldman (ABC News) reports the development. In "Canada Ready to Deport U.S. Deserters," Goldman reveals:

Unbeknownst to him and his legion of supporters, Glass, 25, was actually discharged from the U.S. Army shortly after he went AWOL in 2006.
Glass and about 40 other American deserters who like him sought refugee status have prompted a national debate in Canada that last month reached the floor of Parliament on where to draw the line between cowardice and conscience.
"I had absolutely no idea that I had been discharged," said Glass when ABC News informed him of his status. "This is insane. This is so weird. There are no warrants? No one is looking for me?"
According to U.S. Army documents and officials Glass was discharged from the California National Guard on Dec. 1, 2006, four months after he arrived in Canada and six months after he failed to show up to a required muster.

Army Major Nathan Banks is quoted stating the US military does not consider Glass AWOL or a deserter, there are no charges against him, he is out of the military.

The development (similar developments happened during Vietnam) comes as polls show huge support in Canada for US war resisters. From Jason Buckland's "Don't turf Iraq war deserters, poll says" (Toronto Sun):

Three in five Canadians favour giving U.S. soldiers resisting the Iraq War a chance to stay in Canada as permanent residents, a new poll said yesterday.
Results from the nation-wide Angus Reid survey showed 64% of Canadians support war objectors seeking refuge north of the border.
"I think Canadians were opposed to the Iraq War from the start," said Lee Zaslofsky, national co-ordinator for the War Resister Support Campaign (WRSC).
"The fact that it has dragged on so long -- is in shambles, really -- I think Canadians understand why someone would want to stop fighting for that kind of cause in that kind of place."

The news today includes a shocker for many reporters. Ebony Horton, whom we called out in May, and others quick to swallow, should damn well pay attention. Sarah Childress (Newsweek) reports, "The number of active-duty soldiers who deserted the Army last year is higher than previously reported -- at 3,301, the military said last week. (The Army said the original figure was tallied incorrectly.) Deserters are branded after abandoning their posts without permission for 30 days. The tally is hardly at Vietnam War levels, but it's still significant for an all-volunteer military."

As Rebecca noted Friday, we are discussing how to cover the illegal war at Third and this news about Glass actually jumps a planned angle for Sunday. What's happened isn't surprising historically. Corey Glass should inquire about his IRR status before attempting to visit or return to the US. For Glass and for others, action is still needed. So planned actions should continue such as Canada's War Resister Support Campaign calling for a "NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION, Wednesday July 2nd" -- that's today:

STOP THE DEPORTATION OF U.S. WAR RESISTER COREY GLASS

On July 2nd…
CALL MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION DIANE FINLEY!

Details

U.S. Iraq War resister Corey Glass is still facing deportation on July 10th, despite the Parliament of Canada having voted in favour of a motion to let Corey and other U.S. war resisters stay.

The federal government and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration must respect the will of Parliament and implement the motion which calls on the government to "immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members […] to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and … the government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions … against such individuals."

On July 2nd, the War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on all supporters to call Minister Diane Finley and ask her to:
• STOP deportation proceedings against Corey Glass and all U.S. Iraq war resisters; and
• IMPLEMENT the motion adopted by Canada’s Parliament to allow U.S. Iraq war resisters to apply for permanent resident status.

Here are the numbers to call:
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley
613.996.4974

MP Diane Finley's constituency office (Simcoe):
519.426.3400

Or email her at:
minister@cic.gc.ca
or
finled1@parl.gc.ca

* * *

It is more urgent than ever that we send a message to the Canadian government that Canada needs to welcome US men and women who refuse to participate in the illegal and immoral war in Iraq. There are three actions you can take today to help support the war resisters.

• Sign the petition in support of the war resisters;
• Contact the federal government and make your views known; and
• Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.

Petition
Add your name to the petition calling for the federal government to implement a provision to allow war resisters to stay in Canada. Initial signatories include June Callwood, David Suzuki, Maude Barlow, Shirley Douglas, Naomi Klein, Ann-Marie MacDonald, and many others.
Please download a copy of the petition, sign it, circulate it and return it to the campaign.

Write a letter to the editor
Letters to the editor are an important piece of the public debate on this issue. The majority of Canadians opposed the war in Iraq and support the provision of sanctuary for US soldiers. Send a copy of your letter to the campaign to resisters@sympatico.ca.



And, in the US, Courage to Resist is planning "July 9th actions at Canadian Consulates nationwide:"

Join a vigil and delegation to a Canadian consulate near you on Wednesday, July 9th to support war resisters! On the eve of Corey Glass' possible deportation, we will demand, "Dear Canada: Abide by the June 3rd resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" More details and cities to be confirmed soon!

Washington DC - Time TBA - 501 Pennsylvania Ave NW (map). Sponsored by Veterans for Peace. Info: TBA
San Francisco - Noon to 1pm - 580 California St (map). Sponsored by Courage to Resist. Info: 510-488-3559; courage(at)riseup.net
Seattle - Time TBA - 1501 4th Ave (map). Sponsored by Project Safe Haven. Info: 206-499-1220; projectsafehaven(at)hotmail.com
Dallas - Time TBA - 750 North St Paul St (map). Sponsored by North Texas for Justice and Peace. Info: 214-718-6362; hftomlinson(at)riseup.net
New York City - Noon to 1pm - 1251 Avenue of the Americas (map). Sponsored by War Resisters' League. Info: 212-228-0450; wrl(at)warresisters.org
Philadelphia - Time TBA - 1650 Market St (map). Sponsored by Payday Network. Info: 215-848-1120; payday(at)paydaynet.org
Minneapolis - Time TBA - 701 Fourth Ave S (map). Info: TBA
Los Angeles - Noon to 1pm - 550 South Hope St (map). Sponsored by Progressive Democrats LA. Info: pdlavote(at)aol.com
Help organize a vigil at one of these other Canadian Consulates: Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Anchorage, Houston, Raleigh, Phoenix, or San Diego. Please contact Courage to Resist at 510-488-3559.
Veterans for Peace issued a joint call with Courage to Resist and Project Safe Haven for July 9th vigils at Canadian Consulates: "Dear Canada: Do Not Deport U.S. War Resisters!" Contact us if you can help organize a vigil, or can otherwise get involved. Locations of the 22 Canadian Consulates in the United States.
Recently on June 3rd the Canadian Parliament passed an historic motion to officially welcome war resisters! It now appears, however, that the Conservative government may disregard the motion.
Iraq combat veteran turned courageous war resister, 25-year-old Sgt. Corey Glass of the Indiana National Guard is still scheduled to be deported July 10th.
We will ask that the Canadian government respect the democratic decision of Parliament, the demonstrated opinion of the Canadian citizenry, the view of the United Nations, and millions of Americans by immediately implementing the motion and cease deportation proceedings against Corey Glass and other current and future war resisters.
Join Courage to Resist, Veterans for Peace, and Project Safe Haven at Canadian Consulates across the United States (Washington DC, San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles confirmed--more to be announced).
We mailed and delivered over 10,000 of the original letters to Canadian officials. Please sign the new letter, "Dear Canada: Abide by resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!"
http://www.couragetoresist.org/canada

Again, those actions should continue. Team Nader notes:

We're Having a Party!

