bill gallagher on di-fi and fancy nancy

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., a man who understands principle and decency, voted against Mukasey on the Judiciary Committee and with the full Senate. He sees Mukasey as an enabler of those who threaten the rule of law.
"Democrats can no longer be part of the savaging of the U.S. Constitution." Feingold told a crowd in Madison before the vote on the nominee. The Senate’s most ardent defender of basic liberties would not compromise and demanded an attorney general who "must be able to stand up to a chief executive who thinks he is above the law."
Feingold wanted an attorney general "who will tell the president that he cannot ignore laws passed by Congress. Unfortunately, Judge Mukasey was unwilling to reject the extreme and dangerous theories of executive power that this administration has put forward."
Don't expect such admirable standards from the San Francisco Democrats. They're too busy dancing, dodging, waffling and triangulating to get bogged down with principled positions.
The party leaders are lagging far behind the people, especially on the war in Iraq. According to a CNN/Opinion Research poll, a record 68 percent of Americans now oppose the war. Already 2007 is the deadliest year for U.S. troops since the war began, with at least 852 American military personnel killed. But, stubbornly trying to avoid the slur of "not supporting the troops," the San Francisco Democrats keep funding the futile war. Even Jeane Kirkpatrick, who initially supported the war, came to her senses in her dying days.

that's from peabody award winning bill gallagher's 'Pelosi, Feinstein Betraying Dems' (niagra falls reporter via common dreams). he's talking about di-fi and nancy pelosi, the cowards and betrayers, who enable the illegal war and, in di-fi's case, enable republicans.

i'm not cutting fancy nancy slack, by the way. i think her actions do enable republicans. i think, in her case, it's the fact that she's so craven and always focused on the next 'big play' that's going to turn 2008 into a huge win for the dems. that 'big play' may or may not produce a huge win; however, in the meantime, she's selling out the country.

dianne feinstein sold out not for an election play, she sold out to line her own pockets.

she rode to fame on the blood of harvey milk so no 1 should be surprised that she is the way she is. 1 of the saddest days for di-fi must have been when joe lieberman declared himself an 'independent.' suddenly there was no 1 to provide cover for her.

as long as joe was in the senate as a 'democrat,' who was going to call her out too loudly? joe lieberman was such an embarrassment he provided a lot of cover to a lot of other sell outs. with joe gone, di-fi's feeling the heat; however, she's do dumb she may not grasp that yet.

during the california recall, there was talk of her running for governor. i called c.i. the minute i heard that and asked, 'will she?' c.i. said no. c.i. pointed out gasbags thought di-fi could win because she was in the u.s. senate. that's a race all californians vote on. but she's just holding a seat and has no real challenger in the democratic field (the party and her interests make sure of it - she's gotten huge contributions from the los angeles times and it's parent company). but to run for governor would be another story.

she lacks charisma, she lacks positives and most people in california were disgusted with her.

so after hearing about that, i wasn't surprised when di-fi didn't announce she'd run.

so i guess the entire united states is stuck with her for as long as she wants to remain in the senate - barring an ethics investigation kicking her out.

unless of course, di-fi continues to get called out. that's what did it for joe lieberman. that's what got him out of the democratic party. if people could grasp di-fi wasn't a democrat - people across the u.s. - the democratic party might have to stay out of her next race and stop destroying the dem candidate who runs against her in the primary.

meanwhile, a govenor prays for rain - i guess no 1 knew how to do a rain dance?


let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Tuesday, November 13, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, attacks in northern Iraq, IVAW announces an upcoming event, the myth of the 'returning home' in Iraq gets challenged and more.

Starting with war resistance. Today on KPFK's Sojourner Truth, Margaret Prescod spoke with Kenneth Kagan about where things stood for Ehren Watada currently. Watada is the first officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq. Kagan, along with Jim Lobsenz, is Watada's civilian attorney and he explained Judge Benjamin Settle's ruling and what it means. Last Thursday, following the issuance of two stays in the US military's attempt to court-martial Watada a second time, Judge Settle ruled that no court-martial could take place until the double-jeopardy issue was resolved and that his opinion was Watada had strong standing on that issue and the courts would find in his favor. Kagan declared that it was highly unlikely that there would be futher court action this year. He also thinks it's doubtful the US military will be able to proceed with a court-martial period. (Following the rest of the year, Kagan ticked off 2008 and the next.) As Laura Flanders (Nation via Common Dreams) notes of Settle's ruling today, "In issuing a preliminary injunction, the Judge concluded that 'it is likely' that Watada will succeed in his claims that a second court-martial would violate constitutional protections against being tried twice for the same crimes. But army officials aren't giving up. In a statement, they said they will file briefs in U.S. District Court to try to prevent the injunction from becoming permanent. Now is the time for all moral men and women in uniform to stand up -- not just behind Lt. Watada, but at his side. So far, not one other officer has followed in the lieutenant's footstep." As Ruth noted, yesterday on Free Speech Radio News, Iraq Veterans Against the War's chair Camilo Mejia declared this was a victory, "Here we have the first commissioned officer who at great risks to a public, personal stance on the war calling it illegal and refusing to deploy."

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.


The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Zinn will take part in the November 18th presentation (the official opening night -- but performances are already taking place) and musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who appeared on Democracy Now! Friday addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.

Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:

In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan

The Winter Soldier Investigation during Vietnam took place from January 31st to February 2nd (1971) and was held in Detroit. By holding theirs in DC, IVAW already has improved. That's not a slap at Detroit, that's noting the concentration of media.

Turning to Iraq. CBS and AP file a story telling us things are good, real good, damn good. Great. No more Iraq snapshots! We get to shut down shop. Oh, wait. It's just another wave of Operation Happy Talk and it's a story so bad it took TWO outlets to write it. But they shouldn't feel that bad, the outlet with the most egg on their face today is Fars News Agency which ran the feel good story of the month yesterday, headlined, "Iraq-Turkey Border Problems Resolved." Oh really now? BBC: "Turkish military helicopters bombed suspected Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, Iraqi officials have said." AP quotes Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declaring, "This business needs to happen before winter conditions worsen. If we don't see concrete things from the other side an operation is near." Mark Bentley and Ali Berat Meric (Bloomberg News) report, "Turkey is gathering intelligence on the whereabouts of PKK positions in northern Iraq before starting the operation, Erdogan told party officials in Ankara late yesterday after talks with Ergin Saygun, deputy head of the Turkish military, according to a lawmaker who attended the meeting and rquested anonymity." CNN's Jomana Karadsheh quotes Jamal Abdullah, spokesperson for Iraq's KRG, stating that stun grenades were dropped from "two Turkish military aircrafts crossed into Iraqi border" Monday night. Yahya Barzanji (AP) reports Turkish helicopters firing today within Iraq which the Turkey government denies and Iraqi Col. Hussein Tamir states did take place -- both on the record and, in addition, an unnamed "Turkish government official" states that the attacks did take place. Al Jazeera notes that 4 Turkish soldiers are dead and two more wounded according to the Turkish military. Mark Bentley and Ali Berat Meric (Bloomberg News) note the US Pentagon continues to maintain they intend to share intelligence with Turkey.

In other reported violence . . .

Bombings?Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing this morning left four wounded while two Diyala bombings resulted in the deaths of 2 Iraqi soldiers, two Iraqi soldiers wounded and three civilians wounded. Reuters notes that a roadside bombing outside Baquba claimed the lives of 4 Iraqi soldiers and left seven more wounded today while a Jurf Al-Sakhar roadisde bombing claimed 2 lives with two more wound while, also yesterday, Col. Samir Atrous was killed in a Samarra bombing that left two of his bodyguards wounded. And the air war continues as well. Reuters reports the US military is claiming 15 'terrorists' were killed in Adwaniya on Monday after they dropped two 500 pound bombs from the air on the area.

Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 police officer was shot dead and his wife injured in a Kirkuk shooting today while yesterday 2 sons, 2 daughters and a mother from the same family were killed. Reuters notes 1 police officer and 1 Iraqi soldier were shot dead in Hawija today while yesterday a man was shot dead in Kifl.

Corpses?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 6 corpses in Baghdad and 1 corpse was discovered in Kirkuk.

Meanwhile IRIN reports "[m]ale gynaecologists are being targeted by Islamic extremists in Iraq as they are accues of invading the privacy of women," that at least 22 have received threatening letters while there is a shortage on male gynaecologists and very few female ones left in Iraq.



In political news, AP reports that Bahaa al-Araji, apparently speaking for all 30 members of the Sadr bloc in the Iraqi parliament, has called for the "parliament to be dissolved and new elections held." This takes place while puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki's cabinet continues with empty spots after he refused to agree to the requests of Sunni ministers. Those who keep giving lip service to a "political solution" that really means a US imposed "political situation" must be hoping no one notices al-Maliki's puppet government is as chaotic as it was in May 2006 when he kept missing deadlines to announce his complete cabinet. The escalation Bully Boy dubbed the 'surge' is ending as it was always planned to. 3,000 US service members stationed in Diyala Province will begin returning to the United States. And what got accomplished in the 'surge'? Puppet al-Maliki traveled a great deal (as did Iraq's president) but nothing's been accomplished. Not even the theft of Iraqi oil -- the White House pushed, big business written bill that would open Iraqi oil fields to foreign corporations and allow them to keep as much as 70% of the profits -- has been pushed through and the year is almost over. The United Nations' Relief Web has a list of things that still show no improvement such as: "Only one in three Iraqi children under the age of five has access to safe drinking water, according to UNICEF(4)."

Turning to the myth of civilians returning to Iraq. One return can be verified, McClatchy Newspaper's Leila Fadel has returned to Iraq. Of course, she's a journalist and American but her return can be verified placing her in a minority. As Baghdad Observer, she explains the checkpoints, the body searches, the delays (including stand-still traffic) and everything else it takes to move through the Green Zone for two scheduled meetings -- one with a US military general: "Two are body searches, two are just badge checks. At one checkpoint pedestrians are asked to walk through a spaceship looking X-ray machine. The elderly Iraqi woman in front of me starts to cry when she is asked to spread her legs and arms and step inside the machine.'I'm scared,' she says between sobs. When I'm done there a dog sniffs my camera, cell phone and recorder for explosive substances." Along with the body searches, "a woman gropes for anything illegal under my clothes and searches through my bag." Meanwhile on the much talked up in the press returns (that cannot be proven), organizations aren't continuing to be silent in the face of these false claims made by the puppet government and the US military. Australia's ABC reports the Red Crescent Society has released their report for September which found "almost 370,000 Iraqis fled their homes" and that "almost 2.3 million Iraqis have been internally displaced since the US-led invasion in 2003." uruk.net reports the Iraqi Red Crescent has stated the numbers being tossed around by the Iraqi government regarding the internally displace are not accurate and "were not related realities of the situation faced by the displaced," that they stood by their numbers and their methodology (remember, as we noted last week, this is the same nonsense that was pulled with The Lancet study, a push to discredit the science with numbers the US military and the Iraqi government refused to backup by making public their own alleged tabulations) and quotes their statement: "The real number of displaced persons by October (was) well over two million, three hundred thousand displaced inside the country." In addition, the United Nations Secretary General's office today released findings on displaced around the world and included this: "In Iraq, there are some 2.2 million internally displaced that we know of." As the Iraqi government's laughable claims get questioned, Reuters reports, "U.S. Catholic bishops on Tuesday described the situation in Iraq as 'unacceptable and unsustainable,' and urged the Bush administration to pull out American troops in a responsible way as quickly as possible."

Ali al-Fadhily (IPS via Common Dreams) reports, "Claims are going the rounds that sectarian violence in Iraq has fallen, and that the U.S. military 'surge' has succeeded in reducing attacks against civilians. Baghdad residents speak of the other side of the coint -- that they now live in a largely divided city that has brought this uneasy calm." And repeating 'political solution' hasn't happened. Waleed al-Ubaidy tells al-Fadhily, "All that has happened is a dramatic change in the demographic map of Iraq" and that, "Most of the honest journalists have left." While, reflecting Leila Fadel's report on moving through the Green Zone, Ahmad Ali tells al-Fadhily, "Baghdad has been torn into two cities and many towns and neighbourhoods. There is now the Shia Baghdad and the Sunni Baghdad to start with. Then, each is divided into little twon-like pieces of the hundreds of thousands who had to leave their homes."

Along with the human costs, there is the issue of the money. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted today, "A new study by Congressional Democrats estimates the total economic costs to the United States of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan now total approximately $1.5 trillion dollars. The study estimates the 'hidden costs' of the conflict including higher oil prices, the expense of treating wounded veterans and interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars. The Washington Post reports this amount is nearly double the $800 billion the White House has spent or requested to wage the wars through 2008." Josh White (Washington Post) reports that the calculated cost for the Iraq invasion is "$15,900 for a [US] family of four".

dennis kucinich

Instead, over the past year, Congress members, under the leadership of the well-mannered, genteel Speaker Pelosi, and Senators, under the leadership of the well-mannered, genteel Senator Reid, are fodder for brawling Republicans. Instead of backbone, Democrats govern by courtesy. How does one quantify how many American lives have been lost in Iraq due to courtesy? Or how many limbs have been lost? Or how many Iraqis have been murdered, maimed and displaced? How many Iraqi children have been orphaned? How many emergency rooms in America would still be open? How many Americans would have health care? How many homes would be rebuilt in New Orleans? How many fire-fighting planes would have flown over California? How many? How many? We will never know.
In different times - less urgent times - there is much to be said for courtesy. But these are not those times!!!
Then there is Dennis Kucinich - the diminutive giant in the House of Representatives. The American Congressman from the 10th District of Ohio who refuses to be silenced. The Democratic candidate for President who passionately upholds his oath to protect the people and Constitution of the United States of America from all enemies both foreign and domestic. Not as an oral exercise when sworn into office - but as a moral exercise every day in office.
For Dennis Kucinich, nothing and no one will suppress his allegiance to his country and to his abiding principle of "strength through peace."
So when Speaker Pelosi tells the cowards in her House that "impeachment is off the table" because the fight to impeach is too hard, Kucinich doesn’t believe her. No one ever told him being a Congressman would be easy. No one ever told him maintaining democracy was a cinch. When the President and Vice President commit acts as egregious as lying the nation into illegal war, illegally surveilling their own citizens, endorsing and allowing torture, and more, the strong don’t stay quiet. It's the weak, like Pelosi, Hoyer, Emanuel, Clyburne, Boehner, Murtha, Blunt, and over 400 others in Pelosi's House of Wacks - Democrats and Republicans alike - who do. As do Reid, Durbin, Lott, McConnell, Feinstein and around 93 more in the Senate House of Wacks - absent Boxer and Feingold who have earned our respect.
At the October 31st Democratic candidates' debate in Philadelphia, NBC's Tim Russert tried to discredit Dennis Kucinich by questioning him about a UFO. Kucinich, accustomed to being blind-sided by agenda-minded practitioners like Russert, fielded the question with resilience and cool. Working in tandem, the networks and Democratic Leadership were trying to force Kucinich out of the running. It's amazing how much pressure the honest must endure, while the compliant seem to get a free ride.
At Friday’s Jefferson Jackson Day Democratic fundraiser in De Moines, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel weren't invited. Gravel, in all likelihood, was persona non grata to the Democratic Leadership for challenging his "fellows" on their lies, deceits and inadequacies. Gravel never seemed to "get" that his "fellows" can't handle the truth!!
Iowa Democrats, when challenged on Kucinich and Gravel's absence from the Jefferson Jackson Day event, stated that Kucinich and Gravel were ineligible to attend because they didn't have an office or staff in Iowa. Point of fact, Kucinich had garnered more than enough popularity amongst Democrats to warrant his inclusion. He's been polling quite high over the past two months, often running 4th in the field of eight.
For those who understand the politics of Pelosi's House of Wacks, it's clear Kucinich's dismissal of her no impeachment bray, ensured his own dismissal from her Jefferson Jackson Day. Particularly since, Pelosi, herself, was emcee.

