Dave Zirin and Aimee Allison lie but it's 'okay' it's Palin

Tuesday! :D Lots to discuss. 17 e-mails came in complaining about KPFA's The Morning Show on Monday. (Until August 17th, you can hear the program here -- after that, they're too damn cheap to pay the songwriting and publishing royalties so the program vanishes.) I wondered about that? Why me? I wrote back and 13 replied noting the "Roundtable" and how it was being stressed in that that Ava and C.I. do not have the time -- no one does -- to call out all the lies on Sarah Palin. Jim and Jess explain that, Ava herself explains that. They don't agree with Palin, they wouldn't vote for her (Ava and C.I. either voted for Ralph or Cynthia in 2008 -- no one knows which, they're not telling). But that doesn't mean it's okay to be sexist about her or to lie about her. And they call it out over and over and it's just gets to be too much. So beause of that roundtable, thirteen of you decided to dump it in my lap. The other four? They pointed out the person involved was Dave Zirin. Yeah, that would fall on my beat. But it's also okay that 13 of you didn't want to bother C.I. with it. We're now in the month when Ava and C.I. had to start defending Palin against unfair attacks and smears. I didn't realize that until Elaine pointed it out. For a year, they've had to defend her and have done the best defending (at least from the left) of anyone online. And this is something I can handle. So let's dive in.

Dave came on for the second segment half-hour of the first hour and was interviewed by Aimee Allison. Dave's on a bad phone because his voice doesn't sound like it normally does. (Or maybe he's got a bad connection.) He wants Michael Vick back on a pro-football team and that ticked off 8 of the people complaining because they feel that Dave's belittling animal cruelty.

And it's "MICHAEL VICK." KPFA, it's not "Michael Vic." VICK. Learn to spell the name of the person who is the topic of your half-hour segment. How embarrassing.

He starts by saying there's a Chris Rock (sexist pig) joke about how Vic must be watching TV and seeing Palin and wondering [WTF]?

Dave then goes on to 'explain' the 'joke'. But he's already called Sarah Palin the Republican Party's "mascot." Yeah, it is belittling. No, he wouldn't call a man that.
Here's Dave explaining:

Dave: [. . .] cause when you think about shooting wolves from a plane which is one of her favorite past times.

Aimee: Right.

Dave: That's-that's barbaric. By any stretch of the imagination.

Aimee: With a high-powered rifle.

Dave: Exactly.

Aimee: Not even getting [in] there with the little short knife.

[cross talk]

Dave: . . . petting zoo with the Rambo knife and just going after some sheep.


He says athletes are role models and that the good ones call out racism. Funny how Dave's not interested in sexism.

But let's deal with the above. Dave's lying or he can't grasp reality. I have no idea on which because I wrote him to give him a chance to explain how he could be so wrong. He replied but still didn't get it.

Here's my e-mail:


Dave
On KPFA yesterday you mispoke or you lied.
I've got complaints about it and will be addressing it tonight.
Giving you a chance to say if you didn't understand Palin and the wolves or if you just figure when it's Sarah Palin that it's okay to lie?
There was no reason to bring the woman up other than the fact.
I'm aware lazy minds need to go for cheap jokes.
But in order to be funny, even cheap jokes need to be true.
So, outside of your fantasies, you saw Palin shooting wolves from a helicopter where?
Thanks.
Mike

Here's his reply:

Yes Michael. It's called Aeriel Wolf Gunning, a practice deemed inhumane by many animal rights and even some hunting organizations. Articles about the practice and Palin's support are plentiful. I trust you can use your search engine of choice and discover them.
I'm happy to answer questions but please try to use a more respectful tone in the future. No need to be rude.
All the best
Dave Zirin

No need to be snippy, Dave. We've had this dance before. I'll lead, thank you. :D
Here's my reply to him.

Dear Dave,
I'll worry about my tone when others worry about the truth.
So from your answer in the e-mails, you have no knowledge of Sarah Palin shooting wolves from helicopters?
In direct contrast to what you and Aimee Allison said on air.
Correct?
P.S. I don't hate you or dislike you. If I did, I wouldn't have gone out of my way to let you respond (and I hoped kill my having to cover this). But you're better than that and you're sinking to the level of Republicans -- the same ones you claim to despise.
Don't say, "It's a joke!" You weren't joking and neither was Aimee.
Repeating it one more time, you're better than that.
Or you were.
Thanks for responding.
Your buddy,
Mike

I asked him about Sarah Palin. He claimed she shot wolves from aircraft. Do we need to roll tape again?


Dave: [. . .] cause when you think about shooting wolves from a plane which is one of her favorite past times.

Aimee: Right.

Dave: That's-that's barbaric. By any stretch of the imagination.

Aimee: With a high-powered rifle.

Dave: Exactly.

Aimee: Not even getting [in] there with the little short knife.

Listen to the two of them pimping the idea that Sarah Palin's shooting wolves from aircraft.

Listen and laugh.

"Barbaric!" Insists Dave Zirin. Who forgets to tell you what Michael Vick was found guilty of. "Felony charges of operation an unlawful six-year long interstate dog fighting venture" says Wikiped which notes:

On August 24, Vick filed his plea documents with the federal court. He pled guilty to "Conspiracy to Travel in Interstate Commerce in Aid of Unlawful Activities and to Sponsor a Dog in an Animal Fighting Venture". In addition, he admitted to providing most of the financing for the operation itself, as well as participating directly in several dog fights in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina. He also admitted to sharing in the proceeds from these dog fights. He further admitted that he knew his colleagues killed several dogs who didn't perform well enough. However, while he admitted to providing most of the money for gambling on the fights, he denied placing any side bets on the dogfights. He also denied actually killing any dogs himself.

Dave does a little trick Bob Somerby often catches Frank Rich and Bob Herbert in. Taking a crime and then grabbing something they don't care for an equating the two. It's dishonest and Dave did it on KPFA.

Michael Vick broke the law. He admitted to it. He went to prison. Dave doesn't want to say -- according to Dave -- he paid his debt but call it what you will, he served his time. He's free. That's how it works. That doesn't mean you get to go back into a prestige career. Dave's the one going on about how sports stars are role models.

Michael Vick broke the law. He's no longer a role model. Maybe he'll do stuff that, in a few years, inspires people. (Not suffering, climb on the cross football players who rally to his side because they have their own problems and live under the belief that they are persecuted by fame.) He's a criminal. He's an admitted felon. You don't just return to the NFL.

Michael's a criminal.

Sarah Palin's not. Dave can call it 'barbaric' or whatever else he wants to and he can lie that Sarah Palin's shooting wolves herself.

Can someone do aerial hunting? Samantha Henig (Slate) explained it back in 2008:


Yes, but only with the government's permission. Aerial shooting yields better results than traditional hunting, since it allows the hunter to cover a lot of ground quickly and track target animals from a clear vantage point. Historically, hunters also used planes to drive animals—polar bears in Alaska and elk in Montana, among others—toward gunmen waiting on the ground. But many hunters found the practice unsportsmanlike, since it violates the "fair chase" ethic, and animal rights activists call it inhumane, since airborne gunmen rarely get a clean (i.e., relatively painless) kill. In response to concerns like these, Congress passed the Federal Airborne Hunting Act of 1972, which made it illegal for hunters to shoot animals from a plane or helicopter.

Henig also tells you that it's been taking place in Alaska since 2003. Palin's not governor until 2006. It's not a policy she created, it's one she continued and it's legal.

Michael Vick didn't get in trouble for being "barbaric." Some might think, for example, that Vick apparently giving Sonya Elliot genital herpes (he settled out of court) was "barbaric." But Michael Vick broke the law and has a felony conviction on his record. He broke the law.

