Answering the e-mails

Hump day, hump day.  I thought I'd grab some e-mails.

First though, Bob Woodward being threatened by the White House?  Barack should be ashamed.  He should be demanding to know who threatened Woodward and he should be firing the person.

How very sad.

But not surprising.  Elaine and C.I. have a very good friend who's a TV news producer who has been saying that the White House was too rude to the media and that second term was going to be about that coming out.  He also predicts that a scandal will leak that will lead to calls for impeachment. 

But let's get to the e-mails. 

So what cereal do I eat?  A reader said it's probably Lucky Charms.

If that's because I'm Irish, good guess.

I used to love them when I was little.

I'd sit in front of the TV on Saturday morning with the box (my parents would still be asleep, my siblings would get the box to shut me up) and I'd dig in and pull out the marshmellows and just eat those.  Then to avoid getting in trouble, I'd pour the rest of the cereal in a bowl and give it to my dog. :D

But these days I'm a Special K or All-Bran by Kellogs type eater.

Second e-mail: What is the best part about blogging?

When I hit "Publish."

:D

Some days there's just nothing.  Nothing grabs me.  Nothing says, "Write about me!"  And I just don't have anything to say.

Those are rough.

But that's not too often.  But on good or bad days, the best moment is when I hit "Publish."  Except on Saturday, it means I'm about to go to bed.  So I've finished the day and done the last thing I needed to.  My check list is complete.

What do I read?

I don't read anything for me these days.

I either read to my daughter or I read with my daughter.

That's really it.

I like reading but, like everybody else, my time is limited.  So when I am reading, it's with my daughter (either reading to her or we go through and take turns reading it outloud).

Check back with me in a few more years.

What music do I like these days?

Fortunately, she's not into kid's music.

She is into One Direction!  :D

She loves "Kiss Me."

She plays that over and over.  I blame C.I. for that.  She got her the CD.  :D

That's fine.  I don't mind that song.  Oh, that song.  Do you hear the theme to the old Banana Splits TV show in it?  I do and I thought I was so clever.  C.I. said, "Yes, but do you hear Pete Townsend?"  I didn't.  She had to sing it to me for me to hear it in the song.

But my daughter will listen to other things too.  She's big on Carly Simon's Anticipation album.  She likes it if it's acoustic.  So we listen to a lot of that stuff -- Elaine and I -- because it's something we can share as a family.

And she can play part of "Anticipation" on the guitar.  C.I.'s taught her the chords for the verse and the strumming.  I need to try to find her a little guitar because she's using an adult guitar and she's so little but she loves playing that.  (She gets the chorus next time C.I.'s through -- which is Friday.)

What is my ideal day?

Okay, it would have 36 hours.  That way I could sleep at least 8 hours.  So I wake up and the sun's out and it's nice and warm.  It's either a Saturday or a no-work holiday.

So we eat breakfast.  Slowly.  No rushing.

Then we do a little cleaning.  (We're doing that with our daughter, Elaine and I, doing cleaning each morning to try to make it a habit for her as she grows up.)  And then we can go to the park and play.  Then grab something to eat and decide if we want to go to a museum (our daughter loves museums -- she'll stare at paintings for hours) or to a movie.

And then we'll walk around the neighborhood.  And then go home and relax for a while.  Play some board games.  Figure out what to do for dinner and just kick back.

That would be the best day to me.

What show do I miss the most that I've written about?

I didn't think I'd like 24.  I watched the last year.  That's when I came on board and mainly just to have something to blog about here.  That last year was pretty cool.  Then there's Fringe which just went off so I'm not sure if I miss it the most or if it's just because it was so recent.

I'm going to go with Chuck.  No show disappointed me more but I do miss it. 

Okay, that's going to be it for the e-mails.




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

 

Wednesday, February 27, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, Bradley Manning was the leak to WikiLeaks (he tells the court in a filing), Nouri supposedly has arrest warrants ready to go on various politicians (political rivals), Fright Night was last night in Baghdad as Nouri and others freaked out over a sit-in outside the Green Zone, Senator Patty Murray earns a well deserved honor, and more.

Dan Murphy (Christian Science Monitor) reports on a US military court filing in the case of Bradley Manning, specifically that Bradley stated in the defense filing that he passed material to WikiLeaks with the intent to "spark a domestic debate on the role of our military and foreign policy in general."  What are we talking about?



Monday April 5, 2010, WikiLeaks released US military video of a July 12, 2007 assault in Iraq. 12 people were killed in the assault including two Reuters journalists Namie Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh. Monday June 7, 2010, the US military announced that they had arrested Bradley Manning and he stood accused of being the leaker of the video. Leila Fadel (Washington Post) reported in August 2010 that Manning had been charged -- "two charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The first encompasses four counts of violating Army regulations by transferring classified information to his personal computer between November and May and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system. The second comprises eight counts of violating federal laws governing the handling of classified information." In March, 2011, David S. Cloud (Los Angeles Times) reported that the military has added 22 additional counts to the charges including one that could be seen as "aiding the enemy" which could result in the death penalty if convicted. The Article 32 hearing took place in December. At the start of this year, there was an Article 32 hearing and, February 3rd, it was announced that the government would be moving forward with a court-martial. Bradley has yet to enter a plea. The court-martial was supposed to begin before the November 2012 election but it was postponed until after the election so that Barack wouldn't have to run on a record of his actual actions.  Independent.ie adds, "A court martial is set to be held in June at Ford Meade in Maryland, with supporters treating him as a hero, but opponents describing him as a traitor."

So Bradley has admitted in court filings that he passed on papers; however, he has not entered a plea on the major charges. Murphy explains:

Private Manning's guilty pleas, however, are not to the crimes he's been charged with and will not effect the prosecutions ongoing case. They're to lesser offenses, and will have no impact on whether he's convicted on the more serious charges sought by Army prosecutors. So why do it? Manning, who has only been allowed to speak during the pretrial process once before and who has been kept largely isolated from the press, friends, and supporters during his over 1,000 days in detention since his arrest in Iraq on May 28, 2010, wants to expand on the political motives that moved him to commit his acts.

Medina Roshan (Reuters) adds that Bradley "is expected to take the witness stand on Thursday, when he will read aloud from a 35-page statement defending himself in the espionage case."  The Canton Daily Ledger reports on the statement as well:

The statement was written by Manning in person and hand-typed by him. Discussion in court indicated that in it he makes a declaration of the motives that led him to want to pass information to WikiLeaks – making the account a possibly seminal document.
Lind said that she would decide overnight whether to allow Manning to read out the document in court on Thursday. She insisted that the statement had to have the soldier's signature erased so that it would not be a sworn document – following prosecution protests that they would not be able to cross-examine him on the content of his speech.
- See more at: http://www.cantondailyledger.com/article/20130227/NEWS/130229222/1001/NEWS#sthash.u8JtVxn4.dpuf

The statement was written by Manning in person and hand-typed by him.  Discussion in court indicated that in it he makes a declaration of the motives that led him to want to pass information to WikiLeaks -- making the account a possibly seminal document.
Lind said that she would decide overnight whether to allow Manning to read out the document in court on Thursday.  She insisted that the statement had to have the soldier's signature erased so that it would not be a sworn document -- following prosecution protests that they would not be able to cross-examine him on the content of his speech.