kat called and said she found something she thought i'd be interested in. i was. we're both opening it. the above is from linda milazzo's 'The Courage of Kucinich in Pelosi's House of Wacks' (common dreams) and you need to read it in full. there's only 1 candidate distinguishing themselves in the democratic primary. it's not barack obama whom abc just knows will set his campaign on fire after today's speech!

how many times are we all supposed to wait for the day when barack obama gets his campaign together? he's not going anywhere. he's a dull triangulator with a pepsodent grin.

i also saw today that john edwards rediscovered iraq yesterday and wanted to talk veterans today. don't you love the people who show up on a day to suddenly discover something? they talk about the environment on earth day, veterans on veterans' day. and the rest of the time? gobble-gobble.

wow. john edwards as president means he'd give his full attention to iraq on veterans day and maybe on memorial day.

dennis kucinich is dealing with the realities of this country ever day. he's talking impeachment despite fancy nancy swearing it is off the table. he's calling for all troops out of iraq.

i thought we wanted a 'strong' candidate? who's stronger than dennis kucinich?

no 1. no 1 else forced the impeachment issue. dennis isn't just talking about 'if i'm elected, i will tackle this and i will tackle that,' he's tackling stuff right now.

now john edwards, bill richards and mike gravel aren't in congress so they have that excuse in terms of action. but joe biden is. hillary clinton is. barack obama is. chris dodd is.

barack obama? i agree with ava and c.i. he needs to hang in. yes, he is the 1 who should step down right now if you're talking about the horse race. this is the most heavily promoted politician of the year. he's been given the most soft ball press. and the 'left' just cheers his every move and never calls him out, just asks him to please, please, please, don't support torture.

they overlook his homophobia. he's homophobic. i hate to shock any 1. barack obama is a homophobe.

in south carolina he allowed a known homophobe to participate in 1 of his events. in south caroline the homophobe expressed more homophobia from the stage.

barack didn't call out.

that makes him a homophobe.

he promoted a homophobe and he never called it out.

homophobe.

barack's not just ignoring some 1 in the nation making homophobic remarks, he's ignoring some 1 he put on stage making homophobic remarks.

if the 'gospel' singer did that in an interview after the rally, there would be a need to draw a line and for barack to call him out. but this is even worse. the 'singer' aired his homophobia from the stage of a barack obama campaign event. and barack won't call him out.

that's sick, that's disgusting and it makes barack obama a homophobe.

now image if dennis kucinich had gotten the press build up obama did?

now the mainstream wouldn't do that. they don't want a real candidate, a real fighter for the people. but the left media?

how many times has the nation put dennis kucinich on the cover by himself in the last 12 months? zero? yeah. barack? go check it out. and they've given non-stop coverage to barack. katrina vanden heuvel's pressed against her breast as if he were her child - or young lover.

the progressive has him on the cover this month.

but imagaine where his campaign would be if the nation had bothered to advance the only candidate who speaks out about the issues they supposedly care about?

they thought obama was a 'strong' candidate. after all the soft press and cheerleading, he still can't pull ahead of hillary. what is he? 28% to her 50 or so percent?

maybe they should have judged strength by what a candidate actually does.

dennis is strong. he should be the next president.

let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Monday, November 12, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, Di-Fi steps up for the ones who brought her to the dance, another mercenary organization shoots and kills another Iraqi civilian, and more.

Starting with war resisters. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) explained the latest about US Senator Dianne Feinstein ("Miss Dianne: Girl Senator -- the non-action figure"). Di-Fi's a war resister? No, she's a War Hawk with blood on her filthy hands. But as Goodman explained, Di-Fi is concerned that the illegal spying issue needs some "legal immunity for telecomunications companies . . . because the companies are unable to defend themselves in court since the governments insist their activities be kept secret." [Click here for Bob Egelko's San Francisco Chronicle report from Friday.] How very interesting. Ehren Watada, like Camilo Mejia before him, was subject to a military court-martial in which a military 'judge' refused to allow him to defend himself, ruled that his reasons for refusing to deploy were immaterial. Di-Fi didn't raise an objection. But then war resisters haven't been the big donors to Di-Fi; however, the telecommunications industry has deep pockets and certainly Pacific Telesis has reached deeper than most. The San Francisco located company (don't forget that the chief witness against AT&T is talking about a switching station located in San Francisco) was merged with/folded into SBC in 1997 and SBC folded in with AT&T Corporation to form AT&T Inc. in 2005. So Di-Fi has no interest in whether or not a defendant can present their best defense, she's only (yet again) protecting her big donors -- the hallmark of her shameful Senate career. The mergers and foldings meant all her big telecommunications donors were "bundled" allowing her to "reach out and touch someone" much easier while giving the public the finger.

Ehren Watada is the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq (June 2006). In February 2006, Judge Toilet (aka John Head) presided over a rigged court-martial -- that Di-Fi never raised an objection to -- and, when the prosecution was losing, Judge Toilet ruled a mistrial over defense objection. Despite the Constition's provision against double-jeopardy, the US military has repeatedly attempted to force another court-martial -- again, Di-Fi never raised an objection. US District Judge Benjamin Settle heard and appeal, issued two stays while weighing the briefs from both the prosecution and the defense and ruled last week that the US military could not proceed with any court-martial until Watada's double-jeopardy claim was addressed. He futher stated in his ruling that his judgement was the Constitutional provision against double-jeopardy would prevail. The Honolulu Advertiser reported Friday that Bob Watada, Ehren's father, explaining, "We talked for a few minutes and he said he's happy" and that Eric Seitz "believes the latest federal court decisions means the case against Watada essentially is dead." Seitz was Watada's civilian attorney prior to and throughout the February court-martial. Watada is currently represented (on the civilian side) by Kenneth Kagan and Jim Lobsenz. AP notes, "Watada contends the war is illegal and that he would be party to war crimes if he served in Iraq. The Army refused his request to be posted in Afghanistan or elsewhere." That's . . . some of the story. Watada researched the Iraq War when he got his orders -- researched as his superiors recommended -- not only did he feel he could be party to war crimes, as an officer he felt those serving under him could also be party to war crimes. In addition to offering to go to "Afghanistan or elsewhere," Watada offered other things including resigning his commission. The US military only offered him a desk job in Iraq where he would be 'safe' which was not what his objections to the illegal war were about. Jeff Paterson (at Indybay Media and Courage to Resist) explains, "No court martial can now take place unless Judge Settle reverses himself, or the military successfully appeals to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, or the U.S. Supreme Court -- all of which are unlikely."

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.


