Hump day. And what a revelation in the news today. You may have missed it. A number of us got it in our e-mails. It's Ed Barnes of Fox News writing about the attacks on The Hurt Locker and zoom in with me now on this:
Last week the Army arranged a series of interviews for the Los Angeles Times with enlisted men and officers who have questioned the authenticity of the movie and its depiction of the members of Army Explosives Ordinance Team (EOD) working in Iraq. The movie, written by a journalist, Mark Boal, who was embedded with an EOD in Iraq, focuses on the character of Staff Sergeant William James, played by Jeremy Renner, who becomes addicted to the adrenaline rush of his job, often to the detriment of his unit.
Okay, can we get a close up on just the first sentence: "Last week the Army arranged a series of interviews for the Los Angeles Times with enlisted men and officers who have questioned the authenticity of the movie and its depiction of the members of Army Explosives Ordinance Team (EOD) working in Iraq."
And why did they organize the attack?
The film was going to have a military advisor. Then they decided that Bigelow was filming scenes (or planning to) not in the script they saw. So they pulled the film's military advisor -- which should shut up all the whiney brats about uniforms -- and decided they'd attack the film.
They didn't care when it came out. It wasn't making money. But now that it's up for so many Oscars?
You need to ask yourself what kind of world we live in where OUR TAX DOLLARS ARE PAYING THE US ARMY TO ATTACK A FILM!
They need to have a Congressional hearing on this.
And the next time you read some little whiner about how the movie disrespects his or her service, you need to remember the military brass ordered this hit job. You need to then wonder if the attacker is a lackey or just trying to run with the pack?
Regardless, it is not the US military's job to involve itself in the art world. It is not their place. They damn well better find out who arranged these interviews, who started the process and then there better be some heads rolling and a lot of wages garnished because my tax dollars do not go for military attacks on the civilian world.
Somebody in the Defense Department better start explaining how the hell this happened and how much time this assault took -- time you wouldn't think the army could spare when they're fighting a war in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
Next little liar that trashes the film? Remember, it's an organized hit job.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Wednesday, March 3, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, Baquba is slammed by bombings, Iraqis talk about voting, candidates take broadsides at one another, KBR gets a huge contract from the US government, and more.
Today suicide bombers target Baquba in Diyala Province. Marc Santora (New York Times) reports, "The attacks began with two car bombings targeting government buildings, followed by an attack on a local hospital where victims from the earlier explosions were being treated." Press TV describes the city as "bathed in blood after a third explosion struck a hospital swarming with casualties from two car bombs". Ernesto Londono and Hassan Shimari (Washington Post) explain, "The initial explosion, a car bomb, targeted an Iraqi police station about 9:45 a.m. in a western district of Baqubah, the provincial capital, according to Maj. Ghalib Aativa, a police spokesman. The detonation ripped through a nearby building and reduced it to rubble." Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) adds, "Two minutes later, a second suicide car bomb went off near the party headquarters of former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in central part of the city." NPR's Mark Memmott has posted an audio report by NPR's Quil Lawrence and we'll note Lawrence on the third bomber, "In what has become a familiar pattern a third attacker dressed as a police man entered the hospital where emergency workers had carried the wounded and detonated a suicide vest in the middle of the crowded ward." Charles Levinson (Wall St. Journal) offers of the third bombing, "It was the final bomber, however, who caused the most casualties, by donning a military uniform, pretending to be wounded and riding an ambulance back to the hospital where he blew himself up, said Capt. al-Karkhi, killing many of the wounded from the first two bombs." Hilmi Kamal, Alistair Lyon and Michael Christie (Reuters) add, "The bomber had tried to target the provincial police chief, who had been visiting the hospital, but security guards stopped him. Many people were killed or wounded. More chaos erupted as the police chief's bodyguards shot randomly in the air." Richard Spencer (Telegraph of London) reports, "" Caroline Alexander (Bloomberg News) offers, "Baquba, a mixed Sunni and Shiite Muslim city, is the provincial capital of Diyala and lies about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad. The blasts were the deadliest to hit Iraq since Feb. 5 when at least 40 Shiite pilgrims were killed on the last day of a religious festival near Karbala, south of Baghdad." Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) provides these numbers, "The explosions killed at least 33 people and injured 55 most of whom were policemen. Toll may rise because of the serious injuries sustained by many of the wounded, Iraqi police said." Andrew England (Finanical Times of London) explains that "the violence may damage the credibility of Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, who has sought to portray himself as the leader responsible for the security gains." Hannah Allam (McClatchy Newspapers) quotes Diyala police spokesperson Maj Ghalib Atiyah al Jubouri stating, "The timing is a message to prevent people from participating in elections because it happened just a few days before the general voting and less than 24 hours before the special vote for security forces. We feel people will challenge this message and reject it." Liz Sly and Usama Redha (Los Angeles Times) note that "a spokeswoman for the governor promised that polling centers would be secured on election day and that a curfew on vehicles would prevent bombings." Kim Landers and Ben Knight (Australia's ABC News) inform, "This is not the massive Al Qaeda [in Mesopotomai] had been threatening. [. . .] Curfews are about to go in place all over the country and police are voting early to be ready for the poll. The capital Baghdad is on high alert and is expected to shut down almost coompletely in the days ahead of the vote."
Surveying the news of the bombings and the current climate, Michael Hastings (The Daily Beast) offers this take:
I've spent a number of months in Iraq covering the run up to the elections, and I'll be there on March 7th to see the results. I've spoken to dozens of Iraqi officials, U.S. diplomatic and military types, scores of Iraqi voters, and some of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's closest friends and advisors. All of which has made me very suspicious of the American claim -- made recently by Vice President Joe Biden when he said Iraq might be one of President Obama's "greatest achievements -- that Iraq's democratic future is sunny, peaceful, and bright.
In fact, I suspect we could be seeing Iraq's final gasp of democracy this weekend, a last purple-fingered salute before the country slips back into a more familiar authoritarianism. It's not this election we need to worry about, in other words -- it's the next one, four years from now.
This uncomfortable truth was hard to ignore after the Iraqi government banned hundreds of candidates -- mostly secular and Sunni leaders -- from running in the election. The move was supported by Maliki, and it took the direct intervention of Vice President Biden to force the Iraqis to ban only 400 rather than the original 500. The Shiite Islamist-dominated government in Baghdad was sending a clear signal to its political opponents: they're not very interested in reconciliation. (The U.S. "surge" strategy was intended to give the Iraqi government what U.S. officials called "political breathing room." The Iraqi government has now made it clear they are going to use the breathing room to choke whatever air is left out of the opposition.) It seems rather unlikely that, in four years from now, when the Americans have even less influence in shaping events, that the Iraqi government will be more willing to share in the democratic way the Americans are hoping for.
This morning Nebraska's Journal Star editorialized, "For some Americans, concern over the future of Iraq has been reduced to one question: When will U.S. troops come home? The national election in Iraq in four days could affect the answer to that question. The issue hits close to home, with 1,300 Nebraska National Guard members slated for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan this year." Early voting begins March 5th, voting ends Sunday March 7th. Hannah Fairfield (New York Times) offers a look at some of the parties and candidates, Al Jazeera offers a series of basic points about the elections in Q&A form, while BBC News offers three videos of Iraqis speaking about changes in Iraq, we'll note the middle video.
Rob Walker: This is Zeinab Khadum Allwan, born and raised in Baghdad. 19-years-old and tennis mad. Her dream? To become number one -- and not just Iraq's number one.
Zeinab Khadum Allwan: I hope to be a world champion. I'm determined to achieve that.
Rob Walker: But like many Iraqis, Zeinab's life has been turned upside down by violence.
Zainab Khadum Allwan: I was at home and I heard some rockets fall on the neighborhood near us. So I went out to see what was happening. Suddenly, I felt something falling behind me and then it felt like my legs were on fire. And, when I looked, I couldn't see my legs.
Rob Walker: Zeinab's sister and her sister-in-law were killed in the rocket attack. At first, she says she felt depressed and isolated.
Zeinab Khadum Allwan: Before the incident, I was the most active child in the street. My dream was to become a tennis player. The first thing I felt, when I woke up in the hospital and they told me that I'd lost my legs, was that my dream was gone. But then when I told my family I still wanted to play tennis and be a champion, they were very happy because it was my old self coming back. And now, when I hold the racket, I remember the days when I was an active child. I have the same dream ahead of me. The only difference is that I want to achieve that dream in a wheel chair. I try hard not to spend time at my house because, when I'm there, I remember the things that happened there and the things I lost. I dropped out of school after the attack but I hope to go back.
Rob Walker: In a few months Zainab will compete at the Wheel Chair World Cup in Turkey. Her dream is now within reach.
Zeinab Khadum Allwan: I hope I will achieve something. I want to achieve a small victory for the Iraqi people.
Rob Walker: Zainab, like many other young Iraqis, will soon have her first chance to choose a Parliament and a government. She says she hopes the outcome will be what's best for Iraq. Zainab's dreams for the future of going back to school and continuing to play tennis depend in part on Iraq's future after these elections.
Dan Damon (BBC News -- audio link) reports that some Iraqis are syaing they won't vote but others are eager to vote. Two young women share with Damon that they felt it is their duty ("We have to"). In the same report, Jim Muir checks in with the wholesale newspaper market in central Baghdad where paper vendors are present as early as five a.m. to pick up papers. And the newspaper sales have picked up as people in Baghdad attempt to follow the back and forth of the campaigning. Dan Damon feels two people likely to be vying for the position of prime minister (which will be voted on by Parliament, not by the people of Iraq) are Nouri al-Maliki and Ayad Allawi. Today's bombings put a dent (another one) in Nouri's "State of Law" image. In addition, Richard Spencer (Telegraph of London) reports that Ayad Allawi is launching a broadside at Nouri:Mr Allawi, who was the American-backed interim prime minister after the fall of Saddam Hussein and is once again a leading candidate, said he would boycott parliament if he felt the election was fixed. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he upped a war of words over the recent banning and arrests of opposition candidates and supporters, saying the present prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, was beginning to assert his authority "just as Saddam Hussein did".
At the New York Times' At War blog, Michael Kamber offers a video interview with Iraqi police officer Thaer Ahmad Farhan whose statements include, "We hope that all Iraqis vote in order to lead the country to a better situation -- economically, socially and to be more prosperous." Among the parties vying for votes is the Ahrar Party:
With only three days to go until voting begins in Iraq's elections, the leader of Ahrar 374 - Ayad Jamal Aldin - urged all Iraqis to get out and vote.
In advance of Sunday's vote, he argued that all Iraqis, regardless of religion, need a government that is focused on delivering better public services and uniting the country.
Ayad Jamal Aldin said: "This government has lost control. We need radical change to throw out the foreigners and corruptors who are intent on dividing us Iraqis.
"These outside influences are responsible for the violence and intimidation that blight the lives of all Iraqis every day. And the violence and bloodshed on our streets is getting worse, because the people around our government are scared of what the people's verdict will be.
"They are fearful of the people of Iraq because they know that on Sunday we, the people of Iraq, have all the power.
"Every Iraqi faces a choice this weekend. You can vote for more violence, more division, and more corruption. Or you can vote for real plans for providing security, unity, and jobs.
"But you must vote. Your vote is your voice. Any Iraqi who does not vote is supporting the decline, division, and destruction of Iraq. Together we can build a strong and united Iraq with security, jobs, and electricity."
For further information, contact:
Ahrar Media BureauTel: +964 (0)790 157 4478 / +964 (0)790 157 4479 / +964 (0)771 275 2942press@ahrarparty.com
About Ayad Jamal Aldin:
Ayad Jamal Aldin is a cleric, best known for his consistent campaigning for a new, secular Iraq. He first rose to prominence at the Nasiriyah conference in March 2003, shortly before the fall of Saddam, where he called for a state free of religion, the turban and other theological symbols. In 2005, he was elected as one of the 25 MPs on the Iraqi National List, but withdrew in 2009 after becoming disenchanted with Iyad Allawi's overtures to Iran. He wants complete independence from Iranian interference in Iraq. He now leads the Ahrar party for the 2010 election to the Council of Representatives, to clean up corruption and create a strong, secure and liberated Iraq for the future.
Middle East Online reports on Nejm Eddine Karim who is a Kurd running in Kirkuk and who states, "I propose that an Arab becomes vice president of Kurdistan and a Turkmen is made prime minister, if we succeed in making Kirkuk part of Kurdistan." Karim is closely connected to Kurdistan despite living in the US until very recently -- whenever Jalal Talabani's bad eating lands him in health trouble and sends him scurrying to the US, he usually sees Karim. In Iraq, Seth Robbins (Stars and Stripes) reports, "As Sunday's national election approaches, the atmosphere has become more tense in Anbar, once a stronghold of the insurgency but more recently a relatively peaceful province. A string of deadly bombings, one of which severely injured the provincial governor, has been blamed on rival camps left out of the government and its lucrative American contracts or on al-Qaida in Iraq, which may be seeking to renew the insurgency as American troops prepare to withdraw."
