Bradley

Hump day.  Almost made it to the weekend.

Tonight, how about just focusing on Bradley Manning?






That's a video by Cass McCombs for his song "Bradley Manning."  Make a point to pass it around.




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

Wednesday, May 2, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, the targeted include a church, journalsits also remain targeted in 'liberated' and 'democratic' Iraq, State of Law suddenly finds that the Erbil Agreement is legal, NPR and PBS schill for the drone wars, and more.     Mosaic News (Link TV, link is text and video) picks up Al-Alam's report: "Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said that the deployment of US F-22 figher jets to the United Arab Emirates is 'a harmful move' that undermines the region's security.  The US said the deployment was a normal adjustment of US forces in the region, following their withdrawal from Iraq.  As part of its continuing efforts to dominate the Persian Gulf region, the US announced the deploymnet of F-22 fighter hets in the UAE.  US officials confirmed that the fighters were deployed in the UAE's al-Dhafra Air Based."  Meanwhile the Wilkes Journal-Patriot reports 181 members of the the National Guard's 875th Engineer Company will be deployed to Kuwait over the "summer for a nine-month assignment."     Today, Alsumaria reports the Christian Church Saint Khanana, in Dohuk Province, was vandelized and some items stolen.  This is the latest in a series of attacks on religious minorities in Iraq since the start of the Iraq War in 2003. Monday, Aid to the Church in Need reported, "Luis Sako, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, has joined with fifty representatives of Sunni Islam, Arab tribal leaders and local government representatives in speaking out against violence and terror.  On the Archbishop's initiative, they signed a document entitled 'Let us build bridges for peace', which was released on the 26.4.2012.  The signatories pledge to live together in peace in Kirkuk, which is an object of contention between Kurds and the central government in Baghdad.  In a meeting with the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Archbishop Sako explained his most recent action to promote on-going dialogue by saying, 'We Christians have a mission of peace and reconciliation that extends to all people, not just Christians'."     Last March, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released their 2012 Annual report [PDF format warning, click here] and Iraq made it (again) onto the list of "countries of particular concern. The section on Iraq opens with:   The Iraqi government continues to tolerate systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations.  In the past year, religious sites and worshippers were targeted in violent attacks, often with impunity, and businesses viewed as "un-Islamic" were vandalized.  The most deadly such attacks during this period were against Shi'a pilgrims.  While the Iraqi government has made welcome efforts to increase security, it continues to fall short in investigating attacks and bringing perpetrators to justice.  It also took actions against political rivals in late 2011 that escalated Sunni-Shi'a sectarian tensions.  Large percentages of the country's smallest religious minorities -- which include Chaldo-Assyrian and other Christians, Sabean Mandaeans, and Yazidis -- have fled the country in recent years, threatening these ancient communities' very existence in Iraq; the diminished numbers that remain face official discrimination, marginalization, and neglect, particularly in areas of northern Iraq over which the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) dispute control.  Religious freedom abuses of women and individuals who do not conform to strict interpretations of religious norms also remain a concern.   Along with attacks on pilgrims and churches, the report notes attacks on businesses operated by Christian and Yazidi persons such as "liquor stores, restaurants, and hair salones."  Violence and the targeting of religious minorities have caused many to leave.  The report notes:   Half or more of the pre-2003 Iraqi Christian community is believed to have left the country.   In 2003, there were to be 800,000 to 1.4 million Chaldean Catholics, Assyrian Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East members, Syriac Catholics and Orthodox, Armenian Catholics and Orthodox, Protestants, and Evengelicals in Iraq.  Today, community leaders estimate the number of Christians to be around 500,000.  Other communities also have experienced declines.  The Sabean Mandaeans report that almost 90 percent of their small community either has fled Iraq or has been killed, leaving some 3,500 to 5,000 Mandaeans in the country, as compared to 50,000 to 60,000 in 2003.  The Yazidi community reportedly now numbers approximately 500,000 down from about 700,000 in 2005.  The Baha'i faith, which is estimated to have only 2,000 adherents in Iraq, remains banned under a 1970 law, and Iraq's ancient and once large Jewish community now numbers fewer than 10, who essentially live in hiding.     Whether they leave their homes for other areas of Iraq or leaves their homes and leave Iraq, the targeting of religious minorities has added to the huge refugee problem that the Iraq War created.  The report notes that 1.5 million Iraqis remain internally displaced and that, of the population outside Iraq, Sunnis make up approximately 57% even though "they are approximately 35 percent of Iraq's total population."    Among the targeted groups have been women and those who are seen as 'different' for any number of reasons.  The report notes:   In the past year, human rights groups continued to express concern about violence against women and girls, including domestic violence and honor killings, throughout Iraq, including in the KRG region, as well as about pressure on women and secular Iraqis to comply with conservative Islamic norms, particularly relating to dress and public behavior.  In recent years, women and girls have suffered religiously-motivated violence and abuses, including killings, abductions, forced conversions, restrictions on movement, forced marriages, and other violence including rape.  Individuals considered to have violated extremists' interpretations of Islamic teachings, including politically-active females, have been targeted by Sunni and Shi'a extremists alike. In a positive development, the KRG region enacted a law in June making family violence a crime, subject to imprisonment and/or fines, and establishing a special court for such cases; the law's coverage includes abuse of women and children, female circumcision, forced or child marriage, nonconsensual divorce, the offering of women to settle family feuds, and female suicide if caused by a family member. In late February and early March 2012, reports emerged of numerous killings and threats targeting young people perceived as homosexual or who dressed in the so-called "emo" goth style, particularly in Baghdad.  The number killed reportedly ranged from six to more than 40.  Preceding the violence, the Iraqi Interior Ministry posted a statement on its Web site in mid-February that it was "launch[ing] a campaign to stem the 'Emo,'" whom it called "Satan worshippers," although after the killings were widely reported, the Ministry claimed that the statement was misunderstood.  Many obvservers attributed the attacks and threats to Shi'a militias. However, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani condemned the killings as terrorism and cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia was suspected in past attacks on homosexuals, denied involvement.  According to Iraq press reports, Al-Sadr called emo youth "unnatural" but said they should be dealt with through legal means. The U.S. embassy reportedly raised its concerns with the Iraqi government.   Good for the US Commission on International Religious Freedom for including the targeting of Iraqi youth.  That story was breaking when the report was being written and they still managed to include it -- putting it far, far ahead of the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy refusing to use the term "gay" when speaking to the Security Council to update them on Iraq.   On the religious minorities, Saturday, Jane Arraf (Al Jazeera) reported on the Yazidi New Year.   Jane Arraf: For the Yazidi, this is the start of year 6,762.  They come from  mountain villages, from towns and cities in Iraq, Syria and Turkey -- and from Europe -- to celebrate the New Year.  Yazidis believe in the same God as Muslims, Christians and Jews but they believe they were the first people God created.  Along with Babylonian rituals and elements of other religions, they worship the sun.    Yazidi woman: We light this rope to bring good.  And anyone who lights a flame here, goodness will come to him.   Jane Arraf: It's a closed religion and misunderstood.   Baba Sheikh Kerto Haji Ismael: Twenty years ago, there were no satellite channels and no mixing with other people.  That's why people can have some suspicion about others. Since the Yazidis were a small religious minority, that's why they face misunderstandings.  Now things are more clear.   Jane Arraf:  Images like this [a snake stretched across the outside wall of a temple] are part of the reason other Iraqis are suspicious of the Yazidi.  A snake is believe to have saved the prophet Noah.  Inside this cave is a sacred spring. Nearby is the tomb of  Shayk Adi [ibn Musafir al-Umawi] a 12th century Suffi saint who reformed the Yazidi religion.  As dusk approaches, they light the flames that are a central part of their faith.  This isn't just the New Year, they believe it marks the creation of the world including the four elements.  For Yazidis, the most important of those is fire.  On New Year's Day, the Yazidi faithful -- along with Kuridsh Muslim and Christian leaders -- pay their respects to the Prince of the Yazidis [Mir Tahsin Ali].  Like the Kurds, the Yazidi were pressured to declare themselves Arab under Saddam Hussein.  150 of their villages were taken.  In the last 30 years, up to half the Yazidi community has left for Europe where there are fears the religion won't survive.      Prince Mir Tahsin Ali: The older people won't leave the religion but we fear for the new generation when the sons and daughters go to new European schools, our customs will become different.    Jane Arraf:  By most estimates, there are fewer than a million Yazidi in the world.  It's a small religion, sturggling to survive in a modern world while keeping ancient traditions alive.  Jane Araff, Lalish, northern Iraq.       Turning to violence, Alsumaria notes a former military colonel was attacked in Mosul and shot dead and that a staffer in Ayad Allawi's office was assassinated -- stabbed today while he was near the National Accord Movement headquarters.  (Another source tells Alsumaria the staffer was shot dead.)   AFP states it was a stabbing and identifies the staffer as Latif Ramadan Jassim.  And Alsumaria notes TV reporter Rashid Majid Hamid was injured by a sticky bombing of his car in Baghdad.    Hurriyet Daily News observes, "From Somalia to Syria, the Philippines to Mexico, and Iraq to Pakistan, journalists are being targeted for death in record numbers, and in brutal ways. In fact, this year is shaping up to be the most lethal for journalists since the International Press Institute (IPI) began keeping count 15 years ago."   The attack on the journalist comes as a new report on the attack on journalism in Iraq is released.  The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory has released the report covering the last twelve months and they've found an increase in violence and restrictions and attempted restrictions on journalists.   They note an American journalist was arrested and helf for five days without any legal justification while Iraqi journalists were detained in various ways and also attacked and kidnapped by armed groups.   At least 3 journalists were killed in the 12 months and at least 31 were beaten  -- usually by military and security forces who were sometimes in civilian clothes.  65 journalists were arrested. It's a very bleak picture.  In addition there are various bills proposed that supposedly 'protect' journalists but actually erode the rights of journalists.  