Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Ken Silverstein whimpers

Tuesday and I planned to have a fun post. I may write about that tomorrow night. Tonight I'm ticked off. I'll start with something good before I get to that. The good: Matthew Rothschild has a piece on why Michael Mukasey shouldn't be confirmed and he notes this statement by Bernie Sanders:

"Of course the United States government must do everything that it can to protect the American people from the dangerous threat of terrorism," Sanders stressed, "but we can do that effectively consistent with the Constitution and the civil liberties it guarantees. We need an attorney general who does not believe the president has unlimited power. We need an attorney general who understands that torture is not what this country is about, and we need an attorney general who clearly understands the separation of powers inherent in our Constitution. Unfortunately, it is clear that Mr. Mukasey is not that person".

Meanwhile poor Ken Silverstein. I guess he's a Democrat, that's the only explanation for his wimping out:

I received a fair amount of critical mail in response to my recent post on Darfur, which questioned some information and data used by advocacy groups. For the record, I'm not seeking to impugn the motives of activists or compare Save Darfur with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which built up a $100 million-plus endowment by hyping the threat posed by the Ku Klux Klan and whose coffers now burst with more money than the annual GDP of the Marshall Islands. But I still believe advocacy groups have peddled misinformation (deliberately or not) about Darfur and don’t see how handing a major PR victory to your sworn enemy is smart politics.

He goes on to post links to 'contrary opinions' including Eric Reeves who just invents numbers for refugees depending on his mood and how much attention he wants to get. If Silverstein had actually studied the topic at length and written of it at length originally, he'd grasp that self-styled 'Darfur expert' and English professor by trade Reeves is a joke and remains a joke. Now if Silverstein had done his work, he'd know that 'Save Darfur' was as bad as the Southern Poverty Law Center because they took in over 15 million in 2006 and spent 15 million on . . . advertising. From "Our Modern Day Carrie Nations" (The Third Estate Sunday Review, June 2007):

Our Modern Day Carrie Nations are having a bit of problem. If bad news comes in threes, it's most likely good news only comes in ones so be sure to check out Stephanie Strom and Lydia Polgreen's "Advocacy Group's Publicity Campaign on Darfur Angers Relief Organizations" (New York Times) which tells you that Save Darfur -- the noblest of all nobles, if you believe the hype -- spent $15 million last year . . . on advertising and expenses. How much went to aid groups in Darfur? Not a single dime. Not one blood penny.
$15 million to promote themselves -- there have been blockbuster films in the last few years that had smaller advertising budgets. But when your rallies still aren't picking up steam, when even your most vocal and repeated champion Nicky K has taken to whining about how the cause just needs a photo of a tortured puppy to take off, $15 million in self-promotion does buy you a little attention from big (and small) media.
It also bought full page ads in The New York Times. And, the thing there, Strom and Polgreen inform you, is that aid agencies quoted as being on board with the nonsense of "wage a war to bring peace!" weren't on board. They not only weren't on board, they oppose the notion that military action is needed. InterAction's president states, "I am deeply concerned by the inability of Save Darfur to be informed by the realities on the ground and to understand the consequences of your proposed actions." Did you absorb that? Action Against Hunger declares that "a forced intervention by United Nations troops without the approval of the Sudanese government" (advocated by Save Darfur) could "risk triggering a further escalation of violence".

Yeah, we noted the report in June. If you missed it -- and this should have been a big report -- it's because all the 'brave' left outlets (websites and radio programs and, as Danny Schechter might point out, the radio & TV program Democracy Now!) elected to play dumb and act like the New York Times did not run a major investigation piece. Independent media wants to act like the mainstream covers stuff up, but where the HELL WERE INDEPENDENT MEDIA when this story broke? Too damn scared to call the "Save Darfur" (War Hawk Organization filled with the Carrie Nations) out.

I bet Ken Silverstein did get nasty e-mails. Every time I've noted that Problem From Hell Sammy Power is nothing but a blood lusting War Hawk, I get nasty e-mails. Like I give a damn. Sammy Power is a professional liar who exists to justify wars. That's all she's about. The Carr Center exists to justify wars. Sammy Power and her bad hair dye (not even an Irish protestant has hair that color) needs to haul her tired act off the national stage.

Now if you talk to C.I. or Ruth, they'll tell you that, yes, CounterSpin (CounterWhen?) did ignore the Times' story as well, but they brought on someone from The London Review of Books who did talk about this nonsense and how the last thing Darfur needs was these crazies screaming for war. But, pay attention to this, they though the interview was so important, they published a transcription of it for their rag Extra! . . . that left out the comments on Darfur. That's embarrassing.

The left is filled with cowards who tremble at the thought of Sammy Power's rage.

I'm not surprised Silverstein's backing down (or backing down a little) because he did far more than the bulk of the left did. They've let the War Hawk Sammy Power run wild, they've presented an English Lit professor (Reeves) who changes his numbers at the drop of a hat as an 'expert' . . . All that bullsh*t group has done is act as a diversion from Iraq. The CounterWhen guest was Mahmood Mandani and ignore the dopey, cleaned up transcript Extra! published, instead goes to his his essay in The London Review of Books:

The most powerful mobilisation in New York City is in relation to Darfur, not Iraq. One would expect the reverse, for no other reason than that most New Yorkers are American citizens and so should feel directly responsible for the violence in occupied Iraq. But Iraq is a messy place in the American imagination, a place with messy politics. Americans worry about what their government should do in Iraq. Should it withdraw? What would happen if it did? In contrast, there is nothing messy about Darfur. It is a place without history and without politics; simply a site where perpetrators clearly identifiable as 'Arabs' confront victims clearly identifiable as 'Africans'.
A full-page advertisement has appeared several times a week in the New York Times calling for intervention in Darfur now. It wants the intervening forces to be placed under 'a chain of command allowing necessary and timely military action without approval from distant political or civilian personnel'. That intervention in Darfur should not be subject to 'political or civilian' considerations and that the intervening forces should have the right to shoot -- to kill -- without permission from distant places: these are said to be 'humanitarian' demands. In the same vein, a New Republic editorial on Darfur has called for 'force as a first-resort response'. What makes the situation even more puzzling is that some of those who are calling for an end to intervention in Iraq are demanding an intervention in Darfur; as the slogan goes, 'Out of Iraq and into Darfur.'

And the left's silence sends a message. Jonathan Steele of the Guardian of London used to be on all the Pacifica programs all the time. Then he wrote his "Sorry George Clooney, but the last thing Darfur needs is western troops" and he just kind of faded away. Here's what he pointed out in what appears to have had him dropped as a guest on most programs:

An air of unreality, if not cant, surrounds the latest upsurge of calls for UN troops to go into Sudan's western region of Darfur. The actor George Clooney takes to the stage at the UN security council, pleading for action. Tony Blair seizes on the issue to write letters to fellow EU leaders. In cities around the world protesters hold a "global day for Darfur" to warn of looming genocide. Is it really possible that western governments, in spite of being burned by their interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, would use force against another Muslim state?
Groups in the west have long campaigned to have the government in Khartoum replaced. In the US the Christian right and some of Israel's friends portray it as an Islamic fundamentalist regime. Human rights activists raise the issue of slavery to suggest that Arab raiders, supported by the government, are routinely abducting Africans from the south to use as human chattel. The Clinton administration listed Sudan as a terrorist-supporting state because Osama bin Laden once lived there.
Against this background it was always going to be hard to expect fair reporting when civil war broke out in Darfur three years ago. The complex grievances that set farmers against nomads was covered with a simplistic template of Arab versus African, even though the region was crisscrossed with tribal and local rivalries that put some villages on the government's side and others against it.

It's really too bad for printing a tiny bit of truth, Ken Silverstein needed to link to professional liars. That's not 'in fairness,' Eric Reeves creates numbers all the time, from one interview to the next. Iraq is the real refugee crisis and when their numbers are reported, it's time for Reeves to come along inventing new ones for Darfur. It's nothing but a distraction from Iraq -- an illegal war the US started. It's nothing but an attempt to get another war going -- in Darfur. That's all the Carr Center is good for, starting wars. It's too bad Silverstein got the avalanche of e-mails that made him decide he better provide some 'alternative' voices. If Silverstein missed it, the voices of truth haven't been heard by the media except in rare cases.

And, by the way, I don't give a damn what Silverstein thinks. If he e-mails (as happened with one 'voice'), I won't give a damn. The 'voice' that did mattered to me. Silverstein? I know he slimed Jane Fonda. I know he's a bit of wuss to begin with. That's why I usually note Scott Horton -- who is a libertarian and not even someone I agree with politically on most issues -- instead. But I thought he was starting to write some strong stuff. Guess he'll always be the little 'liberal' who gets his kicks going after Jane Fonda who, for the record, stood up when cowards like Silverstein couldn't, wouldn't and never will. Bye-bye, Ken.

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

Tuesday, October 23, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, another US airstrike kills more civilians, what do you know -- the PKK was in Iraq (even a headquarters), and more.

