Tuesday. Where's my weekend? I need my weekend. :D
So for tonight's theme, I went with Philip Dacey's How I Escaped From The Labyrinth And Other Poems which was published in 1977. That was really an enjoyable book of poetry to read. I would call it "a page turner" and I highly recommend it.
Picking one poem was hard. I went back and forth between "The Row Boat" and "The Rise And Fall" before finally realizing my favorite was neither. My favorite is on page ten of the book.
"The Cat"
He has a history
of long, silent
descending
from trees.
He lands
years later
in the laps of women.
He bring with him
a memory
of waiting deep in leaves,
of bright claws he now
is amazed to find
grown short and tucked
like pale fingers
into the folds off a dress.
He has fallen
out of a life.
He tries to remember
a lake in a clearing,
but each time he would drink
from tht memory
he discovers
in a blue saucer of milk
his face like a head served up on a plate.
I love the way we get a twist at the end. That's what really made it for me. I was enjoying the whole poem but that twist, that "his face like a head served up on a plate."
Okay this is from Kenneth J. Theisen's "Obama Asks for Billions More in War Funds:"
In Obama’s written request to the House of Representatives he stated, "Nearly 95 percent of these funds will be used to support our men and women in uniform as they help the people of Iraq to take responsibility for their own future (Italics added) — and work to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan…I also urge the Congress to focus on the needs of our troops and our national security, and not to use the supplemental to pursue unnecessary spending. I want the Congress to send me a focused bill and to do so quickly."
Barack's lying yet again. The money's going to defense contractors and others. There's no need for a fund to 'keep the war going'. I don't want the war to drag on but I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about that money is not going to Iraq for the troops. Barack's lying. I'll write about it more tomorrow but I've got a headache like crazy and I think I'm grinding my teeth lately (which would explain the headaches). So I'm going to stop here or I will be tearing a-holes left and right! :D
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Tuesday, April 14, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, Amnesty International issues a report on the KRG that is frightening (including a woman whose husband dumps her and she might get to stay on and see her children if she's able to be the household servant),
an Iraqi cartoonist talks about the lack of freedom, Col Gary Volesky tells the press the US may disregard that whole out of Iraq cities on June 30th issue, and more.
Starting with the attacks on Iraq's LGBT community to note some of the press the issue has received. Neal Broverman (The Advocate) covered it noting US House Rep Jared Polis' visit to Iraq and his calling "on U.S. and Iraqi officials to launch an investigation into a spate of recent murders of gay men in Iraq." He quotes Polis stating, "The United States should not tolerate human rights violations of any kind, especially by a government that Americans spend billions of taxpayer dollars each year supporting." Jessica Green (UK's Pink News) covers the story here and quotes Amnesty International's Niall Couper stating, "The gay community in Iraq deserves protection and that means their leaders need to stand up for them. Amnesty International is calling on Nouri al-Maliki to condemn all attacks on members of the gay community, publicly, unreservedly and in the strongest terms possible."
Staying with the human rights organization, today Amnesty International released a report [PDF format warning] entitled "Hope and Fear: Human Rights In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq." The report is 46 pages of text exploring the KRG
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq, unlike the rest of the country, has generally been stable since the 2003 US-led invasion. It has witnessed growing prosperity and an expansion of civil society, including the establishment of numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in the promotion and protection of human rights. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has made progress in the field of human rights. In mid-2008 it released hundreds of political detainees, many of whom had been held for years without charge or trial. It hasimproved Iraqi legislation; the Press Law of September 2008, for example, expanded freedom of expression, and amendments to the Personal Status Law passed in October 2008 strengthened women's rights. The authorities have also established several bodies to monitor and prevent violence against women, including specialized police directorates and shelters. Platforms have been established to foster dialogue between the authorities, particularly the Ministry of Human Rights, and civil society organizations on human rights concerns, including violence against women. Despite these positive and encouraging steps, however, serious human rights violations persist and still need to be addressed. In particular, urgent action by the government is required to ensure that the KRG's internal security service, the Asayish, is made fully accountable under the law and in practice, to investigate allegations of torture, enforced disappearances and other serious human rights violations by the Asayish and other security and intelligence forces. As well, more needs to be done to end violence and discrimination against women, building on the progress achieved so far, and to enhance the standing in society and life choices available to women and girls. Thirdly, the KRG must take steps toprotect and promote the right to freedom of expression, including media freedom, taking into account the vital role of the media in informing the public and acting as a public watchdog. It is these three areas which form the focus of this report. Since 2000, thousands of people have been detained arbitrarily and held without charge or trial in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, in some cases for more than seven years. The vast majority were suspected members or supporters of local Islamist organizations, including both armed groups and legal political parties that do not use or advocate violence as part of their political platform. Some were tortured or otherwise ill-treated in detention. Invariably, detentions were carried out by members of the Asayish, without producing an arrest warrant, and those detained were then denied access to legal representation or the opportunity to challenge their continuing detention before a court of law or an independent judicial body, throughout their incarceration. Some detainees were subjected to enforced disappearance, including some whose fate and whereabouts have yet to be disclosed -- typically, following their arrest by the Asayish or the intelligence services of the two main Kurdish parties, their families were unaware of their fate and whereabouts and were unable to obtain information about them, or confirmation of their detention from the authorities. Dozens of other prisoners, meanwhile, are under sentence of death having been convicted in unfair trials. Despite welcome government efforts to address "honour crimes" and other violence against women, it is clear from comparing survey data on violence against women with the number of police recorded cases of violence against women that the vast majority of such incidents remain unreported. Even when women have been killed or survived a killing attempt, many perpetrators have not been brought to justice -- often because investigations have failed to identify the perpetrators or because suspects remain at large. Freedom of expression continues to be severely curtailed in practice, despite the recent abolition of imprisonment for publishing offences. Journalists have been arrested and sometimes beaten, particularly when publishing articles criticizing government policies or highlighting alleged corruption and nepotism within the government and the dominant political parties. Again, the hand of the seemingly all powerful and unaccountable Asayish and other security agencies is alleged to be behind a number of these attacks. One journalist was killed in July 2008 in suspicious circumstances. This report details a wide range of human rights violations committed in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in recent years. In particular, it sheds light on violations such as arbitrary and prolonged detention without charge or trial, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill treatment, the death penalty, unfair trials, discrimination and violence against women, and attacks on freedom of expression. It includes case studies to illustrate these abuses. The report also puts forward numerous recommendations which, if implemented, would go a longway towards reducing such violations. Much of the information contained in this report is the outcome of a fact-finding visit conducted by Amnesty International in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq from 23 May to 8 June 2008, the first such visit by Amnesty International for several years. Amnesty International submitted its findings, in the form of two memoranda on human rights concerns, to the KRG in August 2008 and sought its response. The responses received in communications from the KRG Ministry of Human Rights at the end of 2008 are reflected in this report.
The reports notes the issues of difference between the KRG and Nouri al-Maliki's Baghdad government including oil-rick Kirkuk (which both want) "and certain towns and villages in the governorates of Diyala, al-Ta'mim and Ninawa (Mosul)". They note the 2005 Consitution required a December 2007 referendum was supposed to be held to determine the fate of Kirkuk but it has still not taken place. The report explains, "The Iraqi central government and the KRG have also had major disagreements about control of oil revenues and oil exploration. After months of negotiation and amendment in various committees, a national oil and gas draft law is now reported to have been submitted to the Iraqi Council of Represenatiaves for approval. However, an oil and gas law has already been introduced in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the KRG has issued oil and gas exploration contracts" for some time now leading to more tensions between Baghdad and Kirkuk.
The peshmerga is the KRG security force that is most often covered in the press. In addition there is "the official security agence" for the KRG, Asayish. Due to intra-ministry conflicts within the KRG, Asayish was taken out of ministry control and placed under the president -- president of the KRG (Masoud Barzani) not president of Iraq (Kurdish Jalal Talabani). Conflicts still remain between the two dominant political parties of the region (KDP and PUK) so "there are still two separate Asayish entities" and each party controls their own intelligence agency with the KDP having the Parastin and the PUK having the Dezgay Zanyari. In addition, the agency spoils are divied up as well: Jalal's son, Pavel Talabani, heads the Dezgay Zanyair and Masoud's son, Masrour Barzani. Not only is nepotism practiced, there is no accountability. Each city and town has an Asayish prison. The imprisonments have been arbitray and often taken place without either charges being pressed or trials being held. Responding to Amnesty's earlier concerns, "the KRG Ministry of Human Rights informed Amnesty International on 19 October 2008 that the authorities had released more than 3,000 detainees from the detention centres of the security forces during 2007 and the first half of 2008." Despite this, when Amnesty toured "the Kurdistan Region in May - June 2008, hundreds of detainees were still being held without charge or trial, most of whom had spent years in prison." Of those Amnesty were told had been released, it turns out many of the releases can be considered "conditional" and prisoners are "required to report to the nearest Asayish office every week." Despite having prisons in every city and town, the imprisoned are often held in secret prisons. Prisoners are regularly denied contact with attorneys and with their families. Reports of torture are common.
The study then turns to the disappeared and specifically notes some of them. 33-year-old Badran Mostafa Mahmoud had been praying at a mosque when he was seized, never to be seen again. 35-year-old Hedayat 'Aziz Ahmad Karim was seized Feb. 10, 2007 (apparently by Dezgay Zanyari forces) and he has not been seen since (one person states he saw Hedayat in a prison). 41-year-old Wahed Hussain Amin worked at a water treatment plant and is the father of four children. He was taken outside his home June 28, 2006 (by Asayish) and has not been heard from since. 33-year-old Farhang Ahmad 'Aziz was taken outside his home August 27, 2003 and not been seen since. 31-year-old Hoshyar Saleh Hama 'Aref was taken from his home September 10, 2003 (by Asayish). His family was twice allowed to visit him in prison, once in March 2004 and again in October of the same year but not since then and they cannot find out his current location or any information. Karim Ahmad Mahmoud disappeared after being taken outside his house May 15, 2000. 'Abd al-Jabbar Qadir Hassan was taken by Asayish on September 1, 2001 and has not been since.
Those who are imprisoned and are not disappeared share gruesome details. Aras 'Omar Faqih Farah was held in Erbil at an Asayish prison from 2004 through 2008 and was tortured with "electric shocks on different parts of the body, especially his back, and left naked while exposed to extreme heat in the summer and extreme cold in the winter. Najat 'Abdel-Karim Hamad was impsioned by Parastin at Salahuddin from 2004 to 2007, then transfered to Asayish prison until spring 2008. He was tortued so badly he was left with a broken rib and hearing loss. One who remains impisoned is Srood Mukarram Fatih Mohammed who is a journalist with al-Sumarriya:
He told Amnesty International that he was arrested on 17 April 2007 from his home in Erbil by around 20 people who were armed and wearing uniforms. The men searched the house, arrested him without an arrest warrant, and confiscated some books, CDs and a computer. They blindfolded him and forced him into the boot of one of the cars. For 53 days the familly did not know his fate and whereabouts. Eventually, his mother received information that he was being hled at the Asayish prison in Erbil and then was able to visit him, although Asayish guards watched throughout and remained within earshot.
Srood Mukarram Faith Mohammad was brought before an investigation judge two months after his arrest, by which time he had "confessed," under torture, that he was a member of a terrorist group. During his first two months in detention, he said, he was kept blindfolded in solitary confinement, beaten with a cable on different parts of the body and threatened that his wife would be detained and raped by guards in front of him. The family engaged a lawyer at the beginning of of 2008 but he was prevented from visiting Srood Mukarram Fatih Mohammad on several occasions. Srood Mukarram Faith Mohammad was charged with having contacts with terrorists and the case was sent to Erbil Criminal Court; however, the court is reported to have returned the dossier to the investigative judge on three separate occasions on the grounds that the information was not complete. Srood Mukarram Fatih Mohammad is said to be still detained in Erbil.
If you make it through all of that and actually get a hearing, expect new problems. You may learn you're going a trial less than an hour before you do. Don't worry though, the court appointed attorney will have just enough time to shake your hand in the courtroom as you meet before the trial starts, just enough. And the courtroom? It may be a real courtroom but, more likely, you may get to 'enjoy' the maze of 'secret' courtrooms.
The report then moves to the issue of violence against women. Hey, remember when 'reporter' Kevin Peraino (Newsweek) was telling us all about the groovy new trend, the must have for all Kurdish teen girls of burn scars? (Yes, Kevin Peraino is such an extreme idiot that he actually wrote a report -- "Why Are Kurdish Women Dying of Burns?" -- where he floated his theory that setting yourself on fire was the 'in' thing to do and highly popular.) Over a 12 months period (July 2007 to June 2008) Amnesty found 102 women and girls listed as "killed" by "official records". The actual number is probably much higher and the official records do not note which are "honor" killings. The report notes, "In addition to the 102, a further 262 women and children died or were severely injured in the same period due to intentional burning, including suicides. Some women were reported to have been burned to disguise a killing." 23-year-old Cilan Muhammad Amin was murdered at the age of 23 (March 8, 2008), apparently because her brother thought she had a 'secret relationship'. After which her sister and her sister's husband set Cilan's corpse on fire in an attempt to hide the fact that she'd been strangled. From the report:In May and June 2008 Amnesty International delegates interviewed 16 women and girls staying in shelters and 16 women and girls held in detention centres in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This random sample included 20 interviewees who were or had been married. Of these, 12 said that they had been forced to marry, including six who were aged under 15 years when they were married. According to the Iraqi Personal Status Law, forced marriages (Article 9) and marriages of girls younger than 15 are illegal, but they continue to be conducted in private or religious ceremonies without those responsible being held to account.
Five of the 12 interviewees who had never been married were subjected to or at risk of violence because they had insisted to choose their partner. Some women reported that they had been raped, includinga 22-year-old woman who expected to be married to her rapist as his second wife in a settlement that also involved the rapist's daughter being married to one of her relatives. The Iraqi Penal Code supports such practice by excusing a rapist from punishment if he marries the victim (Article 398).
Six of the interviewed women reported that violence they had experienced or feared was related to allegations of adultery. Whilst the Iraqi Penal Code crminializes adultry by both husbands and wives (Article 377) such legislation has a disproportionate impact on women. For example, it may be used to harass women or to enable their husbands to evade responsibility for their children.
A 27-year-old mother of three children told Amnesty International that her father had forced her to marry an older man when she was just 13. Years later, she said, her husband falsely accused her of adultery because he wanted to divorce her and evade responsibility for supporting her. She was being detained in Erbil because of her husband's accusations. She said she had received only minimal education as a child and, alone, could not support herself and her children. She now hoped that her husband would allow her to return to the family home to live as her husband's "servant", if this was waht he required, so that she could at least be with her children.
And women who are the victims of violence repeatedly find what women elsewhere in the world do: We're far more likely to be killed by a 'loved' one than by a stranger. Women who have reported violence and attempted to 'move on' are stabbed to death by family members, murdered by their ex-husbands . . . The report is alarming but equally alarming is how much that is the case around the world and not just in the KRG. Attorneys attempting to help women soon find themselves receiving death threats.
We'll come back to the report in a bit but let's stay with the topic of Iraqi women and this is women in all of Iraq, not just the KRG. Rania Abouzeid (Time magazine) reports that a 2008 US State Dept report ("Trafficking in Persons Report") shamed Nouri al-Maliki's government and forced it to take some (limited) action including a proposed law which would hand out "tough penalties, including life imprisonment and a fine not exceeding 25 million dinars ($21,000) for traffickers if the victim 'is under 15, or a female, or has special needs.' The same punishment applies if the crime was committed by kidnapping or force, or if the criminal 'is a direct or distant relative or the victim's caretaker or husband or wife,' a tacit acknowledgment that victims are often tarfficked by people they know." Rania Abouzeid files another report exploring the victims. Atoor was a 15-year-old widow. Her husband was a police officer (19-years-old) who was killed in the violence that now characterizes Iraq: "After the obligatory four-month mourning period dictated by Islamic Shari'a law, Atoor's mother and two brothers made it clear that they intended to sell her to a brothel close to their home in western Baghdad, just as they had sold her older twin sisters. Frightened, she told a friend in the police force to raid her home and the nearby brothel. His unit did, and Atoor spent the next two years in prison. She was not charged with anything, but that's how long it took for her to come before a judge and be released." We're including that especially because from time to time, male US correspondents feel the need to repeat the lie that no one's ever heard of any brothels in Baghdad. They have always been in Baghdad, under Saddam's rule and after, they are not a myth and some of the US male correspondents playing dumb know that for a fact because they've visited them -- especially those males 'reporting' from Iraq in 2003 and 2004. In terms of selling them outright, Abouzeid explains that 20-year-old Iraqi women "are too old to fetch a good price" and that eleven and twelve-year-old girls can be "sold for as much as $30,000".
Back to ay Amnesty International's "Hope and Fear: Human Rights In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq." The final section is entitled "Attacks On Freedom Of Expression" and it catalogues a variety of abuses and attacks on the press by the government. In the KRG (as is true throughout Iraq), the bulk of the media outlets are owned by a political party and "the majority of media outlets follow the official line and avoid criticizing the KRG, the Asayish, the intelligence agencies and the two main political parties." Those who do not follow that unwritten law suffer. Kamal Said Qadir was imprisoned for reporting on "corruption and nepotism in the KRG." Mohammed Siyassi Ashkani imprisoned for allegedly "spying for another political party" (he was released after nearly six months and he was never charged with anything). Nabaz Goran "reported that a senior official in the KDP had insulted the Kurdish population of Iraq during a speech" and was beaten.Naseh 'Abd al-Rahim Rashid Amin reported critically of the peshmerga, told by Asayish to apologize in print, he refused and "was arrested and charged with defamation under Article 433 of the Penal Code (criminalizing defamation)," sentence to a 10 day imprisonment, his attorney successfuly won an appeal but the Asayish first beat him and then dumped his body. Aso Jamal Mukhtar beaten for writing critically of the government and then fired from the paper he worked for. Rezgar Raza Chouchani reported on the peshmerge and was imprisoned for six days and then banned from reporting. Souran Mama Hama reported on the PUK and KDP's corruption and nepotism and was shot dead. Marwan Tufiq imprisoned for insulting a martyr (you'd think a genuine martyr would have greater problems to address). Shwan Dawdi imprisoned for reporting on courthouse issues. Dr. 'Adil Hussain, imprisoned for reporting on sex "from a medical perspective."
Caroline Alexander (Bloomberg News) covers the report and notes, "Authorities have failed to significantly curb the powers of the security forces, or Asayish, Amnesty said. They have also failed to rein in the security arms of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which form the Kurdistan Regional Government, according to the report." BBC News adds, "The report, based on research conducted in 2008, said the number of detainees held without charge or trial had dropped from thousands to hundreds, but some had been held as long as nine years. It describes cases where individuals have 'disappeared' and detainees have been beaten and given electric shocks while in custody." Shamal Aqrawi, Missy Ryan and Giles Elgood (Reuters) observe, "Iraq is a dangerous country for journalists -- at least 135 have been killed in the line of duty since 2003 -- but Kurdistan is seen as especially closed to criticism of the state."
Amensty's compiling attacks on the press comes as Rod Nordland (NYT for Boston Globe) reports, "The Iraqi military put local journalists on notice on yesterday that their organizations could be shut down for misquoting officials, while the Iraqi government accused the news media of deliberately seeking to promote sectarian strife." For the Times, Nordland teamed up with Sam Dagher and they traced some of the recent assaults on the press. The two note that Salman Abed, the cartoonist whose illustrations were seized last week (see yesterday's snapshot) is calling for an apology and states, "What happened was an offense to freedom. We want to build a new country on liberal and democratic foundations."
xxx
Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report a series of Baquba house bombings -- of homes belonging to internal refugees who "had recently returned" and three people were wounded in the bombings.