The Ministry of the Interior's spokesperson Adnan al-Asadi declared that journalism can be "a threat to domestic security" and that journalsits shouldn't report on any arrests or killings without the express permission of the Ministry of the Interior.  (Clearly, Retuers must agree with that policy since they abolished their daily Factbox that used to cover violence in Iraq.) The three journalists who died in the 12 months were:  Hadi al-Mahdi who was killed by a gunshot to the head while in his Baghdad home, Kameran Salah al-Din who was killed by a sticky bomb attached to his car (in Tikrit) and Salim Alwan who was killed by a bombing in Diwaniya.  AFP notes the report states.  "JFO has documented a noticeable increase in the rate of violence against journalists/media workers and restrictions imposed on their work."Multiple bills are being introduced by the government, which threaten to severely limit freedom of the press, general freedom of expression and Internet use."   Freedom of expression in journalism doesn't mean creative fiction.  In the US where journalists are supposed to have the right to practice their trade without restrictions, some self-censor and some just tell outright lies.  V. Noah Gimbel (Foriegn Policy In Focus) notes how the Newseum willfully distorts reality and insults a journalist who died covering the Iraq War in the process:     I was looking for updates on the case of slain Spanish cameraman José Couso, murdered by U.S. troops in Baghdad in 2003 as part of a coordinated attack on the independent media, when I came upon a so-called memorial to Couso on the Newseum's webpage. I wrote a comprehensive piece on the Couso case last year, and a follow-up piece when the indictments against the soldiers responsible were re-issued last fall. Far from memorializing Couso, the Newseum article repeats de-bunked falsehoods that even the army had backtracked on in 2003.     Gimbel goes on to explain how the Newseum distorts Couso's death.     Moving on to the political crisis, we'll return to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom's 2012 Annual report [PDF format warning, click here] to get another perspective on the political crisis:       As reflected in pervious USCIRF reports, in past years many serious sectarian abuses were attributed to actors from the Shi'a-dominated Ministries of Interior and Defense and armed Shi'a groups with ties to the Iraqi government or elements within it.  Since 2007, such sectarian violence has diminished markedly.  Nevertheless, sectarianism within the government remains a concern.  For example, there continue to be reports of torture and other abuses, some allegedly along sectarian lines, in detention facilities, including secret prisons run by the Prime Minister's special counterterrorism forces.  The Shi'a-led government's slow pace of integrating Sunni Sons of Iraq members into the security forces or government jobs, as well as its attempts to bar certain politicians, mostly Sunnis, from participation in the political process for alleged Baathist ties, also have caused tensions.  According to nationwide polling conducted in Iraq in October 2011, 75% of Sunnis feel that their sect is treated unfairly by the government and 60% feel their sect is treated unfairly by society. Sunni-Shi'a political tensions escalated in 2011.  Throughout the year, the Prime Minister failed to implement aspects of the November 2010 power-sharing agreement that finally allowed a government to be formed after the March 2010 elections, including by continuing to run both the Defense and Interior Ministries and taking no steps to create the new national strategic council that was supposed to be led by his main rival, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi of the Iraqiya bloc.  (Iraqiya is a cross-sectarian bloc supported by many Sunnis, which won two more parliamentary seats than al-Maliki's bloc in the 2010 election.) In the fall, the government arrested hundreds of individuals, including many prominent Sunnis, for alleged Baathism, prompting the provincial governments of several Sunni or mixed governorates to attempt to seek greater autonomy from Baghdad.  In December, just after the last U.S. troops left the country, the Prime Minister announced an arrest warrant for the Sunni Vice President, Tariq al-Hashimi, for alleged terrorism, and sought a no-confidence vote against the Sunni Deputy Prime Minsiter, Saleh al-Mutlaq, both of the Iraqiya bloc.  The government also arrested members of al-Hashimi's staff.  Al-Hashimi, who denied the charges and called them politically movtivated, left Baghdad for the KRG region, and Iraqiya began a boycott of parliament and the cabinet.  Meanwhile, terrorist groups exacerbated the situation, perpetrating multiple mass-casualty attacks against mainly Shi'a targets in December and January, including the attacks against Shi'a pilgrims and the Shi'a funeral procession referenced above.  As of February 29, 2012, al-Hashimi was still in Erbil, al-Mutlaq remained in his position, Iraqiya had returned to parliament and the cabinet, and negotiations to convene a conference of all the political blocs to resolve the crisis were ongoing.     In April, Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi began a tour of the region, visiting Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.  He remains in Turkey.  The kangaroo court in Baghdad plans to begin the trial against him tomorrow.  Sinem Cengiz (Sunday Zaman) reports that even if Nouri filed a formal request for Turkey to hand al-Hashemi over, they would refuse: "The legal obligations of Turkey stemming from being a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) prohibit it from handing any person over to another country if the suspect will likely be executed."   Meanwhile Al Mada reports Nouri's State of Law is suddenly insisting that the Erbil Agreement was not illegal.  Nouri used the agreement to get a second term as prime minister and then he trashed it refusing to honor the promises he'd made to get his second term.  Since trashing it, Nouri and his flunkies have tried to insist the the Erbil Agreement was unconstitutiona.  It wasn't.  Extra-constitutional is not unconstitutional.  But if you argue that it's illegal, then you're arguing that Nouri's second term is illegal.  That might be behind their change of heart.  Or they might be worried about Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's call for the agreement to be published and the public reaction to the publication.   Certainly, State of Law calling it illegal and then it being published would leave many Iraqis wondering why State of Law agreed to it if it was illegal.  Regardless of the reason, State of Law has changed their position on the Erbil Agreement today.   One of the consistent demands has been that the Erbil Agreement needs to be honored.  That demand has come from the Kurds, from Iraqiya and from Moqtada al-Sadr among others.  By insisting that the Erbil Agreement is legal, State of Law may be attempting to encourage a leap, encourage people to conclude that since State of Law no longer disputes the legality of the agreement, they must be on the verge of implementing it.  That would be a big leap to make but -- especially under pressure from the US government -- political blocs have made other large leaps that have benefitted Nouri.  Should a consensus build that State of Law saying the Erbil Agreement is legal means Nouri is about to implement it, pressure to hold a national conference could vanish and that might be the goal here.   Since December 21st, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi have been calling for a national conference to resolve the political crisis.  Nouri has repeatedly stalled and thrown up road blocks over who would attend and even what they should call the meet-up.  As March drew to a close, Talabani announced that the national conference would be held April 5th; however, that meet up ended up being called off less than 24 hours before it was to be held.  Alsumaria notes Iraqiya says the issues of Saleh al-Mutlaq and Tareq al-Hashemi must be on the agenda for the national conference.      In the US, Senator Patty Murray is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Committee which notes an upcoming hearing:   Committee on Veterans' Affairs United States Senate 112th Congress, Second Session Hearing Schedule Update: May 2, 2012   Wednesday, May 16, 2012 10:00 am Senate Hart Office Building Room 216   Hearing: Seamless Transition: Review of the Integrated Disability Evaluation System   Matthew T. Lawrence Chief Clerk/ System Administrator Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs 202-224-9126     Also in the US, public broadcasting sells the drone wars.  Monday Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser John Brenna gave a speech endorsing the drone wars and insisting that they were legal.  CODEPINK's Medea Benjamin was present at the speech and she explains at ZNet:   I had just co-organized a Drone Summit over the weekend, where Pakistani lawyer Shahzad Akbar told us heart-wrenching stories about the hundreds of innocent victims of our drone attacks. We saw horrific photos of people whose bodies were blown apart by Hellfire missiles, with only a hand or a slab of flesh remaining. We saw poor children on the receiving end of our attacks—maimed for life, with no legs, no eyes, no future. And for all these innocents, there was no apology, no compensation, not even an acknowledgement of their losses. Nothing.   The U.S. government refuses to disclose who has been killed, for what reason, and with what collateral consequences. It deems the entire world a war zone, where it can operate at will, beyond the confines of international law.   So there I was at the Wilson Center, listening to Brennan describe our policies as ethical, "wise," and in compliance with international law. He spoke as if the only people we kill with our drone strikes are militants bent on killing Americans. "It is unfortunate that to save innocent lives we are sometimes obliged to take lives – the lives of terrorists who seek to murder our fellow citizens." The only mention of taking innocent lives referred to Al Qaeda. "Al Qaeda's killing of innocent civilians, mostly Muslim men, women and children, has badly tarnished its image and appeal in the eyes of Muslims around the world." This is true, but the same must be said of U.S. policies that fuel anti-American sentiments in the eyes of Muslims around the world.   So I stood up and in a calm voice, spoke out.   "Excuse me, Mr. Brennan, will you speak out about the innocents killed by the United States in our drone strikes? What about the hundreds of innocent people we are killing with drone strikes in the Philippines, in Yemen, in Somalia? I speak out on behalf of those innocent victims. They deserve an apology from you, Mr. Brennan. How many people are you willing to sacrifice? Why are you lying to the American people and not saying how many innocents have been killed?"       And she was handcuffed and removed from the hall for speaking unpleasant realities.  They at least had the good sense not to have her arrested.  Public broadcasting, which has a mandate to present a diversity of views, thought the best way to handle the drone war -- that they've long been selling -- was to present only one view: The government's.  Welcome to the USSA.  As Mike noted in "PBS promotes the drone war," Judy Woodruff covered the drone war Monday night on The NewsHour (PBS) by . . . speaking to John Brennan.  And?  That's it.  Just one view point, just the government.  Stalin couldn't have dreamt of a more compliant media.  And Ann pointed out in "NPR sells the drone war (2 men, 2 women)"  that yesterday on Talk of the Nation (NPR), Neal Conan decided the best way to address the issue was to just play a part of Brennan's speech.  Remember that NPR and PBS feel the best way to get an informed public is to give them only one side of an issue.  Remember it when they beg for your money.  Remember when lipsing Ira Glass tells you how sorely your money is needed.  It's not.  Let the White House pay for the coverage they get.  If public broadcasting is just a megaphone of the White House, let them pony up the dollars.  It's not like NPR uses the money for anything worthwhile, I mean, they've never sent Ira Glass to a speech therapist despite his sorely needing one.           iraq al jazeera jane arraf alsumaria al rafidayn dar addustour pbs the newshour judy woodruff npr talk of the nation codepink medea benjamin