Layla Anwar (An Arab Woman Blues) offers her take on the elections:So let's see how this democratic process is unfolding shall we ?Kurds are at Arabs throats in Nineveh province, where a joint US/Kurdish/Iraqi Forces is patrolling the area...Clownish candidates are continuing their comic show with distributing i.e buying votes, either with cash, guns, sports shoes and carton of eggs...hahahahahaA few revelations, not rumors I promise you.One candidate from INA (the Iranian National Alliance) presented himself as a Doctor...Upon investigation, this Doctor from Mayssan Province, turned out to have never finished university. He did a teacher's training course for elementary classes. And his exams results were shown on TV, he failed miserably in all subjects except PE. i.e Physical Education.Another candidate spent 450'000 Dollars printing posters of his ugly face in Beirut, and shipping them to Baghdad in cartons.The above two are just small examples of the kind of specimens that are ruling Iraq...Middle East Online reports on Nejm Eddine Karim who is a Kurd running in Kirkuk and who states, "I propose that an Arab becomes vice president of Kurdistan and a Turkmen is made prime minister, if we succeed in making Kirkuk part of Kurdistan." Karim is closely connected to Kurdistan despite living in the US until very recently -- whenever Jalal Talabani's bad eating lands him in health trouble and sends him scurrying to the US, he usually sees Karim. Mohammed A. Salih (IPS) reports on the KRG and doesn't see indications that the Kurds will be united after the elections thereby guaranteeing a powerful Kurdish bloc in the Parliament. How true or false that is, no one knows. It's a guess, like any other these days. It's also a guess that depends heavily on what right-wingers see (check out Salih's quoted US sources). Seth Robbins (Stars and Stripes) reports, "As Sunday's national election approaches, the atmosphere has become more tense in Anbar, once a stronghold of the insurgency but more recently a relatively peaceful province. A string of deadly bombings, one of which severely injured the provincial governor, has been blamed on rival camps left out of the government and its lucrative American contracts or on al-Qaida in Iraq, which may be seeking to renew the insurgency as American troops prepare to withdraw." And we'll note this from the Ahrar Party:
In an exclusive interview with Al-Jazeera this afternoon, Ahrar Party Leader Ayad Jamal Aldin reminded voters that the appalling security situation within Iraq was the result of weak political leadership. The first priority of the Ahrar Party once in power would be to pass a new law to end the de-Ba'athification process and to start a true reconciliation within Iraq. This would finally allow the country to put an end to the foreign influences that are controlling the country at present.
Jamal Aldin went on to discuss the relationship with the United States and that he recognized the importance of a strategic relationship with the USA similar to that of other Gulf countries, such as Jordan or Qatar.
When asked how he anticipated incorporating the Federation of Kurdistan into a national parliament, Jamal Aldin responded: "Ahrar is not against the Kurdistan Federation but the central government has to know where they spend the money which is allocated to the region - which amounts to 17% of the total Iraqi budget."
Turning to violence reported today besides the Baquba bombings . . .
Bombings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad drug store bombing (damaged store, no people), a Baghdad roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left three more plus one civilian injured, a second Baghdad roadside bombing which wounded two people, a third Baghdad roadside bombing which claimed 1 life and left two people injured, a Basra bombing at a cafe which left eight college students wounded and a Mosul sticky bombing which claimed the life of 1 police officer. Reuters notes a Mosul grenade attack which left six people wounded, a Mosul mortar attack which injured "a woman and two children" and a Tux Khurmato roadside bombing which injured two guards for a police lieutenant-colonel.
Shootings?
Reuters notes 1 Imam shot dead in Mosul.
Corpses?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 corpse discovered in Baghdad.
Staying with the topic of destruction, last week, Congress was denying KBR $25 million in fees and, as Press TV notes, this week they get "a massive contract for support work in Iraq [. . . .] worth $2.8 billion." Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) catches this important detail about the contract: "The KBR contract only covers a single base year, but includes options for up to four additional years, meaning it could keep them in Iraq through 2015. The fact that the military is keeping its options open for contractors in Iraq in 2015 is significant, as officials publicly insist all troops will be out by the end of 2011." This follows Ditz' report earlier this week, Ditz' "Iraq DM: Army Won't Be Ready to Provide Security Until 2020" (Antiwar.com), which noted:
With the prospect of the US delaying their withdrawal from Iraq already growing, Iraqi Defense Minister Abdel Qader Jassim added fuel to the fire today, warning that Iraq's military won't be nearly completed with the training designed to enable it to provide security by the 2012 date the pullout was supposed to be completed on. "We cannot say that we have finished building the Iraqi army as a modern army," Jassim admitted, adding that the training of the army likely wouldn't be completed until at least 2020. Jassim warned that he was expecting violence to increase in the leadup to next week's election, and officials have also warned that violence might actually get even worse after the vote, as post-election negotiations are expected to take quite some time.
Iraq Veterans Against the War are calling for support and action for Marc Hall:
March 1, 2010 Update - Army Spc Marc Hall, who had been jailed in Georgia county jails since December 12, 2009 for producing an angry hip-hop song about "stoploss" was placed on a military flight bound for Iraq Friday night. Marc flew out of Hunter Army Airfield, with a stop in Spain, before arriving in Balad, Iraq. He is expected to be transported to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait for continued pre-trial confinement. The Army has made it clear that Marc will face a General Courts Martial that could result in years in prison and a dishonorable discharge. Eleven violations of Article 132 are now being cited going into the Article 32 (pre-trial) hearing. While we had all hoped to be able to stop this 'extradition', hopefully this underscores the seriousness of the situation and will serve to "jump start" our efforts. We have a lot of work to do if we are going to free Marc.
Take action at: http://stoplossmusic.org/
Sign the letter to Marc's Commanding General "Dear Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Phillip; I'm writing to request that the charges against SPC Marc A. Hall related to his recording of a hip-hop song critical of the Army's "stop-loss" policy be dropped, and that he be allowed to leave the Army at the end of his current enlistment..." We will print it with your name and address, and mail it to the commanding general on your behalf.
Calling musicians and artists We are asking musicians and artists to make public statements in support of Marc. We are also counting on folks to hold benefit gigs large and small in support Marc, free speech, and opposed to endless war and the military's stop-loss policy. More information coming.
Write to Marc in jail We are currently trying to identify the correct address for Marc in Kuwait.
Donate online to Marc Hall's defense fund We currently estimate that it will cost approximately $50,000 to cover Marc's defense, including legal fees due to travel and expenses related to traveling to Iraq. Progress updates will be posted here. Donations are tax-deductible. To make a donation by check or money order, make payable to "Courage to Resist" and mail to: Courage to Resist, 484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610--please note "Marc Hall defense" on the check's memo line.
At MakeThemAccountable, Caro offers that her theory on the disappointing Congress places the blame on the Senate where things are bottled up and not advancing and even when the House does pass measures that Democrats can applaud, the bill hits a wall in the Senate. Caro is a female blogger and MakeThemAccountable is one of the oldest left sites online. She started it, she continues it. Worth noting it at any time but especially during Women's History Month. So take a moment to note and appreciate one of the online pioneers and grasp that, while the revisionary history took hold long ago and made it the Blogger Boyz, one of the real bloggers for the left, blogging for the left from the start (never a protege of Henry Hyde, for example, never a buddy of Newt Gingrich), was Caro and that women like Caro were there and doing it just as well as any bad book on blogging will pretend only the boys were. Half of the men weren't even online when Caro BUILT the club house. They have to work so hard to write women out of history because, it usually turns out, if they didn't, they wouldn't have room for all the boys who came after. Applause for Caro and for all women who blaze new trails. Nancy McDonald of HerStory Scrapbook notes:
March 2010 is the 30th anniversary of National Women's History Month. The HerStory Scrapbook is a "you-are-there" account of the women who were fighting for, and against, suffrage from 1917 - 1920, as reported by The New York Times.
To celebrate Women's History Month, the HerStory 360° Challenge on the HerStory Scrapbook will answer the question: "What's her story?" by highlighting a different story each day of ninety women who fought for the right to vote. Each woman's story includes internet links to rare, original source material.
Please let your network of friends, colleagues, and students of history know about the HerStory Scrapbook.
TV notes. NOW on PBS begins airing Friday on most PBS stations (check local listings):
Americans have a longstanding love affair with food -- the modern supermarket has, on average, 47,000 products. But do we really know what goes into making the products we so eagerly consume? On Friday, March 5 at 8:30 PM (check local listings), David Brancaccio talks with Robert Kenner, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc., which takes a hard look at the secretive and surprising journey food takes on the way from processing plants to our dinner tables. The two discuss why contemporary food processing secrets are so closely guarded, their impact on our health, and another surprising fact: how consumers are actually empowered to make a difference.
In 17 days, marches against the wars are supposed to take place in the US. March 20th, marches in DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Students for a Democratic Society are an organization that will be participating and they note:
While the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan is growing ever larger, the occupation of Iraq is still raging, nearing its seventh anniversary. With over 4,300 US soldiers and over 1.3 million Iraqi civilians estimated dead, something has to be done to stop this senseless slaughter.
This year Students for a Democratic Society will hold a national week of action March 15th to 20th where students will organize protests and direct actions at campuses across the country in opposition to the ongoing, brutal occupations.
The need for a vibrant anti-war movement has rarely been felt more than this very moment, while the United States drops trillions of dollars into unjust wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, during the worst economic crisis in 80 years. Students are struggling to pay for school while tuition skyrockets, and states lose billions of dollars to two continuing occupations.
On Saturday, March 20th, SDS will participate in a massive National March & Rally in D.C. hosted by A.N.S.W.E.R. to finish the week of action with tens of thousands of people in the street!
We're calling on students and youth from across the country to join us the week of March 15-20th in demanding: Fund Education, Not Occupation!
For more information visit: http://sdsantiwar.wordpress.com/
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Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Charlie, Chuck, Iraq
Tuesday. Starting off with politics. Jonathan Allen & Jake Sherman (Politico) report:
Charlie Rangel emerged from a closed-door meeting in Nancy Pelosi’s office Tuesday night to declare that he’s still the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and hasn’t agreed to give up his gavel – even as some media outlets were reporting that he’d done just that.
But asked whether he’d still be the chairman tomorrow and in the coming days, Rangel said: “I can’t make all those promises at my age.”
And when Pelosi was asked whether Rangel was resigning, she said “no comment.”
Again, I like Charlie Rangel.
Charlie? Chuck. NBC. Monday night.
It's back on air now that the Olympics are over. So Chuck broke up with the new woman (Lana Lang from Smallville). That was too bad. They actually were starting to cook as a couple.
Sarah's real name is "Sam." I need to look and see if I got that right. I think I tried to guess it here at one point during the first season. And he's got feelings for Sarah still. (No duh.)
I appreciate that but it goes back to the problem at the start of this season between them. Sarah wanted Chuck to leave the spy life and run off with her. She didn't plan to be a spy. Her father got busted and she was in high school and got into it in order to help him (I think reduce his sentence). So she's wanted out for some time.
Chuck thinks its the coolest thing in the world. And that's honestly making him look like a jerk.
Casey was preparing to torture a guy at the start of last night's episode. Chuck wasn't clear whether he objected to torture or just to anyone ever feeling pain.
Chuck's too wishy washy.
If he loves Sarah, he has to leave. He can be forced back in, but he has to walk out to prove he loves Sarah. Otherwise, it's all just b.s.
I can't believe they don't get that.
There has to be a sacrifice on his part to prove he really loves her.
I'll write about Iraqi Christians tomorrow. I didn't realize Chuck was even on and had to catch it today on Hulu. On Iraqi voting, they can't go out and campaign, so they're doing it on TV. This is from Sa'ad al-Izzi's NYT blog post:
For the first time in Iraq, voters are getting acquainted with their politicians through an old bit of political theater that is something rather new in Iraq: televised debates.
The debates are often free-flowing exchanges, where not only current problems and disagreements are aired, but also Iraq’s history — sometimes dating back to the time of King Faisal — is also discussed.
“The Race to the Parliament” is one of the first debate programs that was broadcast on the widely watched station Al Arabiya, which is based in Dubai. Since the program went on the air on Jan. 31, many of the more than 6,000 candidates competing nationwide have eagerly sought a spot at the lectern.
Each hourlong episode is built around one central theme that is a pressing issue for the voters in the candidates’ localities.
It's too violent for them to hit the campaign trail so TV is becoming a big way of campaigning in Iraq. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Tuesday, March 2, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, the elections heat up, charges and countercharges fly, Nouri's desire to continue as prime minister meets obstacles, 2880 US service members have died in the Iraq War in the last five years, and more.
Yesterday evening, US Gen David Petraeus spoke with Law Professor Mike Newton at Vanderbilt University and the college has posted the talk online. Along with showing a lighter side than many may be used to -- he joked about when he was shot and how "You don't get a Purple Heart for getting shot by your own troops -- unfortunately" and, we'll note, he had the assembled laughing repeatedly. No one laughed -- though maybe they should have -- when he declared Iraq "the most democratic country in the Central Command area of responsibility" ("It might actually be Iraq, believe it or not."). He went to
Gen David Petraeus: What we have done there is been part of the international community, led by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, other elements that help with election monitoring and guidance and expertise. We have supported the Iraqi development of the security plan which they will carry out. We'll do some enabling, you know, our UAVs will be up, our intelligence gathering platforms, we'll provide a vareity of different forms of assistance. But they'll be the ones securing the polling places. And there will be thousands of polling places in Iraq. I forget how many tens of thousands of candidates there are, by the way. So this is certainly the way we'd like as we approach it. Now again, touch wood, there are threat streams out there, there are challenges -- al Qaeda desperately wants to disrupt this process. There are some other elements in society there that want to intimidate people. But at the end of the day, I think this is again roughly what we'd like to see in other countries. You know, by the way, one of the test questions that somebody gave me in one of these the other day is one that we've asked ourselves: "What's the most democratic country in the Central Command area of responsibility?" Remember those 20 countries? Egypt in the West, Pakistan in the North, Kazakstan in the west, Yemen in the south. It might actually be Iraq, believe it or not. Now you know some will argue Lebanon -- a pretty tough one. It's an itneresting political dynamic there. It's a pretty tough one. If you get it wrong there, you may not see the sun rise again. But, by and large, this is, in that region, an example of some form of representative and responsive governence -- again, touch wood -- that it continues and a strong man doesn't try take over and pull all the reigns of power to himself But I'm not sure that they'll let him. Again to elect the next prime minister will require a cross-sectaraian, cross-ethnic, cross-political coalition. You cannot be elected as a prime minister if you don't pull in -- Obviously it's going to be a Shia. We would suspect -- it's a Shia predominate country, well over 50% are Shia, 20% or so or Sunni, 18 percent or so Kurd, somewhere in there, and then some other minority elements Christians, Yazidis, Shabbat, Turkmen and so on. Well at the end of the day it's going to take one of the major Shia parties, probably pulling in some of the minor Shi'ite parties. It's going to take a major Sunni contribution. And it's going to take the Kurdish parties which tend in national elections to unify. And that's what it will require so it's going to be a team effort.