Shootings?
Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report Monday a police officer was shot dead and another wounded in a Diyala Province raid, Monday in Sulaimaniyah 2 women and 1 man were wounded as police fired "randomly" and "Two civilians were wounded in two incidents that may have involved U.S. troops in Sulaimaniyah on Monday midnight."
Today at the Pentagon, a press teleconfrence was held with US Col Gary Volesky in Iraq. AFP's Daphne Benoit asked if, due to recent violence, he was "still confident that you're going to be able to leave the city by end of June as planned? And are you concerned it might actually worsen the situation?" He replied: "The 30 June date -- that's -- that's out there. We are conducting an assessment right now with our Iraqi counterparts to determine what the way ahead is for security in Mosul. And based on that assessment, a decision will be made what we will do on 30 June. If the Iraqi government believes we should stay in Mosul to continue the securiy progress, we'll support our Iraqi counterparts past 30 June and continue to build on the momentum that we've got here." Stars & Stripes' Jeff Schogol asked when this assessment would be completed and Volesky didn't have a timeline but "I know that I'm collecting the data right now". NBC's Courtney Kube returned to this topic clarifying that Volesky was stating that it's possible "US combat soldiers will stay in Mosul after June 30th" and Volesky responded, "If the Iraqi government wants us to stay, we will stay. And that's correct." Kube followed up with, "What's your understanding of what that would mean for the status of forces? Would there have to be some kind of a change in the status of forces agreement that went into effect several months ago? Or is that because the Iraqis are asking -- would be asking the U.S. to stay -- does it fall within the guidelines that were established?" Volesky begged off stating that was "way above my level". Volosky's remarks echo those of the top US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno (see yesterday's snapshot for the most recent example) and of Nouri al-Maliki. Kube's question regarding the security agreement was what's called the Status Of Forces Agreement. It 'requires' that US troops retreat from Iraqi cities no later than June 30th of this year. It also 'requires' all US troops to depart Iraq by the end of 2011. If the cities 'requirement' can be so easily tossed aside, it underscores how easily it can all be changed.
While the US is not leaving Iraq, US service members are being shipping there. In the US, AP reports West Virginia's National Guard is sending 50 Guard members to Iraq (their farewell ceremony is this morning) and the Dunn Daily Record reports a farewell ceremony in Fayetteville, North Carolina for approximately 4,000 National Gaurd members (30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team brigade). One not deploying Barbara Barrett (McClatchy Newspapers) reports "Army Sgt. 1st Class Chad Stephens, who earned a Silver Star for valor during a Baqubah firefight in 2004, isn't going back this time" due to a PTSD diagnosis.Fort Bliss will be sending troops to Iraq but one scheduled to depart will not. Lilliam Irizarry (Prensa Asociada) reports police authorities and military investigators said yesterday that US Army Spc Nokware Rosado Munoz took his own life (hanging) following arguments with his wife, Dalises Rosado. Nokware had already served two years in Iraq and reportedly did not wish to do another tour but was scheduled to report to Fort Bliss this week for the redeployment. Edilberto Rivera Santiago, director of the Division of Homicides, states, "They had a discussion, were having problems because he had been activated again."
Finally, independent journalist Sheila Casey explores Barack's Justice Dept and change, here's the opening:
Many of my friends, even fairly well informed people, fell for Obama's charm and vague promises and collapsed in tears on election night, believing that we would now get "change" and now had reason to "hope." It is understandable to want a Daddy figure to come swooping in out of no where to rescue us, but unfortunately there was never any good reason to believe that Obama was that person.
One can settle into a movie theatre and be swept away to a land of make-believe: ancient Japan, 19th century Wyoming, or a gritty story of inner city Baltimore. We silently exult when the hero escapes the bad guy and weep when he dies at the end in his lover's arms. But we won't be shocked when we see him alive and well at the Oscars, for we know it was just theatre. We know that if we saw him dancing with joy or sneering with contempt on the silver screen, it wasn't that he was really feeling those emotions. He was acting.
Film makers use trained actors, costume designers, set designers, makeup and hair stylists, lighting designers, music composers, cinematographers and script writers to create a world that seems real, but is 100% a fantasy.
So why is it that people who well understand the power of theatre have such a hard time believing that political campaigns use the same techniques to convey a false sense of reality? Or a false expectation of "hope" and "change?"
iraqamnesty international
rania abouzeidtime magazine
the new york timesrod nordlandsam dagher
caroline alexanderbloomberg newsbbc news
lilliam irizarrybarbara barrettmcclatchy newspapers
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Law and Disorder's disorder
Monday, Monday. Every other day, every other day of the week is fine, fine, fine. But whenever Monday comes . . . The Mamas and the Papas have to be one of the best rock bands of all time. I really believe that. I'm a huge fan and there are some people my age who come to close but I don't think anyone's been better. (Mamas & the Papas have the hit "Monday Monday.")
So I had an e-mail from a guy Saturday and I wrote him back because of the topic and I don't know if it made him feel any better but I'll just say right here that Derek is my friend and I love him. His first e-mail was about some tough times he's going through and had a question asking if I ever felt loved? I'm very lucky because I've never felt unloved. That goes to my parents who are just amazing people. It's also true that I've got six older brothers and sisters and one younger sister. So my kid sister always thought I was wonderful until she became a teenager and with six older kids, there was always a brother or sister that I hadn't ticked off on whatever day. So that's really not something I had to deal with and I'm so lucky not to have had that issue. I know a lot of people aren't as fortunate as I am.
And I also know that a lot of people don't know they're loved because some people have trouble saying it. I don't because that's just the way we were raised. But some people do and just because you don't hear the words doesn't mean you aren't, just something to think about.
Grasping for a transition. Oh, got it. C.I. loves me. Every body will tell you that. I'm the 'puppy' and can get away with pretty much everything. It's always been that way with C.I. The only thing that would ever tick C.I. off with me was if I was deliberately cruel to someone weaker. Otherwise, I'm the cute little puppy who can't get away with it all. (Or the overgrown puppy since I'm over six feet tall! :D) I've gone after some of C.I.'s friends here and some have complained to her. The response, "Are you honestly telling me that a college kid sharing his thoughts on you was traumatic?" :D (I know that because Elaine told me about it.) That made me laugh. I've told you before that there have been many times when I've thought, "Uh oh" after I posted something. But C.I. really doesn't care. I don't mean that in a, "I don't care about Mike." I mean I can write anything here and I've never had C.I. say to me, "Oh, I wish you hadn't."
So that's cool. (Yes, in addition to family I have friends like C.I., Wally, Cedric, Rebecca, Betty and all the gang plus my lifelong best friend Tony who love me. I also have Elaine but we don't talk about our relationship online.)
Now moving on to a related topic in that I'm about to gripe. What's Law & Disorder's disorder? I heard it today -- I try to check it each month to see if it's stopped drinking the Kool Aid yet. Today?
The Kool Aid's not being snorted but damn grow the hell up Michaels.
So Barack's done this and done that (broken promises, giving us Bush's third term) and what do we have, the mildest and weakest critiques. At one point Michael Ratner's saying that the point is that Barack's going to need his feet held to the fire just like the last White House occupant.
I guess that might fly with some people.
But I actually listened to the show before today. In fact, thanks to C.I., I've got several "Best of" sets of the show. So I know how Michael Ratner and Michael Smith held Bush's feet to the fire and it wasn't with namby-pamby resignation.
The Michaels were fire breathers. Dalia Hashad as well. (Heidi's always been the balancing element of the show. She gets upset about crimes as well but she usually ends up being the 'good' host in that she does all the grunt work on air -- setting up the guest, going over the points that have to be gone over, etc.)
So this sort of weak ass treatment didn't fly with me.
The Michaels were able to nail the problems but when those were Bush's problems, they went after him. They ripped him apart on air.
I am so damn tired of all the kid gloves for Barry Obama. Do you know there's a supposed "Green" who has bothered C.I. with e-mails asking that "Barry" not be used anymore. It's "disrespectful." Now the stupid ass never complained about Bully Boy or any other term (including "Dumb Ass") to describe Bush. Calling Barry by the name he grew up with is suddenly off limits. No wonder the Green Party sucks so much, they're always too busy licking the nuts of elected Democrats.
I appreciate that they didn't play like what was happening wasn't happening; however, I expect maturity and that means when we've got a War Hawk trampling on our civil liberties, he gets called out the same way Bush did because we called Bush out for that. Not because we didn't like him or because he was stupid. He was stupid. I didn't like him. But there are a lot of stupid people I don't like. Barack is continuing Bush's two terms and he wants to act like Bush's photo copy, he needs to be treated like one.
We need a laugh and this comes from someone who never worried "Can I tell a Barack joke? Is it okay?"" This is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Brotherly Embarrassment"
Let's talk Third quickly! Along with Dallas, the following helped with Sunday's edition:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ
and Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends.
And here's what we ended up with.
Truest statement of the week -- Adam Kokesh! He earned it.
Truest statement of the week II -- A famous attorney tells it like it is.
Truest statement of the week III -- Wally and Kat.
A note to our readers -- Jim breaks down the edition.
Editorial: No time and no interest is the message -- I really like this editorial. I think we did a good job with it and I also really love the illustration Betty's kids, Kat and Wally did.
TV: Women and sitcoms -- Ava and C.I. did an amazing job. When I read this Sunday, I was blown away. It's a roller coaster ride.
White House caught in another lie -- There was no sandstorm. Barack was just too chicken to leave Camp Victory. He wouldn't even go to the Green Zone. What a chicken.
"Take it up with Barack" -- We need a website preservation society. I am not joking.
Ty's Corner -- Ty has written a great column here.
Lt. Muthana Shaad's Gay Boy Chronicles -- This is a regular feature. You'll be seeing it. We're not letting Iraq's LGBT community go uncovered and we've made Shaad gay because an Iraqi police officer by that name has no problem trashing gays to the press and, no doubt, doing far worse face to face.
Movie roundtable -- This was a lot of fun. Sometimes you need a fun roundtable.
And the Katrina goes to . . . -- Aimee Allison. Ruth came up with this one. Good job, Ruth!
Acceptance -- This should have been much longer but everyone was in a rush.
ETAN -- Th elatest from ETAN.
Highlights -- Kat, Betty, Wally, Marcia, Stan, Ruth, Rebecca, Cedric, Elaine and I wrote this and picked out the highlights and that's it.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Monday, April 13, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces deaths, the 5 US soldiers killed in Iraq Friday return to the US, Nouri goes after the press, Iraq's LGBT community remains targeted, Barack's half-brother makes the news, and more.
Today the US military announced: "A Coalition forces Soldier died of injuries sustained during an explosively formed projectile attack on a convoy five kilomenters south of Karbalah, Iraq April 13 at approximately 7:40 a.m. The Soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the department of Defense. The incident is currently under investigtion." Yesterday the US military announced: "One U.S. Coalition Soldier died of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated in Salah-ad Din Province, April 12. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense." The total number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war is 4273. Friday 5 US soldiers were announced dead. Cindy Sheehan (Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox) observed, "Today five US soldiers were killed in Iraq and we won't ever know for sure how many Iraqis were killed. The families of the US soldiers will never have a 'normal' Easter again. All of their days will be filled with pain and longing, but holidays, birthdays and other anniversaries will be especially hard. My heart is breaking for the awful and pointless spiral of grief that these families are just embarking upon. Some may not yet know that it was their son, father, brother, uncle, or friend that was murdered today. I saw the report of Casey's death on the news at least five hours before the Army notified us." (Cindy's guest on the audio Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox this week are James Martinez discussing the finacial crisis, housing and more and Annie Garrison on the Blue Angels use of San Francisco to boost recruitment. That episode is posted online already.) It was Good Friday in 2004 when Cindy and her family met her son Casey Sheehan at the airport for the last time. Sunday the 5 US soldiers killed on Friday arrived at Dover Air Force Base. Jeff Montgomery (Delaware's News Journal) observes, "It was the heaviest loss of American lives in Iraq in 13 months, and the largest number of casualties returned to America in full sight of the public since the Defense Department opened the process to news coverage last week, after a 18-year blackout."
The Defense Dept identified the five as: "Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., 24, of Lebanon Junction, Ky., Staff Sgt. Bryan E. Hall, 32, of Elk Grove, Calif., Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr., 25, of St. Louis, Mo., Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch, 20, of Davenport, Iowa, and PV2 Bryce E. Gautier, 22, of Cypress, Calif." Sheryl Edelen (Courier-Journal) reports on Gary L. Woods Jr., "Woods' father, Gary Woods St., said that his son, who went by his middle name, Lee, was a talented musician who sang and played the trombone, drums, piano and guitar while a student at Bullitt Central High School. He was also a member of the school's football team. But after finding satisifation in ROTC classes, his son entered the military after high school, he said." Bob White (Lebanon Junction News Enterprise) adds, "Woods is surived by his parents, siblings and a wife, Christie, his father said." Tony Bizjak (Sacramento Bee) reports on Bryan Edward Hall, "Hall, 32, had served in the military for 14 years and had been deployed in Iraq since September. . . . Hall had received three Army commendation medals, according to military records, as well as several Army achievement, good conduct and war on terrorism medals." Dave Marquis (Sacramento's News10.net) quotes Debbie Lords, who is a neighbor of the Bryan Edward Hall's parents, stating, "I don't know what I'm thinking. I just really feel for John and Betty right now. It was their oldest son, their oldest child." Paul Hampel (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) reports on Edward Forrest Jr., "Forrest was based at Fort Carson in Colorado and lived near the base with his wife and two sons, ages 2 and one month. Forrest was a 2003 graduate of Rockwood Summit High School. He was on his third tour of duty in Iraq." His sister Melissa Forrest-Pliner tells Hampel, "I asked him not to re-enlist. I told him I didn't want him to be a hero. I just wanted him to be my brother." South County Times adds, "In high school, Sgt. Forrest, known as 'Eddie,' was a long distance runner on the track team, and was also on the wrestling team" and quotes his coach Rolland Garrison stating, "He was a very enthusiastic member of the track and field program here at Rockwood Summit. He was a very good kid with a great smile." Molly Hottle (Des Monies Register) reports on Jason Graham Pautsch, "David Pautsch was informed of his son's death Friday night, just 12 hours after the two had spoken on the phone. 'He believed n what he was doing,' David Pautsch said. 'This is what he wanted to do'." Nicole Murphy (WAQD, link has text and video) spoke with David Pautsch who explained the call he received, "'On behalf of the Secretary of the Army I just want to let you know, give our condolences and notify you that your son was killed in Mosul." Pautsch continues, "You're stunned and you're shocked and you find it hard to believe that it could actually be happening but then it seeps and that's when the emotions hit." Pautsch goes on to explain that he believes his son was protecting the US from the "terrorists" in Iraq and he also shares, "I'm thrilled for Jason that he's in heaven." Eugene W. Fields (Orange County Register) reports on Bryce E. Gautier, "Gauier, a medic, joined the Army in January of 2008 and had been in Iraq since January of this year, according to Army documents. He received the National Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. Gautier graduated in 2005 from Rancho Alamitos High in Garden Grove, according to school district spokesman Alan Trudell." Tom Roeder and Maria St. Louis-Sanchez (Colorado Springs Gazette) note Gauier's MySpace page and add, "His sense of humor is evident from a posting on the site, which Gautier last updated three days before his death. 'Winners make the rules, losers just follow them,' Gautier wrote. 'In the Army now.' Gautier's brother, Even, left a simple eulogy on his Web page: 'My brother Bryce was one of the American soldiers killed in the suicide bombing in Iraq this morning. I love you bro. I will miss you'."
In 'liberated' Iraq, gays and lesbians continue to be targeted for death. The Denver Post editorialized on the topic yesterday and opened with:
The U.S. State Department must not stand idly by if the Iraqi government fails to protect basic human rights, even if the persecution stems from traditional cultural or religious beliefs. We applaud Colorado Congressman Jared Polis for his efforts last week to shine the spotlight on the killings of homosexuals in Iraq, and to press the State Department to demand accountability from the Iraqi government. The first openly gay man to be elected to the House, Polis has been investigating the treatment of gays in Iraq for several months, according to The Post's Michael Riley. His research led to the discovery of a transgender Iraqi man who told the congressman he had been arrested, beaten and raped by security forces with Iraq's Ministry of Interior. Human-rights groups have passed information to Polis that claims another man was beaten into confessing he belonged to a gay-rights group and that the man had been sentenced to execution by an Iraqi court.
US House Rep Polis has made his letter to Patricia A. Butenis (Charge d'Affaires ad interim of the US State Dept) [PDF formart warning] here:
Dear Ms. Butenis:
Over the past week, I have become aware of egregious human rights violations against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Iraqis being carried out by Iraqi government officials from the Ministry of the Interior called "Magaweer al-Dakhilya." The information I received was derived from two separate testimonials of gay and transgender Iraqi men that were detained, tortured and sentenced to death for being members of an allegedly forbidden organization in Iraq called Iraqi LGBT. One of these invidividuals was able to escape, while the other was subsequently executed by Iraqi Ministry of Interior Security Forces.
While I do not know if these executions are being sanctioned at the highest levels of the Iraqi government, it is nonetheless distrubing that government officials and state-funded security forces are involved in the torturing and execution of LGBT Iraqis.
Even more disturbing was that the United States government appears to be largely unaware that the executions of gay and transgender Iraqis have been able to occur in Iraq given the enormous American presence. After reaching out to State Department officials in Washington, I was disappointed by their unwillingness to seriously consider these allegations and examine the evidence given to our office by international human rights watchdog organizations.
I urge you to use every channel at your disposal to properly and promptly invetigate these grave human rights violations. Please know that I will continue to monitor this situation and hope to be of assistance in this investigation."
At his Congressional website, Polis is quoted stating, "The United States should not tolerate human rights violations of nay kind, especially by a government that Americans spend billions of taxpayer dollars each year supporting. Hopefully my trip and letters to US and Iraqi officials will help bring international attention and investigation to this terrible situation and bring an end to any such offenses."
Last week, we noted the US State Dept and the United Nations have been silent on these and other attacks on the LGBT community in Iraq. The issue gets some attention today. BBC News explains Amnesty International states Nouri al-Maliki's government "must do more to protect" the LGBT community 'in the wak of a reported spate of killings of gay young men" and that they are pressing for "urgent and concerted action." Nigel Morris (Independent of London) explains that no arrests have been made in the recent murders -- he says six, it was seven -- and quotes Ali Hili stating, "Since mid-December we've been getting lots of reports about mass arrests and raids on houses, cafes, barbers shops." Mass arrests? It sounds like round-ups and those were common in Hilter's Germany where the LGBT community was targeted along with the Jewish community. (Iraq's Jewish community has been so targeted and so under assault that it barely exists at present.) Hili continues, "Most of the people who are arrested are found dead, with signs of torture and burns. We believe a war has been launched by the Iraqi Government and its establishment against gay people." As noted in the April 8th snapshot, the United Nations Secretary General issues statements all the time, condemning attacks in Iraq, but there has never been a statement from him on condemning the assaults on Iraq's LGBT community. And since the number reported continues to be in error, we'll drop back to the April 6th snapshot to again note:
In other violence noted over the weekend, Wisam Mohammed and Khalid al-Ansary (Reuters) reported Saturday that gays are being targeted in Baghdad, with four corpses discovered March 25th and 2 gay men murdered Thursday 'after clerics urged a crackdown'." Sunday Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reported the two were first "disowned" (by their homophobic and hateful families) and "The shootings came after a tribal meeting was held and the members decided to go after the victims." Tawfeeq reports the other were also disowned (and gives the date of their deaths as March 26th) and states a cafe in Sadr City was torched when it was said to be an LGBT hangout in Baghdad. The Dallas Morning News wrote a brief on the topic and UPI summarized Tawfeeq's report. AFP reported Sunday that the two corpses discovered Thursday "had pieces of paper attached on which was written the word 'Pervert" and that the two men were aged sixteen and eighteen and had also had "their arms and legs broken". In addition, AFP reports another man presumed to be gay was found on Friday -- which would bring the toll to seven -- and this follows Sheikh Jassem al-Muatairi's 'inspiring' sermon denouncing "new private practices by some men who dress like women, who are effeminate. I call on families to prevent their children from following such a lifestyle."