PBS promotes the drone war

Tuesday.  Yesterday PBS enlisted in the drone war by bringing on US government scum, s**t you wipe off your shoes, John Brennan to insist the drone war was legal.

No other views were permitted and Judy Woodruff knew nothing about the topic as evidenced by her refusal to push back on his claims.

It wasn't reporting, it was pure propaganda.   I was too tired to write about that last night but Ann was ticked off by something similar and is blogging about it today so I thought I'd toss that out there.   Be sure to read Ann tonight.

Nikita quickly.  It airs on the CW.  Friday nights.

On the latest episode, they were trying to cut off Percy's funding and using the bank accounts that Percy gave Alex access to back when he was a prisoner at Division.

So they needed to find out where they were and how much.  So Alex went into the bank as herself and Michael and Nikita came in as bank robbers, that gave Alex time to search the bank's computer and to attach a flash drive to it.  They got their info.

Now they needed to meet with the guy representing Percy's funds.  They needed money for that.  Berkoff (computer guy) has 20 million.  What?  He stole that over the years.  So they need to use that Nikita insists.  He finally gives.

They lose the money because Percy orders a strike on the man while they're their.  Nikita gets shot (she's fine) and Berkoff's furious about many things including losing 20 mil.  He storms off with his laptop, goes into a coffee shop and begins to steal money online only to have the police surround the coffee shop and arrest him.

While Alex and Michael try to get money back -- there are three trucks leaving -- one has the money, Nikita rescues Berkoff.  The two make up and all is fine for them after a big gun battle with Division.  But Alex and Michael aren't successful in getting back the money. 


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

Tuesday, May 1, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, talk of Iraq splitting into three regions, whispers of Iran's control of Iraq, Kuwait wants Iraq to pay a bill in full, the western press embarrasses itself again on the monthly count, Barack 'proudly' sneaks into Afghanistan, a US veteran wrongly fired wins in court, and more.

 

 

Starting in the US with a jury verdict.  Levi Pulkkinen (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) reports a federal Jury in Seattle has returned a verdict "late Monday" which found Catholic Community Services wrongly terminated Grace Campbell's employment upon learning that the Washington National Guard sergeant had been ordered to deploy to Iraq.  It is against the law to fire someone because they are being deployed or will be deployed.  The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act is among the legislation that forbids this.  However, at a February 2nd House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee hearing, many witnesses and House members seemed unaware of this fact.  There was talk of the need for a law.  No, there is only the need for education of that law and enforcing that law is the quickest way in the world to educate employers about it.  They start having to pay hefty fines, they'll suddenly learn that law.

 

Gordon Thomas Honeywell LLP represented Grace Campbell and they've released the following statement:

 

A federal jury today in Seattle awarded $485,000 to Washington National Guard Sergeant Grace Campbell and found that her employer had engaged in willful discrimination and harassment based on her military service. In 2008, Sergeant Campbell's civilian employer Catholic Community Services fired her from her position of ten years when it learned that she was set to deploy for active service in Iraq. After her termination, Sergeant Campbell served in Iraq from October 2008 to August 2009, returning home to the Everett area without civilian work.

Catholic Community Services' hostile treatment of Campbell began in 2006 after she returned from active duty at the U.S. Mexican border. During Campbell's activation, her position with CCS was left unstaffed. Campbell's manager and her co-workers resented Campbell's absence and the increased workload. Upon her return, Campbell's manager and co-workers began a systematic campaign of harassment and discrimination that included threats by Campbell's manager to fire Campbell if it was learned that she had volunteered for duty.

Campbell complained repeatedly to multiple levels of management at Catholic Community Services about the discrimination, but it continued unchecked. In an effort to find relief, Campbell made a complaint to the Employer Support for Guard and Reserve (ESGR), the Department of Defense national committee tasked with providing support to the Guard and Reserve in their civilian employment. In December of 2006, a retired Naval Reserve Commander with ESGR met with Campbell's managers in an attempt to resolve the problems Campbell was facing at work. Despite ESGR's involvement, the hostile treatment of Campbell continued on into 2007 and 2008.

In February 2008, Campbell told CCS co-workers that she was preparing to deploy to Iraq later that year with the Washington National Guard 81st Brigade. On March 20, 2008, Catholic Community Services fired Campbell.

Campbell's attorneys James W. Beck and Andrea H. McNeely, Partners at Gordon Thomas Honeywell, are pleased with the verdict. "This was a situation which never should have occurred," said Beck. "Sergeant Campbell told her employer about the ongoing discrimination on at least three occasions, but there was never any formal investigation or decisive action to stop the treatment." The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act ("USERRA") prohibits harassment, discrimination, and retaliation against Guard members related to their service. "This is a vindication of the rights of Grace Campbell and those like her who make sacrifices in their civilian lives to serve their country," said McNeely. "Moreover," said Beck, "when the time came at trial for CCS to produce a key document that it claimed was central to its reason for terminating Campbell, the company had destroyed the document." After a two year job search, Campbell is now employed as a receptionist with the Department of Social and Health Services in Seattle.

 

 

What happened is not an isolated incident, it's happened across the country and unless businesses realize it's much smarter to settle out of court, look for more reports on jury verdicts against companies who have illegaly fired people because they were deployed or were going to be deployed.  Again, firing someone for a military deployment is against federal law.

 

Elsewhere, Kuwait wants justice as well.  The Kuwait Times reports, "Kuwait yesterday 'stressed need' for Ira'qs continuing regular deposits in the UN war compensation fund in line with relevant international resolutions.  Kuwait stressed the need for continuation of reuglar deposits in the Compensation Fund, as provided for in UN Security Council Resolution 1956 (2010), of five percent of the proceeds from all export sales of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas of Iraq . . ."  This position was made clear by Khaled al-Mudhaf who addressed the Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission yesterday.  al-Mudhaf chairs the Public Ahtority for Assessment of Compensations for Damages Resulting from the Iraqi Agression.  (Kuwait also has a successful international race car driver by that name and a World Champion Trap Shooter by that name -- the latter of which competed in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.)  The amount still owed, according to al-Mudhaf's statements, is $16 billion. 