Posted by The Nader Team on Tuesday, July 1, 2008 at 11:53:00 AM

We're having a party!

A Nader/Gonzalez House Party!

And we're inviting you to be one of 100 Nader/Gonzalez supporters to host a House Party on Saturday night July 26, 2008. Sign up now.

With the help of modern technology, you can have Ralph Nader right there with you in your living room.

If you choose to be one of the 100 to host a house party, we will send you a remarkable documentary DVD about Ralph Nader - An Unreasonable Man and the Awake from Your Slumber DVD starring Ralph Nader and Patti Smith - both autographed by Ralph Nader.

Plus, we'll throw in a special collector's edition Nader/Gonzalez button.

The purpose of the National Nader/Gonzalez House Party Day?

Raise $100,000 to help put Nader/Gonzalez on at least 45 state ballots.

To reach our goal, we are asking that each house party host bring together 20 or more friends, family, and other party goers to donate $50 each.

But you can organize your house party any way you want. If you want to bring together 40 people at $25 a pop, that's great. Or four people at $250 a pop, that's good too.

Now, of course, you won't be doing this alone.

Ralph is really excited about our house party project. (Check out our House Party video here.)

He'll be available that night - either by phone or through the wonders of the Internet - to talk with you and answer your questions.

So, if you want to host a house party - click here. Our house party staff will answer any and all questions you may have.

If you can't host a house party, please donate now to help fund our ballot access drive - remember, you can give Nader/Gonzalez up to the legal limit of $4,600. And if you choose, your name will appear on our home page!

So, if you can, join with us on July 26.

While McCain and Obama continue to flip-flop toward November, Ralph Nader remains steadfast - standing firm on a platform to shift the power away from the corporations and back to the people.

On Sunday, Ralph told ABC's George Stephanapolous that we intend to get on at least 45 states.

And we can't let Ralph down.

Stand by the candidacy that will stand by you.

By the way, yesterday, 319 of you kicked in $12,761.69. Thank you all very much.

As a result, we are now well on our way to our fundraising goal of $40,000.

This will help us secure ten state ballot lines by July 6. Together, we are making a difference.

Onward

The Nader Team

PS: We invite your comments to the blog.

Your contribution could be doubled. Public campaign financing may match your contribution total up to $250.

Sherry and Lyle highlighted the above.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

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Nader and Barack

Tuesday. Normally that would mean 3 days until the weekend but remember the Fourth of July is on Friday. So we're only two days away from the weekend. Beau e-mailed me a thing by Dave Zirin and I will highlight it but not tonight. I don't want to highlight the source and it will be posted somewhere else and I'll grab it then.

Okay, this is from UPI's "Nader says he's on the Illinois ballot:"

Ralph Nader's independent presidential campaign will be on the Illinois ballot in the November general election, Nader's campaign said Tuesday.
The campaign of Nader and running mate Matt Gonzalez submitted more than 50,000 signatures to the Illinois Board of Election June 23, double the required 25,000, the campaign said in a release.


C.I. covers that in the snapshot but there's so little press on Nader that I wanted to highlight that link. Now this is from Amanda Griscom Little's "Nader on the Record" which is from March and I was asking C.I. for some stuff on Nader and this was passed on:




Q: Going forward, what sets your environmental platform apart from the other candidates'?
Nader: I'm basically promoting a massive conversion from a hydrocarbon-based economy to a carbohydrate-based economy. I'm not talking about corn ethanol, which has a very poor net energy- and water-usage characteristic. I'm talking about industrial hemp. I'm talking about plant life that can be efficiently converted to fuel -- like sugar cane, agricultural waste, cellulosic grasses, and certain kinds of biomass that can be grown with a spectacular ratio of energy inputs to outputs. I'm talking about a very fundamental remodeling of our economy -- a conversion from industrial-age, 19th-century technologies like the internal combustion engine to renewable, sustainable technologies of efficiency and production. We should have vehicles that get well over 100 miles per gallon. As Amory Lovins and Paul Hawken have shown, we can create far greater efficiencies in the use of our natural resources, whether it's copper, iron, oil, gas, timber, you name it.
Q: Let's get more specific about how you would implement this massive shift. You propose a carbon pollution tax, for instance. How would that work?
Nader: You tax inefficient technology and you tax pollution. The carbon tax would not be a credit exchange [as in a cap-and-trade program], which can be easily manipulated. It would be a straight-out tax on hydrocarbon production at the production source -- where it's far, far removed from consumers and forces better choices of technology from the get-go.

By contrast, Barack supports nuclear energy. In fairness to Bambi, he has to because they've donated so much money to his campaigns. In afirness to Barack, he has some 'noteable' accomplishments too. Don't believe it? This is from Binyamin Appelbaum's "Grim proving ground for Obama's housing policy:"

Grove Parc has become a symbol for some in Chicago of the broader failures of giving public subsidies to private companies to build and manage affordable housing - an approach strongly backed by Obama as the best replacement for public housing.
As a state senator, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee coauthored an Illinois law creating a new pool of tax credits for developers. As a US senator, he pressed for increased federal subsidies. And as a presidential candidate, he has campaigned on a promise to create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that could give developers an estimated $500 million a year.
But a Globe review found that thousands of apartments across Chicago that had been built with local, state, and federal subsidies - including several hundred in Obama's former district - deteriorated so completely that they were no longer habitable.
Grove Parc and several other prominent failures were developed and managed by Obama's close friends and political supporters. Those people profited from the subsidies even as many of Obama's constituents suffered. Tenants lost their homes; surrounding neighborhoods were blighted.
Some of the residents of Grove Parc say they are angry that Obama did not notice their plight. The development straddles the boundary of Obama's state Senate district. Many of the tenants have been his constituents for more than a decade.
"No one should have to live like this, and no one did anything about it," said Cynthia Ashley, who has lived at Grove Parc since 1994.

And if you will vote for him, you can have that kind of place to live in too! All over the US! Barack will gladly turn the entire country into a slum.

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

Tuesday, July 1, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, war resisters have greater support in Canada than some may have thought as a new poll indicates, tag sale on Iraqi oil continues, the Nader-Gonzalez campaign raises over $10,000 yesterday, and more.

Starting with war resistance. As Canada gears up for actions to demonstrate support for US war resisters, a new poll is released. The Angus Reid Poll finds: "A majority of Canadians would agree with the decision to let American military deserters stay in Canada as permanent residents, a new Angus Reid Strategies survey reveals. . . In the online survey of a representative national sample, three-in-five Canadians (64%) say they would agree to give these U.S. soldiers the opportunity to remain in Canada as permanent residents. Quebec (70%) houses the highest proportion of respondents who agree with the motion, while Alberta (52%) has the fewest supporters. A gender breakdown reveals that while both males and females would agree to let U.S. military deserters remain in Canada, females are much more sympathetic (69% versus 57%)." The findings come as Canada is on the verge of deporting the first US Iraq War resister. May 21st was when Corey Glass was told he would be deported. Corey Glass is an Iraq War veteran and a US war resister. He went to Canada seeking asylum -- the kind of welcoming Canada provided to war resisters ("draft dodgers" and "deserters") during Vietnam. After being told he was being deported, he's been 'extended' through July 10th. June 3rd Canada's House of Commons voted (non-binding motion) in favor of Canada being a safe harbor for war resisters. Douglas Glynn (The Barrie Examiner) quotes Corey stating, "The motion is not legally binding, though the majority of Parliament voted for it. I realized innocent people were being killed. I tried to quit the military while in Iraq," he said, "but my commander told me I was just stressed out and needed some R and R (rest and relaxation), because I was doing a job I was not trained to do. I went home on leave and said I was not coming back." So that's where it stands currently.

