i had a nice visit with our 'afghanistan engineer' ruth. she was checking her e-mails here and saw molly had written. molly mentioned that her profile showed ruth was afghanistan and an engineer. i told her she shouldn't fix it. we laughed about it. i was talking her through adding the e-mail address to her profile and, granted, she has a different template than i do, but she didn't hit any other buttons or go to any other spaces except to put in the e-mail address and then to click a check in the box to display it. maybe it's a default after you add an e-mail address?
but it was nice to know that my friend ruth was an afghanistan engineer, at least for a little while. she asked me, 'are there jews in afghanistan?' maybe, but i didn't know of any. i told her that made her even more special!
and, as she points out, we did hear a person this morning (morning for them and still morning for us) just yelling for money. i really was surprised. that didn't strike me as the way to do a pledge drive but maybe it was successful and worked for some.
this is from david corn (via truthout) and it reads like his last chapter on the plamegate matter (for the record, i call her valerie plame, not 'valerie wilson,' that was her professional name and any 1 else and they wouldn't get excerpted here if they didn't use plame):
In trying to spin their way out of the CIA leak mess, the neocon gang made much of the fact (again, first revealed by Isikoff and me) that Richard Armitage, who was the No. 2 at the State Department and a neocon-hating Iraq war skeptic, was the administration official who initially told Novak that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. But the Plamegate deniers often ignore the inconvenient truth that White House aide Karl Rove-during the White House campaign to undermine Joe Wilson-confirmed this classified information for Novak and also passed the same leak to Matt Cooper, then of Time. (It was only because Cooper's editors at the newsmagazine did not care about Wilson's wife that Novak published the leak first.) Libby and White House press secretary Ari Fleischer also shared information about Wilson's wife and her CIA connection with reporters. This was all part of the White House effort to tarnish Wilson by making it seem as if his trip to Niger had been nothing but a nepotistic junket. And as testimony and documents presented at the Libby trial showed, Vice President Cheney had been driving the pushback effort and had early on learned about Valerie Wilson's CIA employment and then conveyed that information to Libby.
Yes, this was a case of putting politics (getting Joe Wilson) ahead of national security concerns (such as protecting the identity and operations of a CIA officer working the WMD beat).
It is true that at the end of the day, no one was charged with a crime for leaking information on Valerie Wilson. Patrick Fitzgerald decided that he could not prove in court-as he would have to under the law-that the leakers knew that Valerie Wilson was a covert officer. But Fitzgerald did pursue Libby and Rove for possibly lying to FBI agents and the grand jury investigating the leak. He nabbed Libby but, after much consideration, opted not to indict Rove.
Still, Rove was caught in a lie. Toward the start of the Plame affair, the White House declared that Rove was not involved in the leak, and Bush indicated that anyone who had leaked classified information would be dismissed. But the White House statement regarding Rove was false (probably because Rove had misled White House press secretary Scott McClellan). Bush's promise was false, too, for Rove remained Bush's master strategist even after Isikoff published an email showing that Rove had leaked classified information about Valerie Wilson to Cooper.
The bottom line: this episode demonstrated that the Bush White House was not honest (the vice president's chief of staff was even convicted of lying to law enforcement officials), that top Bush officials had risked national security for partisan gain, and that White House champions outside the government would eagerly hurl false accusations to defend the administration.
that mad mattie cooper - doing his part to help out the white house and karl rove. time got rid of him. hopefully that's it for him, but he's probably at politico or some other right wing outlet.
monday, mike noted marjorie cohn's 'Michael Mukasey: Another Loyal Bushie' and talked about 1 thing that really stood out to him: how alberto's replacement is being graded as better than alberto - who left in disgrace - and not really in terms of being graded as supremely gifted. he should have to be. alberto was a disgrace. that doesn't mean the senate should say, 'oh, he's better than alberto.' that's like saying alberto burned down a jack in the box and we've got a new employee who will show up late every day, be rude to the customers but he's scared of matches so we don't think he'll burn it up. mukasey is in no way qualified to be attorney general except on the better-than-alberto scale. that's not good enough and the office is too important for people to act as if it is.
last night, kat, elaine, mike and i all mentioned jane fonda in our posts and a man e-mailed saying it was obvious we'd planned it. mike and elaine are a couple and are usually on the phone with each other when they are posting. elaine was responding to a question e-mailed and mike was raising the issue as well. he hadn't planned to. he was going to blog about a dream he had. but often they do discuss what they're each going to blog. i called kat and she said she'd read and enjoyed those 2 blog posts but she didn't blog about fonda. i pointed out no nukes and she said 'oh yeah.' it didn't even register (and she just mentioned fonda). here, i blogged about anne bancroft because c.i. quoted heartbreakers, a film i love, twice yesterday. i was noting my 3 favorite films to watch anne bancroft in and 1 of those is agnes of god which co-stars jane fonda. i think they're amazing in that film. (i love all of jane fonda's films, by the way.) if we were going to plan something, kat and mike would've mentioned jane fonda more than just once.
if we'd planned it, i'd be the 1st to fess up but the reality is that we don't have time. we're all busy and i probably speak to more members doing sites than any 1 so a plan would have to be thought up by me or at least relayed by me. but here's your real clue that it wasn't planned. ruth didn't even mention fonda yesterday and ruth - like the rest of us - is a huge fonda supporter.
sometimes conspiracies imagined really don't exist. (sometimes they do.) i think some 1 let his hatred for fonda run wild.
here's some fonda news from 'Jane Fonda and Bright Starts(TM) Celebrates 'Pink Power Moms' at Susan G. Komen for the Cure Pink Tie Ball:'
ATLANTA, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Philanthropist and Academy Award-winning actress, Jane Fonda (fourth from right), celebrated heroism and "pink power" at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Pink Tie Ball in Atlanta, GA, on October 13th, with the eight amazing women chosen as the inaugural class of Bright Starts(TM) "Pink Power Moms." The women were chosen after a nationwide search was conducted earlier this year for outstanding moms who have survived breast cancer, and exemplify courage as the fight for a cure continues. The Bright Starts(TM) "Pink Power Moms" hail from all over the country and include (from left to right): Sandra Perry (Corvallis, OR); Ouida Duncan (Lehigh Acres, FL); Sonia Kohler (Washington Township, Michigan); Cathy Gailey (Fayetteville, GA); Eliza Brock (Loveland, CO); Kerry Best Flood (Sandwich, MA); Mary Hamrick (Huntersville, NC) and Deb Kirkland (Baltimore, MD).
Bright Starts(TM), one of the brands under the Kids II, Inc. umbrella of baby products and infant gear, features over 20 items in its Pink Collection(TM) of product offerings developed to better meet the needs of parents of baby girls. A portion of the proceeds from sales of these items, with a minimum donation of $100,000 annually, go to support breast cancer awareness and research to honor mothers, grandmothers and the women of the future.
let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
Wednesday, October 24, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces deaths, tensions continue between Turkey and northern Iraq (and Turkey initiates violence), Iraqi refugees continue suffering, McClatchy Newspapers is honored, and more.
Starting with war resisters. Judge Benjamin Settle has extended Ehren Watada's stay. Watada is the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq. His reasons for that are because the war is illegal. He attempted to work through this matter with the military but when it became obvious they were stringing him along he made the decision to go public -- and went public in June 2006. In February 2006, Judge Toilet (aka John Head) presided over a rigged hearing that was supposed to pass for a court-martial despite the fact that Watada was not allowed to explain why he'd chosen to do what he did -- refuse to deploy. Judge Toilet tried real hard to rig the perfect frame up and when it didn't go the way he wanted, Judge Toilet flushed the court-martial, declaring a mistrial over defense objection and despite the fact that double-jeopardy had attached. Judge Toilet immediately scheduled a court-martial for March and then someone tutored Toilet a little on the law. The court-martial was supposed to begin the first week of this month; however, federal judge Settle issued a stay through October 26th. On Friday, Settle extended the stay through November 9th. Mike Barber (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) noted on Friday, "Seattle decided he had jurisdiction to hear arguments that Watada would be subject to double jeopardy, since his first trial in February ended in a mistrial, over his objections, after testimony had been heard by a panel of officers." The panel was the jury -- Watada wisely decided to go with a jury for the court-martial and not allow a judge (in this case Judge Toilet) to make the ruling.
Meanwhile on the subject of war resisters in Canada, Free Speech Radio News noted yesterday, "Canada has, in the past, been a destination for conscientious objectors to US wars. But some anti-war activists have found out from experience that Canada is using the FBI's National Crime Information Center database to stop war resisters at the border." Brad McCall was the first to go public with the new system and how he was handcuffed while attempting to enter Canada September 19th of this year. He was followed by others making reporting similar incidents at the border. A number of actions are ongoing regarding US war resisters in Canada. Citizens of Canada can sign the War Resisters Support Campaign petition as well as refer to this action page of the War Resisters Support Campaign. In the United States, Courage to Resist has a letter you can sign to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Minister of Citizenship & Immigration Diane Finley and Stephane Dion of the Liberal Party. If you click here you can sign electronically. If you need a physical copy, you can go to "Supporting War Resisters" and print up a scan of the letter.