Starting with war resisters. Ehren Watada is the first US officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq. After months of hearing from the military brass that they wanted to work towards a solution (they were just delaying -- thinking if they could delay until deployment, Watada would go to Iraq), he went public in June of 2006. In February of this year, Judge Toilet (aka John Head) rigged a kangaroo court where Watada would be court-martialed for refusing to deploy but would not be allowed to explain to a jury (Watada chose to go with a jury of his peers) why he made the decision he had. Despite the rigged court-martial, the third day (when Watada would take the stand for the defense) found Judge Toilet calling a mistrial over defense objections to provide the prosecution with a do-over even though the Constitution forbids double-jeopardy." The Watada National Steering Committee has a message at Courage to Resist:

On the weekend of Oct. 26 - 27, we will be participating in or holding demonstrations in support of Lt. Watada. This is the weekend of the Oct. 27 nationwide day of action called jointly by United for Peace & Justice and International A.N.S.W.E.R. We will be reaching out to them to work jointly where we can, or to have local events in cities and towns where they are not having an event.For more information, please go to our website , contact us online , or phone us at 877-689-4162.Local groups who wish to support Lt. Watada can help by holding events or speaking about his case at events you are already planning, holding press conferences, writing articles in the media, or writing letters to the editor of your local media. In newspapers, the letters to the editor sections are among the most widely read sections of the paper. Letters must be short or they will not be published due to space; see the length of letters currently published in your local paper for examples.

That is this weekend. Watada is first Iraq War officer to resist. Stephen Funk is the first public resister of the illegal war. Iraq Veterans Against the War's chair Camilo Mejia is the first Iraq veteran to publicly resist the illegal war. From November 10 through December 16th, his voice will be featured in a new play at Culture Project as it presents Rebel Voices the new play which is based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. Along with Mejia, the voices of Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Zinn will take part in the November 18th presentation (opening night) and poet Staceyann Chinn and musician Allison Mooerer will hed the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum) and actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little). The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.

Turning to war resisters who have gone to Canada. Last week Bethany "Skyler" James and Michael Espinal went public about their decision to relocate to Canada. Going public makes the US nervous, hence the need for spin. Over the weekend Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star) reported on the statements issued by John Nay, United States Counsul General to Canada, who insists that there's nothing any war resister needs to fear about America. His spinning also revealed an ignorance of the official US policies on COs which Nay (National War College graduate) insisted was "hard" for anyone signing up to claim afterwards that they were. It was one joke out of another from Nay -- certainly the most laughs he's ever gotten outside of his comb-over. In the Canadian parliament, Alex Atamenko delivered another appeal that the government begin granting asylum to war resisters in a speech that many see as a response to some of Nay's ridiculous claims (Atamenko specifically mentioned the glossy ads that gloss over the realities of war) and a speech that was warmly received. Meanwhile the War Resisters Support Campaign is staging an event tonight and tomorrow. First up, a Halloween Masquerade ball at the Budda Bar tonight, in Toronto, with doors opening at eight p.m. Tomorrow night Michelle Mason's breakthrough documentary . Breaking Ranks will be screened at the University of Toronto's Claude Bissell Building from six to eight p.m. followed by a question and answer session with war resisters.

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.

The National Lawyers Guild's convention begins shortly: The Military Law Task Force and the Center on Conscience & War are sponsoring a Continuing Legal Education seminar -- Representing Conscientious Objectors in Habeas Corpus Proceedings -- as part of the National Lawyers Guild National Convention in Washington, D.C. The half-day seminar will be held on Thursday, November 1st, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the convention site, the Holiday Inn on the Hill in D.C. This is a must-attend seminar, with excelent speakers and a wealth of information. The seminar will be moderated by the Military Law Task Force's co-chair Kathleen Gilberd and scheduled speakers are NYC Bar Association's Committee on Military Affairs and Justice's Deborah Karpatkin, the Center on Conscience & War's J.E. McNeil, the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee's Peter Goldberger, Louis Font who has represented Camilo Mejia, Dr. Mary Hanna and others, and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objector's James Feldman. The fee is $60 for attorneys; $25 for non-profit attorneys, students and legal workers; and you can also enquire about scholarships or reduced fees. The convention itself will run from October 31st through November 4th and it's full circle on the 70th anniversary of NLG since they "began in Washington, D.C." where "the founding convention took place in the District at the height of the New Deal in 1937, Activist, progressive lawyers, tired of butting heads with the reactionary white male lawyers then comprising the American Bar Association, formed the nucleus of the Guild."

Turkey and northern Iraq still simmer with tension. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) explored the topic today with professor Juan Cole:

AMY GOODMAN: Let's go today's top story: tension remaining high on the Turkish-Iraq border, following the killing of seventeen Turkish troops by Kurdish militants over the weekend. How significant is this?

JUAN COLE: Well, it's extremely significant. I mean, imagine what would happen in this country if a guerrilla group based in a neighboring country came over the border and killed seventeen US troops. That would be a war. And the Kurdish guerrilla movement, the Kurdish Workers Party, based now in Iraq, but originally from Eastern Anatolia, from the Turkish regions, is conducting a guerrilla war against the Turkish military. It is being given safe harbor by Kurdish politicians on the Iraqi side. And, in essence, the United States has created this situation in which a NATO ally -- people forget Turkey fought alongside the United States in Korea; it's got troops in Afghanistan -- a NATO ally of the United States is being attacked and its troops killed by a terrorist organization, so designated by the State Department, that essentially has US auspices. The US is responsible for security in Iraq.

AMY GOODMAN: And how connected is the US to the PKK, or is it at all?

JUAN COLE: Well, the United States doesn't like the PKK and doesn't have much connection to it, but the United States has allied with the Iraqi Kurdish leaders, who are the most reliable allies of the United States in Iraq: Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani. And Barzani, in particular, it seems to me, just de facto, is giving harbor to, giving haven to, these PKK guerrillas. So the United States needs Barzani and needs his support. He's doing an oil deal with Hunt Oil, which is close to the Bush administration. His Peshmurga paramilitary is the backbone of the most effective fires of the new Iraqi army. They do security details in other cities like Mosul and Kirkuk. So the US really desperately depends on the Kurdistan Regional Authority and its paramilitary and can't afford to alienate Barzani. And since Barzani is -- behind the scenes seems to kind of like the PKK and does -- giving them a haven, the US is politically complicit in these attacks.

AMY GOODMAN: What is the deal with Hunt Oil?

JUAN COLE: Well, Hunt Oil, which is, I think, losing its bids in Yemen, is desperate for a new field to develop, and they are exploring a partnership with the Kurdistan Regional Authority in northern Iraq.

The oil. Always the oil. Allowing the PKK to get the kind of fawning press from the mainstream that no other armed resistance has seen in years (not since the US-based thugs the Contras). The War Comes Home's Aaron Glantz reported on the situation for Pacifica in April of 2004 noting a meet up in DC between the Turkish government and the US government when then US Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Meyers stated, "This is an issue the coalition forces inside Iraq take very seriously. Let me assure you that there is very close collaboration with Turkey and that they [the PKK] will be dealt with appropriately." What followed was . . . nothing. Why?

In Glantz's 2004 report, he noted, "Iraqi Kurds, by contrast, have enjoyed the patronage of the United States for more than a decade and as a consequence have been able to build schools and media institutions where Kurdish is exclusively spoken." And governing elements have looked the other way as the region has been purged/'cleansed' of non-Kurdish elements such as a plethora of religious sects. But they have the oil and they've long had US support. While Falluja remains in rubble and Baghdad is just barely better off, the northern region hasn't seen the falling bombs from US air craft. And it's so strange that when the press wants to pimp the business opportunites in the region, they act puzzled about how 'peaceful' the region is. (Dubbing it 'peaceful' requires ignoring the attacks on sects and the 'honor' killings of women.) When the rest of Iraq has been torn apart by the illegal war and wasn't supported before the illegal war by the US, is it any surprise?

Bay Fang (Chicago Tribune) quotes an unnamed US official who states, "In the past, there has been reluctance to engage in direct U.S. military action against the PKK, either through air strikes or some kind of Special Forces action. But the red line was always, if the Turks were going to come over the border, it could be so destabilizing that it might be less risky for us to do something ourselves. Now the Turks are at the end of their rope, and our risk calculus is changing." So that was the 'red line' and now -- and only now -- the White House decides to act? BBC notes the announcement by puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki, "Iraq says it will close the offices of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebel group and will 'not allow it to operate on Iraqi soil'." All these years later. CBS and AP note that the announcement of the closing of PKK offices "contradicted repeated assertions by Iraqi officials in recent days that the PKK's presence in Iraq was restricted to inaccessible parts of northern Iraq that could not be reached by authorities" and that the Turkish military is "massing along the border". Flashback for those who've forgotten, last month's charges that the PKK were using American weapons came as US federal prosecutors were investigating whether Blackwater was selling US arms. Ben Holland and Mark Bentley (Bloomberg News) report, "Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country's forces may carry out strikes on Kurdish fighters in Iraqi territory in the next few days if the U.S. and Iraq fail to rein in the militants." They also report that the Turkish military striking does not have to mean on the ground forces, it could mean air strikes -- which would of course likely kill many civilians. But Bully Boy had a red line he was waiting on all these years, you understand.

Bully Boy has his own hands full when it comes to air strikes and the deaths of innocent civilians. Aseel Kami (Reuters) explains the US military has fessed up to killing innocent civilians in an air strike outside Baghdad early on Tuesday and they admit 11 civilians died. But, hand to heart, they insist that only six of the eleven were civilians and the rest were 'terrorists' or 'insurgents' or maybe the Apple Dumpling Gang using the six as "human shields". A lie but a lie that doesn't excuse the bombing and is still in violation of international law. Eye witnesses reports that there were two US attacks. The first killed two farmers with a third seeking shelter in his home which the next strike "destroyed . . . killing 14 people, including six members of Ibrahim Jassim family and five from another" according to Abdul al-Rahman Iyadeh and police captain Abdullah al-Isawi says the number killed is sixteen "seven men, six women and three children," Kami notes.