Canada's War Resister Support Campaign is calling for a "NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION, Wednesday July 2nd:"

STOP THE DEPORTATION OF U.S. WAR RESISTER COREY GLASS
On July 2nd… CALL MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION DIANE FINLEY!
DetailsU.S. Iraq War resister Corey Glass is still facing deportation on July 10th, despite the Parliament of Canada having voted in favour of a motion to let Corey and other U.S. war resisters stay.
The federal government and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration must respect the will of Parliament and implement the motion which calls on the government to "immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members […] to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and … the government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions … against such individuals."
On July 2nd, the War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on all supporters to call Minister Diane Finley and ask her to: • STOP deportation proceedings against Corey Glass and all U.S. Iraq war resisters; and • IMPLEMENT the motion adopted by Canada's Parliament to allow U.S. Iraq war resisters to apply for permanent resident status.
Here are the numbers to call: Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley 613.996.4974
MP Diane Finley's constituency office (Simcoe): 519.426.3400
Or email her at: minister@cic.gc.ca or finled1@parl.gc.ca

In the US, Courage to Resist is planning "July 9th actions at Canadian Consulates nationwide:"Join a vigil and delegation to a Canadian consulate near you on Wednesday, July 9th to support war resisters! On the eve of Corey Glass' possible deportation, we will demand, "Dear Canada: Abide by the June 3rd resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" More details and cities to be confirmed soon!
Washington DC - Time TBA - 501 Pennsylvania Ave NW (map). Sponsored by Veterans for Peace. Info: TBA San Francisco - Noon to 1pm - 580 California St (map). Sponsored by Courage to Resist. Info: 510-488-3559; courage(at)riseup.net Seattle - Time TBA - 1501 4th Ave (map). Sponsored by Project Safe Haven. Info: 206-499-1220; projectsafehaven(at)hotmail.com Dallas - Time TBA - 750 North St Paul St (map). Sponsored by North Texas for Justice and Peace. Info: 214-718-6362; hftomlinson(at)riseup.net New York City - Noon to 1pm - 1251 Avenue of the Americas (map). Sponsored by War Resisters' League. Info: 212-228-0450; wrl(at)warresisters.org Philadelphia - Time TBA - 1650 Market St (map). Sponsored by Payday Network. Info: 215-848-1120; payday(at)paydaynet.org Minneapolis - Time TBA - 701 Fourth Ave S (map). Info: TBA Los Angeles - Noon to 1pm - 550 South Hope St (map). Sponsored by Progressive Democrats LA. Info: pdlavote(at)aol.com Help organize a vigil at one of these other Canadian Consulates: Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Anchorage, Houston, Raleigh, Phoenix, or San Diego. Please contact Courage to Resist at 510-488-3559. Veterans for Peace issued a joint call with Courage to Resist and Project Safe Haven for July 9th vigils at Canadian Consulates: "Dear Canada: Do Not Deport U.S. War Resisters!" Contact us if you can help organize a vigil, or can otherwise get involved. Locations of the 22 Canadian Consulates in the United States.Recently on June 3rd the Canadian Parliament passed an historic motion to officially welcome war resisters! It now appears, however, that the Conservative government may disregard the motion. Iraq combat veteran turned courageous war resister, 25-year-old Sgt. Corey Glass of the Indiana National Guard is still scheduled to be deported July 10th.We will ask that the Canadian government respect the democratic decision of Parliament, the demonstrated opinion of the Canadian citizenry, the view of the United Nations, and millions of Americans by immediately implementing the motion and cease deportation proceedings against Corey Glass and other current and future war resisters. Join Courage to Resist, Veterans for Peace, and Project Safe Haven at Canadian Consulates across the United States (Washington DC, San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles confirmed--more to be announced).We mailed and delivered over 10,000 of the original letters to Canadian officials. Please sign the new letter, "Dear Canada: Abide by resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" http://www.couragetoresist.org/canada
Canada's War Resisters Support Campaign will hold a "Rally to Stop the Deportation of Parkdale Resident Corey Glass" July 3rd, begins at 7:00 p.m. (with doors opening at six p.m.) at the May Robinson Building, 20 West Lodge, Toronto: "In 2002, Corey joined the Indiana National Guard. He was told he would not have to fight on foreign shores. But in 2005 he was sent to Iraq. What he saw there caused him to become a conscientious objector and he came to Canada. On May 21, 2008, he got his final order to leave Canada by July 10, 2008. Then on June 3 Parliament passed a motion for all the war resisters to stay in Canada. However the Harper government says it will ignore this motion." They are also asking for a July 2nd call-in. Diane Finley is the Immigration and Citizenship Minister and her phone numbers are (613) 996-4974 and (519) 426-3400 -- they also provide her e-mail addresses minister@cic.gc.ca ("minister" at "cic.gc.ca") and finled1@parl.gc.ca ("finled1" at "parl.gc.ca").

To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here.

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, 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, Jose Vasquez, 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, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, 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. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

Turning to Iraq, where UPI notes the (five) attempted assassinations of (five) judges yesterday. You might think it was a big story. Not to the New York Times where Sabrina Tavernise and Andrew E. Kramer offer up seven sentences on the assassination attempts -- seven sentences that begin in paragraph 20 of a 25 paragraph story. The two conclude, "The attacks seemed to be calculated to intimidate rather than to kill. It was not clear who was responsible." More attention, to be fair, than PBS' The NewsHour gave it last night with Ray Suarez offering, "In Iraq today, bombings in Baghdad targeted five judges; all escaped unharmed." And for public television's NewsHour, that was that. The Gulf Daily News leads with the assassination attempts, "Only one of the jurists was injured in the attacks, which happened four days after senior judge Kamil Al Showaili of the country's Higher Judicial Council was assassinated while driving home in mostly Shi'ite east Baghdad. Police said it was unclear whether Al Showaili's slaying was related to the latest attacks." Of al-Showali, RTT notes he was "[t]he President of the same court" and "one of Iraq's most important judges, charged with handling criminal cases for eastern Baghdad." Jordan's Al Bawaba explains of the attacks "police believe may be part of a Shiite campaign to force them to free jailed militants or reduce their sentences."