Tonight the War Resisters Support Campaign has an event, Michelle Mason's breakthrough documentary . Breaking Ranks will be screened at the University of Toronto's Claude Bissell Building from six to eight p.m. followed by a question and answer session with war resisters.
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 National Lawyers Guild's convention begins shortly: The Military Law Task Force and the Center on Conscience & War are sponsoring a Continuing Legal Education seminar -- Representing Conscientious Objectors in Habeas Corpus Proceedings -- as part of the National Lawyers Guild National Convention in Washington, D.C. The half-day seminar will be held on Thursday, November 1st, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the convention site, the Holiday Inn on the Hill in D.C. This is a must-attend seminar, with excelent speakers and a wealth of information. The seminar will be moderated by the Military Law Task Force's co-chair Kathleen Gilberd and scheduled speakers are NYC Bar Association's Committee on Military Affairs and Justice's Deborah Karpatkin, the Center on Conscience & War's J.E. McNeil, the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee's Peter Goldberger, Louis Font who has represented Camilo Mejia, Dr. Mary Hanna and others, and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objector's James Feldman. The fee is $60 for attorneys; $25 for non-profit attorneys, students and legal workers; and you can also enquire about scholarships or reduced fees. The convention itself will run from October 31st through November 4th and it's full circle on the 70th anniversary of NLG since they "began in Washington, D.C." where "the founding convention took place in the District at the height of the New Deal in 1937, Activist, progressive lawyers, tired of butting heads with the reactionary white male lawyers then comprising the American Bar Association, formed the nucleus of the Guild."
Turning to Iraq and starting with the refugee crisis which Prensa Latina reports the United Nations says is increasing "due to the border conflict with Turkey" with refugees already constituting 4.7 million Iraqis -- 2.3 million displaced internally, 2.4 million displaced externally. Among the externally displaced is Riverbend and her family who have settled in Syria. Riverbend (Baghdad Burning) reports, "By the time we had reentered the Syrian border and were headed back to the cab ready to take us into Kameshli, I had resigned myself to the fact that we were refugees. I read about refugees on the Internet daily. . . in the newspapers . . . hear about them on TV. I heard about the estimated 1.5 million plus Iraqi refugees in Syria and shake my head, never really considering myself or my family as one of them. After all, refugees are people who sleep in tents and have no potable water or plumbing, right? Refugees carry their belongins in bags instead of suitcases and they don't have cell phones or Internet acess, right? Grasping my passport in my hand like my life depended on it, with two extra months in Syria stamped inside, it hit me how wrong I was. We were all refugees. I was suddenly a number. No matter how wealthy or educated or comfortable, a refugee is a refugee. A refugee is someone who isn't really welcome in any country -- including their own . . . especially their own. . . . The first evening we arrived, exhausted, dragging suitcases behind us, morale a little bit bruised, the Kurdish family sent over their representative -- a 9 year old boy missing two front teeth, holding a lopsided cake, 'We're Abu Mohammed's house -- across from you -- mama says if you need anything, just ask -- this is our number. Abu Dalia's family lives upstairs, this is their number. We're all Iraqi too . . . Welcome to the building.' I cried that night because for the first time in a long time, so far away from home, I felt the unity that had been stolen from us in 2003." Yesterday, the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees spokesperson Ron Redmond spoke to the press declaring that Syria continues to receive refugees but "in much smaller numbers than before" due to the new visa regulations Syria has imposed (obtain visa in Baghdad -- the Syrian embassy is located in a very violent neighborhood -- etc.) and that the UN estimates northern Iraq to now be "home to over 800,000 internally displaced Iraqis." Peter Apps (Reuters) notes that more violence in northern Iraq "could further increase the number of people fleeing their homes and cut off one of the remaining ways out for refugees desperate to leave Iraq, aid workers say." The tensions between the regions go far back. In yesterday's press briefing, US State Department flack Sean McCormack declared of the tensions, "It's not something that was invented over the past four years. But we now have an opportunity with an Iraqi Government that has an interest in playing a positive role in the region, an opportunity to arrive at a solution." Now the US State Department thinks there is "an opportunity" to address the situation? and what were they thinking in 2004? The War Comes Home's Aaron Glantz reported on the situation for Pacifica in April of 2004 noting a meet up in DC between the Turkish government and the US government when then US Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Meyers stated, "This is an issue the coalition forces inside Iraq take very seriously. Let me assure you that there is very close collaboration with Turkey and that they [the PKK] will be dealt with appropriately."
James Denselow (Guardian of London) notes that Syria closing its borders to Iraqis (some groups are exceptions to the closing -- academics, merchants, etc.) and explains, "The Syrian decision, that of a poor country unable to accomodate a population increase of 10%, will intensify the humanitarian catastrophe, news of which is smothered by high-profile acts of violence as well as the ebb and flow of international politcs over the presence of foreign troops in the country. The stress of Iraqi refugees on the infrastructure and social fabric of Damascus has cost the Syrian state over [500 million British pounds] in the past four years. Some commentators suggest that the lack of US assistance in caring for these Iraqis displaced as a result of their actions is part of a wider policy to weaken a traditional enemy -- Syria. Most media coverage of the Iraqi-Syrian relationship is focused on the flow of foreign fighters from Syria rather than refugees to Syria."
And when the money runs out? AP reported over the weekend that many return to "death row" meaning Iraqi -- in the case of Iman Faleh's family, east Baghdad -- with "a Syrian immigration official" offering the estimate "that up to 1,500 Iraqis are returning to Iraq each day." As Trudy Rubin (Philadelphia Inquirer via Post-Bulletin) noted last month, "Syria and Jordan can't handle the more than 2 million Iraqis now crammed into their small countries. These refugees have no jobs, their children can't go to school, and many are running out of savings, leading some to turn to begging and prostitution." (Note that Jordan is attempting to provide free school for all Iraqi refugees while NPR's Morning Edition reported last week that the cost of education in Syria -- which many parents cannot afford -- means "a generation of Iraqi kids may go uneducated.") In May of this year, Katherine Zdepf (New York Times) noted the reality of the number of Iraqi females forced into prostitution when they become refugees in other countries such as the main subject of Zdepf's report, Umm Hiba, sixteen-years-old, working "at a nightclub along a highway known for prositution." AP reports today on female refugees in Syria, "This club in northwest Damascus is at the heart of one of the most troubling aspects of the Iraqi refugee crisis -- Irawi women and girls who are turning to prostitution to survive in countries that have taken them in, but prevent them or their families from working at most other jobs. No reliable figures exist on the number of Iraqi prostitutes in Syria, Jordan or elsewhere in the Middle East. The problem is only beginning to get attention in a region where sex outside of marriage is rarely even discussed. But the increase in the number of Iraqi women seen in recent months in clubs and on the streets of Damascus, Amman and other cities suggest the problem is growing as thousands of Iraqis flee their homeland." Meanwhile Lee Sustar (US Socialist Worker) observes, "As grim as the plight of Iraqi refugees has become, the displaced who remain in Iraq often fare worse. Numbering more than 2 million, according to the International Organization for Migration, these 'internally displaced persons,' or IDPs, have either crammed in with relatives or friends, or live in camps and shantytowns on the edge of Baghdad and other cities. . . . The only major non-governmental organization providing aid to IDPs is the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS), which released a report in September detailing the scale of the problem." Sustar quotes Raed Jarrar noting, "There is a displacement crisis in Sudan, but many specialist say the number is exaggerated. But the official number is less than half the numbers of Iraqis who have been displaced. Unfortunately, we don't see big coalitions in the United States and Israel calling themselves Save Iraq like Save Darfur."