The statement was written by Manning in person and hand-typed by him. Discussion in court indicated that in it he makes a declaration of the motives that led him to want to pass information to WikiLeaks – making the account a possibly seminal document.
Lind said that she would decide overnight whether to allow Manning to read out the document in court on Thursday. She insisted that the statement had to have the soldier's signature erased so that it would not be a sworn document – following prosecution protests that they would not be able to cross-examine him on the content of his speech.
- See more at: http://www.cantondailyledger.com/article/20130227/NEWS/130229222/1001/NEWS#sthash.u8JtVxn4.dpuf

Lind is Col Denise Lind who will be presiding over the court-martial.   Ben Nuckols (AP) notes that a small number of (84) of court documents were released today.  Ed Pilkington (Guardian) adds, "The 84 documents released by the army include court rulings on defence and government motions, and orders that set the scheduling of the trial that is currently earmarked to begin on 3 June. But the batch constitutes only a tiny portion of the huge mountain of paperwork that has already been generated in the proceedings, including some 500 documents stretching to 30,000 pages."   Adam Klasfeld (Courthouse News) reports that "a prosecutor asked the court to close the public from about a third of the upcoming" court-martial.  Klasfeld reports Maj Ashden Fein told Lind that "very little" would be kept from the public, elaborating it would be "no more than 30%" to which Lind replied, "The government considered 30% very little?"

So right now, where do things stand for Bradley?  Julie Tate (Washington Post) offers this take, "Manning would face 20 years in prison if he pleads guilty, as anticipated, to unauthorized possession of classified records, videos and documents and willful communication of those to an unauthorized person. After that, Manning would still face 12 other charges in the case, including aiding the enemy and violation of the espionage act."


The National Iraqi News Agency reports that the National Alliance (Shi'ite slate of various political slates and parties) announced today, via MP Haitham al-Jubouri, that "The issue of replacing Maliki is unlikely ever within the Iraqi National Alliance and what is being addressed today about scenarios to extend the demonstrations in all the cities of Iraq to join the demonstrators in Baghdad to pressure on the government to get the prime minister out is impossible."  That doesn't help the protesters feel heard.

Since December, Iraq has seen ongoing protests.  They want a government that's responsive.  In many ways, the protests are an echo of the ones from 2011 -- the ones Nouri derailed by attacking (physically) the protesters and also be swearing that if the people just gave him 100 days, he'd respond to the protesters demands.  He took the 100 days and refused to respond.  The disappeared were always a concern to the protesters. In 2011 and currently, it's been one of the ethical grounds from which the protesters argue for change.  A difference between then and now, however, is that now the Iraqi people have learned that women and girls are being tortured and raped in Iraqi prisons and detention centers.  This is among the reasons that they feel that if change cannot come to Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki needs to go.  And yet today the National Alliance declares that will not happen?  It's statements  like that which fuel the protesters belief that they are not being listened by the government.

No dobut, Nouri's listening, probably with an electronic tap on your cell phone.  This morning,  National Iraq News Agency was reporting:

The MP, of the state law coalition, Sadiq al-Labban revealed that "the government would issue arrest warrants against those who instigated and participated in fueling sectarian strife through exploiting the demonstrations to split the Iraqi National Front, noting that among these names, the Finance Minister Rafie al-Issawi. 


This is apparently  another case of Nouri's State of Law political slate being unable to control themselves in public.  In this case, al-Labban has revealed something in existence that Nouri wasn't wanting known just yet.

Rafie al-Issawi is a member of Iraqiya, the political slate that came in first in the March 2010 elections (beating Nouri's State of Law).  He is also Sunni.  Nouri's reputation is one for fighting dirty against political opponents.  If the warrants are real, expect things in Iraq to get a lot worse a lot quicker than many anticipated.  If the talk of warrants if false, al-Labban just made some very uninformed remarks that will have huge repercussions.

NINA quotes Iraqiya MP Wissal Saleem stating:

The statements of the State of Law coalition's MPs about arrest warrants against the leader of the Iraqiya, Finance Minister Rafie al-Issawi is dangerous [and]  if they have court orders issued by their courts, this is another subject.  We do not know the basis that the state of law coalition's MP is authorized to talk about an arrest warrant while the judiciary did not say anything about it, indicating that the goal is to create new crises after failing of the Government.   These remarks will lead to a backlash, especially at this critical juncture, through which the Iraqi state is passing.


Distrust, anger and hostility are just some of the feelings State of Law has created with the comments about arrest warrants.  Look for this Friday's protests to be larger than last week's which saw over 3 million people participate -- 10% of the Iraqi population.

Nouri's not responding to the needs of the protesters.  So others are having to step in to try to calm the crisis.   Martin Kobler is the Special Envoy to Iraq of the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.  National Iraqi News Agency reports that Kobler met today with the Governor of Kirkuk Najimalddin Omar Karim and he went on to meet with representatives of the Kirkuk demonstrators, including those who've been holding a sit-in.


Also making the rounds to discuss the political situation has been US Ambassador to Iraq Robert Beecroft.  Ahlul Bayt News Agency reports he met yesterday with Ammar al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, and that the two discussed the ongoing political crisis.  All Iraq News quotes from a statement issued by al-Hakim's office which includes, "For his part, the US Ambassador praised Hakim's efforts to resolve the political crisis in Iraq, appreciating his calls for all the politicians to follow dialogue and calmness in coping with the crises."  In addition, Al Mada reports that the US and Iraqi governments -- specifically the US Treasury Dept's Deputy Secretary David Cohen who is meeting with Iraqi officials in Baghdad -- are discussing ways to disrupt the flow of terrorist financing in Iraq.

Meanwhile Alsumaria reports that Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc has accused Nouri al-Maliki of not applying justice fairly with regards to the Justice and Accountability law.  Making their statement in a Parliament press conference today, they pointed to Nouri's ally Medhat al-Mahmoud who was Chief Justice of the federal judiciary.  When he was removed from his position because the Accountability and Justice Commission found him to have ties to Ba'athists, Nouri did not abide by the decision and insisted that al-Mahmoud remained a judge and remained off-limits from prosecution.  Falah Shanshal was the head of the Justice and Accountability Commission at that time and Nouri fired him a week after the decision on al-Mahmoud. Moqtada's bloc agrees with Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi, who reinstated Shanshal on the Justice and Accountability Commission -- that commission, they argue, is overseen by Parliament and Nouri has no control over it.  Despite having no control over it, he has stepped into their dealings the minute he didn't like a decision.  This is why the Sadr bloc accuses him of not applying the law fairly.


Alsumaria reports in the press conference today they also addressed the issue of the budget.  This is the 2013 budget which, yes, should have been passed before 2013 started.  Alsumaria reported yesterday that supporters of cleric and movement leader  Moqtada al-Sadr launched a sit-in outside the Green Zone to get the budget passed.  This followed Monday's announcement that the vote on the 2013 budget was again postponed.  Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reported of the sit-in, "Demonstrators are demanding movement on the $115 billion budget that was approved by Iraq's Cabinet in October. Parliament still needs to pass the draft legislation, and leaders of key political parties are struggling to reach an agreement."  AFP noted, "It was not immediately clear if the additional security measures, which the ministry official said have caused heavy traffic jams across the city, were aimed at preventing people from joining the protests, or guarding them against attack."  NINA observes, "It is noteworthy that the vote on the budget in the House of Representatives has seen a series of delays because of disagreements among the blocs and lack of approval." Ayad al-Tamimi (Al Mada) reports the sit-in resulted in increased measures including keeping journalists out of the Parliament building which meant missed out on the 'big' press conference staged by Nouri's State of Law.  A police officer told a reporter who had intended to cover the press conference that he was under orders to shoot anyone -- including a journalist -- who attempted to enter the building.  Kitabat reports that the sit-in lasted through the night and frightened authorities who attempted to pressure Moqtada to ask his followers to end the sit-in.  Citing an unnamed government source, Kitabat states the Green Zone administrators and the Office of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces (Nouri) were scared on "fright night" (their term) and forces in the Green Zone were put on maximum alert. The Iraq Times notes that today Moqtada al-Sadr issued a statement decrying the government's (over)reaction to peaceful protesters protesting the fact that Parliament still had not passed the 2013 budget.