On the diplomatic front, Jordan Times reports that Nayef Zeidan was sworn in yesterday as Jordan's ambassador to Iraq. Previously, Zeidan was Jordan's ambassador in the United Arab Emirates. Jordan's embassy in the Netherlands notes, "The Jordian embassy in Baghdad has been run by a charge d'affaires for three years and the Kingdom has not sent an ambassador, citing 'security concerns'." This follows King Abdullah II's public statements in May -- as the US White House pressured Arab countries -- that Jordan would
wound send an official emissary to Iraq. The Jordan Times points out, "Several Arab countries have linked sending back their ambassadors to the restoration of security in Iraq. So far, Bahrain and the UAE have decided to send back ambassadors to Baghdad after the security situation improved following two 'successful' military campaigns against Al Sadr militia and Al Qaeda." King Abdulla II, speaking with Lally Weymouth (Washington Post) last week, offered, "I am actually optimistic for the first time on Iraq. I think that Iraqi society is moving in the right direction. It's the first time that I have felt that Iraqis have, as much as they can, bound themselves together into a unity." From Jordan to another country that shares a border with Iraq, Turkey. The Turkish Daily News reports, "Turkey has proposed establishing a joint industrial zone with Iraq in the border town of Ovakoy, a province in the country's southeastern Anatolian region, State Minister Kursat Tuzmen told reporters yesterday." Today's Zaman quotes Tuzmen declaring, "We may establish a joint industrial zone at Ovakoy, on the Turkish-Iraqi border. Both Turkey and Iraq could freely conduct industrial and commercial activities there. We may concentrate on energy production and sales at the planned industrial zone at first, and later extend its scope to other fields." The comments are similar to ones Tuzmen made Sunday while attending a business forum in Baghdad's Green Zone. Last week, Tuzmen was also stating Turkey would be increasing trade with Catalonia. Meanwhile Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that alcohol is being sold in Iraq ("retail only") and speak with Yazidi Dawood and Christian Saif (who didn't want their full names noted for publication) about their experiences selling alcohol (previously Saif had a store fire bombed and nine of the thirteen stores his family owned were taken over by "Islamist insurgents".).

As noted yesterday, the TSC (technical service contracts) -- which were no-bid contracts -- are on hold. Sudarsan Raghavan and Steven Mufson (Washington Post) report Iraq's plan, announced by the country's Minister of Oil Hussain al-Shahristani, to up "production by about 60 percent, or approximately 1.5 million barrels a day" via opening eight fields (six oil, two natural gas) up to foreign partners and the bidders are "35 companies -- including firms from the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and India". The New Zeland Herald estimates this move "could lead to the biggest foreign stake in Iraq since the industry was nationalised more than 30 years ago" while also noting "concerns that a dominat role for Western firms could feed perceptions that US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein to grab the country's natural resources." Doug Smith and Said Rifai (Los Angeles Times) explain, "The bidding will proceed even though parliament has not yet ratified a national oil law to regulate foreign contracts" and note that the announcement took place during a "testy news conference" when the Ministor of Oil "renewed his criticism of the Kurdish regional government for signing deals with foreign companies that offer them a share of oil they extract." Gina Chon and Russell Gold (Wall St. Journal) add that Shahrastani called the "20 separate oild eals, with companies including Hunt Oil," to be "a clear violation of the rules." Sam Dagher (Christian Science Monitor) observes, "Major oil firms have been positioning themselves for years to gain access to Iraq's vast oil reserves, which are estimated at 115 billion barrels -- the world's second largest after Saudi Arabia." Janet McBride (Reuters) wonders, "Are U.S. and British firms obvious choices as partners because of their expertise? After all before the U.S.-led invasion Iraq often preferrred Russian firms. Or are U.S. and British firms repeating the benefit of their government's policies?"

Turning to some of today's violence . . .

Bombings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad car bombing that left five people wounded, a Diyala Province roadside bombing that wounded "one policeman, three children and four men" and aother Diyala Province roadside bombing that claimed the lives of 3 brothers and left their father wounded a Nineveh Province truck bombing that claimed the life of 1 person (plus the bomber) and left twenty-five people wounded and, dropping back to Monday, a Diyala Province car bombing that claimed 4 lives and left nine people wounded." Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing that claimed the life of 1 police officer and a Sulaiman Pek bombing apparently attempting to assassinate "the mayor of the town of Sulaiman Pek" that resulted in the death of 1 bodyguard.

Shootings?

Reuters notes Iraqi soldiers shot dead 2 people in Baghdad.

Corpses?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad today.

Hugh Eakin (New York Times) reports one of the more alarming incidents of violence Iraqi documents from Saddam Hussein's rule that are considered historic, important for humanitarian and historical purposes and document human rights abuses are not in Iraq. They are now in the United States and under the control of the right-wing Hoover Institution. An Iraqi exile (Kanan Makiya) 'claimed' themwhen he returned to Iraq after the start of the illegal war. He set up the Iraq Memory Foundation. The files, which were never Kanan Makiya's to claim, were being held in the Green Zone until Makiya decided to take them out in 2006. Whether he had permission is unclear but what is clear is that the Iraqi government wants those documents back and most outside 'experts' believe the papers should be housed in the Iraq National Library and Archive.

Meanwhile James Glanz (New York Times) reports that at least 13 Americans have died in Iraq from electrocution caused by the shoddy work done by KBR which knew of the problems but did not fix them. Meanwhile, Adam Kokesh (Revolutionay Patriot) posts an e-mail from a service member stationed at Camp Falluja in Iraq revealing that "our sister units berthing area caught fire and burned to the ground. It spread so fast and with 120 temps here today, there was no way they could contain the fire in time. These Marines lost everything that they had, all of their military issued gear as well as personal gear."; while another explains that the loss is made harder due to the fact that the PX is a problem and includes this quote, "Yeah it is very hard to get stuff here, the shipments have really slowed down. We pretty much resort to people back in the states sending us shaving cream and s**t like that, or wait until someone goes to BIAP and they bring it back in bulk. You can't even buy skivee shirts and what not. It blows."

Turning to the US race for president. Alexander Mooney (CNN) reports on the latest CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll which finds Ralph Nader with 6% of the vote, Bob Barr with 3% (Adam Kokesh is supporting Bob Barr), John McCain with 43% and Barack Obama with 46% -- the poll does not include Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party's presumed nominee. PBS' NewsHour has today added profiles of presidential candidates Ralph Nader and Bob Barr.

"We do need a more fundamental strategy here on giant corporate power," Ralph Nader declared in October of last year at the DC Green Festival. That is the central political issue of our time. It's corporate power and the takeover of our government and the spread of commercial values into every nook and cranny of our culture including the commercialization of childhood, the commercialization of universities, the commercialization of almost everything these large companies touch. . . . The other day there was a report saying that TORT lawyers were having trouble suing nursing home chains for severe mistreatment of elderly people and neglect. And the reason why is because these nursing home chains are owned by tiers of corporations -- some of them offshore. And the most immediate tier have very few assets so they can't be responsible for paying the verdicts. And so the TORT lawyers say, 'Well we just can't handle it.' And so more and more people can be mistreated or neglected in these nursing homes with impunity."