You may not like animals being hunted from the air but doing that is legal.

And you can lie like Dave and Aimee did and claim that it's Sarah's favorite past time and she's up there shooting and all that. But the reality is there's no proof that she herself ever did.

We need to learn to stick to the facts.

And we especially need to learn that we're looking like idiots as we attack Sarah Palin everytime we need our chuckle. It's dumb, it's stupid and it is sexist. And C.I. really gets at that in "Roundtable" and let me do links for those who don't know already, C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review; Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz and Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ.


Marcia: Okay. Digby's trash, we all know it. She's trash who tosses out her Reading Is Fundamental blog posts for her uneducated following that just grunts "Give me reason to hate Sarah! I need reason to live!" She exists to distract which is why she's a Blog Whore. She's far from the only one. Ava, I'm guessing, figured I'd want to respond on this due to my post Friday night, "Naomi Klein's never helped any woman." It's about how Klein shows up at the celebration for The Progressive this spring and gives a speech on . . . Sarah Palin. Despite using her repeatedly for a punchline, Klein wants to insult your intelligence and tell you it's not about Palin.

C.I.: I have to jump in, I'm sorry. I just want it pointed out that Sarah Palin did not run for president in 2008. I want it pointed out that John McCain did. I want it pointed out that this obsession with Palin is unhealthy and sexist. Dan Quayle was never the focus to this degree. Certainly after George H.W. Bush lost re-election in 1992, the left did not spend 1993 making Dan Quayle the focus of all their conversations. It's getting old and I'm real damn tired of all the slams on Palin.

Marcia: And I agree with you on that. Klein was supposedly addressing an 'educated' audience and what did she and they enjoy? Cheap shots at Sarah Palin. And it is an obsession for them. It really is, they should be ashamed. It's not like I blog about Naomi Klein daily, I'm not blogging every day about how her crotch stinks and people at book signings wondered about the smell. I could. Maybe I should. Maybe I should be like Naomi Klein and make it my goal in life to rip apart all women?

Elaine: It just amazes me that, as Marcia points out, the audience is allegedly educated and Klein supposedly a thinker and that's all they could do. Use Palin as red meat tossed out to the lions to keep the crowds cheering. That's just disgusting and it's why the left is so damn pathetic. If we want to save the United States, our problem on the left is not what the right-wing's doing, our problem is what our supposed co-horts are doing. People like Naomi Klein are no help to anyone and she ought to be ashamed but I've told [deleted at Elaine's request] she should be ashamed for staying silent on war resisters. I'm done with that stupid ass Naomi Klein. Truly, I've had my fill of the mall rat who thinks she can craft together the writing of others and be considered a thinker.

And it's like Kirsten Powers said yesterday, "The only thing worse would be running for vice president. Just ask Sarah Palin. I'm no fan of the former governor of Alaska, but as a life-long feminist I can't ignore the endless stream of sexism directed at her." Did Dave really call her a mascot? Yep, he did. Would he call Mitt Romney that? No, he wouldn't. It's an attempt to belittle her, to put her 'in her place.' It's sexist and it doesn't need to be happening.

But the left doesn't need to be lying either.

And they don't need to be comparing things they dislike to crimes. Bob Somerby's correct that this doesn't need to happen and it cheapens our discourse. We're better than that. Or we used to be.

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

Tuesday, August 4, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, the military announces two deaths, Nouri's new friends with benefits didn't renounce violence (they still say they'll be attacking US troops), Iraq War veterans continue to suffer to get the needed medical care and to re-adjust to daily life, and more.

Today the US military announced: "A Soldier assigned to Multi-National Division - South died of a non-combat related injury August 4. The Soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin." That announcement came from M-NF which is supposed to announce deaths and, later, DoD announces the names of the dead. That's how it's supposed to work. But frequently that's not how it works. Late yesterday, DoD announced: "Staff Sgt. Johnny R. Polk, 39, of Gulfport, Miss., died July 25 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds suffered when his vehicle was struck by anti-tank grenade on July 23 in Kirkuk, Iraq." That July 25th death was never reported by M-NF and, again, was only announced late yesterday -- long after the outlets had done their 'end of the month' pieces. This happens over and over and the press falls for it everytime -- like saps, like suckers. The announcements bring to 4330 the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war. Back to Polk, the Killeen Daily Herald informs that Polk's full name is Johnny Roosevelt Polk and that he enlisted in March 1992, deployed to Iraq at the start of the year and his "awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon and the Overseas Service Ribbon."

We'll move on to today's reported violence in Iraq. Bombings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing wounded four people. Reuters notes a Jurf al-Sakhar roadside bombing left two people injured and, dropping back to Monday, a Mosul roadside bombing which left two Iraqi soldiers injured.

Shootings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 Iraqi soldier wounded in a Mosul shooting. Reuters drops back to Monday to note 1 "off-duty government employee" shot dead in front of his Mosul home and 1 "brother of Iraq's chief of traffice police" shot dead in Mussayab.

Though the Iraq War hasn't ended and the violence hasn't stopped, it's fallen off the radar -- or further off. Michael Crowley (New Republic) notes the 'downgrading' of the ongoing war:

A recent dispatch from Iraq by The New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller articulated something that has been true for several months now: America has moved on from the Iraq War. Much of the 2008 election was organized around that conflict. Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton in large measure by deriding the judgment she showed in supporting the 2003 Iraq war resolution. And John McCain's public embrace of George W. Bush's policies may have doomed his campaign from the start. Few things seemed to exhilarate Obama's supporters more than his firm call for "an end" to the Iraq war. And now, just six months into Obama's presidency, and even before Obama's troop-withdrawal plan has begun in earnest, Iraq has been replaced by Afghanistan as the conflict that will probably define his presidency.

Crowley believes US forces are the only thing keeping the 'peace' in Iraq -- we obviously disagree (though they're the only thing keeping Nouri in office) on that and other things but Crowley wrote a serious piece about Iraq and that's so very rare today so we'll link As noted in yesterday's snapshot, Nouri lost that loving feeling. Nouri has teamed up with the Righteous League or the Leage of Righteous, warmly wecloming them into the fold. You have to read to the fifth paragraph of Rod Nordland's report (New York Times) this morning to discover that, contrary to Nouri's claims, the group has not renounced violence. In the fifth paragraph, Nordland slips in "the group has not renounced fighting the Americans" and quotes their spokesperson Salam al-Maliki declaring, "We are only fighting the United States." Then, point of fact, they're fighting the puppet government. Not just because Nouri's propped up by the presence of US service members but also because of the various security agreements between the US and Iraq -- more than just the SOFA. So everybody needs to grasp what happened -- it's apparently beyond the New York Times and Rod Nordland. The US has recognized their installed government as a legitimate one and have entered into various contracts with it. Nouri signed off on those. And now Nouri's welocming into the process the League of Righteous who have not renounced violence against the US and who maintain they will continue violence against the US.

How did Bobby Ghosh (Time magazine) describe it last month when Nouri came begging to the US? Oh, yes, Nouri "talked about broadening Iraq's relationship with the U.S. and cooperation in the area of economics, culture and education as well as a conference in October for potential investors in Iraq." Forget the "War on Terror" (though Congress has refused to repeal that legislation), the United States has never been in the position of maintaining diplomatic relations with a foreign country who openly embraces a group that publicly announces it will attack the US. That's not how it works, that's not ever how it has worked.

