so it's another day and who covered abeer?
amy goodman didn't. the host of democracy now didn't feel it was news apparently.
she was all over the lamont election. but democracy now doesn't seem to care about abeer.
from c.i.'s 'iraq snapshot' (which i'll post in full at the end):
As the search goes on, an Article 32 hearing concludes into the murders of Abeer Qasim Hamza and three of her family members with military prosecutor Captain Alex Pickands arguing of the four US troops accused of rape, murder and arson, "They gathered over cards and booze to come up with a plan to rape and murder that little girl. She was young and attractive. They knew where she was because they had seen her on a previous patrol. She was close. She was vulnerable."
[...]
In the case of Abeer Qasim Hamza? From CNN: "Iraqi authorities have identified the girl who was raped and shot to death as Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi. Her father, mother and 5-year-old sister were also killed, and the 14-year-old's body was set on fire after she was killed." The Article 32 hearing has concluded. CNN reports Alex Pickands (military prosecutor) making his closing argument with the following: "Murder, not war. Rape, not war. That's what we're here talking about today. Not all that business about cold food, checkpoints, personnel assignments. Cold food didn't kill that family. Personnel assignments didn't rape and murder that 14-year-old little girl." As the BBC notes, the Article 32 hearing was to determine whether or not should be charged with rape, murder and arson. CNN notes that the deterimination will be made by "investigating officer, Col. Dwight Warren" and that' "Warren's report will likely be at least a few days in coming".
courtney e-mailed that the closing argument read like c.i. had written it. it did. it was powerful and it went to the heart of the case. a case that amy goodman and democracy now aren't interested in covering.
i listened to kpfa's the morning show and thought, 'what a crock.'
how come?
it's 2006. if you're covering iraq, try covering something going on right now. i believe c.i.'s making that point in the snapshot but saying it more nicely.
i won't mince words.
i was talking to kat and we were both wondering what the hell was all that time given to the call from psychologist dee about 'mass hypnosis' about?
can we deal with some serious issues?
can we address abeer. or is that too much to expect from the supposedly brave liberal media?
it apparently is.
let's go through what the supposedly brave democracy now has dealt with since august 1st because they've let iraq fall off the radar. not the wimpy little headlines but what they devote time to seriously covering in other segments. while you read through it, notice where iraq is (or isn't).
august 1st: robert fisk on lebanon; survivors of the 1996 qana massacre sue israel for war crimes; moazzam begg about guantanamo
see abeer in there? no.
augsut 2nd: fidel's surgery; ricardo alarcon on bully boy's plans for cuba; the cuban 5 still in prison in the u.s.; israel's invasion of lebanon
see abeer? see iraq? no.
august 3rd: human rights watch says israel is committing war crimes; a documentary about the u.s. media coverage of israel; 'is america watching a different war?' - not not iraq, still lebanon
see abeer? see iraq? hell no
august 4th: hundreds of thousands (their wording) in iraq rally - no, it's not an iraq story, it's about them rallying for lebanon; newsday mid east chief discusses ... lebanaon; cynthia mckinney's runoff race for the u.s. congress.
maybe if iraqis will rally for the mexican election or for the congo they can get another segment? iraq itself? don't give a damn. no segment devoted to abeer. or cindy sheehan or ehran watada.
august 5th & 6th were saturday & sunday, democracy now doesn't air new episodes on the weekend.
august 7th: hizbollah's rocket attacks on israel; lebanon death toll; war devastated congo
camp casey iii opened over the weekend but amy goodman didn't have time for that. didn't have time for abeer, didn't have time for watada.
august 8th: bill curry discusses the lamont/lieberman race; richard debs on why the u.s. shouldn't be backing israel (there were only 2 segments other than headlines on the 8th)
care about iraq? forget it. u.s. congressional race can be covered. but that's it. no abeer STILL.
today, august 9th: ralph nader on lamont's win; time warner's ny1 won't let hillary clinton's challenger debate her; israeli air force; anniversary of the u.s. nuking of nagasaki
more congressional discussion of congressional races. iraq? forget it. abeer? forget it.
in amy and david goodman's exception to the rulers (page 138), they write of the white house propaganda blitz on iraq that began september 2nd. does amy goodman believe that blitz (what c.i.'s rightly termed 'operation happy talk') has stopped? it hasn't. on page 149, the goodmans take the new york times to task for not reporting the number of protestors at a rally correctly and note that the paper refused to run a correction claiming that they hadn't made a 'mistake.' the times felt it was '[a] matter of emphasis.'
well amy goodman and democracy now, what about the matter of your emphasis?
aren't you the supposed 'war & peace report'? shouldn't you be covering iraq when no 1 else will? do you really think congressional races qualify as coverage of iraq?
get real. quit jerking off and wasting every 1's time.