And it is ridiculous the way the government reacted.  But Nouri's reactions are always ridiculous.  At the heart of everything he does is the knowledge that he is an illegitimate ruler.  He was not the choice of the Iraqi Parliament.  The Bush White House vetoed the Parliament's choice and that's how Nouri became prime minister in 2006.  In 2010, voters showed their support for Iraqiya.  Nouri only got a second term because the Barack White House backed him and came up with the idea of using a contract -- the US-brokered Erbil Agreement -- to 'grant' Nouri a second term as prime minister since the Constitution did not allow for him to have a second term as a result of the votes.  When you are an illegitimate leader, you always fear the public. 



In Kirkuk today, All Iraq News reports, a Turkman was kidnapped and taken from his home.   Kidnappings have long been a staple of the landscape of violence in post-invasion Iraq.  Now, as the month of February, winds down, the number of people killed during a month is yet again in the triple digits.  Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count counts 313 violent deaths in Iraq this month.  That leaves two more days for them to count (today and tomorrow).  And violence is already being reported today. All Iraq News reports that the Mosul Municipality Department's head of Human Resources, Nadhim Khalaf, was shot dead in front of his home and a Baghdad grocery bombing left two people injured.  In addition, they note that a missile has targeted a police station in south Kirkuk.  National Iraq News Agency notes that the beheaded corpse of a 15-year-old male was discovered in Falluja, and, late last night, a stun grenade was tossed at the Basra home of attorney Tariq Jaber.  Also late last night, Alsumaria reports that a person sitting in Baghdad's Cafe Hurriya was shot dead by unknown assailants.  Alsumaria also says the corpse discovered in Falluja was that of a 17-year-old male.


 All Iraq News reports that an announcement by the Ministry of Trade declared there would be a referendum on whether or not to continue to provide flour via ration cards or to instead supply the citizens with money they could spend on flour (or whatever).  The rations program began in 1995 and has been repeatedly slashed since the start of the Iraq War at the repeated request of the US government which frowns upon aid to the poor and struggling. Attempts to outright kill the program have been repeatedly met with a strong pushback from Iraqis so the US pushed for incremental cuts until there is little left.By 2010, the packages only offered sugar, rice, flour, cooking oil and milk. Milk for some, of course. Milk for all was cut sometime ago. Gone are the days of tomato paste, tea, chicken, soap, beans, detergent, cheese, etc. In a population of approximately 30 million (US government estimates vary between 26 million and 28 million -- of course, Nouri 'forgot' to conduct the census he was supposed to do in 2007), over eight million Iraqis are dependent upon the program to meet basic dietary needs as a result of the extreme poverty in Iraq.  Dropping back to the November 12th snapshot:

Something only slightly less than confusion surrounds the food-ration card system. Last Tuesday, Nouri's spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh announced the cancellation of the program. There was a huge pushback that grew and grew -- from politicians, from clerics, from the people until Friday when it really couldn't be ignored. The program has been in place since 1991 meaning that it is all over half of Iraqis know (Iraq has a very young population, the median age has now risen to 21). It allowed Iraqis to get basic staples such as flour sugar, rice, etc. As the clerics, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, noted, this move would hurt the people who are already struggling economically. It was also an idiotic political move to make. In April, provinicial elections will be held. Nouri's already in campaign mode and this very unpopular move did not help him there. The smartest thing politically would have been to go into a full retreat on the proposal and announce that you had heard the people, to flatter them and make it appear you listened.

 

 

Saturday, there was a moment when it looked like Nouri might grasp that. All Iraq News reported the Cabinet of Ministers will hold an emergency meeting on the issue. Nouri's political slate is State of Law, his political party is Dawa. How unpopular is the move to cancel the food-ration program? Alsumaria reported Dawa announced that they had nothing to do with the decision and they're also tried to insist at the same time that it wasn't Nouri's decision. Kurdistan Alliance MP Sharif Soliman told All Iraq News that those responsible for the decision are trying to make up excuses and push the blame elsewhere. The Kurdistan Alliance's Mohsen Saadoun told Alsumaria that Nouri is responsible for this decision.

 

 

Today Alsumaria reports that the food program is not getting the axe. Instead, the people will be able to decide if they would like to remain on the existing system or receive cash. When you tell people they can remain on the ration card system or they can get cash, when you tell that to people in a bad economy with many bills, they will be tempted to go for the cash. The ration card is the better system. But there are bills owed that have to be paid and there is the hope in people that things have to get better. So they will tell themselves that they can make it right now with the cash and that, in a few months or a year, fate will provide and things will be better. In the meantime, they've been moved off the progam and the prices -- as Sistani, politicans and the people have noted -- will sky rocket. So the money will be of little use to them then.

But they won't be able to go back on the ration card system. The point is to dismantle the system. That was what the US government tried to do immediately after the invasion. It's what Nouri and others have done with the constant reduction of what rations the cards provided. All Iraq News notes the Parliament has voted to cancel the decision to replace the cards with cash but it's not clear whether the Cabinet's emergency meeting and new decision overrides that move by the Parliament.  Khalid al-Ansary and Nayla Razzouk (Bloomberg News) covers it in a brief English language story.


And now they're getting ready to vote.  But this was a dumb move, always.  It was dumb politically and it was dumb when it comes to the health of the Iraqi people.  Now Nouri's inviting people to spend a year on this program . . . before parliamentary elections.  That's a year to grow hostile should you drop flour to receive money. 


Suadad al-Salhy and Isabel Coles (Reuters) report that Iraqi Transportation Minister Hadi al-Amiri declared today that Turkey and Qatar supporting the "Syrian insurgents is tantamount to a declaration of war against Iraq." From November 26, 2011:


And Nouri is so divisive that the Badr Organization (headed by Hadi al-Amiri) is breaking with the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (headed by Ammar al-Hakim). Al Rafidyan reports that move is yet another sign of the crisis facing the National Alliance -- a loose grouping of Shi'ites including State of Law, the Sadr bloc and others -- which backed Nouri for prime minister. By backing Nouri, Hadi al-Amiri was given the portfolio for the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Communication.

The Badr Organization was previously the Badr Brigade which came to be in 1982 in Iran and was the armed wing and they spread into Iraq in April 2003. Hadi al-Amiri has gone public with his issues with the Islamic Supreme Council including that Ammar al-Hakim was selected to fill the post created when Ammar's father passed away. al-Amiri has called that moment when the seeds of division began to take root and decried the leaders who voted Ammar al-Hakim in for, in his opinion, choosing a successor not based on wisdom but to keep the control within the al-Hakim family.

Hadi appears to be working with Nouri again.  Nouri made similar points in an AP interview with Adam Schreck and Qassim Abdul-Zahra: "Nouri al-Maliki stopped short of voicing outright support for Syrian President Bashar Assad's embattled regime. But his comments in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press marked one of his strongest warnings yet about the turmoil that the collapse of the Syrian government could create."






"Together there's no challenge we can't meet on behalf of our veterans," declared Veterans Affairs Committee Jeff Miller declared yesterday at a hearing where members of Congress heard from Disabled Veterans of America.  Chair Bernie Sanders offered, "It is unacceptable that veterans wait months and months and years and years to get those claims adjudicated.  That is an issue we've got to work on and that we've got to solve."

Two Chairs?  Yes, not a typo.  Yesterday the House Veterans Affairs Committee and the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee held a joint-hearing.  House Veterans Affairs Committee Chair is Jeff Miller, Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chair is Bernie Sanders.