The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Zinn will take part in the November 18th presentation (the official opening night -- but performances are already taking place) and musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who appeared on Democracy Now! Friday addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project. Stacyann Chinn will take part this weekend, Anthony Arnove stated today on WBAI's Cat Radio Cafe where he discussed the project and how the rotating, non-permanent cast members allowed them to mix it up from performance to performance. With Janet Coleman (co-host with David Dozer), Arnove discussed how so much of the history -- the hidden history -- resonates today and specifically cited an editorial, from Frederick Douglass' newspaper the North Star, entitled "The War With Mexico" has a great deal to say today about the Iraq War. From the editorial, "No politician of any considerable distinction or eminence, seems willing to hazard his popularity with his party, or stem the fierce current of executive influence, by an open and unqualified disapprobation of the war. None seem willing to take their stand for peace at all risks; and all seem willing that the war should be carried on, in some form or other. . . . We have no preference for parties, regarding this slaveholding crusade. The one is as bad as the other. The friends of peace have nothing to hope from either." True then, true today.

Turning to Iraq, Jessica Pupovac (In These Times) highlights the Iraqi collaborators with the foreign military in the illegal occupation which the US military is calling "grassroots" and, like any grassroots group?, they "have signed contracts with the U.S. military" and "earn about $300 per month for their services -- more than three times Iraq's average monthly per capita income. They also receive $50 to $100 bonuses for 'actionable intelligence'." Pupovac informs that by October 20th, 67,000 Iraqis had 'enslisted' and that "[t]he vast majority of Concerned Citizens (79 percent) are Sunni, while 9 percent are Shiite and the remaining 12 percent are 'mixed'." Joshua Partlow and Ann Scott Tyson (Washington Post) report on this topic that the collaborators are known as "volunteers" and that "more than 80 percent of whom are Sunni" leading to a panic on the part "Of Iraqi's Shiite-dominated government" who worry they "could eventually mount an armed opposition".


Turning to the topic of Blackwater. On Thursday, Steve Fainaru's "How Blackwater Sniper Fire Felled 3 Iraqi Guards" (Washington Post) covered the latest revelations of the mercenary company's past actions in Iraq, specifically a February 7, 2007 incident where the mercenaries "opened fir from the roof of the Iraqi Justice Ministry" killing 3 Iraqi Media Network guards with 8 witnesses stating Blackwater's actions were not responding to anything. On Friday's Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez spoke with Fainaru about his report :

JUAN GONZALEZ: Now, Steve, in your investigation, obviously, you went at it many months later, but you found that virtually none of the witnesses had actually been interviewed by any American investigators about what actually happened?

STEVE FAINARU: Yeah, I think that was the thing that was most striking. You know, it's still very unclear sort of what precipitated the shooting. You know, the Iraqi guards -- I mean, we interviewed, you know, probably two dozen people inside that compound, and no one said that the Iraqi guards had fired first. Blackwater, of course, reported to the embassy that they had come under fire and responded with targeted rounds.
But what I think was most striking is that there was no real investigation that occurred on behalf of the US embassy's Regional Security Office, which is responsible for overseeing Blackwater. And, you know, their position was that they had conducted extensive interviews with the Blackwater team. They didn't really explain why they had never returned to the scene where it had taken place to try to interview witnesses, but that had not happened. There wasn't any real investigation that occurred. Now, the embassy claimed that there were other people who were interviewed, in terms of their own inquiry or review, but it was never entirely clear who those people were.

[. . .]

AMY GOODMAN: And now, what is happening now, after the September 16th incident, attack by the Blackwater forces in Baghdad have opened up this whole question of responsibility and culpability?

STEVE FAINARU: Well, with regard to this specific incident or more generally?

AMY GOODMAN: In regard to this specific attack, is it being re-looked at?

STEVE FAINARU: Well, as in before yesterday, no, not really. I mean, we had looked into it because -- really, we were interested in it -- but we've been covering the private security issue all year -- and we were interested in it because we wanted to try to find out -- we were aware that an incident had taken place, but only sort of generally, that it was one of the incidents that the Iraqi Ministry of Interior had brought to the embassy to try to figure out what had happened and see if the Americans would respond. So the goal was to find out what happened and what, if any, response there was on behalf of the Americans.
So, you know, in terms of what's going on with it now, it's not totally clear. You know, there is a joint Iraqi commission that has been set up that's addressing private security matters in the wake of the September 16th Nisoor Square incident. And so, that commission is supposed to, among other things, look into previous incidents, presumably this one, although it was -- it's not clear to us that this specific incident is on the agenda of that commission. So I think it's the hope of the Iraqi Media Network that some resolution will occur, whether it's, you know, compensation or clarification for why the shooting took place, you know, an actual investigation. But up to now, nothing has really happened.

Friday, David Martin (CBS News) reported on "Removing the legal immunity" -- a letter the Iraqi Interior Ministry sent to 'security' contractors advising them that "all immunities . . . shall be cancelled." Blackwater is far from the only mercenary guns in Iraq. Today Missy Ryan (Reuters) reports on another Iraqi civilian killed by mercenaries in Iraq, this time by DynCorp who shot dead an Iraqi cab driver in Baghdad Saturday. James Glanz (New York Times) reports 3 "witnesses said the taxi had posed no threat to the convoy, and one of them, an Iraqi Army sergeant who inspected the car afterward, said it contained no weapons or explosive devices" and quotes the Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul-Karim Khalaf declaring, "They just killed a man and drove away." Camilla Hall (Bloomberg News) reports that the US State Department's Baghdad embassy spokesperson Philip Reeker says (apparently with a straight face) that they are "closely" examining the shooting.


CBS has [PDF format warning] posted the letter David Martin was reporting on the text of which reads: "According to the directions of the Minister Council regarding moving the legal immunity from all the foreign private security companies and deal with it according to Iraqi law. Please notify that in all your future missions and give the direction to all your staff. For your information all the Iraqi security departments were informed about it. The MNF confirming taking the legal actions against any violator in the future. Including signing your passports from the traveling and Jinsseya directorate to make your residence in Iraq legal. And the violator will face legal punishment from the Iraqi law." Only the Iraq Parliament has the power to pass laws so [PDF format warning] what CBS has posted is proposal from al-Maliki's cabinet at present and nothing more:

Article 1:
Non-Iraqi security companies and its non-Iraqi employees and contractors shall be subject to the Iraqi legislation and the jurisdiction of the Iraqi judiciary in all civil and criminal cases. All immunities granted to them in accordance with any valid legislation shall be canceled.
Article 2:
The categories mentioned in Article 1 of this law shall be subject to the Iraqi legislations including those related to the residency, granting visas, possessing and carrying weapons, paying taxes, fees and customs, registering companies and granting them license to work in the Iraqi territories.
Article 3:
The vehicles, ships, airplanes belonging to the categories mentioned in Article 1 of this law shall be subject to the procedures of registration, licensing, checking and inspection stipulated in the Iraqi legislations.
Article 4:
This law shall be deemed as an amendment for the Dissolved CPA Order No17 of 2004.
Article 5:
This Law shall enter in force on the date of its publishing in the Official Gazette.

At issue as well is whether Order 17 can be overturned? Before fleeing Iraq like a thief in the night, Bwana Paul Bremer signed Coalition Provisional Autority Order 17:

Contractors shall not be subject to Iraqi laws or regulations in matters relating to the terms and conditions of their Congrats, including licensing and registering employees, businesses and corporations; provided, however, that Contractors shall comply with such applicable licensing and registration laws and regulations if engaging in business or transactions in Iraq other than Contracts. Notwithstanding any provisions in this order, Private Security Companies and their employees operating in Iraq must comply with all CPA Orders, Regulations, Memoranda, and any implementing instructions or regulations governing the existence and activities of Private Security Companies in Iraq, including registration and licensing of weapons and firearms.