As Dominic Waghorn (Sky News) observes, "Iraq is preparing to go to the polls in an election that will be turning point for the country, for better or for worse." Waghorn reports from Jordan which is one of 16 foreign countries that voting will take place in. Voting begins March 5th and ends Sunday March 7th. In Iraq, Patrick Martin (Globe and Mail) says that "fear has become the currency of this campaign" and how it is thought to be unlikely that any single political party will win enough seats in the Parliament to appoint a prime minister without entering into coalition sharing agreements with other political parties. Martin informs that Nouri al-Maliki states publicly that he will form an alliance with the Iraqi National Alliance after the election but that's news to them and Sheik Jalal Eddin al-Saghir pronounces it "Impossible" and adding, "There can be no dictator in a true coalition." Gulf News offers a look at the candidates they consider to be contenders for prime minister. War Hawk Kenneth M. Pollack (Brookings Institution) gets one right, "The Iraqi elections are wide open and it is impossible to predict a clear winner with any degree of confidence." Hasan Kanbolat (Today's Zaman via Turkish Press) states, "The most powerful political party in Iraq is Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa Party. However, nationawide this party can count on only about 20 percent of the vote, so it will have to search for coalition partners." Martin Chulov (Guardian) reports that, while some polling indicates Nouri's State of Law Party will perform well, "it cannot win a majority of the new parliament's 352 seats without one of two post-election coalitions, both of whom say they will not countenance him being renominated as prime minister." Cholov quotes voter Hassan al-Kaisi on the campaigning by all the politicians, "All of them want to talk to us for two weeks every four years. Then they will disappear again behind their barricades, and start counting all the money they have stolen." Marc Santora (New York Times) adds, "Across the country, voters are reaping a windfall as candidates in Sunday's parliamentary elections offer gifts like heating oil and rice. When a candidate recently showed up in a poor village outside Baquba to distribute frozen chickens -- in literal homage to the political slogan 'a chicken in every pot' -- so many people rushed to get the free birds that many left disappointed after the supply ran out."
Reporting from Diyala Province, Andrew Lee Butters (Time magazine)notes Abdul-Nasser al-Mahdwe, the governor, is "more worried about an elite counterterrroism unit run by Maliki's office, which ihe acuses of arresting scores of opposition politicians and government critics in Diyala." Rebecca Santana (AP) reports on Kirkuk where election excitement/frenzy appears to be at a peak within Iraq as people stand in the streets waving flags and campaign paraphernalia while Gabriel Gatehouse (BBC News) reports, "With less than a week to go until the Parliamentary vote, the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities have become crowded with election posters." Andrew England (Financial Times of London) provides this view of Baghdad, "Security is noticeably tight as the Imams' Bridge, even by Baghdad standards. Pedestrians are frisked from shoulder to toe; vehicles are thoroughly searched at a police checkpoint lined by concrete blast walls and none carrying weapons is allowed to pass."Today on NPR's Morning Edition, Quil Lawrence discussed various issues of the election with Renee Montagne.
Renee Montagne: Now one thing that American officials who are trying to stay out of this, you know, but they have long worried about Arab-Kurdish tension in Iraq. Are you seeing those tensions coming out in the election?
Quil Lawrence: Absolutely, it's almost part of the campaign, particularly in the province of Nineveh, the capital of which is Mosul, in the north of Iraq. There is an extremely -- well, an Arab nationalist governor up there and he won his election essentially by stoking ethnic tensions and we had the same thing break out last month. Governor Atheel al-Najafi decided to take a trip into one of the disputed territories near the city of Mosul. He has every right to go there legally. He's the governor of the province, but he certainly knew that he would be going through a Kurdish town. It's sort of like the Nazi march through Skokie, Illinois, if you ask the Kurds about it. It's extremely inflammatory.
Reneee Montagne: And Skokie, of course, many of its citizens had survived the Holocaust.
Quil Lawrence: Exactly, exactly. That would be the way the Kurds would interpret this. When the governo came through, there were peple who greeted him with eggs and tomatoes and he says that there was even an assassination attempt. His bodyguards grabbed 11 people from the crowd and arrested them and took them all the way back to Mosul.
Rumors are political currency in Iraq. Alalam reports rumors, which Nouri denies, that popular cleric Muqtada al-Sadr would be arrested if he returned to Iraq (he is presumed to be in Iran currently). DPA reports that Nouri and Sadrists are in the midst of an accusation exchange and they quote the spokesperson for the Sadrist bloc, Salah al-Obeidi, stating that the rumors of arresting al-Sadr came from Nouri's office. . Henry Meyer (Bloomberg News) reports Nouri's charging "unspecified neighboring countries of funding his opponents in" the election. Buying elections? We'll again note Martin Chulov (Guardian) report that Saad al-Alusi, formerly of Iraq's National Intelligence Service, has accused Nouri of giving southern tribal leaders huge numbers of guns (apparently 10,000) in order to buy their votes. Nouri's mouthpiece Ali al-Dabbagh insists that, yes, the guns were given, but it was long planned for them to be given so this wasn't a bribe and had nothing to do with the elections. Hassen Jouini (AFP) reports on another candidate vying for votes, Sharif Ali bin Hussein who is a relative, on his mother's side, of Iraq's King Ghazi who rulled from 1933 through 1939. Hussein now heads the Constitutional Monarchy Party in Iraq. Jouini notes, "The realities of Iraq have hampered any effort at campaigning for most would-be MPs, however - violence in the country remains high, despite having fallen markedly from its peak from 2005 to 2007, and candidates fear political assassinations. Sharif Ali is no different. While he has some posters scattered across the capital and conducts interviews with television news stations in his home, he is not organising public rallies or distributing flyers on the street."
KPCC offers another report from Quil Lawrence which includes:The race even includes a prominent cleric running with his own strictly secular party. Ayad Jamal al-Din studied at the world's most famous Shiite religious schools in Najaf and the Iranian city of Qom. The black turban he wears indicates that his family descends directly from the Prophet Muhammad. But Jamal al-Din says this doesn't mean he wants an Islamic state.Iran and the theocracy there have hijacked the Shiite turban, he says, adding that he believes the vast majority -- even among clerics -- thinks that Iranian-style government has been a failure. What people in Iraq want is very simple, he says."The Iraqi on the street wants security and services. [He] does not think of a secular or religious government, just services and security," Jamal al-Din says.Ayad Jamal Aldin is the leader of the Ahrar Party and today they issued the following:
The leader of the Ahrar Pary 374, Ayad Jamal Aldin, today urged voters not to boycott this weekend's parliamentary elections
He targeted the Iraqi diaspora who will vote on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with his message of change.
Ayad Jamal Aldin said: "It is vital that every Iraqi living outside the country that can vote, does vote.
"Every Iraqi who does not vote is tacitly supporting the decline, division and destruction of our country. Those who do not vote are choosing an Iraq of violence, intimidation, and sectarianism.
"This government has lost control and is being driven by people determined to divide and destroy Iraq for their own ends.
"There is more violence and more bloodshed today because these influences are fearful of the Iraqi people. They fear us because they know that this weekend, the power is with the people.
"This weekend, every Iraqi gets to make a choice between more of the same - more violence, more division, and more corruption or a change for the better with security, unity, and jobs.
"I urge all Iraqis, regardless of religion or sect, to exercise your power and vote for a peaceful and united Iraq, free from corruption and outside influences."
For further information, contact:
Ahrar Media BureauTel: +964 (0)790 157 4478 / +964 (0)790 157 4479 / +964 (0)771 275 2942press@ahrarparty.com
About Ayad Jamal Aldin:
Ayad Jamal Aldin is a cleric, best known for his consistent campaigning for a new, secular Iraq. He first rose to prominence at the Nasiriyah conference in March 2003, shortly before the fall of Saddam, where he called for a state free of religion, the turban and other theological symbols. In 2005, he was elected as one of the 25 MPs on the Iraqi National List, but withdrew in 2009 after becoming disenchanted with Iyad Allawi's overtures to Iran. He wants complete independence from Iranian interference in Iraq. He now leads the Ahrar party for the 2010 election to the Council of Representatives, to clean up corruption and create a strong, secure and liberated Iraq for the future.
Iraqi voters are also outside the country which is why 16 other countries will have plling stations. Iraq's Sunni vice president Tarek al-Hashemi is in Syria. For those who have forgotten, al-Hashemi vetoed (as a member of the presidency council) an early election law in late 2009 citing the fact that it did not take into account Iraq's large refugee population. Alsumaria TV reports that he "thanked Syria for its 'historic' stand of embracing refugees despite bilateral political rows." Iran's Press TV notes that he "is also expected to meet with representatives of hs countr's expatriates" while in Syria.
While the candidates cannot move freely and many Iraqis are out of the country, the drones will move freely and have free reign in Iraq. Alsumaria TV reports that drones will be used to patrol throughout the elections. Meanwhile Afif Sarhan (IslamOnline.net) reports on Christian candidates in Mosul where Christians are being persecuted with some being murdered (at least 12) and many more fleeing. Candidate Kammar Bashar tells Sarhan, "The only loser in all this violence is our minority which, although representing only 5 percent of the parliamentary seats, is being the first choice for extremists and militants in the northern region."Independent Catholic News reports, "Pax Christi International have submitted a written intervention for the 13th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva which opened yesterday. In the [document], Pax Christi highlights the desperate situation of Iraq's minorities which are in danger of being wiped out." Yesterday's snapshot included:The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued a [PDF format warning] four-page report entitled "Iraq Displacement in Mosul, Situation Report No. 1" which notes the 683 families who have fled Mosul between Feb. 20 and 27, and notes that 12 Iraqi Christians have been killed during this time period. (At least one other was wounded but survived a shooting.) The displaced have scattered but the largest number, 331 families, have settled for now in Qaraqosh.OCHA has released [PDF format warning] "Iraq Displacement in Mosul Situation Report No. 2" which notes the total number of Iraqi Christians fleeing Mosul has now reached 4,320 (720 families -- a 5% increase)The 720 displaced families are in the two Ninewa districts of Al Hamdaniyah and Tilkaif (204 families) and have also crossed over to Erbil and Dahuk governorates (17 families in Dahuk and 23 families in Ainkawa in Erbil governorate). The number of IDPs in Qaraqosh in Al Hamdaniya district has increased to 278 families (1,668 people) and 35 families (210 people) have moved to Namrood, while the number of IDPs in other Al Hamdaniya districts remains the same as reported on 28 February, i.e. 60 families (360 people) in Bartalah; 66 families (396 people) in Bashiqa; and 22 families (132 people) in Krmales. Those in Tilkaif town in Talkaif district have decreased from 40 to 16 families; Batnay has increased to 63 families (378 people); Tal Usquf has increased to 91 families (546 people); and Alqosh has increased to 84 families (504 people).There are protection concerns for the Christian families who have remained in Mosul. Unconfirmed reports indicate that many individuals cannot move freely beyond their homes, such as going to work or attending university, out of fear for their safety. At present, it remains unclear how many Christian families were residing in Mosul before the displacement. Furthermore, the motives for and perpetrators of the killings of 12 Christians during January and February 2010, which triggered the recent displacement, are still not clear.
Saturday February 20th, AFP reported that Adnan al-Dahan has become the fifth Iraqi-Christian killed that week (at least one other has been wounded) and that the shopkeeper's corpse was found today in Mosul. His family is among the over 700 that have fled Mosul as Christians have again been targeted. Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) speaks with them including Warda, his widow, who explains why they didn't leave Mosul earlier (her husband had been kidnapped and returned when a ransom was paid), "He said 'if all of us Christians leave, who is going to stay in the land of the prophets and pray in our churches?' He said 'we were all born in Mosul and we will die in Mousl'." (You can also read Arraf's article here.) Independent Catholic News reports, "Pax Christi International have submitted a written intervention for the 13th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva which opened yesterday. In the [document], Pax Christi highlights the desperate situation of Iraq's minorities which are in danger of being wiped out." Yesterday's snapshot included:The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued a [PDF format warning] four-page report entitled "Iraq Displacement in Mosul, Situation Report No. 1" which notes the 683 families who have fled Mosul between Feb. 20 and 27, and notes that 12 Iraqi Christians have been killed during this time period. (At least one other was wounded but survived a shooting.) The displaced have scattered but the largest number, 331 families, have settled for now in Qaraqosh.OCHA has released [PDF format warning] "Iraq Displacement in Mosul Situation Report No. 2" which notes the total number of Iraqi Christians fleeing Mosul has now reached 4,320 (720 families -- a 5% increase)The 720 displaced families are in the two Ninewa districts of Al Hamdaniyah and Tilkaif (204 families) and have also crossed over to Erbil and Dahuk governorates (17 families in Dahuk and 23 families in Ainkawa in Erbil governorate). The number of IDPs in Qaraqosh in Al Hamdaniya district has increased to 278 families (1,668 people) and 35 families (210 people) have moved to Namrood, while the number of IDPs in other Al Hamdaniya districts remains the same as reported on 28 February, i.e. 60 families (360 people) in Bartalah; 66 families (396 people) in Bashiqa; and 22 families (132 people) in Krmales.Those in Tilkaif town in Talkaif district have decreased from 40 to 16 families; Batnay has increased to 63 families (378 people); Tal Usquf has increased to 91 families (546 people); and Alqosh has increased to 84 families (504 people).There are protection concerns for the Christian families who have remained in Mosul. Unconfirmed reports indicate that many individuals cannot move freely beyond their homes, such as going to work or attending university, out of fear for their safety. At present, it remains unclear how many Christian families were residing in Mosul before the displacement. Furthermore, the motives for and perpetrators of the killings of 12 Christians during January and February 2010, which triggered the recent displacement, are still not clear.
We'll again note that Vatican Radio (link has text and audio) provided Pope Benedict XVI speaking Sunday at St. Peter's Square where he addressed the persecution in Mosul:
Pope Benedict XVI: I have learned with profound sadness of the tragic news of the recent killings of several Christians in the city of Mosul, and I follow with great concern other episodes of violence, perpetrated in the troubled land of Iraq against defenceless people of different religious affiliation. In these days of intense meditation, I often prayed for all victims of those attacks, and today I wish to join in the spirit to pray for peace and the restoration of security, promoted by the Council of Bishops of Nineveh. I am affectionately close to the Christian communities of the entire country. Never tire of being a leaven for good in the country in which you have fully belonged for centuries. In the delicate political phase that Iraq is going through I appeal to the civil authorities, to make every effort to restore security to the population and, in particular, the most vulnerable religious minorities. I hope the temptation is not given into temporary and partisan interests allowing them to prevail over the safety and fundamental rights of every citizen. Finally, while greeting the Iraqis here in the square, I urge the international community to strive to give the Iraqis a future of reconciliation and justice, as I invoke Almighty God with confidence for the precious gift of peace.