Seven. Not six. Tomorrow the San Francisco Board of Supervisors meets and among the items on the agenda are a motion "Condemning the persecution and murders of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Iraqi Citizens": "Resolution calling on the US Department of State to use all diplomatic channels to work with the Iraqi Government to stop the persecution of Iraqi Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) citizens and immediately stop the murders of Iraqi LGBT citizens." If that takes place (and it should), the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will be the first governing body elected by any group of people to condemn the killings and assaults.
Lee Woodruff is the author of Perfectly Imperfect: A Life in Progress. wowOwow has an excerpt of the book which is out next week:
When my husband was blown up by a roadside bomb in Iraq, shattering my world, it was my sisters who stepped into the void, along with some of my dearest girlfriends. They began the business of filling my shoes while I sat by an ICU bed, praying for signs of life. They lined up food deliveries, kept the curious from the door, organized rides for our kids and paid our bills. They understood the business of ministering.
"This sucks," my one sister said. "You guys don't deserve this." She knew she could tell it like it was. There was no room for sugarcoating, and I didn't want any sunshine blowing up my backside. The reality was grim.
Months later, it was my turn in the hospital, when doctors found a potentially cancerous tumor lurking in my abdomen. I turned to my other sister. "I want to be you," I said simply as I lay in my bed with the catheter, too weak to move.
Lee Woodruff's husband is ABC News' Bob Woodruff who was reporting from Iraq when he and Doug Vogt were injured in a roadside bombing January 29, 2006. The Bob Woodruff Foundation focuses on the physical and psychological wounds of war. While Bob Woodruff survived, Reporters Without Borders counts 223 journalists as having died in the Iraq War. (They actually break that does to media assistants -- we don't. The 'assistants' have long been doing reporting -- as would happen in any war zone but is especially true of the Iraq War.) The two most recent journalists known to have been killed in Iraq are Haidar Hashim Suhail and Suhaib Adnan of Al-Baghdadia TV who were killed March 10th in an Anbar Province bombing. So many reporters, Iraq and foreign, have been wounded and given their lives attempting to report from that country and it's not at all appreciated by thug-meister Nouri al-Maliki. Alsumaria reports:The Iraqi Government decision to detain back prisoners released by US Forces is subject to a political and security hassle. Baghdad Operations spokesman Brigadier Qassem Ata affirmed that the Command has ordered checkpoints to arrest all freed detainees recently released by US Forces. Ata told Al Hayat Newspaper that the operations command has distributed names and photos of released detainees on all checkpoints to detain them after they were involved in recent bombings in Baghdad. He noted that keeping those detainees out of prison will deteriorate the security situation and will threaten stability after US Forces withdraw from the cities to their bases at the end of June. Asked about the possibility of delaying US withdrawal after latest security incidents, Ata said the US military did not notify us about such intentions."The Times" British Newspaper expected yesterday to delay US Forces withdrawal from Iraqi volatile cities. The Newspaper quoted a US Army General as saying that insecurities in Mosul and Baaquba might force US Military to extend their military operations in those cities beyond June 30. This topic is one that upsets Nouri al-Maliki's thug government. Robert H. Reid (AP) reports the thug government is attempting to close a TV station (Al-Sharqiya) and a newspaper (Al-Hayat) over reports that al-Maliki's thugs are arresting the prisoners as the US releases them. Reid explains Nouri's government is bothered by the press explaining that arrests of Sahwa ("Awakening" Council members, "Sons of Iraq") might have been politically motivated. Yesterday Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) reported on the 12 killed Saturday in the suicide bombing attack in Iskandariyah as they attempted to collect their long overdue pay checks. Rubin explores the continued attacks on the Sahwa and the tensions in the Sunni community as a result. Rubin observes that for all the speculation over the very visible attacks (including arrests), the tensions were always there between the Sahwa movement (Sunni) and the US installed government in Baghdad which is dominated by Shi'ites (and by Iraqis who willingly went into exile and only returned to Iraq after the US invaded). Rubin notes the 27-day imprisonment of Sheik Maher Sarhan Abbas who was arrested "in secret and came to light when The New York Times by chance contacted someone who had seen him in jail." While the US continues to see Abbas as someone to be trusted and while his "Shiite neighbors trusted him" as well, Nouri's foces burst into his home on March 15th, "just after midnight, heavily armed men flung deafening smoke grenades into his home in Hawr Jab, a small village on Baghdad's southern outskirts, his family said. They burst into the bedroom where Sheik Maher and his wife were watching television as their 3-year-old daughter slept in a small bed next to them." Along with Nouri's goons, US forces were present and it's suspceted that they "were probably from a Special Operations unit". The latest hypothesis among "Awakenings" is that their Sunni enemies are telling lies to the Shi'ite government which, loathing the "Awakenings," uses any excuse to arrest them. Rubin includes this:A senior American official in Iraq was also skeptical of the motives for the arrests. "Why is the government doing this?" said the official, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the news media. "Every time we said to the government, 'You have to let this guy go,' they do it, which they wouldn't if they thought he was really dangerous," the American said. "I think they have their hand in the sectarian cookie jar."
Sudarsan Raghavan (Washington Post) reports on the continued tensions as well as the tensions regardding the Kurds. Of Baghdad, he notes:
Today, the city of oatmeal-colored minarets that straddles the Tigris River feels like a military base, with streets tangled by blast walls and checkpoints.
Backed by U.S. troops and advisers, Iraq's mostly Shiite national police and army control the city. They coexist uneasily with the local Sunni police force and the Sons of Iraq -- former Sunni insurgents who turned against the militant group al-Qaeda in Iraq and allied with the U.S. military.
Neither the local police nor the Sons of Iraq are allowed to protect the shrine, which is guarded by an array of mostly Shiite units sent by the central government.
"I don't believe that any people or city feel comfortable when they have an army from outside. The traditions from their areas are different than ours," said Sheik Mudher al-Naisani, a Sunni tribal leader. "That's right, this is one country. But it is better for Iraq that each serve in their own areas."
While most Iraqis believe that al-Qaeda in Iraq insurgents planted the bombs, many Sunni leaders here place the blame on the national police and U.S. troops who were guarding the shrine. Members of Iraq's national police force have committed some of the most horrendous sectarian crimes since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion; to this day there are widespread suspicions of infiltration by Shiite militias.
"It was a conspiracy," said Hussen, the Sunni council leader.
Are Sunnis who believe that right or wrong? It doesn't matter because they believe it. And that's a 2006 event and nothing was ever done to ease the tensions. These tensions do not go away, they do not vanish. They may get worked through by the parties involved but an outside power (the US in this case) can never impose anything because it doesn't last. The US has backed, armed and supported the Shi'ites thereby setting the stage for any bloodbaths that follow a US withdrawal. If those bloodbaths come (and they are likely), the withdrawal will not be responsible for them. The culprit will be all the years the US spent propping up a puppet government. Without the propping up, Nouri (or whomever) would have had to have made peace with the Sunnis long ago. They're too big of a population group for a leader to blow off and expect to remain in power unless the only reason the leader remains in power (as is the case with Nouri) is because a foreign government that installed him continued to prop him up. Barack's not promising withdrawal, he's promising a draw down. But at some point in the future the US will withdraw from Iraq. When that happens, any violence that follows is not because of the withdrawal, it is because of everything that came before. And, sidebar, Sudarsan Raghavan's done a wonderful job reporting in the above story; however, he's also done a wonderful job writing it -- so much so that it recalls the best of Rajiv Chandrasekaran.
In the summer of 2006, al-Maliki listed his 'plan' amidst the crackdown on Baghdad and it included attacks on the press. When the January 31st provincial elections took place in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces, al-Maliki attempted to strong arm the press and force them into signing agreements which would allow them to be punished and penalized if al-Maliki was displeased. His latest attacks on the press and freedoms are nothing news and part of a thug pattern which includes yesterday's news:In Iraq today, a committee in Parliament offered a rebuke of the police. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reports the committee was offended that the police raided an art show and seized an illustration "lampooning Iraq's prime minister." No word on whether or not he was in 'Muslim garb' and doing a fist bump. (For those who didn't catch that, it was a reference to the faux outrage over a New Yorker cartoon cover that demonstrated there's more than a little bit of Denmark in the US.)
On the topic of art, US Foreign Service Officer Aaron Snip (US State Dept's DIPNOTE) writes of rushing to pull off preparation for an important 2006 visit:
Part of my job as Public Diplomacy Officer is to share U.S. culture and values with Iraqis, but it's also to support Iraqi efforts to preserve their own culture. We asked the women to bring in examples of their work, and we hung their paintings along the walls of the meeting hall. Very few of the women had had formal art training. Painting was a hobby for all, a creative outlet for some, and an escape for others. Their artwork spanned the spectrum of their life's experiences. Some paintings were colorful and bright, while others were dark and depressing. All documented the lives of women in Muthanna. We chatted with the women about doing a larger gallery showing. Would they be interested in holding a multi-city art exhibition if I could get the funding? They were thrilled with the idea. What began as a meeting with a stoic group of Iraqi women with canvases in hand, ended in a beehive of excitement with ideas flowing freely. Here was a demographic that seldom had the chance to speak out. Their art resonated with me deeply, and I was committed to finding a way to help these women tell their stories. I went back to my office that evening and immediately began to work on a proposal. In no time at all, my proposal was approved (who says the Federal Government moves at a glacial pace?), and I was busy working with an NGO to purchase art supplies and canvases for each of the exhibit participants. The artists would paint submissions for an exhibit that would show in Muthanna's three largest cities, Samawa, Rumaytha, and Khider, sometime in the spring. For the artists, it would be the first time most of them had ever displayed their art publicly. One woman told us that she had painted for years, but feared no one would ever see her work. Another woman, considerably older and pointing to a young woman next to her, proclaimed, "I am here for my daughter-in-law! I told my son, 'he must support her dreams!' So I am here to make sure she has a chance!"
For more, you can refer to Aaron Snipe's second blog post. Meanwhile, Iraq was once a book lover's paradise. Corinne Reilly (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "The widespread looting that followed the invasion destroyed library collections across Iraq. Booksellers and publishing housing closed as violence spread, and the priorities of many Iraqis shifted from reading and learning to staying alive and finding ways out of the country. In 2007, a series of explosions ripped through Baghdad's Mutanabi Street, shutting down the book market known for decades as Iraq's most popular gathering place for intellectuals and bibliophiles. Many of its shops and cafes have only recently reopened." By the way, returning to the topic of the press, Russell Crowe is outstanding in State of Play and, while discussing the film, Mary Riddell (Telegraph of London) addresses the global problems newspapers are facing -- as opposed to the fairy tales the New York Times served up this morning. (Ben Affleck is also amazing in the film as is Robin Wright Penn. And Helen Mirren is in State of Play. Translation, Helen Mirren is wonderful as always.)
Turning to some of today's other reported violence (we started with some of today's violence) . . .
Bombings?
Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report a Baghdad grenade attack which wounded four people and they drop back to Saturday night to note a Balad sticky bombing which claimed the lives of 2 Sahwa members
Shootings?
Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report Turkoman Abdulraham Aziz was shot dead outside his home Sunday while another person was shot dead in Mosul last night. Reuters notes 1 person shot dead in Kirkuk today and, dropping back to Sunday, a Mosul home invasion in which 1 person was shot dead.
Corpses?
Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report a police captatin was kidnapped in Anbar Province Saturday and his corpse was discovered yesterday.
Yesterday the top US commander in Iraq, Gen Ray Odierno, appeared on CNN and was interviewed by John King (link has text and video). He discussed the treaty masquerading as a Status Of Forces Agreement which supposedly binds the US to leave all Iraqi cities by the end of this June and to leave the country by the end of 2011. Despite that alleged 'binding' agreement, Odierno stated US troops might not leave Iraqi cities at the end of June ("If we believe that we'll need troops to maintain a presence in some of the cities, we'll recommend that, but, ultimately, it will the decision of Prime Minister Maliki"), however , "As you ask me today, I believe it's a 10 -- that we will be gone by 2011." He believes. Not "It's a 10, we will be gone in 2011." Believes. Odierno's not staking his reputation on anyone else's promise and he has always worded very carefully on this topic. Jonathan D. Salant (Bloomberg News) puts it this way, "Odierno said he expects to meet the 2011 deadline. There are 142,000 U.S. troops in Iraq." Deborah Solomon (Wall St. Journal) summarizes it as follows, "The top U.S. general in Iraq said the U.S. is on track to withdraw combat troops from Iraq by August 2010 but could adjust the pace over the next 18 months depending on the stability of the country."
In other news, Abo Obama -- aka Samson Obama -- is in the news and, strangely, while everyone else with a criminal arrest record gets stuck with their birth name, reports continue to call him "Samson Obama." Considering that he gave a phony name at his arrest, maybe they should all stick to his birth name: Abo Obama. He is the half-brother of Barack and they have been photographed together and Barack has written of him. wowOwow reports, "Various news outlets report that British officials denied the U.S. president's half-brother Samson Obama a visa because he was accused of sexual assault last November. And, during that incident, Mr. Obama gave police a false name. He was not arrested or charged for that crime. His fingerprints and other data were stored in a national database and the president's estranged half-brother -- the men have not spoken in 20 years, according to the White House -- went back home to Kenya." Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Brotherly Embarrassment" covered this last night. For the record, it was sexual assault at underage girls with the youngest being a 13-year-old. He is over 40 himself. Strangely, all the reports -- and they're linked in Isaiah's comic -- somehow avoid mentioning his age. I can't remember a time when someone with an arrest record made the news and the press refused to list his age or, for that matter, his birth name. The arrest took place in November, either in the last stages of Barack's campaign or after the election -- the press won't tell us that either. In January, he was enroute to the US -- for the inauguration -- and the UK refused to let him in. No word on whether he made it into the US or not. And let me plub Kat's "Kat's Korner: The LOtUSFLOW3R Blooms ... and rocks" which is her review of Prince's new album LOtUSFLOW3R.
iraq
cindy sheehanthe denver postmichael rileybbc newsnigel morrisalsumaria
the new york timesalissa j. rubinthe washington postsudarsan raghavan
cnnjohn kingbloomberg newsthe wall street journaljonathan d. salnatdeborah solomon
So I had an e-mail from a guy Saturday and I wrote him back because of the topic and I don't know if it made him feel any better but I'll just say right here that Derek is my friend and I love him. His first e-mail was about some tough times he's going through and had a question asking if I ever felt loved? I'm very lucky because I've never felt unloved. That goes to my parents who are just amazing people. It's also true that I've got six older brothers and sisters and one younger sister. So my kid sister always thought I was wonderful until she became a teenager and with six older kids, there was always a brother or sister that I hadn't ticked off on whatever day. So that's really not something I had to deal with and I'm so lucky not to have had that issue. I know a lot of people aren't as fortunate as I am.
And I also know that a lot of people don't know they're loved because some people have trouble saying it. I don't because that's just the way we were raised. But some people do and just because you don't hear the words doesn't mean you aren't, just something to think about.
Grasping for a transition. Oh, got it. C.I. loves me. Every body will tell you that. I'm the 'puppy' and can get away with pretty much everything. It's always been that way with C.I. The only thing that would ever tick C.I. off with me was if I was deliberately cruel to someone weaker. Otherwise, I'm the cute little puppy who can't get away with it all. (Or the overgrown puppy since I'm over six feet tall! :D) I've gone after some of C.I.'s friends here and some have complained to her. The response, "Are you honestly telling me that a college kid sharing his thoughts on you was traumatic?" :D (I know that because Elaine told me about it.) That made me laugh. I've told you before that there have been many times when I've thought, "Uh oh" after I posted something. But C.I. really doesn't care. I don't mean that in a, "I don't care about Mike." I mean I can write anything here and I've never had C.I. say to me, "Oh, I wish you hadn't."
So that's cool. (Yes, in addition to family I have friends like C.I., Wally, Cedric, Rebecca, Betty and all the gang plus my lifelong best friend Tony who love me. I also have Elaine but we don't talk about our relationship online.)
Now moving on to a related topic in that I'm about to gripe. What's Law & Disorder's disorder? I heard it today -- I try to check it each month to see if it's stopped drinking the Kool Aid yet. Today?
The Kool Aid's not being snorted but damn grow the hell up Michaels.
So Barack's done this and done that (broken promises, giving us Bush's third term) and what do we have, the mildest and weakest critiques. At one point Michael Ratner's saying that the point is that Barack's going to need his feet held to the fire just like the last White House occupant.
I guess that might fly with some people.
But I actually listened to the show before today. In fact, thanks to C.I., I've got several "Best of" sets of the show. So I know how Michael Ratner and Michael Smith held Bush's feet to the fire and it wasn't with namby-pamby resignation.
The Michaels were fire breathers. Dalia Hashad as well. (Heidi's always been the balancing element of the show. She gets upset about crimes as well but she usually ends up being the 'good' host in that she does all the grunt work on air -- setting up the guest, going over the points that have to be gone over, etc.)
So this sort of weak ass treatment didn't fly with me.
The Michaels were able to nail the problems but when those were Bush's problems, they went after him. They ripped him apart on air.
I am so damn tired of all the kid gloves for Barry Obama. Do you know there's a supposed "Green" who has bothered C.I. with e-mails asking that "Barry" not be used anymore. It's "disrespectful." Now the stupid ass never complained about Bully Boy or any other term (including "Dumb Ass") to describe Bush. Calling Barry by the name he grew up with is suddenly off limits. No wonder the Green Party sucks so much, they're always too busy licking the nuts of elected Democrats.
I appreciate that they didn't play like what was happening wasn't happening; however, I expect maturity and that means when we've got a War Hawk trampling on our civil liberties, he gets called out the same way Bush did because we called Bush out for that. Not because we didn't like him or because he was stupid. He was stupid. I didn't like him. But there are a lot of stupid people I don't like. Barack is continuing Bush's two terms and he wants to act like Bush's photo copy, he needs to be treated like one.
We need a laugh and this comes from someone who never worried "Can I tell a Barack joke? Is it okay?"" This is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Brotherly Embarrassment"
Let's talk Third quickly! Along with Dallas, the following helped with Sunday's edition:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ
and Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends.
And here's what we ended up with.
Truest statement of the week -- Adam Kokesh! He earned it.
Truest statement of the week II -- A famous attorney tells it like it is.
Truest statement of the week III -- Wally and Kat.
A note to our readers -- Jim breaks down the edition.
Editorial: No time and no interest is the message -- I really like this editorial. I think we did a good job with it and I also really love the illustration Betty's kids, Kat and Wally did.
TV: Women and sitcoms -- Ava and C.I. did an amazing job. When I read this Sunday, I was blown away. It's a roller coaster ride.
White House caught in another lie -- There was no sandstorm. Barack was just too chicken to leave Camp Victory. He wouldn't even go to the Green Zone. What a chicken.
"Take it up with Barack" -- We need a website preservation society. I am not joking.
