Tuesday. How's your week going so far?
I think I gave Elizabeth Schulte an idiot of the week last week but she has a good article up at Socialist Worker entitled "Obama's nuclear power play:"
PRESIDENT BARACK Obama announced on February 17 that his Energy Department had approved an $8.3 billion loan for the construction of two nuclear reactors in Georgia, opening the way for the first nuclear power plants to be built in the U.S. in three decades.
Obama couched the announcement in environmental rhetoric, counting nukes on a list of "clean" energy sources, alongside solar and wind power.
Maybe he should ask the Pennsylvania residents who lived near the Three Mile Island plant 31 years ago if they think nuclear power is "clean." In 1979, an accident at the Three Mile Island reactor nearly ended in a catastrophic meltdown. Or he could talk to the 6 million Ukrainians--those who are still alive--who were exposed to contamination in 1986 when the Chernobyl rector released a radioactive cloud to drift over parts of Europe.
I am still amazed by how little objection there's been to Barack's proposal. But then I remember that the Cult of St. Barack has no ethics and Amy Goodman's laid back b.s. on this proposal last week doesn't surprise me.
Harry Reid does. He's such a cheesy ass f**ker. I can't stand him. Meredith Shiner (Politico) has an article that reminds me why that is:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that Republicans should "stop crying over reconciliation" as the two parties prepare to meet with President Barack Obama to discuss the future of health care reform. Reid answered questions about health care following the Democratic weekly policy luncheon, and seemed particularly irked by the question over whether reconciliation was the only way forward on getting a health care bill passed.
"The answer to that is no," Reid said abruptly. "But I have been told that my Republican friends are lamenting reconciliation. I would recommend to them to go back and look at history. Since 1981, reconciliation has been used 21 times—the vast majority of those reconciliation efforts have been by Republicans. So nothing's off the table. We'll have to take a look at that.
Let me add that he's a real idiot. Barack's PR this week is all about, "I want us to all work together." That's the take away on the stunts for the week. Then along comes Harry carping and griping and basically saying "Screw you, Republicans!" Harry Reid's an idiot. He doesn't just hurt himself, he hurts his whole party, right up to the White House. And he's supposed to be a 'leader'? Best thing in the world would be for him to lose the election (as it seems likely).
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Tuesday, February 23, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces another death, Iraqi Christians continue to be targeted, Nir Rosen longs for Pinochet, election madness continues and more.
Today the US military announced: "RAMADI, Iraq -- A U.S. Soldier died today in a vehicle related accident in Western Iraq. The Ironsides command team wishes to extend their deepest sympathies and condolences to the family. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kind and release by the Department of Defense. The names of service members are announced through the U.S. Department of Defense official website [. . .] The announcements are made on the Web site no earlier than 24 hours after notification of the service member's primary next of kin. The incident is under investigation." Prior to the announcement, ICCC's count of the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 4378. The number is now 4379.
Starting with elections and specifically with the Real Ugly. Yes, it is foundation ugly but it's not Thomas E. Ricks, it's worse: Nir Rosen. Rosen's offering predicitions and those who are familiar with his past attempts at tea leaf reading are immediately laughing. But there's laughable and then there is appalling. Rosen, who looks more and more like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, decided to share the following:
Maliki will probably emerge the victor in the elections. His more sectarian and corrupt Shiite rivals are discredited and unpopular, but more importantly, he is an authoritarian ruler in the Middle East, he would have to be really incompetent if he couldn't stay in power. If Karzai could do it, then Maliki should be able to as well. Of course there is nothing uniquely Middle Eastern about this. In fact maybe looking at post-Soviet states is useful -- that is, the new ruler will not readily relinquish control, even if he has to bend the rules a bit, or operate outside the constitution. This has happened in Asia, Africa, and other places in transition. I hate to admit that I hope Maliki wins. He's the best of all the realistic alternatives. It's not like a more secular candidate is likely to win, so if it's not Maliki it will be Jaafari or Chalabi. Frankly this is a rare case where I hope Maliki violates the constitution, acts in some kind of authoritarian way to make sure he wins the elections, because the alternative is fragmentation, or a criminal, sectarian kleptocratic Shiite elite taking over, and then Iraq might unravel. For now it's still "raveling."
"I hope Maliki violates the constitution"? You really want to say that? I guess it doesn't matter, you're now on the record saying that. Saying that you hope he "violates the constitution, acts in some kind of authoritarian way" and we're talking about Little Nouri, the would-be New Saddam. You can't take that back. You can't put it back into the bottle. Your wish is that the Constitution be trashed, that the process be ignored. When Iraqis have to live with your okaying of that process, remember you wanted it, you encouraged it, you wrote a piece advocating for it. There are no take backs on democracy. Nir Rosen is the perfect example of someone who can be educated and educated but never learn. No one who truly values democracy would ever advocate that the process be trashed, thwarted or ignored. We may not be happy with the results of, for example, an election but when we trash the process, we trash our own democracy. When we critique another society and offer that their authoritarian leader should disregard the laws and the processes, we send a message and it's an ugly and dangerous one.
Refugees International really can't afford these type of comments from Rosen. And just yesterday, the US military was trumpeting a Monday conference on "human rights and the role of the military in a democracy" that over 60 female Iraqi soldiers attended. You can bet that the seminar didn't teach the soldiers to root for their country's Constitution being trashed or that the elections were fraudulent. There is democratic thinking and there is what Nir Rozen has offered which, pay attention, is how the US government has justified installing every despot from Saddam Hussein in Iraq to Augusto Pinochet in Chile. There is no excuse for the 'hope' Rosen has expressed. It is outrageous and it is offensive.
As to his predictions, Nir Rosen will no doubt insist, "I was just there!" Yes, and you've been there before and all of your predictions have been wrong repeatedly (do we need to go into Sahwa for just one example or maybe the way you wrongly predicted what's known as the "civil war" of 2006 and 2007 would go down?). Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) doesn't breeze through like Rosen, Sahar lives there:
When asked why more than 500 candidates were banned just before the elections -- they would answer, "We are not sectarian -- there are as many Shiites as Sunnis on those lists", but when I asked Ahmed Chalabi at a press conference why were the political parties in power, who were religious in nature, targeting the seculars (and not the Sunnis as was the usual question to be asked of a Shiite controlled government), he was taken aback, but recovered quickly and with a knowing twinkle in his eyes, retorted, "Do you see me being targeted??" It was no use telling him that he was part of the biggest and maybe the most powerful Shiite alliance in the country, and therefore not considered secular -- I knew he would not answer -- He was too smart. Instead, he declared, "This conference is to discuss the legality of the ban -- and not the political aspects of it." and ended the conference soon after.
So the struggle, now, is religious vs. secular.
This country was secular once.
Will it be secular again? Do the seculars have a chance?
Difficult to say.
Further bad news for the laughable Nir Rosen comes via the latest ORB poll. Michael Hastings (The Hasting Report, True/Slant) reports that Iraqis were polled last week and
* In Baghdad 65% of people want someone other than Maliki as Prime Minister and fewer people say they are very likely to vote than elsewhere -- just 22% compared with 64% across Iraq as a whole.
*When asked whether conditions for peace and security have improved in the past 3 months 57% of Baghdad voters say things have worsened and across all of Iraq more than half (54%) think things have gotten worse or not improved.
* 96% of voters want change in the country -- with most wanting significant change. Maliki's status quo is not endough.
* An average of 64% of voters have an unfavourable view of Iran -- only 18% have a favorable view and 68% of all voters think that Iran is a bad influence in Iraq.
The polling reflects earlier reporting by Aseel Kami (Reuters) who noted over a week ago that the lack of basic services were impacting Iraqi attitudes towards voting.
Steven Lee Myers (New York Times) profiles a few of the candidates running for Parliament including an activist "for those the war has left wounded," Karim Radhi al-Khafaji who states, "I consider myself the candidate for the disabled and the deprived and those who are marginalized. [. . .] We have not seen anyone pay attention to us, including the prime minister." He offers that the percentage of people disabled or challenged in Iraq is 13% greater than the "world average of 2 percent".
Ahmed Chalabi has reported cut a deal with Tehran that, if true and if they stick with it, would slide Nouri al-Maliki to the side after the elections and allow Chalabi to be Prime Minister. (If true. Some are beginning to wonder if the original source of the rumor isn't Chalabi himself.) Layla Anwar (An Arab Woman Blues) reports on a recent interview the War Criminal gave:
Chalabi was obnoxious with Souhair Al-Qayssi and she would not let him off the hook, he did not intimidate her with his aggressiveness and she grilled him...Good for you Souhair, you're my kind of an Iraqi woman ! At one point his lies were so blatant that S.Al-Kayssi could not contain her laughter...this is how comic it was ...but let me not waste more time with my introduction and let's get down to what Chalabi said. I did take short notes but I am not a secretary and my mind is not a computer bank for storing data either..so there may be some grotesque lies that I may not remember as well... S.Q : Why the fall out with the U.S ?A.C : The U.S wants to bring back the Baath to Iraq so they can fight Iran in Iraq (no joke) Since 2004, I knew that this was Bremer's plan, after I initiated the De-baathification process and that is why I backed off. Now the U.S feels remorse for having removed the Baathists and they want them back in. S.Q : (smiling wide) But you were close to the CIA yourself and you welcomed with open arms the U.S occupation, what changed ? A.C : We (the Iraqi National Congress/opposition) have always refused the Occupation (no joke). I stood in the U.S congress in 1998 and asked for the liberation of Iraq and not its occupation. The cooperation with the US was limited, with the sole aim of removing Saddam Hussein, they liberate us and then they leave. I only have the best of interests for Iraq and its sovereignty ... S.Q : But you had a honeymoon season with the U.S and some say you worked for the CIA and that the Justice and Accountability Committee which you now head was formed by Bremer himself... A.C : Me, the CIA, never ! I went to Bremer with my daughter (her name is T.Chalabi) and told him you are not giving us sovereignty, you are not allowing a full Iraqi government as you promised, I even told Manning (some British Foreign official) that even Gertrude Bell in the 20's was more merciful in her approach to Iraq than you guys.
Meanwhile the Ahrar Party issued this release today:
Tonight on al-Arabiya, Ayad Jamal Aldin sets out his party's policies to secure the future of a united and peaceful Iraq
Ayad Jamal Aldin says that only Ahrar has a detailed and credible plan to end the sectarian violence and intimidation that blights the lives of all Iraqis and bring peace to our country.
On the Race To Parliament programme, he points out that of all the parties standing for election, Ahrar is the only party with a comprehensive and plausible plan to provide water, electricity and jobs in Iraq.
Ayad Jamal Aldin believes that Iraq's young people are capable and full of energy, ideas, and aspirations.
On the show, he recognises the need for Iraqis to build their own future, without the assistance of outsiders, and announces that under Ahrar 1200 Iraqis with college degrees will be sent to foreign universities to earn a degree in management leadership.
Ayad Jamal Aldin also explains the fundamental disagreement with the existing party structures which made it necessary to form the Ahrar Party as a standalone organisation, outside of previous coalitions. It reflects his belief that only an independent Iraqi organization not tainted by the corruption and failings of current political parties can be free to make the change Iraq needs.
He also reveals his opinion on the recent troubles between the Iraqi government and the Mujaheden Khalq in Diyala Province and the effect of these events on Iraq's foreign reputation.
Commenting on the US presence in Iraq Ayad Jamal Aldin says: "The American presence in Iraq is a fact. It is up to diplomacy to deal with the situation, not violent actions."
For further information, contact:
Ahrar Media BureauTel: +964 (0)790 157 4478 / +964 (0)790 157 4479 / +964 (0)771 275 2942press@ahrarparty.com
About Ayad Jamal Aldin:
Ayad Jamal Aldin is a cleric, best known for his consistent campaigning for a new, secular Iraq. He first rose to prominence at the Nasiriyah conference in March 2003, shortly before the fall of Saddam, where he called for a state free of religion, the turban and other theological symbols. In 2005, he was elected as one of the 25 MPs on the Iraqi National List, but withdrew in 2009 after becoming disenchanted with Iyad Allawi's overtures to Iran. He wants complete independence from Iranian interference in Iraq. He now leads the Ahrar party for the 2010 election to the Council of Representatives, to clean up corruption and create a strong, secure and liberated Iraq for the future.
Todya's violence included another assault on Iraqi Christians. Jamal Al-Badrani, Jack Kimball and Andrew Roche (Reuters) report a Mosul home invasion which resulted in 3 Iraqi Christians being killed -- a father and two sons. International Christian Concern is calling on Iraqi Christians to turn out at the polls in spit of the recent violence targeting them: "If Iraqi Christians do not vote in the general election, then minority rights will not be fully recognized, and the survival of Christianity in Iraq will be dictated and confined by radical sectarianism." . Saturday AFP reported that Adnan al-Dahan has become the fifth Iraqi-Christian killed in Mosul last week (at least one other has been wounded) and that the shopkeeper's corpse was found today in Mosul. AFP notes the other four victims: 20-year-old Wissam George (Wednesday), 21-year-old Zia Toma (killed Tuesday, Rasin Shmael was also wounded), 40-year-old Fatukhi Munir (Monday) and 43-year-old Rayan Salem Elias (Sunday). And they remind, "In late 2008, a systematic campaign of killings and targeted violence killed 40 Christians and saw more than 12,000 flee Mosul." Spero News reported the mood in Mosul is "fear and shock" and quotes an unnamed Chaldean priset stating, "It is an ethnic cleansing that goes on day after day, in silence and indifference. We are in deep distress as the authorities and the police do nothing to stop this massacre." Vatican Radio spoke with Mosul's Syrian Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa about a meeting with Iraqi officials yesterday.Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa: We bishops are from Mosul city went to visit civilian governor and we spoke with him and with the chief of police about the Christian situation in Mosul especially. And we present our message about the [responsibility] of the local government and the central goverment to take care of the security of citizens and officially of Christians. Zenit News reported that Archibishop Emil Shimoun Nona "is asking for prayers as more and more of his faithful leave Mosul because of a violent intimidation campaign that has brought" multiple deaths. Joan Lewis (Joan's Rome, EWTN) provided background on Archbishop Amil Nona:At 42 he is the yougest archbishop in the Catholic Church and he succeeds the martyred Archbishop Paulos Rahho who was killed in 2008. The youthful archibishop's election by the synod of the Chaldean Church was confirmed by Pope Benedict last November 13. He took possession of his see just a little over a month ago on January 8.[. . .]I am once again writing this blog at a late hour and the lights have gone out twice -- though only briefly – since I started this column. Electricity is rationed in Iraq for anywhere from two to 12 hours a day. If you don't have a generator you have to learn how to ration those hours. The seminary does have a generator, for which I have been thankful countless times every day! Given these conditions I wll briefly describe our meeting today and tell most of the story with some delightful photos.I firmly believe that Archbishop Nona's greatest gift to his people is his youth, He is young in age but also in visions and dreams. He is a realist and knows the security issues in Mosul, knows that hundreds of his families have emigrated to safer havens such as Kurdistan but he wants to give them hope and bring them back or, at least, keep families here. Today Vatican Radio featured Baghdad's Chaldean Bishop Shelmon Warduni:
Chaldean Bishop Shelmon Warduni: Our situation in this time is not so good -- especially in Mosul -- because there are many attacks against our Christians. Some of them were killed. So they are afraid. And they are leaving, many of them are leaving Mosul or our country to other countries and this is very, very bad for us. So we ask our people and everybody to do the election because this is the right and duty of everybody to build our country and to elect the good people who can build our country because we don't want our question of Christians politicized. We want to be as everybody in our country with our rights, with our duties and we thank God for everything.