Catholic News Agency quotes Auxilary Bishop of Baghdad Shlemon Warduni on the reaction to Pope Benedict XVI's words, "We are thankful to Benedict XVI, we know how much he cares about our community: we hope that his voice has a resonance in the world and especially in the hard of heart." Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing left one woman and her son injured, a Mosul grenade attack on a school that will also be a polling station -- two Iraqi soldiers were injured.
Shootings?
Reuters notes 1 person was shot dead in Mosul.
It was five years ago today, Pete Brekus (Express-Times) reminds that, "the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq reached 1,500." Five years later, the death toll stands at 4380. The wounded count is less reliable. There are those with obvious wounds and those who carry wounds not readily visible. Citizen Soldier is organizing a conference on PTSD:
When the War Comes Home: Soldiers and Civilians in Crisis National Conference on PTSD co-sponsored by Citizen Soldier and the Trauma Studies Center of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy
Saturday, Apri 3, 20101, 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. University Settlement: 273 Bowery
Alison Boggs (Spokesman-Review) reports on Iraq War veteran Kenny McAnally who is among the over 40,000 US troops diagnosed with PTSD in the last seven years: McAnally carried those memories for a year with no outlet, until a writing assignment for a North Idaho College class unexpectedly began to release them. It seemed harmless -- write a descriptive story -- but what poured out of him left him bathed in sweat and crying uncontrollably.His writing described his worst day, the one that yanks him from sleep, gasping for air. Some 30 Iraqi National Guardsmen in the camp next door were hit in a mortar attack and he rushed to help. He looked into the eyes of a dying man as he tried to stop the blood pouring from the man's side and leg. He prayed to God that the man would live, only to be told he was already dead."I can still hear those men, lying in the sand, bleeding to death, pleading with their God," he wrote. "Screaming at him. Begging to live another day."Susan Frick Carlman (Naperville Sun) reports on Iraq War veterans Sarah Raby and Keith Ellis who also have been diagnosed with PTSD:The couple, former Marines who have both served two tours of duty in Iraq, can't forget that in some places, a plain-looking box can contain deadly explosives. They are part of a swelling population of military veterans who are bringing home from Iraq and Afghanistan memories of sights, sounds, smells and scars that now dog them, every day. Although Raby and Ellis both exhibit the aftereffects of battle that show themselves as post-traumatic stress disorder, they are doing their best to get on with their lives. They're both working toward associate's degrees at College of DuPage, and Ellis is employed part-time in contractual security work. Normalcy doesn't come easily. The couple and their three young children were homeless for a while last fall, after it became clear that their living arrangements weren't going to work out as they had hoped. Tensions ran too high in the quarters they were sharing with some of Raby's relatives after moving back to the area from California in July. Boston's WCVB reports on PTSD, "Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, took brain scans of vets with PTSD. In those vets, a specific area of the brain responsible for memory was much smaller. Researchers said this discovery could lead to better diagnosis and treatments." Meanwhile Katherine Noble (Daily Texan Staff) reports that University of Texas professors and researchers Ivan Ponomarev and R. Adron Harris are working with others to devise new methods of treatment for PTSD: "When a person undergoes a traumatic event, the parts of the brain set to regulate stress can be overrun to the point where they cannot normalize new fear and stress stimuli. The victim's amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory, is incapable of processing fear-related stimuli. Instead, the amygdala can respond incorrectly to stress, causing the person to be overly anxious in mild-stress situations. Cases of post-traumatic stress disorder are rising among returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. At UT, veterans enrolled at the University can find support through counseling at the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center and through student groups." Susan Goldsmith (The Oregonian) reports on the Portland Vet Center where Lori Daniels works on an effort "to rewrite our own nightmares and make them less troubling" -- a treatment she and Terry McGuire have worked on developing:McGuire and Daniels guided vets to talk about their dream lives and used their answers to help them understand what the trauma meant to them. The technique taught them that "they can be in control of their trauma." These days, Daniels uses guided writing exercises to help patients delve into what haunts them at night. Once the content of the dream is laid out, she encourages vets to come up with a plan for responding to those nightmares. That plan, she explains, might be writing a letter or any other action that ritualizes their grief."The action plan is an essential piece," she says. "One vet really wanted to connect with the guys who died in his unit, and he wrote them a letter."
Susan Donaldson James (ABC News) reports on Kristine Wise's biggest problem which wasn't being an Iraq War veterans or having PTSD, "They [the VA] had a hard time comprehending I was a combat vet and didn't treat me with the same respect." Wise is part of the over 230,000 women in the US military that have been deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan in the last decade. March is Women's History Month and Ruth noted last night that the ACLU (via Chelsea Zimmerman's ACLU Blog of Rights post) celebrated that fact while the feminist (not 'feminist,' it is actually feminist) Women's Media Center decided to 'honor' Women's History Month by publishing a column informing readers of what did and didn't qualify for 'feminity.' That crap needs to stop. That column was offensive and it never should have been posted. You think Kristine Wise, on top of the other flack she gets from the VA, doesn't also catch it from other men and women that either "you weren't in combat!" or "the military's really a job for men"? This crap needs to stop. Feminism (a) isn't concerned with feminity and (b) never attempts to judge which woman is or isn't 'feminine.' In the real world, Nancy McDonald of HerStory Scrapbook notes:
March 2010 is the 30th anniversary of National Women's History Month. The HerStory Scrapbook is a "you-are-there" account of the women who were fighting for, and against, suffrage from 1917 - 1920, as reported by The New York Times.
To celebrate Women's History Month, the HerStory 360° Challenge on the HerStory Scrapbook will answer the question: "What's her story?" by highlighting a different story each day of ninety women who fought for the right to vote. Each woman's story includes internet links to rare, original source material.
Please let your network of friends, colleagues, and students of history know about the HerStory Scrapbook.
Staying with the US for a moment, John Halle (Corrente) notes the issue of those who were wrong about Iraq (cakewalk, et al) such as Thomas Friedman suffered no fall out and points that's true as well for those who refused to see the truth about the Corpratist War Hawk Barack Obama. He covers a wide terrain but we'll note the section on Lie Face Melissa Harris-Lacewell:
Among those selling the Obama product most successfully was another Ivy league Professor, Melissa Harris-Lacewell of Princeton. In increasingly high-profile appearances, Harris-Lacewell repeatedly compared the Obama campaign to iconic moments in the civil rights movements such as the Montgomery Bus Boycotts. Once the Obama administration assumed office, apologetics for neo-liberal rhetoric smoothly transitioned to apologetics for the implementation of neo-liberal policies. These required some logical contortions and more than a little cynicism. Thus, in a stunning Martin Luther Day King posting at the Nation, Harris-Lacewell chose to focus on instances of King's dealmaking, personal failings and sell-outs of core constituencies. The conclusion, according to Harris-Lacewell, was that the comparison of Obama and King remained in force: "extraordinary change can be achieved even through imperfect leadership . . . wholeheartedly groping toward better and fairer solutions for our nation."
It would seem that very few leftists remain who are willing and able to accept the Polyannish equation of the current occupier of the Oval Office with the author of the letter from Birmingham jail. Nor would many grant the benefit of doubt that Obama's "gropings" are anything other than simple capitulations to his primary consistency, the Wall Street brokerage houses, megabanks, insurance companies, energy consortia, and lobbyists who financed his campaign. Given this emerging consensus, one might have expected that Harris-Lacewell's commentaries would be seen as having a limited shelf life while Prof. Reed inconvenient truths would be recognized for what they are: as what we needed to hear then-and need to hear now.
But nothing of the sort has occurred. Prof. Harris Lacewell's remains a regular guest frequently encountered not only on the liberal wing of the corporate media represented by MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman but at seemingly authentic alternative left outlets such as Laura Flanders's GritTV. More disconcertingly, a continuing flow of Obamapologetics will likely be offered through Harris-Lacewell's recently announced "Sister Citizen" to appear weekly in the Nation, an editorial decision which will reduce the contributions of iconic left columnist Alexander Cockburn to once a month.
For those late to the pary, we don't have time for the complete breakdown. She attacked Tavis Smiley (for which I do not forgive), she lied repeatedly to get on TV (failing to disclose that she was working for Barack's campaign as she appeared over and over throughout the primaries) and, oh, so very much more.
Turning to England where Robert Winnett (Telegraph of London) reports Tony Blair experienced a fleeting moments of reality according to Andrew Rawnsley's new book which paints the Poodle as blanking out while taking questions from Parliament, waking up with night terrors and considering resigning in 2004 -- all over the Iraq War. May those conditions return, increase and plague him until his dying day. Michael Savage (Independent of London) reports on papers the Iraq Inquiry has but has not yet released to the public:A policy of "regime overthrow" is proposed, but roundly condemned. In an eerily portentous assessment of the consequences of taking military action, it states: "Such a policy would command no useful international support. An overt attempt to be successful would require a massive military effort, probably including a land invasion: this would risk considerable casualties and, possibly, extreme last-ditch acts of deterrence or defiance by Saddam." The mandarins add: "It would also be illegal. Covert attempts, on the other hand, seem very unlikely to succeed and run the risk of fragmenting Iraq, which runs clearly contrary to our wider interests in the region." Iraq descended into violence in the wake of the March 2003 invasion. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed in the aftermath, as well as more than 100 British troops. The document also calls into question Mr Blair's claim that using troops to bring down Saddam Hussein was only discussed after the 9/11 terror attacks on New York – and will increase pressure on the inquiry to call Mr Blair back to give further public evidence this summer. At the Financial Times of London, Jim Pickard runs through the "frenemies" Gordon Brown and Tony Blair in preparation for Brown's testimony to the Iraq Inquiry this Friday.
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Charlie Rangel emerged from a closed-door meeting in Nancy Pelosi’s office Tuesday night to declare that he’s still the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and hasn’t agreed to give up his gavel – even as some media outlets were reporting that he’d done just that.
But asked whether he’d still be the chairman tomorrow and in the coming days, Rangel said: “I can’t make all those promises at my age.”
And when Pelosi was asked whether Rangel was resigning, she said “no comment.”
Again, I like Charlie Rangel.
Charlie? Chuck. NBC. Monday night.
It's back on air now that the Olympics are over. So Chuck broke up with the new woman (Lana Lang from Smallville). That was too bad. They actually were starting to cook as a couple.
Sarah's real name is "Sam." I need to look and see if I got that right. I think I tried to guess it here at one point during the first season. And he's got feelings for Sarah still. (No duh.)
I appreciate that but it goes back to the problem at the start of this season between them. Sarah wanted Chuck to leave the spy life and run off with her. She didn't plan to be a spy. Her father got busted and she was in high school and got into it in order to help him (I think reduce his sentence). So she's wanted out for some time.
Chuck thinks its the coolest thing in the world. And that's honestly making him look like a jerk.
Casey was preparing to torture a guy at the start of last night's episode. Chuck wasn't clear whether he objected to torture or just to anyone ever feeling pain.
Chuck's too wishy washy.
If he loves Sarah, he has to leave. He can be forced back in, but he has to walk out to prove he loves Sarah. Otherwise, it's all just b.s.
I can't believe they don't get that.
There has to be a sacrifice on his part to prove he really loves her.
I'll write about Iraqi Christians tomorrow. I didn't realize Chuck was even on and had to catch it today on Hulu. On Iraqi voting, they can't go out and campaign, so they're doing it on TV. This is from Sa'ad al-Izzi's NYT blog post:
For the first time in Iraq, voters are getting acquainted with their politicians through an old bit of political theater that is something rather new in Iraq: televised debates.
The debates are often free-flowing exchanges, where not only current problems and disagreements are aired, but also Iraq’s history — sometimes dating back to the time of King Faisal — is also discussed.
“The Race to the Parliament” is one of the first debate programs that was broadcast on the widely watched station Al Arabiya, which is based in Dubai. Since the program went on the air on Jan. 31, many of the more than 6,000 candidates competing nationwide have eagerly sought a spot at the lectern.
Each hourlong episode is built around one central theme that is a pressing issue for the voters in the candidates’ localities.
It's too violent for them to hit the campaign trail so TV is becoming a big way of campaigning in Iraq. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Tuesday, March 2, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, the elections heat up, charges and countercharges fly, Nouri's desire to continue as prime minister meets obstacles, 2880 US service members have died in the Iraq War in the last five years, and more.
Yesterday evening, US Gen David Petraeus spoke with Law Professor Mike Newton at Vanderbilt University and the college has posted the talk online. Along with showing a lighter side than many may be used to -- he joked about when he was shot and how "You don't get a Purple Heart for getting shot by your own troops -- unfortunately" and, we'll note, he had the assembled laughing repeatedly. No one laughed -- though maybe they should have -- when he declared Iraq "the most democratic country in the Central Command area of responsibility" ("It might actually be Iraq, believe it or not."). He went to
Gen David Petraeus: What we have done there is been part of the international community, led by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, other elements that help with election monitoring and guidance and expertise. We have supported the Iraqi development of the security plan which they will carry out. We'll do some enabling, you know, our UAVs will be up, our intelligence gathering platforms, we'll provide a vareity of different forms of assistance. But they'll be the ones securing the polling places. And there will be thousands of polling places in Iraq. I forget how many tens of thousands of candidates there are, by the way. So this is certainly the way we'd like as we approach it. Now again, touch wood, there are threat streams out there, there are challenges -- al Qaeda desperately wants to disrupt this process. There are some other elements in society there that want to intimidate people. But at the end of the day, I think this is again roughly what we'd like to see in other countries. You know, by the way, one of the test questions that somebody gave me in one of these the other day is one that we've asked ourselves: "What's the most democratic country in the Central Command area of responsibility?" Remember those 20 countries? Egypt in the West, Pakistan in the North, Kazakstan in the west, Yemen in the south. It might actually be Iraq, believe it or not. Now you know some will argue Lebanon -- a pretty tough one. It's an itneresting political dynamic there. It's a pretty tough one. If you get it wrong there, you may not see the sun rise again. But, by and large, this is, in that region, an example of some form of representative and responsive governence -- again, touch wood -- that it continues and a strong man doesn't try take over and pull all the reigns of power to himself But I'm not sure that they'll let him. Again to elect the next prime minister will require a cross-sectaraian, cross-ethnic, cross-political coalition. You cannot be elected as a prime minister if you don't pull in -- Obviously it's going to be a Shia. We would suspect -- it's a Shia predominate country, well over 50% are Shia, 20% or so or Sunni, 18 percent or so Kurd, somewhere in there, and then some other minority elements Christians, Yazidis, Shabbat, Turkmen and so on. Well at the end of the day it's going to take one of the major Shia parties, probably pulling in some of the minor Shi'ite parties. It's going to take a major Sunni contribution. And it's going to take the Kurdish parties which tend in national elections to unify. And that's what it will require so it's going to be a team effort.