Ralph Nader's running mate is Matt Gonzalez and the Nader-Gonzalez ticket is on the ballot in Illinois and The Hartford Courant notes: "Campaign volunteer Peter Ellmer was able to solicit several pledges on Sunday from people who are willing to collect signatures to get Nader on the Connecticut ballot." Nader is working to be on the ballot and Team Nader notes that Monday saw $12,761.69 donated to the Nader-Gonzalez campaign. We'll close with Nader in a moment, but first, the Dems. Paul Bedard (US News & World Reports) notes that Barack's campaign is still suffering problems from Wesley Clark's remarks [see yesterday's snapshot or Deilah Boyd's (A Scriveners Lament) post here] and now also from Barack's efforts to distance himself from Clark and includes these observations by Suzi Parker, "Obama can kiss Arkansas goodbye. A lot of Dems are mad that Obama threw Clark under the bus and denounced his comments about McCain. If anything, they think the Obama should have just let the comments lie. A lot of Dems I am talking to are Clintonites but also supported Clark in 2004 [when he ran for president]. Also hearing from Clark supporters who were in the draft movement that the Obama folks must have forgotten Clark has a massive database of supporters that has only gotten bigger since 2004 because Clark has been out campaigning for Dems since then." Susan (Random Thoughts from Reno) blogs, "Now convince me, Obama supporters, your candidate is something other than a ringer for the GOP. This guy is NOT, repeat NOT, a Democrat. Now he wants to expand 'faight-based' programs . . . Yeah, give these outfits federal money and allow them to discriminate. That's REAL progress." Also noting the new support for 'faith-based' programs is Vasleftt (Corrente) who terms it part of "Obama's bottomless pit of capitulation" and withdraws the previous endorsement of Barack. This is on the heels of his cave-in on illegal spying, his broken promise over public financing and, as Klaus Marre (The Hill) points out, Barack's 'big speech' yesterday was a slap-down to MoveOn. If there is a spine in there, presumably, it is collapsible. Finally, Team Nader notes:

We're having a party!
A Nader/Gonzalez House Party!
And we're inviting you to be one of 100 Nader/Gonzalez supporters to host a House Party on Saturday night July 26, 2008. Sign up now.
With the help of modern technology, you can have Ralph Nader right there with you in your living room.
If you choose to be one of the 100 to host a house party, we will send you a remarkable documentary DVD about Ralph Nader - An Unreasonable Man and the Awake from Your Slumber DVD starring Ralph Nader and Patti Smith - both autographed by Ralph Nader.
Plus, we'll throw in a special collector's edition Nader/Gonzalez button.
The purpose of the National Nader/Gonzalez House Party Day?
Raise $100,000 to help put Nader/Gonzalez on at least 45 state ballots.
To reach our goal, we are asking that each house party host bring together 20 or more friends, family, and other party goers to donate $50 each. But you can organize your house party any way you want. If you want to bring together 40 people at $25 a pop, that's great. Or four people at $250 a pop, that's good too.
Now, of course, you won't be doing this alone.
Ralph is really excited about our house party project. (Check out our House Party video here.)
He'll be available that night - either by phone or through the wonders of the Internet - to talk with you and answer your questions.
So, if you want to host a house party - click here. Our house party staff will answer any and all questions you may have.
If you can't host a house party, please donate now to help fund our ballot access drive - remember, you can give Nader/Gonzalez up to the legal limit of $4,600. And if you choose, your name will appear on our home page!
So, if you can, join with us on July 26.
While McCain and Obama continue to flip-flop toward November, Ralph Nader remains steadfast - standing firm on a platform to shift the power away from the corporations and back to the people.
On Sunday, Ralph told ABC's George Stephanapolous that we intend to get on at least 45 states.
And we can't let Ralph down.
Stand by the candidacy that will stand by you.


iraq
corey glassthe new york timessabrina tavernisejames risenandrew e. kramerhugh eakinsudarsan raghavansteven mufsonthe washington post
mcclatchy newspapersdoug smiththe los angeles times

Iraq, Third

Monday, Monday. Another week. Good news is, for most of us, it's a four-day week. For humor, please check out John Walsh's "Barack Zelig" -- no excerpt because it's not that long and also you can ruin the joke if you select wrong. It's pretty funny. Speaking of things you've got to read, check out "Ruth's Report."

So Bully Boy accepted the gift from the Democratically controlled Congress today and signed the bill into law: $162 billion. And Rick Klein of ABC News is wondering if the Dems can get their Iraq mo-jo back. It's gone. Or to be Austin Powers, "It's gone, baby!" They gave away the high ground, they passed on their beliefs, they've got nothing left.

In the snapshot, C.I. talks about the lawsuit by former prisoners tortured at Abu Ghraib but here's something from Niraq J. Warikoo (Free Press) about it:

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and attorneys from Philadelphia are representing the detainees.
"These innocent men were senselessly tortured by U.S. companies that profited from their misery," said Philadelphia attorney Susan L. Burke in a news release. "Their stories remain untold largely because the defendants never interviewed them -- or any victims -- before reaching and promoting hollow conclusions about what happened at Abu Ghraib. These men came to U.S. courts because our laws, as they have for generations, allow their claims to be heard here."

Okay, let's talk Third. Along with Dallas, who's helped out:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jess, Ty and Ava,
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,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
and Marcia SICKOFITRDLZ.


Now here's what we came up with.


Truest statement of the week -- This is Ralph Nader. What he said, not what The Cult of Obama tried to say he said.

A note to our readers -- Spoke to Jim today. They come back from France tomorrow (he and Dona -- that's why they didn't participate in this week's edition). There were people who died in France during a 'terrorist' exercise that was supposed to demonstrate how prepared and ready the security was. They used 'live' ammo instead of fake. It's a very big story in France. So Jess, Ty, Ava and C.I. wrote this note.

Editorial: What did happen, what can happen -- This was two pieces that got merged into one and, from the second, just the contact information. I think it works strongly and I didn't think either worked alone. I think the section they removed from the first part needed to go. I wouldn't have said that when we were writing it or after we were done but reading the editorial, it's obvious that it works better without it.

TV: Nothing but personal says the Big O -- Ava and C.I. have been asked FOREVER to write about Oprah. This week, because they thought it would be quick, they did just that. This is pretty hard hitting especially considering the topic. And, yes, there are jokes.

Ralph Nader, Defending Article II -- Only bits of stuff we all worked on made it into this. The plan, Jess told me, was that they would add to what we wrote to include some of Ralph Nader's comments on ABC's This Week but they kept addaing and discussing and pretty soon, it was something else. (I think what's online is better than what we all wrote together.)

Mailbag -- The big concern for the four (Jess, Ty, Ava and C.I.) was that they let us go early so we could get some sleep and try to cover what people have been asking for. Mailbag is a regular feature that hasn't popped up since February. So they were insistent that it would have to pop up this edition.

The Outsider pronounces the 'surge' a success! -- Ava and C.I. ended up doing two TV commentaries. This one is my favorite one because they're taking on Katrina vanden Heuvel. :D It's very funny.

Sexism: Exhibit A, David Carr -- This was fairly easy to write and the sort of thing that would have had Dona sighing with relief if she'd been working on this edition.