 

The remarks are not just a call for billions to be paid, they're also a bit of realtiy for Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister and chief thug of Iraq.  In the lead up to the March 27th Arab League Summit in March, Nouri made efforts to establish ties to Kuwait and Kuwait ended up standing by Nouri at the Summit, the only major country that did.  Over half the heads of state of Arab countries refused to attend with some, like Qatar, making a public statement that this was an intentional boycott.  But Nouri had Kuwait and some Arab officials whispered to the press that Kuwait was prostituting itself.  If that were true, it would appear that Kuwait has now made clear to Nouri the bill for a paid escort.  If the whisper was a slur against the reputation of Kuwait, then Nouri's still learned that all his visits and public woo-ing didn't mean a thing.  This also hurts  

 

Last week, the UN News Center noted:

 

26 April 2012 –

The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), which settles the damage claims of those who suffered losses due to Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, today made a total of $1.02 billion available to six successful claimants.

The latest round of payments brings the total amount of compensation disbursed by the Commission to $36.4 billion for more than 1.5 million successful claims of individuals, corporations, Governments and international organizations, according to a UNCC news release.

Successful claims are paid with funds drawn from the UN Compensation Fund, which is funded by a percentage of the proceeds generated by the export sales of Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products.

The Geneva-based UNCC's Governing Council has identified six categories of claims: four are for individuals' claims, one for corporations and one for governments and international organizations, which also includes claims for environmental damage.

The Commission was established in 1991 as a subsidiary organ of the UN Security Council. It has received nearly three million claims, including from close to 100 governments for themselves, their nationals or their corporations.

 

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey (Pravda) weighs in calling international compensation a "joke" and insisting that Iraq has been treated unfairly due to the fact that there's "no mention of cross-drilling of oil, tapping into Iraqi fields, there has been no mention of compensation payable to Iraq, and other countries, for the invasion by NATO countries."   On the topic of big money, AFP runs today with the report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction's report that US taxpayer dollars may have gone to Iraqi insurgents, resistance, al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, etc.  This is the topic Eli Lake (Daily Beast) was reporting on yesterday, "A 2012 audit conducted by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) and released to the public on Monday found that 76 percent of the battalion commanders surveyed believed at least some of the CERP funds had been lost to fraud and corruption."

 

Yesterday,  the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction released April 2012: Quarterly Report To Congress. As the report notes, the US State Dept is spending $500 million of US taxpayer dollars on training the Iraqi police for the 2012 Fiscal Year.  Let's talk about that training:

 

 

AFP reports they're on a US military base being retrained.  BBC reports: "A programme has been under way for more than a month for comprehensive assessment and re-training of all national police unites -- a process called by the Americans 'transofrmational training.'"  James Hider (Times of London) reports that since 2004, "US forces have been re-training the Iraqi police, but the programme has had little impact" and that a "survivor of Monday's mass kidnapping . . . described how half a dozen vehicles, with official security forces markings on them, pulled up and men in military fatigues rounded up all the Sunnis in the shops."

 

That's not today.  That's from the October 4, 2006 snapshot. Let's drop back to February 8th:

 

We covered the November 30th House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the MiddleEast and South Asia in the December 1st snapshot and noted that Ranking Member Gary Ackerman had several questions. He declared, "Number one, does the government of Iraq -- whose personnel we intend to train -- support the [police training] program?  Interviews with senior Iaqi officials by the Special Inspector General show utter didain for the program.  When the Iraqis sugest that we take our money and do things instead that are good for the United States. I think that might be a clue."  The State Dept's Brooke Darby faced that Subcommittee. Ranking Member Gary Ackerman noted that the US had already spent 8 years training the Iraq police force and wanted Darby to answer as to whether it would take another 8 years before that training was complete?  Her reply was, "I'm not prepared to put a time limit on it."  She could and did talk up Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Interior Adnan al-Asadi as a great friend to the US government.  But Ackerman and Subcommittee Chair Steve Chabot had already noted Adnan al-Asadi, but not by name.  That's the Iraqi official, for example, Ackerman was referring to who made the suggestion "that we take our money and do things instead that are good for the United States."  He made that remark to SIGIR Stuart Bowen.

Brooke Darby noted that he didn't deny that comment or retract it; however, she had spoken with him and he felt US trainers and training from the US was needed.  The big question was never asked in the hearing: If the US government wants to know about this $500 million it is about to spend covering the 2012 training of the Ministry of the Interior's police, why are they talking to the Deputy Minister?

After 8 years of spending US tax payer dollars on this program and on the verge of spending $500 million, why is the US not talking to the person in charge ofthe Interior Ministry?

Because Nouri never named a nominee to head it so Parliament had no one to vote on.  Nouri refused to name someone to head the US ministry but the administration thinks it's okay to use $500 million of US tax payer dollars to train people with a ministry that has no head?

 

 

There's no mention in the report that the Iraqi government is matching that $500 million with $500 million of their own.  That may be one of those facts we have to wait to find out about "later this year," to quote another section of the report.  Going through "Iraqi Funding" notes many efforts but not on police.  And yet last December 7th, Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconsturction, specifically raised that required matching fund when he appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform's Nationl Security Subcommittee.

 

US House Rep Raul Labrador: So what other problems have you found with the police development program, if any?

 

 

SIGIR Stuart Bowen: Several.  Well, Mr. Labrador, we pointed out in our audit that, one Iraqi buy-in, something that the Congress requires from Iraq, by law, that is a contribution of 50% to such programs,has not been secured -- in writing, in fact, or by any other means. That's of great concern.  Especially for a Ministry that has a budget of over $6 billion, a government that just approved, notionally, a hundred billion dollar budget for next year.  It's not Afghanistan.  This is a country that has signficant wealth, should be able to contribute but has not been forced to do so, in a program as crucial as this.

 

 

To be clear, this isn't optional.  To be even more clear, the White House should never have committed $500 million without Iraq having met the matching fund requirement -- required by Congress. 

 

Where is the oversight?

 

It's not coming from the press.

 

Eager to flaunt both ignorance and incompetence Kareem Raheem, Aseel Kami and Angus MacSwan (Reuters) and AFP ran with the 'official' figures provided by the Iraqi government for deaths due to violence in the month of April.  The death toll is 126.  That's based on figures from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior.

 

That's what the incompetent wire services told us.  They forgot to tell you that the Ministry of Defense has no minister -- Nouri never nominated anyone so he could illegaly take charge of it -- and the that Ministry of the Interior has no minister -- for the same reason. 

 

And the Minister of Health?

 

This may be the worst demonstration of press whoring in Iraq currently.  Salih Mahdi Motalab al-Hasanawi held that post in Nouri's first term and holds it in the second term and is falsely described as "a Shi'ite Muslim, but independent of any political party."  That's not how you describe him -- though the press does and he does on his Facebook page.  Reality: In 2009, he joined what political slate?  State of Law.  Nouri's State of Law.  He's not independent.  He may not be a member of a political party (Nouri's political party is Dawa) but he chose to join -- in September of 2009 -- Nouri's State of Law.  He belongs to a political slate, he is not independent.

 

So Nouri's flunkies issue some figures and whores in the press who don't have the self-respect or training to do what a reporter does runs with those awful lies.  They make no effort to provide alternate counts or any context at all.  They simply take dictation and say, 'This is what offiicals say.'  It's whoring, it's not reporting.

 

The IBC count is 290 for the month of April. (Click here for screen snap.)  Iraq Body Count tracks reported deaths in the press and notes that their count is not a complete count.  Once upon a time, the press was happy to provide the IBC count, now they just whore.

 

Like most whores when busted, they have an excuse of how they weren't really whoring, you understand.  And AFP and Reuters would insist that these are official figures from a government.  Official figures, yes.  But ones that are known to be false.

 

Not just known because I say so (and have said so for months and years) but because what got released yesterday.  Let's return to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction released April 2012: Quarterly Report To Congress. For the non-reading and apparently illiterates working for wire services, we'll even provide the page number: Page 3.  Here it is:

 

Record Low Casualty Figures for March.

The GOI [Government of Iraq] reported that 112 Iraqis -- 78 civilians and 34 ISF personnel -- died as a result of violent attacks in March 2012, the lowest monthly death toll reported by the GOI since the U.S.-led invasion nine years ago.  For the quater, the GOI reported that 413 Iraqis died in violent incidents, with 151 deaths in January and 150 in February.  However, according to data collected by the UN, 1,048 Iraqis died this quarter, more than twice the total provided by the GOI.

 

And, AFP and Reuters, that report?  It also references the Iraq Body Count.  It's a shame that the press is too lazy to do the job they're paid for.  And, yes, I realize the press in Iraq is scared.  Another story you refuse to report on, by the way.  That's why the Los Angeles Times runs stories from Iraq with no byline and has for months since Ned Parker left.  But no one's supposed to talk about that either.  The fact that those working for western outlets are scared to death to tell the truth about Iraq for fear of retaliation is a secret we're all supposed to keep.  I believe the saying is: Secrets keep us sick.  They certainly do no favors to the alleged profession of journalism. And they distort the reality of Iraq which provides even more cover for a petty tyrant like Nouri al-Maliki.