As Dominic Waghorn (Sky News) observes, "Iraq is preparing to go to the polls in an election that will be turning point for the country, for better or for worse." Waghorn reports from Jordan which is one of 16 foreign countries that voting will take place in. Voting begins March 5th and ends Sunday March 7th. In Iraq, Patrick Martin (Globe and Mail) says that "fear has become the currency of this campaign" and how it is thought to be unlikely that any single political party will win enough seats in the Parliament to appoint a prime minister without entering into coalition sharing agreements with other political parties. Martin informs that Nouri al-Maliki states publicly that he will form an alliance with the Iraqi National Alliance after the election but that's news to them and Sheik Jalal Eddin al-Saghir pronounces it "Impossible" and adding, "There can be no dictator in a true coalition." Gulf News offers a look at the candidates they consider to be contenders for prime minister. War Hawk Kenneth M. Pollack (Brookings Institution) gets one right, "The Iraqi elections are wide open and it is impossible to predict a clear winner with any degree of confidence." Hasan Kanbolat (Today's Zaman via Turkish Press) states, "The most powerful political party in Iraq is Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa Party. However, nationawide this party can count on only about 20 percent of the vote, so it will have to search for coalition partners." Martin Chulov (Guardian) reports that, while some polling indicates Nouri's State of Law Party will perform well, "it cannot win a majority of the new parliament's 352 seats without one of two post-election coalitions, both of whom say they will not countenance him being renominated as prime minister." Cholov quotes voter Hassan al-Kaisi on the campaigning by all the politicians, "All of them want to talk to us for two weeks every four years. Then they will disappear again behind their barricades, and start counting all the money they have stolen." Marc Santora (New York Times) adds, "Across the country, voters are reaping a windfall as candidates in Sunday's parliamentary elections offer gifts like heating oil and rice. When a candidate recently showed up in a poor village outside Baquba to distribute frozen chickens -- in literal homage to the political slogan 'a chicken in every pot' -- so many people rushed to get the free birds that many left disappointed after the supply ran out."
Reporting from Diyala Province, Andrew Lee Butters (Time magazine)notes Abdul-Nasser al-Mahdwe, the governor, is "more worried about an elite counterterrroism unit run by Maliki's office, which ihe acuses of arresting scores of opposition politicians and government critics in Diyala." Rebecca Santana (AP) reports on Kirkuk where election excitement/frenzy appears to be at a peak within Iraq as people stand in the streets waving flags and campaign paraphernalia while Gabriel Gatehouse (BBC News) reports, "With less than a week to go until the Parliamentary vote, the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities have become crowded with election posters." Andrew England (Financial Times of London) provides this view of Baghdad, "Security is noticeably tight as the Imams' Bridge, even by Baghdad standards. Pedestrians are frisked from shoulder to toe; vehicles are thoroughly searched at a police checkpoint lined by concrete blast walls and none carrying weapons is allowed to pass."Today on NPR's Morning Edition, Quil Lawrence discussed various issues of the election with Renee Montagne.
Renee Montagne: Now one thing that American officials who are trying to stay out of this, you know, but they have long worried about Arab-Kurdish tension in Iraq. Are you seeing those tensions coming out in the election?
Quil Lawrence: Absolutely, it's almost part of the campaign, particularly in the province of Nineveh, the capital of which is Mosul, in the north of Iraq. There is an extremely -- well, an Arab nationalist governor up there and he won his election essentially by stoking ethnic tensions and we had the same thing break out last month. Governor Atheel al-Najafi decided to take a trip into one of the disputed territories near the city of Mosul. He has every right to go there legally. He's the governor of the province, but he certainly knew that he would be going through a Kurdish town. It's sort of like the Nazi march through Skokie, Illinois, if you ask the Kurds about it. It's extremely inflammatory.
Reneee Montagne: And Skokie, of course, many of its citizens had survived the Holocaust.
Quil Lawrence: Exactly, exactly. That would be the way the Kurds would interpret this. When the governo came through, there were peple who greeted him with eggs and tomatoes and he says that there was even an assassination attempt. His bodyguards grabbed 11 people from the crowd and arrested them and took them all the way back to Mosul.
Rumors are political currency in Iraq. Alalam reports rumors, which Nouri denies, that popular cleric Muqtada al-Sadr would be arrested if he returned to Iraq (he is presumed to be in Iran currently). DPA reports that Nouri and Sadrists are in the midst of an accusation exchange and they quote the spokesperson for the Sadrist bloc, Salah al-Obeidi, stating that the rumors of arresting al-Sadr came from Nouri's office. . Henry Meyer (Bloomberg News) reports Nouri's charging "unspecified neighboring countries of funding his opponents in" the election. Buying elections? We'll again note Martin Chulov (Guardian) report that Saad al-Alusi, formerly of Iraq's National Intelligence Service, has accused Nouri of giving southern tribal leaders huge numbers of guns (apparently 10,000) in order to buy their votes. Nouri's mouthpiece Ali al-Dabbagh insists that, yes, the guns were given, but it was long planned for them to be given so this wasn't a bribe and had nothing to do with the elections. Hassen Jouini (AFP) reports on another candidate vying for votes, Sharif Ali bin Hussein who is a relative, on his mother's side, of Iraq's King Ghazi who rulled from 1933 through 1939. Hussein now heads the Constitutional Monarchy Party in Iraq. Jouini notes, "The realities of Iraq have hampered any effort at campaigning for most would-be MPs, however - violence in the country remains high, despite having fallen markedly from its peak from 2005 to 2007, and candidates fear political assassinations. Sharif Ali is no different. While he has some posters scattered across the capital and conducts interviews with television news stations in his home, he is not organising public rallies or distributing flyers on the street."
KPCC offers another report from Quil Lawrence which includes:The race even includes a prominent cleric running with his own strictly secular party. Ayad Jamal al-Din studied at the world's most famous Shiite religious schools in Najaf and the Iranian city of Qom. The black turban he wears indicates that his family descends directly from the Prophet Muhammad. But Jamal al-Din says this doesn't mean he wants an Islamic state.Iran and the theocracy there have hijacked the Shiite turban, he says, adding that he believes the vast majority -- even among clerics -- thinks that Iranian-style government has been a failure. What people in Iraq want is very simple, he says."The Iraqi on the street wants security and services. [He] does not think of a secular or religious government, just services and security," Jamal al-Din says.Ayad Jamal Aldin is the leader of the Ahrar Party and today they issued the following:
The leader of the Ahrar Pary 374, Ayad Jamal Aldin, today urged voters not to boycott this weekend's parliamentary elections
He targeted the Iraqi diaspora who will vote on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with his message of change.
Ayad Jamal Aldin said: "It is vital that every Iraqi living outside the country that can vote, does vote.
"Every Iraqi who does not vote is tacitly supporting the decline, division and destruction of our country. Those who do not vote are choosing an Iraq of violence, intimidation, and sectarianism.
"This government has lost control and is being driven by people determined to divide and destroy Iraq for their own ends.
"There is more violence and more bloodshed today because these influences are fearful of the Iraqi people. They fear us because they know that this weekend, the power is with the people.
"This weekend, every Iraqi gets to make a choice between more of the same - more violence, more division, and more corruption or a change for the better with security, unity, and jobs.
"I urge all Iraqis, regardless of religion or sect, to exercise your power and vote for a peaceful and united Iraq, free from corruption and outside influences."
For further information, contact:
Ahrar Media BureauTel: +964 (0)790 157 4478 / +964 (0)790 157 4479 / +964 (0)771 275 2942press@ahrarparty.com
About Ayad Jamal Aldin:
Ayad Jamal Aldin is a cleric, best known for his consistent campaigning for a new, secular Iraq. He first rose to prominence at the Nasiriyah conference in March 2003, shortly before the fall of Saddam, where he called for a state free of religion, the turban and other theological symbols. In 2005, he was elected as one of the 25 MPs on the Iraqi National List, but withdrew in 2009 after becoming disenchanted with Iyad Allawi's overtures to Iran. He wants complete independence from Iranian interference in Iraq. He now leads the Ahrar party for the 2010 election to the Council of Representatives, to clean up corruption and create a strong, secure and liberated Iraq for the future.
Iraqi voters are also outside the country which is why 16 other countries will have plling stations. Iraq's Sunni vice president Tarek al-Hashemi is in Syria. For those who have forgotten, al-Hashemi vetoed (as a member of the presidency council) an early election law in late 2009 citing the fact that it did not take into account Iraq's large refugee population. Alsumaria TV reports that he "thanked Syria for its 'historic' stand of embracing refugees despite bilateral political rows." Iran's Press TV notes that he "is also expected to meet with representatives of hs countr's expatriates" while in Syria.
While the candidates cannot move freely and many Iraqis are out of the country, the drones will move freely and have free reign in Iraq. Alsumaria TV reports that drones will be used to patrol throughout the elections. Meanwhile Afif Sarhan (IslamOnline.net) reports on Christian candidates in Mosul where Christians are being persecuted with some being murdered (at least 12) and many more fleeing. Candidate Kammar Bashar tells Sarhan, "The only loser in all this violence is our minority which, although representing only 5 percent of the parliamentary seats, is being the first choice for extremists and militants in the northern region."Independent Catholic News reports, "Pax Christi International have submitted a written intervention for the 13th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva which opened yesterday. In the [document], Pax Christi highlights the desperate situation of Iraq's minorities which are in danger of being wiped out." Yesterday's snapshot included:The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued a [PDF format warning] four-page report entitled "Iraq Displacement in Mosul, Situation Report No. 1" which notes the 683 families who have fled Mosul between Feb. 20 and 27, and notes that 12 Iraqi Christians have been killed during this time period. (At least one other was wounded but survived a shooting.) The displaced have scattered but the largest number, 331 families, have settled for now in Qaraqosh.OCHA has released [PDF format warning] "Iraq Displacement in Mosul Situation Report No. 2" which notes the total number of Iraqi Christians fleeing Mosul has now reached 4,320 (720 families -- a 5% increase)The 720 displaced families are in the two Ninewa districts of Al Hamdaniyah and Tilkaif (204 families) and have also crossed over to Erbil and Dahuk governorates (17 families in Dahuk and 23 families in Ainkawa in Erbil governorate). The number of IDPs in Qaraqosh in Al Hamdaniya district has increased to 278 families (1,668 people) and 35 families (210 people) have moved to Namrood, while the number of IDPs in other Al Hamdaniya districts remains the same as reported on 28 February, i.e. 60 families (360 people) in Bartalah; 66 families (396 people) in Bashiqa; and 22 families (132 people) in Krmales. Those in Tilkaif town in Talkaif district have decreased from 40 to 16 families; Batnay has increased to 63 families (378 people); Tal Usquf has increased to 91 families (546 people); and Alqosh has increased to 84 families (504 people).There are protection concerns for the Christian families who have remained in Mosul. Unconfirmed reports indicate that many individuals cannot move freely beyond their homes, such as going to work or attending university, out of fear for their safety. At present, it remains unclear how many Christian families were residing in Mosul before the displacement. Furthermore, the motives for and perpetrators of the killings of 12 Christians during January and February 2010, which triggered the recent displacement, are still not clear.
Saturday February 20th, AFP reported that Adnan al-Dahan has become the fifth Iraqi-Christian killed that week (at least one other has been wounded) and that the shopkeeper's corpse was found today in Mosul. His family is among the over 700 that have fled Mosul as Christians have again been targeted. Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) speaks with them including Warda, his widow, who explains why they didn't leave Mosul earlier (her husband had been kidnapped and returned when a ransom was paid), "He said 'if all of us Christians leave, who is going to stay in the land of the prophets and pray in our churches?' He said 'we were all born in Mosul and we will die in Mousl'." (You can also read Arraf's article here.) Independent Catholic News reports, "Pax Christi International have submitted a written intervention for the 13th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva which opened yesterday. In the [document], Pax Christi highlights the desperate situation of Iraq's minorities which are in danger of being wiped out." Yesterday's snapshot included:The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued a [PDF format warning] four-page report entitled "Iraq Displacement in Mosul, Situation Report No. 1" which notes the 683 families who have fled Mosul between Feb. 20 and 27, and notes that 12 Iraqi Christians have been killed during this time period. (At least one other was wounded but survived a shooting.) The displaced have scattered but the largest number, 331 families, have settled for now in Qaraqosh.OCHA has released [PDF format warning] "Iraq Displacement in Mosul Situation Report No. 2" which notes the total number of Iraqi Christians fleeing Mosul has now reached 4,320 (720 families -- a 5% increase)The 720 displaced families are in the two Ninewa districts of Al Hamdaniyah and Tilkaif (204 families) and have also crossed over to Erbil and Dahuk governorates (17 families in Dahuk and 23 families in Ainkawa in Erbil governorate). The number of IDPs in Qaraqosh in Al Hamdaniya district has increased to 278 families (1,668 people) and 35 families (210 people) have moved to Namrood, while the number of IDPs in other Al Hamdaniya districts remains the same as reported on 28 February, i.e. 60 families (360 people) in Bartalah; 66 families (396 people) in Bashiqa; and 22 families (132 people) in Krmales.Those in Tilkaif town in Talkaif district have decreased from 40 to 16 families; Batnay has increased to 63 families (378 people); Tal Usquf has increased to 91 families (546 people); and Alqosh has increased to 84 families (504 people).There are protection concerns for the Christian families who have remained in Mosul. Unconfirmed reports indicate that many individuals cannot move freely beyond their homes, such as going to work or attending university, out of fear for their safety. At present, it remains unclear how many Christian families were residing in Mosul before the displacement. Furthermore, the motives for and perpetrators of the killings of 12 Christians during January and February 2010, which triggered the recent displacement, are still not clear.