It started in DC . . . -- Before we were sure there would be time for a mailbag, they were adament that a reader who had done all this research needed to be noted. So that's what this is.

The Christ-child is born -- The Barack Chronicles. :D

Highlights -- Ruth, Marcia, Cedric, Betty, Rebecca, Kat, Elaine, Wally and me worked on this.

Bonus -- Ty, Betty, Cedric and Wally wrote this.

Ralph Nader on today's This Week (ABC) -- A note to make sure everyone knew Nader would be on TV shortly and also to explain that stuff was going to be posted.

That was a rush-through, sorry. I've got the worst headache at the base of my neck.



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


Monday, June 30, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, attempts to assassinate five Iraqi judges take place, four Abu Ghraib prisoners sue, and more.

Starting with war resistance. Henry Aubin's "Canada is wrong not to give asylum to U.S. war resisters" (Montreal Gazette) ran earlier this month. Today The Montreal Gazette notes the column was very popular with readers explaining "most writers supported Aubin's contention that welcoming U.S. war resisters would be the right thing to do" and quotes Nadia Alexan writing that "if there was ever a case made against an unjust immoral, manufactured war, the agression against Iraq should take the cake."

May 21st was when Corey Glass was told he would be deported. Corey Glass is an Iraq War veteran and a US war resister. He went to Canada seeking asylum -- the kind of welcoming Canada provided to war resisters ("draft dodgers" and "deserters") during Vietnam. After being told he was being deported, he's been 'extended' through July 10th. June 3rd Canada's House of Commons voted (non-binding motion) in favor of Canada being a safe harbor for war resisters. Douglas Glynn (The Barrie Examiner) quotes Corey stating, "The motion is not legally binding, though the majority of Parliament voted for it. I realized innocent people were being killed. I tried to quit the military while in Iraq," he said, "but my commander told me I was just stressed out and needed some R and R (rest and relaxation), because I was doing a job I was not trained to do. I went home on leave and said I was not coming back." So that's where it stands currently.Courage to Resist is planning "July 9th actions at Canadian Consulates nationwide:"Join a vigil and delegation to a Canadian consulate near you on Wednesday, July 9th to support war resisters! On the eve of Corey Glass' possible deportation, we will demand, "Dear Canada: Abide by the June 3rd resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" More details and cities to be confirmed soon!
Washington DC - Time TBA - 501 Pennsylvania Ave NW (map). Sponsored by Veterans for Peace. Info: TBA San Francisco - Noon to 1pm - 580 California St (map). Sponsored by Courage to Resist. Info: 510-488-3559; courage(at)riseup.net Seattle - Time TBA - 1501 4th Ave (map). Sponsored by Project Safe Haven. Info: 206-499-1220; projectsafehaven(at)hotmail.com Dallas - Time TBA - 750 North St Paul St (map). Sponsored by North Texas for Justice and Peace. Info: 214-718-6362; hftomlinson(at)riseup.net New York City - Noon to 1pm - 1251 Avenue of the Americas (map). Sponsored by War Resisters' League. Info: 212-228-0450; wrl(at)warresisters.org Philadelphia - Time TBA - 1650 Market St (map). Sponsored by Payday Network. Info: 215-848-1120; payday(at)paydaynet.org Minneapolis - Time TBA - 701 Fourth Ave S (map). Info: TBA Los Angeles - Noon to 1pm - 550 South Hope St (map). Sponsored by Progressive Democrats LA. Info: pdlavote(at)aol.com Help organize a vigil at one of these other Canadian Consulates: Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Anchorage, Houston, Raleigh, Phoenix, or San Diego. Please contact Courage to Resist at 510-488-3559. Veterans for Peace issued a joint call with Courage to Resist and Project Safe Haven for July 9th vigils at Canadian Consulates: "Dear Canada: Do Not Deport U.S. War Resisters!" Contact us if you can help organize a vigil, or can otherwise get involved. Locations of the 22 Canadian Consulates in the United States.Recently on June 3rd the Canadian Parliament passed an historic motion to officially welcome war resisters! It now appears, however, that the Conservative government may disregard the motion. Iraq combat veteran turned courageous war resister, 25-year-old Sgt. Corey Glass of the Indiana National Guard is still scheduled to be deported July 10th.We will ask that the Canadian government respect the democratic decision of Parliament, the demonstrated opinion of the Canadian citizenry, the view of the United Nations, and millions of Americans by immediately implementing the motion and cease deportation proceedings against Corey Glass and other current and future war resisters. Join Courage to Resist, Veterans for Peace, and Project Safe Haven at Canadian Consulates across the United States (Washington DC, San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles confirmed--more to be announced).We mailed and delivered over 10,000 of the original letters to Canadian officials. Please sign the new letter, "Dear Canada: Abide by resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" http://www.couragetoresist.org/canada
Canada's War Resisters Support Campaign will hold a "Rally to Stop the Deportation of Parkdale Resident Corey Glass" July 3rd, begins at 7:00 p.m. (with doors opening at six p.m.) at the May Robinson Building, 20 West Lodge, Toronto: "In 2002, Corey joined the Indiana National Guard. He was told he would not have to fight on foreign shores. But in 2005 he was sent to Iraq. What he saw there caused him to become a conscientious objector and he came to Canada. On May 21, 2008, he got his final order to leave Canada by July 10, 2008. Then on June 3 Parliament passed a motion for all the war resisters to stay in Canada. However the Harper government says it will ignore this motion." They are also asking for a July 2nd call-in. Diane Finley is the Immigration and Citizenship Minister and her phone numbers are (613) 996-4974 and (519) 426-3400 -- they also provide her e-mail addresses minister@cic.gc.ca ("minister" at "cic.gc.ca") and finled1@parl.gc.ca ("finled1" at "parl.gc.ca").

To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here.

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, 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, Jose Vasquez, 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, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, 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. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

Over the weekend, Joseph G. Cote filed "Marine is arrested, turned over" (Nashua Telegraph) which addressed the arrest of Marine Lance Cpl Jose Flores in Hudson, New Hampshire." Citing Police Capt Donald Breault, Cote reported that "[a] Marine representative had contacted Hudson police and asked them to arrest Flores because he was deemed a deserter". Saturday AP's nonsense brief was filed and Sunday AP filed more nonsense. Read the original article by Cote (which the first AP brief credits) and then the AP stories which maintain Flores was arrested at a traffic stop when there's not only no mention of that, what Cote reports is that the marines contacted the local police and told the police to pick up Flores. It does matter. When the military has told the police to go to a parents' home in Colorado and search, when the military was calling police stations up and down California to alert them to Kyle Snyder, when 'traffic stops' turn out to be searching homes (one war resister picked up at a 'traffic stop') was actually picked up at his brother's home and discovered during the search. The military wants to lie and pretend all they do is enter a name in a data base after thirty days. The reality is an entire unit is patrolling the web looking for tidbits, checking out MySpace pages, phoning in tips to local police. It's time for the lying to stop and the AP has now made the same mistake two days in a row. At this point, it is no longer a mistake, it is a lie.