On the ongoing tensions between northern Iraq and Turkey, the (US) Socialist Worker offers historical perspective, "For decades, world powers have denied an independent state to the Kurdish people, whose population spans northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, eastern Syria and western Iran. The U.S. is merely the most powerful country to cynically manipulate Kurdish national aspirations. It supports Kurdish 'autonomy' in northern Iraq while opposing the PKK in Turkey. The US has placed the PKK on its list of terrorist organizations, but hasn't taken concrete steps to curb its activities. Since 1991 -- when the U.S. turned on its former ally Saddam Hussein and began nearly two decades of military and economic warfare on Iraq -- leaders of the Kurdish national movement have collaborated with U.S. imperialism in Iraq. This has meant a tense balancing act with Turkey, which has regularly threatened -- and several times carried out -- military action against PKK bases in northern Iraq. Now Turkey is threatening an escalation of the conflict." Staying with historical for a moment, the BBC sidebar, Pam O'Toole's BBC report, Reuters' "Factbox: Who Are the PKK?" and NPR's All Things Considered on Monday (link goes to Aliza Marcus) all explain that the PKK dates back to the 70s -- not the 80s as too many 'experts' repeatedly and mistaknely toss around. As Mark MacKinnon (Canada's Globe & Mail) reported this morning, "Debate in this country yesterday was not about whether to invade northern Iraq, but over how big and how deep such an incursion should be. Funerals held yesterday for the dozen dead soldiers turned into emotional political rallies, as tens of thousands of mourners waved the national flag and chanted for action against not only the PKK, but the Kurdistan Regional Government that administers the north of Iraq, and its President, Massoud Barzani. Many Turks believe that Mr. Barzani, who has thick ties to the PKK dating back to his days as a guerrilla leader fighting for Kurdish independence from Saddam Hussein's Iraq, has been providing support and bases to the group. 'People are calling for something to be done about Barzani also,' said Ihsan Bal, a terrorism expert at the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization. 'Every day he's on the television saying he cannot do anything against the PKK, and that the PKK is not a terrorist organization. Now people want to see him punished also'." And Oxford Analytica via Forbes explained, "Barzani's peshmerga militia cooperated with Turkish forces seeking to destroy the PKK in the Kurdish 'safe haven' after Saddam Hussein's 1991 defeat in Kuwait. At that time it was Jalal Talabani, now president of Iraq, who gave shelter to the PKK in the area away from the Turkish frontier controlled by his Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. The real reason Barzani will not act against the PKK today is that Turkey opposes his ambition to incorporate Kirkuk and its oilfields into the KRG area. Barzani's support thus comes at a price Turkey is not willing to pay. Turkish attempts to circumvent Barzani have been hampered by the refusal of the last Turkish president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, to invite Talabani to Ankara in his current capacity--or to deal directly with the KRG." Which is why Talabani's long silence on the issue furthered suspicions. His support for the PKK is not new though many outlets -- big and small -- sure have a problem telling their news consumers those basic facts. Mark Bentley and Ali Berat Meric (Bloomberg News) reported this morning that Turkey has already begun their attack with Turkey air craft sent on bombing missions "in northern Iraq" as well as having "sent troops into Iraq to hunt down the PKK". CNN noted the violence/assault as well and they also noted puppet of the occupation, Nouri al-Maliki, pledging to "shut down PKK offices in the north of the country". Though BBC and CBS & AP noted this yesterday (see yesterday's snapshot), amazingly most outlets haven't said a word. It did come up in yesterday's US State Dept briefing.
Question: Let's go back to Iraq and the Kurds for a second. Maliki's office just said they're going to shut down all the PKK offices in Iraq. Is this something that you guys were looking for -- asked or suggested, or otherwise welcome?
Sean McCormack: Yesh, well, I don't want to get into what specific suggestions or ideas we might have had or what might have been generated by the Iraqi side of the Turkey side. It's a start. But as I have said, what needs to happen is that the Iraqis, acting on their own accord and in cooperation with the Turks as well as us, need to act to prevent further terrorist attacks. That's an immediate issue. What needs to happen over the medium to long term is that the PKK is dismantled and eliminated as a terrorist organization operating from Iraqi soil. Also, I thought I saw some comments from the Iraqi side making this -- indicating that they understood that that's the task before them. So there's this -- I understand there's this commitment to shut down offices. Okay. But what you need to see are actual outputs from inputes that the Iraqi Government might make. The outputs are that you need to stop terrorist attacks, there need to be prevention of terrorist attacks, and you need to get to the root cause here, and that is stop the -- stop this terrorist organization from operating on Iraqi soil.
Question: Is this something that you guys will be able to follow up on, to actually go and see if the PKK is still operating in a shop front in wherever?
Which McCormack sidestepped. And it came up in the White House briefing today.
Question: Dana, Prime Minister Maliki said he's going to close the PKK offices in Iraq. Prime Minister Maliki made the same promise in September of last year. Why should Turkey trust Prime Minister Maliki on this?
Dana Perino: I did look into that, Olvier, and we can understand why the Turks would be skeptical, because that pledge was made. It does need to be fulfilled. We'll be talking to the Iraqis about that as well.
In some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a south Baghdad bombing claimed 4 lives (twenty-five wounded), a west Baghdad bombing left three people injured, a Baghdad mortar attack injured two people and a Khalis mortar attack claimed 3 lives (with twenty-five wounded).
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "Gunmen broke in a house killing a father with his two sons in Zaghanya village north of Baquba city around 6 pm."
Corpses?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 6 corpses discovered in Baghdad.
Today the US military announced: "One MNC-I Soldier was killed and five Soldiers were wounded today during combat operations near the city of Bayji." And they announced: "One Coalition Forces Soldier died of wounds as a result of injuries from a mine explosion while conducting operations in Salah ad Din Oct. 24."
Turning to news of Blackwater USA. AP reports that Richard Griffin has resigned from the US State Dept where his position is Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security ("is" -- resigns on November 1st). The National Journal notes, "Griffin, the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, effectively employs the private guards hired to protect U.S. diplomatic employees in Iraq."
Yesterday, McClatchy Newspapers reports, "Six Iraqi women who've worked in the Knight Ridder and McClatchy Baghdad bureau received the International Women's Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award Tuesday." And noting ABC News' Bob Woodruff's introduction of Shatha al Awsy, Zaineb Obeid, Huda Ahmed, Ban Adil Sarhan, Alaa Majeed and Sahar Issa, "These six Iraqi women have reported the war in Baghdad from inside their hearts. They have watched as the war touched the lives of their neighbors and friends, and then they bore witness as it reached into the lives of each and every one of them. All the while, they have been the backbone of the McClatchy bureau, sleeping with bulletproof vests and helmets by their beds at night, taking different routes to work each day, trying to keep their employment by a Western news organization secret." The New York Times reproduces excerpts of Sahar Issa's speech -- speaking for all six women -- in an editorial today, "To be a journalist in violence-ridden Iraq today, ladies and gentlemen, is not a matter lightly undertaken. Every path is strewn with danger, every checkpoint, every question a direct threat. Every interview we conduct may be our last. So much is happening in Iraq. So much that is questionable. So much that we, as journalists, try to fathom and portray to the people who care to know." Iraqi correspondents contribute to McClatchy Newspapers articles via bylines, via end credits, via background, etc. Inside Iraq is the newspaper chain's blog that is run by their Iraqi correspondents.
Turning to the environment. In the White House press briefing yesterday, Elaine Quijano asked White House flack Dana Perino, "Back on the wildfires for a moment. Senator Barbara Boxer, this morning in a hearing, suggested that they're limited in the amount of National Guard equipment available to them in California because of the commitments in Iraq. Specifically she said, 'Right now we are down 50 percent in terms of our National Guard equipment because they're all in Iraq. The equipment -- half of the equipment, so we really will need help.' Do you have a response to that?" No, Perino didn't. But along with equipment, questions also exist regarding numbers. At a Defense Department briefing yesterday, Paul McHale dismissed questions about "the Marines out at Twentynine Palms actually going to the firefighting lines" stating, "I can tell you unequivocally that the ongoing warfighting activities in CENTCOM had no negative effect at all with regard to our ability to provide sufficient forces to assist civilian authorities in fighting the wildfires. You made reference to the Marines at Twentynine Palms. We have 550 Marines -- basically, a Marine battalion -- prepares to fight fires if and when . . . " Actually, a Marine battalion can go up to 1,000. 500 is the bare minimum for a battalion. Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Peter Aylward had to be repeatedly pinned on the issue of training before finally responding "Yes, ma'am. Okay." Sunday on 60 Minutes, Scott Pelly did a report on the increasing fires in the western United States. Speaking with fire fighters, Pelley stated, "You know, there are a lot of people who don't believe in climate change" to which fire fighter Tom Boatner (chief of fire operations for the federal government) replied, "You won't find them on the fire line in the American West anymore. Cause we've had climate change beat into us over the last ten or fifteen years. We know what we're seeing, and we're dealing with a period of climate, in terms of termperature and humidity and drought that's different than anything people have seen in our lifetimes." This week on PBS' NOW with David Brancaccio (Fridays most markets, check local listings), they will take a look at global warming and ask "Can Evangelicals and scientists find common ground?" NOW journeys to Alaska to find out and record the environmental changes. On their website they have posted an essay by Dr. Eric Chivian, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning scientist, and Rev. Richard Cizik. And completely unrelated (but that force this paragraph in really didn't work, did it) Lisa Pease wonders "Why Is the CIA Suppressing JKF Files?" at Consortium News.