Chair Sanders is the new Chair of the Committee.   Everybody finds their own way as Chair and Ranking Member.  I love Daniel Akaka, he's a great senator.  But I criticized him when he was in the post.  Chair Miller got raked over the coals by me for months.  And then, when he was doing a strong job, the raking was gone and I thought we were all aware that was due to the stronger job but a friend asked me if I hadn't noticed how Miller had adjusted so it obviously wasn't clear so there's a snapshot where I make a point to note that he didn't just improve, he grew into his role and was doing a strong job.  Senator Patty Murray? 

She's the exception.  Over a year before she became Chair, we were advocating for her to be the Chair here.  That was because she had the energy, she had the skills and she had the determination.  She's the rare person who takes over as Chair and hits the ground running.  I don't believe we ever had a need to criticize her negatively as Chair.  By the same token, I am sure she did not get the praise others would have gotten for the same work.  In the coverage of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearings, we advocated for her to be the Chair and when she became the Chair, she really did the amazing job that most knew she was capable of.  And because we expected her to do such a great job, we were able to focus on what she was doing and she probably got short changed in terms of praise here as a result.  So my apologies for that.  She was a great Chair and I wish she was still Chair.  (She now Chairs the Senate Budget Committee and she remains on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.)

I say all of that to note that things just aren't fair.  Miller's performance got critiques that Murray's never did.  I paid attention to Miller's performance because I found it lacking.  I didn't even note Murray's performance because it was so professional -- from day one as Chair -- that we were able to instead focus on what happened in the hearings.  And let's put in an honor that's been bestowed upon Senator Murray.  Her office issued the following today:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
CONTACT: Murray Press Office
(202) 224-2834

Senator Murray Honored by Military Order of the Purple Heart
Recognized for leadership and distinguished service to our nation's veterans

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) was presented the Inspirational Leadership Award by the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH) during a private ceremony in her Capitol Hill offices. MOPH National Commander Bruce McKenty presented this year’s award to Senator Murray which read:

“Since being elected to the Senate in 1992, Senator Patty Murray has consistently served as an advocate for veterans, military members and their families.

“Having been raised in the family of a disabled World War II veteran, she came to the Senate fully understanding the sacrifices, as well as the physical and emotional scars the veterans bring home with them.

“Senator Murray was the first female Senator to serve on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee and serves as its Chair in the 112^th Congress. She has consistently been a tireless advocate for all veterans.

“She led the battle for increased funding for veterans’ healthcare and increased benefits, and profoundly recognized the importance of specialized programs for veterans suffering from TBI and PTSD.

“Senator Murray continues to support education and employment opportunities, better health care for women veterans and a myriad of other programs that she believes America owes its veterans.

“Senator Murray’s service reflects great credit upon herself, the United States Senate and the United States of America.”

The organization now known as the "Military Order of the Purple Heart of the U.S.A. Inc.," was formed in 1932 for the protection and mutual interest of all who have received the decoration. Chartered by the Congress, The MOPH is unique among Veteran Service Organizations in that all its members were wounded in combat. For this sacrifice, they were awarded the Purple Heart Medal.

Click here to download high resolution photo.

###

Meghan Roh

Press Secretary | New Media Director

Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray

Mobile: (202) 365-1235

Office: (202) 224-2834

@PattyMurray | @SenateBudget | @MegRoh

Get Updates from Senator Murray

Senator Patty Murray's office

 

Senator Murray's YouTube Channel

 

Senator Murray's Press Office Twitter Account

 

RSS Feed for Senator Murray's office



So congratulations to Senator Murray on a well deserved honor.

As I stated earlier, Chair Jeff Miller grew stronger and stronger and is a very good Chair today.  Bernie Sanders may grow stronger and stronger.  But this was his first hearing as Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

In these hearings, the joint-hearings where they hear from one service group, you're really just trying to get your message out -- regardless of whether you're providing testimony on behalf of your organization to the Committee or whether you're a member of the Committee addressing the veterans gathered and outlining what you hope to do or assuring what you plan to do.  One of Chair Sanders' big points -- probably his biggest -- was what follows.


Chair Bernie Sanders:  Last point.  How many people in this room know what a chained CPI is? See, everybody up here knows what a Chained CPI is.  We know.  But most people in America don't know.  So on TV tonight, you're going to hear people talking about the need for entitlement reform for a Chained CPI.  What a Chained CPI is a different way of configuring COLAS for Social Security and for disabled veterans.  A Chained CPI would make significant cuts for some 3,000,000 disabled veterans as well as everybody on Social Security.  Now I feel very strongly that (a) the deficit situation is a serious problem, it has to be dealt with but you don't deal with it on the backs of disabled veterans and widows who lost their husbands in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Anyone see any problems?

First up, don't insult you audience.  Did he mean to?  No.   'We all know up here but you don't' doesn't necessarily sound welcoming and was griped about by three veterans I spoke with after the hearing.  Two more veterans were confused by "COLAs."  They knew he didn't mean sodas.  But what did he mean?  COLA is a Cost Of Living Adjustment.  I doubt anyone is now confused reading "Cost Of Living Adjustment."  The three offended were all over fifty.  Not surprising, COLA questions came from two veterans under the age of thirty.  You're going to have a wide audience of veterans and you need, if you're the Chair, to communicate with them.  Anytime they're stopping to ask "Hey, what's COLA?" or "Did he just insult me?" -- that's time they stop listening because your words have distracted them. The point was important to Sanders -- he's one of the strongest advocates for Social Security in the Senate.  But he lost five I spoke to.  This was the first hearing as Chair of the Committee.  I do feel it was a mistake.  It wasn't a mistake that's going to haunt him or even be remembered in a month.  But it did take place and it was remarked on (strongly) by three veterans.  I did share with them a point that's worth noting here.  That section that we quoted, it wasn't being read.  Chair Sanders was speaking off the cuff and trying to get away from the reading aspect of his statements.  I'm not trying to rescue him.  If I were trying to rescue him, I'd be saying, "And he looked nervous, everybody, it was his first time chairing!"  He didn't look nervous.  He looked comfortable in his environment.  It was a mistake -- in that the wording distracted from an important point he wanted to make -- but it wasn't a major one or the end of the world.


I spoke with twelve veterans after the hearing -- two were unimpressed with the entire hearing -- it was the first one they'd attended that was one service organization.  Those really aren't typical hearings.  There's no real questioning and not a panel of witnesses because usually one person speaks for all.  That left ten veterans.  We've already noted five, the other five?  Two were impressed with Miller (though one confused him with Senator John Boozman, he was praising the remarks Miller had made).  Two felt all the members who spoke did a good job.  And one felt House Veterans Affairs Committee Ranking Member Michael Michaud did a great job.  I thought he did as well and he's been slighted the last two times I've covered full House Veterans Affairs Committee hearings because I've wanted to quote him but there were other aspects of the hearing and other representatives we had to grab. 


Ranking Member Mike Michaud:  As you know, the administration has delayed the release of its Fiscal Year 2014 proposal.  While VA programs are spared from the effects of sequestration, it does not mean that veterans will be left unaffected.  Veterans will lose extended unemployment insurance as well as face cuts in the critical TAP program -- just to name a few.  In addition, all of our citizens will face the effects of sequestration at the state and local levels as well.  The VA is at a crossroads.  Many important decisions will need to be made as we look towards the future.  Working with you and the VA, we'll make sure that the choices are both fiscally responsible and in the best interests of our veterans.  I look forward to your testimony today.  Again, thank you and your organization for the years of service that you have given to make sure that veterans issues and their families issues are heard here on the Hill so thank you very much, Commander.