In other violence . . .

Bombings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports two Baghdad roadside bombs that wounded two police officers and a Kirkuk car bombing that injured wounded one person. Reuters notes a roadside minibus bombing outside Baquba that claimed 3 lives (ten wounded).

Shootings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad attack where two police officers were shot dead as they guarded Al Mamoun Intermediate School (two more wounded) while "A foreign protection convoy shot and injured citizen Zirak Youness, 21, on a main road connects Kirkuk and Makhmour last night." Reuters notes that two infant girls were shot dead by Iraqi police today in Kerbala but, no tears apparently, the father's a suspected member of the militia -- which makes it a-okay to kill two babies, wound the mother and a sister.

Corpses?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 4 corpses discovered in Baghdad.and "Police found the body of Omed Hassan a member of the Kurdish security force known as Assayish near a cementary south east of Kirkuk last night."

In other news of violence, the US military announced yesterday that the Adhamiyah Islamic Party headquarters in Baghdad was targeted "with approximately 35 pounds of homemade explosives" on October 20th and identify it as "a political organization opposed to Al Qaeda" and whoe members "have allied with Coalition Forces in recent months to oppose terrorist groups operating in Adhamiyah." More officials targeted due to being seen as collarborators and yet, even with US military confirmation, the latest event in a continuing trend is not getting much press attetion." And the trend continues with the US military announcing today that 2 "employees of the city government were wounded when their vehicle was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in the eastern Adhamiyah neighborhood" yesterday.
Turning to the mercenary corporation Blackwater USA. Eric Schmitt and David Rohde (New York Times) report on two new reports -- one a US State Dept internal review, the other a report by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. The first (State Dept internal review) finds that the State Department provided no oversight of Blackwater or Dyncorp. The second focuses on DynCorp's spending of US tax payer dollars and finds that "the State Department had only two government employees in Iraq overseeing as many as 700 DynCorp employees," that the State Department is not sure what US tax payer money was spent on (at one point insisting that $387,000 was spent at hotels in Iraq and an x-ray machine purchased for $1.8 million was used in Iraq -- then coming back to insist they meant Aghanistan), etc. -- "A review of DynCorp's spending over the past year identified $29 million in overcharges by DynCorp" while a Defense Congracting Audit Agency report discovered "DynCorp had billed for $162,869 of labor hours 'for which it did not pay its workers'." DynCorp was put in charge of training the Iraqi police. For those who've forgotten, one reason Jordan was cut out of the police training (which it had been doing) was because it would be 'cheaper.'

"How you earn your money is no interest to the IRS. Now how can I put this in language you'll understand? We just want our cut." Anne Bancroft's lines from HeartBreakers come back to haunt Blackwater. Joseph Neff (McClatchy Newspapers) reports US House Rep and chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Henry Waxman has announced Blackwater "may have evaded tens of millions of dollars in federal taxes" because BlackWater -- unlike DynCorp and Triple Canopy -- has classified its employees as "contractors" -- thereby avoiding taxes, Social Security and Medicare payments: "The issue came to the attention of the IRS when a Blackwater guard working in Afghanistan complained that the company had classified him as an independent contractor. The IRS said Blackwater's classification was 'without merit' and ruled in March that the man was an employee." CNN notes, "By classifying workers in Iraq as 'independent contractors' rather than employees, Blackwater appears to have engaged in an 'illegal tax scheme' that avoided an estimated $31 million in employment-related taxes in the last year of its contract alone, said Rep. Henry Waxman on Monday" and that Waxman has advised Erik Prince by letter, "It is deplorable that a company that depends on federal tax dollars for over 90 percent of its business would even contemplate forbidding an employee to report corporate wrongdoing to Congress and federal law enforcement officials." Now does Blackwater CEO Prince think the American way is to cheat on your taxes? Over the weekend on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal, Moyers spoke with Jeremy Scahill about Prince's p.r. blitz last week and Scahill noted, "It's almost I think part of the point here was to say, look, you don't understand really, American people, what we're doing for you. While you're enjoying comfort here in the United States, we're over there protecting our-- men in women in uniform, our diplomats. I think that there's a way that he wants to increase the mystique about the company and the operations of Blackwater." Is "tax cheat" supposed to be part of the red, white and blue that Prince couldn't shut up about in interview after interview?














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Monday, October 22, 2007

Marjorie Cohn, Third

Monday, Monday, can't trust . . . You know the drill. :D Ellyn e-mailed and wrote "you can answer this at your site" so I'm guessing, even though I've never gotten an e-mail from her before, she caught my post last week talking about how after wasting my time to reply to 13 people and to ask them for suggestions, they never bothered to write back, I was done with private e-mails to anyone other than my regular readers and community members. She wondered what my favorite song by the Mamas and the Papas was and said her own was "Straight Shooter." (If you know what I mean . . . yeah.) My favorite depends on my mood. I like "Monday, Monday," but I don't think it's ever been in my top three on any day. "Safe In My Garden," "Got A Feeling," "Dedicated To The One I Love," "California Dreamin'," "Creeque Alley," "Midnight Voyage," "Dream A Little Dream," and a few more are among my favorites. I'm actually more likely to listen to The Papas and the Mamas CD these days because Jess loves that CD and is always calling me up lately to ask me to check out something on it -- a vocal or guitar part.

Ellyn asked if it was okay to ask a question like that and it sure is. I love music. I've talked about music here a lot since I started the blog but I guess I haven't talked about it too much lately if she felt she had to ask. And "Straight Shooter" is a good song too. I love the way they attack on the vocals in that.

Michael Mukasey is the latest attack on the American people that Bully Boy's managed to flip a rock over and find. He wants to make Mukasey the Attorney General of the United States. This is from National Lawyers Guild president Marjorie Cohn's "Michael Mukasey: Another Loyal Bushie:"

The Michael Mukasey Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing has demonstrated that Mukasey cannot be relied upon to function independently as U.S. Attorney General. Nevertheless, Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee seem so thrilled that Mukasey is not Alberto Gonzales that they're willing to vote for him even though he’s another loyal Bushie. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, backed down on his promise to hold up the confirmation hearing until the administration turned over material his committee had requested regarding several investigations. Leahy said of Mukasey after the hearing, "He's at least answered the questions, which is better than his predecessor. He's going to be different than Gonzales on all the issues, I think. He will certainly be better than Gonzales on morale."
But saying that Mukasey compares favorably to Alberto Gonzales is faint praise for the nominee. The former Attorney General resigned during a firestorm of criticism about his U.S. Attorney purges, and his repeated claims of memory loss when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Mukasey doesn't seem to have a memory problem; he relied on a different excuse for dodging the Senators' hard questions: he hasn't been "read in on" the details of Bush policies, such as interrogation techniques, or the "Terrorist Surveillance Program." Mukasey claims he doesn't know what water boarding is, so he can’t say if it constitutes torture. Say what? Mukasey's claimed ignorance of water boarding is about as credible as his predecessor’s convenient claims of amnesia. Rear Adm. John Hutson (USN Ret.) testified at the confirmation hearing, "Other than, perhaps the rack and thumbscrews, water boarding is the most iconic example of torture in history. It was devised, I believe, in the Spanish inquisition. It has been repudiated for centuries."
Mukasey made the incredible assertions that "we do not torture" and "I don't think people are mistreated" at Guantanamo. The main problem he sees with Guantánamo is that "nobody owns it," that is, there is jurisdictional overlap between the Justice and Defense Departments. Mukasey callously told Sen. Dick Durbin before the hearings that Guantánamo was used as a "fright wig," and after all, detainees receive "three hots and a cot, health care better than many Americans, and taxpayer-funded Korans."
The rest of us haven't been "read in on" the classified details either. But we know that torture and inhuman treatment is Bush policy in spite of the fact it’s illegal. The 2005 Department of Justice memos recently leaked to the New York Times say the government is engaging in water boarding, head slapping and exposing people to frigid temperatures, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody is tantamount to torture, and the U.N. Human Rights Commission concluded that force feeding Guantánamo prisoners amounts to torture. We also know that Bush spied on Americans without warrants in spite of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) because he and Gonzales admitted it. And we know what water boarding is.

There's a whole slew of strong, important points in Cohn's piece but the thing that really stuck out to me was the Gonzales section. Mukasey is being treated like "better than Gonzales." How is that a good thing? Wouldn't a rock be better than Gonzales? Gonzales is the guy who made people miss John Ashcroft who was pretty awful himself. Instead of applauding Bully Boy for picking someone slightly better than the guy who left in disgrace, shouldn't we be demanding that the candidate be qualified -- and not just barely? Shouldn't we be demanding that the AG nominee be the best there can be?

Okay, let's do The Third Estate Sunday Review:

Truest statement of the week -- Jim says there was another one and we almost had two. There were actually three (some might say four) but we were tired. Yoko Ono won out because it's an important statement. Others might have gotten noted too if there had been more time.

A Note to Our Readers -- Jim breaks down the edition. Other than the "truest," I really don't see anything that needs a lot of adding to here.

Editorial: It's the silence from the stupid -- Tony brought that up on campus all day. He was asking people about it, to think about it, and ask themselves what war resister has gotten any real coverage this year? They couldn't come up with one who didn't already have coverage in 2006. A huge number of war resisters are going public and the attitude of media -- big and small -- is who cares? That's shameful and stupid. Illustration is by Betty's son with help from Kat and C.I.