10/24/2007
10/23/2007
turkey & iraq; anne bancroft
1st up, c.i. quotes juan cole in the snapshot. i think c.i. said it better this morning than cole does on democracy now. i was up early this morning (due to the baby who is becoming an early riser) and after nursing and changing and dressing the baby, i made a pot of coffee and turned on the computer because it was too early for any real news (i start my news day with democracy now on tv and then will flip around to the other cable channels to see if they have anything on the stories dn covered - the answer, for those wondering, is usually no. after a few bits of the latest celeb arrest, i usually turn off the tv.).
so i'm getting online and going to the common ills and nothing. i call c.i.'s cell thinking there might be a delay or a problem due to speaking on the road (and figuring i'll offer to fill in or take dictation). i go straight to voice mail. so i dial ava and she explains c.i.'s having laptop nightmares and is on the phones pulling the 1st entry together but wait a few minutes because i should love it.
i sip my coffee, check on the baby (playing with flyboy) and go back and refresh the screen. 'Iraq & Turkey.' that is just so amazing and it covers the points cole made later on dn, but it also covered points cole didn't make including the palestinians.
that has always (since college) been a huge issue to me. i remember when this illegal war started c.i. said it's probably going to up the attention to palestinians by the american people. i think it has done that. i think rachel cory's murder has as well. this is from c.i.'s entry:
The PKK wants to split off from Turkey and has wanted that for years. Whatever you think of their desire or tactics (which are violent), it is so interesting the way they are embraced by the same outlets that vilify the Palestinians. And let's be clear, that's all Palestinians, not just those involved in the armed struggle for their own state. The US press ignores the deaths of them, ignores the attacks on them and, when pressed hard, might offer that they are 'terrorists' -- apparently, every last one to hear the mainstream press tell it and, apparently, from the moment they are born.
The real lesson may be that when you have large quantities of oil (as northern Iraq -- the Kurdish section) does, you can do whatever you want and the press will bend over backwards for you. LAT will whitewash your activities. You can allow a group labeled 'terrorist' (not just by the US and Turkey, as Parker tells you -- the European Union is among the others labeling it that) to operate freely in your region and it's no big deal and the same press that demonizes the Palestinians will cut you so much slack people will be scratching their heads wondering, "Is this the same press that unquestioningly got behind and still supports Bully Boy's so-called 'War on Terror'?"
And notice how Turkey's motives (whatever you think of the motives) are portrayed. The government's position is that the PKK is a terrorist group and that the PKK has repeatedly attacked them from northern Iraq. As such, the government feels that they have the right to go into that region. For those who aren't getting it, something similar was used to justify the US war on Afghanistan. But watch the press play dumb on that and act as if what Turkey's proposing is something so out of bounds it's never been considered before.
There is a lesson to be learned here, Joe Biden should pay attention, the Middle East was created by the West and the tensions today have a great deal to do with that. Which is why the US has no business 'deciding' 'for Iraq' what should happen to the country. If Iraq is to be carved up, that's a decision Iraqis will have to make. The attitude of we can impose our will and carve up occupied territories is a quick-fix (and an insult to the people in those regions) that only leads to later violence.
The illegal war with Iraq has done more to underscore the injustice of the Palestinians than anything else. As Americans have seen Iraq occupied, they've begun asking more questions than they have in the past. Similarly, Turkey's actions should lead to Americans questioning the alleged 'war on terror' and the portrayals of one group of people involved in armed struggle against an existing nation-state should make us ponder similar actions in other countries. The only lesson the press is currently teaching is when you have oil, we'll bend over backwards for you. Two visitors e-mailed with one saying the PKK was being slammed and the other saying they were being "treated with kid gloves." They're not being treated any way. The concern here is the support northern Iraq has given and the refusal of the media to note that. The one expressing concern that the PKK was being slammed stated we ("you people," meaning me, I assume) would probably deny the Armenian genocide. No, we don't.
wow.
i read that and just thought, 'wow.'
with all the weak sisters online (kvh, anyone?), i just thought 'wow' and how glad i was c.i. had gone online (yes, i am tooting my own horn on the latter since i was among the 1s saying 'you need to start' a site - i said blog, but the common ills isn't a blog).
i also love the snapshot carrying the news that the pkk was operating in the open in northern iraq. a point c.i. has made repeatedly for over a week now. you didn't get that elsewhere, now did you?
no. you got a lot of nonsense.
you got a lot of 'iraq can't control the pkk.' they had a headquarters - party headquarters - in northern iraq which al-maliki announced today would be closed down.
that must be a shock for those at the los angeles times and other outlets.
i love it when c.i.'s writing while pissed off. that's when you get what no 1's telling you, whether it's calling attention to the attacks on u.s. helicopters while the media was still reporting 'emergency landings' and 'hard landings' or any other number of topics.
so no offense to juan cole (whom i don't like, but no offense), i really think c.i. said it better and provided better context.
and i do agree that the illegal war's ongoing occupation is waking up a huge number of people. it was really easy to ignore the occupation that the palestinians live under. the u.s. media white washes it. and, most importantly, what do americans today know about occupation? the revolutionary war really isn't sold as the u.s. was occupied (mainly because colonialist were occyping the native american lands) and vietnam was some time ago. but the iraq war has driven home a lesson in occupation. and since it's the u.s. occupying, americans are paying attention.
the israeli government supported the illegal war (to put it mildly) and it may end up being their biggest regret because what the iraq war has done is give americans a crash course in occupation.
now i'm going to talk about films for a little bit just to round out my post. today c.i. quoted anne bancroft from heartbreakers. anne bancroft was a really gifted actress. i wanted to note 3 of my favorite performances by her. in no particular order:
1) heartbreakers
2) agnes of god
3) how to make an american quilt
what! where's the graduate!
it's a great film. anne was great in it. but the 3 above contain some incredible acting by anne. heartbreakers is a delightful comedy where every role is cast to perfection (gene hackman, sigorney weaver, ray liotta, jennifer love-hewitt, nora dunne, carrie fisher and jason lee). anne only has 3 scenes, but she's amazing. the thread for my choices were films where she interacted.
i know the stand-offish quality of mrs. robinson gets the boys jumping beneath the belly. but anne bancroft was a very warm actress and i picked my choices because of the work she's doing with others.
agnes of god. 2 method actresses create magic - anne and jane fonda. (meg tilly's also wonderful.) there are levels those 1 touch on in their scenes together that, were they 2 men, people would be shouting from the roof tops. to me, agnes really is anne's best performance in a lead role. she's amazing and you really feel like this is a character and not anne bancroft. if you've never seen this film (a nun gives birth and the baby is killed - how? is the question of the movie - how did it happen - how does anything happen, etc.), you really need to check it out. the scenes with fonda and bancroft are electric.
how to make an american quilt. again, the electricity between anne bancroft and another actress makes the film for me. this time it's another method actress again, ellen burstyn. they have so many moments that should be throw aways that the bring so much to (including singing along to neil diamond's 'cherry, cherry').
she was wonderful in the miracle worker (and wonderful in many roles) but those 3 are my favorites because they let her really cut loose with other women in these portrayals of friendship that you don't often see.
i know most of my readers are very young and may not be familiar with anne bancroft (other than the graduate possibly). if that's the case and you're hitting netflix or a video store or whatever, consider picking up 1 of the 3. i really think you'll be pleased.
closing with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
Tuesday, October 23, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, another US airstrike kills more civilians, what do you know -- the PKK was in Iraq (even a headquarters), and more.
Starting with war resisters. Ehren Watada is the first US officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq. After months of hearing from the military brass that they wanted to work towards a solution (they were just delaying -- thinking if they could delay until deployment, Watada would go to Iraq), he went public in June of 2006. In February of this year, Judge Toilet (aka John Head) rigged a kangaroo court where Watada would be court-martialed for refusing to deploy but would not be allowed to explain to a jury (Watada chose to go with a jury of his peers) why he made the decision he had. Despite the rigged court-martial, the third day (when Watada would take the stand for the defense) found Judge Toilet calling a mistrial over defense objections to provide the prosecution with a do-over even though the Constitution forbids double-jeopardy." The Watada National Steering Committee has a message at Courage to Resist:
On the weekend of Oct. 26 - 27, we will be participating in or holding demonstrations in support of Lt. Watada. This is the weekend of the Oct. 27 nationwide day of action called jointly by United for Peace & Justice and International A.N.S.W.E.R. We will be reaching out to them to work jointly where we can, or to have local events in cities and towns where they are not having an event.For more information, please go to our website , contact us online , or phone us at 877-689-4162.Local groups who wish to support Lt. Watada can help by holding events or speaking about his case at events you are already planning, holding press conferences, writing articles in the media, or writing letters to the editor of your local media. In newspapers, the letters to the editor sections are among the most widely read sections of the paper. Letters must be short or they will not be published due to space; see the length of letters currently published in your local paper for examples.
That is this weekend. Watada is first Iraq War officer to resist. Stephen Funk is the first public resister of the illegal war. Iraq Veterans Against the War's chair Camilo Mejia is the first Iraq veteran to publicly resist the illegal war. From November 10 through December 16th, his voice will be featured in a new play at Culture Project as it presents Rebel Voices the new play which is based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. Along with 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) and poet Staceyann Chinn and musician Allison Mooerer will hed 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) and actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little). 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.