Commander is Larry Polzin and he is the National Commander of Disabled Veterans of America.  There are many ways a veteran can end up being disabled.  They can be harmed while serving, for example.  When we think of that, we may think of the loss of a limb or of emotional or mental wounds.  Hearing issues actually remain a constant even in the most recent wars of Iraq and Afghanistan.  As Manuel Gallegus (CBS News HealthWatch -- link is text and video) reported last May,  "60% of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have damaged hearing" -- with tinnitus being the most common, followed by hearing loss.  We note that regularly because veterans write to the public e-mail account to note the hearing issues and how they often feel that newer and 'hotter' disabilities get attention while hearing issues don't.  One thing that hasn't gotten attention in the last weeks from me is the victims of burn pits.  I'm an idiot.  My apologies for being an idiot.  My plan was to note regularly the upcoming symposium -- it's next week -- and I believe we only noted it twice, the last time near the start of the month.  Disabilities from burn pits are life threatening.  The Congress passed a burn pit registry bill at the very end of the last session and that is great news but there is so much to be done. 

Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York is gearing up to host a symposium on the issue.  This will be their second one, their 2nd Annual Scientific Symposium on Lung Health after Deployment to Iraq & Afghanistan.  The symposium will take place March 4th which isn't that far away.  If you'd like to register to attend, you can click here for the registration info if you're doing it by mail or by fax as well as a registration link if you'd like to register online.  A resource for burn pit issues  is Burn Pits 360

Two key points here.  Friday, March 1st is the last day to register to attend the symposium.  So keep that in mind.  Second, one of the things the Veterans Affairs Committees in both houses have long addressed is rural veterans.  Senator Jon Tester, for example, often notes the rural veterans in his state and how certain computer interaction would benefit them.  If you're a rural veteran or you're no where near Stony Brook, New York, they are offering -- for $50 for veterans or veteran family members -- a live stream of the symposium.  So that may be something that you'll be interested in. 

The Congressional hearing we noted earlier was a joint-hearing of the House and Senate's veterans committees.  Chair Bernie Sanders solos in his first Senate hearing as Chair next month:

COMMITTEE NOTICE

There will be a meeting of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs in SR-418, Russell Senate Office Building, on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, at 10:00 a.m. to conduct a hearing titled "VA Claims Process -- Review of VA's Transformation Efforts."



 
Jeff Johnson
Deputy Clerk/ Systems Administrator
U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
412 Russell Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510 | 202.224.6478





iraq
the christian science monitor
dan murphy
the washington post
julie tate
the guardian
ed pilkington
al mada
national iraqi news agency
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all iraq news
afp
cnn
mohammed tawfeeq

The bad news

Tuesday.  Wish it were Friday.  Cause that's my fun day, to be Bangles about it.  :D


So tired old man Hagel got the Secretary of Defense position today.

Poor enlisted.  He showed no interest in the suicide rate or the rate of assault and rape. 



In more bad news, David G. Savage (LA Times) reports:

No one can sue the government over secret surveillance because, since it's secret, no one can prove his or her calls were intercepted, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, throwing out a constitutional challenge to the government's monitoring of international calls and emails.
The 5-4 decision is the latest of many that have shielded the government's anti-terrorism programs from court challenge, and a striking example of what civil libertarians call the Catch-22 rule that blocks challengers from collecting the evidence they need to proceed.
Over the last decade, the justices or lower court judges have repeatedly killed or quietly ended lawsuits that sought to expose or contest anti-terrorism programs, including secret wiretapping, roundups or arrests of immigrants from the Mideast and drone strikes that kill American citizens abroad.

Is that not the biggest load of crap you ever heard?

We have the worst Supreme Court in history.

We should have known that when they upheld the corporate give-away that is ObamaCare.

Over and over, in various groupings, they work overtime to deny us our rights.

I'm so sick of the Court.

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


 

Tuesday, February 26, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, it must be spring with all the War Hawks fluttering through the air, Moqtada a-Sadr's supporters protest outside the Green Zone, War Criminal Tony Blair lies again, and more.

John Bolton is a form of War Hawk that's known as a Chicken Hawk.  He's called that because he preys upon the young, he feeds off the young.  He was all for sending young Americans to die in Iraq in 2003 and after but when he was young, and the war in Vietnam was going on, Bolton hid in college, law school and the National Guard to avoid serving in Vietnam -- and he infamously declared in 1995, "I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy."  Chicken Hawk.  He preys on the young.

Today, he shows up at the Guardian with a column insisting that loss of US life was minimal and worth it for the Iraq War.  And not content with sounding as crazy as he looks, Bolton goes further 'taking on' five 'myths.'  Here's how this works.  Bolton finds a belief among the people -- such as that Bully Boy Bush lied the country into war -- and he states that belief and then says "WRONG!" and moves on.  He can't prove anything's wrong because he's a nit-wit who never learned how to debate, let alone back up an opinion.  He ends his soggy, weak-minded column insisting, "You heard it here first" but the reality is that you heard, or read, nothing there first because Bolton is incapable of defending his stand.  How did a weak, uniformed individual like John Bolton ever survive moot court?



The Iraq War is illegal.  It was illegal as a whole to begin with because just war theory allows you to defend yourself, it does not allow you to initiate a war of aggression.  Iraq did not attack the United States and, despite all the attempts by the Bush administration to falsely link Iraq with 9-11, there was no connection between Iraq and the people who plotted the attacks of September 11, 2001.  Iraq was not a threat to the United States.  The war was illegal and that's why United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan declared it illegal.  From the United Nations News Centre, September 16, 2004:


Responding to media questions about the Secretary-General's comments in a BBC interview, spokesman Fred Eckhard told a press briefing in New York that in his remarks the Secretary-General had reiterated his well-known position that the military action against Iraq was not in conformity with the UN Charter.
In the interview, Mr. Annan was repeatedly asked whether the war was "illegal." "Yes," he finally said, "I have indicated it is not in conformity with the UN Charter, from our point of view, and from the Charter point of view it was illegal."

Launching a war of aggression, initiating an attack on a country that has not attacked you but that you (at least publicly say) might at some point in the future, is not a legal war.  That was at the heart of Pope John Paul II's strong objection to the Iraq War.  Just war theory does not allow for wars of 'prevention' -- you're not allowed to declare war because a week from now or two or months or years a country might go to war with you.  Just war doesn't accept psychic visions as grounds for war. 

In addition to the illegality of the war itself by every historical and legal concept in existence, there is the fact that many individual War Crimes took place throughout the Iraq War -- whether the pompous John Bolton wants to admit to it or not.  Some of these realities are discussed on this week's Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox when Cindy spoke with Iraq War veteran Ross Caputi and with Dr. Dahlia Wasfi.  Wasfi and Caputi are with The Justice for Fallujah Project.  Excerpt.

Cindy Sheehan:  And you were in the Marines and your unit was involved in that second siege.

Ross Caputi:  Yeah, I was in the Marine Corps.  I was in the 1st Battalion 8th Marines.  It was a regular infantry unit and we were one of the five battalions who were part of the second siege of Falluja.  And what our command told us was that, you know, all the civilians had left the city, the only people who remained in the city were 2,000 hardcore terrorists.

Cindy Sheehan:  Mhh-hmm.

Ross Caputi:  You know, and I accepted that.  I didn't really know otherwise.  I hadn't been paying attention to the media at all.  I was completely uninformed about the context that set the stage for the second siege of Falluja.  So I kind of just accepted that and rolled along with it.  In being trucked into the city, you know, I remember seeing civilians wandering out in the desert -- women and children with sacks on their backs heading for safety.  You know, I kind of at that moment said, "Okay, you know that's what they meant when they said all the civilians left.  They fled for their life out into an inhospitable desert.  And there were moments during the siege where we were kicking in doors and going into people's houses.  And I'd see family photos up on the walls next to bullet marks and bomb blasts in the wall and stuff like that.  And we destroyed an entire city -- a city of 300,000 people.  We destroyed their homes. We bulldozed entire neighborhoods.  We bombed the city into rubble.  The entire city was destroyed after.  So it really -- It really drove the message home for me.  It was just incredible how many lives we ruined because of what we did.  And this was all in the name of "liberation."