The group not only maintains that they will continue to attack US forces, they brag about killing Brian S. Freeman, Jabob Fritz, Johanthan B. Chism, Shawn P. Falter and Johnathon M. Millican. Despite that, see the June 9th snapshot, the US military released the two brothers who lead the group in an effort apparently to get the group to release the five British hostages they kidnapped May 29, 2007. They realeased two: Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell. Both men were released dead The British government considers Alec Maclachlan and Alan McMenemy to be dead (the families are still hopeful). The British government hopes Peter Moore is alive. (In part because they need some good news to stem the outcries for the inept performance throughout the kidnappings.) So two ringleaders of a group which publicly claims credit for the kidnappings of 5 British citizens and the deaths of 5 US soldiers are released by the US and the trade off is the group hands over two corpses? No, it doesn't seem fair.

Nor does Nouri making nice. Oliver August (Times of London) offers the British government spin of Nouri raising the issue of Peter Moore with the group. Really? Nouri's bag boy Ali al-Dabbagh tells the New York Times, the British hostages were not discussed ("We cannot negotiate with the kidnappers" -- so why have talks with them) and the Times of New York also states Nouri "said that their status had not been discussed." Nordland can leave out a great deal (and frequently does) but he's never been busted lying intentionally. Today Robert Dreyfuss (The Dreyfuss Report, The Nation) covers some of the issues and wonders, "In other words, Maliki met with a bunch of Shiite terrorists, welcomed them with open arms. Why would he do that?" Because Nouri's a thug. Better question is why the US is trashing every rule of diplomacy they've operated under -- regardless of which party occupied the White House -- and acting as if it's suddenly okay for a foreign power the US funds (one we installed, of course) and one the US provides military backing for to conduct business with a group that has openly and publicly stated they will KILL US service members? That's just not allowed. That's just not done. The normal response to that is for the US to break off all diplomatic ties and recall their ambassador. But there's been no response at all to this and the US continues spending billions on Iraq and Nouri wants more US businesses to come to Iraq. They shouldn't. And if you're a business in Iraq -- and several California-based companies now are in Iraq -- you should be very worried that your stoes might be protested, that you might lose business because what Nouri's doing is unacceptable and apparently Barack's cast himself as President Pushover because this is a very embarrassing moment for the United States as he refuses to make a comment or call it out, let alone follow normal diplomatic guidelines for this situation.

On diplomatic, one thing Michael Crowley gets very right in his post is that Chris Hill, US Ambassador to Iraq, doesn't speak Arabic and has a background in Eatern Europe and Asia." Golly, remember all the jokes about Condi Rice's field of study being the now disengrated USSR?
The memo by US Col Timothy Reese advocating all US troops out of Iraq by the end of 2010 is covered by Rory O'Connor (Media Is A Plural):

Colonel Reese argues instead that all American forces should withdraw by August 2010, pointing out, "If there ever was a window where the seeds of a professional military culture could have been implanted, it is now long past. U.S. combat forces will not be here long enough or with sufficient influence to change it."
So who's right -- the military and political forces that want to prolong our long national nightmare in Iraq as a means of extending American presence and leverage there, or the expert analyst who literally wrote the book on the U.S. Army's history in Iraq?
Colonel Reese - and the now late, but still great Senator Aiken -- had it right. Out Now!

Sidebar, Media Channel is not yet back online but O'Connor's blog is back up and Danny Schechter's News Dissector blog is back up.

Yes, the US needs to leave Iraq and it appears the British may have. Deborah Haynes (Times of London) reports, "British troops may not return to southern Iraq to finish their mission in the country, David Miliband has admitted." Now help me out here because I was immune to the Barry O Kool-Aid flavor but what situation is created for the US in Iraq right now? It already felt like Somolia with Nouri's verbal attacks on US service members but now that Nouri's welcoming in groups who are publicly stating (presently stating, this isn't the past) that their mission is to kill US troops, what is the reason to remain in Iraq?

And does anyone give a damn about the US service members?


With only himself present yesterday senate wise, Senator Byron Dorgan noted he was going to call the hearing ("in the interest of time") of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee to order. Dorgan declared the hearing was the 20th oversight hearing the DPC had done into the contracting fraud and waste in Iraq and Afghanistan and, "On June 20th of last year, we held a hearing that revealed how Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), at a site in Iraq, had exposed US troops and its own workers to -- among others -- to sodium dichromate -- a highly toxic, cancer-causing chemical. This exposure took place in the spring and summer of 2003 at a water facility -- water treatment facility -- in Qarmat Ali, Iraq. In my judgment, the Army's response to this incident and to the findings of our hearing has been tragically inadequate. Sodium dichromate is a deadly poison. According to an expert who testified at our hearing last year, a grain of sand worth of chromium dichromate per cubic meter could lead to serious long-term health problems including cancer."

Sodium dichromate was in the news at the end of 2008. From the December 4, 2008 snapshot:

Yesterday, KBR was in the news for imprisoning workers in Iraq and now Scott Bronstein and Abbie Boudreau (CNN) report KBR is being sued by 16 members of Indiana's National Gaurd who served in Iraq and maintain that KBR knew a water treatment plant (which the soliders were assigned to) exposed them to dangerous chemicals such as the carcinogenic sodium dichromate. David Ivanovich (Houston Chronicle) explains, "In their suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Evansville, Ind., the plaintiffs contend KBR knowingly allowed them to be exposed to sodium dichromate, a chemical used as an anti-corrosive but containing the carcinogen hexavalent chromium. The alleged exposure occurred while the guardsmen were providing security for KBR workers at the Qarmat Ali water plant in southern Iraq." Rajini Vaidyanathan (BBC) elaborates, "The soldiers say that they and other civilian contractors there were repeatedly told there was no danger, and that when they reported health problems such as nose-bleeds to their bosses, they were told they were simply 'allergic to the sand'. The court papers claim that these symptoms were the early side-effects of the chemical, and that some who served on the site went on to suffer severe breathing problems and nasal tumours."

December 22nd Armen Keteyian (CBS Evening News with Katie Couric -- text and video) reported on James Gentry's developing lung cancer after serving at Iraq where he guarded KBR's water plant, "Now CBS News has obtained information that indicates KBR knew about the danger months before the soldiers were ever informed. Depositions from KBR employees detailed concerns about the toxin in one part of the plant as early as May of 2003. And KBR minutes, from a later meeting state 'that 60 percent of the people . . . exhibit symptoms of exposure,' including bloody noses and rashes."

Dorgan's noted the witnesses for the hearing: Iraq War veterans Russell Kimberling, Rocky Bixby, Russel Powell and Glenn Bootay and Dr. Herman Gibb. Dorgan explained one person would not be with them, "Sergeant First Class David Moore, a platoon leader and a 20-year veteran of the Indiana National Guard, was exposed to sodium dichromate at Qarmat Ali. He died in 2008 from lung disease after returning from Iraq. He was wheezing, unable to breathe, constantly coughing, yet doctors were mystified by the cause of his disease." Dorgan noted the government's inability to take accountability from time to time such as with Agent Orange or, more recently, the repeated denials about KBR's shoddy electrical work in Iraq which led to the deaths of US service members.

Senator Evan Bayh wondered why the Indianna National Guard wasn't notified promptly since so many of those exposed were serving with the Indianna National Guard? He also declared, "I've got two principle interests in this. First, to ensure that all those of you who were exposed and were potentially exposed get the treatment to which you are entitled You served our country honorably, you deserve the best medical care possible. We shouldn't put the burden of proof on you because there are photographs of piles of this stuff sittting around. There's no doubt at all that people were exposed so you shouldn't be in the position, as Senator Dorgan was saying, today or five years or ten years from now trying to go back and prove that it was service related. So that's my principal concern: To make sure that you're treated well and get the medical care you deserve. And then the second thing, Senator Dorgan, would be to make sure that this kind of thing never happens again."