 

Today's violence?  Alsumaria reports that a Mosul car bombing left sixteen people injured while an attack on a Mosul checkpoint killed 1 security officer, 1 Yezidi died in Mosul (possibly a suicide), 1 corpse was discovered on the side of the raod outside Baghdad and the body of Ahmed Ajeel Aftan was found shot dead and tossed to the side of the road over 30 miles outside of Hillah.

 

Turning to the political crisis Nouri al-Maliki has created in Iraq.  Peter Galbraith is a US diplomat.  When needed, we've called him out here.  I've known Peter for years and that didn't cut him any slack here.  We're not rehashing that past, we're focusing on his political insights which I have never had cause to question.  Galbraith speaks to Rudaw about the ongoing crisis:

 

Rudaw: Right now, Iraq is in political turmoil and most parties accuse PM Nuri al-Maliki of violating the constitution. Do you think he has violated the constitution? 

 

 

Peter Galbraith: Clearly, he is not following the constitution. He is not respecting Kurdistan's rights, including those over natural resources, and he has not held the constitutionally required referendum on Kirkuk and other disputed areas.

 

 

Rudaw: Kurdish leaders blame Maliki for not sharing power and consolidating all of it in his own hands. Do you think those accusations are correct?

 

 

Peter Galbraith: Yes. They are correct.

 

 

Rudaw: Barzani says that Maliki is only killing time and doesn't want to solve important issues such as Article 140 regarding the disputed territories and the oil and gas issue. He also says that if the situation continues like this, he will let the people of Kurdistan decide their own future through a referendum.  Does the Iraqi constitution give the Kurds the right to separate from Iraq?

 

 

Peter Galbraith: The Kurds agreed to stay in Iraq on the basis of the constitution in its entirety. If the Baghdad government does not keep its part of the bargain, then the basis for Kurdistan's continued membership in Iraq no longer exists. 

 

 

The political crisis has deep roots.  It's best explained in Marina Ottaway and Danial Kaysi's [PDF format warning] "The State Of Iraq"  (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace):

Within days of the official ceremonies marking the end of the U.S. mission in Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki moved to indict Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on terrorism charges and sought to remove Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq from his position, triggering a major political crisis that fully revealed Iraq as an unstable, undemocractic country governed by raw competition for power and barely affected by institutional arrangements.  Large-scale violence immediately flared up again, with a series of terrorist attacks against mostly Shi'i targets reminiscent of the worst days of 2006.

But there is more to the crisis than an escalation of violence.  The tenuous political agreement among parties and factions reached at the end of 2010 has collapsed.  The government of national unity has stopped functioning, and provinces that want to become regions with autonomous power comparable to Kurdistan's are putting increasing pressure on the central government.  Unless a new political agreement is reached soon, Iraq may plunge into civil war or split apart. 

 

 

Kurdish MP Mahmoud Othman Tweeted the following today:

After the meetings in #Erbil a date must be set for the general meeting in #Baghdad to try to settle the problems as per the constitution.


Over the weekend, there was a big meet-up in Erbil attended by many -- Nouri al-Maliki was not invited.  Hurriyet Daily News observes:

 

A statement issued after the meeting in Arbil said the leaders "stressed the need for finding ways to dismantle the crisis, the continuation of which puts the supreme national interests in danger." They also discussed "ways to strengthen the democratic process." The talks were hosted by Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and included Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, as well as former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and hard-line cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, both Shiites. Parliamentary Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, also took part.

 

 

 Al Mada notes that Moqtada is denying that he was pressured in 2010 to throw his support behind Nouri al-Maliki.  There is some blame being tossed Moqtada's way for his support of Nouri and he was asked about this issue in his online column where he plays Dear Abby to his followers.  Again, he denied there was any pressure.  (He was pressured by Tehran.)   On the subject of Iran, Heather Robinson (The Algemeiner) reports form Iraqi MP Mithal al-Alusi is calling Iraq a client state of Iran ("tool of Iran") and Robinson's article covers a wide range of topics including:

 

In February, he told this reporter that Iraq's Central Bank was processing hundreds of millions of dollars a day more than usual, and that, according to sources within the bank, Iran's agents were behind this financial maneuvering. He also said that, according to sources within the Iraqi intelligence community, the same individuals who were  "buying hundreds of millions of dollars in cash" from Iraq's Central Bank were arranging for these dollars to be carried from Iraq into Syria, and then transported to Iran in order to skirt the U.S.-led sanctions.

"We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in cash going in to Syria–in suitcases–and then it goes to Iran," he said at the time.

In early April, it was reported that the Central Bank of Iraq had tightened its clampdown on its sales of dollars -- due to concerns that buyers were using them to launder money and circumvent U.S.-led sanctions against Iran and Syria.

Last week Alusi provided more examples of what he characterized as large-scale Iranian interference in Iraq that he believes are intended to pave the way for Iranian domination of the Mideast.

 

 

Iran may or may not dominate Iraq but it's not going to be able to dominate the MidEast.  The Arab states would never allow that to happen.  Iraq truly is Iran's best shot at domination.  While the Iraqi people -- regardless of sect -- are not keen to be controlled by Iran, the US or any other country, the loyalities of many officials and rulers to Iraq  have long been in question -- Nouri's loyalties have probably been the most questioned -- even more so than Ahmed Chalabi's. 

 

 

 

While US efforts (largely led by Vice President Joe Biden) and UN efforts (largely led by the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy Martin Kobler), they haven't been the only ones.  There's Tehran, of course.  Other players also include England.  The Kurdish Globe reports:



Britain's Ambassador to Iraq on Friday concluded a one-week visit to the Kurdistan Region by meetingwith President Masoud Barzani and Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani. He visited all three of the Region's governorates, meeting students, officials and civil society representatives.
Ambassador Michael Aron met with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials and visited all three provinces of the Kurdistan Region to discuss the ongoing political crisis in Iraq as well as recent developments inthe Middle East as a whole. He also explored how to further develop the already strong links between the United Kingdom and the Kurdistan Region.


At Saturday's meet-up it was decided that the Erbil Agreement must be implemented (Nouri used the agreement to become prime minister and then trashed it).  In addition, Moqtada pushed his 18 point plan.  Al Mada reports that State of Law is insisting that the 18-point plan is an accordance with the National Alliance .  The Iraqi Communist Party's newspaper reports that the Erbil meeting found Moqtada completely rejecting the notion of withdrawing confidence from Nouri.  A no-confidence vote would mean a new prime minister could be voted on by the Parliament.  What comes next in Iraq is not known but Ipek Yezdani (Hurriyet Daily News) has a provocative article which includes:

 

"Almost all the political figures in the region assume that Iraq will be divided into three in the end. The crucial thing is this division should not lead to a civil and sectarian war in Iraq," Rebwar Kerim Wali told the Hürriyet Daily News in a recent interview.
Leaders from almost all of Iraq's top political blocs will convene at a unity meeting in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdish region, on May 7, in order to find a solution to the political crisis between the Shiite-led government and the country's Sunnis and Kurds.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will probably not attend the unity meeting, Wali also a managing editor of Rudaw, the first international newspaper of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said. "KRG leader Barzani; Moqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite leader of the Iraqi National Alliance; Iyad Allawi, the leader of the Al Iraqiyya group, and Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi are all expected to attend the meeting. They will be seeking a solution to the current crisis in order to prevent any ethnic and sectarian conflict in Iraq as well as searching for alternatives to al-Maliki's rule."

 

 

Meanwhile in what may be a minor effort at reconciliation, Al Mada reports Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law is saying they can resolve the issue of Saleh al-Mutlaq.

In the middle of December, Nouri al-Maliki met with US President Barack Obama in DC.  Upon returning home he began targeting polical rivals in Iraqiya.  (Iraqiya came in first in the 2010 Parliamentary elections besting Nouri's State of Law.)  Nouri demanded that Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi be arrested on charges of terrorism and that Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq be stripped of his post.

State of Law is stating currently that the issue of al-Multaq can be resolved by the political blocs.  It's very minor in terms of reconciliation.  Very minor.  Inconsequential.

Nouri's been calling for al-Mutlaq to be stripped of his post since December.  Nouri can flap his wings and crow all he wants, the only one a Cabinet member can be removed from their post is a vote by the Parliament.  Nouri's stomped his feet for months now and al-Mutlaq's still Deputy Prime Minister.  The Constitution explains the issue is resolved by the Parliament.  So State of Law offers that political blocs can resolve this issue?  They're actually still refusing to follow the Constitution.

That needs to be pointed out.

You want to remove a member of the Cabinet?  The Iraqi Constitution explains how that's done.  If you can't get enough votes for that, the person remains a member of the Cabinet.  Nouri knows that.  It's why he refused to nominate ministers to head the security ministries.  If there was a Minister of Interior, Nouri might not be able to control the ministry because the minister wouldn't fear losing their job.  

