stinky gordon brown stands alone

Gordon Brown was struggling to maintain his authority last night as his fightback reshuffle planned for next week was left in disarray by the early departure of three ministers.
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, Tom Watson, the Cabinet Office Minister and close ally of Mr Brown, and Beverley Hughes, the Children’s Minister, are all leaving the Government.
The news came days before a shakeup that many see as the Prime Minister’s last chance to rescue his position. It leaves morale in shreds. Ministers are jostling for position, with David Miliband declaring that he wants to stay as Foreign Secretary. One former Cabinet minister referring to the state of mind of Labour MPs, told The Times: “They are out for the count.”

some days, you get an unexpected piece of good news. the above is from philip webster's 'ministers quit the cabinet as gordon brown's authority wanes' (times of london). so tony blair's little buddy has a few problems? the 1 who has refused to investigate the illegal war? yeah, yeah, he promises 1 is coming ... soon. some day. he's not sure when.

can't be this summer.

but soon.

can't be in the fall.

elections in the fall.

but soon.

he announced weeks ago that the investigation would take place. and it will. quickly.

just not this summer.

and just not this fall.

and christmas? well between the remakes of a christmas carol and egg nog, who's got time in the winter? how about in a year.

or 2.

maybe 3.

as i said before, i'm thrilled that gordo brown's having problems. yea!

no surprise, guardian treats it as minor news and completely, absolutely unconnected to gordon brown. no connection, no implications.

well what do you expect from the party organ of new labour?

here's the opening to andrew porter's piece at the telegraph of london:


Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, dealt the most serious blow to the Prime Minister’s authority. It emerged that she will step down from the Cabinet when Mr Brown reshuffles his team after what Labour fears will be its worst performance at the polls for a generation.

but nothing to see here, you understand.

i'm sure tomorrow the guardian will attempt to find a way to spin it and present it as a victory for gordon brown.

i think military families against the war made the point best about who got money and who didn't with this report (which also has video):

The grandmother of Gordon Gentle, who was killed serving his country in Iraq, has spoken of her anger at the unfolding controversy over MPs' expenses.
Pauline Graham was told that politicians did not have sufficient funds to get vital equipment to troops fighting in the Middle East.
She believes lives could have been saved if taxpayers' money had been better spent.
She told STV News: "What I would say to those MPs who've stolen our taxpayers' money is to pay it back. Pay it to people that need it. I mean, give it to the troops."
Mrs Graham's family and friends, led by her daughter Rose, have long sought better safety measures for troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While Fusilier Gentle's death in an armoured vehicle was held to have resulted from failures in the supply chain, the right equipment could have saved his life.

again, that says it all. and gordon brown's refusal to ever call it out or offer real leadership on the issue explains why he needs to go.

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

Tuesday, June 2, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces another death, a conviction in the kidnapping and murder of Margaret Hassan, Parliaments in Iraq and Kuwait lobby verbal bombs at one another, a political party is banned from the July elections, Odierno offers some fancy dancing, and more.

Today in Baghdad, Al Jazeera reports Judge Assaad al-Moussawi declared, "Ali Lutfi Jassar is sentenced to life for participating in the killing and kidnapping of Margaret Hassan, and of attempting to blackmail her family." Margaret Hassan was with the NGO CARE International and worked in Iraq (where she held citizenship) for years before the start of the illegal war. She was kidnapped October 19, 2004 in Baghdad. She was brutally murdered. We last noted her death in the December 24, 2008 snapshot. That was when alleged kidnappers Ali Lutfi Jassar al-Rawi and Manif Slih were supposed to stand trial and the family waited to see what happened while issuing a statement:Since Margaret's death we have spent the last four years trying to find her remains. We have sought justice and truth, and have never given up. We want to bring her home and give her a Christian burial with the respect she deserves. This was a promise made to her by her husband (Tahseen Ali Hassan), and together with our family, he has never given up hope of fulfiling that promise. [. . .] One of these men was trying to blackmail the British Government and our family in exchange for the return of Margaret's remains. He demanded money from us, and a safe haven from the British Government in the UK for his family. [. . .] We have begged them to send an Embassy official to the trial to represent our sister Margaret. They feel unable to do so because of the security situation. We do not understand this. [. . .] Mr Brown said just this week that the British Government has achieved all its goals and the security situation in Iraq is much improved.The December trial quickly adjourned. Sunday Sam Marsden (PA via Independent of London) quoted Margaret's sister Deidre Fitzsimons stating, "If he's put in prison, if he knows he's got a life sentence, maybe he will decide to tell us where her remains are. I don't belive we are ever going to get justice for my sister. But we would like her to be buried here because my family has suffered over the past four-and-a-half years. We have spent all our time trying to find her remains. We want some peace in our lives." David Brown (Times of London) noted this morning, "The mystery surrounding the location of her grave has compounded the anguish of Mrs Hassan's three sisters, her brother and their extended families." Their questions were not answered in the hearing. Waleed Ibrahim (Reuters) explains Ali Lutfi Jassar received a life sentence for "kidnapping, extortion and murder". For those who think that sentence means something, the Belfast Telegraph reminds, "Another man was also jailed for life in 2006 for aiding and abetting the kidnappers, but his sentence was reduced on appeal." That man was Mustafa Mohammed Salman al-Jabouri. The reaction of Iraqis to the sentencing of Steven D. Green for his War Crimes which included taking part in the gang-raping and murdering 14-year-old Iraqi Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, murdering her parents and five-year-old sister is also worth remembering. Raheem Salman (Los Angeles Times) quoted Mahdi Obaid Janabi ("an elder of the Janabi tribe") stating that pressure should be put on the US to force a change from life sentence to the death penalty for Green. Sheik Fahil al-Janabi told Marc Santora and Suadad al-Salhy (New York Times) that the life sentence "is not enough". Sami al-Jumaili and Habaib al-Zubaidy (Reuters) quoted Abeer's uncle Raad Yusuf stating, "It's a real shock. That court decision is a crime -- almost worse than the soldier's crime." Habib al-Zubaidy (Reuters) noted a mechanic from Abeer's home time, Ahmed Samir stating, "What the American soldier did is a terrorist act and he deserves execution. The court has not delivered justice. If I killed an American girl, the American court would have executed me." CNN quoted Sahwa leader Mustafa Kamel Shabib al-Jaoburi stating, "He raped a girl and killed an entire family, and he got only life in prison. . . . This is an unjust trial. We demand a new trial." There is no outcry in Iraq that Ali Lutfi Jassar received too light a sentence.