TV: CBS rolls the dice -- Jim read this out loud to us after Ava and C.I. finished with it. It's really great which is no surprise because they always do a great job. But we had some stuff planned that we put aside (some of it we had worked on) to turn the whole edition around and try to reflect this piece where we could. This is really funny, by the way, so don't think, "Oh big message, I don't want to go there." You'll laugh a lot.

Ms.magazine: This is what 35 years looks like -- Ms. has turned 35. That's 35 years of publishing. That's a big accomplishment for any magazine but especially for one people were saying would be dead from the second it started publishing. We had to edit this piece and edit it again due to the fact that it took up too much space. That's not a complaint about long articles (it's still lengthy) being long, but we do lose spell check after a certain length and after a bit more, whomever gets stuck typing it has to type without being able to read it because Blogger/Blogspot starts freezing. What got pulled were some of our reactions or reflections and we're hoping to include those next week if there's time. So what you've got is kind of a background on the period and the magazine.

Memo to Pelosi -- I don't smoke. My dad does, Dona does and Rebecca says when she's done nursing, she'll smoke again. But I don't think it's fair that to pay for a program that's needed, Democrats want to tax smokers. If a program is needed, you tax us all. But they're being cowards and thinking, "Everybody hates smokers! We'll ride their backs to victory!" That's so cowardly. So they invented a flat-tax where smokers would be charged by the federal government a buck a pack. A lot of states already charge smokers a buck a pack. So they'll be paying $2 a pack or $40 a carton in taxes. How is that fair? If someone says, "Well no one should smoke." If you feel that way, try to change the law. But smoking is legal right now and if a program matters, you don't try to scapegoat one segment of the population. Democrats go for the cheap and easy time and again. And then wonder why they lose?

Tori Rocks Boston -- OMG! Great concert! Tori Amos was amazing. If she comes to your area, you really need to see this show. I wish she'd done "Pretty Good Year." That was my only real regret. I love that song: "Greg he writes letters, and burns his CDs . . ." But even without my favorite song (or second favorite: "Caught a Lite Sneeze") in the show, it was amazing. She rocked the place. Rocked is the only word for it. Dad went with us (the Iraq study group did take place) along with Tony, Tony's date, Tracey (Ruth's granddaughter), Rebecca, Flyboy, Elaine, Kat, Jess, Ava and C.I. and Dad goes, "It was like seeing Zeplin." :D That's the supreme compliment from Dad for a concert.


Eddie Bernice, what you got against peace? -- Eddie Bernice Johnson brags to her constituents in a newsletter about her efforts to end the illegal war but she won't sign on for the Peace Pledge. Why is that?

What's up with Ruth? -- Ruth's Report is what's up with Ruth! She's started her own site. Be sure to check it out. This is our interview with Ruth. Ava and C.I. did the TV commentary while the rest of us did this. That's because we were already running behind and that was before the whole theme thing came up. Thank you to Wally for filling in for me here Friday night, by the way. I really wasn't looking to coming home and blogging. That was before the Tori concert. After, I was floating on the music for hours.

If a picture sings a thousand words . . . -- Vanity Fair has a photo essay on folk musicians that you need to check out. If you're not sure, pick it up in the grocery store and flip through it. I bet you'll want to buy it.

Bug us -- Betty's son did the illustration. I think the text says it all and don't want to step in anything. (C.I. really likes Norman Solomon and I don't want to add to what we wrote. We weren't sure this would be a feature or even written but C.I. said go for it and helped out throughout.)

Supporting War Resisters -- This is a scan of a letter Courage to Resist is distributing that you can sign and show your support (to the Canadian government) for war resisters.

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

Here's the credits for the edition:


The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,
Wally of The Daily Jot;
Trina's Trina's Kitchen;
and Ruth's Ruth's Report


And Dallas who helped with links, pitched ideas and also contributed the Eddie Bernice Johnson illustration. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Monday, October 22, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, Blackwater remains in the news, tensions continue to be inflamed between Turkey and northern Iraq, a US air strike on Sunday leads to civilian deaths, Bully Boy wants more money for his blood lust addiction, and more.

Starting with war resisters, Laura Rumpf (The Stanford Daily) reports on Stephen Funk, the first public war resister of the Iraq War who singed up with "the Marine Corps in 2002 at age 19" and "realized almost immediately after starting boot camp in Afghanistan that he opposed the war and could not morally be a part of violence he did not condone" so he filed for CO status. Where did Funk go for information? As most other war resisters have cited, Funk declares that "I had no idea about conscientious objection as an option until I researched my military rights online." Ordered to deploy to Iraq in 2003, Funk assumed his CO application was being processed and handled the issue. Rumpf reports, "On Sept. 1, 2004, Funk became the first known soldier to be jauiled for refusing to serve in Iraq. In a victory for anti-war activists helping his cause, he was acquitted of desertion charges, but he received a six-month sentence in a military brig at Camp Lejune, N.C., for unauthorized absence." In the time since, Stephen Funk has continued to be active in the peace movement and Rumpf notes, "On campus [Stanford], Funk is active in the LGBT community and at the Native American Cultural Center. He serves as chapter president of the San Francisco Iraq Veterans Against the War organization, which helps raise enlistees' awareness about their rights among other activities."

Iraq Veterans Against the War's chair Camilo Mejia is the first Iraq veteran to publicly resist the illegal war. On Saturday he spoke at the national conference of the Campus Antiwar Network held at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Pedro Oliveira Jr. (Badger Herald) reports that the conference had a turn out of "nearly 100 students from CAN chapters across the nation this weekend. During the conference, students had a chance to hear Iraq Veterans Against the War founder Camilo Mejia speak about his experiences in Iraq."

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.

The National Lawyers Guild's convention begins shortly: The Military Law Task Force and the Center on Conscience & War are sponsoring a Continuing Legal Education seminar -- Representing Conscientious Objectors in Habeas Corpus Proceedings -- as part of the National Lawyers Guild National Convention in Washington, D.C. The half-day seminar will be held on Thursday, November 1st, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the convention site, the Holiday Inn on the Hill in D.C. This is a must-attend seminar, with excelent speakers and a wealth of information. The seminar will be moderated by the Military Law Task Force's co-chair Kathleen Gilberd and scheduled speakers are NYC Bar Association's Committee on Military Affairs and Justice's Deborah Karpatkin, the Center on Conscience & War's J.E. McNeil, the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee's Peter Goldberger, Louis Font who has represented Camilo Mejia, Dr. Mary Hanna and others, and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objector's James Feldman. The fee is $60 for attorneys; $25 for non-profit attorneys, students and legal workers; and you can also enquire about scholarships or reduced fees. The convention itself will run from October 31st through November 4th and it's full circle on the 70th anniversary of NLG since they "began in Washington, D.C." where "the founding convention took place in the District at the height of the New Deal in 1937, Activist, progressive lawyers, tired of butting heads with the reactionary white male lawyers then comprising the American Bar Association, formed the nucleus of the Guild."


"We will not hand any Kurdish man to Turkey, even a Kurdish cat." So Michael Howard and Fred Attewill (Guardian of London) report Kurd and Iraqi president Jalal Talabani declaring in a conversation where he also declares that the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq has long been in contact with and "appealed to the PKK to desist fighting." This follows continued violence over the weekend. As Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) observes, "Tension is escalating along the Turkish-Iraqi border after 17 Turkish soldiers were killed Sunday in an ambush carried out by fighters with the Kurdistan Workers Party. The Turkish government accused the Kurdish militants of crossing the Iraq border into Turkey to carry out the ambush. 10 Turkish troops are still missing in what was the deadliest attack by the PKK in over a decade. It came just days after the Turkish parliament overwhelmingly approved a motion to allow troops to invade northern Iraq. On Sunday the Turkish government said it is willing to pay whatever price is necessary to protect its unity and citizens. The Iraqi government has urged Turkey to restrain from using force. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice called the Turkish prime minister and urged him to restrain from taking any action for at least a few days." CNN notes that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey, is insisting that the United States "take 'speedhy steps' towards cracking down on Kurdish separatists accused of launching attacks across the Turkey broder from northern Iraq." The PKK is a group that has, for decades, fought to create a Kurdish region in what is currently Turkey much as northern Iraq has long favored breaking away from that nation-state and creating their own. The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by most western nation-states including the United States. Suna Erdem (Times of London) reports that the search continues for the eight missing Turkish soldiers "believed kidnapped" and that violence "continued through the day, claiming the lives of 34 PKK rebels so far, according to the military." Reuters notes that Firat News Agency has provided the names of "seven Turkish soldiers it said had been captured by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels near the Iraqi border during fierce fighting that started on Sunday. The statement, posted on Firat's Website, said eight soldiers had been taken hostage in total, but it gave the names of only seven." Meanwhile Deborah Haynes (Times of London) visits a PKK camp in the Qandil Mountains and discovers a large number of women training for combat, "The women are mostly former Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters who say that they now pursue more of an educational and co-ordinating role in support of Kurdish women's rights. Airstrikes have become a regular hazard as tensions rise between their outlawed organisation and the Turkish Government. Women play a crucial role in the PKK, which has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades in a campaign that has cost more than 30,000 lives." The now apparently inpending conflict is not a new development though the US White House prefers to act as if it is. In April 2004, The War Comes Home's Aaron Glantz was reporting for Pacifica that "American soldiers could be on the verge of fighting another war in the Middle East. In Washington for meeting with the US military leaders, the Deputy Chief of the Turkish Army General Staff demanded the US Army start fighting against approximately 5,000 Turkish Kurdish guerillas hold up in camps in the snow-capped mountains of Northern Iraq. . . . After meeting with senior American military officials in Washington, the Deputy Chairman of the Turkish Army faced reporters. The General, Ilker Basburg, told reporters the Bush Administration agreed to take what he called 'concrete steps' against the PKK before handing authority over to the Iraqi governing Council at the end of June." Which, for the record, did not happen. While the US was happy to create a civil war between Shi'ites and Sunnis, the Kurds were always elevated to their own status due to business interests in the region leading to the non-stop flurry of the "Kurdish Oasis" in the press that has repeatedly ignored the violence in the area -- violence intended to purge/'cleanse' the region of non-Kurds. In addition the PKK is seen as hostile to Iran, an attitude they share with the current US administration.