We'll again note that Vatican Radio (link has text and audio) provided Pope Benedict XVI speaking Sunday at St. Peter's Square where he addressed the persecution in Mosul:
Pope Benedict XVI: I have learned with profound sadness of the tragic news of the recent killings of several Christians in the city of Mosul, and I follow with great concern other episodes of violence, perpetrated in the troubled land of Iraq against defenceless people of different religious affiliation. In these days of intense meditation, I often prayed for all victims of those attacks, and today I wish to join in the spirit to pray for peace and the restoration of security, promoted by the Council of Bishops of Nineveh. I am affectionately close to the Christian communities of the entire country. Never tire of being a leaven for good in the country in which you have fully belonged for centuries. In the delicate political phase that Iraq is going through I appeal to the civil authorities, to make every effort to restore security to the population and, in particular, the most vulnerable religious minorities. I hope the temptation is not given into temporary and partisan interests allowing them to prevail over the safety and fundamental rights of every citizen. Finally, while greeting the Iraqis here in the square, I urge the international community to strive to give the Iraqis a future of reconciliation and justice, as I invoke Almighty God with confidence for the precious gift of peace.
Catholic News Agency quotes Auxilary Bishop of Baghdad Shlemon Warduni on the reaction to Pope Benedict XVI's words, "We are thankful to Benedict XVI, we know how much he cares about our community: we hope that his voice has a resonance in the world and especially in the hard of heart." Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing left one woman and her son injured, a Mosul grenade attack on a school that will also be a polling station -- two Iraqi soldiers were injured.
Shootings?
Reuters notes 1 person was shot dead in Mosul.
It was five years ago today, Pete Brekus (Express-Times) reminds that, "the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq reached 1,500." Five years later, the death toll stands at 4380. The wounded count is less reliable. There are those with obvious wounds and those who carry wounds not readily visible. Citizen Soldier is organizing a conference on PTSD:
When the War Comes Home: Soldiers and Civilians in Crisis National Conference on PTSD co-sponsored by Citizen Soldier and the Trauma Studies Center of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy
Saturday, Apri 3, 20101, 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. University Settlement: 273 Bowery
Alison Boggs (Spokesman-Review) reports on Iraq War veteran Kenny McAnally who is among the over 40,000 US troops diagnosed with PTSD in the last seven years: McAnally carried those memories for a year with no outlet, until a writing assignment for a North Idaho College class unexpectedly began to release them. It seemed harmless -- write a descriptive story -- but what poured out of him left him bathed in sweat and crying uncontrollably.His writing described his worst day, the one that yanks him from sleep, gasping for air. Some 30 Iraqi National Guardsmen in the camp next door were hit in a mortar attack and he rushed to help. He looked into the eyes of a dying man as he tried to stop the blood pouring from the man's side and leg. He prayed to God that the man would live, only to be told he was already dead."I can still hear those men, lying in the sand, bleeding to death, pleading with their God," he wrote. "Screaming at him. Begging to live another day."Susan Frick Carlman (Naperville Sun) reports on Iraq War veterans Sarah Raby and Keith Ellis who also have been diagnosed with PTSD:The couple, former Marines who have both served two tours of duty in Iraq, can't forget that in some places, a plain-looking box can contain deadly explosives. They are part of a swelling population of military veterans who are bringing home from Iraq and Afghanistan memories of sights, sounds, smells and scars that now dog them, every day. Although Raby and Ellis both exhibit the aftereffects of battle that show themselves as post-traumatic stress disorder, they are doing their best to get on with their lives. They're both working toward associate's degrees at College of DuPage, and Ellis is employed part-time in contractual security work. Normalcy doesn't come easily. The couple and their three young children were homeless for a while last fall, after it became clear that their living arrangements weren't going to work out as they had hoped. Tensions ran too high in the quarters they were sharing with some of Raby's relatives after moving back to the area from California in July. Boston's WCVB reports on PTSD, "Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, took brain scans of vets with PTSD. In those vets, a specific area of the brain responsible for memory was much smaller. Researchers said this discovery could lead to better diagnosis and treatments." Meanwhile Katherine Noble (Daily Texan Staff) reports that University of Texas professors and researchers Ivan Ponomarev and R. Adron Harris are working with others to devise new methods of treatment for PTSD: "When a person undergoes a traumatic event, the parts of the brain set to regulate stress can be overrun to the point where they cannot normalize new fear and stress stimuli. The victim's amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory, is incapable of processing fear-related stimuli. Instead, the amygdala can respond incorrectly to stress, causing the person to be overly anxious in mild-stress situations. Cases of post-traumatic stress disorder are rising among returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. At UT, veterans enrolled at the University can find support through counseling at the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center and through student groups." Susan Goldsmith (The Oregonian) reports on the Portland Vet Center where Lori Daniels works on an effort "to rewrite our own nightmares and make them less troubling" -- a treatment she and Terry McGuire have worked on developing:McGuire and Daniels guided vets to talk about their dream lives and used their answers to help them understand what the trauma meant to them. The technique taught them that "they can be in control of their trauma." These days, Daniels uses guided writing exercises to help patients delve into what haunts them at night. Once the content of the dream is laid out, she encourages vets to come up with a plan for responding to those nightmares. That plan, she explains, might be writing a letter or any other action that ritualizes their grief."The action plan is an essential piece," she says. "One vet really wanted to connect with the guys who died in his unit, and he wrote them a letter."
Susan Donaldson James (ABC News) reports on Kristine Wise's biggest problem which wasn't being an Iraq War veterans or having PTSD, "They [the VA] had a hard time comprehending I was a combat vet and didn't treat me with the same respect." Wise is part of the over 230,000 women in the US military that have been deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan in the last decade. March is Women's History Month and Ruth noted last night that the ACLU (via Chelsea Zimmerman's ACLU Blog of Rights post) celebrated that fact while the feminist (not 'feminist,' it is actually feminist) Women's Media Center decided to 'honor' Women's History Month by publishing a column informing readers of what did and didn't qualify for 'feminity.' That crap needs to stop. That column was offensive and it never should have been posted. You think Kristine Wise, on top of the other flack she gets from the VA, doesn't also catch it from other men and women that either "you weren't in combat!" or "the military's really a job for men"? This crap needs to stop. Feminism (a) isn't concerned with feminity and (b) never attempts to judge which woman is or isn't 'feminine.' In the real world, Nancy McDonald of HerStory Scrapbook notes:
March 2010 is the 30th anniversary of National Women's History Month. The HerStory Scrapbook is a "you-are-there" account of the women who were fighting for, and against, suffrage from 1917 - 1920, as reported by The New York Times.
To celebrate Women's History Month, the HerStory 360° Challenge on the HerStory Scrapbook will answer the question: "What's her story?" by highlighting a different story each day of ninety women who fought for the right to vote. Each woman's story includes internet links to rare, original source material.
Please let your network of friends, colleagues, and students of history know about the HerStory Scrapbook.
Staying with the US for a moment, John Halle (Corrente) notes the issue of those who were wrong about Iraq (cakewalk, et al) such as Thomas Friedman suffered no fall out and points that's true as well for those who refused to see the truth about the Corpratist War Hawk Barack Obama. He covers a wide terrain but we'll note the section on Lie Face Melissa Harris-Lacewell:
Among those selling the Obama product most successfully was another Ivy league Professor, Melissa Harris-Lacewell of Princeton. In increasingly high-profile appearances, Harris-Lacewell repeatedly compared the Obama campaign to iconic moments in the civil rights movements such as the Montgomery Bus Boycotts. Once the Obama administration assumed office, apologetics for neo-liberal rhetoric smoothly transitioned to apologetics for the implementation of neo-liberal policies. These required some logical contortions and more than a little cynicism. Thus, in a stunning Martin Luther Day King posting at the Nation, Harris-Lacewell chose to focus on instances of King's dealmaking, personal failings and sell-outs of core constituencies. The conclusion, according to Harris-Lacewell, was that the comparison of Obama and King remained in force: "extraordinary change can be achieved even through imperfect leadership . . . wholeheartedly groping toward better and fairer solutions for our nation."
It would seem that very few leftists remain who are willing and able to accept the Polyannish equation of the current occupier of the Oval Office with the author of the letter from Birmingham jail. Nor would many grant the benefit of doubt that Obama's "gropings" are anything other than simple capitulations to his primary consistency, the Wall Street brokerage houses, megabanks, insurance companies, energy consortia, and lobbyists who financed his campaign. Given this emerging consensus, one might have expected that Harris-Lacewell's commentaries would be seen as having a limited shelf life while Prof. Reed inconvenient truths would be recognized for what they are: as what we needed to hear then-and need to hear now.
But nothing of the sort has occurred. Prof. Harris Lacewell's remains a regular guest frequently encountered not only on the liberal wing of the corporate media represented by MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman but at seemingly authentic alternative left outlets such as Laura Flanders's GritTV. More disconcertingly, a continuing flow of Obamapologetics will likely be offered through Harris-Lacewell's recently announced "Sister Citizen" to appear weekly in the Nation, an editorial decision which will reduce the contributions of iconic left columnist Alexander Cockburn to once a month.
For those late to the pary, we don't have time for the complete breakdown. She attacked Tavis Smiley (for which I do not forgive), she lied repeatedly to get on TV (failing to disclose that she was working for Barack's campaign as she appeared over and over throughout the primaries) and, oh, so very much more.
Turning to England where Robert Winnett (Telegraph of London) reports Tony Blair experienced a fleeting moments of reality according to Andrew Rawnsley's new book which paints the Poodle as blanking out while taking questions from Parliament, waking up with night terrors and considering resigning in 2004 -- all over the Iraq War. May those conditions return, increase and plague him until his dying day. Michael Savage (Independent of London) reports on papers the Iraq Inquiry has but has not yet released to the public:A policy of "regime overthrow" is proposed, but roundly condemned. In an eerily portentous assessment of the consequences of taking military action, it states: "Such a policy would command no useful international support. An overt attempt to be successful would require a massive military effort, probably including a land invasion: this would risk considerable casualties and, possibly, extreme last-ditch acts of deterrence or defiance by Saddam." The mandarins add: "It would also be illegal. Covert attempts, on the other hand, seem very unlikely to succeed and run the risk of fragmenting Iraq, which runs clearly contrary to our wider interests in the region." Iraq descended into violence in the wake of the March 2003 invasion. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed in the aftermath, as well as more than 100 British troops. The document also calls into question Mr Blair's claim that using troops to bring down Saddam Hussein was only discussed after the 9/11 terror attacks on New York – and will increase pressure on the inquiry to call Mr Blair back to give further public evidence this summer. At the Financial Times of London, Jim Pickard runs through the "frenemies" Gordon Brown and Tony Blair in preparation for Brown's testimony to the Iraq Inquiry this Friday.
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Monday, March 01, 2010
Westiminster students, Third
I really lose respect each day for an increasing number of people. For example, all the losers who complained about the Patriot act from 2001 through 2008 but don't say a damn word about it now that Barack's president? Lick my hairy sack.
Speaking of Harry, Harold Ford Jr. has decided not to run in the Democratic Party primary for the currently occupied Senate seat.
I saw something at Great Britain's Socialist Worker which just drives home how much cooler the UK is than us currently. Their students combat real problems. Our students seem hell bent on inventing problems to 'combat.' (I'm a grad student.) So this is from them:
Westminster students occupy over cuts
by Siân Ruddick
Students at Westminster University in central London have occupied part of a university building in protest at proposed cuts.
Over 100 students held a demonstration on campus this afternoon. The students then stormed the building and gathered outside the vice-chancellor’s office.
The students burst into the board of governors meeting, demanding a hearing from the vice-chancellor, Professor Geoffrey Petts. He claimed he did not have his diary with him so was unable to book a time to discuss the cuts with the students.
They responded by occupying the room outside his office. The occupation has forced senior staff to leave their offices.
The occupation is part of an ongoing battle against cuts at the university which if allowed to go ahead will mean the closure of the nursery, 200 job losses and course closures.
© Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original.
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Okay, let's talk Third. Who worked on it? You know Dallas did. Who else?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,
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
Truest statement of the week -- This was Jason Ditz and I think this was his first one. I had an e-mail asking about Chris Hedges? That was my bad. I forgot to write anything down and when we did truest it was too late to go digging around for notes or listen to the broadcast again. Will I write about Law & Disorder again? If it ever has anything worth writing about. I saw "Haiti" today and that's all I needed to go elsewhere. I will not take part in that distraction. We have serious issues here and globe trotting doesn't address them. Also, I hate Bill Quigley who's such little priss anyway.
A note to our readers -- Jim breaks down the edition.
Editorial: Better a Cassandra than a Pollyanna -- This ended up working. It wouldn't have if Ty hadn't brought up the e-mails going back and forth between Ava & C.I. and _____ (anti-war media type). ____ does nothing on Iraq now and was trashing Ava and C.I. and saying they were "cassandras" and they responded in an e-mail with "Better to be a Cassandra than a Pollyanna." And when Ty told us that story, we had the editorial that was just not working before that.
TV: Animated Blackface --Ava and C.I. really nail the show here (The Cleveland Show). I was asked on campus, "But what about American Dad?" Ava and C.I. are right. The show has sucked this year. Did anyone want to see the end of the world and all the souls going to heaven while Stan and Francine remained on earth? And did they want to see that crap as a Christmas special? Did anyone need to see Stan learn to ask for help? The show has sucked this year. There was one really good episode which spoofed the Jodie Foster movie Flight Plan. Otherwise, it has sucked.
Roundtable -- Ha. Wally doesn't speak in this. :D I didn't think he did. I should have something. I asked him about it and he said he was fine with not talking and just wanted it to wrap up. It was a really long session.