Also today, Human Rights Watch issued the following release:
Iraq's government should bolster security to protect the lives of Christians in Mosul, Human Rights Watch said today. Since February 14, 2010, five Christians have been killed in Mosul in separate attacks that appear to be politically motivated, given the country's looming national election.
Human Rights Watch called on the government to take immediate measures, such as an increased security presence in Chaldo-Assyrian neighborhoods before and during the elections, to help prevent a repeat of a campaign of violence that devastated the community in Mosul in late 2008.
"Iraq's authorities need to act now to stop this campaign of violence against Christians from spreading again," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "In particular, the government needs to see that those responsible for these murders are swiftly arrested and prosecuted to protect Mosul's Christians from further violence."
According to information obtained by Human Rights Watch, on February 16, assailants impersonating secret police approached Zaya Toma and his cousin, Ramsin Shmael, while they waited at a bus stop in Mosul's al-Tahrir district on their way to the university they attend. Speaking in Arabic, the assailants asked Toma, a 22-year-old engineering student, and Shmael, a 21-year-old pharmacy student, for their identity cards. Although identity cards in Iraq do not indicate religion or ethnicity, assailants have often used the victim's name as a marker of his or her religious or ethnic affiliation.
After Toma produced his card, one of the assailants shot him point-blank in the head, killing him instantly. Ramsin tried to run but was shot twice; one bullet shattered his teeth. The assailants fled, apparently assuming they had killed both students, although Shmael survived. Family members arrived on the scene before the police, to find Toma lying in a pool of blood, his books on one side of his body, his identity card on the other.
The incident has devastated the broader family of Toma and Shmael, who escaped to northern Iraq from Baghdad in the summer of 2007 after receiving threats to kill them unless they converted to Islam. Family members say they want to move again - this time out of Iraq - to join the hundreds of thousands of Chaldo-Assyrians who have fled since 2003.
"By killing Zaya, they have taken everything from us," a family member told Human Rights Watch. "Our only crime is that we are Christian,"
The attack was one of several killings of Christians in Mosul the same week:
On February 20, the body of Adnan Hanna al-Dahan was found in northern Mosul. The 57-year-old Syrian Orthodox grocer had been kidnapped by unknown assailants from inside his shop a few days earlier.
On February 17, the bullet-ridden body of Wissam George, a 20-year-old Assyrian studying to be a teacher, was found after he disappeared that morning on his way to school.
On February 15, gunmen stormed a grocery store and killed Fatukhi Munir, its owner.
On February 14, Rayan Salem Elias, a Chaldean man, was shot dead outside his home.
While the identities of the perpetrators remain unknown, the spike in attacks against Christians comes only days ahead of Iraq's March 7 parliamentary vote. Families of the victims and community leaders believe the violence is politically motivated and are appealing to the government for protection.
The Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, Emil Shimoun Nona, said the most recent killings could prompt a new wave of refugees fleeing northern Iraq, where Christians live in constant apprehension. Since 2003, between 250,000 and 500,000 Christians - or about half the Christian population - have left the country, according to the UN High Commission for Refugees. In January, Archbishop Nona was installed as successor to Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, whose body was found in March 2008, ten days after kidnappers seized him as he was leaving the Holy Spirit Church in Mosul.
Human Rights Watch said that the recent attacks recall the campaign of targeted killings against Chaldo-Assyrians in Mosul in late 2008 that the organization documented in a 51-page report, "On Vulnerable Ground: Violence against Minority Communities in Nineveh Province's Disputed Territories," released in November 2009. The orchestrated violence left 40 Chaldo-Assyrians dead and led to a mass exodus of more than 12,000 from their homes in Mosul. Assailants targeted Christians in their homes, in workplaces, and in places of worship.
Those killings began shortly after the Christian community lobbied the Iraqi parliament to pass a law that would set aside a greater number of seats for minorities in the January 2009 provincial elections. The attacks escalated after Christians held demonstrations in Nineveh and Baghdad in response to parliament's decision (later amended) to drop a provision in the provincial elections law ensuring political representation for minorities.
The report also documented intimidation and restrictions on freedom of movement by Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq of other minority groups in Nineveh, including Yazidis and Shabaks, during the 2009 provincial elections.
Iraq's worldwide refugee population includes a large number of Christians. It also includes many other targeted groups: LGBT members, Sunnis, Shi'ites, Jews, etc. Taylor Luck (Jordan Times) reports that the Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission is urging groups and organizations -- and even journalists! -- to watch and monitor polling closely . . . outside Iraq.
In addition to the 3 Christians killed in the home invasion, there was other reported violence . . . .
Bombings?
Reuters notes a Mosul sticky bombing which claimed the life of 1 police officer, a Baghdad plastic bag bombing which claimed 1 life and left three people injured, a Kirkuk roadside bombing which left two people injured and, dropping back to Monday for the rest, a Mosul roadside bombing which injured one person, a Tikrit bombing which claimed 2 lives, a Tikrit bombing which injured two police officers and a Kirkuk bombing which injured one person. Yesterday's snapshot noted: "[. . .] a Ramadi suicide car bombing which claimed the life of the bomber and the lives of 3 other people (with seven police officers injured), [. . .]" Anne Tang (Xinhua) reports the death toll rose to five (plus the suicide bomber).
Shootings?
Reuters notes 2 police officers shot dead in Mosul, 1 woman shot dead in Mosul and, dropping back to Monday, an armed clash in Mosul in which 1 soldier and 1 assailant were killed.
In the United States, the Los Angeles Times notes that ProPublica's T. Christian Miller has been awarded the $35,000 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting as a result of the articles he and the paper collaborated on about civilian workers in Iraq:Miller's articles are available at latimes.com/con-tractors and propubli-ca.org/contractors. Terry Gross (NPR's Fresh Air) spoke with T. Chrisitan Miller January 11, 2010 and link has audio and text (including transcript). And we'll close with this on the Black Forum, The State of Black America which takes place tomorrow (Wednesday) in New York.
Media Contact: David Webb – 212.372.3414, david@blackforum.infoBLACK FORUM, THE STATE OF BLACK AMERICA - A BLACK HISTORY MONTH PRESENTATIONBi-Partisan Coalition Formed to Discuss and Take Action on Issues in the Black CommunityNew York, NY…February 22, 2010 -- The Henrietta Wells Livermore School of Politics (Host Committee), Manhattan Republican Community Coalition, New York Urban League Young Professionals and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Alpha Gamma Lambda Chapter, have joined to tackle important issues during Black History Month. An impressive and diverse panel has been assembled. Community outreach is broad and a diverse audience is expected to attend.
The bi-partisan forum will focus on Employment, Business, Education, Healthcare and Crime, not just politics.
There will be a press conference at 6:00pm. A bloggers row is also available. The forum will be webcast live and available on-demand at www.blackforum.info (under construction). C-SPAN will tape and rebroadcast the Black Forum.
Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 Time: 6:00 - 9:00pm (6:15pm - doors open; 7:00pm - program begins)Location: 3 West 51st Street (at 5th Avenue) in ManhattanOn-site: Mult Box, Camera Risers and Power
Confirmed Panelists:
Charles Payne CEO Wall Street Strategies, FOX Business Contributor www.wstreet.com Marc Lamont Hill Professor of Education, Columbia University www.marclamonthill.com Tara Dowdell Business and Political Strategist www.taradowdell.net Janks Morton Documentary Filmmaker, Activist wbmt.wordpress.com Jehmu Greene President, Women's Media Center www.womensmediacenter.com
Niger Innis National Spokesman, Congress Of Racial Equality www.core-online.org George Holmes Executive Director, Congress Of Racial Equality www.core-online.org David Banks President, The Eagle Academy Foundation www.eagleacademyfoundation.com Vincent Morgan Congressional Candidate, NY-15 www.morgan4congress.com Michael Faulkner Congressional Candidate, NY-15 www.faulknerforcongress.com
iraq
afp
layla anwarewtnjoan lewisspero newsvatican radiozenit news
mcclatchy newspaperssahar issa
the new york timessteven lee myers
xinhuaanne tang
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
'Health' 'care' 'reform' and Law & Disorder
Monday, Monday. Are you dragging? Me too. Here's Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Barack, Corporate, Tauzin and Baucus"
That cartoon perfectly captures ObamaCare which Barry O is pushing yet again on the masses.
If you missed that, check out this Arena at Politico. You've got a wide ranging series of view points and I really do love the Arena (and for that reason). Carrie Budoff Borwn (Politico) reports on Barack's plan he offered up today and the most important point may be this: "Obama's proposal also includes a legal requirement on all Americans to own insurance but lowers the penalty on individuals who don't, to just $325 in the first year."
There is nothing in his plan (he doesn't even include a weak public option) that justifies Americans being forced to buy insurance.
Today on Law & Disorder (airs on WBAI among other), Chris Hedges was talking about his new book and Heidi Boghosian's intro struck me wrong. If that is his book (I have no reason to doubt Heidi and Hedges didn't object to it), he either left out an important detail or he's unaware of it.
Chris isn't proposing a new idea. And what Heidi called "his" idea isn't. It's Nietzche. Gossip and distractions are the way a beleaguered nation deals with the problems. I'm not a Nietzche fan. I had to study him for one class and was having the worst time grasping him. I called C.I. (Elaine said, "Call C.I. As an undergraduate, she went into graduate level philosophy and ended up owning those classes.") So I did and she said, "I want you to listen to me."
And we call for the three great stimulants
Of the exahusted ones
Artifice
Brutality
And innocence.
Artifice and innocence.
What's that? Part of a Joni Mitchell song ("Three Great Stimulants" which is on Dog Eat Dog). That's what C.I. sang to me (full song) and then she went through the song bit by bit. Joni I could grasp. And Joni was using Nietzche for that song, it's built around his beliefs about artifice, et al. So from there I could grasp Nietzche. (With additional help from C.I.)
So my point here is that if Chris doesn't credit Nietzche (I'd honestly credit Joni Mitchell if it were my book), he's apparently unaware that this is a road already traveled -- well traveled.
If he'd discussed this, I would've been more interested in the book. I'll pick it up when I go into the store -- mainly because I like Chris Hedges -- but I'm really surprised that he didn't mention Fredrick N. I don't care for Nietzche. (I do like Hannah Arendt whom he did mention. By the way, Hannah Arendt in essays and interviews I followed easily. In her books? I had more of a problem. I asked C.I. there as well and she said, "Mike, she was a symphonic writer. She writes in rhythms. Put on the Firebird and start reading. Don't pay attention so much to the words until you get her rhythm down." And it worked. I could actually follow what Arendt was saying in The Human Condition, for instance.) (The Firebird is a ballet. Igor Stravinsky.)
But there's a great deal to listen to in the interview. And Chris is always an interesting guest because his asides carry more than most people's main points.
Example, as he winds down, he notes, "It's incumbent upon all of us [. . .] not to take anymore crap from the Democrats." His asides could be full blown programs, hourly explorations. So untrue of so many gasbags. (That's not my insulting the Michaels or Heidi. I think all three are intelligent. I'm referring to the guests you can probably name who are worthless and you usually get that after you've wasted a half-hour listening in the hopes that you'd hear something of value.) (But usually, you're just fed: "Republicans evil! Vote Dem!" And they want you to believe that was a political discussion and a diverse one.)
Okay, let's talk Third. First up, Dallas and the following helped:
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),
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
Second up, here's what we came up with.
Truest statement of the week -- This is Cindy Sheehan. She'll probably finish 2010 having the most truests of anyone. But there may be something Chris Hedges said today on L&D that I can nominate for this weekend.
Truest statement of the week II -- This is Iraqi Layla Anwar.
A note to our readers -- Jim breaks down the edition. He notes that Ava and C.I. and some others (I was already asleep) added to an article and might change it. I asked Ava about that and she said, "We didn't even want to read it last night. We're not reading it. Or planning to. So it will probably stay as is." Which one? I'll get to it. :D
Editorial: Iraq The Political Football -- I love this editorial. Dems can be so stupid. As they ignore Iraq, they better grasp the Republicans are willing to make this an election issue in 2012. It won't be pretty.
TV: Trash TV -- This is beautiful!!!! All last week, people were e-mailing me asking about Amy Goodman's b.s. and were Ava and C.I. going to tackle it? Yes, they were, I'd write back, this weekend. They do it here. Short version: You don't want to cover the Iraq Inquiry but are publicly shamed into covering it, what do you do? Amy Goodman brings on an uninformed guest and pretends like they're talking about it when they're not. This is a must read.
Iraq -- Our Iraq piece. There was a lot to cover and Jim suggested we do this early in the process.
Matt Rothschild, please buy some glasses -- Matthew Rothschild continues to repeat a false hood that the Secret Service corrected in an opening hearing mere months ago. Why? You get the feeling he needs a martyr real bad.
Roundtable -- A light roundtable. Ty had a question for C.I. but the roundtable ended too quickly. Ty's going to bring it up next roundtable. Basically, an actress (on NPR) talked about the power of no, which C.I.'s explained over and over at TCI and 3rd for years now. And explained that it's how you play in the entertainment industry if you want power. So the actress was saying what C.I. had said and the reader wanted to know if C.I. heard it and if she knew the actress? Yes, C.I. knows her. Yes, C.I. is campaiging for her (the actress is up for an Oscar). I went to NPR today to listen to the interview and she really did talk about the power of no the way C.I. does. (That's not me crediting C.I. C.I. will always credit Robert Redford with grasping the power of no better than anyone and explaining better than anyone.)
Operation Happy Talk never ends -- I'm surprised this posted. It only posted because Jim rescued it in the editing stages. It's a short feature and worth reading. The lengthy piece it originally was wasn't worth reading at all.
The hate mongers -- This is the piece Ava and C.I. are not reading. They helped with this and had to have several things pulled from a draft. Then they ended up walking at one point. I understood why. And if you read the note, you will as well. They were surprised this posted because when they walked (they felt it was becoming a piece on You-will-speak-this-way-and-only-this-way), it was becoming a shambles. Jim did a major edit on the various drafts and pieced it together.
Highlights -- Marcia, Ruth, Rebeca, Betty, Kat, Ann, Cedric, Stan, Wally, Elaine and I wrote this. And that was it.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Monday, February 22, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, the top US commander in Iraq states he hasn't been advised on a withdrawal plan, he further states that an increase in violence could slow the draw down, a political party pulls out of the election process, 2 US service members are announced dead on Sunday, Gordon Brown gets a date to appear before the Iraq Inquiry, and more.