The Irish Times quotes an e-mail Jassar was convicted of sending to the British embassy, "I am one of the people who participated in the operation of kidnapping and executing Margeret Hassan. I have with me all the evidence proving this. Therefore I request securing of a channel of contact with the husband of Margaret, Tashin Hassan, or with the British government in order that I can give you the true story of her killing. So I can pass on to you her corpse which I still have in my possession. Therefore I request your speedy reply as soon as possible." BBC New's Nicholas Witchell states, "The leaders of this plot have never been found. Some of their names are known but they have never been traced. [Ali Lutfi Jassar] told the judges he had nothing at all to do with the murder. He said confessions had been wrought from him through torture." Iraqi 'justice' does have a reputation of beating 'confessions' out of prisoners. In response to the sentence, the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office issued the following:


John Tucknott, the Charge d'affaires in Baghdad, welcomed news of the sentencing of Ali Lutfi Jassar Al Rawi for his part in the kidnap and murder of Margaret Hassan on Tuesday 2 June. He said:
'I welcome the news that Ali Lutfi Jassar Al Rawi has today been brought to justice by the Iraqi authorities for the role he played in the kidnap and murder of Margaret Hassan. Our thoughts are with Margaret Hassan's family for the suffering they continue to endure.
We hope that this may be a step further to finding the other people responsible for this dreadful crime, and to finding Margaret's body. We will continue to work with the Iraqi authorities as they continue their investigation, and press them to follow up all possible aspects. We urge anyone with information on this crime to please come forward.'


Xinhua notes, "At the age of 27, she married Tahseen Ali Hassan, a 29-year-oldIraqi student of engineering in the United Kingdom. She moved to Iraq with him in 1972 and became Iraqi citizen. She spent the rest of her life in the country." Antony Loyd (Times of London) explains, "The Dublin-born Roman Catholic, who had joint British, Iraqi and Irish nationality, we married to an Iraqi and had lived in Iraq for 30 years." Margaret held triple citizenship: British, Iraqi and Irish. In one of last year's most read pieces at the Independent of London, Robert Fisk remembered:

It was Margaret who took leukaemia medicines donated by readers of The Independent to the child cancer victims of Iraq back in 1998 after we discovered that hundreds of infants were dying in those areas where Western forces used depleted uranium munitions in the 1991 Gulf War. She was a proverbial tower of strength, and it was she -- and she alone -- who managed to persuade Saddam Hussein's bureaucrats to let us bring the medicine into Iraq. The United Nations sanctions authorities had been our first hurdle, Saddam Hussein our second. It is all history. Like Margaret, all the children died.

Meanwhile Alsumaria reports the Parliament ended its session today with the Speaker (Ayad al-Samarri) hurling charges at Kuwait and some MPs calling for Kuwait "to pay financial allocations". Kuwait's MPs must have felt their ears burning because AFP reports that they had Iraq on their mind as well and called on their government to discontinue reparations payments and MP Falah al-Sawwag added, "If this is how Iraqi MPs deal with their neighbor Kuwait, I think we should recall the Kuwaiti ambassador from Baghdad." had Iraq on their mind, Marc Lynch (Foreign Policy) reports:

While it hasn't received much attention, Iraq's relations with two key Arab Gulf states have jumped the tracks over the last week. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has publicly declared that he has given up on trying to reconcile with the Saudis. Meanwhile, Iraq and the Kuwaitis are in an increasingly nasty spat over the question of compensation claims dating back to the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. It's gotten to the point that a majority of the members of the Iraqi Parliament are demanding that Kuwait pay compensation to Iraq for allowing U.S. troops to invade Iraq in 1991! This is a time for American diplomacy to kick into high gear and try to prevent this from getting out of hand, since U.S. plans to withdraw from Iraq depend at least in part on establishing a sustainable regional security architecture.

Al Jazeera explains some MPs in Kuwait staged a walk out and "Some of the MPs who walked out also protested against the failure by two of their four female colleagues to cover their heads as required by Islamic rules." Meanwhile, ISRIA notes Kuwait's "Foreign Undersecretary Khaled al-Jarallah said Kuwait regretted the escalatory language of some media outlets vis-a-vis the State of Kuwait, charging it with seeking to harm Iraq, at a time it has exerted enormous efforts at various levels to support the brotherly Iraq and helping it rejoin the international community."

In other political news, the Kurdistan Regional Government holds their elections July 25th. They, like Kirkuk, did not participate in the January 31st elections. Their elections will be for the country's Parliament as well as to determine the KRG's president. AFP reports that the al-Amal ("Hope") candidates have been banned from the list by "judicial authorities in Baghdad" because they allegedly have ties to the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) which is labeled as a terrorist organization by the European Union, Turkey, the US and Nouri al-Maliki among others. The news comes on the same day the KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani declared of the ongoing PKK ceasefire, "We believe extending the ceasefire serves as an important step towards peace and stability in the area. At the same time, it is in the interest of all that we continue to work towards a solution in a peaceful way, especially after the recent positive steps taken by Turkey." Whether al-Amal is associated with the PKK or not, the decision by Baghdad could enflame tensions. This follows Mohammed Abbas (Reuters) report yesterday where the KRG's Oil Minister, Ashtia Hawrami, stated the KRG must be involved in the resolution of who has control over the oil-rich Kirkuk (the KRG or the central government) and that the KRG would not accept any oil deals for Kirkuk signed by al-Maliki's government: "I will say no company will sign an agreement without coming to the KRG. They have to sit down with us and say 'Is this OK?'. If I am not party to the agreement up front, I don't know what it is."

Meanwhile in other news, AFP reports that the Front of Jihad and Change announced they had chosen Sheikh Hareth al-Dhari for their spokesperson: "We will allow Dahri to speak on our behalf on political issues and to represent us . . . to defend the blood of our martyrs."

Turning to US political offices for a correction to yesterday's snapshot which noted LA City Council member Bill Rosendahl's conversation with Lila Garrett on KPFK's Connect the Dots with Lila Garrett and mentioned his chief of staff whose last name was mispelled: His name is Mike Bonin. My apologies.

Over the weekend, Alsumaria noted that Jalal Talabani, the president of Iraq, met the US Ambassador to Iraq Chris Hill for the first time Friday. For the first time. Remember Hill's Senate hearing? Refer to 3/26 and 3/29 snapshots. Chris Hill, as soon as he was confirmed, was getting on the next flight to Iraq and getting down to work! Now the next flight ended up being the next one he wanted to catch, and that ended up three days after he was confirmed. April 21st he was confirmed. May 30th, over thirty days later, he finally meets face-to-face with the president of Iraq.