Elizabeth Schulte (US Socialist Worker) explains, "Order 17 effectively barred the Iraqi government -- to which the U.S. was preparing to 'hand over' power -- from prosecuting contractors in Iraqi courts. Moreover, as private contractors, Blackwaters' goons aren't bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, as regular U.S. soldiers are. [The US} Congress is debating rescinding the immunity of security firms like Blackwater and giving U.S. civilian courts the right to prosecute contractors."

Over the weekend, the attacks on officials continued. Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reported two Sunday attacks: police Gen Brig. Wathiq al-Hamadni and the Mosul governor Dureed Kashmoola were targeted with roadside bombings (both survived) while Wajihiyah village's deputy governor was targeted and two bodyguards were wounded, also five people wounded by a grenade in Baghdad. McClatchy's Laith Hammoudi reported a Friday bombing claimed the life of Sheikh Lafta Al Obeidi.

Turning to some of today's reported violence . .

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports three civilians were wounded in a Baghdad roadside bombing, a mortar attack on a military base, a Tirkit roadside bombing left one police officer wounded and "Iraqi army officer LC Salam Ismaeel" car was bombed -- from inside -- while he was driving it in Baghdad -- Reuters reports the bomb was under the car -- demonstrating that not only are officials being targeted but that the methods are being fine tuned (Ismaeel was wounded) also evidenced by a roadside bomb targeting "Al Rashad town police chief in Al Rashad". Al Dulaimy also notes that on Sunday a 10-year-old girl was killed in a Baghdad bombing while a Kirkuk roadside bombing claimed the life of 1police officer Sunday. Reuters notes that today's Tikrit roadside bombing's count has gone with three injured and 1 dead.

Shootings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "Iraqi police said an American military convoy killed Khalaf Hussein and his wife Safra Ibraheem as he was approaching the convoy on a main road west of Kirkuk yesterday. The US military said the shooting was related to convoy operation adding that the Iraqi police fired from an outpost on a truck was coming against the traffic." Reuters notes 2 police officers were shot dead in Baghdad.

Corpses?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 5 corpses were discovered in Baghdad today.

Meanwhile Cara Buckley (New York Times) reports on the al-Malikik government's claims of a mass return due to 'improved security conditions' with Buckley noting that "it was not clear how he tallied the number of returning families, which officials say have been exceedingly difficult to locate. The significance of the returns is also a subject of debate." IRIN does not provide any of their own numbers (IRIN is part of the United Nations) but looks at one family that has returned from Syria and notes that those moving back do so "not because they are confident of Iraq's future but because they have run out of money." (Yes, we did cover that point last week.)

Turning to peace news. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted, "In Olympia, Washington, 15 anti-war deomnstrators were arrested over the weekend while attempting to block a military convoy carrying Stryker vehicles. The protests were organizaed by the Olympia Port Militarization Resistance which aims to stop the US military from using the Port of Olympia to ship equipment to Iraq. Protest organizers also accused police of brutalizing dozens of peaceful demonstrators and journalists. On Saturday police dressed in riot gear repeatedly used pepper spray and batons to break up the protest." Goodman also noted today that Bethesda Maryland, one of the children winning cash prized from Lego, has garnered a great deal of attention because her winning essay explains, "I don't want kids to lose any parents in the war" and because her father filmed a video [portions of the video are included the report] of her singing "Happy Springtime" which reworks John Lennon and Yoko Ono's classic peace anthem "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" into "Happy Springtime (Bush Is Over)."

Sunday was Veterans' Day. New Brunswick's Home News Tribune editorialized today, "The National Alliance to End Homelessness reported Thursday that, although one in 10 Americans is a veteran, they account for 25 percent of the homeless population. Already veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have been found living on the streets." The Boston Globe's editorial highlights this statistic, "On any given night in 2006, an estimated 196,000 veterans were homeless in America, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a Washington nonprofit. Over the course of the year, nearly a half-million veterans were homeless." Megan Ingerson (Indianapolis Star) reports that those supplying care and/or assistance to the homeless "say the actual numbers may be triple what's reported in the new study. . . . Veterans working with the Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation say the study's estimates could be low because many veterans don't want to admit they're in trouble." Nashville's WKRN offers text and video as they highlight Vietnam veteran Frederick Keys who is hopeful that things will improve via the Matthew 25 Shelter's assistance in contrast to John who suffers from crippling medical bills and declares, "I'm not proud to be a veteran. I'm sorry to be a veteran." Meanwhile, the Bully Boy of the United States declared in his radio address Saturday, "Veterans Day also reminds us of our solemn responsibility to care for those who have fought our Nation's wars. Under my Adminstration, Federal spending for our veterans has increased by more than two-thirds. We have extended medical treatment to a million additional veterans, including hundreds of thousands returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. And we have expanded grants to help homeless veterans across the country." Lies. Lies. And more lies. From the liar Non-FactCheck.org decided to carry water for in 2004 and claim that the White House had a wonderful program. They accused Senator John Kerry of lying in his presidential campaign when the reality Non-FactCheck.org failed to grasp was that programs such as Veterans Affairs need increases each year in peace time. When two wars are going on (Iraq and Afghanistan), they need huge increases. That was the point Kerry made repeatedly in his 2004 presidential campaign that the 'non-partisan' Non-FactCheck.org chose to ignore. Meanwhile Matthew Cardinale (Atlanta Progressive News) reports that Veterans for Peace Chapter 125 and American Veterans for Equal Rights Georgia were informed they weren't allowed to participate in Sunday's Veterans Day parade for "FAILURE TO FOLLOW GUIDELINES IN PREVIOUS YEAR!" as was written on their applications this year and President of the Parade Association, Melvin Myers, when not asking if Cardinale was "a communist or something," insisted that the parade "doesn't allow anyone out there to promote ideas." No ideas? A parade without a message? Only in the United States under Bully Boy. On KPFK's Uprising today, Aura Bogado (filling in for Sonali Kolhatkar who is on maternity leave) noted a Denver parade was barring Military Families Speak Out from participating today (yesterday was Veterans' Day, today ) while speaking with MFSO's Larry Syverson "what we want Congress to do is step up to the plate and defund the war. Our campaign is: 'Funding the war is killing our troops'."

Syverson also spoke of the first year of the illegal war and the toil it took on his wife and himself as they worried about the phone call, the sound of a car bearing bad news about their son as the tires rolled over the gravel

Meanwhile journalist Robert Parry does battle that all of his previous investigative work may have prepared him for but it's a monumental task: wading through the many, many lies of the Bully Boy. Parry (Consortium News) notes, "But my personal favorite Bush lie is when he insists that the United States invaded Iraq to enforce a United Nations resolution and that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein 'chose war' by barring U.N. weapons inspectors. Bush dusted off that old canard on Nov. 7 while standing next to French President Nicolas Sarkozy during a press conference at George Washington's estate at Mount Vernon in Virginia. Responding to a question from a French journalist about Bush's dispute with France over the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the U.S. president said: 'We had a difference of opinion with your great country over whether or not I should have used military force to enforce U.N. demands. . . . I just want to remind you that [U.N. Resolution] 1441 was supported by France and the United States, which clearly said to the dictator, you will disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences. Now I'm the kind of person that when somebody says something, I take them for their word.' Bush has made this same false argument scores of times dating back to July 2003, several months after the invasion when it was becoming clear that Saddam Hussein had told the truth when his government reported to the U.N. in 2002 that Iraq's WMD stockpiles had been eliminated." Robert Parry and sons Nat and Sam will be speaking at Busboys and Poets in Arlingtion, Virginia Saturday Nov. 17th from four p.m. to six p.m. discussing their new book Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush. Sam and Nat Parry have established their own journalist skills at Consortium News and they and Robert Parry can discuss any of the topics pertaining to the current administration but remember that Robert Parry has been doing investigative journalism for years and, if you're in that area or are visting it on the 19th, you'll have access to one of the most straighforward and determined journalists in this country.

iraq

scroll down for previous post, a roundtable.

this is c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Friday, November 9, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, 5 more officials are targeted (and killed) in Iraq, the Democratically-controlled US House of Representatives attempts another con related to the illegal war, Iraq War resister Ehren Watada and the Constitution win a victory, and more.