The latest installment of Inside Iraq (Al Jazeera) began airing Friday with Jasim al-Azawi exploring the topic of human rights with Arab Lawyers Association's Sabah al-Mukhtar, Human Rights Watch's Joe Stork and Iraqi Parliament's deputy chair of the Human Rights Committee Shatha al-Obosi.
Jasim al-Azawi: Let me ask you a very simple question. Not only are you an Iraqi that witnessed human rights record in Iraq but also you are the deputy chair person. How do you assess the human rights record in Iraq?
Shatha al-Obosi: The situation of human rights in Iraq is still worrying because with the huge number of detainees, with minority rights, with the women rights, with the killing peoples, the human rights belong to the secure situation. We have very bad situation after 2003, after the occupation. The American arrested people and killed people without any judge about them because they then -- belong for the Iraqi law. After that in the 2005 and 2006, the very bad situation of the security make a huge number of the detainees in the prison and there's no trial for them. They are asking for a fair trial, if they are innocent to release them or they are guilty to put them in the prisons. That's what they need. We have very bad situation in the prisons with the crowding, with the bad food, with the bad health care. So we look after their cases to find -- to end this file. And we have another, another challenges about the minorities --
Jasim al-Azawi: We will come to the other challenges for human rights for minorities as well as women, Shatha, but the bleak picture, Joe Stork, as portrayed by Shatha al-Obosi, it is not alien to you. You must have run across this many times. Your organization gave a report to the world community as well as to the UN. Did she present an accurate picture? Or is it worse than that or less than that?
Joe Stork: Well I think almost all of the things she mentioned are things we are aware of and-and I would subscribe to her, you know, list of-of the many problems that Iraq faces. I think we should focus on -- we should distinguish between those problems that the government has a direct ability to effect, you know, in the near term, in the short term, and those things -- like very important issues like protection of the population which is obviously -- the are human rights aspect to it and other things as well. And obviously there is a capacity issue in terms of the government's ability here. So let me talk for just a second about what I think the government can do and should do in the near term. First, we have the escalation as you noted Jasim the escalation in executions. Executions resumed in May of 2008. There are scores of people -- if not hundreds of people -- with death sentences now. There have been mass executions, that is to say dozens of people executed on a single morning. There's no transparency about this and the -- There's two things, two points to make. One, we're opposed to the death penalty under any circumstances but we're especially worried in a situation where you have people who have been convicted after patently unfair trials. They have not had access to lawyers --
Jasim al-Azawi: I can predict, Joe, that this is going to be extremely long. Keep some of the ideas that you would like to list later on but let me engage Sabah al-Mukhtar who is just fresh right now from that Geneva conference held under the auspices of the United Nations. Give us a brief summary of what has been said vis-a-vis Iraq's human rights record and what Wijdan Mikhail, the Iraqi Human Rights Minister, said.
Sabah al-Mukhtar: Well the Minister presented a document -- a report to the UN General Council. The report said nothing about the accusations which had been levied against Iraq by the UN organization. It didn't address absolutely any of the obligations, any of the accusations. It was just talking general conversations about how things should be, what the law says, what the international obligations are. So the report contained absolutely nothing. The Minister brought with her a team. One of her team went on for quarter of an hour, boring the Council, talking about the previous regime rather than talking about the human rights situation. The countries have all commented negatively on the report including the United States of America which said to the Iraqi Minister that their elections should be one that allows people to stand for elections rather than excluding people. Everybody condemned the situation of executions and hanging. Everybody talked about the academics -- killing of 500 academics, 200 journalists, 24 judges, 150 lawyers in the country, the torture, the prison situations. All the countries that spoke there condemned the situation in Iraq.
Jasim al-Azawi: So in a nutshell, they have blasted Iraq's claim that they are making progress out of the water. I noticed Shatha in your response to me, you also harped on the Americans. I am the first to recognize -- and many people including Joe will recognize that the chaos and the pain and the killing that followed 2003, in one way or another, is because of the American invasion. But that is in the past and I'm sure as the Americans withdraw their forces their contribution to the violations of human rights will be diminished. But talk to me about the current level of human rights abuse in Iraq. The government is responsible for that, no matter how you cut it, al-Maliki and his government are responsible for that.
Shatha al-Obosi: They have the Human Rights Ministry as our guys say so the problems with the Minister -- the Ministry of Human Rights -- so they must -- don't announce any-any-any -- anything against human rights because the torture happened by the government in the prisons. Who can torture the people there? She cannot say this clearly in the media or in front of the international associations so this is the problem for this reason. We establish the Human Rights Commission and we want this commission to start before we leave this period of the Parliament but the government didn't allow us to do that because any -- any, you know, anything happen against the human rights, it will be announced for the international or the UN or any international association. This is the problem. They can for do a lot to protect people. The first right of the Iraqi citizen: The right of living in his house --
Jasim al-Azawi: Indeed that is an inalienable right that should be guaranteed by all constitutions and by all governments. Joe Stork --
Shatha al-Obosi: Yeah, yeah but I want to mention about executions. We want to delay the execution orders after the elections because I receive many claims from people that they take their speech, their -- and they sign them under the torture. So many of them are innocent. We are afraid if there is a few number of them are innocent so we must protect all of them and make another investigation with them to guarantee if they are innocent or not.
This morning at the Pentagon, the top US commander in Iraq, Gen Ray Odierno held a press briefing. He was asked about the role for US troops after 2011 and he replied that "in order for us to have anybody in Iraq past 2011 we'll have to -- it will have to be requested by the government of Iraq. So until that happens, I see us being at what we -- what we'd usually have at a normal embassy, a military contingent that would help support Iraq." He was asked of the air issue -- Iraq has no forces ready to 'protect' their air space at present. The training of Iraqis for that has hit a hitch, but Odierno didn't state that and instead offered a 'we'll see when it rolls around' type take. He declared that "several factors" would determine a continued draw down (of "combat" forces only):
One is governmental formation. But it's not necessarily how long it takes to form the government. It's: "Is it happening in a peaceful manner? Do we think that the -- if there's a problem in forming the government, does it translate into violence?" So that'll be a big piece of this, whether it does or not. And right now, we're not sure. We think so far it will probably fo fairly smoothly, but we'll wait to see. I have contingency plans, and I've been -- I've briefed the chain of command this week that we could execute if we run into problems, if it goes the way we think, or if it just is a little bit different than the way we think. And we're prepared to execute those.
A member of the press made a complete idiot of themselves and that's really no surprise but let's point out here (without naming the idiot) that if you're going to charge that big attacks on government targets are down, you better damn well know the pattern. The pattern isn't for these attacks to place weekly or even monthly. If the pattern holds, an idiot should have to eat their words. In the meantime, we should all wonder about a reporter allegedly covering this topic who doesn't know the first thing about it.
Odierno was asked about the plans for the 2011 withdrawal. We'll note him word for word:
This is -- we haven't talked in specific terms yet about this, but it's very important to understand that there's a complex transition that's going to on in -- the end of 2010, beginning of 2011, as the military draws down, and how we transition resposibility over to the government of Iraq in some cases, to the embassy, in other cases to NGOs. So one thing we have to remember is the faster we draw down from 50,000 the faster we have to transition to the State Dept and these other organizations. So what we want to do is we want to do this very deliberately, because how we transition will go a lot into saying how well we do post-2011. So the way I see it is, I expect us to stay at 50,000 probably somewhere through the middle of 2011, and then we'll begin to draw down to zero. If we do it faster than that, then you've got to increase the money you give to the State Dept or the Embassy. You have to increase the -- you have to -- you have to speed up the transition. And what we worry about is if we do that too quickly we won't do it right. So we want to do that very deliberately and smoothly.
I'm going to repeat one more time that the Congress -- specifically the Armed Services Committee in the House and Senate -- has still not been provided with withdrawal details. For a withdrawal that's supposed to or supposedly to take place at the end of 2011, that's rather surprising. Why hasn't Congress seen the plan?
In a real democracy, we'd be asking that. But Congress can take comfort in the fact that this withdrawal plan that supposedly concludes in 22 months (begins much sooner, but concludes in 22) has also not been shared with the top US commander in Iraq. Odierno has apparently been as left in the dark as the Congress. Will Michele Flournoy offer more idiotic excuses, more 'I didn't know you hadn't been briefed' garbage? Will anyone press her or the Dept of Defense to be forthcoming about the withdrawal that's supposedly complete in 22 months?
Craig Whitlock (Washington Post) emphasizes that the "withdrawal of all combat forces" could be delayed. (And those acting shocked should be aware Barack gave these same reasons in 2007 when speaking to the New York Times -- in an article the idiot Tom Hayden praised while we were calling out Barack and going by the transcprit -- a transcript Tom would find days and days later. And then offer a muted objection to. If you're late to the party, grab a drink and refer to this Iraq snapshot and Third's article and the actual transcript of the interview -- a transcript Tom Hayden should have read before humiliating himself in public, then again Tom-Tom seems to enjoy public humiliation).
Questions of Iraqi elections were also raised in the press conference. Before we get there, Friday, US Ambassador to Iraq Chris Hill did as he did Wednesday but this time to the Foreign Press Center when he shot down the possibility that any political party would boycott elections:
Nadia Bilbassy: Thank you. Thank you, Ambassador. I'm sure you are tired by any questions about -- so many press availability you've done so far. It's Nadia Bilbassy with MBC Television. Very often, the Americans complain about interference from neighboring countries, mainly Iran and Syria, in Iraqi affairs. To what extent do you see an influence from both countries on this current election? And as you know, two prominent Sunni politicians have been disqualified from this election. Do you worry that ultimately, that will affect the Sunni votes in the representations in the Iraqi Government in the future? Chris Hill: Well, first of all, we have expressed our concerns about interference in some of the processes, especially the issue, as I think General Odierno laid out and I have also mentioned -- the issue of Iran. That said, we believe we have a election mechanism that will indeed be free and fair. This has been -- involved a considerable amount of planning in addition to the Iraqi high commissioner -- high commission for the elections, we've had a very active and engaged UN operation in Baghdad. So we are confident that we will have an Iraqi election that will be for and about the Iraqi people. So we're pretty confident we've got a good mechanism and a proper election which will be all about Iraq and not about any foreign country. On the second issue, obviously, de-Ba'athification has been a tough issue to go through. We had, obviously, some concerns about the transparency and the way that this whole process would appear to the Iraqi people. The Iraqi authorities have dealt with this. Their courts have dealt with this. The Iraqi senior politicians have dealt with it. And we really look forward to a good election. I know there continues to be some discussion about this. I know it was a very emotional issue for many people. But we believe the de-Ba'athification problems are, for the most part, behind. And we look forward to them getting on with the election and having the voters make their decisions.
Saturday Waleed Ibrahim and Jack Kimball (Reuters) reported that the National Dialogue Front is boycotting the election and, in the words of Haider al-Mulla (party spokesperson), calling "for other poltiical parties to take the same stand as our front. The whole issue is not related to (the candidate ban), rather the unsuitable atmosphere of this election." Fang Yang (Xinhua) added: that the press release cited the remarks of Iranian influence on the elections made by Odierno and Hill as being among the reasons (". . we can't continue in a political process running by foreign agenda"). Yesterday Michael Jansen (Irish Times) reported on what followed in the wake of Saturday's announcement by the National Dialogue Front: "the National Council for Tribes of Iraq siad it would" withdraw from the elections. Oliver August (Times of London) explained, "International observers have significantly lowered their expectations for the poll in recent days. Few diplomats in Baghdad now talk about 'free and fair elections', since they clearly won't be. The new publicly stated goal is a 'credible election', but even that seems doubtful. Pressed to sketch out a best-case scenario, several diplomates talk of an election that, despite its flaws, is merely accepted by the people. This is far from the democracy once envisaged." The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative in Iraq, Ad Melkert, tried to stamp a happy face on the process and declared, "Generally speaking, I should say that the elections are on track in terms of their technical preparation. Still, a lot needs to be done. Security remains a big challenge to all, to the Iraqis in the first place, but also to the international community." Martin Chulov (Guardian) offers this background, "The call for a boycott was made by Saleh al-Mutlaq, an MP who leads the National Dialogue Front, a leading Sunni party. It is part of a cross-sectarian Iraqiya electoral alliance, formed to contest the 7 March ballot. Al-Mutlaq was on a list of 511 individuals banned from standing in elections because of their connection to the old Baathist regime. The list has now been reduced to 145. Ahmed Chalabi, the former Pentagon favourite, has been aggressively defending the list as part of a new de-Baathification drive through a body called the Accountability and Justice Commission." Gulf News editorializes, "It is important for any election to be fair that all the rules of contest are defined well in advance. It is wrong that candidates have been banned a few weeks before the elections. They should have known years in advance that their previous records would not allow them to hold public office and their sympathisers and supporters would be able to find candidates to represent their views without breaking the law." Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) offered, ". . . Sunnis and many secularists in the Shiite community are so eager to overturn the dominance of the Shiite religious parties that have controlled Iraq's government for five years that it is unclear whether Mutlak's boycott call will have weight with many people." UAE's The National countered, "Not only does it threaten the legitimacy of the poll, but the last time Sunni parties boycotted the elections in 2005, it exacerbated a cycle of violence that almost drove the country into civil war. It is hard to fault the decision of the party's leader, Saleh al Mutlaq. He and hundreds of other banned politicians are the victims of blatant political manipulation. Regardless, they must be careful; there is more at stake than their own political careers." Leila Fadel (Washington Post) added, "Iraqi officials said Saturday that meetings with Mutlak and his group were ongoing. Mutlak could not be reached for comment. "
Today the Iraq Inquiry announced that the current Prime Minister of England, Gordon Brown, will offer testimony to the Inquiry on March 5th. Douglas Alexander (International Development Secretary) will also offer testimony. On March 8th, the Inquiry will hear from Bill Jefrey who was scheduled earlier but had to call off due to illness and David Miliband is also booked for that day. David Miliband is Foreign Secretary and, disclosure, he is also someone I know. When we cover David, I'll either call him out loudly (if needed) or just stick to what he says -- meaning we just quote the transcript and I offer no comment of my own. In addition, the March 9th snapshot will offer press reactions on Miliband. We usually don't have time for that but because I know David and may or may not be able to be impartial, I'm saying right now that the March 9th snapshot will offer a roundup of press criticques and reports of his testimony and presentation.