Ty's Corner -- Ty has written a great column here.
Lt. Muthana Shaad's Gay Boy Chronicles -- This is a regular feature. You'll be seeing it. We're not letting Iraq's LGBT community go uncovered and we've made Shaad gay because an Iraqi police officer by that name has no problem trashing gays to the press and, no doubt, doing far worse face to face.
Movie roundtable -- This was a lot of fun. Sometimes you need a fun roundtable.
And the Katrina goes to . . . -- Aimee Allison. Ruth came up with this one. Good job, Ruth!
Acceptance -- This should have been much longer but everyone was in a rush.
ETAN -- Th elatest from ETAN.
Highlights -- Kat, Betty, Wally, Marcia, Stan, Ruth, Rebecca, Cedric, Elaine and I wrote this and picked out the highlights and that's it.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Monday, April 13, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces deaths, the 5 US soldiers killed in Iraq Friday return to the US, Nouri goes after the press, Iraq's LGBT community remains targeted, Barack's half-brother makes the news, and more.
Today the US military announced: "A Coalition forces Soldier died of injuries sustained during an explosively formed projectile attack on a convoy five kilomenters south of Karbalah, Iraq April 13 at approximately 7:40 a.m. The Soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the department of Defense. The incident is currently under investigtion." Yesterday the US military announced: "One U.S. Coalition Soldier died of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated in Salah-ad Din Province, April 12. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense." The total number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war is 4273. Friday 5 US soldiers were announced dead. Cindy Sheehan (Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox) observed, "Today five US soldiers were killed in Iraq and we won't ever know for sure how many Iraqis were killed. The families of the US soldiers will never have a 'normal' Easter again. All of their days will be filled with pain and longing, but holidays, birthdays and other anniversaries will be especially hard. My heart is breaking for the awful and pointless spiral of grief that these families are just embarking upon. Some may not yet know that it was their son, father, brother, uncle, or friend that was murdered today. I saw the report of Casey's death on the news at least five hours before the Army notified us." (Cindy's guest on the audio Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox this week are James Martinez discussing the finacial crisis, housing and more and Annie Garrison on the Blue Angels use of San Francisco to boost recruitment. That episode is posted online already.) It was Good Friday in 2004 when Cindy and her family met her son Casey Sheehan at the airport for the last time. Sunday the 5 US soldiers killed on Friday arrived at Dover Air Force Base. Jeff Montgomery (Delaware's News Journal) observes, "It was the heaviest loss of American lives in Iraq in 13 months, and the largest number of casualties returned to America in full sight of the public since the Defense Department opened the process to news coverage last week, after a 18-year blackout."
The Defense Dept identified the five as: "Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., 24, of Lebanon Junction, Ky., Staff Sgt. Bryan E. Hall, 32, of Elk Grove, Calif., Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr., 25, of St. Louis, Mo., Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch, 20, of Davenport, Iowa, and PV2 Bryce E. Gautier, 22, of Cypress, Calif." Sheryl Edelen (Courier-Journal) reports on Gary L. Woods Jr., "Woods' father, Gary Woods St., said that his son, who went by his middle name, Lee, was a talented musician who sang and played the trombone, drums, piano and guitar while a student at Bullitt Central High School. He was also a member of the school's football team. But after finding satisifation in ROTC classes, his son entered the military after high school, he said." Bob White (Lebanon Junction News Enterprise) adds, "Woods is surived by his parents, siblings and a wife, Christie, his father said." Tony Bizjak (Sacramento Bee) reports on Bryan Edward Hall, "Hall, 32, had served in the military for 14 years and had been deployed in Iraq since September. . . . Hall had received three Army commendation medals, according to military records, as well as several Army achievement, good conduct and war on terrorism medals." Dave Marquis (Sacramento's News10.net) quotes Debbie Lords, who is a neighbor of the Bryan Edward Hall's parents, stating, "I don't know what I'm thinking. I just really feel for John and Betty right now. It was their oldest son, their oldest child." Paul Hampel (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) reports on Edward Forrest Jr., "Forrest was based at Fort Carson in Colorado and lived near the base with his wife and two sons, ages 2 and one month. Forrest was a 2003 graduate of Rockwood Summit High School. He was on his third tour of duty in Iraq." His sister Melissa Forrest-Pliner tells Hampel, "I asked him not to re-enlist. I told him I didn't want him to be a hero. I just wanted him to be my brother." South County Times adds, "In high school, Sgt. Forrest, known as 'Eddie,' was a long distance runner on the track team, and was also on the wrestling team" and quotes his coach Rolland Garrison stating, "He was a very enthusiastic member of the track and field program here at Rockwood Summit. He was a very good kid with a great smile." Molly Hottle (Des Monies Register) reports on Jason Graham Pautsch, "David Pautsch was informed of his son's death Friday night, just 12 hours after the two had spoken on the phone. 'He believed n what he was doing,' David Pautsch said. 'This is what he wanted to do'." Nicole Murphy (WAQD, link has text and video) spoke with David Pautsch who explained the call he received, "'On behalf of the Secretary of the Army I just want to let you know, give our condolences and notify you that your son was killed in Mosul." Pautsch continues, "You're stunned and you're shocked and you find it hard to believe that it could actually be happening but then it seeps and that's when the emotions hit." Pautsch goes on to explain that he believes his son was protecting the US from the "terrorists" in Iraq and he also shares, "I'm thrilled for Jason that he's in heaven." Eugene W. Fields (Orange County Register) reports on Bryce E. Gautier, "Gauier, a medic, joined the Army in January of 2008 and had been in Iraq since January of this year, according to Army documents. He received the National Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. Gautier graduated in 2005 from Rancho Alamitos High in Garden Grove, according to school district spokesman Alan Trudell." Tom Roeder and Maria St. Louis-Sanchez (Colorado Springs Gazette) note Gauier's MySpace page and add, "His sense of humor is evident from a posting on the site, which Gautier last updated three days before his death. 'Winners make the rules, losers just follow them,' Gautier wrote. 'In the Army now.' Gautier's brother, Even, left a simple eulogy on his Web page: 'My brother Bryce was one of the American soldiers killed in the suicide bombing in Iraq this morning. I love you bro. I will miss you'."
In 'liberated' Iraq, gays and lesbians continue to be targeted for death. The Denver Post editorialized on the topic yesterday and opened with:
The U.S. State Department must not stand idly by if the Iraqi government fails to protect basic human rights, even if the persecution stems from traditional cultural or religious beliefs. We applaud Colorado Congressman Jared Polis for his efforts last week to shine the spotlight on the killings of homosexuals in Iraq, and to press the State Department to demand accountability from the Iraqi government. The first openly gay man to be elected to the House, Polis has been investigating the treatment of gays in Iraq for several months, according to The Post's Michael Riley. His research led to the discovery of a transgender Iraqi man who told the congressman he had been arrested, beaten and raped by security forces with Iraq's Ministry of Interior. Human-rights groups have passed information to Polis that claims another man was beaten into confessing he belonged to a gay-rights group and that the man had been sentenced to execution by an Iraqi court.
US House Rep Polis has made his letter to Patricia A. Butenis (Charge d'Affaires ad interim of the US State Dept) [PDF formart warning] here:
Dear Ms. Butenis:
Over the past week, I have become aware of egregious human rights violations against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Iraqis being carried out by Iraqi government officials from the Ministry of the Interior called "Magaweer al-Dakhilya." The information I received was derived from two separate testimonials of gay and transgender Iraqi men that were detained, tortured and sentenced to death for being members of an allegedly forbidden organization in Iraq called Iraqi LGBT. One of these invidividuals was able to escape, while the other was subsequently executed by Iraqi Ministry of Interior Security Forces.
While I do not know if these executions are being sanctioned at the highest levels of the Iraqi government, it is nonetheless distrubing that government officials and state-funded security forces are involved in the torturing and execution of LGBT Iraqis.
Even more disturbing was that the United States government appears to be largely unaware that the executions of gay and transgender Iraqis have been able to occur in Iraq given the enormous American presence. After reaching out to State Department officials in Washington, I was disappointed by their unwillingness to seriously consider these allegations and examine the evidence given to our office by international human rights watchdog organizations.
I urge you to use every channel at your disposal to properly and promptly invetigate these grave human rights violations. Please know that I will continue to monitor this situation and hope to be of assistance in this investigation."
At his Congressional website, Polis is quoted stating, "The United States should not tolerate human rights violations of nay kind, especially by a government that Americans spend billions of taxpayer dollars each year supporting. Hopefully my trip and letters to US and Iraqi officials will help bring international attention and investigation to this terrible situation and bring an end to any such offenses."
Last week, we noted the US State Dept and the United Nations have been silent on these and other attacks on the LGBT community in Iraq. The issue gets some attention today. BBC News explains Amnesty International states Nouri al-Maliki's government "must do more to protect" the LGBT community 'in the wak of a reported spate of killings of gay young men" and that they are pressing for "urgent and concerted action." Nigel Morris (Independent of London) explains that no arrests have been made in the recent murders -- he says six, it was seven -- and quotes Ali Hili stating, "Since mid-December we've been getting lots of reports about mass arrests and raids on houses, cafes, barbers shops." Mass arrests? It sounds like round-ups and those were common in Hilter's Germany where the LGBT community was targeted along with the Jewish community. (Iraq's Jewish community has been so targeted and so under assault that it barely exists at present.) Hili continues, "Most of the people who are arrested are found dead, with signs of torture and burns. We believe a war has been launched by the Iraqi Government and its establishment against gay people." As noted in the April 8th snapshot, the United Nations Secretary General issues statements all the time, condemning attacks in Iraq, but there has never been a statement from him on condemning the assaults on Iraq's LGBT community. And since the number reported continues to be in error, we'll drop back to the April 6th snapshot to again note:
In other violence noted over the weekend, Wisam Mohammed and Khalid al-Ansary (Reuters) reported Saturday that gays are being targeted in Baghdad, with four corpses discovered March 25th and 2 gay men murdered Thursday 'after clerics urged a crackdown'." Sunday Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reported the two were first "disowned" (by their homophobic and hateful families) and "The shootings came after a tribal meeting was held and the members decided to go after the victims." Tawfeeq reports the other were also disowned (and gives the date of their deaths as March 26th) and states a cafe in Sadr City was torched when it was said to be an LGBT hangout in Baghdad. The Dallas Morning News wrote a brief on the topic and UPI summarized Tawfeeq's report. AFP reported Sunday that the two corpses discovered Thursday "had pieces of paper attached on which was written the word 'Pervert" and that the two men were aged sixteen and eighteen and had also had "their arms and legs broken". In addition, AFP reports another man presumed to be gay was found on Friday -- which would bring the toll to seven -- and this follows Sheikh Jassem al-Muatairi's 'inspiring' sermon denouncing "new private practices by some men who dress like women, who are effeminate. I call on families to prevent their children from following such a lifestyle."
Seven. Not six. Tomorrow the San Francisco Board of Supervisors meets and among the items on the agenda are a motion "Condemning the persecution and murders of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Iraqi Citizens": "Resolution calling on the US Department of State to use all diplomatic channels to work with the Iraqi Government to stop the persecution of Iraqi Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) citizens and immediately stop the murders of Iraqi LGBT citizens." If that takes place (and it should), the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will be the first governing body elected by any group of people to condemn the killings and assaults.
Lee Woodruff is the author of Perfectly Imperfect: A Life in Progress. wowOwow has an excerpt of the book which is out next week:
When my husband was blown up by a roadside bomb in Iraq, shattering my world, it was my sisters who stepped into the void, along with some of my dearest girlfriends. They began the business of filling my shoes while I sat by an ICU bed, praying for signs of life. They lined up food deliveries, kept the curious from the door, organized rides for our kids and paid our bills. They understood the business of ministering.
"This sucks," my one sister said. "You guys don't deserve this." She knew she could tell it like it was. There was no room for sugarcoating, and I didn't want any sunshine blowing up my backside. The reality was grim.
Months later, it was my turn in the hospital, when doctors found a potentially cancerous tumor lurking in my abdomen. I turned to my other sister. "I want to be you," I said simply as I lay in my bed with the catheter, too weak to move.
Lee Woodruff's husband is ABC News' Bob Woodruff who was reporting from Iraq when he and Doug Vogt were injured in a roadside bombing January 29, 2006. The Bob Woodruff Foundation focuses on the physical and psychological wounds of war. While Bob Woodruff survived, Reporters Without Borders counts 223 journalists as having died in the Iraq War. (They actually break that does to media assistants -- we don't. The 'assistants' have long been doing reporting -- as would happen in any war zone but is especially true of the Iraq War.) The two most recent journalists known to have been killed in Iraq are Haidar Hashim Suhail and Suhaib Adnan of Al-Baghdadia TV who were killed March 10th in an Anbar Province bombing. So many reporters, Iraq and foreign, have been wounded and given their lives attempting to report from that country and it's not at all appreciated by thug-meister Nouri al-Maliki. Alsumaria reports:The Iraqi Government decision to detain back prisoners released by US Forces is subject to a political and security hassle. Baghdad Operations spokesman Brigadier Qassem Ata affirmed that the Command has ordered checkpoints to arrest all freed detainees recently released by US Forces. Ata told Al Hayat Newspaper that the operations command has distributed names and photos of released detainees on all checkpoints to detain them after they were involved in recent bombings in Baghdad. He noted that keeping those detainees out of prison will deteriorate the security situation and will threaten stability after US Forces withdraw from the cities to their bases at the end of June. Asked about the possibility of delaying US withdrawal after latest security incidents, Ata said the US military did not notify us about such intentions."The Times" British Newspaper expected yesterday to delay US Forces withdrawal from Iraqi volatile cities. The Newspaper quoted a US Army General as saying that insecurities in Mosul and Baaquba might force US Military to extend their military operations in those cities beyond June 30. This topic is one that upsets Nouri al-Maliki's thug government. Robert H. Reid (AP) reports the thug government is attempting to close a TV station (Al-Sharqiya) and a newspaper (Al-Hayat) over reports that al-Maliki's thugs are arresting the prisoners as the US releases them. Reid explains Nouri's government is bothered by the press explaining that arrests of Sahwa ("Awakening" Council members, "Sons of Iraq") might have been politically motivated. Yesterday Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) reported on the 12 killed Saturday in the suicide bombing attack in Iskandariyah as they attempted to collect their long overdue pay checks. Rubin explores the continued attacks on the Sahwa and the tensions in the Sunni community as a result. Rubin observes that for all the speculation over the very visible attacks (including arrests), the tensions were always there between the Sahwa movement (Sunni) and the US installed government in Baghdad which is dominated by Shi'ites (and by Iraqis who willingly went into exile and only returned to Iraq after the US invaded). Rubin notes the 27-day imprisonment of Sheik Maher Sarhan Abbas who was arrested "in secret and came to light when The New York Times by chance contacted someone who had seen him in jail." While the US continues to see Abbas as someone to be trusted and while his "Shiite neighbors trusted him" as well, Nouri's foces burst into his home on March 15th, "just after midnight, heavily armed men flung deafening smoke grenades into his home in Hawr Jab, a small village on Baghdad's southern outskirts, his family said. They burst into the bedroom where Sheik Maher and his wife were watching television as their 3-year-old daughter slept in a small bed next to them." Along with Nouri's goons, US forces were present and it's suspceted that they "were probably from a Special Operations unit". The latest hypothesis among "Awakenings" is that their Sunni enemies are telling lies to the Shi'ite government which, loathing the "Awakenings," uses any excuse to arrest them. Rubin includes this:A senior American official in Iraq was also skeptical of the motives for the arrests. "Why is the government doing this?" said the official, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the news media. "Every time we said to the government, 'You have to let this guy go,' they do it, which they wouldn't if they thought he was really dangerous," the American said. "I think they have their hand in the sectarian cookie jar."
Sudarsan Raghavan (Washington Post) reports on the continued tensions as well as the tensions regardding the Kurds. Of Baghdad, he notes:
Today, the city of oatmeal-colored minarets that straddles the Tigris River feels like a military base, with streets tangled by blast walls and checkpoints.
Backed by U.S. troops and advisers, Iraq's mostly Shiite national police and army control the city. They coexist uneasily with the local Sunni police force and the Sons of Iraq -- former Sunni insurgents who turned against the militant group al-Qaeda in Iraq and allied with the U.S. military.
Neither the local police nor the Sons of Iraq are allowed to protect the shrine, which is guarded by an array of mostly Shiite units sent by the central government.
"I don't believe that any people or city feel comfortable when they have an army from outside. The traditions from their areas are different than ours," said Sheik Mudher al-Naisani, a Sunni tribal leader. "That's right, this is one country. But it is better for Iraq that each serve in their own areas."
While most Iraqis believe that al-Qaeda in Iraq insurgents planted the bombs, many Sunni leaders here place the blame on the national police and U.S. troops who were guarding the shrine. Members of Iraq's national police force have committed some of the most horrendous sectarian crimes since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion; to this day there are widespread suspicions of infiltration by Shiite militias.
"It was a conspiracy," said Hussen, the Sunni council leader.
Are Sunnis who believe that right or wrong? It doesn't matter because they believe it. And that's a 2006 event and nothing was ever done to ease the tensions. These tensions do not go away, they do not vanish. They may get worked through by the parties involved but an outside power (the US in this case) can never impose anything because it doesn't last. The US has backed, armed and supported the Shi'ites thereby setting the stage for any bloodbaths that follow a US withdrawal. If those bloodbaths come (and they are likely), the withdrawal will not be responsible for them. The culprit will be all the years the US spent propping up a puppet government. Without the propping up, Nouri (or whomever) would have had to have made peace with the Sunnis long ago. They're too big of a population group for a leader to blow off and expect to remain in power unless the only reason the leader remains in power (as is the case with Nouri) is because a foreign government that installed him continued to prop him up. Barack's not promising withdrawal, he's promising a draw down. But at some point in the future the US will withdraw from Iraq. When that happens, any violence that follows is not because of the withdrawal, it is because of everything that came before. And, sidebar, Sudarsan Raghavan's done a wonderful job reporting in the above story; however, he's also done a wonderful job writing it -- so much so that it recalls the best of Rajiv Chandrasekaran.
In the summer of 2006, al-Maliki listed his 'plan' amidst the crackdown on Baghdad and it included attacks on the press. When the January 31st provincial elections took place in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces, al-Maliki attempted to strong arm the press and force them into signing agreements which would allow them to be punished and penalized if al-Maliki was displeased. His latest attacks on the press and freedoms are nothing news and part of a thug pattern which includes yesterday's news:In Iraq today, a committee in Parliament offered a rebuke of the police. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reports the committee was offended that the police raided an art show and seized an illustration "lampooning Iraq's prime minister." No word on whether or not he was in 'Muslim garb' and doing a fist bump. (For those who didn't catch that, it was a reference to the faux outrage over a New Yorker cartoon cover that demonstrated there's more than a little bit of Denmark in the US.)