Deliver Us From The Drama Queens -- What Jim doesn't know? Jim talks about how he hated this and then after Dona edited it he loved it. Dona did a good job on the edit but just FYI, the strong opening came from Ava, C.I., Wally and me. :D The opening was too weak and that was our argument the whole time. When Dona picked back up on re-editing that piece, the four of us quickly came up with a new opening.
KBR's bad week -- This was one of those articles that never turns out right. And we work it and we work it. Over and over.
Citizens participate in a democracy -- This is probably my favorite piece after Ava and C.I.'s. And if I remember correctly, this was several articles that got edited into one (bits of each edited into one).
Military assistance harms reform (ETAN) -- A repost of ETAN.
HRW on Iraq -- a repost of Iraqi Christians being persecuted. I'll probably write some about that tomorrow (hopefully tomorrow). I feel really bad with even the Pope speaking out against it when I haven't. (I'm Catholic.) C.I. and Ruth have been covering this story.
Highlights -- And Wally, Cedric, Stan, Ann, Marcia, Rebecca, Betty, Kat, Ruth, Elaine and I wrote this.
Monday, March 1, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, the elections approach, Nouri al-Maliki gets caught 'gifting' but swears it is no bribe, Christians stage demonstrations throughout Iraq in response to the persecution, Ahmed Chalabi proves strangely touchy and explosive when his boypal Ali al-Lami's name is raised, and more.
On the latest installment of Inside Iraq (Al Jazeera), which began airing Friday, Jasim al-Azawi spoke with one-time CIA asset Ahmed Chalabi who is also a convicted felon in Jordan, a very close and personal friend of boypal Ali al-Lani and, it turns out, a non-stop, yelling and shouting diva.
Jasim al-Azawi: And now I'm delighted to welcome from Baghdad, Ahmed Chalabi, chairman of the Accountability and Justice Commission and a candidate of the Iraqi National Alliance for Parliament. Ahmed Chalabi, welcome to Inside Iraq. And let me start from the beginning and that is Prime Minister [Nouri] al-Malliki has decided to rescind a recent act issued by your commission. Lately you have submitted a list of 376 members of the army, the police and the intelligence. They are supposed to be Ba'athists and you are going to remove them. al-Maliki is saying, "Stop it, Ahmed Chalabi. You have no idea the damage you are cuasing."
Ahmed Chalabi: The prime minister has no authority on his own to exempt anyone from the decisions of the Justice and Accountability Commission. Article 12 of Law Number 10 from 2008 specifies that the Council of Ministers has the authority to request exemption for anybody who is uh subject to the Justice and Accountability law provided he gets the approval of the Parliament.
Jasim al-Azawi: What makes you think that he cannot get the ministers to sanction his authority and more significantly --
Ahmed Chalabi: He may get the ministers to sanction his authority but he needs to get Parliament to approve what he does.
Jasim al-Azawi: Well since you mentioned Parliament, in that case let me turn the table on you. Parliament has never sanctioned your commission -- the Justice and Accountability -- that bill never went to Parliament and more importantly you and your executive director Mr. Ali al-Lami were never appointed by Parliament so on what authority you are expunging people and banning people?
Ahmed Chalabi: On the authority of Law Number 10, Justice and Accountability Law of 2008. This argument has been settled by the uh Appeals Commission of the uhm uh Justice and Accountability that was appointed by Parliament a few weeks ago. In their ruling on the case of Mr. Saleh al-Mutlaq, they said that the Justice and Accountability Commission is valid and is active and is authorized by the law --
Jasim al-Azawi: Ahmed Chalabi, you know very well, you know very well,
Ahmed Chalabi: -- so therefore this argument does not hold water anymore because the highest court in Iraq has approved the legality of the current commission.
Jasim al-Azawi: Ahmed Chalabi, that is -- that is absolutely not right, not true. Parliament has --
Ahmed Chalabi: How do you know that!
Jasim al-Azawi: Because --
Ahmed Chalabi: I read you -- I read you the statement!
Jasim al-Azawi: Before you read me that statement, Parliament has never voted on the Accountability and Justice Commission --
Ahmed Chalabi: I will tell you! I will read the statement!
Jasim al-Azawi: -- and --
Ahmed Chalabi: I will readyyou the statement! It doesn't matter what you say. It's just an argument to detract from the legality of the commission. It says here that the law, Law Number 10 will only specify that they rename the de-Ba'athification Comission into the Justice and Accountability Commission -- rename. Therefore, this commission is working according to the law and has the legality for the reasons specified above.' That's the decision of the court.
Jasim al-Azawi: At any rate, we don't want to get into the legal aspect, we will let the viewers to judge -- We will let the viewers and the Iraqis --
Ahmed Chalibi: It's not the viewers! It's the Iraqi court!
[too much cross talk and too much shouting by Ahmed]
Jasim al-Azawi: -- by Parliament, but the federal government has not given it's final verdict yet.
[too much cross talk and too much shouting by Ahmed, we'll skip ahead]
Jasim al-Azawi: Fine. Let us go to the second gentleman in this commission. I am talking to you but there is somebody behind you, your executive director, Mr. Ali al-Lami. Just for the viewers to know who Mr. al-Lami is, correct me if the statement and the story I'm going to tell is wrong. This gentleman was released by US forces back in August of 2009 [Ahmed giggles -- giggles is the term, watch and see] under the charges of terrorism. He was --
Ahmed Chalabi: [Waving finger] No charges!
Jasim al-Azawi: He was -- he was released from prison --
Ahmed Chalabi: No charges!
Jasim al-Azawi: I will come to the story completely, but now let's just say, now he finds --
Ahmed Chalabi: He was kidnapped!
Jasim al-Azawi: He was captured by the Americans because they think --
Ahmed Chalabi: He was kidnapped!
Jasim al-Azawi: Hold on --
Ahmed Chalabi: By contractors at the airpot.
Jasim al-Azawi: Hold on, Mr. Chalabi. He was -- he was not charged directly --
Ahmed Chalabi: He was not charged.
Jasim al-Azawi: I am the first one to say that. Mr. Odierno --
Ahmed Chalabi: He was not charged!
Jasim al-Azawi: I said that. I said that. Let me finish the story. He was believed to be the mastermind of a terrorist act that happened in al-Sadr City where American forces and civilian administrations along with Iraqi officials, they were meeting with some council members in Sadr City the American officials they were on the way out there was an IED and there was an explosion and many people killed. Odierno believes that Mr. al-Lami is directly responsible for that.
Ahmed Chalabi: This is patent nonsense. There is no charge. They have no evidence. And it is based on an intelligence report of one unreliable informer for the American tactical units in the area. They -- Mr. Lami was not arrested. He was kidnapped at the airport by US contractors, taken to a US prison, put under pressure and almost tortured for 38 days and they could get nothing from him on this issue. They have no evidence. He stayed 351 days in jail. And the Iraqi government has no case, n-n-n-n-n-o authority, no legal entity and no intelligence entity of the Iraqi government, there is any charge against Mr. Ali --- Ali al-Lami. And the US has not charged him and he was released without charges. Therefore, legally, he was kidnapped. And as for this issue of the uh-buh-uh-uh people who were killed by-by the IED, he had nothing to do with it. I am certain he had nothing to do with it. And this charge has not been proven.
For those who cannot stream or would not benefit from streaming, Ahmed Chalabi has a a wide grin on his face when Jasim al-Azawi is saying, "He was believed to be the mastermind of a terrorist act that happened in al-Sadr City where American forces and civilian administrations along with Iraqi officials, they were meeting with some council members in Sadr City the American officials they were on the way out there was an IED and there was an explosion and many people killed. Odierno believes that Mr. al-Lami is directly responsible for that." He finds that very humerous for some reason. Others will find it humor in Chalabi whining that "it is based on an intelligence report of one unreliable informer" -- Chalabi, the original unreliable informer.
Over the weekend, Ernesto Londono and Leila Fadel (Washington Post) reported on Chalabi and noted his tarring people as "Ba'athists" "is reprising a role he played after the U.S.-led invasion -- which many critics believe he helped facilitate with faulty intelligence -- and, in the process, is infuriating American officials and some Iraqis, who suspect his motive is to bolster his own political bloc." While Hannah Allam (Miami Herald) reported, "Cheeky opponents of Ahmad Chalabi, the onetime U.S. ally and perennially controversial Shiite Muslim politician, are sending out e-mails of a faux poster with Chalabi's face superimposed on an ad for the classic 1940 film, 'The Thief of Baghdad'." Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) observes, "As chief architect of the move to disqualify hundreds of candidates accused of ties to the outlawed Baath Party, Chalabi has defined the agenda for the upcoming Iraqi national elections. In doing so, he has thwarted five years of U.S. policy in Iraq aimed at reconciling the Sunni and Shiite Mulsim sects and gotten his revenge against America for dumping him as its favorite back in 2004."
Chalabi is only one candidate in the elections. Another is Ayad Jamal Aldin of the Ahrar Party and they issued the following today:
At the start of a week that has been dominated by news of the continuing and expanding 'de-Baathification' programme, Ahrar 374 Leader Ayad Jamal Aldin noted that the issue continues to distract voters' attention from the Maliki government's failure to deliver on jobs, public services and security. He urged voters to send the government a message and participate in Sunday's election.
De-Baathification is intensifying. Over the past five days, professors at the University of Karbala and Iraq's Southern Oil Company have been targeted. The level of fear-mongering has reached such a fever pitch that large numbers of highly competent professionals that Iraq desperately needs to run government and industry, are afraid for their lives and livelihoods. Just yesterday, it emerged that that violence had surged by 80 percent last month, when compared to January.
Ayad Jamal Aldin - leader of Ahrar 374 - said today, "It is clear what is happening here; the government is attempting to bully the people away from the ballot box. We should not accept it. Where we see these bullying tactics, we must see them for what they really are: an attempt to divert the Iraqi people's focus from the government's chronic failure to deliver jobs, running water and real security."
"The only answer can be to stand up to bullies. And this week, we have the best possible response to them - to take part in this election and vote for change."
For further information, contact:
Ahrar Media BureauTel: +964 (0)790 157 4478 / +964 (0)790 157 4479 / +964 (0)771 275 2942press@ahrarparty.com
About Ayad Jamal Aldin:
Ayad Jamal Aldin is a cleric, best known for his consistent campaigning for a new, secular Iraq. He first rose to prominence at the Nasiriyah conference in March 2003, shortly before the fall of Saddam, where he called for a state free of religion, the turban and other theological symbols. In 2005, he was elected as one of the 25 MPs on the Iraqi National List, but withdrew in 2009 after becoming disenchanted with Iyad Allawi's overtures to Iran. He wants complete independence from Iranian interference in Iraq. He now leads the Ahrar party for the 2010 election to the Council of Representatives, to clean up corruption and create a strong, secure and liberated Iraq for the future.
Another running in the elections in Nouri al-Maliki, the current prime minsiter. Steven Lee Myers (New York Times) notes Nouri's many problems including that he "appears isolated, imperious and impetuous" He adds that Nouri "is neither a charismatic leader nor a polished campaigner" but he may be short changing Nouri on the latter. Martin Chulov (Guardian) reports that Saad al-Alusi, formerly of Iraq's National Intelligence Service, has accused Nouri of giving southern tribal leaders huge numbers of guns (apparently 10,000) in order to buy their votes. Chulov reports it as an accusation but it's reality and that's confirmed in his own story. Nouri's mouthpiece Ali al-Dabbagh insists that, yes, the guns were given, but it was long planned for them to be given so this wasn't a bribe and had nothing to do with the elections. He's handing out the guns days before the election (and again, his own spokesperson confirms he is)? It's a bribe -- and it's not just Nouri. For example, an Iraqi tells War News Radio, "Many are doing this like the Iraqi National Alliance. They distributed blankets, clothes and even shoes. They distributed these in poor neighborhoods. I saw them doing it in front of me." Back to Nouri, Hannah Allam (Miami Herald) reported that Nouri's campaign posters are a popular target in Baghdad: "One of al-Maliki's campaign posters shows him standing shoulder to shoulder with the education minister. The men are wearing matching gray suits. The joke on the street: 'Which one's the groom?'" Of the candidates in general, Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers' Inside Iraq) observes:Suddenly, our politicians talk only about the people suffering. They all talk about the lack of services, lack of electricity, the housing crisis, the unemployment crisis and the security issues. Suddenly, most of them who were gaining millions during the last four years started thinking about the financial situation of the poor families who never dreamed of earning even one million Iraqi Dinars ($850). Suddenly, many politicians started visting the rural areas and meeting the innocent poor who were begging for a visit by one of the officials to listen to them or to tell him about a sewage problem or lack of drinking water or the absence of any medical services.
On the most recent episode of Swarthmore College's War News Radio, Gabriel Ramierz spoke to Iraqis about what they're hoping for in the elections.
Saif Adnan, college student in Mosul: We hope the upcoming elections can change the bad conditions in Iraq but the problem is past elections have been one failure after another. This has a negative impact on people's view of the elections. In spite of this we hope that there will be good and fair elections that can take the country to a better level.
Kadeem Hussein, 24-year-old college graduate looking for work: I'd like to see more jobs provided and an improvement in security.
Today AFP interviews Iraq's National Security Adviser, Safa Hussein, who shares some post-election day concerns: "If it takes a long time, we will have some difficulties." If what takes a long time? Creating a new ruling government. Elections are held March 5th through 7th. Then the counting beings. Expect a minimum of one week before results are announced (and those probably won't be certified results). The elections are not to elect a prime minister, they are to elect members of Parliament. MPs -- members of Parliament -- will then elect a prime minister. This can be done quickly if one political party sweeps the elections or it can take awhile if one political party that sweeps has several people who want to be prime minister or if the results spread the votes out amongst many parties. If it's the latter, the MPs of various parties begin working on coalition sharing argreements. This is what concerns Safa Hussein who states, "I would begin to be concerned if it was not established by July." It? We're not even to it yet in the description. After a prime minister is agreed upon, the prime minister then needs to appoint a cabinet. That becomes the central government out of Baghdad. Nouri missed both his own announced deadline in 2006 for appointing a cabinet as well as the Constitutionally mandated deadline. And those wondering about July should remember that the Parliamentary elections were held in December 2005 and Nouri was announced prime minister in April 2006. Aseel Kami, Missy Ryan, Michael Christie and Myra MacDonald (Reuters) report that other candidates include Salama al-Khafahi and Masoun al-Damalouji -- among the women running for the Parliament and details how, despite being a country in which women became doctors as far back as the 1930s and they appointed their first woman governmental minister in the 1950s, post-invasion, Iraqi women are having to start over. Others will be a position of greater power, Jack Kimball, Shamal Aqrawi, Michael Christie and Matthew Jones (Reuters) report that, as in 2005, the Kurds are "expected to emerge as powerful kingmakers" since no party is expected to win a majority of the votes -- therefore no party would be able to select the prime minister by themselves without first forming some coalition sharing agreements. Michael Jansen (Irish Times) reports from the KRG and quotes a clerk named Muhammad stating that the PUK/KDP alliance has governened them since 1991: "Nineteen years is enough. We have only six hours of government electricity a day. We have to buy electricity from a private company with generators. Salaries are low. Mine is only $300 a month. Scools and hospitals are bad. There are no jobs. Although security is better here, we have the same problems as Arab Iraqis."