The meeting was allowed to linger, just like al-Maliki's allowed to let the Sahwa situation linger by refusing to bring them into the government forces. Regarding tensions on the ground, Matt Brown files this report for PM (Australia's ABC -- link has text and audio):ABU MOHAMMED: The problem, they are in a state of: I don't know who's coming next to get me. Is it the militia? Is it the insurgents? Is it the American?MATT BROWN: Abu Mohammed is a pseudonym for a young man I met in eastern Sydney. While the latest car bombing won't even make the news here, Abu Mohammed is watching anxiously every day. He's a member of one of Iraq's most famous Sunni tribes. His family still lives in Al-Doura, just south of central Baghdad, on the edge of an area once dubbed the triangle of death. [. . .] As a Sunni Muslim, Abu Mohammad fears the Shiite clerics and their political parties which now run the country. His family suffered at the hands of the Shiite militia which dominates the Government's security services when his brother was detained in 2007. ABU MOHAMMED: They just took him from the street basically, based on his identity. For a week we didn't know what's happened and then we found out it was the militia. He ended up in a Government prison, Iraqi Government prison.He's been subject to a lot of torture. He went there 24 years old; he came out looking, after one year and a half, as if he is 44 years old. MATT BROWN: What's that left you feeling about the Government and who's running it? ABU MOHAMMED: They don't care about the people, 100 per cent, you know what I mean? I think they're driven by revenge. MATT BROWN: In the last two years those forces have been reined in. The surge in American troops which began in 2007 was also crucial to lowering levels of violence. But equally important was the American decision to turn enemies into allies. They joined forces with local Sunni tribal leaders who were threatened by the growing power of more radical Sunnis in groups like Al Qaeda in Iraq. They formed Al-Sahwa - awakening councils. They raised militias called the Sons of Iraq. Some were former insurgents but now they were on the American payroll.

Meanwhile, he's got to cut loose, footlose. Gen Ray Odierno tried not to dance for Washington. Those days are over. Tim Cocks (Reuters) reports that while in Samarra with Odierno today, the general stated that "U.S. combat forces will vacate all Iraqi cities on schedule by the end of this month". Visions of Dancing With The Stars in his head, Tim Cocks joins Odierno in a box step and forgets reality. From the April 27th snapshot: "Rod Nordland (New York Times) broke that story in today's paper and noted that Iraq and the US are going to focus on Mosul in talks about US troops remaining in some Iraqi cities. Nordland reveals they will remain in Baghdad (he says 'parts of Baghdad' -- that means they will be in Baghdad and Baghdad is a city) and that Camp Victory ['Camps Victory, Liberty, Striker and Slayer, plus the prison known as Camp Cropper'] and 'Camp Prosperity' will not be closed or turned over to Iraq according to Iraqi Maj Gen Muhammad al-Askari. The SOFA 'requires' that they be closed or turned over but al-Askari says they're making exceptions even though the SOFA 'requires' otherwise. For the mammoth Camp Victory, it is in Baghdad and out of Baghdad, for example, so al-Askari says they consider it out of Baghdad." They're not leaving Baghdad, they've got a waiver. There's a difference. And May 30th, the paper's Campbell Robertson offers "U.S. Soldier And 11 Iraqis Die in Attacks" which offered this of the June 30th 'deadline': "But Mosul is in many ways an exception to that deadline. An enormous American base on the edge of Mosul -- a city that has remained a redoubt for the insurgency even as attacks have decreased substantially around the rest of Iraq -- will remain open." Yeah, Tim Cocks leaves out all of that. But doesn't he sound passionate serenading Ray Odierno?

It's your heat that makes me warm Makes me climb on you like a tree And I don't need no fancy dancing When you bend over me We'll be like two lazy sunbathers Swaying palm trees against the sky And I beg you when you love me Look me in the eyes

Look Tim in the eyes, Ray, when you love him, look him in the eyes. (Lyrics from Carly Simon's "Look Me In The Eyes" which first appeared on Playing Possum.)


Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 Baghdad roadside bombings. Alsumaria reports a Mosul mortar attack on a police station which wounded two police officers (all other incidents listed were noted in yesterday's snapshot).


Today the US military announced, "BAGHDAD -- A U.S. Soldier died June 2 of combat-related injuries after an improvised explosive device detonated near a patrol in eastern Baghdad. The Soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The names of service members are announced through the U.S. Department of Defense Official Web site at [here]. The announcements are made on the Web site no earlier than 24 hours after notification of the service member's primary next of kin. The incident is currently under investigation." The announcement brought the number of US service members who have died in the Iraq War to 4308.

May is the deadliest month of the year so far for US service members in Iraq. As noted yesterday, the death toll tends to trickle out as the end of the month approaches which allows many news outlets the 'chance' to do their end of the month reports and run with incomplete figures. Other death notices for the month may continue to trickle out but, at this point, the death toll stands at 25.
Bradley W. Iorio's death was announced yesterday and took the toll to 25. The Defense Department issued the following statement: "The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Pvt. Bradley W. Iorio, 19, of Galloway, N.J., died May 29 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries suffered from a non-combat related incident May 27 in Tallil, Iraq. He was assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation. For more information the media may contact the Fort Bliss public affairs office at (915) 568-4505."

On the subject of the media,
Alsumaria reports, "Al Baghdadiya reporter colleague Alaa' Abdul Al Wahab was killed in a car bomb explosion in Al Shorta District in northern Mosul. Local police official reported that Abdul Wahab who is also a journalist was killed while University professor Dr. Sultan Gerges, an anchor on another TV channel was wounded due the bomb that was planted in Abdul Wahab's car." The Committee to Protect Journalists writes of the death of Alaa Abdel-Wahab from a Mosul sticky bombing and observes:In a similar but unrelated attack the same day, two staffers from the state-run Al-Iraqiya television station were badly wounded when a bomb attached to their car exploded in the Al-A'zamiya district in Baghdad, according to local and international news reports. One of the wounded staffers was identified as sound engineer Hameed Yousif, while the second staffer's identity has not been revealed, according to local news reports. The observatory said Yousif is in critical condition.The assaults on the press also wasn't judged to be a 'story' for the New York Times. Reporters Without Borders also notes the death of Alaa Abdel Wahab:"We are saddened and appalled by these two bombings," Reporters Without Borders said. "It is time the slaughter of journalists in Iraq was stopped. The Iraqi authorities created a special police unit last year to investigate murders of journalists. We urge them to investigate these two bombings very thoroughly. Only conclusive results are likely to discourage these killers and improve the safety of journalists."A renowned print media journalist and reporter for Al-Baghdadia TV, Wahab was killed in Mosul's Al-Shurta neighbourhood by a bomb that had been placed underneath his car. A local police official said Dr Sultan Jurjis, a university academic and presenter on a rival TV station, was injured by the blast.

Turning to the US, James Rowley and Jonathan D. Salant (Bloomberg News) report that, while addressing the National Press Club in DC yesterday, former President of Vice Dick Cheney declared that there was no link between Iraq and 9-11. Declared it many years too late, too late for over 1.3 million dead Iraqis, too late for 4307 dead US service members. Apparently chafing in his Depends from too much honesty (he does have an allergy to honesty), Cheney immediately began spinning and lying declaring that the CIA was the one who got it wrong (the White House worked the CIA on that point) and whined, "We know for a fact that Saddam Hussein was a state sponsor of terrorism." When a Cheney starts using "We know for a fact," grasp that a Cheney is lying.