 

As for Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, a trial against him is scheduled to begin Thursday.  He will remain in Turkey having already noted that the Baghdad judiciary is not independent.  That judiciary also demonstrated that they refuse to follow the Constitution and that they pre-judged him as guilty before any hearing took place. Today Alsumaria reports Iraiqya noted that the trial is a violation of both the law and the Constitution for many reasons, chief among them that the Vice President still holds his post and cannot be put on trial unless Parliament dismisses him. 

 

Around the world today, May Day was celebrated.  That includes in Iraq and AFP has ten photos of May Day actions in Iraq here.  US political prisoner Lynne Stewart (Black Agenda Report) explains:

 

May Day, a celebration of the Worker and May Day, a commemoration of the Immigrant migration has now become a single holiday -- and how appropriate that is !! The massive immigrant influx of the late 19 century was primarily a new supply of workers for the unending appetite of capitalism. Cheap Labor. Europe had become a dead end -- wars, a class and land system that allowed no upward mobility and less and less opportunity for their children to learn or be somebody. My own Swedish great grandparents came over as indentured workers--having to pay for their passage by the sweat of their (yes, women too) brows doing farm labor for two years. This is a story that had been repeated through all the waves of immigrants -- Italian, Greek, Slavic, Eastern European, Asian (Chinese, Filipino), Caribbean and now Latin American and African. What has shifted is the structure that now has the United States as the Great Imperialist, first ravaging their homes militarily and economically and then casting large numbers of newly created displaced people adrift on the economic seas. As one Jamaican friend and immigrant once said to me "Why shouldn't we come here? You have everything stolen from us !!"

 

 

Cindy Sheehan issues her May Day call, Noam Chomsky writes about it here and Jerry Elmer (Dissident Voice) explores the history of the day here.

 

 

The US hasn't left Iraq though US President Barack Obama claims otherwise.  Today he made  a speech on Afghanistan that was supposed to be a triumph because he was in Afghanistan (click here for PRI's report from The World) but a triumph doesn't include sneaking into a country like a thief in the night.  Emma Graham-Harrison and Paul Harris (Guardian) report:

 

 

Addressing the viewing public back home, and opening himself up to Republican criticisms of electioneering, Obama said that America's war aims of destroying al-Qaida in Afghanistan were nearly achieved. "The goal that I set – to defeat al-Qaida and deny it a base to rebuild – is now within reach," he said from Bagram airbase near the country's capital Kabul.

Framing more than a decade of conflict as being in its final stages, Obama added: "We can see the light of a new day on the horizon … This time of war began in Afghanistan and this is where it will end. With faith in each other and eyes fixed on the future."

 

 

Wrong.  The US military may kind-of leave another country that they never should have been sent to.  There is no victory to claim only the proof that illegal wars bring shame on all involved.  There will be no real withdrawal, there will be no real control for the Afghans of their own country.   Barack will spin and lie and try to pretend honor's been brought to America but shame can never be disguised as honor -- no matter how you spin it. Gary Younge (Guardian) observes:

 

This week, the White House will celebrate the anniversary of the assassination of Osama bin Laden as though it were the crowning achievement of its foreign policy. On Wednesday, Obama will hold a rare televised interview in the situation room to discuss the raid in Abbottabad. His campaign has released of a web video in which Bill Clinton says President Obama "took the harder and the more honorable path, and the one that produced, in my opinion, the best result". The video then asks, "Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?"

The man who entered the White House with the message of "hope" and "change" wants to hold on to it with a record of "shoot to kill".

 

bin Laden's death actually hurt the United States in ways that few ever want to talk about.  Are we a nation of laws?  Then we conduct ourselves as such.  Barack Obama acted like the lawless Al Capone when he sent forces in to kill bin Laden (and terrorize family members).  The same forces could have captured him and he could have been put on trial.  That is what you do in a nation of laws.  (This is not a slam on those who were given the mission.  They followed the orders they were given and executed them remarkably well.  This is a slam on the orders Barack gave.)  As the US gets further and further from democracy, as rule of law means less and less, Barack wants to crow about an 'achievement' that was nothing but spitting on law and liberty.  That's not to be applauded.  If you think someone is guilty -- and, clearly, millions around the world believed bin Laden was guilty -- you put them before a court.  The US once prided itself on being about the rule of law (that may have been an illusion, others can debate that) but under Barack Obama, what's been exposed is that Bully Boy Bush and those eight awful years weren't an errant strain but instead the emerging character of the United States government.  That's not a democracy.  And it's nothing to take pride in.  May Day is today but US democracy is crying "Mayday! Mayday!"  It's sending a distress signal -- one that few want to hear.

 

 

 

iraq
the daily beast
eli lake

reuters

kareem raheem

aseel kami

angus macswan

iraq body count

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marina ottaway
danial kaysi

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the kurdish globe

hurriyet daily news

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the world

Fringe

Monday, Monday.  Here's Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Celebrity In Chief"




Okay, Julius made a lengthy e-mail plea asking me to at least write about Fringe through the end of the season (it got another year so it will be back in the fall).  So this is the Fringe not from Friday but two Fridays ago.

In this episode they wasted our time by going 30 or so years into the future.

The Watchers or Observers?  Who are always around?  They're from the future.  They've destroyed their own world and use time travel to take over this one.  Broyles is still around and looks awful.  But Walter and "the Fringe Team" were put into amber.

There's a young blond woman and, if you haven't guessed, yes, at the end we learn she is Peter's daughter -- presumably with Olivia.

So the Waters can read minds.  Peter's daughter has the talent to avoid that.  She can put up inncoent thoughts in her head and they can't see beyond them.

She probably got that power from Olivia.


So they have Walter when someone finds him and they manage to get him out of Amber and he has brain issues, his brain's nearly gone.  So they go to Massive Dynamic and grab the part of Walter's brain he had Billy remove.  They add that and then he's fine but I think he's also off due to the way that makes him act. 

The young blond woman knows that now they can defeat the Observers.  They manage to take a variety of people out of Amber.  I have no idea if Olivia is one of them.   But we know Astrid's free and Peter.  Instead of setting Billy (Leonard Nimoy) free, Walter cuts off his hand.  Astrid is alarmed by that (as she should be) but no one else seems to notice that Walter is different. 

So that's pretty much the episode.

Third?  Dallas and the following worked on the edition:


The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

Here's what we came up with:

• Truest statement of the week
• Truest statement of the week II
• A note to our readers
• Editorial: Barack's Iraq problem
• TV: Factual distortions only 'honor' lying
• Who's ripping off veterans?
• How the Democratic Party* Helped Mitt Romney
• Election 2012: The Battle Ground States
• He's not a celebrity?
• Jill Stein would pardon Bradley Manning
• Corporations causing wildlife abnormalities (WW)
• Highlights

And that's it for me. Sorry, I'm tired.


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

Monday, April 30, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, the SIGIR releases a major report on Iraq, Tareq al-Hashemi's now being charged with the murder of six judges (among 300 charges against him), Saturday saw a big meet-up in Erbil that Nouri wasn't invited to, Bradley Manning's semi-secret trial gets some media attention, and more.

 

Starting in the US with Bradley Manning.  Monday April 5, 2010, WikiLeaks released US military video of a July 12, 2007 assault in Iraq. 12 people were killed in the assault including two Reuters journalists Namie Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh. Monday June 7, 2010, the US military announced that they had arrested Bradley Manning and he stood accused of being the leaker of the video. Leila Fadel (Washington Post) reported in August 2010 that Manning had been charged -- "two charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The first encompasses four counts of violating Army regulations by transferring classified information to his personal computer between November and May and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system. The second comprises eight counts of violating federal laws governing the handling of classified information." In March, 2011, David S. Cloud (Los Angeles Times) reported that the military has added 22 additional counts to the charges including one that could be seen as "aiding the enemy" which could result in the death penalty if convicted. The Article 32 hearing took place in December.  At the start of this year, there was an Article 32 hearing and, February 3rd, it was announced that the government would be moving forward with a court-martial.  Since then the court-martial has been scheduled to begin September 21st.  Recent weeks have seen a flurry of pre-court-martial hearings.

 

On this week's Law and Disorder Radio -- a weekly hour long program that airs Monday mornings at 9:00 a.m. EST on WBAI and around the country throughout the week, hosted by attorneys Heidi Boghosian, Michael S. Smith and Michael Ratner (Center for Constitutional Rights), topics explored include Bradley Manning. 

 

Heidi Boghosian:   We continue our updates on the Bradley Manning trial.  Senior staff attorney Shane Kadidal from the Center for Constitutional Rights recently returned from one of the hearings in Fort Meade, Maryland.  Welcome, Shane to Law & Disorder.

 

Shane Kadidal: Thanks for having me, Michael.

 

Michael Smith:  You know, Heidi and I, were down at the Mumia demonstration in Washington, DC yesterday.   We took the train down from New York.  We're sitting on the train, passing the Fort Meade exit on the train, you were sitting in that courtroom, in that semi-secret trial of Bradley Manning.  And we thought about, 'Well we'll get to talk to you today about what's going on in that semi-secret trial? And what do you think's at stake?