We won't note all the opening statements. Those two were worth noting. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid showed up. For what reason? To show that any senator serving on the committee was more qualified than he is to be Senate leader? It was an embarrassing reading of a statement, one in which he never managed to note the Iraq War veterans present as witnesses or to even look at them. But he appeared more concerned with his stop-and-start 'innovative' style of reading from a piece of paper -- or, as he might put it, in . . . novativestyleof . . . readingfromapieceofpap . . . er.

Batallion medic Rusell Powell spoke of being assigned to the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant and the orange power everywhere, with ripped open bags leaving the sodium dicrhomate exposed to the wind, "These bags were spread throughout the facility, both inside and outside the buildings. The bags were often placed at the doorways of the buildings so we had to walk through piles of the orange powder when we entered and exited the buildings. The soldiers at Qarmat Ali would even use the bags as protection during storms, we'd use them as security measures as sand bags, we'd eat there, we'd sit there and eat lunch." Despite the powder being everywhere, the US Army and KBR never provided any warnings or even "voiced any concerns." In 2004, he left Iraq and his rashes, nose bleeds, stomach problems and lesions continued. Finally, in 2009, the West Virginia National Guard notified him via letter that he was "exposed to sodium dichromate while serving at Qarmat Ali."

"My symptoms haven't changed since my service in Iraq," Powell told the committee. "I go almost weekly to doctors appointments for various medical conditions and I have to miss work and ask for additional sick time. I'm testifying today because it is disheartening to know I may not be able to see my sons graduate from high school , college, get married or hold my grandchildred because of this completely avoidable exposure."

And that really does capture what's been stolen and what the reckless endangerment has left those at the water treatment facility plant with: The knowledge that even events in the immediate future, their children's graduation, may be things they are not present for as a result of the actions and decisions made by KBR and, at the very least, the inaction of the US military command. Rocky Bixby noted his difficulty in carrying on conversations because he has to cough repeatedly. He explained that, "Each morning we received regular briefings from KBR about our security work. The only hazards identified at the Qarmat Ali facility were related to developments in the war. No one from KBR or the Army ever told us about hazardous materials at the Qarmat Ali facility."

Bixby explained x-rays have discovered a node on his chest. Approximately every fourth or fifth continuous sentence of speaking at the hearing would require Bixby having to clear his throat or experiencing a coughing spasm where he coughed repeatedly. As he pointed out, had they been warned, none of this would have happened. Had they been warned, they would have taken protections including using the suits provided because of the fear/threat that Saddam Hussein would use chemical weapons on US forces. In the end, Saddam had no chemical weapons and the real chemical threat came from KBR.

"At no time during our deployment," declared Russel Kimberling, "were we told to wear face masks or chemical gear." By the two month mark, he'd developed a hole inside his nose, the navel cavity, and he noted that all the people he knows who have served at Qarmat Ali has symptoms. He is now judged to have "a pre-existing condiction" and has difficulting obtaining life insurance as a result. As the father of a four-year-old son, this is not a minor worry for Kimberling. In addition, he explained, "I am hesitant to have another child because I could be passing on genetic defects to him or her. If I do develop cancer, I am concerned about the financial situation of my loved ones who would be left behind."

Dorgan followed up with a question about the insurance issue.

Senator Byron Dorgan: Mr. Kimberling, you said that you were turned down for life insurance. Did they tell you why that you were denied?

Russell Kimberling: I just got a letter, after after I found this out five years later. I had let my life insurance from the deployment kind of lapse and i figured uhOh I better go back in. And they didn't tell me it was directly related to my exposure they just said due to my -- I had to sign a waiver for my VA which, you know, I think it has my shoulder, hearing and a back problem. I wouldn't be denied life insurance for that. They said I was a high risk. And I don't know what -- they didn't give me a reason.


"After I returned from Iraq, I was never contacted by the army about the potential exposure at Qarmat Ali," explained Glen Booty. "I was unaware that I had been exposed to a toxic chemical but my health problems continued to get worse. I began vomiting up to twenty times a day and I couldn't keep any solid food down. My headaches continued. The point of origin of my illness was while I was in Iraq." Even now knowing about the exposure and receiving some treatments, Booty continues to suffer from: "constant headaches, constant chest pain with skipped heart beats, shortness of breath due to the lower edge of my lungs being collapsed, extreme fatigue, periodic skin rashes, inability to sweat, periodic vomiting without nausea, loss of feeling on my left side and torso, high blood sugar, episodes of kidney stones, episodes of blacking out and short term memory loss."

We'll note this exhange from the hearing.

Senator Evan Bayh: Captain Kimberling, you testified that you escorted a group of, was it KBR employees, who had the white suits on, the environmental suits on, to the site. Did I understand your testimony correctly?

Russell Kimberling: Civilian attired. I couldn't say whether they were, you know, Corps of Engineers or KBR.

Senator Evan Bayh: Ah but they had --

Russell Kimberling: Civilian attire on.

Senator Evan Bayh: Oh, civilian attire. I thought you said they had enviornmental suits.

Russell Kimberling: Well they had it, when they got in the vehicles, civilian attire, when they got out of the vehicles, at the site, they had white PPE [Personal Protective Equipment], the gear.

Senator Evan Bayh: So when you were -- why do you suppose they put that on? Before they got out of the vehicles?

Russell Kimberling: They knew something we didn't.

Senator Evan Bayh: Well that's my point. And so they drove up in civilian attire but before they got out to set foot on the ground, they put on the environmental suits obviously indicating they were worried about something?

Russell Kimberling: Yes.

Senator Evan Bayh: But you and your men and women hadn't been informed of anything at that point, correct?

Russell Kimberling: Correct.

Senator Evan Bayh: At what point after that, if at all, were you informed?

Russell Kimberling: It was within a couple of weeks that, uh, Lt Col [James] Gentry, once he -- once we figured out what it was, we were informed and we didn't go back to the site.

Senator Evan Bayh: So there were at least a couple of weeks there when presumably they didn't find out that dayso there was a period of some time, at least a couple of weeks, probably longer ,that people were aware there was some pretty hazardous stuff there -- so much that they protect themselves -- but you and your men hadn't been notified?

Russell Kimberling: Yes, sir.

The civilian visit was in August 2003. Kimberling had been stationed at the water treatment facility since April 2003. Elsewhere in the hearing, he noted that Lt Col James Gentry "is currently battling terminal lung cancer, most likely caused by his exposure to sodium dichromate, and has entered hospice care."

Meanwhile, David Martin (CBS Evening News with Katie Couric -- link has text and video) reports on Iraq War veteran Casey Owens who lost his legs while serving in Iraq who has had to fight the VA for needed treatment and who TBI is repeatedly swept aside and ignored. "I've gone to the VA and complained," he explains, "about certain symptoms but it's usually just shrugged off as sinus headaches or migraines or stress." Gregg Zoroya (USA Today) reports on the strain deployments are causing military families such as Lynn and Capt Mark Flitton with Mark having a very difficult time readjusting to life with his family after being deployed three times in the last ten years. He tells Zoroya, "I haven't come home yet. I'm still in the war mode, and I don't know that I'm going to come back out of it until I know I don't have any more war rotations to go back on." Drop back to Friday's snapshot and pair Flitton's statements with Mary who called into NPR's The Diane Rehm Show to share her story:Hi there. As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I was calling about. My husband is currently on his fourth tour in Iraq which is his fifth deployment in six years. As a matter of fact, he's physically lived at home six months since 2001. There's -- there's two reasons I think why the high suicide rate You have these up tempo deployments. When someone comes back from being deployed in Iraq you have what's called a honeymoon period and it might be a month or several months where everyone's happy to see you and every thing's going fine and then the cracks start to show a little bit the stress that every body's been under -- whether it's the normal stress or maybe PTSD. But by the time that starts to rear it's head, they're back for another deployment again and so those issues don't get addressed. And I live in fear for when my husband is home permanently and I know for certain that we're going to have to address that. My husband told me once a story when they were in Iraq, in a combat mission. There was a young gentlemen, maybe 19, scared to death to go out -- understandably. And he was out maybe thirty minutes and they got hit by an IED. He was absolutely terrified and the next day he had to go back out on another mission. And he did not want to go and he had to. And I asked my husband what do you do in those circumstances? And my husband said "Charley Mike" which is an acronym for CM and it means continue mission. That is the most important thing is you continue the mission and you don't stop until it's complete and then you look back and maybe try to figure out what's wrong with these poor people. The -- I don't care what any senior officials say -- the mental health is abysmal in the military. It's frowned upon, there's not enough services. Also I think because the rest -- only the military is at war and the rest of the country is not, there's not -- there's a big disconnect there and I think that adds to the situation. My husband is proud to do his service. He's happy to be there so many other fathers don't have to be. But he would like at least some acknowledgment and recognition. When you turn on the TV and very little is talked about.