Starting with war resisters. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) notes today, "There has been a development in the case of Ehren Watada -- the first Army officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq. A federal judge has ruled the Army cannot hold a second court-martial for the Iraq war resister until the court resolves Watada's claim that it would violate his right against double jeopardy. Watada's first court martial ended in a mistrial." Ehren Watada is the first officer to publicy refuse to deploy to Iraq. When he was informed he would be deploying to Iraq, he did as his superiors had advised him, learn as much as he could so he could better serve those under his command. As he began researching, he realized that the Iraq War was illegal. In January 2006, he phoned his mother, Carolyn Ho, to advise her that he was going to be doing something very difficult, refusing to deploy. Shortly after that, he informed the US military which made the pretense of wanting to work out some sort of alternative. As his unit's deployment grew closer and nothing was being accomplished, Watada went public via an interview in June 2006. The initial interview was followed by others. He would tell his story on Democracy Now!, on MTV, on CNN, at Truthout, in LeftTurn, New American Media, Nichi Bei Times, and many other outlets. His mother Carolyn Ho, his father Bob Watada, his step-mother Rosa Sakanishi would appear in multiple outlets including, again, Democracy Now!, Laura Flanders' radio program, Law and Disorder, KPFK's Sojourner Truth and Uprising, KPFA's The Morning Show and Aaron Glantz's reporting on all aspects would spread the issue over all of KPFA's programming, etc. Rolling Stone magazine would put Watada on their "Honor Roll" for the 2006 year-end issue. Watada, as the first officer to resist, would garner more attention than any other Iraq War resister thus far and, in doing so, underscore several realities. Of chief interest to war resisters and those who support war resisters, the silence from The Nation magazine. Readers of the print magazine would make it through the end of the 2006 issues of the weekly 'political' and 'left' magazine without ever seeing the words "Ehren Watada" though there was plenty of time to provide glossy fluff on bad candidates (the DLC's Harold Ford being only one example) and to do 'theme' issues (such as their food issue). There just wasn't time to cover war resisters. Watada would finally make it into print in the January 8th issue (actually a double-issue but we're not going into that nonsense) where he would be called a "coward." The magazine that sat out Watada (and Abeer) throughout 2006 finally prints his name and it's in a statement calling him a coward. (No e-mails on the 'online exclusives,' they were covered long ago.) The article's a cover story (done by The Pooper) and it also contains a tiny sidebar that kind-of, sort-of tells Watada's story . . . after The Nation has already introduced him to print readers as a "coward." It was a telling event that would finally call to everyone's attention the magazine silence on war resisters under the 'leadership' of The Peace Resister. In their laughable article over the summer of 2007, they would manage to insult everyone participating (left, center and right) but the telling moment (after the fact that they wanted praise for an article which bragged of "dozens" of photos of abuse to Iraqis but printed NONE -- the photos did and do exist) would be in the way they reduced war resisters -- Camilo Mejia was a "deserter" (that call is in question since the military legally could not extend -- as they did -- Mejia's enlistment through stop-loss since Mejia was not a US citizen) but he wasn't billed as a "war resister." The coverage and non-coverage of Watada was a water-shed moment in many ways which did include instructing news consumers on who stood with and who stood far, far away. It's also worth noting that many other resisters went public in the wake of Watada: Darrell Anderson, Agustin Augyo, Kyle Snyder, Mark Wilcox, Ricky Clousing and . . . stop there. Stop there and don't continue because that's how All Things Media Big and Small, with every few exceptions, have treated 2007's crop of war resisters. Despite the fact that 2007 is set to be a record year -- according to the military's own official numbers -- for war resistance, emerging war resisters fell off the media map. James Burmeister was the strongest example. Either you followed Canadian media or you caught NOW with David Brancaccio or you didn't have a clue. Too bad for everyone because the last week of September "kill teams" (US service members setting out equpiment as traps to shoot Iraqis) would become a huge story but Burmeister was telling the story when he went public in June of 2007. Eli Israel would remain "Eli Who?" to All Things Media Big and Small despite the fact that he became the first war resister resisting publicly while stationed in Iraq. The Kamunen brothers? In These Times could find them when no one else in independent media could or would. The mainstream media showed some interest because three brothers -- Leo, Leif and Luke -- all electing to self-checkout over the same Christmas 2006 holiday was news . . . to some.

Watada is big Iraq news today and yet, at The Nation, the main page features nothing. No articles (even 'online exclusives'), nothing (except a screen cap that underscores why some people shouldn't part their hair in the middle). Forget the magazine's campaign blog, look at The Notion where conventional 'wisdoms' are dispensed in the best Kooky Cokie Roberts fashion. Today's posts? Karl Rove and a right-wing event, a week long event . . . that started October 21st. Three weeks old and served up as 'fresh' 'news' today on the rag's 'real time' blog: "Rapid reaction to breaking news and unfiltered takes on politics, ethics and culture from Nation editors and contributors." Rapid reaction to breaking news? Not a word on Watada but a three week old right wing action is worth posting on today? That Karl Rove doesn't care for left blogs is 'news,' but Watada isn't? Never forget that since assuming control, Our Lady of Peace Resistance has ensured that The Nation ignores Iraq, employs her friend and exists as a promotion tool for herself (hence all those bad e-mails sent out whenever she's booked anywhere and hence the 'notion' that a screen cap of her, with bad middle part, has more 'credibility' than one of Jeremy Scahill being interviewed by Bill Moyers for his PBS show -- give her time, she'll turn it into the 'political' equivalent of Martha Stewart's Living yet.). Why does the war drag on? Look no further than the non-leadership at The Nation.

Those waking up this morning might have been caught by surprise with the news but as the day wore on, the only excuse for refusal to cover it was not caring. (We did note it early this morning.) Aaron Glantz wasn't wasting his time covering three week old news or GOP poster boy endowed by the left with super-human powers. Reporting at IPS, Glantz notes Watada supporters are calling today's news "a huge victory." What's that? It's what should be one of the biggest stories of the day: US District Judge Benjamin Settle has provided a road block to the military's attempt to court-martial Watada for a second time. The issue that concerned Judge Settle was the same one Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild, immediately noted when the first court-martial was ruled a mistrial over defense objection: double-jeopardy.