the last 7 shows (counting today) have failed to address iraq. i don't think covering iraq protests of lebanon is addressing iraq. i can't imagine any 1 who would unless they were a complete fool.
i don't think u.s. election coverage is addressing iraq.
here's what i know. there's an event that can transform and you grab it or you ignore it.
the event right now? abeer. 14 year old abeer. murdered and raped. and where the hell is the coverag, democracy now?
do you think you're nonstop coverage of lebanon is about going to where the silences are because it's not. i listened to kpfa today (and am still listening). it's all over. against the grain, the morning show, your show which airs twice on kpfa, and right now on flashpoints. later, after the kpfa evening news (which will cover israel's attacks), there will be an hour of coverage on israel's attacks.
so is this going to where the silence is or covering what every 1 else does?
abeer apparently doesn't matter.
now i get polly's brew in my inbox. i read mike's columns (the 1st 1 and war as an after thought) and i know who was contacted about nancy a. youssef's story that the u.s. was keeping a body count of iraqis despite the original claims that they weren't. (it's been going on for a little over a year now.) i know that the u.s. military and government won't make the tally public. (even though we pay for the tally with our tax dollars and there's no way any 1 can argue 'national security!' for keeping the list private.) i know eddie contacted democracy now requesting that they cover this story and i know democracy now didn't.
iraq hasn't been important to this show for some time.
as i noted yesterday, there are people (like c.i.) who are working every contact/friend they have in the big media to get traction on stories having to do with iraq. while they're busting their asses, indymedia can't even cover it. get real, this is nonsense.
you are hurting the peace movement.
if you don't get that, if you need to some 1 to point it out, i'm back from my vacation & honeymoon and i'm not afraid to name names. i'll go over every program and note what a poor job they've done of covering iraq.
before i went on my break on july 4th, iraq had already fallen between the cracks with indymedia. that didn't change while i was gone obviously.
indymedia continues to ignore iraq.
there are protests in september. 60% of americans in the latest poll say that the war was a mistake. indymedia should be providing the coverage that america needs to end this war. it's a war that the u.s. started - not by proxy, but directly.
did people miss jimmy breslin's "In Case We All Forgot, Americans Are Still Dying in Iraq"? if so, go read it right now. and indymedia better start asking themselves where the hell their own coverage of iraq is? it's nowhere to be found.
i spent the day working abeer's story with my friends i have in the press. that's the mainstream press. as bad as it can be, it's at least covering iraq. what the hell is indymedia doing?
this is crap.
it's crap that camp casey iii opened and that indymedia isn't reporting from it. cindy sheehan's not going to be there every day. the plan is to be there while the bully boy is and he's not staying the full month.
so camp casey iii will probably have a lower turnout because indymedia can't stop jerking off over israel.
israel's actions are criminal. that's not in dispute in my mind. i was addressing what was going on before i left. i had no idea it would become the 1 story that indymedia would cover over and over, day after day.
where's the special programming on iraq? now that americans have turned against the war, where's the coverage? now that ehren watada has an article 32 hearing coming up, where's the coverage? with camp casey reopened, where's the coverage? where's the coverage required to fuel the september protests?
where's the coverage of abeer that will outrage america? this is the equivalent of the photo of the vietnam girl running down the street naked after being napalmed. but indymedia is too stupid to grasp that. they're too busy providing nonstop coverage of israel.
right now, you've got blood on your hands indymedia. it's your own damn fault. democracy now isn't the only 1. i'll be noting others now that i'm back from vacation. i'm calling every 1 out because this is nonsense and it allows the war to drag on. it allows more people to die.
but for people to care about abeer, they'd have to know her story and indymedia hasn't covered the article 32 hearing. they haven't criticized the mainstream coverage (specificially the new york times) for rendering the victim invisble.
if indymedia wants to kid that they've done a great job covering anything, they need to get over themselves. before i left, they had little to say about iraq. they then went in to what elaine called (on the money) 'wall to wall coverage' of israel's actions.
kat also had a good call noting the democracy now had become look what israel's done now. if you dispute her call, look at what they covered so far in august and think about what they didn't cover. ask yourself where iraq is in the coverage, ask yourself where cindy sheehan is, where suzanne swift is, where ehran watada is?
this isn't cutting it.
they have dropped the ball. they have refused to cover iraq. that's shameful, it's embarrassing and it's disgusting.
indymedia wants money, it always wants money.
here's my question, why should i support any of them?
they're not doing their job.
c.i. covers iraq. fasting for over 30 days, c.i. still covered iraq. hollering & pleading to friends in the press, c.i. still covers iraq. organizing and working on several issues, c.i. still coveres iraq.