 Cindy:  Right.

Ross Caputi:  Our command said that we were liberating the city of Falluja.  It was absolutely absurd.


Cindy Sheehan:   Dahlia, Ross and yourself met and you're married, you're partners, you're partners in the anti-war movement, you're partners in life When Ross was talking about his experience in Falluja, and he said that he hadn't really been paying attention to the media, well I was back in the states and I was paying attention to the media and I didn't really hear anything about civilians being left over in Falluja.  Of course, we all were hearing what Ross was being told and his fellow Marines were being told.  Do you have a comment on the media and the reports that were happening at the time of the second siege of Falluja?

Dahlia Wasfi:  What I remember was it was very comparable to the images that were coming out of shock and awe -- where we just watched the bombardment and the fireballs and pillars of smoke in the city of Baghdad.  I remember -- I remember there was an image on CNN of just basically -- I won't know the correct military term -- I don't know what was flying through the air -- I'll call it missiles but it was the lights of all these missiles that were -- that were aimed at the city of Falluja.  It lit up the sky.  That was the -- That was the mainstream, corporate media in America but I believe that by that time I was following the dispatches of Dahr Jamail.  And I had actually -- I was wanting to go to Iraq at that.  I had been to visit my family in February and March of 2004 and I was -- I was planning to go back as soon as I could because I had such limited time with my family in Basra so I was planning on going back to Iraq in November 2004 but I could only get as far as Jordan because the Marines had closed the main road between Amman, Jordan and Baghdad.  So I was actually sitting in Jordan in November 2004 reading Dahr Jamail's reports of what might be going on in the city because he was not -- he was in the city in the April 2004 siege but not in November.  And it was a very bizarre contrast between sitting in an internet cafe, people drinking coffee and tea and we had electricity and water and reading about just the decimation of a city that was really within miles of where I was so.  And you're absolutely right.  To this day, they'll recall Falluja as an epic battle when this is really --  to get the terminology means so much -- it was really a massacre that took place, that we were responsible for.  It was led by the United States and Great Britain.


Cindy Sheehan: Ross, I was reading at your website and I was reading your report on what happened in Falluja.  And you talk about seeing the White Phosphorus being used.  I think that was the first time I had ever heard of white phosphorus.  And we saw images of people who had unfortunately gotten in the way of that in Falluja.  So can you tell my listeners about this and about what you saw?

Ross Caputi: Yes, this was on the day before they inserted us into the city and they were kind of finishing the air campaign against the city and we were supposed to be trucked into the city on the tail end of that.  And it was an incredible amount of air power that they were dropping on the city.  Everything from like 500 pound bombs to 2,000 pound bombs.  I think I saw cluster bombs because I saw these bombs that kind of -- they looked like fireworks with lots of tiny little flashes and really rapid -- like one after the other.  And I saw the White Phosphorus which is like a giant, white fireball shot out of the sky that kind of drifts down on winds.  It's incredibly inaccurate.  It must have covered a radius like 50 meters and there's no way to aim it.  The wind can take it any which way.

Cindy Sheehan: Uh-huh.

Ross Caputi: And I didn't know this at the time but there were still up to 50,000 civilians living in the city and there were civilians taking refuge all around the outskirts.  So where ever it landed, there was a high probability that it could have -- it could have hurt civilians.  Any kind of indiscriminate means of warfare is a war crime and that's absolutely indiscriminate.



That's reality.  Sadly reality gets bracketed by spin today.  We had John Bolton already but another War Hawk spoke out today.  He had to because he's under assault and desperate to maintain whatever is left of his tawdry image.  Yes, we're referring to Tony Blair who was Prime Minister of England and was ridiculed as Bully Boy Bush's lapdog and poodle in 2003. That was ten years ago so some may have forgotten or never seen George Michael's "Shoot The Dog" -- which features an animated Bully Boy Bush tossing a ball and Tony Blair fetching it while George sings  "good puppy, good puppy, roll on over."


Cherie baby, spliff up
I want to kick back mama
And watch the World Cup with ya baby
Yeah, that's right!
We're getting freaky tonight
Let's have some fun while Tony's stateside
It's gonna be alright
It's gonna be alright
See Tony dancing with Dubya
Don't you want to know why?
-- "Shoot The Dog," written by George Michael, Philip Oakey and Ian Burden, first appears on George's Patience



The song was a hit, charting in over 13 countries.  MTV reported on the song in July 2002 when it was released:

"People are looking at the song in context of an attack on America, as opposed to an attack on Tony Blair," Michael said from his vacation home in France. "And really, my attack is that Tony Blair is not involving the British in this issue. He's perfectly happy staying up to watch the World Cup and enjoying the Jubilee, all things I'm perfectly guilty of, but there's a serious discussion about Iraq which hasn't taken place. We don't know what Saddam Hussein is capable of, the British public has no idea."

And that criticism of Blair is still apt criticism all these years later as Tony Blair demonstrated in his interview with BBC's Kirsty Wark for Newsnight broadcast today.  Excerpt.



Kirsty Wark: Is daily life in Iraq today what you hoped it would be ten years ago?

War Criminal Tony Blair:  No, because for some people, at least in Iraq, it's immensely difficult -- particularly if you're living in Baghdad and around the center of the country.  There are still terrorist activities that are killing people -- killing innocent people for no good reason.  But the country as a whole, obviously, it's economy is growing strongly, it's got huge amounts of oil revenue but, no, there are still big problems.

Kirsty Wark:  A conservative estimate, since 2003, 100,000 civilians have been killed, 179 British soldiers died.  Don't you think that was too high a price?

War Criminal Tony Blair:  Of course the price is very, very high!

Kirsty Wark:  Is it too high?

War Criminal Tony Blair:  But -- Well, think of the price that people paid before Saddam [Hussein] was removed.  Think of -- Think of the Iran-Iraq War in which there were a million casualties [which ended in 1988; 15 years before the US and UK invaded Iraq in 2003], hundreds of thousands of young conscript Iranians were killed, many of them by the use of chemical weapons [chemical weapons provided by the US government].  Chemical weapons attacks on his own people, the Kurds [again, 1988, over 15 years before the start of the Iraq War], people oppressed, deprived of their rights [like Bradley Manning in the US, a prisoner for 1003 days without trial and counting], tortured and killed on a daily basis [like the victims of Barack Obama's Drone War] --

Kirsty Wark: But there are sectarian killings now.

War Criminal Tony Blair:  Exactly.  So what is the answer?  That's what I'm saying to you.  The answer is not to say to people, I'm afraid we should have left Saddam in charge because otherwise these sectarians will come in and try and destabilize the country.  The answer is you get rid of the oppressive dictatorship and then you have a long hard struggle to push these sectarian elements out too.  Look, Iraq --

Kirsty Wark:  Wait -- But getting rid of the oppressive dictatorship was not why you went in.  You only went in for one single reason.

War Criminal Tony Blair:  Of course!  And-uh-umph-uh the reason that we regarded Saddam as a threat has been set out for many, many -- you know -- many, many reports many, many times and we've gone over this a huge amount -- but if you're asking me [. . .]



Really?  The liar thinks he'll get away with that?  He doesn't need to go over his lie that Saddam Hussein was a threat to England?  Because he's done so "many, many -- you know -- many, many" times before?  Well he's used the 1988 examples "many, many -- you know -- many, many" times before as well.  He's happy to trot that crap out yet again but he doesn't like being confronted with his lies.  And he trots that crap out again in the same interview where he insists, "I have long since given up trying to persuade people it was the right decision."



