I told Mike I was tired and not sure I had much to blog on tonight. He kindly offered to let me do what Elaine usually does, they're "blog twins" going through the headlines of Democracy Now! and picking out headlines to discuss. I really appretiate that (thank you, Mike). By the way, this is Betty, filling in for Rebecca.
Dozens Dead in Iraq Violence
Dozens of people are dead following a wave of attacks targeting Shiite and Sunni areas of Baghdad. On Sunday, at least forty-two people were killed when masked gunmen attacked a Sunni neighborhood. Within hours, at least nineteen people were killed and fifty-nine wounded when two car bombs hit a Shiite mosque in northern Baghdad.
Okay, let's dive into this. In March 2003, the three year mark of the illegal war passed. 2544 American troops have died. How many more have to die? I look at my three kids, two boys and a girl, and I'm thinking are they going to be serving in the Bully Boy's illegal war of choice? When does this war end?
We're there because of lies. That's important and shouldn't be forgotten but exactly why are we still there? I know Rebecca has a lot of young readers and I want to say to you guys, I know you're opposed to the war, but do you think about that? That this war may go on and on? Some of you are in high school and some are in junior high? Are our elected leaders and our mainstream press so pig-headed and stubborn that they don't even blink at the figure 2544 and are willing to add more to that count year after year?
And if you're one of Rebecca's older readers and you have kids, are you willing to let your kids go to Iraq and die because Bully Boy lied the nation into war?
I read this site and I know people like Goldie and her mother are active. I'm not trying to say that you all do not do your part because I know you do. I know you will continue to do your part and more. But what I'm talking about isn't activism here. That's really important. I go to rallies (with my kids), I phone my representatives offices, I talk about the war to my friends and my family and I did the fast on the Fourth of July. That's all important and, like you, I'm willing to do more.
But what I'm talking about here is, where exactly do the "brilliant minds" supporting this war think the end is?
Things haven't gotten better in Iraq.
There is no end for the war. Either the administration is planning to stay in Iraq forever or they are insane and can't grasp that the US presence only increases the violence.
Either way, that's bad news for you and me, for the children, for everyon. And I'm just focusing on Americans here. I'll talk about Iraqis on the next headline.
But it's not just that the administration and most Republicans in Congress are willing to let this war drag on forever, it's also that most Democrats in Congress won't oppose the war.
In 2008, if we get a Democrat for president and he or she is sworn in January 2009, do you think the troops are coming home?
If you're in high school or junior high, that may seem like a long way away, but it's less than three years and when only twelve Democratic senators (and one independent) can call for withdrawal in a year's time, how is that party going to find the guts to pull the plug on the illegal war?
They're not.
In 2009, if the Democrats win the presidency and have continued being so cowardly, they won't pull out the troops because they'll be afraid that they'll be called "cut and run" so they'll make some prolonged exit plan that lasts three or four years. Let's say after the Democratic president is sworn in, they go with a three year option, okay? That's 2012.
That's nine years.
This was was sold on lies and marketed with spin like "cakewalk." Nine years.
Unless Congress starts being responsive, we could be looking at nine years or more.
Probe: Senior Officers Negligent Over Haditha Killings
Meanwhile, a high-ranking military probe has concluded senior Marine officers were negligent in investigating last year’s massacre of twenty-four Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha. The investigator, Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, says the officers failed to question inaccurate and misleading information when it was first reported to them. Chiarelli has recommended unspecified disciplinary action. If charged, the Marine officers would be among the most senior US military officials to be brought to justice since the start of the Iraq war.
Does that help win "hearts and minds"? It doesn't. If you follow C.I.'s "Iraq snapshots" each day, you know things are better. You know things are worse for Iraqis. Corspes popping up all over, day after day, with signs of torture, bombs going off, people being kidnapped, drive-bys, gunned down.
Things get progressively worse for them. Would you believe, if you were them, that the US was ever leaving? With Abu Ghraib, Haditha, murders at check points (including the pregnant woman on her way to the hospital to give birth), and now rape, would you trust them?
And those are only the events that are publicly reported.
When Dahr Jamail says that these publicized crimes aren't uncommon, well he's been on the ground in Iraq. He communicates with Iraqis, people like you or me, not elected people (or 'elected' people). He knows what Iraqis are thinking and feeling about the ongoing occupation and about the occupiers.
People are dying . . . It's hot here. It's summer, it's hot. But in Iraq, it's a bit hotter. And the electricty goes in and out. People sleep on the roofs to get out of the heat and then a plane comes over and bombs. This happened just this weekend (again) with people being reported dead as a result.
What do you think about that? You're a kid and you lost your sister or your brother or your mother or your father or two of them, or three, or whatever combination. There's no, "Oh, that's okay. I love the American forces."
You see them and you see someone who killed a member of your family.
It's past time for Iraqis to be allowed to determine their course. The US needs to leave. Iraq needs to create their own laws (not be stuck with those "Bremer laws" that turn their country into a neocon experiment factory).