 

Heidi Boghosian: [laughing]  Are you allowed to talk about this, Shane?

 

Shane Kadidal: [Laughing.]  We are. It was funny sitting there to contrast, for instance, to Guantanamo occasionally classified hearings and every word of what's said in there is presumed classified until you get told otherwise.  It wasn't like that, but it was odd in other ways.

 

Michael Smith: Well it's odd because it's not like you can't say what you want to say but because  you don't have access to the court pleadings, you don't have access to the off-the-record discussions with the judge, you don't have access to court orders so a lot of this trial is a secret trial which I always thought to be against the First Amendment of the Constitution.

 

Shane Kadidal:  Right. It's interesting to note two things about that.  You know, first of all, people think about this First Amendment right to access to judicial proceedings being about basic Democratic values.  It's good to have government in the sunshine just as a philosophical principle.  But that's not what the Supreme Court says about it.  What they said about that very clearly in a number of cases in the late seventies and the early eighties, you know, openness actually helps the truth finding function of trials.  It gives a disincentive to witnesses to commit perjury.  It lets new witnesses come out of the woodwork and so forth.  By having the factual basis for legal ruling sort of exposed to the light of day and having the legal arguments exposed as well, it means that the court is less likely to make mistakes.  And that makes a difference when it comes down to accuracy.  And you can imagine how this might play out in a case like Manning's where an awful lot is riding, for instance, on the testimony of a supposedly quite drugged out and unreliable informer whose name actually happens to be redacted from the few public documents that we do have.  So that's one point, that openness helps the accuracy of judicial proceedings -- and it's especially important in cases like this.  The other is sort of a meta-point about media coverage.  While I was down there, there were only about two or three reporters that came out of the media room  during the breaks and sort of milled about and talked to us which I think was a little bit shocking giving the significance of this case.  You know, supposedly the largest set of leaks in American history, a set of leaks where the documents dominated news coverage globally for a good year-and-a-half.  And yet there are only two or three reporters there.  And I think it shows that when the government manages to choke off the flow of interesting detail about a case by redacting it out of documents or not releasing documents or holding proceedings off the public record, that is almost more effective at diminishing press coverage of an issue than completely barring the press from the courtroom as happens in classified hearings.  Because completely barring the press piques the press interest but simply blacking out all the colorful detail or the stuff that kind of makes a story interesting just results in boring coverage and eventually people sort of give up.  And I think that might be what's happening here.

 

Heidi Boghosian:  Well, Shane, since the media wasn't there, can you give us a sort of nutshell version of what happened?

 

 

Shane Kadidal:  You know, at the Tuesday hearing which I was at, one of the first issues up actually was around our letter to the court -- CCR's letter demanding that the court release its own orders including the protective order that governs what can be sealed off from public access and what can be released and what should be redacted.  So the court's own orders, then all the government's motions and the government's responses to the defense's motions.  And then a third subject which is an awful lot of the argument happens in what are called 802 conferences where the parties can agree to discuss anything in chambers and the public never has any sense of the legal arguments that are made or the conclusions that happen which is kind of different from a lot of public access issues because it means both parties can collude to keep something out of the public sight.  A little different from the usual situation where it's usually the government trying to keep something out.

 

Michael Smith.  Especially in a shocking case like this with, for example, one of the things that Manning was allegedly accused of releasing was a 39 minute video called The Collateral Murder Video where you've got US soldiers in a helicopter murdering two Reuters journalists and then seriously injuring two children.  It's all on video.  It's a War Crime.  They're trying to cover this up in this semi-secret trial. It's really shocking.  I remember the famous Judge Damon Keith saying, "Democracy dies behind closed doors."  So what do you think your chances are of prying open those doors?

 

Shane Kadidal: Well I think maybe on appeal they'll be good.  But what we learned on Tuesday was that this judge [Col Denise Lind] doesn't really want to hear it.  So the first thing she said was, 'You know, the Center of Constitutional Rights has sent a lawyer down here and asked for permission to address the court and asked for all this release including making all of these documents public and that motion which is essentially a motion to intervene -- is denied.

 

Michael Smith:  Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press which I think is 45  press organizations did the same thing which is the same thing you guys did at the CCR

 

Shane Kadidal:  Right.  They wrote some letters as well.  And, you know, the letters kind of the court had disappeared into a black hole so we sent a second letter to the defense council so that he could kind of read it out in open court.  The judge revealed yesterday that she had, in fact, received both letters, which I guess was good news.  But the bottom line is this allows to go up the chain to the two courts of appeals in the military system  that stand above this judge and demand that we get immediate public access to these documents. And it was a First Amendment case so I was very clear that being deprived of public access to judicial proceedings even for a short period of time is irreparable injury and that kind of principle goes back to the Pentagon Papers case really.

 

Heidi Boghosian: What did Michael Ratner say in his piece last week in the Guardian?

 

Shane Kadidal:  A terrific piece which is worth reading.  But, you know, a couple of things. First that Manning's revelations including that the Collateral Murder video you know really were made in the face of military lies about what had actually happened.  You know, the military's initial response was that there was no question that that gunfight involved a hostile force when it turned out that two children and a bunch of journalists were among the people who were shot.  But I think that the bigger picture, I think it's ironic that the government's heavy handed approach -- as Michael said in his piece -- really only serves to emphasize the motivations for whistle blowing of the sort that Bradley Manning is now accused of. It's this kind of blanket approach on the part of the government to secrecy that forces people to reveal things by going outside the letter of the law.

 

Michael Smith: Shane Kadidal, who is the senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights has been down at Fort Meade, Maryland on behalf of the center at the Bradley Manning trial.  We'll keep checking in on you, Shane.  Good luck with your appeal.

 

Ann Wright spent most of her life in government service.  In the army, she rose to the rank of Colonel.  In 1987, she went to work for the US State Dept and she continued serving there until her March 19, 2003 resignation, the day before the Iraq War started and she resigned in protest of that war.  At The Daily Progress, Wright pens an article on Bradley:

 

I recently inadvertently and fortuitously ended up at a meeting with a U.S. State Department-sponsored group of young professionals from the Middle East who were brought to the United States to learn more about our country. I mentioned that I was attending the hearings for the alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning.

The reaction of the group was stunning. Immediately hands for questions went up. The questions began with a comment: Without WikiLeaks, I would never have learned what my own governments was doing, its complicity in secret prisons and torture, in extraordinary rendition, in cooperation in the U.S. wars in the region. WikiLeaks exposed what our politicians and elected officials are doing. Without WikiLeaks, we would never have known!

And that is what Bradley Manning's trial is all about and what the charges against six other government employees who face espionage allegations for providing information the government classified to protect its own wrongdoings -- to silence other potential government whistleblowers.

 

 

Today the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction released April 2012: Quarterly Report To Congress. From the introduction of the report, we'll note this:

 

As of April 3, 2012, DoS reported that 12,755 personnel supported the U.S. Mission in Iraq, down about 8% from the previous quarter.  Current staffing comprises 1,369 civilian government  employees and 11,386 contractors.  In February, Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides said that DoS will continue to reduce the number of contractors over the coming months in an attempt to "right size" Embassy operations.

As currently constituted, the U.S. reconstruction programd evotes the preponderance of its financial resources to providing equipment, services, and advice to the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).  The Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq (OSC-I) manages U.S. security assistance to the Government of Iraq (GOI), OSC-I is staffed by 145 U.S. military personnel, 9 Department of Defense (DoD) civilians, and 4,912 contractors.  DoS's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) administers the Police Development Program (PDP) whose 86 advisors mentor senior police officials at the Ministry of Interior (MOI).

 

Eli Lake (Daily Beast) notes, "A 2012 audit conducted by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) and released to the public on Monday found that 76 percent of the battalion commanders surveyed believed at least some of the CERP funds had been lost to fraud and corruption." There's so much in the report.  We'll note more of it tomorrow.  Right now we'll note page 59 demonstrates how the US government repeatedly subsidizes the weapons industry.  The US government thinks Iraq needs weapons.  For some reason -- despite having billions in oil money -- the US government seems to feel they need to 'assist' -- provide US government welfare -- to weapon makers.  So $2.54 billion will be spent, by the US government, on weapons for the government of Iraq.  Some of the sales are pending and the US tab right now is 'only' $968.4 million.  It's really something to read the report and find that, among other US agencies, Homeland Security remains in Iraq.  Remember, there was a drawdown, there was no withdrawal.

 

 

 

 G.W. Schulz (Center For Investigative Reporting) reports, "California continues to lead the nation in fatal sacrifices made to the conflicts, according to an analysis of the most recent Defense Department data available. The figures, which include both hostile and non-hostile casualties, cover three major operations across the two wars: Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn."

 

Turning to Iraq, Alsumaria reports a Baghdad roadside bombing has left 6 people dead and a Ministry of Health official's wife and 3 children were killed when unknown assailants slit their throats.  Al Rafidayn says the wife and children were killed by blunt objects.