On the topic of art, US Foreign Service Officer Aaron Snip (US State Dept's DIPNOTE) writes of rushing to pull off preparation for an important 2006 visit:
Part of my job as Public Diplomacy Officer is to share U.S. culture and values with Iraqis, but it's also to support Iraqi efforts to preserve their own culture. We asked the women to bring in examples of their work, and we hung their paintings along the walls of the meeting hall. Very few of the women had had formal art training. Painting was a hobby for all, a creative outlet for some, and an escape for others. Their artwork spanned the spectrum of their life's experiences. Some paintings were colorful and bright, while others were dark and depressing. All documented the lives of women in Muthanna. We chatted with the women about doing a larger gallery showing. Would they be interested in holding a multi-city art exhibition if I could get the funding? They were thrilled with the idea. What began as a meeting with a stoic group of Iraqi women with canvases in hand, ended in a beehive of excitement with ideas flowing freely. Here was a demographic that seldom had the chance to speak out. Their art resonated with me deeply, and I was committed to finding a way to help these women tell their stories. I went back to my office that evening and immediately began to work on a proposal. In no time at all, my proposal was approved (who says the Federal Government moves at a glacial pace?), and I was busy working with an NGO to purchase art supplies and canvases for each of the exhibit participants. The artists would paint submissions for an exhibit that would show in Muthanna's three largest cities, Samawa, Rumaytha, and Khider, sometime in the spring. For the artists, it would be the first time most of them had ever displayed their art publicly. One woman told us that she had painted for years, but feared no one would ever see her work. Another woman, considerably older and pointing to a young woman next to her, proclaimed, "I am here for my daughter-in-law! I told my son, 'he must support her dreams!' So I am here to make sure she has a chance!"
For more, you can refer to Aaron Snipe's second blog post. Meanwhile, Iraq was once a book lover's paradise. Corinne Reilly (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "The widespread looting that followed the invasion destroyed library collections across Iraq. Booksellers and publishing housing closed as violence spread, and the priorities of many Iraqis shifted from reading and learning to staying alive and finding ways out of the country. In 2007, a series of explosions ripped through Baghdad's Mutanabi Street, shutting down the book market known for decades as Iraq's most popular gathering place for intellectuals and bibliophiles. Many of its shops and cafes have only recently reopened." By the way, returning to the topic of the press, Russell Crowe is outstanding in State of Play and, while discussing the film, Mary Riddell (Telegraph of London) addresses the global problems newspapers are facing -- as opposed to the fairy tales the New York Times served up this morning. (Ben Affleck is also amazing in the film as is Robin Wright Penn. And Helen Mirren is in State of Play. Translation, Helen Mirren is wonderful as always.)
Turning to some of today's other reported violence (we started with some of today's violence) . . .
Bombings?
Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report a Baghdad grenade attack which wounded four people and they drop back to Saturday night to note a Balad sticky bombing which claimed the lives of 2 Sahwa members
Shootings?
Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report Turkoman Abdulraham Aziz was shot dead outside his home Sunday while another person was shot dead in Mosul last night. Reuters notes 1 person shot dead in Kirkuk today and, dropping back to Sunday, a Mosul home invasion in which 1 person was shot dead.
Corpses?
Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report a police captatin was kidnapped in Anbar Province Saturday and his corpse was discovered yesterday.
Yesterday the top US commander in Iraq, Gen Ray Odierno, appeared on CNN and was interviewed by John King (link has text and video). He discussed the treaty masquerading as a Status Of Forces Agreement which supposedly binds the US to leave all Iraqi cities by the end of this June and to leave the country by the end of 2011. Despite that alleged 'binding' agreement, Odierno stated US troops might not leave Iraqi cities at the end of June ("If we believe that we'll need troops to maintain a presence in some of the cities, we'll recommend that, but, ultimately, it will the decision of Prime Minister Maliki"), however , "As you ask me today, I believe it's a 10 -- that we will be gone by 2011." He believes. Not "It's a 10, we will be gone in 2011." Believes. Odierno's not staking his reputation on anyone else's promise and he has always worded very carefully on this topic. Jonathan D. Salant (Bloomberg News) puts it this way, "Odierno said he expects to meet the 2011 deadline. There are 142,000 U.S. troops in Iraq." Deborah Solomon (Wall St. Journal) summarizes it as follows, "The top U.S. general in Iraq said the U.S. is on track to withdraw combat troops from Iraq by August 2010 but could adjust the pace over the next 18 months depending on the stability of the country."
In other news, Abo Obama -- aka Samson Obama -- is in the news and, strangely, while everyone else with a criminal arrest record gets stuck with their birth name, reports continue to call him "Samson Obama." Considering that he gave a phony name at his arrest, maybe they should all stick to his birth name: Abo Obama. He is the half-brother of Barack and they have been photographed together and Barack has written of him. wowOwow reports, "Various news outlets report that British officials denied the U.S. president's half-brother Samson Obama a visa because he was accused of sexual assault last November. And, during that incident, Mr. Obama gave police a false name. He was not arrested or charged for that crime. His fingerprints and other data were stored in a national database and the president's estranged half-brother -- the men have not spoken in 20 years, according to the White House -- went back home to Kenya." Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Brotherly Embarrassment" covered this last night. For the record, it was sexual assault at underage girls with the youngest being a 13-year-old. He is over 40 himself. Strangely, all the reports -- and they're linked in Isaiah's comic -- somehow avoid mentioning his age. I can't remember a time when someone with an arrest record made the news and the press refused to list his age or, for that matter, his birth name. The arrest took place in November, either in the last stages of Barack's campaign or after the election -- the press won't tell us that either. In January, he was enroute to the US -- for the inauguration -- and the UK refused to let him in. No word on whether he made it into the US or not. And let me plub Kat's "Kat's Korner: The LOtUSFLOW3R Blooms ... and rocks" which is her review of Prince's new album LOtUSFLOW3R.
iraq
cindy sheehanthe denver postmichael rileybbc newsnigel morrisalsumaria
the new york timesalissa j. rubinthe washington postsudarsan raghavan
cnnjohn kingbloomberg newsthe wall street journaljonathan d. salnatdeborah solomon
Friday, April 10, 2009
Roundtabling Iraq
Rebecca: We hadn't planned on a roundtable tonight but Trina asked and we all agreed. She'll tell you why in a minute and this is an Iraq roundtable. Participating tonight are The Third Estate Sunday Review's Ava, Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man, C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review, Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills), Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Trina of Trina's Kitchen, Wally of The Daily Jot, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Ruth of Ruth's Report and me, Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude. Betty and Cedric join us by phone. Trina, how about you kick things off?
Trina: Today 5 US soldiers died in Iraq. As the snapshot notes the world wide web has other things to talk about. Not much of it important or useful. How many times did we all watch as they mounted their high horses and acted like they gave a damn about the Iraq War from 2003 through 2007? Maybe some extended it a little further. But apparently for them the Iraq War was actually nothing but a political football to toss around in the hopes of advancing a few yards for Team Democrat. It's disgusting, it's appalling and it needs to be called out.
Cedric: I agree and that piece of trash, rip-off site Corrente? They used to pretend to care about the Iraq War. They never did a thing on the deaths of the five. But tonight that loony Sarah did find time to write, with no irony, "Style over Substance" -- about Michelle Fashion Plate. Yeah, that was the most imporant thing in the world today. I'm counting 23 blog posts they posted today and not one of them mentioned the death of the five US soldiers. If you ask me, 23 posts in one day and not one of you damn hypocrites mentions that 5 soldiers died in Iraq, you can go rot in hell but truth of the matter is you're pathetic ass is already there.
Elaine: It really is amazing how the blogs, like the media, ran from Iraq as soon as Barack got into office. It doesn't matter if they're pro-Barry blogs, anti-Barry blogs, or in the middle from the center posing as left all the way to the left, they don't give a damn about Iraq and I am mentioning Kimberly Wilder so she can take any problems she has with my remarks up with me by e-mailing me although I probably won't even read it and I won't reply because I don't like having my e-mails passed on. You slammed Hillary and trashed her and did so over her 2002 vote on the Iraq resolution. If that mattered at all to you, you would have found time to note the deaths. You want to self-present as "social justice"? Then cover the damn war. You're disgusting and you're little blog posts about Barry and how Barry's going to do this and do that, spare us all. As Kathy Kelly said on KPFA's Flashpoints Wednesday, "Well I think that Barack Obama is the world's chief exporter of weapons. I mean that goes with the job. And I think that you can't look at attacks on civilian populations using conventional military force and not discuss War Crimes." The peace movement's goals have not changed just because the White House flipped and it's been appalling to watch people like Kimberly Wilder -- an alleged Green Party member until her recent break -- go out of her way to praise a War Hawk named Barack Obama.
Mike: The Iraq War has not ended and you have to be a stupid idiot like Phyllis Bennis to say, "Well I'm happy that Barack's said he's going to end it and the time doesn't really matter." The time doesn't matter to you Phyllis? In 2007, he was promising the Iraq War would be over by now.
Rebecca: Stopping you for a minute, Mike. C.I.?
C.I.: Right. They can click here for Jake Tapper's 2007 story about Barack having just launched his presidential campaign and I quote, "Obama, often criticized for his lack of foreign policy experience, had his plan to withdraw troops from Iraq by March 2008 attacked by an unlikely source -- the Australian Prime Minister John Howard, an ally of President Bush."
Rebecca: Thank you. I know someone's going to question Mike's statement and I knew C.I. would be able to pull it up. Mike?
Mike: Well, he's promised everything and he's never delivered a damn thing and we can see that even more this week with his 'state secrets' excuse to cover up for the illegal spying on Americans that the government did. He lied on the campaign trail non-stop and you've got idiots like Phyllis Bennis saying it doesn't matter when Barack pulls the troops out and that is what she said when he went to 18 or 19 months for a withdrawal and she said it didn't matter if it was longer than what was promised. That's pathetic Phyllis Bennis. It does matter. And if he'd stuck to what he was saying in 2007, the US would have been out of Iraq already and those 5 dead soldiers wouldn't be dead.
Marcia: It just seems to me that there is a detachment about the Iraq War, a distance from it, as if it were a game. I'd honestly appreciate sell outs a lot more if they'd just say, "I'm a sell out, I didn't give a damn about the Iraq War, I just wanted to elect Democrats." If they'd say that, I wouldn't expect a thing from them. I wouldn't be outraged and angry. But they're liars. They want to pretend like they still care about ending the Iraq War and they can't even write about it. They can't cover it, they can't talk about it, they're just a huge disgrace because they're all wanting to act like they're still trying to end the Iraq War. And they're not doing a damn thing.
Ruth: Well actually, what Marcia's discussing is sort of what Stan and I were talking about earlier this evening. We had both read Norman Solomon's embarrassing "Getting a Death Grip on Memory" at CounterPunch and he and I had strong opinions on it. Stan?
Stan: Okay, So Norman Solomon's riding his high horse about how Real Media wants to forget their crimes. That would be Norman Solomon, pledged delegate for Barack Obama. That would be Norman Solomon who lied for Barry and who did everything he could to get Barry elected. He cut off people when he was a guest on the radio and tried to rip their character apart when they questioned Barack. He cut them off and launched personal attacks on them, the sort of thing he maintains he never does, he maintains he debates the issues, but that's not what he did on KPFA. And he's a liar because he'd go on KPFA to 'analyze' the race and 'forget' to tell listeners that he was a pledged delegate for Barck. For that reason alone, he shouldn't have been on. And he knows that. He knows all about media ethics. He just doesn't practice any. He's a disgusting whore and for him to talk about Real Media's memory lapses, what he needs to do is write a column on how someone betrays every thing they supposedly believe in to whore out for a candidate. He's a whore, a cheap, trashy, disease ridden whore.
Rebecca: And Ruth, you say what?
Ruth: I would have to agree with Stan. We were talking about this and how Norman Solomon must wake up every morning convinced that he has really put one over on everybody.
Ava: Or maybe doubting it? Maybe that's why he lays it on so thick.
Ruth: Good point. And, as Stan said, he broke every ethic regarding media in 2008. He knows those ethics, he lectures on those ethics. He might try getting honest about that.
Rebecca: Because confession is good for the soul?
Ruth: Because a blistering confession might allow someone tempted in the future to avoid the path he went down. It would be like a drug addict sharing with people how low he sunk while active in his disease.
Rebecca: Okay. Kat and Wally haven't spoken. Betty hasn't but she and I talked ahead of time and she has a topic she's bringing in. But I'm letting Wally and Kat know they need to speak if they're planning to. Ava and C.I. are taking notes and will type up this rush transcript. They can speak whenever they want but we all doubt they'll speak much. Betty?
Betty: I wanted to talk about Iraq's LGBT population. In the April 2nd snapshot, C.I. noted the reports that they were being executed. No one followed that story this week until we found out, see yesterday's snapshot, that US House Rep Jared Polis went to Iraq and was given information about a gay man sentenced to death for being gay. Why isn't anyone writing about this? Michael Riley (Denver Post) was covering it but I'm not even sure if he grasped all of what he was reporting and, if he did grasp it, I think he intentionally downplayed it. Maybe because he thought if he didn't downplay it, it might be seen as too explosive for print. But read his article. A member of the US Congress has been given information that states a gay man is going to be put to execution because he is gay. The Congress member finds the information and documentation so convincing that he raises the issue on his Iraq trip. I'd say this is pretty big news.
Cedric: I'd agree with you Betty and I'd argue that if all the people writing last week about the executions hadn't been doing that. and that includes C.I. doing the why-are-we-silent writing, we wouldn't have gotten Timothy Williams and Tareq Maher's "Iraq's Newly Open Gays Face Scorn and Murder" in the New York Times this week. That's really the strongest article on this subject that paper has published. And, speculating, I'm wondering is it that the paper previously didn't care about the issue, thought readers didn't care about the issue, thought it wasn't among the important issues or what?
Mike: Well when they can write that stupid article on the Humvee dealership in Iraq then if it's that the paper didn't think LGBT was an "important issue," that's saying a lot. And none of it good about the paper.
Ruth: I honestly think that there is a 'queasy' aspect to it -- I am talking about among the press. It happens far too often, an issue involving an attack on the LGBT community in any country, even our own, never gets the kind of attention it deserves. Never. I think a large portion of the press, especially above the reporters' level, are uncomfortable with LGBT issues and the LGBT community.
Ava: Well, in terms of the New York Times, they have a shameful history on AIDS in the eighties and I would argue that's because of the "queasy" aspect Ruth's talking about. They didn't see gays and lesbians as 'real human beings' so when a disease that wasknown as the "gay cancer" struck, they didn't want to devote the kind of attention they would have if the same disease had targeted red-headed-four-year-old boys, for example.
Mike: I don't want to dominate the roundtable but if I can make another point, and I'll try to be quick, homophobia is out there and it's not going away. It might get reduced, but it's not going away any time soon. And if we're not willing to combat it, then I don't know what's going to happen. I am eager about one thing that's coming up.
Marcia: I agree with you, Mike, but I want to also say how important it is that someone like Mike says that and not just me. I'm a lesbian. It's important that I speak out. But Mike's a straight man and it's really important that he speak out as well. I think the gay community is something like one in ten. The LGBT community needs to speak up but we also need support from the straight community. In terms of what Mike's talking about coming up, I agree. And I'm excited about it as well. It's something we're going to be doing at Third. A regular feature. But I would agree there's a silence and, like Ruth, I would have to say it's because it makes some straight people uncomfortable.
Betty: If I can say one more thing on this topic, I'd just like to point out that gays are being targeted in Iraq. By the clergy, by the police and apparently by their state government. And the fact that so many -- including Liar Barack -- have taken to tossing around terms like "democracy" at a time when homophobia is expressed with criminal intent is appalling. And it's disgusting to see US leaders hail a country where homophobia and homophobic murders are condoned by the governemtn. It's disgusting.
Wally: Well the silence goes beyond the press and it also includes our own State Dept which has never condemened the murders. It didn't condemn under the homophobe Colin Powell, it didn't condemn then under Condi Rice and it's not condemning them under Hillary Clinton. Now I happen to like Hillary and, as most people reading this will know, from something like January through the primary in Puerto Rico, I was on the road campaigning for her. I ended up taking off the semester to do that. I believed in her campaign that much. She's being silent. Now I could be an Obot and say, "She needs more time to speak! She needs to get comfortable!" I could offer a million excuses but the reality is she has not spoken out against it and that's not right, and there's no excuse for it, and I'm embarrassed and ashamed for Hillary. And I'll tell you one more thing, I'd be talking about that like her if she was president. Because I don't believe in hero worship. Unlike the Cult of St. Barack, I don't offer excuses. And I believe Hillary would make a great president. But I believe that because I think she's smart. So when someone that smart and that wise doesn't speak out against the murders, it is appalling and I will call out. I will repeat, Hillary Clinton, I am ashamed and embarrassed by your silence. I am fully aware that there are issues that are policy and that come above Hillary. That would include the Israel situtation, for example. There she's merely executing policy. However, in terms of this issue, in terms of condemning any murders in any country -- I'm talking warfare, supposed or otherwise -- she has the power, due to the office she holds, to issue a state condemning the murders. She hasn't done it. I'm appalled. Shame on you, Hillary, you know better. And Kat I knew Betty's topic, Rebecca, which is why we were holding off on talking.
Kat: Right. And it is an important topic but just to back up a second, I agree with Wally and if Hillary had gotten the nomination, she would be president, we all know that, we all know she got more votes than Barack in the primaries and we all know she would have done better than he did in the general. But if she was president, we wouldn't be playing fan club to Hillary. We'd be doing what Wally just did right now. And Wally gave his all to getting the word out on Hillary. He dropped out of college because he took some weeks off and ended up deciding that it was more important that he campaign for her. The original plan was just to campaign for her for a few weeks, he ended up dropping out to campaign for her. And he still believes she would make a wonderful president but that didn't prevent him from calling her out on her silence and doing so strongly. And if she were president and going back on her word to withdraw one brigade a month from Iraq, we'd all be calling her out. The Obots aren't politically educated or smart. They needed a crush, an empty vessel upon which they could impose their dreams of love and romance. It and they are disgusting. Now in terms of the LGBT community in Iraq, I don't want to hear any garbage about Muslim religion or any of that other s**t. We don't use "Muslim religion" or "Muslim culture" to hide behind murdering Jews or Christians. Murder's wrong. That's not open to debate. That the US has installed a regime in Iraq which thinks it's okay to murder gays and lesbians -- and even if the government is not executing them, they are turning a blind eye to their murders -- explains how sick and perverted this illegal war really was. And to be clear "Muslim religion" or "Muslim culture," gays and lesbians still were in Iraq. They are Iraqis. And they had acceptance before the illegal war. They are a part of Muslim culture whether fundamentalists want to accept it or not. And they are a part of Iraq and they should have been protected.
Rebecca: I did not know that Kat and Wally were waiting for Betty's topic. And thank you to Betty for introducing it because that was a very lively discussion. We need to wind down and I want to let Trina have the last word since she grabbed the first. Trina, a lot's been said since you explained why you wanted this roundtable. Closing thoughts?
Trina: I think we have shown that there is so much still to discuss about the Iraq War and there's so much that we didn't even get to. We didn't talk about how the violence this week has been so great that even the press has a hard time pretending it's not happening, for example. We didn't talk about the targeting of Sahwa. There are so many topics that we didn't have time for, all Iraq related, and that's going to be true every day because it is an ongoing war and it is a real shame that the people who supposedly wanted to end it have moved on to other things while over 130,000 US troops remain on the ground in Iraq. The illegal war has not ended and it's appalling to grasp how little that matters to so many who used to pretend they gave a damn.
Rebecca: And on that note, we'll wrap up. As stated before, this is a rush transcript. This roundtable will be posted at the sites of all participating. And, in closing, C.I. asked me to note the Center for Media and Democracy's "Common Purpose: Another Cog in Obama's PR Machine" on the sell out of our so-called left. It's a very important piece and I'm sure will be addressing it at Third on Sunday.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, April 10, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces multiple deaths, violence strikes a Baghdad neighborhood for the third time this week, the US employment crisis' impact on the military, Diane Rehm's embarrassing embarace of sexism, and more.