Turning to Iraq. Nothing to note. Didn't you hear? The 'surge' worked. What's that? It didn't? It was nothing but whack-a-mole on a larger scale? Well someone forgot to tell Nation editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel who declared the 'surge' a "success" yesterday on ABC's This Week. In the real world (your visa is revoked, Katrina), the targeting of officials only increases in Iraq with today seeing an apparent record number of assassination attempts on judges in Baghdad. Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing "targeting the house of judge Suliaman Abdallah," " a Baghdad bombing "targeting judge Ali Hameed al Allaq," a Baghdad bombing apparently targeting "Judge Ghanim Abdallah al Shimmari, his wife and his daughter" (all three were wounded), a Baghdad car bombing targeting Judge Hasan Fouad and a Baghdad bombing that targeted Judge Alaa al Timimi. Other than al Shimmari, no judge was noted to be injured in the bombing. Five bombings today in Baghdad targeting judges. Friday, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) was reporting on Judge Kamal al-Showaili being shot-dead while "driving home" in Baghdad. Today Tawfeeq notes, "Hundreds of members of the Mehdi Army militia have been imprisoned in recent months in the wake of an Iraqi-led military crackdown to stamp out Shiite militants and establish authority in Shiite-dominated areas of Iraq." Reuters quotes High Judicial Council spokesperson Abdul Satar Birqadr declaring, "These attacks were organised. ALl happened on the same day, in the same way and the same part of Baghdad." (Reuters also states that the only person injured in the bombings was wounded except for "[t]he wife of Ali al-Alaq.") Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reported last week that, since the start of the illegal war (March, 2003), "40 judges have been assassinated" according to the High Judiciary Council.

Before we go into other news emerging today, let's drop back to the weekend. Hannah Allem (McClatchy Newspapers) reported Saturday on a Friday US raid in Karbala that resulted in at least one civilian death, a relative of Nouri al-Maliki's. Allem continued covering the story over the weekend. She noted, "Outrage over the mysterious operation has spread to the highest levels of the Iraqi government, which is demanding an explanation for how such a raid occured in a province ostensibly under full Iraq command." And, citing Iraqi sources, noted the raid was conducted by US special forces and that this put the treaty (passed off as a Status of Forces Agreement) in jeopardy. Allam and Qassim Zein reported that the man's name was Ali Abdulhussein al-Maliki and he "was killed at his guard post outside the villa belonging to Maliki's sister" and the brother of the late al-Maliki, Abdulhussein al-Maliki, told McClatchy US helicopters arrived before dawn and "about 50 American ground troops in camoflage then stormed into Janaja". The death of al-Maliki's relative follows last week's other known civilian deaths: 3 bank employees shot dead by US forces while returning to work and 4 members of a family killed in a US air bombing. Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) reports that the central government in Baghdad issued a "statement [which] demanded that the [US] soldiers be held accountable in Iraq." Doug Smith (Los Angeles Times) reports that the rumbles in Baghdad are that al-Maliki will announce "[t]he appointmen tof a judge to hear evidence against U.S. soldiers" and quotes Iraqi MP Haider Abadi (from al-Maliki's Dawa Party) stating, "It's not acceptable, Iraqis getting killed without even knowing if it is the result of a tragic incident or this is negligence on the part of the U.S. military."

On the theft of Iraqi oil, Andrew E. Kramer (New York Times) reported today that the US State Department took part in the awarding of no-bid contracts to Big Oil despite previous claims that the Iraqis had made the decision with help from Big Oil that the US paried them with (click here for Kramer's June 19th report). Kramer notes that "any perception of American meddling in Iraq's oil policies threaten to inflame opinion against the United States, particularly in Arab nations that are skeptical of American intentions in Iraq, which has the third-largest oil reserves in the world." Andy Rowell (Price of Oil) quotes Greg Muttitt stating that "the contracts start to look very strange. For a start, the deals are with the wrong companies. The companies which usually carry out TSCs [technical service contracts] are specialist providers, like Schlumberger, Sapem or Baker Hughes. They are often hired in for geological, construction or drilling expertise, or to install a piece of technology. In no other country are the likes of BP or ExxonMobil carrying out such TSCs."
Though the contracts were supposed to be signed today, AFP reports that they haven't been and that "Iraq is still negotiating with Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron and Total" as well as Small Oil and quotes Hussein al-Shahristani, the country's Oil Mister, declaring, "We did not finalise any agreement with them because they refused to offer consultancy based on fees as they wanted a share of the oil." This as CBS and AP report that the price of a barrel of oil hit $143 today.

In other news Daren Butler (Reuters) reports that four Iraqis have announced they "are suing U.S. military contractors CACI International Inc, CACI Premier Techonology and L-3 Services Inc (formerly Titan Corp) as well as three people who they say tortured them while they were detained in Abu Ghraib prison." The Center for Constitutional Rights (Katherine Gallagher), Burke O'Neil LLC (Susan L. Burke and William F. Gould) and Akeel & Valentine (Shereef Akeel) are representing the four who are:

• Mohammed Abdwaihed Towfek Al-Taee, a 39-year-old taxi driver who was detained and horrifically abused for nine months before his May 2004 release. He later learned that he likely was the victim of a customer who presumably turned him over in exchange for American money for intelligence "tips." • Wissam Abdullateef Sa'eed Al-Quraishi, a 37-year-old married father of three, who was hung on a pole for seven days at the infamous Abu Ghraib "hard site" and subjected to beatings, forced nudity, electrical shocks, humiliating treatment, mock executions and other forms of torture during his incarceration at the prison. • Sa'adoon Ali Hameed Al-Ogaidi, a 36-year-old Arabic teacher and shopkeeper and father of four, who was held for a year, caged, brutally abused at the prison "hard site," stripped and kept naked, and was a "ghost" detainee hidden for a time from the International Committee of the Red Cross. • Suhail Najim Abdullah Al-Shimari, a farmer who was held for more than four years, including at the prison "hard site," was caged, threatened with dogs, and subjected to beatings and electrical shocks, and threatened with death and being sent to a "far away" place.

The three people being sued are contractors for the companies: Adel Nakhla, Timothy Dugan and Daniel E. Johnson.

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

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Mosul car bombing that claimed 1 life and left thirteen people wounded and a Baghdad car bombing that involved "an unidentified" corpse.

Shootings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an armed clash in Mosul that claimed the lives of 2 Iraqi soldiers.

Corpses?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 5 corpses discovered in Baghdad and the corpse of 1 Iraqi soldier discovered in Mosul.