Having done nothing, the US administration now attempts to prevent the outbreak of an out and out war. Howard Schneider and Amit R. Plaey (Washington Post) report that the US measure is having US Secretary of State Condi Rice and US Ambassador to Iraq meet "with an arry of Turkish and Iraq officials" while the US State Department flack Sean McCormack insists a "full-court press" is ongoing. What is ongoing, Suna Erdem (Times of London) reports, is protests in Turkish cities and "As the United States and Europe engage in a diplomatic scramble to deter unilateral Turkish action in northern Iraq, convoys of Turkish military vehicles moved towards the mountainous border with Kurdish-run northern Iraq".
Vincent Boland and Alex Barker (Financial Times of London) report that Talabani declared today that "the PKK would announce a 'ceasefire'"; howevever, that "is unlikely that Turkey, which, along with the US and the European Union regards the PKK as a terrorist organisation, would respond to such a development, at least officially." At the White House today, press flack Tony Fratto took questions from the press revealed that the Bully Boy is not highly involved in averting the outbreak of further conflict in Iraq ("I'm not aware that the President has made personal calls on his own with the leadership there") but is instead pushing it off on the State Department and the Defense Department and denied hearing "official word" on any ceasefire while insisting that "we just want to make sure that the PKK stops these activities, stops these attacks. It's not helpful in that part of the world right now and so we want to see it stopped." But in April of 2004? That didn't come up. He also stated that the US cabinet members were "asking" the PKK to cease but then corrected himself with "not 'asking' the PKK, but addressing the situation of the PKK to stop these attacks on the Turkish people and the Turkish army." Al Jazeera reports that the PKK has denied, on their website, that they are "offering a ceasefire if Turkey abandons plans to launch cross-border raids against them" and that "Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reporting from northern Iraq said PKK fighters based in the region were not confirming the ceasefire offer. 'The leadership based here is denying that at this point of time a truce offer has been made,' she said, underlining the confusion." And of interest is that the White House flack doesn't know the White House talking point. Tabassum Zakaria (Reuters) reports that Bully Boy is stating he's been in talks with puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki and that "they agreed to work with Turkey to prevent the Kurdish rebels from carrying out attacks from Iraqi soil". Meanwhile, Talabani's long silence followed by justifications of the PKK led to a damage control interview -- or an attempted one -- with Georges Malbrunot (France's Le Figaro) where he stayed on message for most of the interview but then lashed out at Syria again (he lashed out at them repeatedly last week for their public support of last week's vote in the Turkish parliament) declaring that they are harboring a Ba'athis from Saddam Hussein's regime and that "Those people cannot be integrated into the national reconcialition process."


The previously mentioned 'talk' between the Bully Boy and the puppet of the occupation must have made for an interesting talk considering other developments. As Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) reported this morning, "In Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has condemned U.S. forces for carrying out a deadly ground and air raid on the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad. According to Iraqi sources, 15 civilians were killed including three children. Another 69 civilians were wounded. One local resident said some of the casualties were people sleeping on roofs to seek relief from the heat and lack of electricity. The U.S. military has denied any civilians were killed in the pre-dawn raid. In a statement the Pentagon said U.S. troops had killed 49 militants. " On Sunday, Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reported a Baghdad bombing that targeted US troops and US "Troops responded by bombing the area" -- this is the attack on a civilian population. Last night, Reuters reported the Baghad air strike killed at least two toddlers. Today, Christian Berthelsen (Los Angeles Times) reports that the US insists all 49 (the US military figure) who died are "criminals" and Iraqi governmental officials say "many of the victims were civilians" while a journalist working for the paper "said he saw the corpses of a woman and two small children. The wounded included two boys, 8 and 11, who were interviewed in their beds at Imam Ali Hospital by The Times. Another man said his 18-month-old son was killed, as well as a neighbor's son who was the same age." Al Jazeera reports, "Iraqi police and hospital officials said US helicopters and fighter jets bombed buildings during the 5am raid in the district. . . . James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Baghdad, said a television cameraman had filmed bodies of dead children. Several houses and stores were damaged. Clouds of black smoke rose from the area early on Sunday as sirens wailed, heavy gunfire echoed and US helicopters circled overhead, Reuters television footage showed. Relatives gathered at the Imam Ali hospital as the emergency room was overwhelmed with bloodied victims and the dead were placed in caskets covered by Iraqi flags." The US military is denying in some reports that an air strike took place (see previous Al Jazeera report for one example) but the BBC notes that the US millitary "called in air strikes." Bobby Caina Calvan (McClatchy Newspapers) speaks with eye withness Jassim Hashim who "said he had just set out to work when U.S. helicopters swept low over Sadr City, which is home to more than 2 million Shiites in Baghdad's northeast quadrant. He said the helicopters began raining fire on the city below. Hashim was shot in the leg, while two companions, he said, were seriously hurt. He said he also saw two neighborhood boys, one 13 and the other 14 years old, crumple to the ground as bullets struck them. Both died, Hashim said. Hashim identified the younger boy as Husham. 'The helicopters were shooting randomly here and there,' Hashim said."

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

Bomings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Baghdad bombings claimed 2 lives "in Zafaraniyah district" (eight more injured), 2 lives "near al Elwiyah" (thirteen more injured), claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier "in Al Jamia'a neighborhood" (two more injured), while 2 people died in a Babil bombing, an Eskandariyah mortar attack claimed 1 life and a Mosul bombing claimed the life of 1 police officers (with four other people injured).

Shootings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an engineer was shot dead outside Hilla city. Reuters reports "a former member of the ousted Baath Party" shot dead in Kut and that "local Sadr official in the town of Ifech" Abbas al-Ghurabi was found "critically wounded hours after local police had arrested him and that "Iraqi security forces arrest Abdul Hadi al- Mohamadawi, the head of Sadr office in Kerbala and his aide in a raid on the Sadr office in the city, police said. Kerbala is 110 km (68 miles) southwest of Baghdad."

Corpses?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 5 corpses were discovered in Baghdad while 2 were discovered in Kirkuk. Reuters reports 5 corpses discovered in Mosul (4 males, 1 female).

Turning to the subject of mercenaries, Blackwater USA continue to attempt to remake their image. Over the weekend, Bill Moyers interviewed Jeremy Scahill on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal (watch, listen and read). Friday, Cedric (substituting for Kat) observed, "It was a really strong discussion and the point that stands out to me most is the proposal that the FBI oversee Blackwater. Scahill explained how that was a joke. The FBI would set up an office in Iraq (probably the Green Zone) and be expected to oversee all 180,000 plus contractors in Iraq (more than the number of US troops in Iraq). That one office would then be responsible for investigating and then the issue would be decided in US courts. That's a joke. That's not oversight and the White House has so politicized the Justice Department that no one should expect justice. Scahill also made the point that not only does Blackwater protect the State Department and the Pentagon but when Congress goes to Iraq, their members are also protected by Blackwater. The idea that the FBI or anyone protected by Blackwater can offer oversight is just ludicrous." Wally (filling in for Mike) noted, "Bill Moyers shared that he wondered if Blackwater would be used to guard DC. He said that if there was an attack after the next president was elected, would we find mercenaries guarding DC? Jeremy Scahill talked about Blackwater going into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and how they were there before FEMA. I knew that part but I didn't know the part about Erik Prince sending in 150 without even being asked. About a week later, Homeland Security would give them a contract which is bad enough but do we all get that the mercenaries were sent in with loaded weapons on no authorization at all? Is that what America's supposed to be? Mercenaries can just enter a city and take over? That should scare the hell out of everyone." Moyers pointed out the p.r. push Erick Prince (CEO of Blackwater) had been on during last week:

JEREMY SCAHILL: Well, let's remember, this is a guy who prior to the September 16th shooting in Baghdad had only done one television interview ever. And it was right after 9/11 on Fox News with Bill O'Reilly. And during that interview, he said that after 9/11, the phone's been ringing off the hook at Blackwater. Other than that, this is a guy who hasn't really appeared in public. So, it was unusual to see him, A, appear before the Congress. And B, do this blitzkrieg of interviews. I think the message was very clear. He was trying to say we're a patriotic American company. That we're Americans protecting Americans. We want accountability for our industry. But there is also something that sort of reminded me of Jack Nicholson in A FEW GOOD MEN where he's talking about 'I eat my cereal, you know, meters away from Cubans who want to kill me.' Where Erik Prince uses terms like the bad guys and our blood runs-- runs red, white and blue.