Moving to the press, pundits, gas bags. And if they don't like being called out, they should try talking about the Iraq War than, for example Naomi Klein, repeatedly using women to get some cheap laughs. Like Klein, two journalists working for the Washington Post thought it was fine and dandy to go to town, CJR's Greg Marx calls it out here, Kirsten Powers (New York Post) goes further in calling all out all this sexist garbage:

If [Dana] Milbank made a "satirical" race-based joke about Obama, he'd be fired. But that's not going to happen here.
After all, calling Hillary Clinton the b-word is practically mainstream behavior. During the '08 campaign, a (female) questioner at a McCain event asked "How can we beat the bitch?" McCain laughed. Conservative commentator Alex Castellanos defended this on CNN saying that Clinton deserves to be called a "bitch."
For what? Running for president? How dare she!
The only thing worse would be running for vice president. Just ask Sarah Palin.
I'm no fan of the former governor of Alaska, but as a life-long feminist I can't ignore the endless stream of sexism directed at her.
Friday on MSNBC, guest host Donny Deutsch asked, "If Palin wasn't hot, would we be talking about her?" His two female guests -- one Republican and one Democrat -- were united in their disagreement with this assertion.
But Deutsch was adamant: "The only reason we are so fascinated, the American public has never seen a woman that looks like this in power. That's where the fascination starts."
Where was this insightful analysis when the vapid JFK-wannabe John Edwards and his silky hair ended up as the Dems choice for VP in 2004? Or was everyone too dazzled by his completely undistinguished one term as a senator?

Lastly, Iraq Veterans Against the War's Adam Kokesh is running for the US Congress out of New Mexico's third district and he announced last month he was going to be on the Republican ticket (link has video and text). An e-mail came in asking if we'd dumped Adam because he was on the Republican ticket? No. We'll continue to note him and Congress would be lucky to have Adam as member on any party ticket. There's just not time for everything -- the hearing covered today couldn't go into yesterday's snapshot because there wasn't room and I didn't feel like boiling it down to one paragraph which was all the room that was left -- so something's get held with the hopes that they'll be noted at a later date. This week, Iraqi refugees should be a topic, hopefully tomorrow. But I'm holding things on that. There's never enough room for everything on Iraq. Things like a political run are more likely to get held. But there's no walk away from Adam because he's running on the Republican ticket. We're not a Libertarian site but we never ignored Adam because he's a Libertarian. We'll continue to note him and probably more so this month because Congress is about to go on recess.

iraq
the killeen daily herald
gregg zoroyausa today
cbs news
armen keteyian
nprthe diane rehm showdanny schechter
the new york timesrod nordland
the times of londonoliver augustdeborah haynes

Isaiah, Andy Worthington, Third

Monday, Monday. We need a chuckle to start the week, so check out Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Full On Federline"



I love that one.

From the funny to the sad, this is from Andy Worthington's "Judge Orders Release Of Tortured Guantánamo Prisoner; Government Refuses To Concede Defeat :"

On July 30, in a long-anticipated ruling (PDF), Judge Ellen Segan Huvelle granted the habeas corpus petition of Mohamed Jawad, an Afghan teenager seized after a grenade attack on a jeep containing two US soldiers and an Afghan translator in December 2002, and ordered the government to transfer him to the custody of the Afghan authorities, who have already stated that he will be released on arrival.
Even if the government accepts Judge Huvelle’s ruling, Jawad will not be released immediately, because, under the terms of legislation recently forced on the government by Congress, the administration will have to provide lawmakers with “an assessment of any risk to the national security” posed by Jawad before he can be freed, which, it said, would take 22 days.


An e-mail came in from a woman I've never heard of asking me to link to Violet Socks of Reclusive Leftist.

Pass.

I don't link to webpiggie.

"Webpiggie" is a blogger -- male or female -- who expects the entire world to link to them and will whine about how people don't but never gives the 'linky goodness' back.

Violet Socks is just a webpiggie.

She's really not that good of a writer but she thinks she's something and she thinks we need her bad posts.

We don't.

And in this community we certainly don't because we have strong women who cover any story worth covering weeks before Violet Socks gets her lazy ass over to it.

A webpiggie is also a blogger who has no idea the Iraq War has not ended. Meaning they never blog about. Now Vi would insist she's blogging about feminist topics. Well war is a feminist issue. But it's also true the webpiggie makes time to blog on a number of other topics. Today, for example, she's made time to mock Christianity and link to Huffington Post.

See that's the other thing, Vi's a Blog Whore. No ethics. There is no reason to give Huff Post traffice. It's people like Violet Socks that allowed the attacks on Hillary to begin with. If Huff Post and others had to worry that they'd never be linked to again for pulling the stunts they did, they never would have gone after Hillary.

But they know Blog Whores will always link to them.

She's a Queen Bee who's not going to help any woman. A woman could start a blog tomorrow and if you're weren't fingering away in Vi's Circle Jerk, she wouldn't link to. She'd steal from you. She's stolen from a lot of websites that she doesn't link to. She's also a liar, I may pick that point up tomorrow. She'll lie for people -- she'll call out X for doing something and then pretend not to notice that Y did the same thing. Blog Whore.

No thanks, not interested. By the way, ask the idiot when she bothered to write about Abeer (the answer is never so even when it is a feminist issue, she's got no interest in Iraq, Blog Whore).

Okay, Third Estate. Along with Dallas, here's who worked on the edition:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, 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,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

And here's what we came up with.

Truest statement of the week -- Bonnie Erbe, a straight talker.

Truest statement of the week II -- Chip Reid from CBS had a good observation.

A note to our readers -- Jim breaks down the edition.

Editorial: 2008 Lessons for the peace movement -- This is a really good editorial especially since we were all tired and Jim said, "Okay, okay, skip to the conclusion. I'll plug C.I. in here." C.I. had pulled some stuff from the Saturday entry (at Common Ills) at Jim's request so it could be used at Third. ANd it really works, the section we wrote before and after C.I.'s stuff.

TV: The SchmoozeHour -- And this is just great. I love Ava and C.I.'s TV commentaries. In her unrealistic dreams, Vi wishes she could write like Ava and C.I.

Roundtable -- I focused on music here. Hope that's cool with everyone reading this. We don't do enough on music and Kat had just reviewed a CD I have too so we went into music.

Blaming the veteran -- Ava, C.I., Kat and Wally wrote this about the two hearings they attended last week in Congress on veterans issues.

Single-Payer to get a vote -- Pelosi was forced into promising a floor vote in the House on single-payer. This is about why that's a good thing.

Reconsidering Carole King's 'failed' albums -- This is a music feature. And Dad has these albums so we made a point to listen before the writing edition started. (On the West Coast, people could -- and did -- listen to C.I.'s copies. And Jess knew them already because he grew up in a family that was a huge Carole King family.)