Christian Hill (The Olympian) reports, "Settle ruled that the civilian court's review of Watada's double-jeopardy claim is appropriate, rejecting claims by the Army that the court can only step in after the conclusion of the second court-martial and likely appeals within the military court system. He also found that the granting of a preliminary injunction is necessary in part because Watada will 'probably prevail on the merits' of his case, his ruling said. Settle reached that conclusion largely because of what he said was the abuse of discretion by Lt. Col. John Head, the military judge who presided in Watada's first court-martial, in rejecting a so-called stipulation of fact agreed upon by the government and defense that led to the mistrial, the ruling shows." John Head, better known as Judge Toilet, nuff said. Hal Bernton (Seattle Times) quotes Judge Settle's ruling: "The same Fifth Amendment protections are in place for military service members as are afforded to civilians. There is a strong public interest in maintaining these rights inviolate." Bernton also notes Kenneth Kagan's caution that the case is still not over. Kagan and Jim Lobsenz are Watada's civilian attorneys. Glantz observes that the military is already stating they will file additional briefs to argue for a second court-martial and that, "Judge Settle's ruling does not provide a complete victory for Watada, however. The injunction only temporarily blocks Army prosecutors from proceeding." It is the news of the day and it is a deserved victory for Watada. If, as Judge Settle feels, the Constitutional provision on double-jeopardy prevail throughout the process, this is a major victory not just for war resistance but for the Constitution -- especially a heartfelt moment at a time when the current administration has launched one attack on the Constitution after another -- usually without little more than a peep from Democrats in Congress. Double-jeopardy, in the simplest of terms, means that the government does not get a 'do-over.' They have to argue their case and if turns out they did so badly or if it turns out that they have wasted the government's time (and tax payer monies), that's the end of it. They do not get to audition in front of a judge and/or jury to find out which parts of their argument resonate and which parts do not. The provision against double-jeopardy exists to protect citizens from witch hunts by governmental prosecutors. It is a right embedded in the nation from it's founding. In terms of Watada, the prosecution was losing the court-martial -- possibly they should have vetted their list of witnesses better -- and Judge Toilet thought he could call a mistrial to allow them a second attempt at court-martialing Watada. They don't get to reset the clock and start over. That's not how it is supposed to work in the United States. Judge Settle's ruling is a victory for Watada and it is also a victory for the Constitution. It is one of the big stories of the day.Hawaii's KMGB (video and text report) quotes Watada's father, Bob Watada, "For Ehren, hopefully the army will do the right thing and discharge him immediately. That would allow him to get his life going. Because it's been on hold now for over a year." Get on with his life? Aaron Glantz notes that Watada has reported for duty for the last nine months as the appeals process has continued. Equally worth noting is the fact that Watada's service contract expired in December and the military has extended it while the court proceedings continue.


There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.

Turning to Iraq, Ali al-Fadhily (IPS) pierces through the latest wave of Operation Happy Talk to report on reality, "Despite claims by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Bush administration officials that violence in Iraq is decreasing, residents in the captial tell a different story." Fadhily notes the increased air war, the increased arrests of Iraqis, and an increase in attacks in al-Anbar Province and Baghdad while quoting teacher Salman Hameed explaining, "Sectarian killings are less because all the Sunnis have been evicted from mixed areas in Baghdad. All my relatives and Sunni neighbours who survived the killing campaign led by the militias under the eyes of American and Iraqi forces have fled to either Syria or to other Sunni cities." Muhammad Younis explains to al-Fadhily that the violence continues "but media coverage has almost disappeared." That is the reality. In a really bad puff piece in this morning's New York Times, even Cara Buckley notes that the US military held 16,000 Iraqi prisoners in February of this year and now holds 25,800. While Buckley works overtime to attribute powers to puppet of the occupation al-Maliki (he had no say in the decision by the US military to release 500 prisoners today) but the reality is that the releases happen because there's a lack of space. Innocence or guilt? The US criminal justice system and the US imposed Iraqi criminal justice system is built around the concept of innocent until proven guilty. Iraqi prisoners rarely get trials. They're imprisoned willy nilly, held for months at a time and then released never having received justice but they are supposed to be grateful that the same extra-judicial process that kept them imprisoned went on to release them when they needed to add a new influx of prisoners.

It's among the many reasons Iraqis want all foreign forces -- including the US -- out of their country. But Raed Jarrar and Joshua Holland (writing at CounterPunch) report that efforts are underweigh to strip Iraqis say in the matter, "The United Nations Security Council, with support from the British and American delegations, is poised to cut the Iraqi parliament out of one of the most significant decisions the young government will make: when foreign troops will depart. It's an ugly and unconstitutional move, designed solely to avoid asking an Iraqi legislature for a blank check for an endless military occupation that it's in no mood to give, and it will make a mockery of Iraq's nascent democracy (which needs all the legitmacy it can get." The Iraqi parliament is the only central government that can be considered to have been, in any form, elected by the people. The parliament has repeatedly favored the expulsion of foreign forces -- a position favored by the majority of Iraqis. However, past renewals of the United Nations mandate have taken place without their input. Most recently, al-Maliki (who was not elected by the Iraqi people to the post of prime minister) ignored the country's constitution and decided by himself (with pressure from the US) that the mandate would be extended. When that took place, the Iraqi parliament vowed that was the last time they would be double-crossed or caught unaware. Jarrar and Holland note, "The Iraqi executive branch -- the cabinet and the presidency -- are completely controlled by separatists (including Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and sexuclar politicans.) But the parliament is controlled by nationalist -- nationalists from every major ethnic and sectarian group in the country -- who enjoy a small but crucially important majority in the only elected body in the Iraqi government." The reporters inform that after al-Maliki extra-constitutionally renewed the mandate (that power rests with the Iraqi parliament), they "passed a binding reolution that would force Maliki to go to the parliament and give Iraqi lawmakers an opportunity to block the extension of the mandate." The Iraqi parliament notified the United Nations of that June 2007 binding law. However, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon called the law a "non-binding resolution" in an October 15th report that's only now surfaced. The law wasn't needed, the Iraqi constitution gives the parliament and not the prime minister the power to renew or cancel the mandate. But the law was passed in addition to the Constitution and now the UN Secretary General wants to waive it off as some symbolic action when it is now the law of Iraq.

Meanwhile, Iraq's president, Jalal al-Tabani, insists that the key legislation will be passed before the end of the year while the reality, as Wisam Mohammed (Reuters) reported, that al-Maliki has given up on wooing the Sunni bloc that walked out in August. His cabinet is missing five ministers (had he met their demands, that wouldn't be the case). This is the same al-Maliki that missed the deadline, after being installed as prime minister, to appoint a full cabinet. Meanwhile the World Health Organization found -- date covers through last week -- disturbing news, "The most important development this week is the steep increase in the number of cholera cases reported from Baghdad compared to last week. The number of laboratory confirmed cases jumped from 11 to 24 cholera cases representing an increase of 227% in the cumulative cases." How did the MSM miss that?

"If you know some history that is outside the establishing view of history, you will not be fooled by the things you hear from the White House, or from members of Congress, or from leaders of political parties." Vivian Ho (The Daily Free Press via Common Dreams) quotes historian Howard Zinn explaining that in a speech to Boston area students and activists.
From November 10 through December 16th, Rebel Voices will be perfomred at Culture Project -- based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. Along with war resister Camilo Mejia, the voices of Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Zinn will take part in the November 18th presentation (opening night). Tickets are on sale now. Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez (Democracy Now!) explored the timing of the play with Zinn today:

JUAN GONZALEZ: And the importance of these voices of resistance at a time when -- of resurrecting them at a time when so much accommodation is occurring to what the United States is involved in around the world, even among many right here in our own country?

HOWARD ZINN: The word "accommodation" brings to mind the Democratic Party, which was voted into power in Congress in 2006 and which has shown us a pitiful example of what an opposition party should be, accommodating itself basically to the Bush and Republican agenda, accommodating itself to the sort of orthodox political notion that you must be timid and quiet and not speak the truth. And the advantage of bringing back these historical figures is that these people give us an example. They spoke the truth no matter what. They took chances, they took risks. And so, we need to listen to them and to be inspired by them and to have us realize that wherever we are, whatever walk of life we are, our job is to speak loudly, to speak boldly, to tell the truth, and with the idea that the truth has a power which is very special, and if people keep uttering the truth, the idea will spread and a power will be created that even those who hold the reins in Washington, whether the Democrats or Republicans, will have to listen.