Last week Nouri al-Maliki was meeting with tribal leaders urging that they encourage their members not to sell their votes. Nizar Latif (UAE's National Newspaper) reports that many of the country's poor are preparing to do just that and quotes Ahmad Salam explaining, "Elections are a beautiful opportunity to get some money. There are lots of people willing to sell their votes, and lots of people who want to buy them." Duraid Al Baik (Gulf News) reports that UAE will be one of the 16 countries outside of Iraq at which voting will take place with others being in "Syria, Jordan, Iran, Australia, USA, Sweden, Egypt, Canada, Denmark, Lebanon, Turkey, UK, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. The stations will be open from March 5-7." For those who have forgotten or weren't paying attention, Nouri's first disenfranchisement target was the refugee population. And the party that's now boycotting? It was their members, their leaders who advocated for the refugee population. Possibly had the White House and the US press not been so quick to throw the towel in on that issue -- in a "Hurry up and get on with it!" attitude, then Nouri might have gotten another message. Instead, he's under the impression that he can get away with anything. (Those remembering the "hurry up" attitude might also remember that at that point, these elections were supposed to take place in January. Didn't happen. They might also realize that Nouri's term expired already, as has Parliament's.) As provincial elections approached in January 2008, Nouri was suddenly eager to deliver portable potable water (temporary measure) and then dropped the need to bring water in after the elections. Apparently convinced that he can trick Iraqi voters, he's got a new trick. Alsumaria TV reports that he's saying he will eliminate unemployment. He's been in power since 2006. Now he's worried about unemployment? Or maybe it's just that now he's worried about his own unemployment because he is wondering exactly what deal Chalabi set up for himself with Tehran?
On the elections, Amnesty International issued the following this morning:As Iraq prepares to hold new parliamentary elections amid continuing controversy over the eligibility of many candidates, Amnesty International is appealing to the country's political leaders to ensure that both the election campaign and the vote on 7 March are conducted peacefully and fully conform with Iraq's obligations under international human rights law. The elections must not be used as an excuse for further violence Political leaders must demand that their supporters uphold the law and respect the rights of others, and help prevent the election being used to deepen the sectarian violence that has wracked the country in recent years. They must do all they can to ensure the safety and security of all Iraqis, without discrimination, and uphold their rights to freedom of expression, association and political participation in selecting those who will lead the country in the future. Amnesty International is also calling on all political parties and their candidates to commit to protecting and promoting human rights in their election manifestoes and in practice, if and when they are elected to office, in full conformity with Iraq's obligations under international human rights law. Those responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks against civilians must immediately end such attacks, many of which appear to constitute crimes against humanity -- crimes of the very gravest nature. Amnesty International condemns all attacks on civilians, utterly and unreservedly, and calls for their immediate cessation. There can be no justification whatever for such attacks. The following human rights concerns must be addressed by all political parties, their candidates, supporters and others: Safeguard civilians and their right to vote The protection of civilians is paramount during elections if voters are to feel assured that they can exercise their right to vote without fear and intimidation. Iraq's civilian population has borne the brunt of the continuing violence that has ravaged the country in recent years and the record from previous elections is grim. Dozens of civilians were killed in attacks before the last provincial elections on 31 January 2009. The last national parliamentary elections, held on 15 December 2005, saw dozens of civilians killed in attacks by Sunni armed groups and Shi'a militias in the weeks before and during polling. Amnesty International appeals to all political party leaders and to all religious and community leaders and other persons of influence to speak out against further violence, bloodshed and human rights abuses. They must demand that all Iraqis are able to decide freely and without fear how to exercise their right to vote. Protection of candidates and election workers Candidates, party political activists and election workers are among those most likely to be targeted for kidnapping and killing in the run-up to the elections. At least two candidates have already been killed. Soha 'Abdul-Jarallah, a candidate on the list of former prime minister Iyad 'Allawi, was gunned down as she left a relative's house in Mosul on 7 February 2010. Sa'ud al-'Issawi, a Sunni Arab and candidate for the Iraqi Unity Alliance (IUA), was killed with his two bodyguards at the end of December 2009 in Falluja by a magnetic bomb attached to their vehicle. Safa 'Abd al-Amir al-Khafaji, the head teacher of a girls' school in Baghdad's al-Ghadi district was shot and seriously wounded by unidentified gunmen on 12 November 2009 soon after she announced that she would contest the elections as a candidate for the Iraqi Communist Party. 'Ali Mahmoud, a staff member of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), the body responsible for overseeing the elections, was shot dead outside his house in al-Jadiriya district in Baghdad on 17 December 2009. Nine candidates were killed at the time of the last provincial elections and, at Mandali in Diyala governorate, two election workers were abducted and found shot dead only hours later. Several candidates were killed during the 15 December 2005 poll. For example, Mizhar al-Dulaimi, the leader of the Free Progressive Iraqi Party, was shot dead while campaigning in the centre of Ramadi on 13 December. Amnesty International calls on the present government, the IHEC and all political party leaders to make every effort to ensure that candidates and elections workers are allowed to go about their legitimate activities freely and without fear or restraint, and are promptly provided with adequate protection whenever appropriate. Reporting the election: safeguarding journalists In recent years, Iraq has been one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, many of whom have been targeted for abduction, assassination or other abuses. In 2008, at least 16 journalists and media workers were reported to have been killed; in 2009, at least four were killed. During the provincial elections of 2009 journalists were subject to harassment, arrest and assault while covering the elections, including by Iraqi security forces and the US military. Some were arrested and held for hours; others were reported to have been prevented from entering polling stations -- for example, in Falluja and in al-Hilla -- although they had been officially accredited by the IHEC. In Mosul, Iraqi soldiers reportedly fired on journalists' vehicles. Before and after the July 2009 elections for the Kurdistan regional parliament, several journalists were assaulted, including Nebaz Goran, editor of Jihan, an independent magazine, who was attacked by three unidentified men outside his office in Erbil. Preventing journalists from reporting on elections inevitably increases the risk of election fraud and rigged voting and deprives the public of information to which they have a right to know. Amnesty International urges all Iraqi political leaders to uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ("Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information"), and to uphold the right of all journalists legitimately to exercise their profession without hindrance and fear of harassment. Commitment to protect and promote human rights All political parties and their candidates must recognize that respect for human rights and international law is a fundamental obligation. They must commit to building peace, tolerance and respect for human rights if elected, including upholding the rule of law by committing to ending arbitrary detentions, torture and other ill-treatment, unfair trials, the use of the death penalty and impunity for those responsible for human rights violations. They must also ensure that Iraqi legislation is made fully compatible with international human rights law, including legislation relating to women's rights, and is enforced in practice in accordance with Iraq's obligations under international law. Political parties, candidates and all others with influence, including religious and community leaders, must speak out about the need to protect and safeguard the rights of those most vulnerable. This includes women, who remain subject to legal and other discrimination and violence, and others who are subject to persecution because of their religious, ethnic or sexual identity. In Mosul, for example, at least 14 members of the Christian minority have been killed in targeted attacks since early December 2009 as political tensions rise further ahead of the 7 March poll. A spate of recent bomb attacks by armed groups appear to have been deliberately targeted in an attempt to fuel the sectarian divide and further violence between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. Amnesty International urges that all Iraqis, including members of ethnic and religious minority groups, must be free to cast their votes without any pressure or intimidation. Women play a transformative role in building and supporting a non-sectarian society. To counter threats to women in conflict-affected situations, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 urging states to ensure increased participation of women in conflict resolution and peace-building processes, as well as development and reconstruction. Ending abuses by armed groups Amnesty International demands that all armed groups immediately cease and desist from carrying out attacks on civilians. Many of these attacks constitute crimes against humanity, crimes of the gravest magnitude under international law. Such crimes cannot be justified under any circumstances. Those responsible must be brought to justice. Thousands of civilians, including women, children and members of religious and ethnic minority groups, have been killed as a result of suicide and other attacks carried out by armed groups. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of civilians have also been abducted, tortured and killed by armed groups. Many bombings and other attacks on civilians have been carried out by al-Qa'ida in Iraq and its allies among Sunni armed groups. Other attacks and abuses have been committed by armed militias, some of which are linked to Shi'a political parties represented in the current government and parliament. Amnesty International continues to call for these armed militias to be disbanded. All attacks on civilians must cease forthwith. The Iraqi people must be allowed to live their lives in peace and security and be allowed to enjoy and exercise their human rights freely and without fear. Amnesty International urges all political leaders and activists, and all religious, community, business and other leaders and people of influence in Iraq to speak out and commit to the achievement of this objective.
One political party that remains in the elections (at least so far) is the Ahrar Party and today they issued the following statement:
Ahrar security plan tackles voters' number one concern
In a poll of voters across Iraq، security was cited as the number one issue that voters wanted dealt with.
Ahrar has polled the views of 1000 voters in the past week about the elections and life in Iraq under the current government.
"This poll confirms that voters are worried about security in Iraq and they want a new government to tackle it," said Ahrar Party leader Ayad Jamal Aldin.
"That is why Ahrar has written a detailed plan to make Iraq more secure."
Whilst some politicians just talk about our problems, Ayad Jamal Aldin and Ahrar have produced a practical plan to restore one, secure and united Iraq.
The Plan will see more resources devoted to protecting Iraq's borders, reducing foreign influences, strengthening our army and police and taking a stand against the corruption that saps our nation's energy and security.
It is specific and practical with concrete steps to take to change Iraq for the better.
http://www.ahrarparty.com/images/stories/ahrar-security-plan-en.pdf
For further information, contact:
Ahrar Media Bureau Tel: +964 (0)790 157 4478 / +964 (0)790 157 4479 / +964 (0)771 275 2942press@ahrarparty.com
About Ayad Jamal Aldin:
Ayad Jamal Aldin is a cleric, best known for his consistent campaigning for a new, secular Iraq. He first rose to prominence at the Nasiriyah conference in March 2003, shortly before the fall of Saddam, where he called for a state free of religion, the turban and other theological symbols. In 2005, he was elected as one of the 25 MPs on the Iraqi National List, but withdrew in 2009 after becoming disenchanted with Iyad Allawi's overtures to Iran. He wants complete independence from Iranian interference in Iraq. He now leads the Ahrar party for the 2010 election to the Council of Representatives, to clean up corruption and create a strong, secure and liberated Iraq for the future.
Violence continued today in Iraq.
Bombings?
Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing which injured two police officers, a Ramadi suicide car bombing which claimed the life of the bomber and the lives of 3 other people (with seven police officers injured), a rocket or mortar attack on the Green Zone which injured five people,
Shootings?
Reuters notes 1 police officer shot dead in Baghdad, 1 police officer shot dead in Kirkuk, a Baghdad attack in which 8 family members were shot dead, 2 police officers shot dead in Mosul, 2 "military personnel working in the Iraqi Defence Ministry" shot dead in Baghdad, Thamer Kamel was shot in Baghdad, a Baghdad shooting left 1 police officer and 1 Interior Ministry employee wounded and, dropping back to yesterday, 1 woman and her 3 daughters shot dead in Baghdad. On the 8 family members killed, BBC Radio is reporting that this was a home invasion and some of the 8 were beheaded. BBC News notes that the family "were reportedly Shia Muslims living in a majority Sunni area just outside the capital". Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reports, "Neighbors found six children and their parents dead in their home in the rural town of Wehda, near Medayeen, which witnessed some of the first of the sectarian violence back in 2005. Police attributed the killings to a tribal dispute over money."
Corpses?
Reuters notes 1 corpse discovered in Kirkuk.
Marc Santora (New York Times) observes that the events are "intenstifying concern about a spike in violence with less than two weeks until national elections."
Sunday the US military announced: "CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq – Two U.S. Army helicopter pilots were killed as a result of an accident near an airfield on a U.S. base in northern Iraq, Feb. 21. The aircraft made a hard landing inside the base. There were no enemy forces present and no hostile fire was reported. The accident is under investigation and release of the Soldiers' identities are being withheld pending notification of the next of kin. The name of the deceased Soldiers will be announced through the U.S. Department of Defense Official Web site at http://www.defenselink.mil/. The Task Force Marne command team mourns the loss of these two aviators and extends its deepest sympathies and condolences to their Families."
In the US Gerry Condon will speak this Wednesday at the Southern Oregon University Commuter Resource Center in Ashland about war resistance and movement building beginning at 7:00 pm (Stevenson Union, room 202). He will also have a video presentation of War Resisters telling their stories. This event is free and open to the public.
Radio, radio, as Elvis Costello once sang. Lila Giggles? Elaine will take her on this evening. In other radio news, Chris Hedges is a guest on this week's Law & Disorder and Mike'll cover that tonight. Cindy Sheehan Soapbox is the radio program Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan does and her guest this week is John Pilger. They discuss many topics including Brand Obama and his war machine. In addition, Pilger offers that there was more than one gunman at the RFK assassination. Next week, Cindy interviews FBI whistle blower Colleen Rowley, FYI. (Hugo Chavez is her guest March 14th.)
iraq
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inside iraq
jasim al-azzawi
the washington postcraig whitlock
reuterswaleed ibrahimjack kimball
xinhuafang yang
the irish timesmichael jansenthe times of londonoliver augustthe guardianmartin chulovthe los angeles timesliz slythe nationalthe washington postleila fadelgulf news
the new york timesmarc santora
cindy sheehan
john pilger
law and disorder
chris hedges
gerry condon
That cartoon perfectly captures ObamaCare which Barry O is pushing yet again on the masses.
If you missed that, check out this Arena at Politico. You've got a wide ranging series of view points and I really do love the Arena (and for that reason). Carrie Budoff Borwn (Politico) reports on Barack's plan he offered up today and the most important point may be this: "Obama's proposal also includes a legal requirement on all Americans to own insurance but lowers the penalty on individuals who don't, to just $325 in the first year."
There is nothing in his plan (he doesn't even include a weak public option) that justifies Americans being forced to buy insurance.
Today on Law & Disorder (airs on WBAI among other), Chris Hedges was talking about his new book and Heidi Boghosian's intro struck me wrong. If that is his book (I have no reason to doubt Heidi and Hedges didn't object to it), he either left out an important detail or he's unaware of it.
Chris isn't proposing a new idea. And what Heidi called "his" idea isn't. It's Nietzche. Gossip and distractions are the way a beleaguered nation deals with the problems. I'm not a Nietzche fan. I had to study him for one class and was having the worst time grasping him. I called C.I. (Elaine said, "Call C.I. As an undergraduate, she went into graduate level philosophy and ended up owning those classes.") So I did and she said, "I want you to listen to me."
And we call for the three great stimulants
Of the exahusted ones
Artifice
Brutality
And innocence.
Artifice and innocence.
What's that? Part of a Joni Mitchell song ("Three Great Stimulants" which is on Dog Eat Dog). That's what C.I. sang to me (full song) and then she went through the song bit by bit. Joni I could grasp. And Joni was using Nietzche for that song, it's built around his beliefs about artifice, et al. So from there I could grasp Nietzche. (With additional help from C.I.)
So my point here is that if Chris doesn't credit Nietzche (I'd honestly credit Joni Mitchell if it were my book), he's apparently unaware that this is a road already traveled -- well traveled.
If he'd discussed this, I would've been more interested in the book. I'll pick it up when I go into the store -- mainly because I like Chris Hedges -- but I'm really surprised that he didn't mention Fredrick N. I don't care for Nietzche. (I do like Hannah Arendt whom he did mention. By the way, Hannah Arendt in essays and interviews I followed easily. In her books? I had more of a problem. I asked C.I. there as well and she said, "Mike, she was a symphonic writer. She writes in rhythms. Put on the Firebird and start reading. Don't pay attention so much to the words until you get her rhythm down." And it worked. I could actually follow what Arendt was saying in The Human Condition, for instance.) (The Firebird is a ballet. Igor Stravinsky.)