Chris Hedges was a guest yesterday on WBAI's Law and Disorder -- the hourly program hosted by Michael Ratner, Michael Smith, Heidi Boghosian and Dalia Hashad. This episode was delayed due to fundraising (and played elsewhere last week but on WBAI yesterday). Mike noted Hedges' appeareance last night and Jeremy Scahill's. Both spoke of the refusal to hold Barack accountable with Jeremy noting "an almost cult-like behavior." With Laila Al-Arian, Chris Hedges co-authored Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians and Hedges, Jeremy Scahill, Sister Dianna Ortiz, Michael Ratner, Andy Zee and others (like Laura Flanders because, as Diane Keaton notes in Love & Death, you've got have some uglies in the mix) will take part June 3rd at seven p.m. in a discussion at New York Society for Ethical Culture. Both Scahill and Hedges also spoke of a state-like media in the US (with the fawning over Barry O). In a new piece, Hedges observes:

The crisis faced by combat veterans returning from war is not simply a profound struggle with trauma and alienation. It is often, for those who can slice through the suffering to self-awareness, an existential crisis. War exposes the lies we tell ourselves about ourselves. It rips open the hypocrisy of our religions and secular institutions. Those who return from war have learned something which is often incomprehensible to those who have stayed home. We are not a virtuous nation. God and fate have not blessed us above others. Victory is not assured. War is neither glorious nor noble. And we carry within us the capacity for evil we ascribe to those we fight. Those who return to speak this truth, such as members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, are our contemporary prophets. But like all prophets they are condemned and ignored for their courage. They struggle, in a culture awash in lies, to tell what few have the fortitude to digest. They know that what we are taught in school, in worship, by the press, through the entertainment industry and at home, that the melding of the state's rhetoric with the rhetoric of religion, is empty and false. The words these prophets speak are painful. We, as a nation, prefer to listen to those who speak from the patriotic script. We prefer to hear ourselves exalted. If veterans speak of terrible wounds visible and invisible, of lies told to make them kill, of evil committed in our name, we fill our ears with wax. Not our boys, we say, not them, bred in our homes, endowed with goodness and decency. For if it is easy for them to murder, what about us? And so it is simpler and more comfortable not to hear. We do not listen to the angry words that cascade forth from their lips, wishing only that they would calm down, be reasonable, get some help, and go away. We, the deformed, brand our prophets as madmen. We cast them into the desert. And this is why so many veterans are estranged and enraged. This is why so many succumb to suicide or addictions.

Lastly, Sunsara Taylor (World Can't Wait) writes of the assassination of Dr. George Tiller:

Two weeks ago, Notre Dame became a flash point in the struggle for women's right to abortion when Obama was invited to give the graduation commencement address. It provides a concentrated expression of why we keep losing ground and losing clinics and losing doctors and losing hearts and minds, especially of young people who have grown up in a time of complete moral confusion around abortion. And, in many ways, the events surrounding Obama's Notre Dame appearance set the stage for this most recent killing.When anti-abortion leaders learned of Obama's invitation to Notre Dame, they put their movement on an emergency footing. They crowed about how Obama is the most "radical pro-choice" president ever. Christian fascist lunatic women-haters like Randall Terry (who is all over the media now exclaiming he has no sympathy for Dr. Tiller and calling him a "mass murderer") were joined by zombie-like fundamentalist foot-soldiers to descend on the campus. They screamed bloody murder, trespassed and got arrested, projected their rhetoric all over the national media, and incited their fanatical base across the country.On the other side, there were no pro-choice organizations. That's right, zero. It seems that, just like under the Clinton years when abortion access was dramatically restricted, the pro-choice movement was asleep at the wheel because a "pro-choice" Democrat is in the White House.I went to Notre Dame together with a half dozen other supporters of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Several handfuls of students and community members who came out on their own joined us in raising a banner, "Abortion on Demand and Without Apology!" and signs that read, "Women Are Not Incubators! Fetuses Are Not Babies! Abortion Is Not Murder!"Meanwhile, Obama was inside the graduation hall pumping out the deadly illusion of "common ground." He suggested that every woman feels morally heart-wrenched by abortion. He suggested that we find "common ground" in reducing the number of abortions and the number of unintended pregnancies. Obama said we should find "common ground" around the need to "care and support for women who do carry their child to term."As I analyzed more fully here (http://revcom.us/a/166/ST_on_Obama-en.html), Obama's speech gave more moral legitimacy and political initiative to the movement that wants to force women to bear children against their will.


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the los angeles timesraheem salman
the new york timesmarc santorasudad al-salhy
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david brown
belfast telegraph
carly simonconnect the dots with lila garrettlila garrettkpfk
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james rowleyjonathan d. salantbloomberg news
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thoughts on abortion rights

that's Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Fair Play For Old Men" that's isaiah and now to sad news. dr. george tiller was assassinated. for providing women's health care. in the u.s., not in afghanistan. this is from wowowow:


Tiller, 67, survived a shooting outside his clinic in 1993, had his clinic burned down, had many threats to his life and was recently under investigation. Anti-abortion groups are condemning Tiller’s murder, saying they never encourage violence in abortion protests and extremists are to blame for such violence. Even Operation Rescue, deemed fringe by some, said the violence is shocking.
"Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice," the organization said. "We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller’s family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ."
To stem any future violence as a result of this shooting, the U.S. Marshals Service has ramped up protection of certain abortion clinics and doctors, reports The Washington Post. Though they won’t detail exactly what clinics or doctors those may be, one likely choice is Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, which provides abortions and reproductive health services in the three states, even flying doctors in to perform abortions.
Dr. Warren M. Hern, director of the Boulder Abortion Clinic and a close friend of Tiller’s, who himself has been the target of threats and violence, called his colleague’s death a "profound tragedy," but not unexpected amid "35 years of relentless and merciless" threats and "fanaticism" violence from anti-abortion extremists.

i'm so sick of it and so disgusted that, all these years later, it continues. i can remember cher playing a doctor in if these walls could talk over a decade ago and it was so common in real life that even though it was a horror to see cher's doctor shot no 1 could say, 'oh that could never happen.' by then, it was all too common.

and i'm sick of the fact that women still have to defend their right to abortion. i'm sick of it being under assault and sick of women who won't defend it. or who say 'well it's horrible. let's go for less!' no, let's go for it's a right and any woman who wants to exercise that right should as she sees fit and she owes no answer or comment to any 1 else because it's her damn business and her damn body.

young women today need to look at what the women who came before did and learn. i don't mean, 'we're experts!' we are not experts and we made a million mistakes.

i would say the biggest 1 was apologizing for abortion and treating it as something 'bad' or something 'shameful.'

it was a right won. and we immediately wanted to be the typical stereotype of women and apologize for our power. 'well, it's not what any 1 wants to do ...' we stigmatized it ourselves.

don't make our mistakes.

do better than us.

that shouldn't be very difficult.


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

Monday, June 1, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, Iraq's Health Ministry issues an undercount and various outlets run with it, May proves to be the deadliest month for US service members in Iraq, Barack continues torture, Iraqi gays under assault finally get some attention from Pacifica, and more.