Moving to US politics. "It's political bigotry," independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader explained to George Stephanopoulos ABC's This Week yesterday when asked about (unfounded) anger at him for his 2000 run being taken out against organizations he is no longer a part of. "Why are all these people who agree with us on the issues behaving this way? Because they believe that the two parties own the voters in this country and you go for the least-worst party. And if you go for that least worst-party, you don't make demands on that least-worst party, your votes are going to be taken for granted and the corporate interests are going to pull both parties in their direction. They can't seem to figure that out. The Nation magazine for example and The Progressive magazine have all these recommendations and reforms and they're hostile or indifferent to the Nader-Gonzalez campaign which is the only one that comes up 6%, 4% sometimes 8 and 10% in Michigan in the polls is pushing their vergy agenda. They have no breaking point, George. There's no moral imperative. They will forever put the ring in their nose and provide the tether for the least worst Democrat." We'll address Nader's appearance later in the section on the presidential race; however, let's focus on the bigotry first. In the roundtable, George would declare Katrina vanden Heuvel's "name was invoked in the last" segment" (George invoked it, Ralph never mentioned her by name). Katrina declared, "First of all let me say that Ralph Nader, great citizen number one, but his great crusade against corporate power and for consumer rights has come from outside the electoral system. The Nation in 2004, again 2008 again said 'Ralph, don't run.' But the key thing, and I think Ralph understand this, and he mentioned another name, Bill Fletcher, Barack Obama is running for president, he is not running for the messiah. I'm shocked that he's moving to the center. I'm shocked. But we don't whine." If we did, we might whine, "Who told her to wear that ugly eye shadow?" Should we stay with this issue because Katrina didn't. She was asked about Nader's critique and she instead bragged that the magazine she is editor and publisher of ran a "Ralph, Don't Run" campaign in 2004 and again in 2008. That's something to be proud of? If she can tear herself away from whatever Russian bodice ripper she's currently thumbing through for a second, could Katrina refer to the Constitution and examine Article II? Could she try explaining how Ralph's criticism of her magazine and The Progressive was wrong? It wasn't wrong. Barack's caved on illegal spying and caved on public financing so far this month. Where's the feet to the fire? If The Nation will not support third-parties, will they even bother to hold Barack's feet to the fire? No. Nader's criticism was that he's shut out by 'independent' media (The Nation and The Progressive) whose stated beliefs and opinions are the ones his campaign is built on while they go with the least-worst choice from the Democratic Party. He is correct. Katrina refused to have that discussion. Not only is he correct on that, it's equally true that having decided to go with the least-worst of the two major parties, they betray their own beliefs. You saw it in all of Katrina's excuses (usually prefaced with "I'm not apologizing for" him as she went on to do just that). There was no attempt to hold him accountable. But Katrina doesn't dislike all third parties, she revealed. "The one who I think is going to gain real traction in this country," she said grinning like a demented fool, "is Bob Barr." So Bob Barr, whom Katrina sees as not 'winning' votes but 'stripping them away' from McCain is her kind of third party candidate. For Katrina, the 'good' third party is the one who does 'damage' to the candidate she dislikes. That's really more frightening than her pride over The Nation's undemocratic "Don't Run!" nonsense.

Turning to the US race for president. The so-called 'unity' campaign keeps floundering. Yesterday on CBS' Face The Nation (link has text and video), Barack Obama surrogate Wesley Clark was vouching for Barack's "good judgment" and other ridiculous things that Clark can see with some sort of decoder ring apparently. While the recordless Barack got a tongue bath from Clark, fur balls seems to be coughed up as Clark turned his fire on US Senator John McCain (the presumed GOP presidential nominee). While claiming "I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war," mere minutes later, 'honor' turned to 'trashing' as Clark declared, "Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president." CNN reports that McCain surrogate Rick Davis appeared on the cable network's American Morning today and declared, "Sending Wesley Clark out as a surrogate for your campaign and attacking John McCain and his war record and his military experience and his service is, I think, just the lowest form of politics." In the ongoing, illegal Iraq War, Byron W. Fouty, Alex R. Jimenez and Ahmed Quasai al-Taeli are classified by the Defense Department as "Missing or Captured." Rick Klein (ABC News) instructs, "Please, find me a single Democrat who thinks it's good politics to call into question the military credentials of a man who spent five-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war." Brian Montopoli (CBS News) reports the McCain camp assembled the following for a Monday morning conference call with the press: "Sen. John Warner, POWs Col. Bud Day and Lt. Col. Orson Swindle, McCain foreign policy advisor Bud McFarland, and Carl Smith a retired Navy pilot who served with McCain". Indpendent presidential candidate Ralph Nader was among the guests on ABC's This Week. The appearance preceded a Connecticut fundraiser which the AP reports raised $2000. AP also reported last week that 5% of Hillary Clinton supporters were now supporting Nader in the general election.

"If you really want to cover everybody in health insurance and save hundreds of lives and . . . hundreds of thousands of illnesses," Nader declared to Stephanopoulos, "you would go for single-payer which the majority of American people want and the majority of doctors want. . . . The HMOS are opposed to single-payer, the big health insurance compaines are opposed to single-payer. If you want to give a hundred million Americans a break in terms of their livelihood and wages, you would go for labor law reform. You'd repeal Taft-Hartley and give them the opportunity -- low-income workers -- to organize and collectively bargain. . . . If you want more jobs in the innercity, you know, public works, schools, clinics, libraries, sewage treatment systems, you've got to reduce the bloated, wasteful military budget, George."

"I think the two parties are hurting our country," said Nader of the Democratic and Republican Parties, "and they need more competition. As we see on our website VoteNader.org, you will see the issues we have on the table are majoritarian issues: single-payer health care, do something about the wasteful military budget, labor law reform, consumer protection . . . living wage, etc. . . . The problem is, George, there's too much political bigotry against small parties and candidates. You see it in these huge ballot access laws which we're trying to overcome now with our roadtrippers, very, very costly. We're excluded from the debates. Why do we ration debates? We ought to have staggered debates. You've got Wimbledon, the sixtieth seed gets a chance, you've got the NCAA, the sixtieth team gets a chance. You have a huge roll of wealth on it. We're appealing to the people in this country. . . . We're appealing to the people in this country who want more choices on the ballot and Nader-Gonzalez provides those choices." Team Nader states:

We need $10 from you to get Nader/Gonzalez on ten state ballots in ten days.
So, if you haven't donated to Nader/Gonzalez yet, now is the time - please give ten dollars now.
Our goal - $40,000 by July 6.
We have more than fifty young, energetic roadtrippers busting it on the ground all around the country for Nader/Gonzalez - the only candidacy that will shift the power from the corporations back to the people.
(If you think Obama is that guy, think again. Obama is moving in the other direction - running away from the people into the arms of the corporations. Check out Obama's most recent flip-flop on giving immunity to telecom corporations under the government surveillance and wiretapping bill. And then watch Ralph Nader say no to wiretapping here.)
In Illinois we've collected and turned in more than twice the signatures we need.
In Arizona, we've collected and turned in more than three times the signatures we need.
In Nevada, we will turn in more than twice the signatures we need.
By July 6, with your help, we'll be penciled in for ten states - Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Utah.
And we're targeting 40 states by the end of the summer.
There is a reason the corporate Democrats and corporate Republicans are concerned about Nader/Gonzalez.
We're at six percent in the most recent CNN poll.
And we plan to be on 45 state ballots come November (up from 34 in 2004.)
So, drop a ten spot on Nader/Gonzalez now.
Of course, the more the merrier.
But $10 is what we're asking from each and every one of you - our loyal supporters.
So do it now.

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