But there's a great deal to listen to in the interview. And Chris is always an interesting guest because his asides carry more than most people's main points.
Example, as he winds down, he notes, "It's incumbent upon all of us [. . .] not to take anymore crap from the Democrats." His asides could be full blown programs, hourly explorations. So untrue of so many gasbags. (That's not my insulting the Michaels or Heidi. I think all three are intelligent. I'm referring to the guests you can probably name who are worthless and you usually get that after you've wasted a half-hour listening in the hopes that you'd hear something of value.) (But usually, you're just fed: "Republicans evil! Vote Dem!" And they want you to believe that was a political discussion and a diverse one.)
Okay, let's talk Third. First up, Dallas and the following helped:
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),
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
Second up, here's what we came up with.
Truest statement of the week -- This is Cindy Sheehan. She'll probably finish 2010 having the most truests of anyone. But there may be something Chris Hedges said today on L&D that I can nominate for this weekend.
Truest statement of the week II -- This is Iraqi Layla Anwar.
A note to our readers -- Jim breaks down the edition. He notes that Ava and C.I. and some others (I was already asleep) added to an article and might change it. I asked Ava about that and she said, "We didn't even want to read it last night. We're not reading it. Or planning to. So it will probably stay as is." Which one? I'll get to it. :D
Editorial: Iraq The Political Football -- I love this editorial. Dems can be so stupid. As they ignore Iraq, they better grasp the Republicans are willing to make this an election issue in 2012. It won't be pretty.
TV: Trash TV -- This is beautiful!!!! All last week, people were e-mailing me asking about Amy Goodman's b.s. and were Ava and C.I. going to tackle it? Yes, they were, I'd write back, this weekend. They do it here. Short version: You don't want to cover the Iraq Inquiry but are publicly shamed into covering it, what do you do? Amy Goodman brings on an uninformed guest and pretends like they're talking about it when they're not. This is a must read.
Iraq -- Our Iraq piece. There was a lot to cover and Jim suggested we do this early in the process.
Matt Rothschild, please buy some glasses -- Matthew Rothschild continues to repeat a false hood that the Secret Service corrected in an opening hearing mere months ago. Why? You get the feeling he needs a martyr real bad.
Roundtable -- A light roundtable. Ty had a question for C.I. but the roundtable ended too quickly. Ty's going to bring it up next roundtable. Basically, an actress (on NPR) talked about the power of no, which C.I.'s explained over and over at TCI and 3rd for years now. And explained that it's how you play in the entertainment industry if you want power. So the actress was saying what C.I. had said and the reader wanted to know if C.I. heard it and if she knew the actress? Yes, C.I. knows her. Yes, C.I. is campaiging for her (the actress is up for an Oscar). I went to NPR today to listen to the interview and she really did talk about the power of no the way C.I. does. (That's not me crediting C.I. C.I. will always credit Robert Redford with grasping the power of no better than anyone and explaining better than anyone.)
Operation Happy Talk never ends -- I'm surprised this posted. It only posted because Jim rescued it in the editing stages. It's a short feature and worth reading. The lengthy piece it originally was wasn't worth reading at all.
The hate mongers -- This is the piece Ava and C.I. are not reading. They helped with this and had to have several things pulled from a draft. Then they ended up walking at one point. I understood why. And if you read the note, you will as well. They were surprised this posted because when they walked (they felt it was becoming a piece on You-will-speak-this-way-and-only-this-way), it was becoming a shambles. Jim did a major edit on the various drafts and pieced it together.
Highlights -- Marcia, Ruth, Rebeca, Betty, Kat, Ann, Cedric, Stan, Wally, Elaine and I wrote this. And that was it.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Monday, February 22, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, the top US commander in Iraq states he hasn't been advised on a withdrawal plan, he further states that an increase in violence could slow the draw down, a political party pulls out of the election process, 2 US service members are announced dead on Sunday, Gordon Brown gets a date to appear before the Iraq Inquiry, and more.
The latest installment of Inside Iraq (Al Jazeera) began airing Friday with Jasim al-Azawi exploring the topic of human rights with Arab Lawyers Association's Sabah al-Mukhtar, Human Rights Watch's Joe Stork and Iraqi Parliament's deputy chair of the Human Rights Committee Shatha al-Obosi.
Jasim al-Azawi: Let me ask you a very simple question. Not only are you an Iraqi that witnessed human rights record in Iraq but also you are the deputy chair person. How do you assess the human rights record in Iraq?
Shatha al-Obosi: The situation of human rights in Iraq is still worrying because with the huge number of detainees, with minority rights, with the women rights, with the killing peoples, the human rights belong to the secure situation. We have very bad situation after 2003, after the occupation. The American arrested people and killed people without any judge about them because they then -- belong for the Iraqi law. After that in the 2005 and 2006, the very bad situation of the security make a huge number of the detainees in the prison and there's no trial for them. They are asking for a fair trial, if they are innocent to release them or they are guilty to put them in the prisons. That's what they need. We have very bad situation in the prisons with the crowding, with the bad food, with the bad health care. So we look after their cases to find -- to end this file. And we have another, another challenges about the minorities --
Jasim al-Azawi: We will come to the other challenges for human rights for minorities as well as women, Shatha, but the bleak picture, Joe Stork, as portrayed by Shatha al-Obosi, it is not alien to you. You must have run across this many times. Your organization gave a report to the world community as well as to the UN. Did she present an accurate picture? Or is it worse than that or less than that?
Joe Stork: Well I think almost all of the things she mentioned are things we are aware of and-and I would subscribe to her, you know, list of-of the many problems that Iraq faces. I think we should focus on -- we should distinguish between those problems that the government has a direct ability to effect, you know, in the near term, in the short term, and those things -- like very important issues like protection of the population which is obviously -- the are human rights aspect to it and other things as well. And obviously there is a capacity issue in terms of the government's ability here. So let me talk for just a second about what I think the government can do and should do in the near term. First, we have the escalation as you noted Jasim the escalation in executions. Executions resumed in May of 2008. There are scores of people -- if not hundreds of people -- with death sentences now. There have been mass executions, that is to say dozens of people executed on a single morning. There's no transparency about this and the -- There's two things, two points to make. One, we're opposed to the death penalty under any circumstances but we're especially worried in a situation where you have people who have been convicted after patently unfair trials. They have not had access to lawyers --
Jasim al-Azawi: I can predict, Joe, that this is going to be extremely long. Keep some of the ideas that you would like to list later on but let me engage Sabah al-Mukhtar who is just fresh right now from that Geneva conference held under the auspices of the United Nations. Give us a brief summary of what has been said vis-a-vis Iraq's human rights record and what Wijdan Mikhail, the Iraqi Human Rights Minister, said.
Sabah al-Mukhtar: Well the Minister presented a document -- a report to the UN General Council. The report said nothing about the accusations which had been levied against Iraq by the UN organization. It didn't address absolutely any of the obligations, any of the accusations. It was just talking general conversations about how things should be, what the law says, what the international obligations are. So the report contained absolutely nothing. The Minister brought with her a team. One of her team went on for quarter of an hour, boring the Council, talking about the previous regime rather than talking about the human rights situation. The countries have all commented negatively on the report including the United States of America which said to the Iraqi Minister that their elections should be one that allows people to stand for elections rather than excluding people. Everybody condemned the situation of executions and hanging. Everybody talked about the academics -- killing of 500 academics, 200 journalists, 24 judges, 150 lawyers in the country, the torture, the prison situations. All the countries that spoke there condemned the situation in Iraq.
Jasim al-Azawi: So in a nutshell, they have blasted Iraq's claim that they are making progress out of the water. I noticed Shatha in your response to me, you also harped on the Americans. I am the first to recognize -- and many people including Joe will recognize that the chaos and the pain and the killing that followed 2003, in one way or another, is because of the American invasion. But that is in the past and I'm sure as the Americans withdraw their forces their contribution to the violations of human rights will be diminished. But talk to me about the current level of human rights abuse in Iraq. The government is responsible for that, no matter how you cut it, al-Maliki and his government are responsible for that.
Shatha al-Obosi: They have the Human Rights Ministry as our guys say so the problems with the Minister -- the Ministry of Human Rights -- so they must -- don't announce any-any-any -- anything against human rights because the torture happened by the government in the prisons. Who can torture the people there? She cannot say this clearly in the media or in front of the international associations so this is the problem for this reason. We establish the Human Rights Commission and we want this commission to start before we leave this period of the Parliament but the government didn't allow us to do that because any -- any, you know, anything happen against the human rights, it will be announced for the international or the UN or any international association. This is the problem. They can for do a lot to protect people. The first right of the Iraqi citizen: The right of living in his house --
Jasim al-Azawi: Indeed that is an inalienable right that should be guaranteed by all constitutions and by all governments. Joe Stork --
Shatha al-Obosi: Yeah, yeah but I want to mention about executions. We want to delay the execution orders after the elections because I receive many claims from people that they take their speech, their -- and they sign them under the torture. So many of them are innocent. We are afraid if there is a few number of them are innocent so we must protect all of them and make another investigation with them to guarantee if they are innocent or not.
This morning at the Pentagon, the top US commander in Iraq, Gen Ray Odierno held a press briefing. He was asked about the role for US troops after 2011 and he replied that "in order for us to have anybody in Iraq past 2011 we'll have to -- it will have to be requested by the government of Iraq. So until that happens, I see us being at what we -- what we'd usually have at a normal embassy, a military contingent that would help support Iraq." He was asked of the air issue -- Iraq has no forces ready to 'protect' their air space at present. The training of Iraqis for that has hit a hitch, but Odierno didn't state that and instead offered a 'we'll see when it rolls around' type take. He declared that "several factors" would determine a continued draw down (of "combat" forces only):
One is governmental formation. But it's not necessarily how long it takes to form the government. It's: "Is it happening in a peaceful manner? Do we think that the -- if there's a problem in forming the government, does it translate into violence?" So that'll be a big piece of this, whether it does or not. And right now, we're not sure. We think so far it will probably fo fairly smoothly, but we'll wait to see. I have contingency plans, and I've been -- I've briefed the chain of command this week that we could execute if we run into problems, if it goes the way we think, or if it just is a little bit different than the way we think. And we're prepared to execute those.
A member of the press made a complete idiot of themselves and that's really no surprise but let's point out here (without naming the idiot) that if you're going to charge that big attacks on government targets are down, you better damn well know the pattern. The pattern isn't for these attacks to place weekly or even monthly. If the pattern holds, an idiot should have to eat their words. In the meantime, we should all wonder about a reporter allegedly covering this topic who doesn't know the first thing about it.
Odierno was asked about the plans for the 2011 withdrawal. We'll note him word for word:
This is -- we haven't talked in specific terms yet about this, but it's very important to understand that there's a complex transition that's going to on in -- the end of 2010, beginning of 2011, as the military draws down, and how we transition resposibility over to the government of Iraq in some cases, to the embassy, in other cases to NGOs. So one thing we have to remember is the faster we draw down from 50,000 the faster we have to transition to the State Dept and these other organizations. So what we want to do is we want to do this very deliberately, because how we transition will go a lot into saying how well we do post-2011. So the way I see it is, I expect us to stay at 50,000 probably somewhere through the middle of 2011, and then we'll begin to draw down to zero. If we do it faster than that, then you've got to increase the money you give to the State Dept or the Embassy. You have to increase the -- you have to -- you have to speed up the transition. And what we worry about is if we do that too quickly we won't do it right. So we want to do that very deliberately and smoothly.
I'm going to repeat one more time that the Congress -- specifically the Armed Services Committee in the House and Senate -- has still not been provided with withdrawal details. For a withdrawal that's supposed to or supposedly to take place at the end of 2011, that's rather surprising. Why hasn't Congress seen the plan?
In a real democracy, we'd be asking that. But Congress can take comfort in the fact that this withdrawal plan that supposedly concludes in 22 months (begins much sooner, but concludes in 22) has also not been shared with the top US commander in Iraq. Odierno has apparently been as left in the dark as the Congress. Will Michele Flournoy offer more idiotic excuses, more 'I didn't know you hadn't been briefed' garbage? Will anyone press her or the Dept of Defense to be forthcoming about the withdrawal that's supposedly complete in 22 months?
Craig Whitlock (Washington Post) emphasizes that the "withdrawal of all combat forces" could be delayed. (And those acting shocked should be aware Barack gave these same reasons in 2007 when speaking to the New York Times -- in an article the idiot Tom Hayden praised while we were calling out Barack and going by the transcprit -- a transcript Tom would find days and days later. And then offer a muted objection to. If you're late to the party, grab a drink and refer to this Iraq snapshot and Third's article and the actual transcript of the interview -- a transcript Tom Hayden should have read before humiliating himself in public, then again Tom-Tom seems to enjoy public humiliation).
Questions of Iraqi elections were also raised in the press conference. Before we get there, Friday, US Ambassador to Iraq Chris Hill did as he did Wednesday but this time to the Foreign Press Center when he shot down the possibility that any political party would boycott elections:
Nadia Bilbassy: Thank you. Thank you, Ambassador. I'm sure you are tired by any questions about -- so many press availability you've done so far. It's Nadia Bilbassy with MBC Television. Very often, the Americans complain about interference from neighboring countries, mainly Iran and Syria, in Iraqi affairs. To what extent do you see an influence from both countries on this current election? And as you know, two prominent Sunni politicians have been disqualified from this election. Do you worry that ultimately, that will affect the Sunni votes in the representations in the Iraqi Government in the future? Chris Hill: Well, first of all, we have expressed our concerns about interference in some of the processes, especially the issue, as I think General Odierno laid out and I have also mentioned -- the issue of Iran. That said, we believe we have a election mechanism that will indeed be free and fair. This has been -- involved a considerable amount of planning in addition to the Iraqi high commissioner -- high commission for the elections, we've had a very active and engaged UN operation in Baghdad. So we are confident that we will have an Iraqi election that will be for and about the Iraqi people. So we're pretty confident we've got a good mechanism and a proper election which will be all about Iraq and not about any foreign country. On the second issue, obviously, de-Ba'athification has been a tough issue to go through. We had, obviously, some concerns about the transparency and the way that this whole process would appear to the Iraqi people. The Iraqi authorities have dealt with this. Their courts have dealt with this. The Iraqi senior politicians have dealt with it. And we really look forward to a good election. I know there continues to be some discussion about this. I know it was a very emotional issue for many people. But we believe the de-Ba'athification problems are, for the most part, behind. And we look forward to them getting on with the election and having the voters make their decisions.