Turning to war resisters who have gone to Canada. Last week Bethany "Skyler" James and Michael Espinal went public about their decision to relocate to Canada. Going public makes the US nervous, hence the need for spin. Over the weekend Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star) reported on the statements issued by John Nay, United States Counsul General to Canada, who insists that there's nothing any war resister needs to fear about America. His spinning also revealed an ignorance of the official US policies on COs which Nay (National War College graduate) insisted was "hard" for anyone signing up to claim afterwards that they were. It was one joke out of another from Nay -- certainly the most laughs he's ever gotten outside of his comb-over. In the Canadian parliament, Alex Atamenko delivered another appeal that the government begin granting asylum to war resisters in a speech that many see as a response to some of Nay's ridiculous claims (Atamenko specifically mentioned the glossy ads that gloss over the realities of war) and a speech that was warmly received. Meanwhile the War Resisters Support Campaign is staging an event tonight and tomorrow. First up, a Halloween Masquerade ball at the Budda Bar tonight, in Toronto, with doors opening at eight p.m. Tomorrow night Michelle Mason's breakthrough documentary . Breaking Ranks will be screened at the University of Toronto's Claude Bissell Building from six to eight p.m. followed by a question and answer session with war resisters.
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 National Lawyers Guild's convention begins shortly: The Military Law Task Force and the Center on Conscience & War are sponsoring a Continuing Legal Education seminar -- Representing Conscientious Objectors in Habeas Corpus Proceedings -- as part of the National Lawyers Guild National Convention in Washington, D.C. The half-day seminar will be held on Thursday, November 1st, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the convention site, the Holiday Inn on the Hill in D.C. This is a must-attend seminar, with excelent speakers and a wealth of information. The seminar will be moderated by the Military Law Task Force's co-chair Kathleen Gilberd and scheduled speakers are NYC Bar Association's Committee on Military Affairs and Justice's Deborah Karpatkin, the Center on Conscience & War's J.E. McNeil, the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee's Peter Goldberger, Louis Font who has represented Camilo Mejia, Dr. Mary Hanna and others, and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objector's James Feldman. The fee is $60 for attorneys; $25 for non-profit attorneys, students and legal workers; and you can also enquire about scholarships or reduced fees. The convention itself will run from October 31st through November 4th and it's full circle on the 70th anniversary of NLG since they "began in Washington, D.C." where "the founding convention took place in the District at the height of the New Deal in 1937, Activist, progressive lawyers, tired of butting heads with the reactionary white male lawyers then comprising the American Bar Association, formed the nucleus of the Guild."
Turkey and northern Iraq still simmer with tension. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) explored the topic today with professor Juan Cole:
AMY GOODMAN: Let's go today's top story: tension remaining high on the Turkish-Iraq border, following the killing of seventeen Turkish troops by Kurdish militants over the weekend. How significant is this?
JUAN COLE: Well, it's extremely significant. I mean, imagine what would happen in this country if a guerrilla group based in a neighboring country came over the border and killed seventeen US troops. That would be a war. And the Kurdish guerrilla movement, the Kurdish Workers Party, based now in Iraq, but originally from Eastern Anatolia, from the Turkish regions, is conducting a guerrilla war against the Turkish military. It is being given safe harbor by Kurdish politicians on the Iraqi side. And, in essence, the United States has created this situation in which a NATO ally -- people forget Turkey fought alongside the United States in Korea; it's got troops in Afghanistan -- a NATO ally of the United States is being attacked and its troops killed by a terrorist organization, so designated by the State Department, that essentially has US auspices. The US is responsible for security in Iraq.
AMY GOODMAN: And how connected is the US to the PKK, or is it at all?
JUAN COLE: Well, the United States doesn't like the PKK and doesn't have much connection to it, but the United States has allied with the Iraqi Kurdish leaders, who are the most reliable allies of the United States in Iraq: Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani. And Barzani, in particular, it seems to me, just de facto, is giving harbor to, giving haven to, these PKK guerrillas. So the United States needs Barzani and needs his support. He's doing an oil deal with Hunt Oil, which is close to the Bush administration. His Peshmurga paramilitary is the backbone of the most effective fires of the new Iraqi army. They do security details in other cities like Mosul and Kirkuk. So the US really desperately depends on the Kurdistan Regional Authority and its paramilitary and can't afford to alienate Barzani. And since Barzani is -- behind the scenes seems to kind of like the PKK and does -- giving them a haven, the US is politically complicit in these attacks.
AMY GOODMAN: What is the deal with Hunt Oil?
JUAN COLE: Well, Hunt Oil, which is, I think, losing its bids in Yemen, is desperate for a new field to develop, and they are exploring a partnership with the Kurdistan Regional Authority in northern Iraq.
The oil. Always the oil. Allowing the PKK to get the kind of fawning press from the mainstream that no other armed resistance has seen in years (not since the US-based thugs the Contras). The War Comes Home's Aaron Glantz reported on the situation for Pacifica in April of 2004 noting a meet up in DC between the Turkish government and the US government when then US Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Meyers stated, "This is an issue the coalition forces inside Iraq take very seriously. Let me assure you that there is very close collaboration with Turkey and that they [the PKK] will be dealt with appropriately." What followed was . . . nothing. Why?
In Glantz's 2004 report, he noted, "Iraqi Kurds, by contrast, have enjoyed the patronage of the United States for more than a decade and as a consequence have been able to build schools and media institutions where Kurdish is exclusively spoken." And governing elements have looked the other way as the region has been purged/'cleansed' of non-Kurdish elements such as a plethora of religious sects. But they have the oil and they've long had US support. While Falluja remains in rubble and Baghdad is just barely better off, the northern region hasn't seen the falling bombs from US air craft. And it's so strange that when the press wants to pimp the business opportunites in the region, they act puzzled about how 'peaceful' the region is. (Dubbing it 'peaceful' requires ignoring the attacks on sects and the 'honor' killings of women.) When the rest of Iraq has been torn apart by the illegal war and wasn't supported before the illegal war by the US, is it any surprise?
Bay Fang (Chicago Tribune) quotes an unnamed US official who states, "In the past, there has been reluctance to engage in direct U.S. military action against the PKK, either through air strikes or some kind of Special Forces action. But the red line was always, if the Turks were going to come over the border, it could be so destabilizing that it might be less risky for us to do something ourselves. Now the Turks are at the end of their rope, and our risk calculus is changing." So that was the 'red line' and now -- and only now -- the White House decides to act? BBC notes the announcement by puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki, "Iraq says it will close the offices of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebel group and will 'not allow it to operate on Iraqi soil'." All these years later. CBS and AP note that the announcement of the closing of PKK offices "contradicted repeated assertions by Iraqi officials in recent days that the PKK's presence in Iraq was restricted to inaccessible parts of northern Iraq that could not be reached by authorities" and that the Turkish military is "massing along the border". Flashback for those who've forgotten, last month's charges that the PKK were using American weapons came as US federal prosecutors were investigating whether Blackwater was selling US arms. Ben Holland and Mark Bentley (Bloomberg News) report, "Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country's forces may carry out strikes on Kurdish fighters in Iraqi territory in the next few days if the U.S. and Iraq fail to rein in the militants." They also report that the Turkish military striking does not have to mean on the ground forces, it could mean air strikes -- which would of course likely kill many civilians. But Bully Boy had a red line he was waiting on all these years, you understand.
Bully Boy has his own hands full when it comes to air strikes and the deaths of innocent civilians. Aseel Kami (Reuters) explains the US military has fessed up to killing innocent civilians in an air strike outside Baghdad early on Tuesday and they admit 11 civilians died. But, hand to heart, they insist that only six of the eleven were civilians and the rest were 'terrorists' or 'insurgents' or maybe the Apple Dumpling Gang using the six as "human shields". A lie but a lie that doesn't excuse the bombing and is still in violation of international law. Eye witnesses reports that there were two US attacks. The first killed two farmers with a third seeking shelter in his home which the next strike "destroyed . . . killing 14 people, including six members of Ibrahim Jassim family and five from another" according to Abdul al-Rahman Iyadeh and police captain Abdullah al-Isawi says the number killed is sixteen "seven men, six women and three children," Kami notes.
In other violence . . .
Bombings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports two Baghdad roadside bombs that wounded two police officers and a Kirkuk car bombing that injured wounded one person. Reuters notes a roadside minibus bombing outside Baquba that claimed 3 lives (ten wounded).
Shootings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad attack where two police officers were shot dead as they guarded Al Mamoun Intermediate School (two more wounded) while "A foreign protection convoy shot and injured citizen Zirak Youness, 21, on a main road connects Kirkuk and Makhmour last night." Reuters notes that two infant girls were shot dead by Iraqi police today in Kerbala but, no tears apparently, the father's a suspected member of the militia -- which makes it a-okay to kill two babies, wound the mother and a sister.
Corpses?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 4 corpses discovered in Baghdad.and "Police found the body of Omed Hassan a member of the Kurdish security force known as Assayish near a cementary south east of Kirkuk last night."
In other news of violence, the US military announced yesterday that the Adhamiyah Islamic Party headquarters in Baghdad was targeted "with approximately 35 pounds of homemade explosives" on October 20th and identify it as "a political organization opposed to Al Qaeda" and whoe members "have allied with Coalition Forces in recent months to oppose terrorist groups operating in Adhamiyah." More officials targeted due to being seen as collarborators and yet, even with US military confirmation, the latest event in a continuing trend is not getting much press attetion." And the trend continues with the US military announcing today that 2 "employees of the city government were wounded when their vehicle was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in the eastern Adhamiyah neighborhood" yesterday.