Today the US military announced: "Five U.S. Coalition Soldiers were killed, and one wounded from a suicide vehicle borne improvised explosive device attack earlier today in Mosul. Two Iraqi Security Forces were also killed and 20 wounded. The suicide truck bomb exploded near the Iraqi National Police headquarters in the southwest section of the city. At least two individuals suspected of being involved in the attack were detained, and the incident is under investigation. The names of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense." The five deaths bring the total number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4271. Leila Fadel, Corrine Reilly and Ali Abbas (McClatchy Newspapers) observe, "It is the single deadliest incident to befall American troops here in more than a year." They also note that two other US soldiers -- not one -- were injured the bombing. Jomana Karadsheh (CNN -- link has video option which is a report by Frederik Pleitgen) notes one Iraqi soldier was killed in the bombing as well. Frederik Pleitgen explains the bomber "steered his truck into the compound of the National Police in southwestern Mosul. He then breached the sort of first layer of security in that compound and detonated his charge and we know five US soldiers have been confirmed dead, two US soldiers have been confirmed wounded also at least two Iraqi security forces have been confirmed dead and several dozen have been confirmed wounded -- most of those civilians -- is what we're hearing from the Iraqi security forces." Following the breach "of first layer of security," apparently, Deborah Haynes (Times of London) reports, "US and Iraqi forces opened fire on the truck after it ignored a request to stop at a checkpoint on the approach to the base." Haynes quotes Interior Ministry spokesperson Karim Khalaf stating, "The truck exploded 50 metres before reaching its target." BBC states, "Reports said the bomber made a sharp turn as he neared the station and charged the truck through an iron fence, careering into a sandbagged wall beyond." Sam Dagher (New York Times) adds, "The Interior Ministry's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, told the state television station network Iraqiya that the truck was packed with about 2,000 pounds of explosives." Xinhau states "the police station and some nearby buildings in the neighborhood were severely damaged by the explosion". In a news brief, PBS' The NewsHour notes three buildings were brought down and apartments were rattled while quoting Amjad Akram stating, "Everything was broken in my home, my refrigerator, my TV, my furniture. The smoke was so thick we couldn't see each other." Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) explains, "The attack comes a day after the six year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. Many hard-line supporters of Saddam Hussein found refuge in Mosul after the U.S. invasion. Crackdowns on other insurgent strongholds in Iraq prompted extremists to move to that area in recent years." (Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times, filed on the bombing as well.) Amanda Ruggeri (US News & World Reports) observes that the bombing "comes on the heels of a particularly bloody few days. Most of the violence had been focused in Baghdad, where more than 50 people were killed in bombings this week." Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report the death toll as 5 US soldiers and 2 Iraqi National Police with sixty-two people injured ("20 of whom were Iraqi security personnel"). (They note one US soldier wounded, that number has risen to two.)
Deborah Haynes notes that the bombing comes after the top US commander in Iraq has stated that US forces may remain in Iraq cities past June. Haynes interviewed Gen Ray Odierno who said "that US combat troops might have to stay beyond June 30 in Mosul and Baqubah, where al-Qaeda retains an active presence. 'The two areas I am concerned with are Mosul and the Baqubah and [other] parts of Diyala province,' he said. 'We will conduct assessments and provide our assessments when the time is right'." The June 30th removal from Iraqi cities (and retreating to US bases within Iraq) is in the treaty masquerading as a Status Of Forces Agreement. For some time, chatter has been that the June 30th removal would not be kept and puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki has even suggested publicly that US forces remaining in some Iraqi cities might be a good idea; however, this is the first on-the-record floating by a named member of the US military. (We went over the SOFA last night. For those drive-bys who couldn't grasp it or didn't want to, this AP article on the 5 deaths explains the same point -- third paragraph from the end.) Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) adds Odierno "said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was expected to ask US forces to stay in Mosul and in Baquba in Diyala Province, where Iraqi security forces need more time to be able to hold neighborhoods American troops have helped them clear."
It also underscores that the treaty masquerading as a Status Of Forces Agreement was never etched in stone, despite claims otherwise. Yesterday Baghdad saw a huge rally calling for the withdrawal of US forces. Toss that back to the Status Of Forces Agreement. al-Maliki had to promise Parliament that the thing could be put to a vote (al-Maliki and the US State Dept had to promise Iraq's Parliament that). That vote was supposed to take place in July. Where are the preparations for that? The Kurdistan Regional Government will be holding provincial elections shortly (May 19th) and they are making their preparations. Where are the preparations for the Iraqi people to vote on the Status Of Forces Agreement? For those who don't remember the January 31st provincial elections in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces required extensive work and planning. If you've forgotten the legislation finally passed Parliament September 24, 2008. They moved to hold elections as quickly as possible and all the work required meant as quickly as possible was January 31st. And that work was after considerable work had already been done. In July of 2007, the White House issued a press release declaring, "On January 23, 2007, the COR passed the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) Law, which the Presidency Council (the President and two Deputy Presidents) approved on February 27, 2007. On April 28, 2007, the COR [Council of Representatives] appointed the nine IHEC Commissioners in a process that the U.N. deemed fair and transparent. The Commissioners have completed appropriate training and are in the process of selecting representatives to oversee elections in the provinces. A Provincial Powers Law that defines the authorities and structures of local governments has been read twice in the COR, but changes are being considered, particularly related to the powers of the governor and the reach of the central government at the local level. At the highest levels, the Embassy is urging the Iraqi Government to take the legislative and administrative action necessary to ensure timely and fair elections. The Embassy is intensively engaged with the GOI and the COR at all levels to expedite legislation or amendments to existing legislation that will allow provincial elections to take place. New legislation or amendments to the existing law are required to set a date and secure funding for elections, as well as to establish the electoral system to be used for the vote, among other issues." The link won't work anymore, take it up with Barack. All of that work, all of those preparations. And yet Iraq's supposed to hold a national referendum on the SOFA this July and there's no indication that any prepartion is being done on that. They have not, for example, asked the United Nations for any help on the issue. For those thinking, "Well the ballot will be simplified . . ." The ballot wasn't the issue. Who was on it and campaigning were issues for candidates. The govermnent and the election commission required all those months to set up for the elections.
Now let's turn to the pathetic websites. Shirley says a record number of e-mails came in today on how useless the pathetic web sit and giving specific examples. Let's start with the sewer of all sewers, Mark Karlin's ugly BuzzFlash. I'm dictating this snapshot and I'm not going to ask my friend to count them all but he's counted the top 112 headlines on BuzzFlash -- all it is is headlines -- and not a damn one notes that 5 US soldiers died in Iraq today. They have time to whine and beg for money (and to lie, people left them because of their sexist attacks on Hillary Clinton, not because they criticized her -- and Mark Karlin, the sexist pig, never felt the need to do an editorial telling men of color how to vote, but he felt he had the right to tell women of all races how to vote, he's a sexist pig and a great deal more). So that's Butt Ugly BuzzFlash and Butt Ugly Mark Karlin. Let's see what those hard working Lambert groupies (and Lambert himself) are doing at Corrente? More bad health care blogging (probably should try understanding health care if you want to advocate on behalf of it), a video of Larry Summers, more bad health care blogging, Lambykins taxing himself with those brief blog entries. Go on and on and you'll never find that 5 US soldiers died in Iraq today. Once upon a time, Corrente cared about the Iraq War and cared about ending it. But those people bailed on Lambert and on the site and, judging by the brief 'page 6' like items they now pass off as 'writing,' those who left did so for good reasons. No Quarters all over the banks and the pirates and for some reason 'Uppity Woman' feels the need to trash Ralph Nader for a vehicle GM's proposing. That certainly helped . . . no one. Over at The Confluence, they're apparently tired of trying to prioritize their world -- they've confused themselves with a PAC -- and so you've got one post by Riverdaughter from this morning and, no, it has nothing in it about five US soldiers dying. Riverdaughter, when she blogged at the other site, used to care about the Iraq War. You'll search in vain for Iraq at The Confluence. Over at Little Dicky's Daily Toilet Scrubber, they have time for Sex In The City videos, health care, gas bagging about tea bagging (they're obsessed with that and it has to do with their male-centric ways and their own latent desires) and on and on but, nope, not a word about Iraq. Once upon a time Arianna Huffington pretended she cared about ending the illegal war. Maybe one of her spritual guides suddenly materialized to tell her to cover other things? Today's big concern for Arianna at Aging Socialite's Cat Litter Box is, as always, Arianna. You're cluded into that when she can't stop name dropping . . . herself: "The conversation continued last night when Charlie Rose invited me to discuss the issue with Tom Curley, AP's president and CEO. For me, the key . . . reminds me . . ." Poor Arianna. No manners in the cat litter box. What about the 'anti-war' Nation magazine (The Nation supported the slaughter of Aghanistan which is why it's so damn funny to read Katrina's efforts to back peddle today)? Not a damn thing at The Nation -- not just "not a damn thing worth reading" as usual, but "not a damn thing on Iraq." Though visitors can laugh at Larua Flanders' latest make over. Apparently, she asked to look like Patty and Cathy Lane's ugly awkward brother. (The woman who played Patty and Cathy is interviewed by wowOwow here. And for what a piece of trash Laura Flanders is, be sure to read Kat's entry on Laura -- who attacked Hillary in the most sexist terms -- pretending she was offended by sexist attacks on Hillary. She'll say anything in front of a crowd of women. Oh well, maybe she was just trying to get laid that night.)
And as bad as the 'brave' online world is, can anything top The Diane Rehm Show today where, second hour, a conversation about Iraq could have taken place but so damn desperate to forever sing and act out "The Boys in the Backroom" is Diane that not only did we not get a conversation on Iraq, we got leering sexism which Diane refused to call out. Even when a caller phoned in to object, Diane couldn't call it out and in fact, excused it by lying. She wasted our time with a made-up cat fight (proposed by a man) between Carla Bruni and Michelle Obama. It was sexist and it was insulting (to both women as well as all women) and it didn't belong on NPR. And when it was called out, the pig's response that he was being "cheeky" was as offensive as Diane's attempts to excuse it. If that's all you've got left to offer, Diane, retire because the world doesn't need you.
Why don't we get Iraq War coverage? One reason is that when there is actual news from Iraq, it's not amplified. The 'brave' online world would rather bore us all with 'tea bagging' because they are obsessed with their own and their friend's testicles. They don't give a damn about the Iraq War. It's not just that they won't show up for a protest, it's that they don't give a damn about ending the Iraq War or about whether anyone lives or dies. It's all so 'yesterday' for them. Alsumaria reports over 243 journalist have been killed so far in Iraq during the illegal war. Reporters Without Borders goes with the more conservative estimate of 225. And if any of them has an America's Funniest Home Video like clip, our 'brave' online world may find time to cover them. Translation, they'll be ignored the same way they ignored Bilal Hussein's false imprisonment. But don't worry, they're advancing the cause of making "tea bagging" a socially acceptable term.
On Saddam Hussein, Alsumaria has a report (text and video) on Jawad Amer who lived underground for approximately 23 years (until the 2003 invasion) for joining the Dawa Party. A large tile in his living room floor lifted up and led to his crawl space where he had keroscene, pots and pans, a toilet and more. The fifty-something year-old man lived in that space below the home of his mother, Azeeza Masikh Dehash. During his time underground, he lost all of his teeth (his teeth are the items in the matchbox he displays on camera). Meanwhile at Fog el Nakhal, Touta shares a story of a family who were victimized under Saddam Hussein and were happy when the US invaded Iraq:
They rejoiced. Freedom to go the the Kharij (outside Iraq), Freedom for the father finally to be able to get the job he deserved. Instead, the father got kicked out of his job. He was a 'saddamist'-living in Al Aathamiya and having a job-he had to be one of Saddam's favoured right? Wrong. His older brother had been killed by Saddam. That's how favoured he was.
No job, and a family to feed, he resorted to selling everything. First the furniture went, the car, the extra fridge, but soon he ran out of stuff to sell. He sat on the kerbside and sold vegetables and herbs.
During a particularly nasty time in 2006, he was shot by american soldiers. His wife complained, the soldier's reply-he was about to attack them.
Yes, with that deadly broccoli and lethal courgettes.
It was concluded he was shot accidently, as there were many militia men in the area. The wife had no qualifications and could not get a job. The recompensation was equivalent to $100.
For a while, the family depended on their uncle. Who was then kidnapped by militia men, and beaten to the point that he couldn't walk, by his fellow country men. His ransom was so high, that it cost them everything.
And yes, its a true story, and no they had no reason to lie, and yes i met the mother and her orphaned children. What made me smile, is I met the two girls. One is the age of my little sister, and the other is around 9.
The violence continues every day. Even the myth of the 'peaceful' January 31st didn't actually mean no one died in Iraq that day (for example McClatchy's Sahar Issa reported two Kirkuk roadside bombings that resulted in one person being wounded. McClatchy's Laith Hammoudi noted a tribal fight in Baghdad that resulted in one death and one person injured.).
Shootings?
Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report Dhafir Hashim Al Jumayl was shot dead in Mosul today. He had been the "cousin of the parliament member Usama Al-Nijaifi and his brother Atheel Al-Nijaifi who headed Al-Hadbaa list which won 48% votes of the last provincial elections".
Bombings?
Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report a Baghdad missile attack which left two women wounded, a Baghdad roadside bombing which claimed 2 lives and left four people wounded, a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 woman and left her daughter injured and a Diyala Province roadside bombing which claimed 2 lives -- a woman and a man -- and left "their three children" wounded. Aseel Kami, Tim Cocks, Abdul-Rahman Taher and Michael Christie (Reuters) report a Baghdad car bombing which claimed 9 lives and left twenty people injured: "Eyewitnesses told Reuters Television that the mother of a 7-month-old baby died in the blast and the father was critically wounded when the explosion struck the front of their car." The attack took place in the Kadhemiyah (also spelled Kadhimiya) neighborhood of Baghdad bombed. Wednesday's bombing claimed 7 lives and left twenty-three wounded. Tuesday's bombing claimed 9 lives and left eighteen wounded. In that neighborhood of Baghdad, there have been three bombings this week, 25 deaths and sixty-one people wounded this week alone.
The Tuesday bombing resulted in one known orphan. Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reported that the Tuesday car bombing set another car on fire. In the car were three people, a woman, a man and an infant. Hammoudi said the man and the woman were the parents -- that may or may not be correct. He also identifies someone who rescued the infant. That may or may not be correct. There is a dispute over who rescued the child (three names have been mentioned in press coverage). But the child was rescued. The infant, a baby boy, was taken in by Umm Assad al-Khafaji. We know that for a fact because Sam Dagher (New York Times) reported on it and Chrisoph Bangert provided a photo of her feeding the child. Dagher estimated the child to be around six-months-old. He noted the man was driving the car and the woman was in the back with the baby and that it appeared the man was a driver the woman had hired. Someone rescued the child and Dagher observed, "In that sense, the baby was luckier than others who had been wounded in the bombing. After Iraqi security forces arrived, they fired shots to disperse the crowd and scuffled withs ome of the rescuers, witnesses said, preventing many of the wounded from getting help." Christoph Bangert offers another photo of the baby here. A man claiming to be the baby's uncle later came forward to claim him.
March 27th we noted that New York Times Iraqi correspondent Sahar S. Gabriel had been granted refugee status in the United States. April 4th Mudhafer al-Husaini, another Iraqi correspondent, wrote about his news: "Leaving Iraq is not something easy, and going to America is a good opportunity. I know that many people around the world would wish to be in my place and travel to America. But Iraq is not a poor, unkown country. It has a great civilization and it's one of the oldest on the planet. It's a very rich country with two great rivers. The Iraqi people are kind and generous; we're really not bad people." I'm using the term "correspondent." I also use the term "reporter." The Iraqis -- for all outlets -- have been the eyes and ears and they are as much responsible for the reports as anyone who gets mentioned in a byline. And I find it strange that the Times credits Mudhafer (at the Baghdad Bureau blog post) as "an Iraqi tranlator with the NYT in Baghdad". January 5th the paper ran Sam Dagher and Mudhafer al-Husaini's "Bomber at Iraqi Shrine Kills 40, Including 16 Iranian Pilgrims." June 25th it ran Alissa J. Rubin and Mudhafer al-Husaini's "Baghdad Blast Kills Four Americans." January 8, 2008 it was Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Mudhafer al-Husaini's "Suicide Bomber Kills Key Sunni Leader." We can go on and on. Mudhafer was not just credited in the end notes to some articles, he regularly received a byline -- one he earned. It's a bit insulting to refer to him solely as "an Iraqi translator with the NYT in Baghdad." He reported and he got credit for it. If we want to get really ugly, I can write about the Iraqis who made John F. Burns and Dexter Filkins' articles and got nothing -- not even end credit -- we can talk about where they ended up (refugees in Syria, for example) and how they feel they were used. We can make a point to dig up all these stories (we don't have to dig too deep, they began contacting me in December of 2004) and talk about them here or the paper can start giving credit where it's due. A start would be referring to Mudhafter as a "reporter." That's what he is.
Staying on the topic of the New York Times, Saul Landau (CounterPunch) examines the continued selling of the illegal war:
The New York Times Op-Ed page editors seemed undaunted about printing columns on the surge's success by the very pundits who had only recently assured the public of the biggest lies of the young 21st Century: Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and links to Al Qaeda. Among the surge proselytizers, emerged Kenneth Pollack. In The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq (2002), he wrote: "The only prudent and realistic course of action left to the United States is to mount a full-scale invasion of Iraq to smash the Iraqi armed forces, depose Saddam's regime, and rid the country of weapons of mass destruction." He dismissed wusses who "exaggerated the danger of casualties among American troops."
Pollack even helped persuade Times columnist Bill Keller to support the Iraq war. "Kenneth Pollack, the Clinton National Security Council expert whose argument for invading Iraq is surely the most influential book of this season," wrote Keller (February 8, 2003), "has provided intellectual cover for every liberal who finds himself inclining toward war but uneasy about Mr. Bush."
After expressing absolute certainty about Saddam's WMD, Pollack threw his enthusiasm behind the surge -- without apologizing for his role in helping to perpetuate destruction and death. Again using the Times as his propaganda organ, Pollack offered new dogma. The surge had provided "the potential to produce not necessarily 'victory' but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with." ("A War We Just Might Win" with Michael O'Hanlon, June 30, 2007)
Turning to the military and the economy, yesterday at the Washington Post online, Dana Priest did another of her Thursday webchats on national security and international issues. Here's one section of the exchange:
Stafford, Va.: Dana, part of Gates' budget includes an increase in spending to support planned expansion of the Army and USMC. Do you know what the actual size of these forces would be once the plan is achieved and when that might be? Will the military have any difficulty in achieving this goal? Thanks. Dana Priest: Sorry, I don't know the numbers answer. I don't believe they will have problems with recruiting. The economic downturn is driving more people into the military.
Today Edward Colimore (Philadelphia Inquirer) reports on the unemployment crisis and how it worries those in the service:
John Roscoe of Swedesboro trained hard over the last 70 days at Fort Sill, Okla., and isn't worried about heading to Iraq this month. The Army private is more concerned about finding employment when he returns in nine months.
For now, deployment means employment.
"I volunteered to go, and one of the biggest reasons is the economy," said the 26-year-old, who recently lost a private security job. "It's an entire year I'm getting paid and don't have to worry about looking for a job."
One comrade, Sgt. Rockyfeller Mensah of Atco, is hoping to hold on to his civilian job. "I'm real, real concerned with everybody losing their jobs," said the 43-year-old sanitation truck driver. "I hope I can come back to work again."
Mensah and Roscoe, a recent college student, yesterday were among more than 250 members of the New Jersey Army National Guard's 150th Assault Helicopter Battalion who took part in a farewell ceremony - attended by Gov. Corzine - at Fort Sill.