BILL MOYERS: And nobody talks like that in normal life do they -- our blood runs red, white and blue.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Right. It's almost I think part of the point here was to say, look, you don't understand really, American people, what we're doing for you. While you're enjoying comfort here in the United States, we're over there protecting our-- men in women in uniform, our diplomats. I think that there's a way that he wants to increase the mystique about the company and the operations of Blackwater.

BILL MOYERS: But do you think he was motivated and his PR firm was motivated in part because he didn't do that well before Congress at the recent hearings into this investi-- into this shooting?

JEREMY SCAHILL: I think that Blackwater has made a very serious strategic error in how they've handled their publicity for years. And now, we're seeing the company go on the offensive. I think Erik Prince held his own in front of the Congress. And I attribute it largely to the fact that it appeared as though the Democrats didn't really do their homework on him.
I mean, here you have the man who owns the company providing the largest private army on the US government payroll in Iraq. A billion dollars in contracts. Twenty-seven of his men killed in Iraq. We don't know how many people he killed. No private actor in the occupation of Iraq has had more of a devastating impact on events in Iraq than Blackwater. And I just felt watching that hearing, and I went down for it, that many of the Democrats hadn't done their homework.

Is the p.r. push working? Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) reported today, "In North Carolina, police arrested seven protesters on Saturday during a demonstration at the headquarters of the private military company Blackwater. The protesters re-enacted the Sept. 16 shooting in Iraq when Blackwater forces opened fire and shot dead 17 Iraqis. Saturday's demonstration marked the first protest at Blackwater's headquarters since the company was formed." And the Chicago Sun-Times editorializes:If the U.S. government persists in outsourcing war to private contractors, those companies need to be accountable to the American people. They are not. The FBI investigation into the Sept. 16 killings of 17 Iraqi civilians by employees of Blackwater USA, a private security contractor, exposes a gaping lack of accountability. U.S. soldiers are investigated and tried under clear and established rules when accused of wrongdoing. A cottage industry that has grown exponentially since Sept. 11, 2001, private military companies are policed by a patchwork of rules and agencies that have left officials unclear on how to scrutinize and prosecute them. Contractors shouldn't be rogue militia, roaming the country shooting without justification and without consequences. This is especially true since the federal government has apparently hired out the Iraq war right under our noses: There are nearly as many private military employees there as troops.Stil the New York Times continued to carry water for Blackwater. As if minimizing the September 16th slaughter wasn't enough, as if trumpeting a report as being written by the US embassy staff in Iraq when it was actually written by Blackwater, as if attempting to turn Prince into the next Ollie North via a variety of lies (including that Prince has a crew-cut) weren't enough, Paul von Zielbauer shows up today to praise the small modifications in Blackwater's corporate logo which consist of making the bear-like paw print more like a bear's and reducing the gun site markings. PvZ dubs the older logo "rough-neck" (so manly, Pvz, so manly) but there was (and is) nothing "rough-neck" about the logo because the mercenaries of Blackwater were not in the business of going into towns plagued by rogue bears. The logo was not "rough-neck," it was xenophobic because the mercenaries were saying they'd track down any "animal" with their logo and "animals" obviously referred to people.

In the face of all the above, Bully Boy announces his illegal war needs more money. Bully Boy announced of his latest request, "The majority of the supplemental funding is for day-to-day -- is for day-to-day military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The bill provides for basic needs like bullets and body armor, protection against IEDs, and Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles. It also funds training missions, vital embassy programs, improvements in Iraq and Iraqi security forces, and intelligence operations that protect our troops. These are urgent military necessities, and the supplemental was prepared in close consultation with our commanders on the ground. This funding is what General Petraeus and other military leaders say we need -- and Congress ought to give it to them." The bill provides for? Almost five years into the illegal war and Bully Boy wants to claim that? Of course, he has made similar claims before and the fact that he has to make those claims yet again just indicates he's pushing another bill that will enrich defense contractors but do nothing to assist those on the ground. Bully Boy pushes another tax payer give away to his cronies and acts as if the funding has been day-to-day (period to period, actually) as a result of someone's actions other than his own. He has repeatedly refused to level with the American people about the real financial costs of the illegal war, electing instead to go for piecemeal measures that would make the appear far less. As with other bills he's insisted upon having, this one does nothing for those serving on the ground but will allow the DoD to get more big monied items. And it comes as news breaks about more robo-weapons being sent to Iraq. Bully Boy is not funding the service members, he is funding big corporations and an illegal war. As the slogan Tina Richards and IVAW coined says, "Funding the war is killing the troops." That reality remains despite Bully Boy's latest round of lies.

Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes, Valerie Plame discussed with Katie Couric how her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, calling out Bully Boy's lies of war led to covert CIA agent Plame being outed by the US government. Plame declared, "When I was outed on July 14th, 2003, I was, until that moment, covert. . . .We understood that he would be criticized deeply. I never once considered that in fact this administration would betray my identity as payback for his criticism." For those late to the party or who have swallowed GOP talking points, Plame was an undercover CIA agent. Her husband Joe Wilson was sent to Niger to see if Saddam Hussein was attempting to purchase yellow cake uranium from Niger. Wilson knew the country well and also knew Hussein well (stood up to him during Poppy Bush's presidency). Wilson went to Niger to check out the rumors and found there was no truth to them. In the 2003 State of the Union speech -- the only speech a president is Constitutionally mandated to deliver and, therefore, the only one that the oath applies to without any doubts or quibbles -- Bully Boy declared his 16-word lie about Saddam seeking yellow cake from Africa. Lie and the White House eventually (long after the illegal war started) had to retract it. In his 2003 performance for the United Nations, Collie Powell would make clear what country Bully Boy was referring to. Lies, lies, lies.Joe Wilson would go public with "What I Didn't Find In Africa" in the New York Times. The White House would immediately respond by leaking the fact that Valerie Plame was CIA. Robert Nov-a-hack would be the first to run with it. Valerie Plame would be outed, her career destroyed, by the US government -- the same government she worked for.



























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Friday, October 19, 2007

Wally filling in for Mike

Wally here filling in for Mike. In case anyone doesn't know, I do The Daily Jot and Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix and I do joint-posts now. Almost always humorous ones. But not always. We started doing that because we were both working on turn out the vote efforts for the 2006 election and we ended up figuring it would be easier to do one post together five times a week. We toss out ideas and it's a lot of fun. Thank you to my buddy because there are days when the Democrats are so awful, so cowardly, so corporate-loving, that I just want to yell my head off. Working with Cedric, I can manage to post.

Guess who else is posting? Our own Ruth has started her site Ruth's Report. She says it's going to be "more of a jot, like what you set out to do." She'll probably post three times a week and it will just be a few lines steering you to something worth hearing because it's good or because it's so awful.

Congratulations to Ruth and check out Ruth's Report.

Cedric just called and I'm going to stop blogging to catch Bill Moyers Journal on PBS because Jeremy Scahill's going to be on talking about Blackwater.

Back. That was the topic of the show for about 45 minutes, Blackwater. Bill Moyers shared that he wondered if Blackwater would be used to guard DC. He said that if there was an attack after the next president was elected, would we find mercenaries guarding DC? Jeremy Scahill talked about Blackwater going into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and how they were there before FEMA. I knew that part but I didn't know the part about Erik Prince sending in 150 without even being asked. About a week later, Homeland Security would give them a contract which is bad enough but do we all get that the mercenaries were sent in with loaded weapons on no authorization at all?

Is that what America's supposed to be?

Mercenaries can just enter a city and take over?

That should scare the hell out of everyone.

There's been a really strong push this week -- from the right and the left -- to dismiss Blackwater as a topic. Some on the left have tried to (badly) argue that calling out Blackwater is accepting that the illegal war is right. That's not reality. That's someone making themselves useless and showing up to scold.

(I'm sure people can think of at least one person on the left I'm talking about here.)

Blackwater does make things more difficult in Iraq. That is for Iraqis and that is for US service members. Pretending that's not reality doesn't make it so.

And showing up to scold everyone for giving attention to the issue is just nonsense.

The right is trying to excuse Blackwater and some of the left are saying, "That's not an issue! I have a more important issue!"

If your issue is so damn important, how about you write about it as opposed to showing up every few weeks to scream that no one is covering your issue? No one, by the way, would include you. And, by the way, some people are covering that issue.

Blackwater is an issue and the more people realize what is going on, the more likely that people will feel less likely to sign up with mercenaries. If the illegal war couldn't count on contractors, it would be a serious blow because Bully Boy's privatized so much of the illegal war.

Scahill explained that the military isn't normally responsible for protecting the State Dept. Generally, that's done by State Department guards. So that's another area that's been privatized.

Counter-recruiting is really important because it's cutting off the illegal war at the source. Efforts to get the truth out on Blackwater (and others) is also really important.

And if you're going to whine about Congress and what they said during their hearings, how about you do what C.I. did in real time (not how many weeks later) and call out that Congress member from Los Angeles, Diane something, who, in the House hearing, thanked Blackwater for their "service."

It's late so that's going to be it for me. Mike's at the Tori Amos concert tonight. I'm going to see her next month. We're all trying to help out tonight. Betty offered "Betty filling in for Rebecca" and Ty, Jim and Dona offered "Ty, Jim & Dona filling in for Elaine." Cedric's filling in for Kat. So be sure to check those out. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Friday, October 19, 2007, Iraq Moratorium Day. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces two more deaths, Amy Goodman shines a light on the Iraqi wounded, and more.