Turning to the mercenary corporation Blackwater USA. Eric Schmitt and David Rohde (New York Times) report on two new reports -- one a US State Dept internal review, the other a report by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. The first (State Dept internal review) finds that the State Department provided no oversight of Blackwater or Dyncorp. The second focuses on DynCorp's spending of US tax payer dollars and finds that "the State Department had only two government employees in Iraq overseeing as many as 700 DynCorp employees," that the State Department is not sure what US tax payer money was spent on (at one point insisting that $387,000 was spent at hotels in Iraq and an x-ray machine purchased for $1.8 million was used in Iraq -- then coming back to insist they meant Aghanistan), etc. -- "A review of DynCorp's spending over the past year identified $29 million in overcharges by DynCorp" while a Defense Congracting Audit Agency report discovered "DynCorp had billed for $162,869 of labor hours 'for which it did not pay its workers'." DynCorp was put in charge of training the Iraqi police. For those who've forgotten, one reason Jordan was cut out of the police training (which it had been doing) was because it would be 'cheaper.'
"How you earn your money is no interest to the IRS. Now how can I put this in language you'll understand? We just want our cut." Anne Bancroft's lines from HeartBreakers come back to haunt Blackwater. Joseph Neff (McClatchy Newspapers) reports US House Rep and chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Henry Waxman has announced Blackwater "may have evaded tens of millions of dollars in federal taxes" because BlackWater -- unlike DynCorp and Triple Canopy -- has classified its employees as "contractors" -- thereby avoiding taxes, Social Security and Medicare payments: "The issue came to the attention of the IRS when a Blackwater guard working in Afghanistan complained that the company had classified him as an independent contractor. The IRS said Blackwater's classification was 'without merit' and ruled in March that the man was an employee." CNN notes, "By classifying workers in Iraq as 'independent contractors' rather than employees, Blackwater appears to have engaged in an 'illegal tax scheme' that avoided an estimated $31 million in employment-related taxes in the last year of its contract alone, said Rep. Henry Waxman on Monday" and that Waxman has advised Erik Prince by letter, "It is deplorable that a company that depends on federal tax dollars for over 90 percent of its business would even contemplate forbidding an employee to report corporate wrongdoing to Congress and federal law enforcement officials." Now does Blackwater CEO Prince think the American way is to cheat on your taxes? Over the weekend on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal, Moyers spoke with Jeremy Scahill about Prince's p.r. blitz last week and Scahill noted, "It's almost I think part of the point here was to say, look, you don't understand really, American people, what we're doing for you. While you're enjoying comfort here in the United States, we're over there protecting our-- men in women in uniform, our diplomats. I think that there's a way that he wants to increase the mystique about the company and the operations of Blackwater." Is "tax cheat" supposed to be part of the red, white and blue that Prince couldn't shut up about in interview after interview?
so i'm getting online and going to the common ills and nothing. i call c.i.'s cell thinking there might be a delay or a problem due to speaking on the road (and figuring i'll offer to fill in or take dictation). i go straight to voice mail. so i dial ava and she explains c.i.'s having laptop nightmares and is on the phones pulling the 1st entry together but wait a few minutes because i should love it.
i sip my coffee, check on the baby (playing with flyboy) and go back and refresh the screen. 'Iraq & Turkey.' that is just so amazing and it covers the points cole made later on dn, but it also covered points cole didn't make including the palestinians.
that has always (since college) been a huge issue to me. i remember when this illegal war started c.i. said it's probably going to up the attention to palestinians by the american people. i think it has done that. i think rachel cory's murder has as well. this is from c.i.'s entry:
The PKK wants to split off from Turkey and has wanted that for years. Whatever you think of their desire or tactics (which are violent), it is so interesting the way they are embraced by the same outlets that vilify the Palestinians. And let's be clear, that's all Palestinians, not just those involved in the armed struggle for their own state. The US press ignores the deaths of them, ignores the attacks on them and, when pressed hard, might offer that they are 'terrorists' -- apparently, every last one to hear the mainstream press tell it and, apparently, from the moment they are born.
The real lesson may be that when you have large quantities of oil (as northern Iraq -- the Kurdish section) does, you can do whatever you want and the press will bend over backwards for you. LAT will whitewash your activities. You can allow a group labeled 'terrorist' (not just by the US and Turkey, as Parker tells you -- the European Union is among the others labeling it that) to operate freely in your region and it's no big deal and the same press that demonizes the Palestinians will cut you so much slack people will be scratching their heads wondering, "Is this the same press that unquestioningly got behind and still supports Bully Boy's so-called 'War on Terror'?"
And notice how Turkey's motives (whatever you think of the motives) are portrayed. The government's position is that the PKK is a terrorist group and that the PKK has repeatedly attacked them from northern Iraq. As such, the government feels that they have the right to go into that region. For those who aren't getting it, something similar was used to justify the US war on Afghanistan. But watch the press play dumb on that and act as if what Turkey's proposing is something so out of bounds it's never been considered before.
There is a lesson to be learned here, Joe Biden should pay attention, the Middle East was created by the West and the tensions today have a great deal to do with that. Which is why the US has no business 'deciding' 'for Iraq' what should happen to the country. If Iraq is to be carved up, that's a decision Iraqis will have to make. The attitude of we can impose our will and carve up occupied territories is a quick-fix (and an insult to the people in those regions) that only leads to later violence.
The illegal war with Iraq has done more to underscore the injustice of the Palestinians than anything else. As Americans have seen Iraq occupied, they've begun asking more questions than they have in the past. Similarly, Turkey's actions should lead to Americans questioning the alleged 'war on terror' and the portrayals of one group of people involved in armed struggle against an existing nation-state should make us ponder similar actions in other countries. The only lesson the press is currently teaching is when you have oil, we'll bend over backwards for you. Two visitors e-mailed with one saying the PKK was being slammed and the other saying they were being "treated with kid gloves." They're not being treated any way. The concern here is the support northern Iraq has given and the refusal of the media to note that. The one expressing concern that the PKK was being slammed stated we ("you people," meaning me, I assume) would probably deny the Armenian genocide. No, we don't.
wow.
i read that and just thought, 'wow.'
with all the weak sisters online (kvh, anyone?), i just thought 'wow' and how glad i was c.i. had gone online (yes, i am tooting my own horn on the latter since i was among the 1s saying 'you need to start' a site - i said blog, but the common ills isn't a blog).
i also love the snapshot carrying the news that the pkk was operating in the open in northern iraq. a point c.i. has made repeatedly for over a week now. you didn't get that elsewhere, now did you?
no. you got a lot of nonsense.
you got a lot of 'iraq can't control the pkk.' they had a headquarters - party headquarters - in northern iraq which al-maliki announced today would be closed down.
that must be a shock for those at the los angeles times and other outlets.
i love it when c.i.'s writing while pissed off. that's when you get what no 1's telling you, whether it's calling attention to the attacks on u.s. helicopters while the media was still reporting 'emergency landings' and 'hard landings' or any other number of topics.
so no offense to juan cole (whom i don't like, but no offense), i really think c.i. said it better and provided better context.
and i do agree that the illegal war's ongoing occupation is waking up a huge number of people. it was really easy to ignore the occupation that the palestinians live under. the u.s. media white washes it. and, most importantly, what do americans today know about occupation? the revolutionary war really isn't sold as the u.s. was occupied (mainly because colonialist were occyping the native american lands) and vietnam was some time ago. but the iraq war has driven home a lesson in occupation. and since it's the u.s. occupying, americans are paying attention.
the israeli government supported the illegal war (to put it mildly) and it may end up being their biggest regret because what the iraq war has done is give americans a crash course in occupation.
now i'm going to talk about films for a little bit just to round out my post. today c.i. quoted anne bancroft from heartbreakers. anne bancroft was a really gifted actress. i wanted to note 3 of my favorite performances by her. in no particular order:
1) heartbreakers
2) agnes of god
3) how to make an american quilt
what! where's the graduate!
it's a great film. anne was great in it. but the 3 above contain some incredible acting by anne. heartbreakers is a delightful comedy where every role is cast to perfection (gene hackman, sigorney weaver, ray liotta, jennifer love-hewitt, nora dunne, carrie fisher and jason lee). anne only has 3 scenes, but she's amazing. the thread for my choices were films where she interacted.
i know the stand-offish quality of mrs. robinson gets the boys jumping beneath the belly. but anne bancroft was a very warm actress and i picked my choices because of the work she's doing with others.
agnes of god. 2 method actresses create magic - anne and jane fonda. (meg tilly's also wonderful.) there are levels those 1 touch on in their scenes together that, were they 2 men, people would be shouting from the roof tops. to me, agnes really is anne's best performance in a lead role. she's amazing and you really feel like this is a character and not anne bancroft. if you've never seen this film (a nun gives birth and the baby is killed - how? is the question of the movie - how did it happen - how does anything happen, etc.), you really need to check it out. the scenes with fonda and bancroft are electric.
how to make an american quilt. again, the electricity between anne bancroft and another actress makes the film for me. this time it's another method actress again, ellen burstyn. they have so many moments that should be throw aways that the bring so much to (including singing along to neil diamond's 'cherry, cherry').
she was wonderful in the miracle worker (and wonderful in many roles) but those 3 are my favorites because they let her really cut loose with other women in these portrayals of friendship that you don't often see.
i know most of my readers are very young and may not be familiar with anne bancroft (other than the graduate possibly). if that's the case and you're hitting netflix or a video store or whatever, consider picking up 1 of the 3. i really think you'll be pleased.
closing with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
Tuesday, October 23, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, another US airstrike kills more civilians, what do you know -- the PKK was in Iraq (even a headquarters), and more.