why? because the communtiy was pissed off with indymedia months ago for not doing the job required to cover iraq. c.i., and the others (and there are others) who badger and plead and beg and scream with and at big media to cover iraq and to cover it better are busting their butss and indymedia is jerking off. (and exactly who joined the fast - fly boy and i are grabbing fridays next week - we can't star this week due to a dinner with some of his family this friday. yes, we could make a point but we could also piss of family members who have planned this as their celebration of our marriage and, frankly, these are people who have committed to voting for lamont in the november election and have already voted for him in yesterday's primary. we eloped with a small number of people. it would be seen as rude if we attended the dinner fasting. it would be seen as 'not only did you not invite us, now you're here at the dinner we've had catered and you're not going to eat anything?')
i don't think indymedia deserves a damn dime these days. there's not a dimes worth of difference between them and big media. a new crisis comes along (and some aren't really a crisis - members will know 3 stories that trumped iraq before i went on vacation and none of them could be called a crisis) and they think they're the fucking red cross. they rush in with saturation coverage letting important issues and stories fall through the cracks as they provide their wall to wall coverage.
that's no different than big media.
and it's nothing that will make me open my checkbook.
they've made themselves a joke all summer long. it's been 1 thing after another that's shoved iraq out of the coverage. 1 story after another.
i thought we wanted the troops home? i thought we wanted to end the war on iraq? to do that, we have to cover iraq. and indymedia's had many topics to cover but it hasn't done a damn thing to cover iraq. they've ignored nancy youssef's story (aaron glantz wrote about it and some 1 at ips did, that's all i'm aware of - i can provide a long list, thanks to mike, of indymedia that was contacted about the story in a mistaken belief that they must not have heard about it or they would cover it only to discover that even when they're asked to cover it, they have something else to cover).
don't scream at the peace movement. it's there. it's always there. it's indymedia that can't get its act together.
you can and should cover other things in the world. but when the u.s. is at war with another country, you grab that story 1st. you cover that and then you can cover anything else you think deserves it. that hasn't been the case. instead iraq's been ignored and everything but iraq has been covered.
if you think you're doing a wonderful job you're either an idiot or you don't care about iraq. indymedia may be willing to play start-and-stop with their coverage of iraq but the peace movement has to work every damn day. they do it in silence without indymedia's help and it's past time that indymedia grasped how much their silence is hurting the peace movement and prolonging the illegal war.
here's c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
Today, Wednesday, August 9, 2006, violence and chaos continue in Iraq with Allister Bull (Reuters) noting that the central morgue in Baghdad received nearly 2,000 bodies in July while Centcom's announced that a US helicopter crashed Tuesday in the Anbar province ("60 Blackhawk helicopter from 3rd Marine Aircrwaft Wing") which had six crew members of which two are still missing.
Elsa McLaren (Times of London) reports: "A desperate hunt is under way in Iraq today for two American servicemen whose helicopter crashed inside the 'triangle of death' west of Baghdad." As the search goes on, an Article 32 hearing concludes into the murders of Abeer Qasim Hamza and three of her family members with military prosecutor Captain Alex Pickands arguing of the four US troops accused of rape, murder and arson, "They gathered over cards and booze to come up with a plan to rape and murder that little girl. She was young and attractive. They knew where she was because they had seen her on a previous patrol. She was close. She was vulnerable."
Speaking with Andrea Lewis today on KPFA's The Morning Show, John Stauber discussed the results of a recent Harris Poll which found 50% of all respondents wrongly believed that Iraq had WMD which is "an increase from 36 prercent in February 2005." Stauber noted the pre-war coverage (unquestioning) and pre-war propaganda (which never panned out.) "If voices of authority repeat a huge lie [. . .] that gets people supporting a war [ . . .] then that lie sticks. And this war was sold to the American public on two huge lies: that Saddam Hussein had WMDs and that he was behing 9-11."
"What is going on here?" wondered Andrea Lewis. Which is a good question. Stauber pointed to Rick Santorum falsely claiming that WMDs were found and Fox "News" and the right-wing echo chamber running with the lie. Because, not stated, the right-wing will continue to sell this war and peddle lies. While the coverage of Iraq vanishes from the media (in all its forms) it doesn't vanish from the right-wing echo chamber..
Note this finding from the poll: "Seventy-two percent believe that the Iraqis are better off now than they were under Saddam Hussein (slightly down from February 2004 when 76 percent said this was true)." Why would poll respondents think that when the UN estimates 100 Iraqis die each day from violent attacks? Don't they know the reality and status of the 'reconstruction' projects? No. They generally don't and when the media decides they need to ALL pick up and go after another story, when the coverage of Iraq is a one-story-a-day thing (New York Times) or one topic a week (radio, magazines, etc -- once a week when we're lucky -- we're supposed to be grateful for the once a week treatment of an illegal war launched by the US administration) then the problem really isn't the people -- the problem's the media. One quite proud to pat themselves on the back in every venue and forum but not too interested in focusing on Iraq.