Coming up -- American Dad. We did this to use the photos and we did it because it keeps getting postponed. So the thought was if we went ahead and noted it, we'd have to do it next week.

Highlights -- Kat, Betty, Marcia, Ruth, Rebecca, Cedric, Stan, Wally, Elaine and I wrote this.

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

Monday, August 3, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, Nouri blows kisses and holds hands with a group reportedly responsible for the deaths of 5 US soldiers and 4 British citizens, last week's bank robbery pulled by Iraqi government employees (working for the Shi'ite vice president), violence today and yesterday claims at least 24 lives and leaves sixty injured, propaganda to sell the illegal war has a sad ending, and more.

Michael Scott Speicher is dead. Ron Mott filed a report for NBC's Today Show this morning (right now, click here for video) noting Speicer's plane was shot down the first night of the Gulf War. All these years later his remains have been found. Mott noted one time POW and now Senator John McCain's Facebook page commnet: "The long ordeal for Capt Scott Speicher's family is over -- god bless and American hero." Mott had time to troll the web, he just apparently didn't have time to report. He's far from the only one 'missing' details. Thom Shanker (New York Times) does note, "After the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the collapse of Saddam Hussein's government, a joint team from the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency sifted through recorded documents, interrogated prisoners of war and searched possible crash sites to try to determine Captain Speicher's fate." But, Thom, why was their a search for him in 2003?

Maybe because the then US Bully Boy George W. Bush was ginning up tales of Speicher the same way he did of WMDs? Bush even mentioned Speicher (not by name) in a 2002 United Nations speech attempting to convince the world that Saddam Hussein was more evil than . . . well more evil than George W. Bush. Of course, Speicher was used by Bush for more than just selling his illegal war. If only Saddam had useful tools like Amy Waters Yarsinskey. If you recognize the name, it's more likely due to a press conference then her own failed writing. Scott McClellan was asked about her in a May 15, 2003 White House press briefing where a friendly plant raised her and went into a riff on how Yarsinskey blamed Bill Clinton for 'abandoing' Speicher (Speicher crashed during the presidency of George H.W. Bush). Yeah, the pilot could be used for partisan nonsense as well by the administration. In 2002, Yarsinske was gushing to the BBC, "I'm so glad President Bush mentioned Scott in his UN speech about Iraq. He said an American pilot 'is' among the personnel held by Saddam. He didn't say 'if' or 'was' -- Bush knows Scott is alive. He's priority in Bush's planning." While she was a two-bit liar or dumb as a doornail (take your pick), "Antony, UK, England" left a very telling comment: "I hope that President Bush is not cynically using this tragedy as another pretext to attack Iraq, causing countless civilians casualties." Antony nailed it perfectly. January 11, 2001, Christopher Marquis (New York Times) was reporting on the decision by the Navy to change Speicher's status from "killed in action" to "missing in action" -- allegedly based on evidence. Based on lies. In March of 2002, Iraq would issue a denial that they were holding Speicher and offer to address the issue only to be dismissed by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. (Click here for BBC story of the offer from Iraq.)

Also that month, March 14, 2002, the New York Times was explaining how Bush had declared Speicher could be alive and a hostage in Iraq. August 15, 2002 came news from the Times that Gordon England, Secretary of the Navy, was considering another change in status for Speicher from MIA to "M.I.A.-captured". By the way, had Barack Obama's administration not trashed the White House website -- several violations in and of itself -- a picture of just how ruthlessly the previous administration used Speicher's memory near daily could be witnessed by all Americans.

The illegal war breaks out in March of 2003. Weeks before it's launch, Elisabeth Bumiller and Eric Schmitt (New York Times) were reporting (Jan. 31, 2003) on then president of vice Dick Cheney ("the administration's chief schmoozer and enforcer") meeting two months prior with US Senators Pat Roberts and Bill Nelson regarding the fate of Speicher and the senators considering a trip to Iraq to search for details. Roberts explains to the Times, "The vice president weighed in and said now was not the time to go." Of course not. Couldn't have two US senators declare in November 2002 that there was no evidence Speicher was alive when the administration was repeatedly using that as a selling point for the illegal war. Selling point. January 10, 2003 Barbara Starr (CNN) reported, "The United States in recent months has received another intelligence report suggesting U.S. Navy Capt. Scott Speicher is alive in Iraq, but intelligence sources emphasize they have not corroborted the information and have nothing to indicate it is accurate."

March 15, 2004, Jonathan S. Landay and Tish Wells (now McClatchy, then Knight Ridder -- yes, Tish is a woman -- no Bill Moyers didn't include her in his "Boys of McClatchy" report on the debut of Bill Moyers Journal and why would anyone be surprised that Moyers would render a woman invisible?) reported that the Iraqi exiles who were feeding false information -- know by US intelligence to be false -- to the White House ahead of the Iraq War were also feeding the same false info to the press: "A June 26, 2002, letter from the Iraqi National Congress to the Senate Appropriations Committee listed 108 articles based on information provided by the INC's Information Collection Program, a U.S.-funded effort to collect intelligence in Iraq." The article continues:

The assertions in the articles reinforced President Bush's claims that Saddam Hussein should be ousted because he was in league with Osama bin Laden, was developing nuclear weapons and was hiding biological and chemical weapons.
Feeding the information to the news media, as well as to selected administration officials and members of Congress, helped foster an impression that there were multiple sources of intelligence on Iraq's illicit weapons programs and links to bin Laden.

It then notes the 'information' pushed by the exiles which includes: "Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher, missing since the 1991 Gulf war, was seen alive in Baghdad in 1998. The case remains unresolved, but the Navy last week said there was no evidence that Speicher was ever held in captivity." The next paragrah?

According to the letter, publications in which the articles appeared included The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic Monthly, The Times of London, The Sunday Times of London, The Sunday Age of Melbourne, Australia, and two Knight Ridder newspapers, The Kansas City Star and The Philadelphia Daily News. The Associated Press and others also wrote stories based on INC-provided materials.

Michael Scott Speicher's family now knows his fate and, with the pain, hopefully there is some peace for them in knowing. But the tragedy was turned into a mockery by an administration determined to go to war and by a rag-tag band of cowards -- Iraqis who didn't have the guts to fight Saddam themselves. The same cowards who came to power after the US invasion. The same cowards who could suddenly return to Iraq. The same cowards like Nouri al-Maliki who put down the US service members while speaking in Iraq then dash through Arlington Cemetary to toss a wreath and expect Americans to forget every verbal attack he's launched on US service members?

By the way, though Wells was disappeared by Moyers, she and Landay won the Award of Distinction from the Medill School of Journalism for the 2004 story quoted above. (That's not the only reporting award Wells has won this decade.)

Two months after Landay and Wells broke that news, Mikey Its-a-cough and Mark Hosenball (Newsweek) showed up to announce the Pentagon was cutting off funding for the exiles of the Iraqi National Congress and they rewrote history:

Another top priority for the INC's intelligence-gathering apparatus was the collection of information on the "fate/whereabouts of U.S. POW Capt Michael Scott Speicher," a Navy pilot who was shot down over Iraq during the first gulf war. Though the INC and other exile groups stoked prewar rumors among U.S. conservatives that Speicher was alive and being held by Saddam's regime in a secret Iraqi prison cell, most U.S. intelligence officials, including senior DIA officials, believe that Speicher probably died years ago. Current and former U.S. intelligence officials say that the DIA concluded shortly after major combat operations ended in Iraq last year that Speicher almost certainly was dead and that prewar reports from exiles and defectors that he was still alive probably were hoaxes.