Starting with war resisters. Ehren Watada is the first US officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq. After months of hearing from the military brass that they wanted to work towards a solution (they were just delaying -- thinking if they could delay until deployment, Watada would go to Iraq), he went public in June of 2006. In February of this year, Judge Toilet (aka John Head) rigged a kangaroo court where Watada would be court-martialed for refusing to deploy but would not be allowed to explain to a jury (Watada chose to go with a jury of his peers) why he made the decision he had. Despite the rigged court-martial, the third day (when Watada would take the stand for the defense) found Judge Toilet calling a mistrial over defense objections to provide the prosecution with a do-over even though the Constitution forbids double-jeopardy." The Watada National Steering Committee has a message at Courage to Resist:
On the weekend of Oct. 26 - 27, we will be participating in or holding demonstrations in support of Lt. Watada. This is the weekend of the Oct. 27 nationwide day of action called jointly by United for Peace & Justice and International A.N.S.W.E.R. We will be reaching out to them to work jointly where we can, or to have local events in cities and towns where they are not having an event.For more information, please go to our website , contact us online , or phone us at 877-689-4162.Local groups who wish to support Lt. Watada can help by holding events or speaking about his case at events you are already planning, holding press conferences, writing articles in the media, or writing letters to the editor of your local media. In newspapers, the letters to the editor sections are among the most widely read sections of the paper. Letters must be short or they will not be published due to space; see the length of letters currently published in your local paper for examples.
That is this weekend. Watada is first Iraq War officer to resist. Stephen Funk is the first public resister of the illegal war. Iraq Veterans Against the War's chair Camilo Mejia is the first Iraq veteran to publicly resist the illegal war. From November 10 through December 16th, his voice will be featured in a new play at Culture Project as it presents Rebel Voices the new play which is based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. Along with 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) and poet Staceyann Chinn and musician Allison Mooerer will hed 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) and actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little). 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.
Turning to war resisters who have gone to Canada. Last week Bethany "Skyler" James and Michael Espinal went public about their decision to relocate to Canada. Going public makes the US nervous, hence the need for spin. Over the weekend Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star) reported on the statements issued by John Nay, United States Counsul General to Canada, who insists that there's nothing any war resister needs to fear about America. His spinning also revealed an ignorance of the official US policies on COs which Nay (National War College graduate) insisted was "hard" for anyone signing up to claim afterwards that they were. It was one joke out of another from Nay -- certainly the most laughs he's ever gotten outside of his comb-over. In the Canadian parliament, Alex Atamenko delivered another appeal that the government begin granting asylum to war resisters in a speech that many see as a response to some of Nay's ridiculous claims (Atamenko specifically mentioned the glossy ads that gloss over the realities of war) and a speech that was warmly received. Meanwhile the War Resisters Support Campaign is staging an event tonight and tomorrow. First up, a Halloween Masquerade ball at the Budda Bar tonight, in Toronto, with doors opening at eight p.m. Tomorrow night Michelle Mason's breakthrough documentary . Breaking Ranks will be screened at the University of Toronto's Claude Bissell Building from six to eight p.m. followed by a question and answer session with war resisters.
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 National Lawyers Guild's convention begins shortly: The Military Law Task Force and the Center on Conscience & War are sponsoring a Continuing Legal Education seminar -- Representing Conscientious Objectors in Habeas Corpus Proceedings -- as part of the National Lawyers Guild National Convention in Washington, D.C. The half-day seminar will be held on Thursday, November 1st, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the convention site, the Holiday Inn on the Hill in D.C. This is a must-attend seminar, with excelent speakers and a wealth of information. The seminar will be moderated by the Military Law Task Force's co-chair Kathleen Gilberd and scheduled speakers are NYC Bar Association's Committee on Military Affairs and Justice's Deborah Karpatkin, the Center on Conscience & War's J.E. McNeil, the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee's Peter Goldberger, Louis Font who has represented Camilo Mejia, Dr. Mary Hanna and others, and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objector's James Feldman. The fee is $60 for attorneys; $25 for non-profit attorneys, students and legal workers; and you can also enquire about scholarships or reduced fees. The convention itself will run from October 31st through November 4th and it's full circle on the 70th anniversary of NLG since they "began in Washington, D.C." where "the founding convention took place in the District at the height of the New Deal in 1937, Activist, progressive lawyers, tired of butting heads with the reactionary white male lawyers then comprising the American Bar Association, formed the nucleus of the Guild."
Turkey and northern Iraq still simmer with tension. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) explored the topic today with professor Juan Cole:
AMY GOODMAN: Let's go today's top story: tension remaining high on the Turkish-Iraq border, following the killing of seventeen Turkish troops by Kurdish militants over the weekend. How significant is this?
JUAN COLE: Well, it's extremely significant. I mean, imagine what would happen in this country if a guerrilla group based in a neighboring country came over the border and killed seventeen US troops. That would be a war. And the Kurdish guerrilla movement, the Kurdish Workers Party, based now in Iraq, but originally from Eastern Anatolia, from the Turkish regions, is conducting a guerrilla war against the Turkish military. It is being given safe harbor by Kurdish politicians on the Iraqi side. And, in essence, the United States has created this situation in which a NATO ally -- people forget Turkey fought alongside the United States in Korea; it's got troops in Afghanistan -- a NATO ally of the United States is being attacked and its troops killed by a terrorist organization, so designated by the State Department, that essentially has US auspices. The US is responsible for security in Iraq.
AMY GOODMAN: And how connected is the US to the PKK, or is it at all?
JUAN COLE: Well, the United States doesn't like the PKK and doesn't have much connection to it, but the United States has allied with the Iraqi Kurdish leaders, who are the most reliable allies of the United States in Iraq: Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani. And Barzani, in particular, it seems to me, just de facto, is giving harbor to, giving haven to, these PKK guerrillas. So the United States needs Barzani and needs his support. He's doing an oil deal with Hunt Oil, which is close to the Bush administration. His Peshmurga paramilitary is the backbone of the most effective fires of the new Iraqi army. They do security details in other cities like Mosul and Kirkuk. So the US really desperately depends on the Kurdistan Regional Authority and its paramilitary and can't afford to alienate Barzani. And since Barzani is -- behind the scenes seems to kind of like the PKK and does -- giving them a haven, the US is politically complicit in these attacks.
AMY GOODMAN: What is the deal with Hunt Oil?
JUAN COLE: Well, Hunt Oil, which is, I think, losing its bids in Yemen, is desperate for a new field to develop, and they are exploring a partnership with the Kurdistan Regional Authority in northern Iraq.
The oil. Always the oil. Allowing the PKK to get the kind of fawning press from the mainstream that no other armed resistance has seen in years (not since the US-based thugs the Contras). The War Comes Home's Aaron Glantz reported on the situation for Pacifica in April of 2004 noting a meet up in DC between the Turkish government and the US government when then US Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Meyers stated, "This is an issue the coalition forces inside Iraq take very seriously. Let me assure you that there is very close collaboration with Turkey and that they [the PKK] will be dealt with appropriately." What followed was . . . nothing. Why?
In Glantz's 2004 report, he noted, "Iraqi Kurds, by contrast, have enjoyed the patronage of the United States for more than a decade and as a consequence have been able to build schools and media institutions where Kurdish is exclusively spoken." And governing elements have looked the other way as the region has been purged/'cleansed' of non-Kurdish elements such as a plethora of religious sects. But they have the oil and they've long had US support. While Falluja remains in rubble and Baghdad is just barely better off, the northern region hasn't seen the falling bombs from US air craft. And it's so strange that when the press wants to pimp the business opportunites in the region, they act puzzled about how 'peaceful' the region is. (Dubbing it 'peaceful' requires ignoring the attacks on sects and the 'honor' killings of women.) When the rest of Iraq has been torn apart by the illegal war and wasn't supported before the illegal war by the US, is it any surprise?