John Catalinotto (Workers World) offers his take on the elections:
The March 7 election -- should it take place as scheduled -- will be as much a farce as the one held in Afghanistan last summer. A complete client state, which was only able to take power with the force of the occupation behind it, is organizing the elections. It is organizing them in order to consolidate power for the groupings that support Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
These are parties that opposed the Ba'athist government led by Saddam Hussein. Al-Maliki signed the papers hurrying the execution of the Iraqi leader on Dec. 30, 2006. At that time Saddam Hussein was a symbol of struggle for a significant section of the Iraqi resistance to the U.S.-led occupation.
During the electoral campaign, al-Maliki's government outlawed the candidacy of 454 people who were running for national office, claiming that these individuals were too close to the Ba'ath Party. Some 171 of these candidates appealed the decision disqualifying them. In February a panel of judges appointed for the purpose rejected the appeals of all but 26 candidates.
Following this decision barring the most secular of the candidates, the Iraqi National Movement coalition led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced it would temporarily suspend its campaign and demanded that the bans be reversed. On Feb 21, one of the parties in this coalition, the mostly Sunni National Dialog Front, announced that it would boycott the election.
There is still a chance the election will fall apart. Even if the vote takes place, as in Afghanistan, it will be a fraud having nothing to do with democracy. U.S. troops -- even if they are not engaged in daily battles in Iraq -- still remain the final arbiters of Iraqi politics.
Saturday, Zenit reported, "In a letter sent to the Iraqi prime minster, the patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church accused the authorities of complicity with the perpetrators of the massacre of Mosul Christians. His Beatitude Ignace Joseph III Younan, 65, sent the letter on Wednesday to Nouri al-Maliki, decrying the murder of Christians in Mosul, northern Iraq." Nouri's announced a 'probe.' He announces that every time, doesn't he? Have his probes ever turned up anything? Nope. Not a thing. Again Iraqi-Christians are being persecuted in Mosul and again they're having to flee because no protection is provided for them. Zenit has published the letter sent by Archbishop Ignace Joseph III Younan, "We are astonished at the reasons given by government employees and from their failure we can deduce that there is complicity in the process of emptying the city of Christians, who have lived there for centuries. We raise our voices and ask: If the security forces in Iraq have not been able to protect the innocent and vulnerable, why in the name of God aren't weapons given to the innocent so that they can defend themselves instead of letting them be taken to the slaughter like sheep?"
It is in that climate that Iraqi Christians decided to forgo mass on Sunday and march. Spero News quoted Archbishop Georges Casmoussa stating, "The march will take place in Mosul and in a dozen Christian towns and villages of the surrounding territory. The community is shocked and wants to draw the attention of the authorities who so far have done nothing to stop this killing. The march has no political or electoral motives, only religious ones. The Christians want to stay in Iraq and live their faith in peace." But some have begun to flee for their lives. BBC notes, "The UN says more than 680 Christian families have fled Mosul since the recent attacks." New Zealand's Herald News states that's 4098 people. Marches took place yesterday in Mosul and Baghdad. Al Jazeera reports:Holding olive branches and the national flag, demonstrators vented their anger on Sunday over the poor security afforded them in the wake of a series of killings.Shouting slogans such as "stop the killing of Christians", hundreds of demonstrators called on authorities to guarantee their protection as they marched round al-Ferdus Square in central Baghdad. Bishop Shlemon Warduni, the second most senior Chaldean bishop, also took part in the protest and called for more to be done to protect his community. "The government has done nothing so far," he said, demanding that the United Nations, United States and European Union "defend the rights of Christians in Mosul". Catholic Culture reports, "In Kirkuk, Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sake led another prayer rally, saying that Christians there would also be fasting" and quoted him stating, "It is shameful that in a city like Mosul, with a million people, no one has spoken out against the slaughter of Christians." The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued a [PDF format warning] four-page report entitled "Iraq Displacement in Mosul, Situation Report No. 1" which notes the 683 families who have fled Mosul between Feb. 20 and 27, and notes that 12 Iraqi Christians have been killed during this time period. (At least one other was wounded but survived a shooting.) The displaced have scattered but the largest number, 331 families, have settled for now in Qaraqosh.
Vatican Radio (link has text and audio) provided Pope Benedict XVI speaking Sunday at St. Peter's Square where he addressed the persecution in Mosul:
Pope Benedict XVI: I have learned with profound sadness of the tragic news of the recent killings of several Christians in the city of Mosul, and I follow with great concern other episodes of violence, perpetrated in the troubled land of Iraq against defenceless people of different religious affiliation. In these days of intense meditation, I often prayed for all victims of those attacks, and today I wish to join in the spirit to pray for peace and the restoration of security, promoted by the Council of Bishops of Nineveh. I am affectionately close to the Christian communities of the entire country. Never tire of being a leaven for good in the country in which you have fully belonged for centuries. In the delicate political phase that Iraq is going through I appeal to the civil authorities, to make every effort to restore security to the population and, in particular, the most vulnerable religious minorities. I hope the temptation is not given into temporary and partisan interests allowing them to prevail over the safety and fundamental rights of every citizen. Finally, while greeting the Iraqis here in the square, I urge the international community to strive to give the Iraqis a future of reconciliation and justice, as I invoke Almighty God with confidence for the precious gift of peace.
Nizar Latif (UAE's The National Newspaper) observes, "Promises from the government to hold an inquiry into the incident [specifically the slaughter of Aishwa Maroki and his two sons] have done little to soothe the anger felt by Iraq's Christians, who point out that the killers never seem to be brought to justice." Latif also notes, "Large numbers of Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan are Christians, Yezidis or Sabaeans. The United Nations in Syria lists more than 30,000 registered refugees from minority groups, most of whom fled from sectarian violence in Baghdad, Basra and Mosul." KRG President Barzani tells Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) of the persecution, "This also shows the incompetence of the local government in Mousl." Layla Anwar (An Arab Woman Blues) notes:FACT is Iraq's Christians have never experienced this violence before Christian America occupied us. I have already written about that extensively, just google my blog and you will see for yourself... FACT is that the targeting of Christians is a DELIBERATE policy by the sectarian Shiite puppet government installed by the USA in complicit agreement with the KURDS. And this is a continuation of the policy of ethnic cleansing leading to radical demographic changes. And that policy started with the ethnic and sectarian cleansing of Sunni ARABS. Every God fearing Muslim must , should condemn the targeting and killing of Iraq's Christian community. I know that the Association of Muslim Scholars AMSI has already issued a statement of condemnation to that effect. And just as true God fearing Christians stood by Iraq and her people, regardless of their religion and sect, it is incumbent upon every true God fearing Muslim to condemn LOUDLY the killing of Iraqi Christians. But not only them, every other minority whether they are Yazidis, Sabaeans- Mandaeans, Turkmen or any other,.. their killing should be condemned and STOPPED by any means necessary. All these communities are part of Iraq and Iraq is part of them since centuries...and by condemning this act, denouncing it and striving to STOP it, you are re-affirming the Mosaic of Iraq and its UNITY that no barbaric, godless occupation, be it American, Iranian or Israeli will manage to destroy.
In some of today's reported violence, Reuters notes 1 "member of the Kurdistan Islamic Group, a Kurdish election list," was shot dead outside his Tuz Khurmato home yesterday and that 4 Iraqi soldiers were wounded in a Mosul grenade attack yesterday.
Meanwhile the number of US service members who have died due to the Iraq War now stands at 4380. DoD issued the following late Friday: "The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. William C. Spencer, 40, of Tacoma, Wash., died Feb. 25 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained Feb. 20 while supporting combat operations at Combat Outpost Marez, Iraq. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment, Olympia, Wash. For more information, media may contact the Washington National Guard public affairs office at 253-512-8481." The Washington Governor's office issued the following:OLYMPIA -- Gov. Chris Gregoire today issued the following statement on the loss of Sergeant William Spencer of Tacoma, who died from non-combat related injuries while serving in Iraq:"I stand with all Washingtonians today as we mourn the loss of Sergeant William Spencer. Sergeant Spencer was a proud member of the 81st -- and chose to stay in Iraq with the Mississippi Army National Guard when his unit came home. He is a true hero who sacrificed his life to protect our freedoms, and provide a better life for those living in the Middle East."I extend my deepest condolences to Sergeant Spencer's friends, family and loved ones. My family will certainly keep them in our thoughts and prayers."
The month ended yesterday. Tolls are being issued. Thus far, 5 US service members have been announced dead for the month of February (many months end with late announcements made the first week of the next month). The Iraqi death toll? First, we'll recount the dead and wounded via Third Estate Sunday Review. From Third Feb. 7, 2010: "Sunday 2 people were reported dead and 14 wounded; Monday 57 were reported dead and 126 wounded; Tuesday 3 were reported dead and 12 wounded; Wednesday 27 were killed and 183 wounded; Thursday 4 were reported dead and 8 wounded and Friday 44 were reported dead and 161 wounded plus 1 person kidnapped; and Saturday 1 US contractor was reported kidnapped. That's 137 reported dead and 495 wounded." From Third on Feb. 14th, "Meanwhile, the violence continued in Iraq. Sunday 11 people was reported dead and 6 wounded; Monday 1 dead and 1 wounded; Tuesday 1 was reported dead and 6 wounded; Wednesday 4 dead and 19 wounded; Thursday 3 were reported dead and 7 wounded; Friday 18 dead and 40 wounded; and Saturday 2 were reported dead and 14 wounded for a total of 36 reported dead and 94 wounded." From Third Feb. 21st, "Sunday 8 people were reported dead and 10 were reported wounded; Monday 2 were reported dead and 4 were reported wounded; Tuesday 8 were reported dead and 16 reported wounded; Wednesday 3 were reported dead and 6 wounded; Thursday 13 were reported dead and 52 wounded; Friday 2 were reported dead and 1 wounded; and Saturday 6 were reported dead and 2 wounded. That adds up to 42 killed and 91 wounded -- reported killed and wounded, actual numbers are no doubt higher." From Third on Feb. 28th, "Sunday 9 Iraqis were reported dead and 20 were reported wounded, Monday 24 were reported dead and 16 injured, Tuesday 14 were reported dead and 9 wounded, Wednesday 1 judge was reported dead and 1 employee of the Independent High Electoral Commission was reported injured, Thursday 5 reported dead and 2 wounded, Friday 2 reported dead 12 reported wounded and Saturday 2 reported dead and 1 wounded. In total at least 57 reported deaths and 71 reported injured by Western media with many deaths and injuries going unreported." Those counts are short on McClatchy because McClatchy did not file a daily report in February. The totals are 272 dead and 751 injured. Xinhua (link has text and audio) reports that the Iraqi death toll climbed last month according to the Defense, Health and Interior Ministries with 352 people killed and 684 injured.
In financial and colonization news, last week, we noted BBC News reporting that the IMF will be 'loaning' $3.6 billion and "Analysts say the conditions attached to previous IMF loans have caused resentment among Iraqis as they have struggled to compete with neighbouring countries in trade." Now Reuters reports that Iraq will be receiving two $250 million loans from the World Bank -- which means Robert Zoellick's colonizing efforts continue. In other financial news, one country the US waged illegal war against teams up with another, Voice of Vietnam reports that Vietnam will sell "90,000 tonnes of five-percent broken rice to Iraq".
Want to end the wars? March 20th, marches in DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Students for a Democratic Society are an organization that will be participating and they note:
While the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan is growing ever larger, the occupation of Iraq is still raging, nearing its seventh anniversary. With over 4,300 US soldiers and over 1.3 million Iraqi civilians estimated dead, something has to be done to stop this senseless slaughter.
This year Students for a Democratic Society will hold a national week of action March 15th to 20th where students will organize protests and direct actions at campuses across the country in opposition to the ongoing, brutal occupations.
The need for a vibrant anti-war movement has rarely been felt more than this very moment, while the United States drops trillions of dollars into unjust wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, during the worst economic crisis in 80 years. Students are struggling to pay for school while tuition skyrockets, and states lose billions of dollars to two continuing occupations.
On Saturday, March 20th, SDS will participate in a massive National March & Rally in D.C. hosted by A.N.S.W.E.R. to finish the week of action with tens of thousands of people in the street!
We're calling on students and youth from across the country to join us the week of March 15-20th in demanding: Fund Education, Not Occupation!
For more information visit: http://sdsantiwar.wordpress.com/
Winding down, Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Barack Renews The Patriot Act" went up last night and Kat's "Kat's Korner: The ultimate torch singer Sade" went up Saturday and her "Kat's Korner: Joanna Newsom's triumph" went up Sunday. And Amped Status has been working on an ambitious series of reports and part-six is now up, "Part VI: How to Fight Back and Win: Common Ground Issues That Must Be Won - The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the USA". And click here to see the daily video from the DPC, today being Senator Dick Durbin weighing in on Republican filibustering on the extension of unemployment benefits.
iraq
al jazeera
inside iraq
jasim al-azzawi
the washington posternesto londonoleila fadel
miami heraldhannah allam
the los angeles timesliz sly
zenitspero news
bbc newscatholic news agencyal jazeera
layla anwar
the irish timesmichael jansen
workers worldjohn catalinotto
amped statusstudents for a democratic society
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