Saturday Waleed Ibrahim and Jack Kimball (Reuters) reported that the National Dialogue Front is boycotting the election and, in the words of Haider al-Mulla (party spokesperson), calling "for other poltiical parties to take the same stand as our front. The whole issue is not related to (the candidate ban), rather the unsuitable atmosphere of this election." Fang Yang (Xinhua) added: that the press release cited the remarks of Iranian influence on the elections made by Odierno and Hill as being among the reasons (". . we can't continue in a political process running by foreign agenda"). Yesterday Michael Jansen (Irish Times) reported on what followed in the wake of Saturday's announcement by the National Dialogue Front: "the National Council for Tribes of Iraq siad it would" withdraw from the elections. Oliver August (Times of London) explained, "International observers have significantly lowered their expectations for the poll in recent days. Few diplomats in Baghdad now talk about 'free and fair elections', since they clearly won't be. The new publicly stated goal is a 'credible election', but even that seems doubtful. Pressed to sketch out a best-case scenario, several diplomates talk of an election that, despite its flaws, is merely accepted by the people. This is far from the democracy once envisaged." The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative in Iraq, Ad Melkert, tried to stamp a happy face on the process and declared, "Generally speaking, I should say that the elections are on track in terms of their technical preparation. Still, a lot needs to be done. Security remains a big challenge to all, to the Iraqis in the first place, but also to the international community." Martin Chulov (Guardian) offers this background, "The call for a boycott was made by Saleh al-Mutlaq, an MP who leads the National Dialogue Front, a leading Sunni party. It is part of a cross-sectarian Iraqiya electoral alliance, formed to contest the 7 March ballot. Al-Mutlaq was on a list of 511 individuals banned from standing in elections because of their connection to the old Baathist regime. The list has now been reduced to 145. Ahmed Chalabi, the former Pentagon favourite, has been aggressively defending the list as part of a new de-Baathification drive through a body called the Accountability and Justice Commission." Gulf News editorializes, "It is important for any election to be fair that all the rules of contest are defined well in advance. It is wrong that candidates have been banned a few weeks before the elections. They should have known years in advance that their previous records would not allow them to hold public office and their sympathisers and supporters would be able to find candidates to represent their views without breaking the law." Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) offered, ". . . Sunnis and many secularists in the Shiite community are so eager to overturn the dominance of the Shiite religious parties that have controlled Iraq's government for five years that it is unclear whether Mutlak's boycott call will have weight with many people." UAE's The National countered, "Not only does it threaten the legitimacy of the poll, but the last time Sunni parties boycotted the elections in 2005, it exacerbated a cycle of violence that almost drove the country into civil war. It is hard to fault the decision of the party's leader, Saleh al Mutlaq. He and hundreds of other banned politicians are the victims of blatant political manipulation. Regardless, they must be careful; there is more at stake than their own political careers." Leila Fadel (Washington Post) added, "Iraqi officials said Saturday that meetings with Mutlak and his group were ongoing. Mutlak could not be reached for comment. "
Today the Iraq Inquiry announced that the current Prime Minister of England, Gordon Brown, will offer testimony to the Inquiry on March 5th. Douglas Alexander (International Development Secretary) will also offer testimony. On March 8th, the Inquiry will hear from Bill Jefrey who was scheduled earlier but had to call off due to illness and David Miliband is also booked for that day. David Miliband is Foreign Secretary and, disclosure, he is also someone I know. When we cover David, I'll either call him out loudly (if needed) or just stick to what he says -- meaning we just quote the transcript and I offer no comment of my own. In addition, the March 9th snapshot will offer press reactions on Miliband. We usually don't have time for that but because I know David and may or may not be able to be impartial, I'm saying right now that the March 9th snapshot will offer a roundup of press criticques and reports of his testimony and presentation.
Last week Nouri al-Maliki was meeting with tribal leaders urging that they encourage their members not to sell their votes. Nizar Latif (UAE's National Newspaper) reports that many of the country's poor are preparing to do just that and quotes Ahmad Salam explaining, "Elections are a beautiful opportunity to get some money. There are lots of people willing to sell their votes, and lots of people who want to buy them." Duraid Al Baik (Gulf News) reports that UAE will be one of the 16 countries outside of Iraq at which voting will take place with others being in "Syria, Jordan, Iran, Australia, USA, Sweden, Egypt, Canada, Denmark, Lebanon, Turkey, UK, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. The stations will be open from March 5-7." For those who have forgotten or weren't paying attention, Nouri's first disenfranchisement target was the refugee population. And the party that's now boycotting? It was their members, their leaders who advocated for the refugee population. Possibly had the White House and the US press not been so quick to throw the towel in on that issue -- in a "Hurry up and get on with it!" attitude, then Nouri might have gotten another message. Instead, he's under the impression that he can get away with anything. (Those remembering the "hurry up" attitude might also remember that at that point, these elections were supposed to take place in January. Didn't happen. They might also realize that Nouri's term expired already, as has Parliament's.) As provincial elections approached in January 2008, Nouri was suddenly eager to deliver portable potable water (temporary measure) and then dropped the need to bring water in after the elections. Apparently convinced that he can trick Iraqi voters, he's got a new trick. Alsumaria TV reports that he's saying he will eliminate unemployment. He's been in power since 2006. Now he's worried about unemployment? Or maybe it's just that now he's worried about his own unemployment because he is wondering exactly what deal Chalabi set up for himself with Tehran?
On the elections, Amnesty International issued the following this morning:As Iraq prepares to hold new parliamentary elections amid continuing controversy over the eligibility of many candidates, Amnesty International is appealing to the country's political leaders to ensure that both the election campaign and the vote on 7 March are conducted peacefully and fully conform with Iraq's obligations under international human rights law. The elections must not be used as an excuse for further violence Political leaders must demand that their supporters uphold the law and respect the rights of others, and help prevent the election being used to deepen the sectarian violence that has wracked the country in recent years. They must do all they can to ensure the safety and security of all Iraqis, without discrimination, and uphold their rights to freedom of expression, association and political participation in selecting those who will lead the country in the future. Amnesty International is also calling on all political parties and their candidates to commit to protecting and promoting human rights in their election manifestoes and in practice, if and when they are elected to office, in full conformity with Iraq's obligations under international human rights law. Those responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks against civilians must immediately end such attacks, many of which appear to constitute crimes against humanity -- crimes of the very gravest nature. Amnesty International condemns all attacks on civilians, utterly and unreservedly, and calls for their immediate cessation. There can be no justification whatever for such attacks. The following human rights concerns must be addressed by all political parties, their candidates, supporters and others: Safeguard civilians and their right to vote The protection of civilians is paramount during elections if voters are to feel assured that they can exercise their right to vote without fear and intimidation. Iraq's civilian population has borne the brunt of the continuing violence that has ravaged the country in recent years and the record from previous elections is grim. Dozens of civilians were killed in attacks before the last provincial elections on 31 January 2009. The last national parliamentary elections, held on 15 December 2005, saw dozens of civilians killed in attacks by Sunni armed groups and Shi'a militias in the weeks before and during polling. Amnesty International appeals to all political party leaders and to all religious and community leaders and other persons of influence to speak out against further violence, bloodshed and human rights abuses. They must demand that all Iraqis are able to decide freely and without fear how to exercise their right to vote. Protection of candidates and election workers Candidates, party political activists and election workers are among those most likely to be targeted for kidnapping and killing in the run-up to the elections. At least two candidates have already been killed. Soha 'Abdul-Jarallah, a candidate on the list of former prime minister Iyad 'Allawi, was gunned down as she left a relative's house in Mosul on 7 February 2010. Sa'ud al-'Issawi, a Sunni Arab and candidate for the Iraqi Unity Alliance (IUA), was killed with his two bodyguards at the end of December 2009 in Falluja by a magnetic bomb attached to their vehicle. Safa 'Abd al-Amir al-Khafaji, the head teacher of a girls' school in Baghdad's al-Ghadi district was shot and seriously wounded by unidentified gunmen on 12 November 2009 soon after she announced that she would contest the elections as a candidate for the Iraqi Communist Party. 'Ali Mahmoud, a staff member of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), the body responsible for overseeing the elections, was shot dead outside his house in al-Jadiriya district in Baghdad on 17 December 2009. Nine candidates were killed at the time of the last provincial elections and, at Mandali in Diyala governorate, two election workers were abducted and found shot dead only hours later. Several candidates were killed during the 15 December 2005 poll. For example, Mizhar al-Dulaimi, the leader of the Free Progressive Iraqi Party, was shot dead while campaigning in the centre of Ramadi on 13 December. Amnesty International calls on the present government, the IHEC and all political party leaders to make every effort to ensure that candidates and elections workers are allowed to go about their legitimate activities freely and without fear or restraint, and are promptly provided with adequate protection whenever appropriate. Reporting the election: safeguarding journalists In recent years, Iraq has been one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, many of whom have been targeted for abduction, assassination or other abuses. In 2008, at least 16 journalists and media workers were reported to have been killed; in 2009, at least four were killed. During the provincial elections of 2009 journalists were subject to harassment, arrest and assault while covering the elections, including by Iraqi security forces and the US military. Some were arrested and held for hours; others were reported to have been prevented from entering polling stations -- for example, in Falluja and in al-Hilla -- although they had been officially accredited by the IHEC. In Mosul, Iraqi soldiers reportedly fired on journalists' vehicles. Before and after the July 2009 elections for the Kurdistan regional parliament, several journalists were assaulted, including Nebaz Goran, editor of Jihan, an independent magazine, who was attacked by three unidentified men outside his office in Erbil. Preventing journalists from reporting on elections inevitably increases the risk of election fraud and rigged voting and deprives the public of information to which they have a right to know. Amnesty International urges all Iraqi political leaders to uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ("Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information"), and to uphold the right of all journalists legitimately to exercise their profession without hindrance and fear of harassment. Commitment to protect and promote human rights All political parties and their candidates must recognize that respect for human rights and international law is a fundamental obligation. They must commit to building peace, tolerance and respect for human rights if elected, including upholding the rule of law by committing to ending arbitrary detentions, torture and other ill-treatment, unfair trials, the use of the death penalty and impunity for those responsible for human rights violations. They must also ensure that Iraqi legislation is made fully compatible with international human rights law, including legislation relating to women's rights, and is enforced in practice in accordance with Iraq's obligations under international law. Political parties, candidates and all others with influence, including religious and community leaders, must speak out about the need to protect and safeguard the rights of those most vulnerable. This includes women, who remain subject to legal and other discrimination and violence, and others who are subject to persecution because of their religious, ethnic or sexual identity. In Mosul, for example, at least 14 members of the Christian minority have been killed in targeted attacks since early December 2009 as political tensions rise further ahead of the 7 March poll. A spate of recent bomb attacks by armed groups appear to have been deliberately targeted in an attempt to fuel the sectarian divide and further violence between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. Amnesty International urges that all Iraqis, including members of ethnic and religious minority groups, must be free to cast their votes without any pressure or intimidation. Women play a transformative role in building and supporting a non-sectarian society. To counter threats to women in conflict-affected situations, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 urging states to ensure increased participation of women in conflict resolution and peace-building processes, as well as development and reconstruction. Ending abuses by armed groups Amnesty International demands that all armed groups immediately cease and desist from carrying out attacks on civilians. Many of these attacks constitute crimes against humanity, crimes of the gravest magnitude under international law. Such crimes cannot be justified under any circumstances. Those responsible must be brought to justice. Thousands of civilians, including women, children and members of religious and ethnic minority groups, have been killed as a result of suicide and other attacks carried out by armed groups. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of civilians have also been abducted, tortured and killed by armed groups. Many bombings and other attacks on civilians have been carried out by al-Qa'ida in Iraq and its allies among Sunni armed groups. Other attacks and abuses have been committed by armed militias, some of which are linked to Shi'a political parties represented in the current government and parliament. Amnesty International continues to call for these armed militias to be disbanded. All attacks on civilians must cease forthwith. The Iraqi people must be allowed to live their lives in peace and security and be allowed to enjoy and exercise their human rights freely and without fear. Amnesty International urges all political leaders and activists, and all religious, community, business and other leaders and people of influence in Iraq to speak out and commit to the achievement of this objective.
One political party that remains in the elections (at least so far) is the Ahrar Party and today they issued the following statement:
Ahrar security plan tackles voters' number one concern
In a poll of voters across Iraq، security was cited as the number one issue that voters wanted dealt with.
Ahrar has polled the views of 1000 voters in the past week about the elections and life in Iraq under the current government.
"This poll confirms that voters are worried about security in Iraq and they want a new government to tackle it," said Ahrar Party leader Ayad Jamal Aldin.
"That is why Ahrar has written a detailed plan to make Iraq more secure."
Whilst some politicians just talk about our problems, Ayad Jamal Aldin and Ahrar have produced a practical plan to restore one, secure and united Iraq.
The Plan will see more resources devoted to protecting Iraq's borders, reducing foreign influences, strengthening our army and police and taking a stand against the corruption that saps our nation's energy and security.
It is specific and practical with concrete steps to take to change Iraq for the better.
http://www.ahrarparty.com/images/stories/ahrar-security-plan-en.pdf
For further information, contact:
Ahrar Media Bureau Tel: +964 (0)790 157 4478 / +964 (0)790 157 4479 / +964 (0)771 275 2942press@ahrarparty.com
About Ayad Jamal Aldin:
Ayad Jamal Aldin is a cleric, best known for his consistent campaigning for a new, secular Iraq. He first rose to prominence at the Nasiriyah conference in March 2003, shortly before the fall of Saddam, where he called for a state free of religion, the turban and other theological symbols. In 2005, he was elected as one of the 25 MPs on the Iraqi National List, but withdrew in 2009 after becoming disenchanted with Iyad Allawi's overtures to Iran. He wants complete independence from Iranian interference in Iraq. He now leads the Ahrar party for the 2010 election to the Council of Representatives, to clean up corruption and create a strong, secure and liberated Iraq for the future.
Violence continued today in Iraq.
Bombings?
Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing which injured two police officers, a Ramadi suicide car bombing which claimed the life of the bomber and the lives of 3 other people (with seven police officers injured), a rocket or mortar attack on the Green Zone which injured five people,
Shootings?
Reuters notes 1 police officer shot dead in Baghdad, 1 police officer shot dead in Kirkuk, a Baghdad attack in which 8 family members were shot dead, 2 police officers shot dead in Mosul, 2 "military personnel working in the Iraqi Defence Ministry" shot dead in Baghdad, Thamer Kamel was shot in Baghdad, a Baghdad shooting left 1 police officer and 1 Interior Ministry employee wounded and, dropping back to yesterday, 1 woman and her 3 daughters shot dead in Baghdad. On the 8 family members killed, BBC Radio is reporting that this was a home invasion and some of the 8 were beheaded. BBC News notes that the family "were reportedly Shia Muslims living in a majority Sunni area just outside the capital". Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reports, "Neighbors found six children and their parents dead in their home in the rural town of Wehda, near Medayeen, which witnessed some of the first of the sectarian violence back in 2005. Police attributed the killings to a tribal dispute over money."
Corpses?
Reuters notes 1 corpse discovered in Kirkuk.
Marc Santora (New York Times) observes that the events are "intenstifying concern about a spike in violence with less than two weeks until national elections."
Sunday the US military announced: "CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq – Two U.S. Army helicopter pilots were killed as a result of an accident near an airfield on a U.S. base in northern Iraq, Feb. 21. The aircraft made a hard landing inside the base. There were no enemy forces present and no hostile fire was reported. The accident is under investigation and release of the Soldiers' identities are being withheld pending notification of the next of kin. The name of the deceased Soldiers will be announced through the U.S. Department of Defense Official Web site at http://www.defenselink.mil/. The Task Force Marne command team mourns the loss of these two aviators and extends its deepest sympathies and condolences to their Families."