Over the weekend, a major meet-up took place in Erbil.  Before we get to that, let's recap the political crisis.  Only instead of me doing it, let's refer to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction released April 2012: Quarterly Report To Congress.  And, please note, the Erbil Agreement is in November 2010 -- not December.  It's implemented in November. It's briefly implemented.  (Refer to the November 11, 2010 snapshot about Parliament meeting finally and the agreement that allowed it to.)

 

 Along with the serious threat posed by terrorism, an array of interlocking governance and economic issues endanger the health of the Iraqi state.  Foremost among them is the lack of reconciliation among the many political blocs, which stems from disputes over the March 2010 Council of Representatives (CoR) election and its unsettled aftermath.  The so-called "Erbil Agreement," reached in December 2010, ostensibly crafted a road map for resolving these disputes, though the map has not been followed.  Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki thus sits atop a fractious coalition government wracked by internecine rivalries. 

Last December's events, including the Prime Minister's attempt to oust Deputy Prime Minister Salih al-Mutlaq and the Higher Judicial Council's (HJC) issuance of a warrant for the arrest of Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, continued to cause turmoil this quarter.  Al-Mutlaq did not attend Council of Ministers (CoM) meetings (and called the Prime Minister a "dictoator"), while al-Hashimi remained outside the effective jurisdiction of the HJC, primarily in the Kurdistan Region.  Al-Mutlaq and and al-Hashimi are both Sunni members of the al-Iraqiya political bloc, a heterogeneous union of political parties dominated by Sunni interests.  In early April, efforts by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and CoR Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi to convene a national reconciliation conference to address the issues dividing the government foundered, and the April 5 meeting was abruptly canceled.  The disputing factions have yet to agree on a new date.

Vice President al-Hashimi's decision to seek refuge in the Kurdistan Region aggravated an increasinly troubled relationship between the GOI and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).  This dispute was also worsened by ExxonMobil's decision to pursue contracts with the KRG, despite GOI threats to exclude the company from further operations under its contract for work in southern provinces.  The GOI appears to have sidestepped the issue for the moment, announcing that ExxonMboil had "frozen" its dealings with the KRG.  But the relationship between the centeral government in Baghdad and the KRG remains tense with the flames recently fanned by the KRG's April 1 shutdown of all oil exports leaving its territory in retaliation for the GOI allegedly withholding about $1.5 billion from the KRG.

Iraq's political strife continued in mid-April with the arrest on the corruption charges of Faraj al-Haidari, the head of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).  Al-Haidari, who previously clashed with the Prime Minister after the 2010 CoR elections, stands accused of improperly using state funds.  Members of al-Iraqiya, the Kurdistan Alliance, and the Sadrist Trend immediately questioned the arrest.  The IHEC is responsible for administering Iraqi elections, including the upcoming provincial elections in 2013 and CoR elections in 2004.

 

 

Saturday, Al Mada reported on that day's big political meet-up in Erbil.  Among those attending were Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, KRG President Massoud Barzani, Ayad Allawi (head of Iraqiya) and Speaker of Parliamen Osama al-Najaifi.  Alsumaria reported on the meet-up and publishes a photo of the meet-up -- Moqtada al-Sadr is seated between Talabani and Allawi.  The consensus was that there must be a national partnership and that the Erbil Agreement must be implemented.

This wasn't at all surprising.  They and others have been calling for the Erbil Agreement to be implemented for months and months. Nouri al-Maliki is the one who agreed to the agreement and then trashed it when he got what he wanted out of it.

Lara Jakes (AP) called the meet-up a "mini summit" and feels that the participation of a wide range of groups -- including Shi'ites -- "underscored the growing impatience with the Shiite prime minister." Dar Addustour quoted from a press release noting the Erbil Agreement and the power-sharing and that the participants stress the need for things to be done logically (that may be "scientifically," I think it's logically), fairly and that the needs of the Iraqi people are paramount, they must be served and there should be no disruption of services.

The paper also notes that Ammar al-Hakim (head of the Islamic Supreme Countil of Iraq) was not present.  And it notes various reasons for that.  One common trait is he was not invited.  Why he was not invited is in dispute.  One explanation is that al-Hakim is seen as too close to Nouri, another given is that his stand is known and that those present were calling for possible solutions and debating their potential. 

Alsumaria noted that there's also a call to implement Moqtada's 18 points.  That's apparently on the same level of importance as returning to the Erbil Agreement.  Moqtada's 18 points were presented Thursday in Erbil.  There's been talk of them in the press; however, there's not any publication of the 18 points themselves.  They have been said to support the Erbil Agreement, they're supposed to guarantee judicial independence and be good for Iraqis but that's from statements made on Moqtada's behalf and not from anyone working with the 18 points.  Here's AP reporting on the 18 points on Thursday:


On Thursday, Moqtada Al Sadr offered an 18-point plan to solve the Iraq crisis, mostly through dialogue and political inclusiveness. The plan calls for having good relations with neighbouring nations, but to not let them meddle in Iraq's affairs. That appeared to be a reference to Iran, which is close to Nouri Al Maliki's Shiite-dominated government.
In a nod to Kurdish President Masoud Barzani, Al Sadr said Iraq's oil must be used for the benefit of Iraq's people, "and no individual has the right to control it without participation from others".

Al Rafidayn noted that the Saturday meeting was closed-door and took place at the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. That's the political party Talabani heads. They also note that the meeting lasted three hours.  Also Al Rafidayn notes that Ibrahim al-Jaafari (leader of the National Alliance) declared Friday that Iraq needs to hold a national conference and needs to do so next month, the first week.  The previous deadline Nouri was working with came from Massoud Barzani.  The KRG will hold provincial elections in September and Barzani's made clear that if the political crisis isn't solved by then the issue of what the KRG does next can go on the ballot.  al-Jaafari just moved the deadline up and moved it up signficantly.

Like Ayad Allawi, Ibrahim al-Jaafari has held the post Nouri al-Maliki currently does, prime minister of Iraq.  In fact, Ibrahim was the choice of Iraqi MPs in 2005 and 2006.  The US refused to allow al-Jaafari to be named prime minister again and insisted that their pet Nouri be named.

 

 

Today's big news was  Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi.  The political crisis was already well in effect when December 2011 rolled around.  The press rarely gets that fact correct.  When December 2011 rolls around you see Iraqiya announce a  boycott of the council and the Parliament, that's in the December 16th snapshot and again in a December 17th entry .  Tareq al-Hashemi is a member of Iraqiya but he's not in the news at that point.  Later, we'll learn that Nouri -- just returned from DC where he met with Barack Obama -- has ordered tanks to surround the homes of high ranking members of Iraqiya.  December 18th is when al-Hashemi and Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq are pulled from a Baghdad flight to the KRG but then allowed to reboard the plane. December 19th is when the arrest warrant is issued for Tareq al-Hashemi by Nouri al-Maliki who claims the vice president is a 'terrorist.' .

al-Hashemi was already in the KRG when the arrest warrant was issued.  He did not "flee" there.  He remained there with the approval of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and KRG President Massoud Barzani until April when he left the country on a diplomatic mission. Nouri and his flunkies insisted that Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey hand him over.  None did.  They also insisted that INTERPOL arrest him when he was in each of the three countries.  INTERPOL cannot take part in political arrests, it's against their charter.  They have to look impartial, per charter.

Alsumaria notes that May 3rd is when the Baghdad court intends to officially try al-Hashemi.  "Officially"?  Baghdad judges held a press conference in Februrary insisting al-Hashemi was guilty of the charges.  Having insisted that publicly -- in violation of the Iraqi Constitution -- they now want to have a trial?  The Baghdad courts are controlled by Nouri and a joke.  Al Rafidayn notes that al-Hashemi is still in Turkey and that the trial will take place in absentia.   Alsumaria reports that al-Hashemi and his bodyguards are now also charged with the murders of 6 judges.  Still having not learned what a joke they are on the national stage, the Baghdad judges sent their spokesperson Abdelsatter Bayraqdar out to make a statement about how "confessions were obtained on them, including the assassination of six judges, mostly from Baghdad."  The judicail system is corrupt and ignorant in Iraq.  They have confused the role of the judge with the prosecution and their actions betray their country's Constitution.  They should all be immediately removed from office.  They won't be, but they should be.


Al Sabaah notes that there are 300 charges in all, according to the spokesperson, and that there will be 73 defendants on trial and, in addition to being accused of murdering judges, al-Hashemi and his bodyguards are also being accused of mudering military officers.   Dar Addustour reports rumors that al-Hashemi will be stripped of his office prior to the start of the trial.

 

 

 

 

iraq
wbai
law and disorder radio
michael s. smith
heidi boghosian
michael ratner

 ann wright

al mada

the associated press

lara jakes

dar addustour

al rafidayn

alsumaria