Among US conservatives? The New York Times, Vanity Fair, AP and other outlets are suddenly "US conservatives"? No, but Its-a-cough has never really been one to tell the truth, now has he? And no one really wants to explore do they? Amy Goodman's off spending the hour on food today. Instead of addressing how the previous administration and Iraqi exiles worked together to use the death of US service member to help sell an illegal war. And the New York Times files a story that leaves out all the details -- despite their long, long history of publishing articles on Speicher.

Turning to Iraq where three Americans apparently were hiking and apparently wandered over the border into Iran and have been detained by Iranian authorities. This afternoon Sam Dagher and Sharon Otterman (New York Times) breathlessly announce the names of the three Shane Michael Bauer, Joshua Felix Fattal and Sarah Emily Shourd. That was news . . . Saturday when Nandini Sukumar (Bloomberg News) noted that three Americans --Shane Bower, Sara Short and Joshua Steel -- supposedly ended up in Iran, supposedly accidentally -- while visiting Iraq. So Steel's name is really Fattal? Or he's changed it to Fattal? Or, since his father's an Iraqi, he's using Fattal in Iraq and using Steel in the US? Look for The Nation to develop a sudden and serious (and temporary) renewed interest in Iraq.

But don't look for them to call out thug-meister Nouri. The puppet's been holding meetings galore but it's his meeting today that is of 'interest'. AFP reports, "Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met members of the radical Shiite group believed to have kidnapped five Britons in Iraq two years ago after it said it had renounced violence, a government spokesman said on Monday." AFP calls the group the League of Righteous and states that Nouri's bag boy declared on Iraqi television yesterday that the League of Righteous had just announced that it "renounces violence and supports the political process and efforts to achieve national unity." Wait one damn minute, Nouri's attacking Sunnis, having them arrested for alleged actions three and four and five years ago but the League of the Righteous declares Sunday that they're renouncing violence and Nouri's meeting with them today?

That Righteous League, is responsible for the deaths of Jason Creswell and Jason Swindlehurst. The British government also considers Alec Maclachlan and Alan McMenemy dead. The family of the two continue to hold out hope. (The July 29th snapshot covers the families press conference.) They and Peter Moore were kidnapped in Baghdad May 2, 2007. Moore is not considered by the British government to be dead. Friday's snapshot noted the latest news on the kidnapping -- news which is all the more damning as Nouri rushes off to hold hands and skip down the lane with the League of Rightous. The Telegraph of London reported:

An unnamed senior Iraqi intelligence source told The Guardian the highly-organised kidnapping was "one only a government can do". Mr Moore had been installing a computer system to track billions of pounds in foreign aid and oil revenue through the finance ministry. The intelligence source told the paper: "Many people don't want a high level of corruption to be revealed. "Remember this is the information technology centre, this is the place where all the money to do with Iraq and all Iraq's financial matters are housed." Paul Wood, a former British Army officer who investigated the abduction for the four bodyguards' employers, GardaWorld, said it was "too perfect". "It would make sense to think that there was someone on the inside telling the kidnappers when to come, what to expect and how to deal with any security issues they were going to face," he told the paper. Meena Muhammed, Maggie O'Kane and Guy Grandjean (Guardian) added: Unknown to the kidnappers, two intelligence officers were parked opposite the centre, outside an outpatients' clinic. Through an intermediary -- a former high-level intelligence source -- one of the officers described the operation to the Guardian: "The cars started coming down the street and surrounding the ministry. The cars were marked 'ministry of the interior' – they are Toyota Land Cruisers, they belong to the ministry of the interior ... The operation was well planned and they were carrying Kalashnikovs. One group came out with two of the hostages. They put them in the first car. They weren't hooded or handcuffed. Then they brought the other three men out. Then they brought out the men's belongings, their briefcases and rucksacks. They put those things in a separate car. "People started gathering around. It was near the al-Rafidain Bank on Palestine Street. The people were gathering around and the kidnappers were shouting: 'Go home now, this is nothing do with anyone. Do not look, this has nothing to do with you.'"

Repeating, Friday fingers point at Nouri's government. This weekend the League of Righteous suddenly denounce violence. Today Nouri meets with them. It's offensive. It's outrageous. And that's just for the British. What about for the US? Dropping back to the June 9th snapshot:

This morning the New York Times' Alissa J. Rubin and Michael Gordon offered "U.S. Frees Suspect in Killing of 5 G.I.'s." Martin Chulov (Guardian) covered the same story, Kim Gamel (AP) reported on it, BBC offered "Kidnap hope after Shia's handover" and Deborah Haynes contributed "Hope for British hostages in Iraq after release of Shia militant" (Times of London). The basics of the story are this. 5 British citizens have been hostages since May 29, 2007. The US military had in their custody Laith al-Khazali. He is a member of Asa'ib al-Haq. He is also accused of murdering five US troops. The US military released him and allegedly did so because his organization was not going to release any of the five British hostages until he was released. This is a big story and the US military is attempting to state this is just diplomacy, has nothing to do with the British hostages and, besides, they just released him to Iraq. Sami al-askari told the New York Times, "This is a very sensitive topic because you know the position that the Iraqi government, the U.S. and British governments, and all the governments do not accept the idea of exchanging hostages for prisoners. So we put it in another format, and we told them that if they want to participate in the political process they cannot do so while they are holding hostages. And we mentioned to the American side that they cannot join the political process and release their hostages while their leaders are behind bars or imprisoned." In other words, a prisoner was traded for hostages and they attempted to not only make the trade but to lie to people about it. At the US State Dept, the tired and bored reporters were unable to even broach the subject. Poor declawed tabbies. Pentagon reporters did press the issue and got the standard line from the department's spokesperson, Bryan Whitman, that the US handed the prisoner to Iraq, the US didn't hand him over to any organization -- terrorist or otherwise. What Iraq did, Whitman wanted the press to know, was what Iraq did. A complete lie that really insults the intelligence of the American people. CNN reminds the five US soldiers killed "were: Capt. Brian S. Freeman, 31, of Temecula, California; 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz, 25, of Verdon, Nebraska; Spc. Johnathan B. Chism, 22, of Gonzales, Louisiana; Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Cortland, New York; and Pfc. Johnathon M. Millican, 20, of Trafford, Alabama." Those are the five from January 2007 that al-Khazali and his brother Qais al-Khazali are supposed to be responsible for the deaths of. Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Robert H. Reid (AP) states that Jonathan B. Chism's father Danny Chism is outraged over the release and has declared, "They freed them? The American military did? Somebody needs to answer for it."

They freed them and Nouri made nice with them today. And if British reports are true, Nouri's been making nice with them for some time. Nouri's apparently saved his rage for the residents of Camp Ashraf. Over the weekend, Christopher Booker (Telegraph of London) observed, "Last week Iraqi government forces stormed the camp, bulldozing buildings, shooting and beating the inhabitants with nailed clubs and axes, leaving at least 12 dead and 400 injured. Despite outcries from the European Parliament and an all-party group of MPs and peers at Westminster, not a squeak of protest has been heard from the British Foreign Office, Brussels or Washington at this flagrant breach of the Geneva Convention." Damien McElroy (Telegraph of London) notes how little press coverage the assault has received and declared, "The American-installed government in Iraq has shown its true colours. By fighting its way into an Iraqi camp of Iranian dissidents, possibly killing 11 people in the process, it has earned brownie points in Iran. America disapproved, but its diplomatic intervention was limited to medical assistance." The MEK has been told by Nouri & thugs that they have one month to leave Iraq. Or? Or is left unexplained. In addition, Nouri's 're-branded' Camp Ashraf following the assault which started on Tuesday. He now wants the press to call it the "Camp of New Iraq." The Iranian press is running with it and, probably a good idea, when you've committed a War Crime to change the name of the scene of your crime -- it helps confuse the issue. Today Chris Hughes (Daily Mirror) observes, "A few days ago a camp of dissident Iranians living near Baghdad was raided by Iraqi police and soldiers who proceeded to shoot seven dead and injure 300. It's one way to handle the local traveller problem but it might surprise some of the US forces who trained these Iraqi police and soldiers on how to behave."