Starting with war resistance. War resister Camilo Mejia speaks Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin. Janet Parker (The Capital Times) notes, "This weekend at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, energy is building among student activists who are hosting a national event, Students Rising: The 5th Anniversary Summit of the Campus Antiwar Network. Their featured speaker will be brave conscientious objector to war, Camilo Mejia. In 2004 Staff Sgt. Mejia applied for a discharge from the Army. He was the first known Iraq veteran to refuse to fight, citing moral concerns about the war and occupation. His public talk will be in the Humanities Building, Room 3650, at 8 p.m. Saturday." Pablo Paredes is another war resister. On Wednesday, he was in Berkeley with CODEPINK and other activists to protest the recruiting center on Shattuck Ave. Henry K. Lee (San Francisco Chronicle) reports on the right wing activists descending upon the area to demonstrate their support for recruiting centers to send more people off to die in an illegal war and points out one right winger made a fool out of himself. The right-winger's son died in Iraq (this isn't in the article) and -- the then under-age son was able to join the military only because he signed a waiver. Instead of addressing that, he elected to scream at Pablo Paredes, "Are you a soldier? They wouldn't let you looking like that!" A soldier? Paredes was in the navy and was a Petty Officer Third Class. Lee writes, "Paredes said later that he had served five years in the Navy and that people of color like himself bore the brunt of military service. 'I think the color of my skin shouldn't make me be on the front line,' Paredes said, adding that he left the Navy because he refused orders and opposed the war in Iraq." Along with Mejia, Stephen Funk and Aiden Delgado, Paredes is one of the early faces of war resistance and they -- and many others including Carl Webb -- demonstrated from the start that the movement was not "White" -- despite the mistaken claims of many.

Demonstrating further the diversity is the fact that one Iraq War resister is the first officer to publicy refuse to serve in the illegal war. That officer is Ehren Watada. Today is Iraq Moratorium day and many participants will be showing their solidarity with Watada whose legal status is on hold as federal judge Benjamin Settle reviews issues arising from the first court-martial of Watada (in February) when Judge Toilet (aka John Head) declared a mistrial over defense objection which should have prevented any further court-martials due to the double-jeopardy clause in the US Constitution. In a letter to People's Weekly World entitled "Watada's Leadership," T. Kyoshi Nagano explains how Watada's refusal to engage in an illegal war was upholding the highest of military standards by juxtaposing Watada's statements with those of US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Watada: "I refuse to be silent any longer. I refuse to be party to an illegal and immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our agression. My oath of office is to protect and defend America's laws and its people. By refusing unlawful orders for an illegal war, I fulfill that oath today."

Gates: "For a real leader, the elements of personal virtue -- self-reliance, self-control, honor, truthfulness, morality -- are absolute. They are absolute even when doing what is right may bring embarrassment or bad publicy to your unit or the service or to you. Those are the moements that will truly test the leader withing you -- test whether you will take the hard parth or the easy path, the wrong path or the right path. The willingness always to take the right path, even if it is the hard path, is called character. In every aspect of your life, whether personal or professional, you must always maintain the courage of your convictions -- your personal integrity."

T, Kyoshi Nagano observes, "There is a tradition in the Japanese American community to act on personal belief from volunteer 442/Nisei Linguist (while their family and friends were in camps), the NoNo Boys and the Vietnam War resisters. There are words, yet actions speak loudly." While the federal court examines the issue of double-jeopardy, a stay has been issued through at least October 26th.

New war resisters pop up daily and some go public and some don't. One who has decided to go public is Michael Espinal who self-checked out and went to Canada after serving in Iraq. Denis St. Pierre (The Sudbury Star) reports that Espinal "witnessed -- and participated in -- authorized missions that saw hundreds -- perhaps thousands of innocent Iraqis killed, injured, imprisoned and humiliated, their homes destroyed, their families ripped apart. In Espinal's view, he and his colleagues committed numerous human rights abuses and criminal acts. When his first tour of duy in Iraq ended, he resolved not to return. . . . Espinal and his partner, Jennifer Harrison, who are expecting their first child in April, have been living in Sudbury for the last few weeks. They are the first Americans to attempt to settle in the city with the help from the War Resisters Support Campaign. War Resisters is a country-wide coalition of community, faith, labour and other organizations and individuals helping U.S. soldiers who seek asylum in Canada rather than fight in Iraq." [Note: They are posting video to go with the text. If you click on the link try later. There's also an excerpt of the article in this entry.]

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.

The National Lawyers Guild's convention begins shortly: The Military Law Task Force and the Center on Conscience & War are sponsoring a Continuing Legal Education seminar -- Representing Conscientious Objectors in Habeas Corpus Proceedings -- as part of the National Lawyers Guild National Convention in Washington, D.C. The half-day seminar will be held on Thursday, November 1st, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the convention site, the Holiday Inn on the Hill in D.C. This is a must-attend seminar, with excelent speakers and a wealth of information. The seminar will be moderated by the Military Law Task Force's co-chair Kathleen Gilberd and scheduled speakers are NYC Bar Association's Committee on Military Affairs and Justice's Deborah Karpatkin, the Center on Conscience & War's J.E. McNeil, the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee's Peter Goldberger, Louis Font who has represented Camilo Mejia, Dr. Mary Hanna and others, and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objector's James Feldman. The fee is $60 for attorneys; $25 for non-profit attorneys, students and legal workers; and you can also enquire about scholarships or reduced fees. The convention itself will run from October 31st through November 4th and it's full circle on the 70th anniversary of NLG since they "began in Washington, D.C." where "the founding convention took place in the District at the height of the New Deal in 1937, Activist, progressive lawyers, tired of butting heads with the reactionary white male lawyers then comprising the American Bar Association, formed the nucleus of the Guild."

Each Wednesday, CODEPINK protests at the military recruiting center in Berkeley. As Medea Benjamin explained to Kristin Bender (Alameda Times-Star), "Our message is very clear. We are peaceful people. We don't want to send our sons and daughters into this war. I think the sentiment of Berkeley is on this side of the street." Bender notes, "The Golden State in 2001 was the nation's largest source of new enlistees, with 23,503 residents joining the military in 2001. But in 2006, 2,400 fewer residents heeded the call, and today California ranks second behind Texas in recruitment." Aimee Allison and David Solnit address counter-recruiting in their book Army Of None: Strategies to Counter Military Recruitment, End War, and Build a Better World (published by Seven Stories Press and available at Courage to Resist). Speaking with Matthew Rothschild last week on The Progressive Radio, Allison noted, "One of the things that I think the military recruiters on the ground rely on are sustained access, regular access to high school kids in particular so they can develop relationships. For the recruiter, they become father or friend or guide and take students out to Burger King and, you know. But of all of the messages that they learn, that recruiters learn, through their hard sell and sustained selling techniques, they never mention the word 'kill.' And the reason why is because it's very deeply ingrained in human beings not to kill. And we've all had these kind of, someone makes us mad and there's a reason we don't act on that because our church, and our family and our society condition us against that kind of violence. So it's the center of the recruiters' message to tell them all the things they can do with their life without letting them know about what the military really is and that is an institution designed to train someone to kill on command and that was the most surprising thing for me in my own experiences." CODEPINK's actions (and the actions of many others throughout the US) are an attempt to break the myths and silence.

A backdoor draft currently exists and is more popularly known as "stop loss." In addition, the US government has set up the framework that would be utilized should the draft be reinstated -- including Selective Service boards. Kyle Knight (University of Southern Indiana's The Shield) explores what would quickly happen if the draft were reinstated, "First, all 20 year-olds must report to their local draft board then 21, 22, and so on. Other aspects of the draft also differ from Vietnam. The S.S.S. states that no one can cite school as a possible deferment. At most, the student could postpone until the end of the semester and not until they finish their degree. The S.S.S. states 'beliefs which qualify a registrant for C.O. status may be religious in nature, but don't have to be. Beliefs may be moral or ethical; however, a man's reasons for not wanting to participate in a war must not be based on politics, expediency, or self-interest.' To claim conscientious objector you must appear before your local draft board and present a written statement on the influence of your beliefs on your life and how you arrived at them. You can even include someone to speak on your behalf, then the Selective Service Appeal Board will either reject or accept your claim. If accepted you must engage in one of two alternative service choices."

From yesterday's snapshot: "Reuters notes that 'three tribesmen, members of a local "Awakenings Council" aligned to U.S. forces' were whot dead in Dhuluiya. On Tuesday, Sheikh Saleh Fezea Shneitar, his son and nephew were killed outside of Falluja -- the sheikh was a member of "Anbar Awakenings Council," a group that works closely with the US military and whose members have been increasingly targeted for their collaboration. In a White House press conference today Nouri al-Maliki's spokesperson denied that the resistance was 'getting more sophisticated in who they go after'." Today, Ali al-Fadhily (IPS) explores the issue of collaborators zooming in on Abdul Sattar Abu Risha who was killed on September 13th, "It is no secret in Anbar province that Abu Risha's activities were not legal either before or after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. When the U.S. government began to support the 'Awakening of Anbar' led by Sattar Abu Risha, which operated under the flag of fighting al-Qaeda [in Iraq], some people did begin to think differently. 'Americans always choose the worst of their collaborators to be leaders of their campaigns,' Sheikh Ahmed Ali of the Muslim Scholars Association told IPS in Baghdad. 'Look at the governments and councils they choose to lead Iraq. This Sattar Abu Risha only provoked a division among the people of Anbar, and that was exactly what the Americans wanted'."

In some of today's reported violence . . .


Bombings?

Reuters notes a Baghdad mortar attack that left three wounded.