We're going to start with an exchange broadcast today on KPFK's Connect the Dots with Lila Garrett between Garrett and LA City Council member Bill Rosendahl and the topic was marriage equality:

Bill Rosendahl: . . . we're not equal in America today. We're not equal anywhere on the earth. In fact, I put a motion in last week on the council about the outrage in going on Iraq right now. While we have 130,000 troops there, spending billions of dollars, killing a lot of local people, that gay people are being round up and murdered. Over 600 have been documented and we're there watching it happen. And it's just outrageous and our president should get up and show some real leadership and, frankly, say, "Look, we're in Iraq to create freedom there and democracy and gay people are not going to be any more murdered just because they're gay." And that's what's going on -- tortured and murdered. And so, we suffer as gay people all over the planet. We have a better life here in American and in the west than a lot of gay people have in other parts of the planet. They're literally killed for their realities but here in the States we still don't have our basic civil rights. I mean, when is our president going to get up and talk about Don't Ask, Don't Tell? Our people are in the military. They're thrown out of the military. He promised us that, I'm expecting real leadership out of him. And I must say I am disappointed. He has not taken the leadership seriously enough. I don't like what he's doing in Afghanistan and Pakistan, I don't like what he's continuing to do in Iraq. He better not get to boisterous about North Korea and Iran. You know, he should focus on our infrastructure, our education and bring peace to the planet, not more imperial war.


Lila Garrett: Wait a minute. 600 gay people were murdered? By whom?

Bill Rosendahl: 600 gay people in Iraq were murdered by --

Lila Garrett: By?

Bill Rosendahl: -- family and by folks within the militia who see gay people out in the street being more public. They round us up and then they kill us. And then there's an incredible torture mechanism that they do which I don't really want to say on the air but it's just disgusting how they end up putting us to death and to know about it from international gay and lesbian groups and to know our government knows it's going on and has said nothing about it, to me, is outrageous and I want our president to show some real leadership on this.

Lila Garrett: Yeah, but I really have to know, these 600 murdered people, you say by families and militia, are you talking about the American militia

Bill Rosendahl: No. No, no, no. No, I'm talking about several, what I consider, perversions of the Koran. There are people who believe in Mohammad that also believe to be gay is wrong and that 'honor' murders can take place. So some of it is literally families killing their own. And others are groups that are just part of the community who single out young gay men because they figure they are gay and kill them. They literally kill us.

Lila Garrett: Are you saying, that this is happening in Iraq or is happening in Iran?

Bill Rosendahl: This is happening in Iraq as we're talking right now, Lila.

Lila Garrett: By Iraqis?

Bill Rosendahl: By Iraqis.

Lila Garrett: And the United States is not stopping it?

Bill Rosendahl: It is not stopping it.

Lila Garrett: This is unbelievable.

Bill Rosendahl: It is unbelievable. It's outrageous. It is a living hell for my folks over there.

Lila Garrett: I don't understand why this isn't the story in the United States.

Bill Rosendahl: Well because the American media is so perverted. They spend all this time about Miss America and all that at the same time this is going on over there. They spend more time on trivia here than they do on real stories. They spent some quality time on that young lady that was in Iran that was arrested as a spy who was a reporter. But this particular issue has gotten no press, mainstream press, it has gotten a lot of other press and there's a lot of e-mails that are circulated and the gay and lesbian international groups have documented it, have gone over there and are the ones who first brought it to my attention. And that's why I brought it to the attention of my colleagues on the City Council and we unanimously passed a resolution. In fact, my chief of staff Mike Bonahma was with the vice president of the United States the next day, Joe Biden, because he was one of the early Obama supporters, and mentioned it to him, handed him the resolution and as Biden left the room, he said, "I'll get back to you on it." So hopefully our president will show real leadership and show an outrage to this.

Lila Garrett: Let's not hold our breath before Obama shows real leadership.

Bill Rosendahl: I know.

Lila Garrett: I want to get back to these 600 gay people that have been murdered. By the Iraqis -- by whom among the Iraqis? By the Sunnis?

Bill Rosendahl: No, no, no. I'm talking about family. I'm talking about just the militias and the insurgents in general. They consider this [being gay] wrong and a murderous act and they literally kill us. And when the numbers started to become hundreds -- and now it's over 600 documented -- that's when it was brought to my attention. In fact, one of the international leaders of the gay group read a letter that was sent to him by a 25-year-old gay man who was in that threatened position. So we're trying to raise the awareness out there, the public awareness, and you're helping with that, Lila, by putting it on your show.

As noted May 15th, "Ruben Vives (Los Angeles Times) reports that the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to approve Council Rep Bill Rosendahl's 'resolution calling for federal legislation urging the Iraqi government to prevent the persecution of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people'." Lila noted that the segment was taped ahead of time so, for perspective, the resolution passed May 15th. This year, the targeting's been noted here first in more on the issue, you can see this snapshot, this entry and the roundtable Friday night ["Roundtable on Iraq," "Roundtabling Iraq," "the roundtable," "Iraq," "Iraq in the Kitchen," "Roundtable on Iraq," "Talking Iraq," "Iraq," "Talking Iraq roundtable" and "Iraq roundtable"] That's going back to the start of April and it is not true that the MSM has ignored it. They could do a lot more but they have covered it and where there has been no amplification is in Panhandle Media which appears to feel it's a 'niche' story to be left to the LGBT media. In April, Wisam Mohammed and Khalid al-Ansary (Reuters) and Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN), the Dallas Morning News, UPI and AFP reported on it. Michael Riley (Denver Post) covered the story and covered US House Rep Jared Polis' work on the issue (which included visiting Iraq), PDF format warning, click here for his letter to Patricia A. Butenis. Polis is quoted at his website stating, "The United States should not tolerate human rights violations of nay kind, especially by a government that Americans spend billions of taxpayer dollars each year supporting. Hopefully my trip and letters to US and Iraqi officials will help bring international attention and investigation to this terrible situation and bring an end to any such offenses." For the New York Times, Timothy Williams and Tareq Maher's "Iraq's Newly Open Gays Face Scorn and Murder" covered the topic. BBC News offered "Fears over Iraq gay killing spate." The Denver Post offered an editorial entitled "Killing of gay Iraqis shouldn't be ignored: We applaud Rep. Jared Polis for his efforts last week to shine the spotlight on the killings of homosexuals in Iraq," Nigel Morris offered "Iraqi leaders attacked over spate of homophobic murders" (Independent of London), the Telegraph of London covers the issue here. Neal Broverman (The Advocate), Jessica Green (UK's Pink News), and Doug Ireland
covered it (here's one report by Ireland at GayCityNews -- he's filed more than one report), AFP reported on it again when signs went up throughout Sadr City with statements such as "We will punish you, perverts" and "We will get you, puppies" (puppies is slang for gay men in Iraq) and Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reported on that as well. Chris Johnson offered "Polis seeks to aid Iraqis: Says gays 'fear for their life and limb' after fact-finding trip to Baghdad" (Washington Blade), Killian Melloy (The Edge -- this is the April 2nd story that contains the State Dept stating it's not happening -- the denial) and [PDF formart warning] the April 15th "Iraq Status Report" by the US State Dept notes the killings. Amnesty International weighed in as did the International Gay and lesiban Human Rights Campaign. Jim Muir (BBC News -- text and video) reported on the targeting and the attacks. UK Gay News covered it, last week ABC News offered Mazin Faiq's "Tortured and Killed in Iraq for Being Gay" Chicago Pride and UPI covered the latest deaths last week. And AFP and Jessica Green (UK's Pink News) covered the public statement from Moqtada al-Sadr about how they needed to be "eradicated" for "depravity" and he thinks they can be 'taught' not to be gay. As for the technique, Bill Rosendahl didn't want to discuss on air Doug Ireland (ZNet) reported on that in May:

As the murder campaign targeting Iraqi gays intensifies, a leading Arabic television network last week revealed the use of a horrifying new form of lethal torture against Iraqi gay men -- anti-gay Shiite death squads are sealing their anuses with a powerful glue, then inducing diarrhea, which leads to a painful and agonizing death. The use of this stomach-turning new torture was first reported by the Al Arabiya network, which is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates and was alerted to the story by a leading Iraqi feminist and human rights activist.Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), told Al Arabiya that the torture substance "is an Iranian-manufactured glue that, if applied to the skin, sticks to it and can only be removed by surgery. After they glue the anuses of homosexuals, they give them a drink that causes diarrhea. Since the anus is closed, the diarrhea causes death. Videos of this form of torture are being distributed on mobile telephones in Iraq." Al Arabiya said its reporter confirmed the use of this anal torture by "visiting the Baghdad morgue in Bab-al-Moazaam in central Baghdad, where Neman Mohsen, the medical examiner, confirmed they have the bodies of seven homosexuals in the morgue. He said, 'We were not able to identify the culprits, who dumped the bodies in front of the morgue and fled without being seen.'" A two-person team from Human Rights Watch (HRW) currently in Iraq to investigate persecution of LGBT people has also confirmed the use of this form of torture. In a widely-circulated email from Iraq, the head of HRW's LGBT desk, Scott Long, said he and his colleague had gathered evidence which confirms the Al Arabiya report and that HRW would make its own detailed report after the organization's two staffers return to the United States next week.


Over the weekend, Alsumaria reminded, "After the US administration agreed to publish photos of Iraqi detainees' torture in US prisons, US President Barack Obama reversed the decision and asked a federal appeals court to block the publication of images showing detainee abuse, citing concern it could incite violence in Iraq and Afghanistan." On the torture photos, Diane Bartz and Philip Barbara (Reuters) report that Antonio Taguba states he did not tell the Telegraph that he had seen the photos that Barack is refusing to release. Jeremy Scahill explains Taguba saw another set. The torture continues under Barack Obama as WBAI's Law and Disorder noted today when co-hosts Michael Ratner and Michael Smith spoke with Jeremey Scahill (Heidi Boghosian and Dahlia Hashad also co-host the program)

Jeremy Scahill: I think that one of the clearest pieces of evidence that we have that a prosecution, a criminal prosecution of those that authorized the torture, ordered the torture and carried it out would be the best preventative measure from this happening again would be is the fact that torture is continuing right now at Guantanamo under Barack Obama of course Michael Ratner has been at the forefront of litigating the illegality of Guantanamo and defending prisoners there -- I write about Michael in this article -- but the point here is that Obama on January 22nd issued an Executive Order saying that Guantanamo would be closed in a year futhermore he said that the United States will respect the Geneva Conventions particularly Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions that would prohibit the abuse of prisoners in US custody. What we know now is that not only are there -- is there systematic torture continuing to happen at Guantanamo but that Obama -- and this is what my article is about -- is continuing to allow the use of a notorious military police unit at Guantanamo known as the Immediate Reaction Force -- the IRF. This force is so notorius that lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees have created a new lexicon or language to describe the operations of this force. They say that they're IRF-ing prisoners or prisoners are being IRF-ed up by them. In short, this is a riot type squad that comes in with what Clive Stafford Smith describes as Darth Vader outfits. They come into a cell five men deep, they douse prisoners in chemicals. Each of the five thugs sent in there is assigned to a different body part of the prisoner -- the head, the right arm, the left arm, the right leg, the left leg -- and there job is to "subdue resitve or combative prisoners." What I found in my investigation is that this thug squad -- Michael, you've called them the Black Shirts of Guantanamo --

Michael Ratner: I've called them the Black Shirts of Guantanamo, Jeremy, taken from your original book, when I always made a distinction between US fascism and German because I said we don't have people on the street beating people up and you said, 'Oh no, Michael, we got Blackwater Black Shirts.' And these IRF guys, Immediate Reaction Force people, those guys are the Black Shirts of Guantanamo. There's no --

Jeremy Scahill: They're being used to punish people. This is not about stopping a prisoner from stabbing a guard, this is not about stopping a riot in a prison. What we found is that prisoners who take an extra styrofoam cup after a meal and keep it in their cell as some psychological form of comfort -- that they have some other possession in their cell -- they, the IRF teams, are called in and they beat them to a pulp. Among the tactics they use, they put prisoners' heads in toilets and then flush the toilet repeatedly. They did that to a British resident named Omar Deghayes who is one of the key in the Spanish investigation. They have smeared feces from another prisoner on the face of other prisoners. A man who is being represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights -- this was after Obama's inauguration -- was doused in chemicals, beaten and then had one of these IRF team members urinate on his head as part of the "displinary measures" taken. This force, from the lawyers I've talked to, is entirely illegal in terms of the actions it's taking under international law and under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

"This is still continuing under Obama and I think that's the point that's most important," says Scahill who ties the refusal to prosecute in with the continuation. Chris Hedges was also on the program. Mike may note that tonight. We'll link to Mike tomorrow if he does or note it here on our own. Hedges, Scahill, Sister Dianna Ortiz, Michael Ratner, Andy Zee and others (like Laura Flanders because, as Diane Keaton notes in Love & Death, you've got have some uglies in the mix) will take part June 3rd at seven p.m. in a discussion at New York Society for Ethical Culture. Meanwhile, Nancy A. Youssef (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "President Barack Obama reversed his decision to release detainee abuse photos from Iraq and Afghanistan after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki warned that Iraq would erupt into violence and that Iraqis would demand that U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq a year earlier than planned, two U.S. military officers, a senior defense official and a State Department official have told McClatchy." It's really been cute and hilarious to watch the ever changing story from the US government. Barack was forced to change his mind . . . by Gen David Petraeus and Gen Ray Odierno! Now Barack was forced to change his mind by Nouri! Reality, Barack controls his own damn mind. He wasn't tricked. He wasn't forced. He made the decision. It's on him. Just like he's made the decision to continue torture. In the Wall St. Journal today, George McGovern offers "My Advice for Obama" which includes "order all U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan by Thanksgiving". Which he could do. If he wanted to. No one's 'tricking' Barry O, no one's twisting his arm. He's continuing the illegal wars because he wants to and he thinks he can get away with it. (And the Cult of St. Barack's refusals to call him out allows him to think the whole world will remain silent as he flaunts his own War Crimes.)