People care about this topic (now more than ever as a CNN poll demonstrates most recently), it's the media that either is bored or just doesn't give a damn. Elaine (Like Maria Said Paz) reported yesterday on the surprise of a returning Iraqi vet who spoke to a group of young adults -- his surprise that they were interested in the topic and interested in his injuries and all the injuries that the press doesn't have time to cover.
Bombings?
Al Jazeera reports on a mortar attack in Baghdad which "collapsed a three-storey building" and left some worried that "some people were still trapped in the rubble." Five people are known to have died. Reuters reports three Iraqi police officers dead in Habaniya from a roadside bomb; the death of a civilian in Kirkuk from a roadside bomb; the death of a civilian by a roadside bomb in Baghdad; three civilians wounded by a roadside bomb in Ramadi; and, in Kirkuk, a roadside bomb wounded three Iraqi soldiers. Also CBS and AP note that, in Samarra, a police officer died on Tuesday while attempting "to defuse a roadside bomb" and another police officer was injured in the blast. Associated Press reports that a US solider was wounded by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad
Shootings?
Pay attention here because you know the New York Times doesn't bother to include shooting fatalities in their 'rounded' daily undercount these days. Reuters reports the death of "Army Colonel Qasim Abdul Qadir" in Basra ("on his way to work"). CBS and AP report that Abedl-Qadir was attacked by "gunmen on two motorcycles". Reuters notes that, in western Baghdad, five civilians were shot dead.
Corpses?
Reuters reports that, in Baghdad, nine corpses were discovered ("killed by gunshots"), two corpses ("shot in the head and chest") were found in Dour. and, in al-Zab, a behaded corpse was discovered.
In the case of Abeer Qasim Hamza? From CNN: "Iraqi authorities have identified the girl who was raped and shot to death as Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi. Her father, mother and 5-year-old sister were also killed, and the 14-year-old's body was set on fire after she was killed." The Article 32 hearing has concluded. CNN reports Alex Pickands (military prosecutor) making his closing argument with the following: "Murder, not war. Rape, not war. That's what we're here talking about today. Not all that business about cold food, checkpoints, personnel assignments. Cold food didn't kill that family. Personnel assignments didn't rape and murder that 14-year-old little girl." As the BBC notes, the Article 32 hearing was to determine whether or not should be charged with rape, murder and arson. CNN notes that the deterimination will be made by "investigating officer, Col. Dwight Warren" and that' "Warren's report will likely be at least a few days in coming".
Ehren Watada is the first known commissioned officer serving in the US military to have refused to deploy to Iraq. Gregg K. Kakesako (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) reports: "The army has rejected 1st Lt. Ehren Watada's offer to resign instead of facing a possible court-martial for refusing to deploy to Iraq." The HawaiiChannel.com concludes: "[i]t's looking more likely that Honolulu Army Lt. Ehren Watada will be court martialed for refusing to serve in Iraq." Hoyt Zia (publisher of Hawaii Business Magazine) addresses the case of Ehren Watada with "Having the Courage of Your Convictions."
akesako notes: "Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada is scheduled to face an Article 32 pretrial hearing at Fort Lewis, Wash., on Aug. 17. That hearing is equivalent to a preliminary hearing in a civilian criminal court, and is expected to last a few days."
The 17th is when the hearing is scheduled to begin. Remember Courage to Resist and ThankYouLt.org are calling for a "National Day of Education" on August 16th, the day before Ehren Watada would be due to "face a pre-trial hearing for refusing to deploy to Iraq." ThankYouLt.Org notes: "On August 16, the day prior to the hearing, The Friends and Family of Lt. Ehren Watada are calling for a 'National Day of Education' to pose the question, 'Is the war illegal?' This day can also serve to anchor a 'week of outreach' leading up to the pre-trial hearing."
Cindy Sheehan is in Crawford, TX with Camp Casey. Why? As Missy Comley Beattie (OpEdNews) writes: "Thousands of Iraqis are dying each month. Coalition troops are perceived not as liberators of grateful Iraqis free at last from the grip of a tyrant. Instead, we are occupiers and our incursion has unleashed sectarian violence that shows no sign of abating. Life is so bad in Iraq that its citizens long for the days when Saddam Hussein was in power." For those reasons and many more, Camp Casey III matters. Alison Sterling Nichols tells Chris Durant (The Times-Standard) that, "There are more people here than there were in the first few days last year."
Today is day 37 of the Troops Home Fast action which will continue until September 21st. Today, 4, 549 people are taking part from across the world. Remember you can do a one-day fast, a one-day-a-week fast or longer. More information is available at Troops Home Fast.
With CNN reporting the results of their latest poll -- "Sixty percent of Americans oppose the U.S. war in Iraq, the highest number since polling on the subject began with the commencement of the war in March 2003" -- the sea of change on the Iraq war is obvious to all but the Bully Boys and Joe Liebermans.