In the US Gerry Condon will speak this Wednesday at the Southern Oregon University Commuter Resource Center in Ashland about war resistance and movement building beginning at 7:00 pm (Stevenson Union, room 202). He will also have a video presentation of War Resisters telling their stories. This event is free and open to the public.
Radio, radio, as Elvis Costello once sang. Lila Giggles? Elaine will take her on this evening. In other radio news, Chris Hedges is a guest on this week's Law & Disorder and Mike'll cover that tonight. Cindy Sheehan Soapbox is the radio program Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan does and her guest this week is John Pilger. They discuss many topics including Brand Obama and his war machine. In addition, Pilger offers that there was more than one gunman at the RFK assassination. Next week, Cindy interviews FBI whistle blower Colleen Rowley, FYI. (Hugo Chavez is her guest March 14th.)
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inside iraq
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the washington postcraig whitlock
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xinhuafang yang
the irish timesmichael jansenthe times of londonoliver augustthe guardianmartin chulovthe los angeles timesliz slythe nationalthe washington postleila fadelgulf news
the new york timesmarc santora
cindy sheehan
john pilger
law and disorder
chris hedges
gerry condon
Friday, February 19, 2010
Sushi and simple Dave Zirin
Friday!!!!! At last the weekend. :D
And before anything else, we're going to talk sushi. My favorites are (in this order):
1) California roll
2) spicy shrimp
3) seafood combo
After that, I have a whole list of kinds I like. But I have a list I hate. Cream cheese? No. I used to think I didn't like it and it's not my favorite but I can eat it.
I can't say that about all of them. For example, anything with brown rice? Get that crap away from me. The brown rice doesn't absorb seasoning as well (I'm not just talking about the soy sauce) and it also tastes gummy. But just as bad is vegetable combo. It's like eating air. It's nothing but a rip off. It's like the California roll if the California roll sucked.
I hate it when we have sushi at my folks and I spend all my time yacking and by the time I get into the kitchen, all the good sushi's gone! :(
This is from the opening of Mehdi Lebouachera's AFP story on Iraq:And before anything else, we're going to talk sushi. My favorites are (in this order):
1) California roll
2) spicy shrimp
3) seafood combo
After that, I have a whole list of kinds I like. But I have a list I hate. Cream cheese? No. I used to think I didn't like it and it's not my favorite but I can eat it.
I can't say that about all of them. For example, anything with brown rice? Get that crap away from me. The brown rice doesn't absorb seasoning as well (I'm not just talking about the soy sauce) and it also tastes gummy. But just as bad is vegetable combo. It's like eating air. It's nothing but a rip off. It's like the California roll if the California roll sucked.
I hate it when we have sushi at my folks and I spend all my time yacking and by the time I get into the kitchen, all the good sushi's gone! :(
With the country ravaged by war and strife since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, Baghdad's struggling government has had greater priorities than funding large-scale digs at Ur - the birth place of Abraham and one of the cradles of civilisation - where only small teams have been working since 2005.
"When the (large-scale) excavations restart, tons of antiquities will see the light of day, filling entire museum wings," enthused Dhaif Moussin, who is in charge of protecting a site that has been prone to looting.
"This site will become perhaps more important than Giza," he added, referring to the plateau outside the Egyptian capital of Cairo where some of mankind's most treasured antiquities have been unearthed, including the Sphinx and several notable pyramids. "When the (large-scale) excavations restart, tons of antiquities will see the light of day, filling entire museum wings," enthused Dhaif Moussin, who is in charge of protecting a site that has been prone to looting.
Now let's turn to the idiot of the week, Dave Zirin:
There are right now two kinds of people on earth. Those who would die happy if they never hear the name of Tiger Woods again and those who want their pound of flesh. The people sick of the Tiger Woods drama could care less about his marriage, his personal life, and today’s awkward, script reading. Those who want their pound of flesh, are itching for Tiger to do the stations of the tabloid-cross: Oprah, tears, and "humility." "He owes us an apology," they say. What they don’t say is that an uncomfortable part of this is as American as apple pie: a prurient obsession with black male sexuality – particularly those African American men involved with sports. From boxer Jack Johnson to Tiger Woods, a sex scandal is never so juicy as when men of color are at the center of it.
Poor Dave. I get it now. It's always got to be simplistic for Dave Zirin. He's not capable of complex thought. That's why we had our online exchange (actually, exchanges).
He needs it to be really simple.
Which is why it's about race for him.
He lives in that world where there are two boxes. That's why he thinks that in all of humanity, there are only two reactions to Tiger Woods.
I know a lot of people who weren't forming an opinion until they heard from Tiger. They were giving him the benefit of the doubt until he spoke and then planning to decide what they thought then. Those people don't exist in Dave's world. So many of us don't exist in Dave's simplistic world.
You have to wonder how much better he'd be as a writer if his brain didn't work so hard to reduce everything to either/or?
Life's more complex than he can ever admit. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, February 19, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, the election madness continues, no one is who they seem including Ahmed who's reportedly lined up a post-election deal, Gordon Brown tests the waters, and more.
Today on the second hour of NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, Diane's guests were Karen DeYoung (Washington Post), James Kitfield (National Journal) and Moises Naim (Foreign Policy) and the topic of Iraq's upcoming elections (scheduled for March 7th) was addressed.
Diane Rehm: Alright and one of our listeners in Intervale, New Hampshire has a question about Iraq. She wants to know what is the current state of play regarding the upcoming March elections in Iraq? Were the 500 suspected Ba'athists candidates re-instated? Will they be permitted to run? Karen?Karen DeYoung: Well this started out -- the Iraqi elections are two Sundays from now. They are on the seventh of March, these are national elections, the first ones since Prime Minister al-Maliki was elected in 2005 [Parliamentary elections held December 2005], after a lot of horse trading among Iraqis [Nouri became Prime Minister in April 2006 after the US rejected the Parliament's choice of Ibrahim al-Jaafari]. I think for the United States this is a question of [coughs], excuse me, whether this democratic experiment is actually going to hold there, if they're going to progress to a sustainable democracy. The -- part of the new constitution which we helped put in place, which we put in place in Iraq, calls for de-Ba'athitication which is removing anyone who had anything to do with the party of Saddam Hussein. The people who control the de-Ba'athification process are considered to be very close to Iran which would like a strong Shia government in Iraq. And so they put out a list, to the surprise of everyone, that had more than 500 people on it who they charged had some kind of ties with the Ba'ath Party and were therefore ineligible to run for elections. These were all people who had been promoted by their parties. Most of them -- the majority Shia but because Sunnis are in the minority there, the number of Sunnis there was seen as a concern. It was seen as an effort to push the Sunnis out of contention. There were -- there was a lot of manuevring. The list has been whittled down to about 120 people. The Americans at least think that the crisis has passed. No one -- none of the major parties, including the Sunni parties, have said they will boycott the elections which was one of the big concerns. But I think everyone is sort of on tender hooks waiting to see if this is actually going to work.
Diane Rehm: James?
James Kitfield: One of the interesting little sidebars to this story is the person which is running the [Justice & Accountability] commission which is totally opaque -- no one understands what criteria is used to how close you are to the Ba'ath Party and what remaining ties you may have to the Ba'ath Party -- is Ahmed Chalabi. You know, we've been through this story before with this guy. He was put in charge of de-Ba'athification by the Bush administration and Paul Bremer. He did the same thing, trying to clear the field of Sunnis so he could -- his political rivals. It's not very helpful.
[. . .]
Diane Rehm: Let's go to Chris in Lincolon, Nebraska. Good morning to you.
Chris: Good morning to you, Diane, I'm a huge fan. I want to say your show makes me a more informed citizen and I can't think you enough.
Diane Rehm: I'm so glad, thank you.
Chris: My question is about James Kitfield's comment about Ahmed Chalabi still being involved in the Iraqi political system. I was just curious as to how much power this man still has considering his shady reputation?
Diane Rehm: It is a very good question, James Kitfield.
James Kitfield: Yeah, and if you -- if your viewer can get to the bottom of it, I'd love to hear about it. Because it's astounding to me. Clearly the Americans have been -- have been frustrated by this guy forever. He's got -- uh -- we had General [Ray] Odierno was in town this week, the chief US commander saying that he has close ties to Iran. They've tracked him going to Iran and meeting with senior officials. So clearly this is not a guy uh who has our interest in mind. But you have to believe he has some sway with Prime Minister [Nouri] al-Maliki otherwise he wouldn't be in this key position.
Karen DeYoung: You know Chris Hill who is the US Ambassador to Iraq has been here this week and made a lot of public statements and he was asked this several times. What is the -- what's the constituency that Ahmed Chalabi has? And he's described it as a sort of way at looking at how the United States needs to be a lot more humble about what it knows about the inner workings of the country. I mean, Ahmed Chalabi, was not only a favorite of the Bush administration and certainly of-of the US Defense Department, he was -- he was thought of as someone they wanted to put in as prime minister. And he ran the exile organizations here. He was sent there specifically. He was put in charge of this system in '03 and '04, when-when Paul Bremer was there. And so he clearly had a different agenda. And he's been acting on that agenda. And I think that, uh, the question I have had is is as the Iraqis in this electoral process denounce the United States for interfering -- and this is all part of its politics -- you don't hear much denunciation of Iran.
Meanwhile some Iraqi voters don't hear a great deal from the candidates supposedly wanting their votes. Alsumaria TV reports that Sadr City residents are complaining that their candidates have not shown to campaign nor have they bothered to "address people's complaints" regarding sewage and garbage issues. Turning to the KRG, Delovan Barwari (Kurdish Herald) reports:In the last elections, nearly all of the Kurdish political parties, along with a number of Chaldo-Assyrian and Turkmen parties, entered the elections under a banner called the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan (DPAK). DPAK secured 53 of the 275 parliamentary seats, became a key player in Iraqi politics, and allowed Kurds to expand their political influence in Baghdad. As a result of DPAK's strong showing in the national parliamentary elections, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Secretary General Jalal Talabani, became the first Kurd in Iraq's history to become president of the country. However, the political atmosphere in Iraqi Kurdistan has changed quite significantly since then. A new opposition group, known simply as "Change" (or "Gorran" in Kurdish), has emerged in Iraqi Kurdistan as a strong political force. This new group is led by Jalal Talabani's former deputy, Newshirwan Mustafa. The Change List received enough votes to turn heads, winning the majority of votes in the Sulaymaniyah province and receiving nearly 25% of total votes in the Kurdistan region. Many analysts expect the Change List to have a strong showing in the upcoming Iraqi national elections and, as Kirkuk will also be voting, some believe that the Change List will receive an even greater share of Kurdish votes this time around. The new political reality in Kurdistan may weaken the Kurdish position in Baghdad as the fundamental source of Kurdish power has been previously fueled by the united stance of the various Kurdish political groups. Today, there are three major Kurdish political lists entering the Iraqi elections independently. The largest of the three remains the bloc led by the President of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Massoud Barzani, and the current Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (from the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the PUK, respectively), which will be joined once again by a number of smaller Kurdish political parties. The newly-emerged Change List will be the second largest political bloc that is comprised of a number of important players who formerly identified themselves with the PUK. Another noticeable political power is an alliance between the two Islamic parties in Kurdistan, the Islamic Group and the Islamic Union.Gorran is fueled by US funds and US interests. And it's turnout wasn't remarkable in the provincial elections -- and that's before you consider how many US dollars were poured into funding the 'grassroots' party. AFP reported yesterday that Goran was claiming that Jala Talabani's forces had shot three of their workers -- this was PUK accused, not related to Talabani being the president of Iraq.
On this week's War News Radio from Swarthmore College (began airing today), Abdulla Mizead reported on one candidate running for Parliament.
Abdulla Mizead: Iraq remains among the world's most corrupt nations. In last year's edition of Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, Iraq was the fifth most corrupt countries. No one knows more about this problem than Moussa Faraj. He was head of Iraq's Public Integrity Commission until mid-2008, urging Iraqis to get in the business of fighting corruption.
Moussa Faraj: I was the first Iraqi to call for fighting corruption. I joined the anti-corruption committee at the governing council where we drafted the two laws that formed the Public Integrity Commission and the Ministry Inspector Generals. And, in 2004, I was Inspector General for the Ministry of Public Works.
Abdulla Mizead: Though he was considered the country's best Inspector General, several ministers were displeased with is decency. He got moved from one ministry to the other. He says it was hard to stay in one position for more than two months. But when he finally made it to the top of the Integrity Commission, he was overwhelemd by the size of financial and administrative corruption.
Moussa Faraj: When I was the head of the Public Integrity Commission, I said corruption in Iraq was different from any other corruption anywhere else in the world. Why? Because corruption elsewhere is limited to bribery and money laundering and it doesn't exceed millions of dollars a year.
Abdulla Mizead: But in Iraq, he says it's much more complicated.
Moussa Faraj: I warned of the legitimate corruption in Iraq. It's the most dangerous corruption in the world. Government officials and law makers make laws that steal public money. They protect themselves with the law because they know they can't be tried. Courts only go after illegitimate acts.
Abdulla Mizead: He says the political situation after 2003 was mainly to blame for the increase in levels of corruption.
Moussa Faraj: Why is there corruption? First, the failures in government performence. Appointing ministers and high officials in the state who lack academic qualifications or have fraudulent certificates, lack expertise and are loyal to their parties rather than the people. Parliament members are loyal to their parties. They take the Constitutional oath to serve the interest of the Iraqi people but instead they serve the head of their bloc in Parliament.
Things are never simple in Iraq. For background on Faraj, September 7, 2007, David Corn (The Nation) reported on the attacks on Radhi al-Radhi which led him to be replaced on Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity:
Regardless of the legality of Rahdi's ouster, Moussa Faraj, who has been named for Radhi's replacement, is an odd pick for the job. He was once a deputy at the CPI -- having been installed at the commission by the ruling Shia Alliance Party. Accodring to the secret U.S. embassy report on corruption, Faraj regularly posecuted and delayed cases on "sectarian bases." Worse, the report notes that Faraj, a political ally of Sabah al-Saidi (the Parliament leader who has assailed Radhi), once "allowed a Shia Alliance member [charged in a multi-million-dollar corruption case] to escape custody." And after Faraj was dismissed from the CPI, the report says, he stole "literally a car load of case files." An arrest warrant was issued for hi.
Several weeks ago, accordign to Radhi and his investigators, Faraj was arrested, placed in prison, and subsequently released on bail. "How can he be in jail and then be head of the integrity commission?" Radhi asks. Putting the CPI in Faraj's hands, Radhi says, will allow Maliki's office and Saidi to control its actions and prevent the commission from conducting investigations that inconvenience them and their political confederates. It will mean, he claims, the end of any meaninful anticorruption effort in Iraq.