Turning to corruption in Iraq. Last Monday the Trade Minister resigned. An Iraqi correspondent for McClatchy observed:

Questioning the minister of trade was a real big and new event for Iraqis who used to see the corrupt officials always abroad. During the last two week, the story of corruption was the main story of all Iraqis. The corruption in the Iraqi governmental departments dominated the conversations of all Iraqis. Some Iraqis started giving suggestions and solutions about fighting corruption.

The Trade Minister was Abed Falah al-Sudani. And Saturday, Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reported on his arrest which required the plane he was leaving Iraq on turning around: "When the plane landed at Baghdad's airport, Abdul Falah Sudani, the country's trade minister until he was forced to resign last week, was promptly arrested. Sudani is charged with procuring substandard foodstuffs for Iraq's food-ration program, but the allegations against his ministry go beyond that. Omar Abdul Sattar, a member of the Iraqi parliament's anti-corruption committee, said the sums stolen could amount to "hundreds of millions of dollars."Sly notes that in 2006, the Electiricy Minister made it out of Iraq, from a jail cell in fact, and moved on to Chicago. Rather amazing when you consider how difficult it is and was for Iraqi refugees to make it to the US. BBC adds of today's arrest: "Officials said Abdul Falah Sudani had been on a flight to the United Arab Emirates which was asked to turn back to Baghdad so he could be arrested." Richard Spencer (Telegraph of London) quotes a passenger on the plane stating, "The captain told us we had to go back to Baghdad because of congestion at the destination airport." Nada Barkri (Washington Post) reported: "The arrest warrant accuses Sudani, a 62-year-old dual British-Iraqi national, of stealing public money and mismanaging the ministry by importing expired foods and employing his relatives, including two brothers." Sami Moubayed (Asia Times) notes al-Maliki's campaign against graft is doubtful and that there are 997 arrest warrantes on corruption charges still waiting for al-Maliki's signature despite al-Maliki's public claims to be stamping out corruption:Inspired by the new atmosphere in Iraq, an Iraqi blog, www.kitabat.com (which means "writings"), ran an article accusing one of Maliki's aides of corruption, calling on the prime minister to sack even his closest advisors if found to be guilty. The writer, Ali Hussein, was immediately sued by the prime minister, who demanded compensation of a staggering one billion Iraqi dinars (over US$800,000), claiming that nepotism charges brought against his aide-de-camp were untrue. It must be noted that the blog's creator, Iyad al-Zamili, who has been residing in Germany since 2003, was himself a former supporter of Maliki, most notably during the provincial elections of January 2009. The striking contrast between the story of the "Sudani three" and that of Maliki's aide, raises doubt about the prime minister's commitment to the anti-graft drive. One of the reasons why the prime minister is so furious is that the 62-year-old Sudani is a member of Maliki's own Da'wa Party. If Maliki was aware of Sudani's wrongdoings - but ignored them - then he is guilty. If he had no idea what was taking place, then he is equally guilty. This is the 10th time a ministerial seat has become vacant under Maliki, after members of the Iraqi Accordance Front and the Sadrist bloc stepped down in 2007. People are starting to wonder whether Maliki is heading a real cabinet, or a wobbly coalition where ministers resign - or fall - with no prior notice? The trade minister, after all, was originally brought down by parliament, which is headed by the new Sunni speaker Iyad Samarrai, and not by the prime minister.

Reuters released a story yesterday that's garbage and we were going to ignore it but it's being picked up elsewhere (Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, etc. -- and the Wall St. Journal has written their own unsigned 'report'). It asserts -- and remember this came out yesterday -- that civilian deaths in Iraq -- that undefined 'civilian' term -- fell to an all time low. They made that assertion before May was over, of course. They made that assertion while they were, in fact, reporting on Saturday deaths in a story posted after the lowest-deaths-ever! In other words, they published the story before May was over.They also didn't use their own figures. They used the Health Ministry's figures. Figures which have repeatedly turned out to be wrong -- so much so that those choosing to cite their figures today seem intent to take part in a lie. Once upon a time, when Nancy A. Youssef was in Iraq, McClatchy kept track of civilian deaths (the ones they were able to) and published a monthly number a few months after a month ended. Once upon a time. McClatchy hasn't publised an Iraq story in six days. But once upon a time, once upon a time, it used to. Maybe they'll do so again? In the meantime, 134 is the number of "civilians" killed in Iraq in May, alleges the Health Ministry. We're getting 226 deaths.

We'll walk through slowly. A word on who's counted. Suicide bombers are not counted in this total. They died but I seriously doubt they'd be considered "civilians" by the Ministry. Would Sahwa? They're not being brought into the government. What does that make them? We have counted all deaths except bombers and except for US civilians (2 US civilians were killed in the Green Zone in May, 2 US civilians were killed in Falluja in May) and US service members. Now here's the breakdown.