Kirsty Wark:  You wrote in your memoirs that you think of those who died in Iraq every day of your life.  What do you think about?

War Criminal Tony Blair:  Well, of course, you think about them and the loss of life and the -- and the terrible consequence for the families. But in the end, you're elected as a prime minister to take these decisions and the question is supposing I'd taken the opposite decision.  I mean sometimes what happens in politics and uh-uh-uh unfortunately these things get mixed up with allegations of deceit and lying and so on.  But, in the end, some times you come to a decision where whichever choice you take the consequence is difficult and the choice is ugly.  This was one such case.  If we hadn't removed Saddam from power, just think for example what would be happening with these Arab revolutions were continuing now and Saddam who's probably 20 times as bad as [President Bashir] Assad in Syria was trying to suppress an uprising in Iraq.  Think of the consequence of leaving that regime in power.  So when you say, do you think of the loss of life and the trouble there's been since 2003, of course, I do and you'd have to be inhumane not to but think of what would happen if he'd been left there.



First, Nouri al-Maliki is currently oppressing the Iraqi Spring.  His forces shot and killed 11 peaceful protesters.  They have arrested many more on false charges.  The military is used to keep the press away from the protests.  The military is used to spy on the Iraqi people.

At the US State Dept today, the issue of the protests was raised to spokesperson Patrick Ventrell.


QUESTION: (Inaudible) on Iraq.
MR. VENTRELL: Okay.
QUESTION: Iraq is experiencing a lot of volatility. There were demonstrations all across the country. There are pamphlets in Baghdad for cleansing Baghdad of all Sunnis, and there are bellicose statements by the Prime Minister, who is your ally, actually against the United States and against certain groups in Iraq. Do you have any comment on that?
MR. VENTRELL: Well, the United States remains deeply committed, Said, to supporting the Government of Iraq’s efforts to bring greater stability and prosperity to its people. Our engagement in Iraq remains focused on supporting Iraq’s constitutional system and strengthening institutions. Obviously, we support the rights of those to protest and make their voices heard. We’re also working with them on their institutions. We do, Said, have some concerns about some rising sectarian tensions, and we condemn that. And we’ll continue to work with our Iraqi counterparts to help them as they continue to develop their institutions.
QUESTION: Well, there are certain groups who are collecting names and signatures and so on to have actually the constitution repealed and call for a new constitution. If that is the will of the public, will you support that?
MR. VENTRELL: I mean, look, our broader policy’s always been that we want the Iraqis to work things out through the political process. It’s not for us to determine what it is for them, to determine how their democracy’s going to function, how their constitution works. So we’ll provide support to them, broadly speaking, as they do that.



Tony Blair is a War Criminal and a liar.  He can't face the reality of Iraq today because he has blood on his hands.  Also because he's motivated by greed only which is why he makes the ridiculous argument about Iraq's growing business -- as if the Iraqi people are seeing one sliver of the monies the government sits on.


Second, he makes the decision, he makes the decision, he makes the decision -- Listen to the parrot repeating his phrase.  No, he's elected to serve the public and, in fact, George Michael's criticism of Blair in 2002 remains accurate today:


People are looking at the song in context of an attack on America, as opposed to an attack on Tony Blair.  And really, my attack is that Tony Blair is not involving the British in this issue. He's perfectly happy staying up to watch the World Cup and enjoying the Jubilee, all things I'm perfectly guilty of, but there's a serious discussion about Iraq which hasn't taken place. We don't know what Saddam Hussein is capable of, the British public has no idea.

Blair didn't get honest with the citizens.  Blair didn't respect their input.  He lied and tried to manipulate them.


Third, Wark specifically asked him what he thought about when he thought about those who died in Iraq?  He had no answer because he doesn't think about them.  He tosses off an idiotic one sentence piece of crap and turns the question back to himself.  Point being, all Tony Blair ever thinks about is himself.  Look at how he went on and on about himself and how tough it was.  Someone needs to tell the War Criminal to suck it the hell up.  He's alive, others are dead, climb down from the cross, Tones.

Iraq is a land of widows and orphans, that's the reality Tony Blair doesn't want to deal with.  So many deaths that the median age in Iraq is 21-years.  In Tony Blair's United Kingdom, by contrast, the median age is 40.2 years-old.  Nearly twice that of Iraq.

As Ramzy Baroud (Gulf News) notes in "Ten years on, Iraq continues to bleed:"

For America, it was a strategy merely aimed at lessening the pressure placed on its own and other allied soldiers as they faced stiff resistance the moment they stepped foot in Iraq. For the Iraqis, however, it was a petrifying nightmare that can neither be expressed by words or numbers. According to UN estimates cited by BBC, between May and June 2006 “an average of more than 100 civilians per day [were] killed in violence in Iraq”. The UN estimates also placed the death toll of civilians in 2006 at 34,000. That was the year the US strategy of divide-and-conquer proved most successful.

The fact remains that the US and Britain had jointly destroyed modern Iraq and no amount of remorse or apology — not that any was offered, to begin with — will alter this fact. Iraq’s former colonial masters and its new ones lacked any legal or moral ground for invading the sanctions-devastated country. They also lacked any sense of mercy as they destroyed a generation and set the stage for a future conflict that promises to be as bloody as the past.

When the last US combat brigade had reportedly left Iraq in December 2011, this was meant to be an end of an era. Historians know well that conflicts do not end with a presidential decree or troop deployment. Iraq merely entered a new phase of conflict and the US, Britain and others remain integral to that conflict.

Al Mada notes a CNN special on Iraq and describes a small child digging through a pile of waste in an attempt to collect anything that might bring a profit -- bottles, cans.  The child is 12-years-old and the provider for the family.  UNICEF estimates 23% of Iraqis live beneath the poverty line.  This as All Iraq News notes that the US Embassy in Baghdad issued a statement announcing that the US Agency of International Development (USAID) had spent a billion dollars on various projects in Iraq.  They're bragging about five years of 'economic development' but the Iraqi people don't see a damn thing.

Or maybe they do.  Maybe they visit the US Embassy in Baghdad's website and see the news that the White House is granting $155 million "in additional humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people."

USAID proclaims, "USAID investments in Iraq focus on: strengthening Iraqi provincial governance; increasing community and civil society participation; bolstering economic reforms to expand the private sector; strengthening rule of law and human rights; improving delivery of key services; preparing for the 2013 provincial elections; and continuing to assist with the return and resettlement of displaced persons."  They brag about $261.1. million they spent in 2011.  They have nothing to brag about.  $189.3 million went to "Democracy and Governance."

Iraq can't pass a budget.  It's so bad that Alsumaria reports supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr have launched a sit-in outside the Green Zone.  Why?  To get the budget passed.  This follows yesterday's announcement that the vote on the 2013 budget was again postponed.  Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reports, "In response to the demonstrations, security forces blocked all bridges between two main sections of Baghdad, and sealed entrances into the city proper, police officials said."  AFP notes, "It was not immediately clear if the additional security measures, which the ministry official said have caused heavy traffic jams across the city, were aimed at preventing people from joining the protests, or guarding them against attack."

Of the $261.1 million USAID brags of spending in Iraq in 2011, $71.8 million was for economic development.  Really?  Because many Iraqis don't feel the US grasps what is needed in Iraq.  Omar al-Shaher (Al-Monitor) reports today, "Civil activists in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province believe that the US-funded livelihood-skills training programs were either overly selective or riddled with corruption."