Public television notes. NOW on PBS offers a look at coal (no, I'm not optimistic either, NOW on PBS is highly 'business' friendly):Can America's cheapest and most plentiful energy resource be produced without burning the environment? Americans are addicted to coal--it powers half of all our electricity, and is both plentiful and cheap. In fact, some call America the "Saudi Arabia of Coal." But are we paying too high an environmental price for all this cheap energy? With carbon emissions caps high on the Obama Administration's agenda, coal is in the crosshairs of the energy debate. This week, NOW Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa travels to Wyoming to take a hard look at the coal industry there and its case that it can produce "clean coal"--coal that can be burned without releasing carbon into the atmosphere. President Obama has been outspoken in his support for "clean coal" technology, but some say the whole concept is more of a public relations campaign than an energy solution. As part of the report, Hinojosa talks with Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal and Jeff Goodell, the author of "Big Coal," who says that carbon dioxide emissions generated from coal contribute to global warming. Our investigation is part of a PBS-wide series on the country's infrastructure called "Blueprint America."
This week on Washington Week (begins airing tonight on most PBS stations, check local listings) Gwen sits down with NYT's David Sanger, Chicago Tribune's Christi Parson, LAT's Doyle McManus and US News & World Reports and CNN's Gloria Borger. Also, I was asked to note that Washington Week has given their site some "tweaks," so check that out. Bonnie Erbe sits down with Eleanor Holmes Norton, Ruth Conniff, Star Parker and Karen Czarnecki to discuss this week's news on To The Contrary. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:The DEKA ArmNew technology is making it possible for amputees to pick up small, delicate objects they never thought they would master thanks to the biggest innovation in prosthetic arms since World War II. Scott Pelley reports. Watch Video
Gun RushAmericans are snapping up guns and ammunition at an increasingly higher rate despite the economic downturn. But as Lesley Stahl reports, the economic downturn, as well as the election of Barack Obama, may be the reason for the run on guns. Watch Video
Steve WynnThe casino mogul most responsible for taking Las Vegas to new heights of gaming and glitter talks to Charlie Rose about his spectacular success and the eye disease that's slowly robbing him of his ability to see the fruits of his labor. Watch VideoAmong those interviewed by Lesley Stahl for her report on guns is Senator Dianne Feinstein whose remarks will, no doubt, be news at home (the Bay Area) due to her days in municpal government when Harvey Milk was assassinated. At wowOwow, Lesley writes about the 60 Minutes segment and also offers a video preview. And as the wowOwow friend who requested that link notes, "You can join the conversation and leave your comments" at wowOwow.
iraq
jane arraf
deborah haynes
corinne reilly
sahar issa
hussein kadhimmcclatchy newspapers
laith hammoudi
leila fadel
the washington post
ernesto londono
dana priest
sam dagher
the new york timesalissa j. rubinmudhafer al-husaini
richard a. oppel jr.
60 minutescbs newsnow on pbspbsto the contrarybonnie erbelesley stahlwowowow
kats korner
Trina: Today 5 US soldiers died in Iraq. As the snapshot notes the world wide web has other things to talk about. Not much of it important or useful. How many times did we all watch as they mounted their high horses and acted like they gave a damn about the Iraq War from 2003 through 2007? Maybe some extended it a little further. But apparently for them the Iraq War was actually nothing but a political football to toss around in the hopes of advancing a few yards for Team Democrat. It's disgusting, it's appalling and it needs to be called out.
Cedric: I agree and that piece of trash, rip-off site Corrente? They used to pretend to care about the Iraq War. They never did a thing on the deaths of the five. But tonight that loony Sarah did find time to write, with no irony, "Style over Substance" -- about Michelle Fashion Plate. Yeah, that was the most imporant thing in the world today. I'm counting 23 blog posts they posted today and not one of them mentioned the death of the five US soldiers. If you ask me, 23 posts in one day and not one of you damn hypocrites mentions that 5 soldiers died in Iraq, you can go rot in hell but truth of the matter is you're pathetic ass is already there.
Elaine: It really is amazing how the blogs, like the media, ran from Iraq as soon as Barack got into office. It doesn't matter if they're pro-Barry blogs, anti-Barry blogs, or in the middle from the center posing as left all the way to the left, they don't give a damn about Iraq and I am mentioning Kimberly Wilder so she can take any problems she has with my remarks up with me by e-mailing me although I probably won't even read it and I won't reply because I don't like having my e-mails passed on. You slammed Hillary and trashed her and did so over her 2002 vote on the Iraq resolution. If that mattered at all to you, you would have found time to note the deaths. You want to self-present as "social justice"? Then cover the damn war. You're disgusting and you're little blog posts about Barry and how Barry's going to do this and do that, spare us all. As Kathy Kelly said on KPFA's Flashpoints Wednesday, "Well I think that Barack Obama is the world's chief exporter of weapons. I mean that goes with the job. And I think that you can't look at attacks on civilian populations using conventional military force and not discuss War Crimes." The peace movement's goals have not changed just because the White House flipped and it's been appalling to watch people like Kimberly Wilder -- an alleged Green Party member until her recent break -- go out of her way to praise a War Hawk named Barack Obama.
Mike: The Iraq War has not ended and you have to be a stupid idiot like Phyllis Bennis to say, "Well I'm happy that Barack's said he's going to end it and the time doesn't really matter." The time doesn't matter to you Phyllis? In 2007, he was promising the Iraq War would be over by now.
Rebecca: Stopping you for a minute, Mike. C.I.?
C.I.: Right. They can click here for Jake Tapper's 2007 story about Barack having just launched his presidential campaign and I quote, "Obama, often criticized for his lack of foreign policy experience, had his plan to withdraw troops from Iraq by March 2008 attacked by an unlikely source -- the Australian Prime Minister John Howard, an ally of President Bush."
Rebecca: Thank you. I know someone's going to question Mike's statement and I knew C.I. would be able to pull it up. Mike?
Mike: Well, he's promised everything and he's never delivered a damn thing and we can see that even more this week with his 'state secrets' excuse to cover up for the illegal spying on Americans that the government did. He lied on the campaign trail non-stop and you've got idiots like Phyllis Bennis saying it doesn't matter when Barack pulls the troops out and that is what she said when he went to 18 or 19 months for a withdrawal and she said it didn't matter if it was longer than what was promised. That's pathetic Phyllis Bennis. It does matter. And if he'd stuck to what he was saying in 2007, the US would have been out of Iraq already and those 5 dead soldiers wouldn't be dead.
Marcia: It just seems to me that there is a detachment about the Iraq War, a distance from it, as if it were a game. I'd honestly appreciate sell outs a lot more if they'd just say, "I'm a sell out, I didn't give a damn about the Iraq War, I just wanted to elect Democrats." If they'd say that, I wouldn't expect a thing from them. I wouldn't be outraged and angry. But they're liars. They want to pretend like they still care about ending the Iraq War and they can't even write about it. They can't cover it, they can't talk about it, they're just a huge disgrace because they're all wanting to act like they're still trying to end the Iraq War. And they're not doing a damn thing.
Ruth: Well actually, what Marcia's discussing is sort of what Stan and I were talking about earlier this evening. We had both read Norman Solomon's embarrassing "Getting a Death Grip on Memory" at CounterPunch and he and I had strong opinions on it. Stan?
Stan: Okay, So Norman Solomon's riding his high horse about how Real Media wants to forget their crimes. That would be Norman Solomon, pledged delegate for Barack Obama. That would be Norman Solomon who lied for Barry and who did everything he could to get Barry elected. He cut off people when he was a guest on the radio and tried to rip their character apart when they questioned Barack. He cut them off and launched personal attacks on them, the sort of thing he maintains he never does, he maintains he debates the issues, but that's not what he did on KPFA. And he's a liar because he'd go on KPFA to 'analyze' the race and 'forget' to tell listeners that he was a pledged delegate for Barck. For that reason alone, he shouldn't have been on. And he knows that. He knows all about media ethics. He just doesn't practice any. He's a disgusting whore and for him to talk about Real Media's memory lapses, what he needs to do is write a column on how someone betrays every thing they supposedly believe in to whore out for a candidate. He's a whore, a cheap, trashy, disease ridden whore.
Rebecca: And Ruth, you say what?
Ruth: I would have to agree with Stan. We were talking about this and how Norman Solomon must wake up every morning convinced that he has really put one over on everybody.
Ava: Or maybe doubting it? Maybe that's why he lays it on so thick.
Ruth: Good point. And, as Stan said, he broke every ethic regarding media in 2008. He knows those ethics, he lectures on those ethics. He might try getting honest about that.
Rebecca: Because confession is good for the soul?
Ruth: Because a blistering confession might allow someone tempted in the future to avoid the path he went down. It would be like a drug addict sharing with people how low he sunk while active in his disease.
Rebecca: Okay. Kat and Wally haven't spoken. Betty hasn't but she and I talked ahead of time and she has a topic she's bringing in. But I'm letting Wally and Kat know they need to speak if they're planning to. Ava and C.I. are taking notes and will type up this rush transcript. They can speak whenever they want but we all doubt they'll speak much. Betty?
Betty: I wanted to talk about Iraq's LGBT population. In the April 2nd snapshot, C.I. noted the reports that they were being executed. No one followed that story this week until we found out, see yesterday's snapshot, that US House Rep Jared Polis went to Iraq and was given information about a gay man sentenced to death for being gay. Why isn't anyone writing about this? Michael Riley (Denver Post) was covering it but I'm not even sure if he grasped all of what he was reporting and, if he did grasp it, I think he intentionally downplayed it. Maybe because he thought if he didn't downplay it, it might be seen as too explosive for print. But read his article. A member of the US Congress has been given information that states a gay man is going to be put to execution because he is gay. The Congress member finds the information and documentation so convincing that he raises the issue on his Iraq trip. I'd say this is pretty big news.
Cedric: I'd agree with you Betty and I'd argue that if all the people writing last week about the executions hadn't been doing that. and that includes C.I. doing the why-are-we-silent writing, we wouldn't have gotten Timothy Williams and Tareq Maher's "Iraq's Newly Open Gays Face Scorn and Murder" in the New York Times this week. That's really the strongest article on this subject that paper has published. And, speculating, I'm wondering is it that the paper previously didn't care about the issue, thought readers didn't care about the issue, thought it wasn't among the important issues or what?
Mike: Well when they can write that stupid article on the Humvee dealership in Iraq then if it's that the paper didn't think LGBT was an "important issue," that's saying a lot. And none of it good about the paper.
Ruth: I honestly think that there is a 'queasy' aspect to it -- I am talking about among the press. It happens far too often, an issue involving an attack on the LGBT community in any country, even our own, never gets the kind of attention it deserves. Never. I think a large portion of the press, especially above the reporters' level, are uncomfortable with LGBT issues and the LGBT community.
Ava: Well, in terms of the New York Times, they have a shameful history on AIDS in the eighties and I would argue that's because of the "queasy" aspect Ruth's talking about. They didn't see gays and lesbians as 'real human beings' so when a disease that wasknown as the "gay cancer" struck, they didn't want to devote the kind of attention they would have if the same disease had targeted red-headed-four-year-old boys, for example.
Mike: I don't want to dominate the roundtable but if I can make another point, and I'll try to be quick, homophobia is out there and it's not going away. It might get reduced, but it's not going away any time soon. And if we're not willing to combat it, then I don't know what's going to happen. I am eager about one thing that's coming up.
Marcia: I agree with you, Mike, but I want to also say how important it is that someone like Mike says that and not just me. I'm a lesbian. It's important that I speak out. But Mike's a straight man and it's really important that he speak out as well. I think the gay community is something like one in ten. The LGBT community needs to speak up but we also need support from the straight community. In terms of what Mike's talking about coming up, I agree. And I'm excited about it as well. It's something we're going to be doing at Third. A regular feature. But I would agree there's a silence and, like Ruth, I would have to say it's because it makes some straight people uncomfortable.
Betty: If I can say one more thing on this topic, I'd just like to point out that gays are being targeted in Iraq. By the clergy, by the police and apparently by their state government. And the fact that so many -- including Liar Barack -- have taken to tossing around terms like "democracy" at a time when homophobia is expressed with criminal intent is appalling. And it's disgusting to see US leaders hail a country where homophobia and homophobic murders are condoned by the governemtn. It's disgusting.
Wally: Well the silence goes beyond the press and it also includes our own State Dept which has never condemened the murders. It didn't condemn under the homophobe Colin Powell, it didn't condemn then under Condi Rice and it's not condemning them under Hillary Clinton. Now I happen to like Hillary and, as most people reading this will know, from something like January through the primary in Puerto Rico, I was on the road campaigning for her. I ended up taking off the semester to do that. I believed in her campaign that much. She's being silent. Now I could be an Obot and say, "She needs more time to speak! She needs to get comfortable!" I could offer a million excuses but the reality is she has not spoken out against it and that's not right, and there's no excuse for it, and I'm embarrassed and ashamed for Hillary. And I'll tell you one more thing, I'd be talking about that like her if she was president. Because I don't believe in hero worship. Unlike the Cult of St. Barack, I don't offer excuses. And I believe Hillary would make a great president. But I believe that because I think she's smart. So when someone that smart and that wise doesn't speak out against the murders, it is appalling and I will call out. I will repeat, Hillary Clinton, I am ashamed and embarrassed by your silence. I am fully aware that there are issues that are policy and that come above Hillary. That would include the Israel situtation, for example. There she's merely executing policy. However, in terms of this issue, in terms of condemning any murders in any country -- I'm talking warfare, supposed or otherwise -- she has the power, due to the office she holds, to issue a state condemning the murders. She hasn't done it. I'm appalled. Shame on you, Hillary, you know better. And Kat I knew Betty's topic, Rebecca, which is why we were holding off on talking.
Kat: Right. And it is an important topic but just to back up a second, I agree with Wally and if Hillary had gotten the nomination, she would be president, we all know that, we all know she got more votes than Barack in the primaries and we all know she would have done better than he did in the general. But if she was president, we wouldn't be playing fan club to Hillary. We'd be doing what Wally just did right now. And Wally gave his all to getting the word out on Hillary. He dropped out of college because he took some weeks off and ended up deciding that it was more important that he campaign for her. The original plan was just to campaign for her for a few weeks, he ended up dropping out to campaign for her. And he still believes she would make a wonderful president but that didn't prevent him from calling her out on her silence and doing so strongly. And if she were president and going back on her word to withdraw one brigade a month from Iraq, we'd all be calling her out. The Obots aren't politically educated or smart. They needed a crush, an empty vessel upon which they could impose their dreams of love and romance. It and they are disgusting. Now in terms of the LGBT community in Iraq, I don't want to hear any garbage about Muslim religion or any of that other s**t. We don't use "Muslim religion" or "Muslim culture" to hide behind murdering Jews or Christians. Murder's wrong. That's not open to debate. That the US has installed a regime in Iraq which thinks it's okay to murder gays and lesbians -- and even if the government is not executing them, they are turning a blind eye to their murders -- explains how sick and perverted this illegal war really was. And to be clear "Muslim religion" or "Muslim culture," gays and lesbians still were in Iraq. They are Iraqis. And they had acceptance before the illegal war. They are a part of Muslim culture whether fundamentalists want to accept it or not. And they are a part of Iraq and they should have been protected.
Rebecca: I did not know that Kat and Wally were waiting for Betty's topic. And thank you to Betty for introducing it because that was a very lively discussion. We need to wind down and I want to let Trina have the last word since she grabbed the first. Trina, a lot's been said since you explained why you wanted this roundtable. Closing thoughts?
Trina: I think we have shown that there is so much still to discuss about the Iraq War and there's so much that we didn't even get to. We didn't talk about how the violence this week has been so great that even the press has a hard time pretending it's not happening, for example. We didn't talk about the targeting of Sahwa. There are so many topics that we didn't have time for, all Iraq related, and that's going to be true every day because it is an ongoing war and it is a real shame that the people who supposedly wanted to end it have moved on to other things while over 130,000 US troops remain on the ground in Iraq. The illegal war has not ended and it's appalling to grasp how little that matters to so many who used to pretend they gave a damn.
Rebecca: And on that note, we'll wrap up. As stated before, this is a rush transcript. This roundtable will be posted at the sites of all participating. And, in closing, C.I. asked me to note the Center for Media and Democracy's "Common Purpose: Another Cog in Obama's PR Machine" on the sell out of our so-called left. It's a very important piece and I'm sure will be addressing it at Third on Sunday.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, April 10, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces multiple deaths, violence strikes a Baghdad neighborhood for the third time this week, the US employment crisis' impact on the military, Diane Rehm's embarrassing embarace of sexism, and more.
Today the US military announced: "Five U.S. Coalition Soldiers were killed, and one wounded from a suicide vehicle borne improvised explosive device attack earlier today in Mosul. Two Iraqi Security Forces were also killed and 20 wounded. The suicide truck bomb exploded near the Iraqi National Police headquarters in the southwest section of the city. At least two individuals suspected of being involved in the attack were detained, and the incident is under investigation. The names of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense." The five deaths bring the total number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4271. Leila Fadel, Corrine Reilly and Ali Abbas (McClatchy Newspapers) observe, "It is the single deadliest incident to befall American troops here in more than a year." They also note that two other US soldiers -- not one -- were injured the bombing. Jomana Karadsheh (CNN -- link has video option which is a report by Frederik Pleitgen) notes one Iraqi soldier was killed in the bombing as well. Frederik Pleitgen explains the bomber "steered his truck into the compound of the National Police in southwestern Mosul. He then breached the sort of first layer of security in that compound and detonated his charge and we know five US soldiers have been confirmed dead, two US soldiers have been confirmed wounded also at least two Iraqi security forces have been confirmed dead and several dozen have been confirmed wounded -- most of those civilians -- is what we're hearing from the Iraqi security forces." Following the breach "of first layer of security," apparently, Deborah Haynes (Times of London) reports, "US and Iraqi forces opened fire on the truck after it ignored a request to stop at a checkpoint on the approach to the base." Haynes quotes Interior Ministry spokesperson Karim Khalaf stating, "The truck exploded 50 metres before reaching its target." BBC states, "Reports said the bomber made a sharp turn as he neared the station and charged the truck through an iron fence, careering into a sandbagged wall beyond." Sam Dagher (New York Times) adds, "The Interior Ministry's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, told the state television station network Iraqiya that the truck was packed with about 2,000 pounds of explosives." Xinhau states "the police station and some nearby buildings in the neighborhood were severely damaged by the explosion". In a news brief, PBS' The NewsHour notes three buildings were brought down and apartments were rattled while quoting Amjad Akram stating, "Everything was broken in my home, my refrigerator, my TV, my furniture. The smoke was so thick we couldn't see each other." Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) explains, "The attack comes a day after the six year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. Many hard-line supporters of Saddam Hussein found refuge in Mosul after the U.S. invasion. Crackdowns on other insurgent strongholds in Iraq prompted extremists to move to that area in recent years." (Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times, filed on the bombing as well.) Amanda Ruggeri (US News & World Reports) observes that the bombing "comes on the heels of a particularly bloody few days. Most of the violence had been focused in Baghdad, where more than 50 people were killed in bombings this week." Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report the death toll as 5 US soldiers and 2 Iraqi National Police with sixty-two people injured ("20 of whom were Iraqi security personnel"). (They note one US soldier wounded, that number has risen to two.)