In testimony to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee May 13, 2008, James F. Mattil stated, "After Judge Radhi resigned, the Prime Minister appointed a new acting CPI commissioner, Moussa Faraj, who three weeks earlier had been arrested and jailed on corruption charges. Faraj was out on bail and had yet to appear in court when he was appointed commission of Iraq's lead anti-corruption agency." [PDF format warning, click here for his remarks.] Meanwhile, Layla Anwar (An Arab Woman Blues) surveys the scene and doesn't see anything to inspire:
Who are these people and where are they leading us ? Every sane Iraqi must ask himself/herself this question. Where the f**k are you ? Have you disappeared in the ether, in communion with the dead or are you patiently waiting for your turn to finally join them -- your easy way out, since the only thing they promised you -- your liberators and your idols, is death... They guaranteed you death, and now you just wait for it, like a terminally ill patient in a doctor's waiting room. He knows he's on his final way out, but he still pays his weekly visit... How did my world shrink to turbans and robes...to charlatans and quacks, to a vicious authoritarianism that has suck up every God notion from my vocabulary..did my soul die in this tunnel ?..the idea itself is more murderous than a physical death... We are the soul zombies of the new world order...the soul zombies of the new Middle East...
Khairallah Khairallah (Middle East Online) offers a take on the state of Iraq:
Perhaps the only meaningful statement in the testimony of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in front of a committee investigating the war on Iraq, is the one that disclosed that the US wanted in 2003 the elimination of Saddam Hussein's family-Baathist regime. All Blair did, to summarize his testimony before the committee, is become 'convinced' of the viewpoint of the Americans and practically comply with their desires that see the justifications for war as not important as long as the aim is set in advance.
There was indeed a justification to get rid of a regime that plunged Iraq into three devasting wars. The first with Iran, the second with the international community after committing the crime of invading Kuwait and the third with the United States and its allies, who in 2003 found the right opportunity to finish off an important Arab state and turn it into a state with a lost identity. Saddam's regime did not cause the third war, but did everything to facilitate it; starting by ignoring the regional and international realities to the extreme and its lack of knowledge of the importance of the balance of power in relations between states. All of the justifications put forward by Blair to justify war that are meaningful and are not based on facts or legitmacy. This is why Clare Short, who was a cabinet minister in his government at the time, was pushed to describe him as 'a liar' in her statement a few days abuot the circumstances of Britain's decision to participate in the war on Iraq.
[. . .]
In 2010, targeting political parties was done in the same manner of Ba'ath. The Ba'ath's Revolutionary Commanding Council in March 1980 passed a law on the "prohibition" of Dawa party of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Perhaps the difference is that the there are no mass executions these days, especially since the US military is still present in its bases inside Iraq. The case becomes to retaliate against a vulnerable person here or there, who has no clan protected like Mr. Tariq Aziz, whose only fault was to be a Christian and he responded early to Iran, which tried to assassinate him in 1980 before the start of the war between the two countries as a symbol of a particular regime that allows him to be a Christian and a minister. That the treatment of Tariq Aziz in prison, especially after suffering a stroke and was taken to a US hospital, does not bode well. It indicates a malicious manner in dealing with a man who did not have any power at decision-making levels, as a desire for revenge Saddam's way, no more.
Tony Blair and Clare Short gave their testimony to the Iraq Inquiry in public hearings. The Inquiry, chaired by John Chilcot, is currently in recess but Gordon Brown, the current Prime Minister of England, will appear before the Iraq Inquiry shortly (the date has not been publicly released yet). Eddie Barners (The Scotsman) reports:Speaking to Tribune magazine, the Prime Minister declared that the real issue had not been the danger of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, but the dictator's failure to comply with UN resolutions that demanded he provide full disclosure to weapons inspectors. This, said Brown, was the reason Britain and America were right to send in the troops. Mr Brown's words represent a marked change from the government's main rationale for military action in 2003, when it asked MPs to support invasion. The motion, voted on by MPs, declared first and foremost that the UK should send in troops "to ensure the disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction".The comments ring more than a little hollow since Tony Blair sold the illegal war to England with the claims of WMD (specifically, that Iraq could strike the UK with WMD within 45 minutes). Brown may realize how hollow it sounds and may be attempting to publicly craft his testimony -- to test it out before appearing. He's enough trouble in terms of holding onto power and he really can't afford public ridicule but that's all his current idiotic statements invite. It may not be too late for him to save Labour's election chances by announcing his resignation as Prime Minister. In England, there are many experts on the Inquiry who have followed it and written of it at length. Near the top of anyone's list should be Chris Ames who has covered it for the Guardian (the Inquiry itself -- he's covered the issues for The New Statesman, the Guardian and many others) and who runs Iraq Inquiry Digest. In a post today, he notes:
In the light of Gordon Brown indicating (as in this piece yesterday) that he intends to tell the Inquiry that it was "Saddam Hussein's failure to comply with international demands on disclosure that persuaded him that action was necessary", I think it will be necessary to analyse this position on the basis of clear evidence.
[. . .]
This, admittedly, is a brief and simplistic pen-portrait of the situation. I have to admit that these issues are by no means my strong point. So, as I say, this is an open invitation to readers and contributors to provide information as to the extent to which Iraq complied or failed to comply with UNSCR 1441. I would particularly welcome contributions from readers and contributors who believe that there was significant non-compliance and can point to it. My intention would be to make the issue the subject of a new question page.
Again, Chris Ames would be at the top of any list of experts on this topic. Others wouldn't be and for those who have e-mailed since mid-week, yes, Ava and I will be covering that dabbler at Third.
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Reuters reports a Kirkuk roadside bombing injured one person and, dropping back to last night.
Shootings?
Reuters reports 1 police officer shot dead in Tal Afar and, dropping back to last night, 1 man shot dead in Mosul.
The violence continues because the Iraq War continues -- albiet under 'new management' (Barack Obama) and apparently with a new name. Last night Jake Tapper (ABC News) broke the story that the Iraq War will drop Operation Iraqi Freedom and go by the name Operation New Dawn. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wrote a memo to CENTCOM's Gen David Petraeus and copied it to Adm Mike Mullen, the Chair of the Joint-Chiefs. [PDF format warning] ABC has posted the memo:MEMORANDUM FOR THE COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND SUBJECT: Request to Change the Name of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM to Operation NEW DAWN The requested operation name change is approved to take effect 1 September 2010, coinciding with the change of mission for U.S. forces in Iraq. Aligning the name change with the change of mission sends a strong signal that Operation IRAQI FREEDOM has ended and our forces are operating under a new mission. It also presents opportunities to synchronize strategic communication initiatives, reinforce our commitment to honor the Security Agreement, and recognize our evolving relationship with the Government of Iraq. Jake Tapper notes objection to the name change (or the attempt to pretend something's changed) by Brian Wise speaking on behalf of Military Families United. He also notes that "Operation New Dawn" was used for the fall 2004 assault on Falluja. Greg Jaffe (Washington Post) adds, "Since U.S. forces charged across the Kuwaiti border toward Baghdad in 2003, the war has been known as Operation Iraqi Freedom. The new name is scheduled to take effect in September, when U.S. troop levels are supposed to drop to about 50,000." But that wasn't always it's name, now was it? It was Operation Iraqi Liberation at first. Then it became a joke on the White House because the acronym for Operation Iraqi Liberation is "OIL."That name was used. For those who doubt it, here's the opening statement of the White House press briefing on March 23, 2003 by Ari Fleischer. MR. FLEISCHER: Good afternoon. Let me give you a report on the President's day. The President this morning has spoken with three foreign leaders. He began with Prime Minister Blair, where the two discussed the ongoing aspects of Operation Iraqi liberation. The President also spoke with President Putin to discuss the situation involving Iraq. They discussed cooperation on humanitarian issues. They both reiterated their strong support for the U.S.-Russia partnership, and agreed to continue, despite the differences that the two have over Iraq. And the two also discussed the United States' concerns, which President Bush discussed, involving prohibited hardware that has been transferred from Russian companies to Iraq. Following the call, the President also spoke with Prime Minister Aznar of Spain. All the name change is another wave of Operation Happy Talk. Since the illegal war began, the ones running it have tried to trick you -- usually with the help of a very compliant press.There is no peace in Iraq but at a time when US reporters seem unable or unwilling to write about the upcoming elections (we'll come back to that), they could be exploring other topics. For example, David Macary (CounterPunch) explores unionizing in Iraq:
Approximately 70-percent of the Iraqi economy is state-owned. And because it wasn't until recently that it even became legal to unionize public sector workers, the overwhelming majority of the workforce still remains non-union (as it is in the U.S.). It will be an uphill battle tapping into that sector. Still, even with those obstacles facing them, Iraq's unions are on the ascendancy.
The original IFTU, formed in May of 2003, was and remains affiliated with the Iraqi Communist Party (founded in 1934), and under its new name the GFIW is the only "officially recognized" labor group in the country. The other two organizations are the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) and the Federation of Oil Unions in Iraq (FOUI)--more or less competitors of the GFIW. All three federations have ties with the Iraqi Communist Party.
The tendency to view Iraq (or any Moslem country, for that matter) as a religious-cultural monolith is set on its head by the presence of an active communist party. Yet, given communism's ideological underpinnings (i.e., atheistic dialectical materialism), the notion of doctrinaire Iraqi Marxists capering in the desert with twitchy Islamic fundamentalists is stubbornly counterintuitive.
But counterintuitive or not, it's true. Secular Iraq has had a significant communist influence since the 1940s, manifested by peasant uprisings, organizing drives, and the progressive leadership of the ultra-nationalist but "benign autocrat," Abdul Karim Qasim, who, in 1958, abolished the monarchy and became Iraq's first prime minister. One of Qasim's first acts was repealing the official ban on the communist party. Had Qasim not been overthrown by the Baathists, there's no telling how strong labor could have become.
And we're back to elections. I don't think it was in the snapshot yesterday but I'm dictating this quickly and three e-mails swear it was. (I believe I wrote it in an entry I typed, not yesterday's snapshot.) I had written something to the effect of the US had walked away from the elections. That seems a puzzler to some. Elections will be held in two weeks and where is the US Ambassador to Iraq? Helping in any way in Iraq? No. He's in the US. That doesn't strike you as strange? Really? Joe Biden flew in and did what he could and the push back against it was too extreme and there's the fact that Hill's not qualified for his job. So the US is walking away from the elections and saying things like, 'It's fine now.' No, it's not fine. And that will probably become very clear in the battle that follows the election and if French 'gossip'/intelligence is correct, that's when Nouri learns that buddy and pal Ahmed Chalabi cut a deal to become the next Prime Minister -- a deal that Nouri's 'friends' in Tehran not only support but helped orchestrate. If French 'gossip'/intelligence is correct.
Back to England, Danny Fitzimons is an Iraq War veteran and suffers from PTSD. In August 2009, he went back to Iraq as an employee of AmrourGroup Inc and is charged in the August 9th shooting deaths of Darren Hoare (Australian contractor), and Paul McGuigan (British contractor) and in the wounding of Iraqi Arkhan Madhi. BBC News reports that his father and step-mother continue to work on getting Danny's trial move to the United Kingdom and quotes Liz Fitsimons stating, "Imagine if it was your son or brother who was facing a death penalty. We are setting our hopes on Danny getting a fair trial, a sentence and he is brought back here." AP reports he was in an Iraqi court yesterday and informed that he needed to appear again April 7th. (To be clear, Danny is being held in an Iraqi prison. He's not wandering through the Green Zone.) Yesterday, Amnesty International issued the following:Responding to news that Danny Fitzsimons' trial on murder charges in Iraq has been delayed until April, Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:"We've always said that it's right that private military and security contractors are held fully responsible for any alleged wrongdoing when they're working in places like Iraq, but we're seriously concerned about this case."Iraq has a dreadful record of unfair capital trials and there is a real danger of Danny Fitzsimons being sentenced to death after a shoddy judicial process."At the very least we want to see the Iraqi authorities ruling out capital punishment in his case."Iraq is one of the biggest users of the death penalty in the world and Amnesty recently revealed that Iraq is preparing to execute approximately 900 prisoners, including 17 women.The 900-plus prisoners have exhausted all their appeals and their death sentences are said to have been ratified by the Presidential Council, meaning that they could be executed at any time. The condemned prisoners have been convicted of offences such as murder and kidnapping, but many are thought to have been sentenced after unfair trials.There is a petition on Facebook calling for Danny to be tried in the United Kingdom and not in England. Reprieve is raising funds for Danny's defense.
TV notes. NOW on PBS begins airing Friday on most PBS stations (check local listings):
From the raucous tea party rallies to the painful sacrifices familiesare making behind closed doors, voter angst and anger are sweeping thecountry like a storm. Directly in its path: the 2010 midterm elections.On February 19 at 8:30 pm (check local listings), NOW examines thestrong impact this groundswell has already had on electoral politics,and what we can expect in November. Our investigation uncovers whatmotivates people who've come together under the tea party banner, and how a larger dissatisfaction among voters spells trouble for incumbentsin both parties, some of whom have decided to avert the storm by leaving Congress altogether.Staying with TV notes, Washington Week begins airing on many PBS stations tonight (and throughout the weekend, check local listings) and joining Gwen around the table this week are Gloria Borger (CNN), Jackie Calmes (New York Times), Eamon Javers (Politico) and Alexis Simendinger (National Journal). Two things on Washington Week, first a PBS friend asked me to note that the website has been redesigned again and that they will be featuring many moments of past moments where the show weighed in on historic moments. (Ronald Reagan being sworn in -- the roundtable on that -- is currently offered.) So be sure to check out the website and it's new look and design (and remember the new show won't be posted online until Monday afternoon -- however, if you podcast, you will be able to download it no later than Saturday). Second, look at the line up. It would be great to say that they've had three female guests and one male guest many times before. They haven't. They have, however, had three male to one female. I've repeatedly stated that the chat & chew shows book like 'hot' radio programmed well into the 80s -- limiting women. (As late as 1985, Whitney Houston and other women suffered because many radio stations refused to play two women in a row. They'd play whole blocks of songs with male vocals but they just knew, JUST KNEW, two women in a row would run off listeners. Turns out it wasn't the listeners that were running scared, it was the programmers.) Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Bernadine Healy, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Nicole Kurakowa and Irene Natividad to discuss the week's events on PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes:
Blackwater 61"Blackwater 61" is the call sign of a plane flown by the embattled government contractor Blackwater that crashed into a mountain in Afghanistan killing all onboard. The widow of one of the soldiers killed - a pilot herself - says the firm was negligent in the way it operated the flight. Steve Kroft reports.
The Bloom BoxLarge corporations in California have been secretly testing a new device that can generate power on the spot, without being connected to the electric grid. They're saying it's efficient, clean, and saves them money. Will we have one in every home someday? Lesley Stahl reports.
Ground ZeroIt's been eight years since the attack on the World Trade Center and billions of dollars have been spent, yet none of the promised buildings and memorial has been completed in what its developer calls "a national disgrace." Scott Pelley reports. | Watch Video
60 Minutes, Sunday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Lastly, and sorry that it's "lastly," Trina's "Operation Bottom Dollar" Wednesday reported on the FTA news conference Jess gave a heads up to with "Consumer scams (Jess)" on Sunday.
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