Shootings?

Reuters notes an attack on a Riyadh police chief that left two guards injured.

Corpses?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 6 corpses were discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes two corpses were discovered in Muwailha.

Today the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier was killed and one other wounded when their unit was attacked by an improvised explosive device and small arms fire in a southern section of the Iraqi capital Oct. 18." And they announced: "A Task Force Lightning Soldier based in Salah ad Din province died as a result of a non-combat-related illness Wednesday after being evacuated to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany." ICCC's total for the month of October thus far is 26 dead with 3832 US service members killed in the illegal war since it started.

Turning to the topic of wounded US service members, yesterday on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, Rehm spoke with the Washington Post's Anne V. Hull and Dana Priest about the issue of medical care provided by the Veterans Affairs Dept. (for Hull and Priest's prior reporting at the Post on this issue click here).

Diane Rehm: What's extraordinary is that you say, Dana, the current Veterans Administration is pulled at the seams with some 800,000 cases of backlog.

Dana Priest: Yep. And it seems like it was just a surprise to them that this was going to happen. I don't know if anybody's tried to explain it away but certainly they haven't done a good job if they have. And not only do they have the case backlog, but they also are trying to merge the two disability systems. This is one of the recommendations -- the main recommendation -- of the Donna Shalala and Bob Dole panel that has just given the president their recommendations. They want to merge these two systems and, and -uh, give the burden to the VA to rate, to determine the level of disability that each soldier has and what will be their benefit, their pension, their disability payment from then on. So it's probably a good idea -- a lot of people do think it is a good idea because the army is having such trouble doing it. But it will add a lot of people onto the VA -- into the VA system -- that is already overcrowded and one assumes that they will be getting a lot more funding and some other personnel to do that.

[. . .]

Anne Hull: . . . And the heart of what Bush sent to Congress is, as Dana said, and to let the military determine whether or not a soldier is fit for duty let the VA rate for disability. And that's a huge culture shift and that is going to require legislation. There's already a lot of pushback from veterans' organizations who do not want the disability compensation system tinkered with in any way, it's known as "the third rail." They're afraid that older veterans might lose out and the younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are obviously concerned about their generation. Secondly, it expands family leave. The spouse of a soldier can get up to six months of unpaid leave --

Diane Rehm: Unpaid leave.

Anne Hull: Unpaid leave, that's right. In a two year period. So this is basically to safe guard their job but not to provide them money while they're caring for the wounded.

Diane Rehm: But how do they -- how do they manage while they're taking the six-month unpaid leave?

Anne Hull: This is the big story. This is . . . You know, we had a story on Sunday, one soldier's one year war becomes a wife's endless war. It is put upon the families to carry the burden of having a wounded soldier or marine in their life.

Dana Priest: And it's going to be awfully hard to monitor the getting the job back. I mean, it's already difficult for people who go away in the Guard and Reserve to make sure that they get the job that they had back as required by law and this is virtually unenforceable. The other recommendation they made had to do with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]. And that would -- it opens up the door to say, "You don't have to prove to us when you got it or why you got it. Come on in and get an evaluation if you think you need it."

On Monday, Anne Hull participated in an online exchange at the Washington Post and it needs to be noted that the Turners (the subjects of the Sunday story) have received an outpouring of support from people (donations can be made care of the Washington Post, address at link) but where is the government, where is the VA? On the reporting she and Priest have been doing, Hull responds in the exchange as to how she and Priest have found their stories, "People have asked us this question over and over on the Walter Reed stories and the answer is quite simple: wounded soldiers and their families are frustrated and many feel abandoned by the country that they fought for. They don't feel heard. Many feel out of sight and forgotten, a long way from the bright parades of deployment. So they are okay about opening up and talking and letting us witness the small details of their lives, and almost to a person, the response is always this: 'As long as this will help other soldiers'." And, speaking to Rehm on Thursday, she noted that "we probably still get five calls, ten calls a day".

Staying on the topic of veterans, The War Comes Home's Aaron Glantz (IPS) covers the case of James Eggemeyer, a 25-year-old homeless veteran, "By December 2006, when James Eggemeyer filed a disability claim with the Veterans administration, he had already joined the ranks of the United State's burgeoning population of homeless veterans, and was living out of his girlfriend's Ford Explorer. So when the VA responded with a letter to his old address requesting that he come in for a physical examination, he missed the appointment. It's a vicious cycle so familiar to homeless people across the country. They need help from the government because they don't have a home, but can't receive mail because they don't have an address. . . . Since the start of the Iraq war, the backlog of unanswered disability claims has grown from 325,000 to more than 600,000. On average, a veteran must wait almost six months to have a claim heard. If a veteran loses and appeals a case, it usually takes at about three years. Veterans groups maintain that the backlog amounts to official negligence. Since the launch of the Iraq war more than four years ago, the number of people charged with reviewing and approving veteran's disability claims has actually dropped. According to the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA employed 1,392 Veterans Service Representatives in June 2007 compared to 1,516 in January 2003." An earlier, audio report Glantz did on homeless veterans can be found here.

Turning to US politics, Margaret Kimberley (Black Agenda Reports) weighs in on US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, "Activists must keep protesting at her house and working for her defeat in the 2008 congressional elections. They must also cease cooperating with her. The farce must end before it is too late. Pelosi, like Bush, has no loyalty to her constitutionally based responsibilities. She must no longer be treated as though she is a friend when she has proven herself to to be an enemy. Civil liberties groups and antiwar groups must stop meeting with Pelosi or her staff. They must finally realize that they can only play a role in movement politics. It is said that insanity is defined as repeating the same action over and over yet expecting a different result. Progressives have waged many righteous battles in the last seven years, but they are about to go down in history as insane actors in a badly written play."

Today, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) spoke with Cole Miller (No More Victims) about his organizations work in raising awareness on the Iraqi wounded who noted "what was shocking was so many people in South Carolina seemed to be simply unaware that children were being hurt in Iraq. And that's, of course, a pretty profound criticism of the mainstream media." Amy Goodman then interviewed Salee Allawee a ten-year-old victim of a US air strike (precision, no doubt -- that is sarcasm) in which she lost both of her legs and Salee's father Hussein Allawee Feras:

AMY GOODMAN: Salee, you're wearing lots of jewelry. Can you talk about where you got it from?

SALEE ALLAWEE: [translated] This is from Georgia, and this is from South Carolina. So they are both from South Carolina and Georgia.

AMY GOODMAN: So these are all from friends you have made here in the United States?

SALEE ALLAWEE: [translated] These are her best friends, Ann and Cole.

AMY GOODMAN: From here. You have come here to America and have gotten new legs?

SALEE ALLAWEE: [translated] Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: How does it feel?

SALEE ALLAWEE: [translated] It feels good. One of my legs just hurts so much, and so I think it's just infected. It hurts when I wear it.

AMY GOODMAN: Hussein, how has it been for you to come to the United States? Can you -- we just watched the video where you describe what happened to Salee. Can you describe what you felt when you were invited to America?

HUSSEIN ALLAWEE FERAS: [translated] Honestly, I want to start with -- I thank very much the good American people. It is a very late information that we learned that the American people are good people. Because the US military is so harsh, they didn't leave us any time to feel that there are still good people in the US, that we just felt that everyone in the US is like the American army. But honestly, when I came to the US, I just saw a lot of people who were very interested to help Salee and other than Salee. I couldn't believe it. A big difference. Alas, we had a very bad impression on the people in the US. The American soldiers, alas, are really harsh on us.

AMY GOODMAN: You lost -- well, your daughter lost her legs, her best friend. You lost your son?

HUSSEIN ALLAWEE FERAS: [translated] Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: In that attack?

HUSSEIN ALLAWEE FERAS: [translated] Yes, the same incident.

AMY GOODMAN: And your other daughter?

HUSSEIN ALLAWEE FERAS: [translated] Yes. One of her legs has to be cut off.

AMY GOODMAN: Salee, what do you tell American children about what happened to you?

SALEE ALLAWEE: [translated] I want to tell them thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: Are you going back to Iraq, Salee? Are you afraid to go back?

SALEE ALLAWEE: [translated] No, I'm not afraid.

AMY GOODMAN: How do you feel about going back, Hussein?

HUSSEIN ALLAWEE FERAS: [translated] As you know, my body is here, but my soul is over there. And I don't think worse things are going to happen in Iraq.

AMY GOODMAN: What was your experience with the US military before the air attack?

HUSSEIN ALLAWEE FERAS: [translated] There is nothing good to tell. Two months after the incident where Salee was injured, again random shooting started to happen in the neighborhood. At 3:00 in the morning one night, a tank was firing at a house while people were sleeping inside, and I saw the roof of that house collapsing on the people inside. We spent eleven hours to dig through the wreckage, trying to find someone who's alive, because we heard someone's voice who was still alive. Seven people out of eight were killed in that attack. Only one baby, who was four months old, was alive, and we were able to get him outside. And he's still alive. And now he's in Fallujah. This is one of the hundreds of thousands of the incidents and miseries Iraqis face every day.

Closing with TV. Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes, Valerie Plame shares her story with Katie Couric. On Friday, PBS's NOW with David Brancaccio looks at immigration in America and "catches up with two New Jersey mayors who have sharply different -- and politically surprising -- approaches to dealing with undocumented immigrants in their communities" -- Democrat Don Cresitello (Morristown) wants to use federal enforcement powers, Republican Bob Patten has created "Sanctuary City". (Friday on most PBS stations, check local listings).





























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