Alsumaria reports that the Iraqi military headquarters in Falluja was targeted with three rockets today at noon local time.  The National Iraqi News Agency quotes an Anbar police source who states the explosions were loud and that its not known if anyone was injured or killed.  In addition, All Iraq News reports that a Baghdad home invasion left 1 teacher and his son dead.  NINA quotes a Baghdad police source stating that the unknown assailants wore Iraqi military uniforms and forced the teacher and his son out of their home and shot them in the yard.  Alsumaria notes that a 31-year-old male was stabbed to death in Wasit Province (police suspect his older brother). NINA adds that 1 Iraqi soldier was shot dead in Mosul.  As the month winds down, Iraq Body Count counts 304 violent deaths in Iraq this month through yesterday.


The Drone War is a war many try to ignore.  Rev Anthony Evans of the National Black Church Initiative spoke this week with Glen Ford  on Black Agenda Radio (here for that broadcast) which airs on Progressive Radio Network each Monday from 11:00 am to noon EST.

Glen Ford:  [. . .] the National Black Church Initiative says President Obama needs to face public condemnation for his drone assassinations program.  Rev Anthony Evans is executive director of the Initiative which he calls a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches, comprised of 15 denominations and 15.7 million African Americans.  Rev Evans says Obama's drone policies are evil

Rev Anthony Evans: The Black Church is very clear -- and the Christian church in particular.  Anything -- any government or individual take into his hands the authority to take a life without justification, any justification, then the church has to speak to that.  And what we are saying is the President does not have the authority -- even as President of the United States -- to take anyone's life on a legal level.  So we reject capital punishment and we certainly reject the drone policy  when he said he had the right, as President of the United States, to take anybody's life  who he deemed as a terrorist.   He can deem anybody a terrorist.  So which means to say, it's evil and it's murder.  So I can't describe it any other way and it defies rationality. 

Glen Ford: And you invoke Jesus Christ, Mahtma Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. who famously described the United States as "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today" -- that was more than 40 years ago.

Rev Anthony Evans: It just goes to show you that Martin was accurate and he was right about this.  We are prepared in this country to kill you if you do not conform.  We just demonstrated it to the world: If you bomb the United States, we will spend $1 trillion to get you back.  And that's exactly how much it took to get bin Laden. So, I mean, if that   is the case, then we're not better than the local thug who is just killing and do not have any respect for life.  So our country has taken on a policy that violates all of our Biblical teachings, our philosophical teachings, the teachings of even the UN.  And Martin and Jesus said that violence can only beget violence.  So we can never expect justice and righteousness in this country because we have a policy that we will kill you if we disagree with you.

                                   

Glen Ford:  The National Black Church Initiative draws upon organizations, churches that comprise about 16 million Black people.  You asked the question "Where are you,  Al Sharpton, Rev Jesse Jacskon, [NAACP president] Ben Jealous?"  Well these are folks who claim to be Black leadership.


                                        
Rev Anthony Edwards:  Well they are no leader at all and we're beginning, every day, to see that. They have replaced their loyalty for God and serving African-American people to serving President Obama.  Somehow President Obama has rose to mystical -- and I hate to say -- to some divine level in their eyes that he can do no wrong, he can say no wrong, he can do no wrong and everything against him is racism.  It's not true.  It's that the policy in and of itself is evil.  How can the church support him killing?  We don't support anybody killing -- no less the President of the United States.  So the whole question is we have no leadership.  We haven't heard from Jesse on this issue.  We certainly will never hear from Al Sharpton because Al Sharpton is Obama's tight brother.  Al decides who gets to the White House and who does not.  He's the gatekeeper these days.  And so as long as he's never going to say anything wrong  about this president --  largely because of the fact  that Al has had a problem with every major president there ever was other than Obama.  That makes Al a hypocrite.  So there's the NAACP.  Well you can buy the NAACP these days. 


Three Congressional things.  First, we attended a hearing today I'll try to cover tomorrow.  I didn't know Tony Blair was going to weigh in on Iraq.  Second, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee notes two joint-hearings next month:


 

There will be a joint hearing between the United States House and Senate Committees on Veterans’ Affairs on the following dates:

  

Tuesday, March 5, 2013 10:00 a.m. SD-G50

Joint Hearing on the legislative presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)

Wednesday, March 6, 2013 10:00 a.m. 345 Cannon HOB (House Side)

Joint Hearing on the legislative presentations of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Vietnam Veterans of America, National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs, Fleet Reserve Association, Gold Star Wives, Air Force Sergeants Association, and AMVETS

Jeff Johnson

Deputy Clerk/Systems Administrator

U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

412 Russell Senate Office Bldg.

Washington, DC 20510 | 202.224.6478

Third, Senator Patty Murray is now the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee.  She's introduced a timely bill to address what's become a too frequent reality for children in the US:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 26, 2013
CONTACT: Murray Press Office
(202) 224-2834

Murray Introduces Children's Recovery from Trauma Act

In wake of recent tragedies, bill provides support for children and families affected by trauma

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced the Children’s Recovery from Trauma Act to provide increased support for children and families affected by trauma and all those involved with their care. This bill includes a reauthorization and updates to the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative (NCTSI), which works with children and families who are exposed to a wide range of traumatic experiences including physical and sexual abuse; domestic, school, and community violence; natural disasters, terrorism, or military family challenges; severe bereavement and loss; and life-threatening injury and illness.

“As we have unfortunately witnessed too often in recent years, trauma involving children can happen at any time and in all parts of our country. The Children’s Trauma Recovery Act ensures our child trauma centers have the proper tools available to not only serve their day-to-day needs in treating child trauma, but also maintain absolute preparedness in the event of a national tragedy,” said Senator Murray. “By increasing support and raising the bar for the standard of care in our nation’s child trauma systems, we can all work to ease the burden on our children and their families as they face very difficult times.”

"APA commends Senator Murray on the introduction of the Children's Trauma Recovery Act to reauthorize SAMHSA's National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative," said Norman B. Anderson, PhD., American Psychological Association CEO. "This critical initiative has significantly raised the standard of care for our nation's children and families who have experienced traumatic stress. APA urges Congress to promptly enact this important legislation."

NCTSI currently supports a national network of child trauma centers in forty-four states, including seventy-nine university, hospital, and community-based funded centers and ninety affiliate members. In addition to supporting everyday child trauma work, this network also mobilizes in response to national crises such as the shooting in Newtown, CT and Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina.

Specifically, the Children’s Recovery from Trauma Act authorizes the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to:

· Support a national collaborative network of child trauma centers, including: grants for university and hospital child trauma centers which are involved with intervention development and dissemination of evidence-based practices; grants for diverse community-based organizations which are involved with providing services to children and families affected by trauma; and a grant for the NCTSI coordinating center to organize the collaboration, training, and dissemination activities of all funded and Affiliate NCTSI members to maintain the NCTSI network and outreach infrastructure;

· Include representatives of consumers and families on the NCTSI Advisory Board and as participants at all levels of NCTSI collaborative activities;

· Support the analysis and reporting of the child outcome and other data collected by the NCTSI coordinating center to establish the effectiveness, implementation, and clinical utility of evidence-based treatment and services;

· Support the continuum of interprofessional training initiatives in evidence-based and trauma-informed treatments, interventions, and practices offered to providers in all child-serving systems;

· Support the collaboration of NCTSI, HHS, and other federal agencies in the dissemination of NCTSI evidence-based and trauma-informed interventions, treatments, products, and other resources to all child-serving systems and policymakers.

In addition to APA, the following groups have endorsed the Children's Trauma Recovery Act of 2013: American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Psychological Association, Futures Without Violence, National Children's Alliance, National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health, Prevent Child Abuse America, Mental Health America and uFOSTERsuccess.

The reauthorization would increase the authorization from $50 million to $100 million annually through FY24.

###

Meghan Roh

Press Secretary | New Media Director

Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray

Mobile: (202) 365-1235

Office: (202) 224-2834

@PattyMurray | @SenateBudget | @MegRoh

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