Deborah Haynes notes that the bombing comes after the top US commander in Iraq has stated that US forces may remain in Iraq cities past June. Haynes interviewed Gen Ray Odierno who said "that US combat troops might have to stay beyond June 30 in Mosul and Baqubah, where al-Qaeda retains an active presence. 'The two areas I am concerned with are Mosul and the Baqubah and [other] parts of Diyala province,' he said. 'We will conduct assessments and provide our assessments when the time is right'." The June 30th removal from Iraqi cities (and retreating to US bases within Iraq) is in the treaty masquerading as a Status Of Forces Agreement. For some time, chatter has been that the June 30th removal would not be kept and puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki has even suggested publicly that US forces remaining in some Iraqi cities might be a good idea; however, this is the first on-the-record floating by a named member of the US military. (We went over the SOFA last night. For those drive-bys who couldn't grasp it or didn't want to, this AP article on the 5 deaths explains the same point -- third paragraph from the end.) Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) adds Odierno "said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was expected to ask US forces to stay in Mosul and in Baquba in Diyala Province, where Iraqi security forces need more time to be able to hold neighborhoods American troops have helped them clear."
It also underscores that the treaty masquerading as a Status Of Forces Agreement was never etched in stone, despite claims otherwise. Yesterday Baghdad saw a huge rally calling for the withdrawal of US forces. Toss that back to the Status Of Forces Agreement. al-Maliki had to promise Parliament that the thing could be put to a vote (al-Maliki and the US State Dept had to promise Iraq's Parliament that). That vote was supposed to take place in July. Where are the preparations for that? The Kurdistan Regional Government will be holding provincial elections shortly (May 19th) and they are making their preparations. Where are the preparations for the Iraqi people to vote on the Status Of Forces Agreement? For those who don't remember the January 31st provincial elections in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces required extensive work and planning. If you've forgotten the legislation finally passed Parliament September 24, 2008. They moved to hold elections as quickly as possible and all the work required meant as quickly as possible was January 31st. And that work was after considerable work had already been done. In July of 2007, the White House issued a press release declaring, "On January 23, 2007, the COR passed the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) Law, which the Presidency Council (the President and two Deputy Presidents) approved on February 27, 2007. On April 28, 2007, the COR [Council of Representatives] appointed the nine IHEC Commissioners in a process that the U.N. deemed fair and transparent. The Commissioners have completed appropriate training and are in the process of selecting representatives to oversee elections in the provinces. A Provincial Powers Law that defines the authorities and structures of local governments has been read twice in the COR, but changes are being considered, particularly related to the powers of the governor and the reach of the central government at the local level. At the highest levels, the Embassy is urging the Iraqi Government to take the legislative and administrative action necessary to ensure timely and fair elections. The Embassy is intensively engaged with the GOI and the COR at all levels to expedite legislation or amendments to existing legislation that will allow provincial elections to take place. New legislation or amendments to the existing law are required to set a date and secure funding for elections, as well as to establish the electoral system to be used for the vote, among other issues." The link won't work anymore, take it up with Barack. All of that work, all of those preparations. And yet Iraq's supposed to hold a national referendum on the SOFA this July and there's no indication that any prepartion is being done on that. They have not, for example, asked the United Nations for any help on the issue. For those thinking, "Well the ballot will be simplified . . ." The ballot wasn't the issue. Who was on it and campaigning were issues for candidates. The govermnent and the election commission required all those months to set up for the elections.
Now let's turn to the pathetic websites. Shirley says a record number of e-mails came in today on how useless the pathetic web sit and giving specific examples. Let's start with the sewer of all sewers, Mark Karlin's ugly BuzzFlash. I'm dictating this snapshot and I'm not going to ask my friend to count them all but he's counted the top 112 headlines on BuzzFlash -- all it is is headlines -- and not a damn one notes that 5 US soldiers died in Iraq today. They have time to whine and beg for money (and to lie, people left them because of their sexist attacks on Hillary Clinton, not because they criticized her -- and Mark Karlin, the sexist pig, never felt the need to do an editorial telling men of color how to vote, but he felt he had the right to tell women of all races how to vote, he's a sexist pig and a great deal more). So that's Butt Ugly BuzzFlash and Butt Ugly Mark Karlin. Let's see what those hard working Lambert groupies (and Lambert himself) are doing at Corrente? More bad health care blogging (probably should try understanding health care if you want to advocate on behalf of it), a video of Larry Summers, more bad health care blogging, Lambykins taxing himself with those brief blog entries. Go on and on and you'll never find that 5 US soldiers died in Iraq today. Once upon a time, Corrente cared about the Iraq War and cared about ending it. But those people bailed on Lambert and on the site and, judging by the brief 'page 6' like items they now pass off as 'writing,' those who left did so for good reasons. No Quarters all over the banks and the pirates and for some reason 'Uppity Woman' feels the need to trash Ralph Nader for a vehicle GM's proposing. That certainly helped . . . no one. Over at The Confluence, they're apparently tired of trying to prioritize their world -- they've confused themselves with a PAC -- and so you've got one post by Riverdaughter from this morning and, no, it has nothing in it about five US soldiers dying. Riverdaughter, when she blogged at the other site, used to care about the Iraq War. You'll search in vain for Iraq at The Confluence. Over at Little Dicky's Daily Toilet Scrubber, they have time for Sex In The City videos, health care, gas bagging about tea bagging (they're obsessed with that and it has to do with their male-centric ways and their own latent desires) and on and on but, nope, not a word about Iraq. Once upon a time Arianna Huffington pretended she cared about ending the illegal war. Maybe one of her spritual guides suddenly materialized to tell her to cover other things? Today's big concern for Arianna at Aging Socialite's Cat Litter Box is, as always, Arianna. You're cluded into that when she can't stop name dropping . . . herself: "The conversation continued last night when Charlie Rose invited me to discuss the issue with Tom Curley, AP's president and CEO. For me, the key . . . reminds me . . ." Poor Arianna. No manners in the cat litter box. What about the 'anti-war' Nation magazine (The Nation supported the slaughter of Aghanistan which is why it's so damn funny to read Katrina's efforts to back peddle today)? Not a damn thing at The Nation -- not just "not a damn thing worth reading" as usual, but "not a damn thing on Iraq." Though visitors can laugh at Larua Flanders' latest make over. Apparently, she asked to look like Patty and Cathy Lane's ugly awkward brother. (The woman who played Patty and Cathy is interviewed by wowOwow here. And for what a piece of trash Laura Flanders is, be sure to read Kat's entry on Laura -- who attacked Hillary in the most sexist terms -- pretending she was offended by sexist attacks on Hillary. She'll say anything in front of a crowd of women. Oh well, maybe she was just trying to get laid that night.)
And as bad as the 'brave' online world is, can anything top The Diane Rehm Show today where, second hour, a conversation about Iraq could have taken place but so damn desperate to forever sing and act out "The Boys in the Backroom" is Diane that not only did we not get a conversation on Iraq, we got leering sexism which Diane refused to call out. Even when a caller phoned in to object, Diane couldn't call it out and in fact, excused it by lying. She wasted our time with a made-up cat fight (proposed by a man) between Carla Bruni and Michelle Obama. It was sexist and it was insulting (to both women as well as all women) and it didn't belong on NPR. And when it was called out, the pig's response that he was being "cheeky" was as offensive as Diane's attempts to excuse it. If that's all you've got left to offer, Diane, retire because the world doesn't need you.
Why don't we get Iraq War coverage? One reason is that when there is actual news from Iraq, it's not amplified. The 'brave' online world would rather bore us all with 'tea bagging' because they are obsessed with their own and their friend's testicles. They don't give a damn about the Iraq War. It's not just that they won't show up for a protest, it's that they don't give a damn about ending the Iraq War or about whether anyone lives or dies. It's all so 'yesterday' for them. Alsumaria reports over 243 journalist have been killed so far in Iraq during the illegal war. Reporters Without Borders goes with the more conservative estimate of 225. And if any of them has an America's Funniest Home Video like clip, our 'brave' online world may find time to cover them. Translation, they'll be ignored the same way they ignored Bilal Hussein's false imprisonment. But don't worry, they're advancing the cause of making "tea bagging" a socially acceptable term.
On Saddam Hussein, Alsumaria has a report (text and video) on Jawad Amer who lived underground for approximately 23 years (until the 2003 invasion) for joining the Dawa Party. A large tile in his living room floor lifted up and led to his crawl space where he had keroscene, pots and pans, a toilet and more. The fifty-something year-old man lived in that space below the home of his mother, Azeeza Masikh Dehash. During his time underground, he lost all of his teeth (his teeth are the items in the matchbox he displays on camera). Meanwhile at Fog el Nakhal, Touta shares a story of a family who were victimized under Saddam Hussein and were happy when the US invaded Iraq:
They rejoiced. Freedom to go the the Kharij (outside Iraq), Freedom for the father finally to be able to get the job he deserved. Instead, the father got kicked out of his job. He was a 'saddamist'-living in Al Aathamiya and having a job-he had to be one of Saddam's favoured right? Wrong. His older brother had been killed by Saddam. That's how favoured he was.
No job, and a family to feed, he resorted to selling everything. First the furniture went, the car, the extra fridge, but soon he ran out of stuff to sell. He sat on the kerbside and sold vegetables and herbs.
During a particularly nasty time in 2006, he was shot by american soldiers. His wife complained, the soldier's reply-he was about to attack them.
Yes, with that deadly broccoli and lethal courgettes.
It was concluded he was shot accidently, as there were many militia men in the area. The wife had no qualifications and could not get a job. The recompensation was equivalent to $100.
For a while, the family depended on their uncle. Who was then kidnapped by militia men, and beaten to the point that he couldn't walk, by his fellow country men. His ransom was so high, that it cost them everything.
And yes, its a true story, and no they had no reason to lie, and yes i met the mother and her orphaned children. What made me smile, is I met the two girls. One is the age of my little sister, and the other is around 9.
The violence continues every day. Even the myth of the 'peaceful' January 31st didn't actually mean no one died in Iraq that day (for example McClatchy's Sahar Issa reported two Kirkuk roadside bombings that resulted in one person being wounded. McClatchy's Laith Hammoudi noted a tribal fight in Baghdad that resulted in one death and one person injured.).
Shootings?
Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report Dhafir Hashim Al Jumayl was shot dead in Mosul today. He had been the "cousin of the parliament member Usama Al-Nijaifi and his brother Atheel Al-Nijaifi who headed Al-Hadbaa list which won 48% votes of the last provincial elections".
Bombings?
Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report a Baghdad missile attack which left two women wounded, a Baghdad roadside bombing which claimed 2 lives and left four people wounded, a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 woman and left her daughter injured and a Diyala Province roadside bombing which claimed 2 lives -- a woman and a man -- and left "their three children" wounded. Aseel Kami, Tim Cocks, Abdul-Rahman Taher and Michael Christie (Reuters) report a Baghdad car bombing which claimed 9 lives and left twenty people injured: "Eyewitnesses told Reuters Television that the mother of a 7-month-old baby died in the blast and the father was critically wounded when the explosion struck the front of their car." The attack took place in the Kadhemiyah (also spelled Kadhimiya) neighborhood of Baghdad bombed. Wednesday's bombing claimed 7 lives and left twenty-three wounded. Tuesday's bombing claimed 9 lives and left eighteen wounded. In that neighborhood of Baghdad, there have been three bombings this week, 25 deaths and sixty-one people wounded this week alone.
The Tuesday bombing resulted in one known orphan. Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reported that the Tuesday car bombing set another car on fire. In the car were three people, a woman, a man and an infant. Hammoudi said the man and the woman were the parents -- that may or may not be correct. He also identifies someone who rescued the infant. That may or may not be correct. There is a dispute over who rescued the child (three names have been mentioned in press coverage). But the child was rescued. The infant, a baby boy, was taken in by Umm Assad al-Khafaji. We know that for a fact because Sam Dagher (New York Times) reported on it and Chrisoph Bangert provided a photo of her feeding the child. Dagher estimated the child to be around six-months-old. He noted the man was driving the car and the woman was in the back with the baby and that it appeared the man was a driver the woman had hired. Someone rescued the child and Dagher observed, "In that sense, the baby was luckier than others who had been wounded in the bombing. After Iraqi security forces arrived, they fired shots to disperse the crowd and scuffled withs ome of the rescuers, witnesses said, preventing many of the wounded from getting help." Christoph Bangert offers another photo of the baby here. A man claiming to be the baby's uncle later came forward to claim him.
March 27th we noted that New York Times Iraqi correspondent Sahar S. Gabriel had been granted refugee status in the United States. April 4th Mudhafer al-Husaini, another Iraqi correspondent, wrote about his news: "Leaving Iraq is not something easy, and going to America is a good opportunity. I know that many people around the world would wish to be in my place and travel to America. But Iraq is not a poor, unkown country. It has a great civilization and it's one of the oldest on the planet. It's a very rich country with two great rivers. The Iraqi people are kind and generous; we're really not bad people." I'm using the term "correspondent." I also use the term "reporter." The Iraqis -- for all outlets -- have been the eyes and ears and they are as much responsible for the reports as anyone who gets mentioned in a byline. And I find it strange that the Times credits Mudhafer (at the Baghdad Bureau blog post) as "an Iraqi tranlator with the NYT in Baghdad". January 5th the paper ran Sam Dagher and Mudhafer al-Husaini's "Bomber at Iraqi Shrine Kills 40, Including 16 Iranian Pilgrims." June 25th it ran Alissa J. Rubin and Mudhafer al-Husaini's "Baghdad Blast Kills Four Americans." January 8, 2008 it was Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Mudhafer al-Husaini's "Suicide Bomber Kills Key Sunni Leader." We can go on and on. Mudhafer was not just credited in the end notes to some articles, he regularly received a byline -- one he earned. It's a bit insulting to refer to him solely as "an Iraqi translator with the NYT in Baghdad." He reported and he got credit for it. If we want to get really ugly, I can write about the Iraqis who made John F. Burns and Dexter Filkins' articles and got nothing -- not even end credit -- we can talk about where they ended up (refugees in Syria, for example) and how they feel they were used. We can make a point to dig up all these stories (we don't have to dig too deep, they began contacting me in December of 2004) and talk about them here or the paper can start giving credit where it's due. A start would be referring to Mudhafter as a "reporter." That's what he is.
Staying on the topic of the New York Times, Saul Landau (CounterPunch) examines the continued selling of the illegal war:
The New York Times Op-Ed page editors seemed undaunted about printing columns on the surge's success by the very pundits who had only recently assured the public of the biggest lies of the young 21st Century: Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and links to Al Qaeda. Among the surge proselytizers, emerged Kenneth Pollack. In The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq (2002), he wrote: "The only prudent and realistic course of action left to the United States is to mount a full-scale invasion of Iraq to smash the Iraqi armed forces, depose Saddam's regime, and rid the country of weapons of mass destruction." He dismissed wusses who "exaggerated the danger of casualties among American troops."
Pollack even helped persuade Times columnist Bill Keller to support the Iraq war. "Kenneth Pollack, the Clinton National Security Council expert whose argument for invading Iraq is surely the most influential book of this season," wrote Keller (February 8, 2003), "has provided intellectual cover for every liberal who finds himself inclining toward war but uneasy about Mr. Bush."
After expressing absolute certainty about Saddam's WMD, Pollack threw his enthusiasm behind the surge -- without apologizing for his role in helping to perpetuate destruction and death. Again using the Times as his propaganda organ, Pollack offered new dogma. The surge had provided "the potential to produce not necessarily 'victory' but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with." ("A War We Just Might Win" with Michael O'Hanlon, June 30, 2007)
Turning to the military and the economy, yesterday at the Washington Post online, Dana Priest did another of her Thursday webchats on national security and international issues. Here's one section of the exchange:
Stafford, Va.: Dana, part of Gates' budget includes an increase in spending to support planned expansion of the Army and USMC. Do you know what the actual size of these forces would be once the plan is achieved and when that might be? Will the military have any difficulty in achieving this goal? Thanks. Dana Priest: Sorry, I don't know the numbers answer. I don't believe they will have problems with recruiting. The economic downturn is driving more people into the military.
Today Edward Colimore (Philadelphia Inquirer) reports on the unemployment crisis and how it worries those in the service:
John Roscoe of Swedesboro trained hard over the last 70 days at Fort Sill, Okla., and isn't worried about heading to Iraq this month. The Army private is more concerned about finding employment when he returns in nine months.
For now, deployment means employment.
"I volunteered to go, and one of the biggest reasons is the economy," said the 26-year-old, who recently lost a private security job. "It's an entire year I'm getting paid and don't have to worry about looking for a job."
One comrade, Sgt. Rockyfeller Mensah of Atco, is hoping to hold on to his civilian job. "I'm real, real concerned with everybody losing their jobs," said the 43-year-old sanitation truck driver. "I hope I can come back to work again."
Mensah and Roscoe, a recent college student, yesterday were among more than 250 members of the New Jersey Army National Guard's 150th Assault Helicopter Battalion who took part in a farewell ceremony - attended by Gov. Corzine - at Fort Sill.
Public television notes. NOW on PBS offers a look at coal (no, I'm not optimistic either, NOW on PBS is highly 'business' friendly):Can America's cheapest and most plentiful energy resource be produced without burning the environment? Americans are addicted to coal--it powers half of all our electricity, and is both plentiful and cheap. In fact, some call America the "Saudi Arabia of Coal." But are we paying too high an environmental price for all this cheap energy? With carbon emissions caps high on the Obama Administration's agenda, coal is in the crosshairs of the energy debate. This week, NOW Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa travels to Wyoming to take a hard look at the coal industry there and its case that it can produce "clean coal"--coal that can be burned without releasing carbon into the atmosphere. President Obama has been outspoken in his support for "clean coal" technology, but some say the whole concept is more of a public relations campaign than an energy solution. As part of the report, Hinojosa talks with Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal and Jeff Goodell, the author of "Big Coal," who says that carbon dioxide emissions generated from coal contribute to global warming. Our investigation is part of a PBS-wide series on the country's infrastructure called "Blueprint America."
This week on Washington Week (begins airing tonight on most PBS stations, check local listings) Gwen sits down with NYT's David Sanger, Chicago Tribune's Christi Parson, LAT's Doyle McManus and US News & World Reports and CNN's Gloria Borger. Also, I was asked to note that Washington Week has given their site some "tweaks," so check that out. Bonnie Erbe sits down with Eleanor Holmes Norton, Ruth Conniff, Star Parker and Karen Czarnecki to discuss this week's news on To The Contrary. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:The DEKA ArmNew technology is making it possible for amputees to pick up small, delicate objects they never thought they would master thanks to the biggest innovation in prosthetic arms since World War II. Scott Pelley reports. Watch Video
Gun RushAmericans are snapping up guns and ammunition at an increasingly higher rate despite the economic downturn. But as Lesley Stahl reports, the economic downturn, as well as the election of Barack Obama, may be the reason for the run on guns. Watch Video
Steve WynnThe casino mogul most responsible for taking Las Vegas to new heights of gaming and glitter talks to Charlie Rose about his spectacular success and the eye disease that's slowly robbing him of his ability to see the fruits of his labor. Watch VideoAmong those interviewed by Lesley Stahl for her report on guns is Senator Dianne Feinstein whose remarks will, no doubt, be news at home (the Bay Area) due to her days in municpal government when Harvey Milk was assassinated. At wowOwow, Lesley writes about the 60 Minutes segment and also offers a video preview. And as the wowOwow friend who requested that link notes, "You can join the conversation and leave your comments" at wowOwow.
iraq
jane arraf
deborah haynes
corinne reilly
sahar issa
hussein kadhimmcclatchy newspapers
laith hammoudi
leila fadel
the washington post
ernesto londono
dana priest
sam dagher
the new york timesalissa j. rubinmudhafer al-husaini
richard a. oppel jr.
60 minutescbs newsnow on pbspbsto the contrarybonnie erbelesley stahlwowowow
kats korner
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)