Even on a good day, if you're an Iraqi, you can't forget that your country isn't your country because Iraqis aren't in charge. Iraq is occupied and, even on a good day, that's not going to make things better or go over well. In polls of Iraqis, they repeatedly state that they want US forces to withdraw. Do we think they don't know what's right for their country?
It's their country. Until it is turned over to them, they will continue to resist the occuyping power.
I'll close out tonight with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Violence and chaos continue.
Bombings, shootings, corpses, kidnappings -- characteristics of daily life in Iraq -- continue while the miliary releases the name of the five US troops charged this weekend in the Mahmoudiya incident and Iraq attempts to overturn the immunity law that exempts suspects from being charged in and by Iraq (foreign troops and contractors).
Bombings.
The AFP notes that a car bomb in Baghdad killed at least ten and left at least fifty-one wounded. The Associated Press notes that this car bomb happened "near a repair shop on the edge of . . . Sadr City". Al Jazeera notes the second bombing which occurred "outside a restaurant near the central bank in central Baghdad" resulting in at least six dead and at least 28 wounded. A third bomb, roadside, resulted in the wounding of five police officers according to Reuters.
Also in Baghdad, CBS and AP note that a bus was "ambushed" with the seven people on it killed (six passengers and the driver) and the bus set on fire.
As Brian Edwards-Tiekert noted today on KPFA's The Morning Show, "violence came despite a security crackdown in the capital raising new questions about the effectiveness of the police and Iraqi army."
Outside of Baghdad, Al Jazeera notes a roadside bomb in Hillah killed one police officer and wounded four while, in Kirkuk, "a sucide truck bomb struck an office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan" leaving five dead and twelve wounded. Reuters reports a roadside bomb in Yusifya that took the life of one person and left two more wounded; and a car bomb in Baquba that left eleven wounded. CBS and the AP note a bomb in Mahmoudiya that left ten wounded and a car bomb in Ramadi that wounded four US troops.
Shootings?
The BBC notes that Adnan Iskandar al-Mahdawi ("member of the provincial council in Diyala province") is dead as a result of a drive-by. CBS and AP report that, in Baghdad, a doctor was "forced . . . out of his car . . . and killed in front of his family."
Reuters notes two attacks in Baghdad -- one which left three police officers dead and wounded another and a second where two "bodyguards of a judge" were killed and three were wounded.
Corpses?
Reuters reports five corpses were found in Suwayra, one in Kut ("shotgun wounds") and one near Dugail ("gunshot wounds . . . signs of torture") while CBS and AP note the discovery of "two bullet-riddled" corpses in Baghdad and notes five corpses, not one, discovered in Kut.
Reuters notes that "an agriculture official" was kidnapped in Dujail.
The Associated Press reports that the latest five charged in the incident involving the alleged rape of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Hamza as well as her murder, and that of three members of her family, are Paul E. Cortez, Anthony W. Yribe, James P. Barker, Jesse V. Spielman, and Bryan L. Howard. Yribe is identified as the one who, as Amy Goodman noted on Democracy Now!, is "charged with dereliction of duty for failing to report the crime." The AP notes that "[t]he others face more serious charges as participants" as well as the fact that two of the five charged are sergeants (Cortez and Yribe). The five join Steven D. Green who was charged on June 30th.
The names of the five are released as Mariam Karouny (Reuters) reports that the US crafted laws for Iraq are facing a challenge according to Wigdan Michael (human rights minister in Iraq) who states "We're very serious about" requesting the "United Nations . . . end immunity from local law for U.S. troops". Michael tells Karouny: "One of the reasons for this is the U.N. resolution, which gives the multinational force soldiers immunity. Without punishment, you get violations. This happens when there is no punishment."
In peace news, Amy Goodman and Medea Benjamin discussed the Troops Home Fast today. Benjamin stated: ". . . we think this fast is one way that they can do it. We've had people who have read about the fast in the paper, and they're in West Palm Beach, for example, and just jumped on a plane and came and joined us. We have a woman from Vancouver, in Washington state, who heard about the fast and decided that she had to do something more, came and joined us for this week. People who thought they were going to fast for one day have ended up fasting for the entire week and are going into their second week. This can really be a catalyst if people join. Every day we have hundreds more signing up on the troopshomefast.org website and saying they want to participate."
In other peace news, Ehren Watada's mother Carolyn Ho has stated, of her son's refusal to deploy to Iraq for the illegal war, "He is sending that message to all the armed forces, the message that they need to examine carefully the war they are choosing to fight." Ehren's father, Bob Watada, is comparing the fight against the charges the military has brought against his son to a competition and tells Alyssa S. Navares (Honolulu Star Bulletin), "I have always been one of those dads at every game and practice . . . Although I whip him in a singles match, together we pravail on the court. And trust me, we're going to do it again when we fight these charges."
Finally, Reuters is reporting that 200 ex-police officers ("fired . . . for forgery and bribery") stormed the Muthanna governor's office "demanding they be reinstated in their jobs in the southern city of Samawa, the capital of Muthanna province."