May 1st, 10 people reported dead (6 in Mosul bombing, 2 people shot dead in Tikrit, 2 in Mosul). May 2nd, 3 dead (killed in Kirkuk bombing). May 3rd, only wounded. May 4th, 14 dead (4 in Baghdad bombing, 4 in Baghdad grenade attack, 1 in Diyala bombing, 1 shot dead in Mosul, 1 Iraqi soldier shot dead, 3 corpses in Mosul). May 5th, 4 dead dead, (2 shot dead in Mosul, 1 shot dead in Baghdad, 1 corpse in Kirkuk). May 6th, 2 dead (2 dead in Mosul from roadside bombings). May 7th, 3 dead (1 12-year-old boy shot dead in Mosul as well as 2 fishermen shot dead on the day before but reported on May 7th). May 8th, only wounded. May 9 - 10th, 2 dead (1 shot dead in Basra, 1 shot dead in Mosul). May 11th, 6 dead (1 in Baghdad roadside bombing, 2 in a Kirkuk car bombing, 1 shot dead in Baghdad, 1 shot in Mosul, 1 corpse of a 5-year-old boy discovered in Baghdad). May 12th, 7 dead (6 in Kirkuk bombing, 1 corpse of a 13-year-old girl in Diyala Province). May 13th, 7 dead (1 Baghdad roadside bombing, 2 in a Mosul car bombing, 2 in a Ramadi roadside bombing, 1 shot dead in Mosul, 1 shot dead in Baghdad). May 14th, 6 dead (3 shot dead in Baquba, 3 shot dead in Kirkuk). May 15th, 1 dead (1 shot dead in Baghdad). May 16 - 17th, 20 dead (1 in Baghdad mortar attack, 4 in Baghdad roadside bombings, 1 in Mosul roadside bombing, 1 in Basra grenade attack, 3 in Baghdad roadside bombing, 1 in Mosul car bombing, 2 shot dead in Mosul, 1 shot dead in Jalawla, 1 corpse in Mosul, 1 near Samarra and 4 in Baquba). May 18th, 2 dead (1 in Kirkuk roadside bombing, 1 in Basra bombing). May 19th, 3 dead (2 dead in Taji roadside bombing, 1 killed in Mosul). May 20th, 2 dead (1 shot dead in Mosul, 1 corpse discovered in Mosul) plus 40 dead (one Baghdad bombing -- using Alsumaria's final figures) for total of 42. May 21st, 24 dead (2 dead in Baghdad bombing, 2 shot dead in Mosul, 12 dead in a Baghdad bombing, 8 dead in Kirkuk bombing). May 22nd, 4 dead (1 dead in Mosul roadside bombing and Reuters goes back to the 21st to add 1 dead in Mosul roadside bombing, 2 corpses in Mosul). May 23rd, 10 dead (2 dead in Diyala roadside bombing, 1 US citizen dead in Green Zone and we're not including that in the count, 4 dead in Mosul roadside bombing, 1 6-year-old shot dead in Mosul, 1 adult shot dead in Mosul, 2 corpses found in Salahuddin and -- not counted in our count -- 1 US civilian's corpse found in Green Zone). May 24th, 12 dead (8 dead in Mosul bombing, 3 shot dead in Mosul, 1 in Hilla). May 25th, 11 dead (6 corpses discovered in Baquba, 2 shot dead in Mosul, 2 people killed in Awisat, 1 infant killed in a grenade attack). May 26th, 5 dead (1 dead in Mosul bombing, 4 shot dead in Kirkuk). May 27th, 8 dead (4 dead in Abu Ghraib bombing, 3 shot dead in Mosul, dropping back to the 25th 1 dead in Mosul roadside bombing). May 28th, 3 dead (1 dead in Mosul roadside bombing, 1 shot dead in Diwainyah, 1 corpse discovered in Kirkuk). May 29th, 9 dead (8 dead in Baquba bombings, 1 corpse discovered in Telkeif). May 30th, 3 dead (2 in Baquba roadside bombing and 1 shot dead in Baquba). May 31st, 5 dead (1 corpse discovered in Kirkuk, Reuters drops back to the 30th to note 1 dead in Haswa bombing, 2 dead in Samarra roadside bombing and 1 dead in Iskandariya bombing). That adds up to at least 226 reported deaths.

There are probably more than 226 reported and we've probably missed a death on any of the days linked. The deaths are primarily reported by McClatchy and Reuters but there's also Alsumaria, DPA and the US military in the mix. Should McClatchy do a study, there numbers would be more precise.

So far ignoring the undercount, the BBC reports on what is known: US service members's deaths in the month of May. The total currently stands at 24 -- whether that number will climb or not is unknown. While today is June 1st, M-NF has a long, long history of letting end of the month deaths trickle out slowly. As it stands currently, that death toll is the highest since September 2008. Sunday the US military announced: "TIKRIT, Iraq – A U.S. Soldier died as a result of a non-combat related injury in Tikrit, Iraq, May 31. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin and release by the Department of Defense. The incident is under investigation." AP adds, "A second soldier, assigned to the 3rd Sustainment Command, died from injuries caused by a vehicle accident in Tallil, south of Baghdad, the statement said."

Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report a Baghdad bombing at a market which claimed 4 lives and left thirteen injured, a Baghdad roadside bombing which left three people injured, a Baquba suicide bombing in which 1 person died (besides the bomber) and three people were injured and a Mosul grenade attack which claimed 1 life (a boy) and left fifteen people wounded. Reuters notes a Mosul mortar attack which left two police officers injured.

Corpses?

Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report 14 corpses discovered in Khan Beni Saad and 50 corpses discovered in Diyalal Province (discovered over the last two months) were buried today.

So you could say over 70 dead or, you could play like the Health Ministry and say "Maybe one death across Iraq today."


In other news, On the front page of the New York Times this morning, Joe Stumpe and Monica Davey's "Abortion Doctor Slain By Gunman In Kansas Church" about the assassination of Dr. George Tiller and notes:Mr. Obama issued a statement after Dr. Tiller's killing, saying, "However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence."To which any self-respecting abortion rights supporter should respond: Bullf**kings**t.The changeling is the problem. Barry O is the problem. He's the problem because he stands for nothing. He betrays the left and gets away with it. Proposition 8 WOULD NOT have passed in California without his support. He refused to call out the robocalls using his words, his own voice. Now a doctor's been assassinated and Barry wants to offer Pie In The Sky. How dare that Barry O state "however profound our differences . . ." It was a crime. It was murder. He's yet again watered down reality and, make no mistake, that is why the Republicans (including Arianna) flocked to him. They don't want to be Democrats. It's not socially acceptable to be Republicans. Barry O was the watered down, in name only, Democrat. The man who stood for nothing his entire life and played changeling throughout college and throughout his time in Chicago.Debra Sweet observes at World Can't Wait and CounterPunch:

What about the "leaders" of the Democratic Party who counsel us to find common ground with these fascists and religious fanatics? You have a president who invites an outspoken homophobe to give his inaugural prayer, citing "common ground" with this as somehow a step forward. You have a president who won't come out in favor of gay marriage, tacitly encouraging many of his supporters to vote FOR Proposition 8 in California. You have a president who bends over backwards to give legitimacy to the anti-abortion cause, to the honesty of their leaders' convictions.
If you watched the scene developing in May, weeks before Barack Obama's appearance at the Notre Dame commencement, as Randall Terry and hundreds of others were getting arrested on the campus, and working themselves into a frenzy -- all carefully covered by the national media -- and you saw Obama give a speech that didn't confront them for being wrong, you knew a murder like this would happen. The "pro-choice" movement, for its part, has surrendered its activism and resources almost completely to the Democratic Party and its "common ground" strategy.
This will inevitably get our abortion doctors killed, and drive others from practice.

Lastly, today on the second hour of NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, the one and only Valerie Harper was the guest -- the multiple Emmy award winning actress, Rhoda to many, and who is delivering an AMAZING performance as Tallulah Bankhead in Matthew Lombardo's play Looped which plays in DC at the Lincoln Theatre right now through June 28, 2009. Valerie demonstrated the humor, brains, memory, guts and much more she's always been known for. In terms of memory, several callers met her briefly over the years and were surprised to find -- such as the woman from Florida back in 70s who briefed her before Valerie faced reporters to explain why the Equal Rights Amendment was needed -- that Valerie didn't just say, "Oh, I remember you too," she actually did as she recalled what the people looked like, what they spoke of. As amazing as her memory is, her talent's even more amazing and those in the DC area should check her out in Looped, she's fantastic. Diane's show is archived and you can stream it for free. Rhoda fans should know Diane gets her to pick her favorite episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and explain why. Valerie also gives credit to all the writers on the show including one of TV's best sitcom writers, Treva Silverman.



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