Saturday Nouri's government insisted 22 residents of Camp Ashraf want to leave but the National Council of Resistance of Iran states that is propaganda and that "Ashraf residents declared that the claim is an absolute lie and no one among them since the violent assault by the Iraqi forces has either left Ashraf or requested to do so." NCRI also issued the following statement:This morning, in a bid to carry out a stage managed theatrics meant to cover up the inhumane crimes in Camp Ashraf, Iraqi forces allowed journalists from some news organizations, such as Reuters, AFP, Associated Press, and al-Arabiya, al-Sharqiya and al-Hurra TV stations as well as the al-Sabah daily to visit Ashraf. The Iraqi forces had planned to concentrate the media on themselves and claim that there is nothing wrong in Ashraf and calm prevails all over the camp.The reporters, who picked up on the orchestrated attempt, requested to meet with Ashraf residents themselves and see those injured and dead firsthand. However, the Iraqi forces, who are immensely fearful of the media witnessing their crimes, vigorously opposed the request, and while hurling insults and profanities at reporters, confiscated their pictures and videos and forced them out of the camp.Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of IranAugust 1, 2009

Iran's Fars News Agency reports today that Iraqi MP Hossein Ali states that MEK needs to be expelled. Suadad al-Salhy, Tim Cocks and Patrick Graham (Reuters) report that 36 residents have been arrested and removed from the camp -- apparently picked at random -- and they note, "Some human rights groups and PMOI sympathisers in the West, who have been highly critical of the way Iraq has handled Ashraf, say closing the camp and driving residents out against their will would violate international human rights law." Mark Mazzetti and Mark Landler (New York Times) tracked the scrambles in the US government after the assault began last week:

But a senior State Department official said there was some skepticism that the Iraqis were taking these concerns seriously. "The Iraqis will tell you what you want to hear," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the matter. "That's why we're going to continue to watch the situation very closely."

Nouri al-Maliki, a thug and a war criminal. And thug things run fast in Iraq. Tuesday a bank was robbed in Baghdad. As is always the case, the government spokespeople (so often Shi'ite) blamed the Sunnis. Not so fast. Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reports last week's bank robbery in which 8 guards were killed and $4.8 million was stolen was not the work of Sunnis -- Nouri's favorite blame target. No, they were Shi'ites and, not just any Shi'ites, they "were in fact Iraqi army officers attached to the elite unit guarding Shiite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi." Oliver August (Times of London) adds: "They killed eight bank staff last week and used dynamite to blast open the vault of the Rafidain Bank in the wealthy district of Karrada, making off with £4.3 million. On the run, the men passed through five official checkpoints and defied a night-time curfew in southern Baghdad without being challenged. No wonder -- their day job was to protect the Vice-President, Adel Abdul Mehdi, the highest-ranking Shia official in the country after the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki. No street cop dared to stop them. The men later stashed their loot in offices belonging to Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the second-largest Shia party, ISCI, and a close ally of the Vice-President." Turns out that before they could arrest the bank robbers, they had to get Nouri's permission. Thug Justice: Nouri Style. Apparently not everything was given clearance. Sam Dagher (New York Times) explains, "One of Iraq's two vice presidents, Adel Abdul Mahdi, admonished the Interior Ministry on Sunday for revealing that the robbery last Tuesday had been masterminded by two senior officers of the guard assigned to protect him."

Yesterday, Waleed Ibrahim, Tim Cocks and Yara Bayoumy (Reuters) reported that Tariq Aziz has been sentenced to seven years in prison. This isn't his first sentencing in post-war Iraq and whether he's guilty of what he's been found guilty of I'll leave for others to decide because we don't promote the myth here that Iraq has justice or a functioning judicial system. (It is strange how three weeks ago their press had to meet with the judiciary to devise ways to protect press freedom and how none of the reporters for US outlets were interested in covering that story.) So Tariq Aziz was found guilty and maybe he is and maybe he isn't. But the charge itself, the crime that took place (whomever was responsible)? It was "the forced displacement of Kurds from oil-prosperous northeastern Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule." And the boundaries are unclear why? Because of the forced displacement. That's not hard to follow. Stars and Stripes' Leo Shane III is able to follow it. He can lay it out as it is. The same can't be said for all outlets. Sunday Nouri al-Maliki visited the KRG and met with their leaders. Jamal Hashim (Xinhua) observes, "Maliki's talks with Kurdish leaders came amid U.S. pressure on the central government and the Kurdish authorities to compromise the deep differences between Arabs and Kurds before the U.S. troops complete withdrawal from Iraq in 2011." Nada Bakri (Washington Post) reports,"The dispute between the two sides includes a disagreement over a hydrocarbon law to share oil revenue and manage oil reserves, some of the world's largest; demarcation of the border between the country's Kurdish and the Arab regions; and the fate of Kirkuk, an oil-rich city with mixed Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen ethnicities." Larry Kaplow (Newsweek) interviews KRG President Massoud Barzani who makes statements similar to what he has stated before, "In fact, my position has been the same from day one. I did not ask for anything else for my people beyond what the Constitution entitles us to. I have always stated that I will defend the rights of our people, and the only weapon in my hand will be the Constitution." The Iraqi Constitution guarantees that a census and vote will take place in Kirkuk to determine its fate. The census and the referendum were supposed to have taken place no later than 2007.

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

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing that injured two people, a Baghdad minibus bombing which also injured two, a Falluja car suicide car bombing which claimed the life of the driver and 2 bystanders (seven more injured), a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier, a second Mosul roadside bombing which also claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left two others injured, an Eskendariyah car bombing which claimed 1 life and left three people injured, a Hilla car bombing which claimed 2 lives and left nineteen injured and another Hilla car bombing which wounded eight people.

Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 suspect shot dead by police in Mosul.

That was today's violence. Dropping back to Sunday, Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing injured a police officer, 1 Iraqi soldier was injured in a Mosul shooting, another was wounded in another Mosul shooting, 7 corpses were discovered in Baghdad and a Haditha car bombing claimed 6 lives and left twenty-one people injured. Alsumaria explains 8 people died in the Haditha car bombing with dozens wounded and adds, "A citizen was killed and 3 were wounded in a separate bomb blast placed in a pile of rubble near Abu Hanifah Mosque in Al-Azamiyah neighborhood, police reported."

Finally, independent journalist David Bacon continues to report on labor issues and, at AfterDowningStreet, he reports on Tosha Alberty's fight to keep her Oakland home as the First Franklin Mortgage Service attempts to shut down and the Community springs into action. Bacon can be heard on KPFA's The Morning Show (over the airwaves in the Bay Area, streaming online) each Wednesday morning (begins airing at 7:00 am PST) and his latest book is Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press) which just won the CLR James Award. And, one more thing actually, "Brand Obama has allocated nearly one trillion dollars in defense related spending and the continuation of our doomed imperial projects in Iraq where military planners now estimate that 70,000 troops will remain for the next fifteen to twenty years." That's Chris Hedges from KPFA last Tuesday. Maggie asked Kat to pass it to me for the snapshot and Kat did but with Congressional hearings last week a lot got cut. I meant to note it already, my apologies. Also "Kat's Korner: Elvis almost made a great album" went up Saturday night, a review of Elvis Costello's new album, and Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Full On Federline." Bonnie reminded me to note Isaiah this morning and I did but I forgot to note Kat so I'm noting both in the snapshot.



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