AMY GOODMAN: Howard Zinn, we began today's show with Congressmember Dennis Kucinich, who has been trying to force the issue of impeachment, wanting to start with the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney. The Democratic leadership is fighting hard to stop it from coming to the House. Your thoughts on that issue as an historian and an American?

HOWARD ZINN: I believe that impeachment is an issue that should be raised all over the country. If Congress and the Democrats are too timid to raise it, then it should be done in grassroots meetings all over the country. I understand at least thirty or forty town meetings in Vermont have called for impeachment, that local groups in various parts of the country have called for it. It's the kind of situation that we faced on the eve of the revolution against England, where the colonial officials were not going to lead a fight against England, and so people gathered in various towns in the colonies, and they formed committees of correspondence, and they brought up the issue of independence. We need to bring up the issue of impeachment, because when you bring up the issue of impeachment, whether it succeeds or not -- I mean, the idea of counting votes to see whether you're going to win an impeachment misses the point. To bring up impeachment would excite the country, because it would force a discussion on all the most fundamental issues on the war, on civil liberties, on the stealing of the people's money to pay for the war and to enrich the rich. Impeachment would excite the country. And if the people in the leadership of the Democratic Party don't realize it, then the rest of us should try to make them realize it. I applaud Dennis Kucinich for bringing it up. I hope that John Conyers, who is head of the Judiciary Committee and who at one time showed signs of being a true progressive and a leader of and person of courage, I wish that John Conyers would stop playing with Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic policy of conciliation and caution. And John Conyers, as head of the Judiciary Committee, could hold hearings and start the ball rolling on impeachment. I think everybody who is listening to this broadcast, everybody should write, talk, email their congressman, email John Conyers, and demand that they begin the impeachment process against Cheney, against Bush. I think it would galvanize the energy of the country in a good direction.

We'll return to the topic of impeachment shortly. But let's zoom in on the latest con-game coming out of Congress and then go into violence because the shell game will allow more bloodshed to continue. US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is once again pushing another symoblic, non-binding kind-of end the illegal war proposal. As with the earlier bits of nonsense, it doesn't call for any troops to come home because the (non-binding) measure allows for classification of troops. Who exactly will be classifying them? Pelosi? No, the Bully Boy. So when they propose X combat troops out of Iraq or even all combat troops out of Iraq but leave troops behind for "counter-terrorism" (counter-insurgency, let's get real) and "police" they allow Bully Boy to follow anything they might pass (if he's in the mood to follow anything -- binding or not) simply by reclassifying the categories for the troops. For example, should he declare that all US service members in Iraq are "counter-terrorism" troops, no one could really act surprised by that because he's been allowed to lie about 'terrorism' in Iraq for years now. What these symoblic actions actually do is allow the Democratically-controlled Congress to continue to fund the illegal war while pretending that is not the case and acting as though they are really working to end the illegal war. The House of Representatives wants to give Bully Boy $50 billion more for the illegal war while he wants $70 billion. Pelosi pretends that she's accomplishing something with her non-binding measure that follows the House approval of a $471 billion defense budget. On Thursday's
Free Speech Radio News, Leigh Ann Caldwell reported that the $471 billion defense budget does allow Bully Boy some wiggle room on taking a little here and there to apply it to the illegal war --"but a provision was included in the bill to allow the president to borrow money" if his blood lust is not satisfied. So Pelosi's once again backing a 'symoblic' and toothless measure and trying to convince the public that she's doing something when the reality is the House has already given Bully Boy the means to continue the illegal war and the $50 billion -- which will be approved, Congress has no backbone -- is just going to be the cherry on top.

The con games are disgraceful and they have allowed the illegal war to continue and so many to die and be wounded. Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Kirkuk car bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi police officer and wounded another as well as two civilians, a Kirkuk roadside bombing wounded one civilian, another Kirkuk roadside bombing claimed the life of Captain Hassan Khalaf and left three other Iraqi soldiers wounded while yesterday a Khaniqeen bombing claimed the lives of 3 police officers with three more wounded and another three were wounded in an Al Saidyah roadside bombing. In the continued targeting of officials in Iraq, Reuters notes that, today, 5 "Sunni Arab tribal leaders" were killed in Dojemah bombing (in which the bomber also died), while a Bagdad roadside bombing claimed the lives of 2 people with two more injured, a Balad Ruz mortar attack that claimed the lives of 3 children (five people were injured), and a bombing outside Baquba claimed the life of 1 child and left six other members of the family, including five children, injured. On the targeting of officials, Reuters notes the five "were members of the Diyala Salvation Council, a body set up to oppose al Qaeda in Iraq" and that Sheikh Faeiz Lefta al-Obaidi was among the five killed.

Shootings?

Reuters notes 3 people were shot dead (and two wounded) outside Bauba and that "four gunmen" were then killed by residents.

Kidnappings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a "citizen in Toz Khirmato" was kidnapped yesterday.

Corpses?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad.
Reuters ups the count by 1 to make four corpses discovered in Baghdad.

Returning to the topic of the US Congress, Dennis Kucinich moved this week towards the impeachment of Dick Cheney. "Impeachment," Nancy Pelosi pompously declared in an October 2006 interview with CBS' 60 Minutes, was "off the table." Steny Hoyer repeated that nonsense this week. As Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted today, "An American Research Group poll in July found 54% of Americans support beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Cheney. 74% of Democrats were also in favor." From today's DN! broadcast:

AMY GOODMAN: Explain exactly what you did this week.

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: The articles of impeachment that were introduced under a privileged resolution cite the Vice President's persistent lies relating to Iraq. He claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, that necessitated the US response. He claimed that Iraq somehow was connected to al-Qaeda's role in 9/11. He has been beating the drums for war against Iran. Those are the elements of the articles of impeachment that were introduced into the House this week.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And why introduce your resolution in regards to Vice President Cheney and not to President Bush?

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: Well, certainly President Bush also has to be held accountable. However, I think that any constitutional process that begins for the removal of an official, when you have the Vice President, who led the effort to deceive this country with respect to a war against Iraq, it's appropriate that he be dealt with first, so that you don't create a condition where you remove the President first and then Mr. Cheney becomes his successor, and then you have to have an impeachment of two presidents consecutively.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain the leadership's position and why you chose to do what you did this week.

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: I think it's very difficult to explain their position, because I don't think their position is defensible. I think when you consider that our whole nation is at risk, our constitutional form of government has been undermined by lies, by illegal war, by massive debt, how can you explain the position of Democratic leaders?

Blackwater was also addressed today on Democracy Now! with the Washington Post's Steve Fainru and we'll grab that on Monday. This is a dictated entry and there is a K-limit in terms of size -- too many K, over 54K, and it will not hit the website when e-mailed. Quickly, as Matthew Rothschild (The Progressive) notes, Bully Boy is indifferent to the suffering of Iraqis (it's not just Dem leadership) having declared that Iraqis should be saying, "God, I love freedom!" The Independent of London's Patrick Cockburn (at CounterPunch) continues his reporting on the PKK and the conflict between northern Iraq and Turkey which has not ceased -- just the MSM coverage of it -- and examines the historical roots of the PKK as well as the possible reasons why and why not Turkey may soon take action.


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ehren watadahal berntonchristian hillthe olympianaaron glantzkpfa
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anthony arnovedemocracy nowamy goodmansteve fainaruthe washington post
raed jarrarthe new york times
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jeremy scahill
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