Bay Fang (Chicago Tribune) quotes an unnamed US official who states, "In the past, there has been reluctance to engage in direct U.S. military action against the PKK, either through air strikes or some kind of Special Forces action. But the red line was always, if the Turks were going to come over the border, it could be so destabilizing that it might be less risky for us to do something ourselves. Now the Turks are at the end of their rope, and our risk calculus is changing." So that was the 'red line' and now -- and only now -- the White House decides to act? BBC notes the announcement by puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki, "Iraq says it will close the offices of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebel group and will 'not allow it to operate on Iraqi soil'." All these years later. CBS and AP note that the announcement of the closing of PKK offices "contradicted repeated assertions by Iraqi officials in recent days that the PKK's presence in Iraq was restricted to inaccessible parts of northern Iraq that could not be reached by authorities" and that the Turkish military is "massing along the border". Flashback for those who've forgotten, last month's charges that the PKK were using American weapons came as US federal prosecutors were investigating whether Blackwater was selling US arms. Ben Holland and Mark Bentley (Bloomberg News) report, "Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country's forces may carry out strikes on Kurdish fighters in Iraqi territory in the next few days if the U.S. and Iraq fail to rein in the militants." They also report that the Turkish military striking does not have to mean on the ground forces, it could mean air strikes -- which would of course likely kill many civilians. But Bully Boy had a red line he was waiting on all these years, you understand.
Bully Boy has his own hands full when it comes to air strikes and the deaths of innocent civilians. Aseel Kami (Reuters) explains the US military has fessed up to killing innocent civilians in an air strike outside Baghdad early on Tuesday and they admit 11 civilians died. But, hand to heart, they insist that only six of the eleven were civilians and the rest were 'terrorists' or 'insurgents' or maybe the Apple Dumpling Gang using the six as "human shields". A lie but a lie that doesn't excuse the bombing and is still in violation of international law. Eye witnesses reports that there were two US attacks. The first killed two farmers with a third seeking shelter in his home which the next strike "destroyed . . . killing 14 people, including six members of Ibrahim Jassim family and five from another" according to Abdul al-Rahman Iyadeh and police captain Abdullah al-Isawi says the number killed is sixteen "seven men, six women and three children," Kami notes.
In other violence . . .
Bombings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports two Baghdad roadside bombs that wounded two police officers and a Kirkuk car bombing that injured wounded one person. Reuters notes a roadside minibus bombing outside Baquba that claimed 3 lives (ten wounded).
Shootings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad attack where two police officers were shot dead as they guarded Al Mamoun Intermediate School (two more wounded) while "A foreign protection convoy shot and injured citizen Zirak Youness, 21, on a main road connects Kirkuk and Makhmour last night." Reuters notes that two infant girls were shot dead by Iraqi police today in Kerbala but, no tears apparently, the father's a suspected member of the militia -- which makes it a-okay to kill two babies, wound the mother and a sister.
Corpses?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 4 corpses discovered in Baghdad.and "Police found the body of Omed Hassan a member of the Kurdish security force known as Assayish near a cementary south east of Kirkuk last night."
In other news of violence, the US military announced yesterday that the Adhamiyah Islamic Party headquarters in Baghdad was targeted "with approximately 35 pounds of homemade explosives" on October 20th and identify it as "a political organization opposed to Al Qaeda" and whoe members "have allied with Coalition Forces in recent months to oppose terrorist groups operating in Adhamiyah." More officials targeted due to being seen as collarborators and yet, even with US military confirmation, the latest event in a continuing trend is not getting much press attetion." And the trend continues with the US military announcing today that 2 "employees of the city government were wounded when their vehicle was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in the eastern Adhamiyah neighborhood" yesterday.
Turning to the mercenary corporation Blackwater USA. Eric Schmitt and David Rohde (New York Times) report on two new reports -- one a US State Dept internal review, the other a report by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. The first (State Dept internal review) finds that the State Department provided no oversight of Blackwater or Dyncorp. The second focuses on DynCorp's spending of US tax payer dollars and finds that "the State Department had only two government employees in Iraq overseeing as many as 700 DynCorp employees," that the State Department is not sure what US tax payer money was spent on (at one point insisting that $387,000 was spent at hotels in Iraq and an x-ray machine purchased for $1.8 million was used in Iraq -- then coming back to insist they meant Aghanistan), etc. -- "A review of DynCorp's spending over the past year identified $29 million in overcharges by DynCorp" while a Defense Congracting Audit Agency report discovered "DynCorp had billed for $162,869 of labor hours 'for which it did not pay its workers'." DynCorp was put in charge of training the Iraqi police. For those who've forgotten, one reason Jordan was cut out of the police training (which it had been doing) was because it would be 'cheaper.'
"How you earn your money is no interest to the IRS. Now how can I put this in language you'll understand? We just want our cut." Anne Bancroft's lines from HeartBreakers come back to haunt Blackwater. Joseph Neff (McClatchy Newspapers) reports US House Rep and chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Henry Waxman has announced Blackwater "may have evaded tens of millions of dollars in federal taxes" because BlackWater -- unlike DynCorp and Triple Canopy -- has classified its employees as "contractors" -- thereby avoiding taxes, Social Security and Medicare payments: "The issue came to the attention of the IRS when a Blackwater guard working in Afghanistan complained that the company had classified him as an independent contractor. The IRS said Blackwater's classification was 'without merit' and ruled in March that the man was an employee." CNN notes, "By classifying workers in Iraq as 'independent contractors' rather than employees, Blackwater appears to have engaged in an 'illegal tax scheme' that avoided an estimated $31 million in employment-related taxes in the last year of its contract alone, said Rep. Henry Waxman on Monday" and that Waxman has advised Erik Prince by letter, "It is deplorable that a company that depends on federal tax dollars for over 90 percent of its business would even contemplate forbidding an employee to report corporate wrongdoing to Congress and federal law enforcement officials." Now does Blackwater CEO Prince think the American way is to cheat on your taxes? Over the weekend on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal, Moyers spoke with Jeremy Scahill about Prince's p.r. blitz last week and Scahill noted, "It's almost I think part of the point here was to say, look, you don't understand really, American people, what we're doing for you. While you're enjoying comfort here in the United States, we're over there protecting our-- men in women in uniform, our diplomats. I think that there's a way that he wants to increase the mystique about the company and the operations of Blackwater." Is "tax cheat" supposed to be part of the red, white and blue that Prince couldn't shut up about in interview after interview?
10/22/2007
the meek shall destroy the left
the meek shall destroy the left. and if you ever doubt it check out the latest nonsense from katrina vanden heuvel posted at common dreams. nancy pelosi stabbed pete stark in the back - and note the idiots who preach ronald reagan-ism for the democratic party didn't call pelosi out - and today, the worthless & spineless katrina vanden heuvel shows up not to call pelosi out but to fret that pelosi's actions might 'turn people off of politics'! sing it, weak sister, sing it.
the council of/for/and on foreign relations' katrina feels she's gone out on a limb (she's gone out of her mind) and has to whimper near the end 'with all due respect, i think the speaker should ...' spit and polish pelosi's slippers, katrina, with your mouth, you useless, centrist, sexist and idiotic school girl mouth.
pelosi stabbed a democrat in the back for speaking the truth. and katrina can't tell you about that because she's too busy trying to purchase more awards for herself (granddaddy's money makes up for the shoddy spy daddy). on saturday, c.i. noted:
Meanwhile Zachary Coile (San Francisco Chronicle) reports on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's latest backdown:
The 18-term lawmaker stirred the pot again Thursday when he attacked President Bush and congressional Republicans for backing hundreds of billions of dollars for the Iraq war, but blocking a $35 billion expansion of a children's health insurance program."You're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement," Stark told Republicans on the floor of the House.The remarks during the debate over Bush's veto of the children's health bill drew howls of outrage from House Republicans and conservative commentators. His words were replayed endlessly on cable news and talk radio. By Friday, even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- who praised Stark for his leadership on the children's health bill a day earlier -- was distancing herself from his comments."While members of Congress are passionate about their views, what Congressman Stark said during the debate was inappropriate and distracted from the seriousness of the subject at hand -- providing health care for America's children," Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said.
Pelosi does the cower dance quite well (never grasping that it only fuels GOP attacks), it's courage she continues to have a problem with. With Bully Boy having long ago announced that the illegal war would continue after he left office and Congressional Dems buying into the illegal war, with the three media favorites in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination -- Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama -- refusing to pledge that, if elected president, they would end the illegal war by 2013, obviously many more people will die in Iraq. That five years now and the deaths -- if the illegal war continues to drag on -- will include some who are not yet 18 now. That's reality. But leave it Fancy Nancy to backdown. Had Pelosi stated, "I have no problem with the remarks," there wouldn't be a story today. Instead she does what so much Democratic leadership does today, provide the opening for each attempted attack from the GOP to get a leg to stand on and then the GOP hits on them again and again. Pelosi is not fit to be Speaker of the House. She may be fit to be leader of the Democrats in the House but, if so, that's only due to the fact that the bulk of them are weaklings.
that's how it's done, katrina.
she's so busy trying to line up her social calender (lost of empty spots because a lot of people - her betters - have lost interest in her) that she's scribbling away like it's 2003 and she's at the new republic(an). what a wimp. what a disgusting coward.
and cowards like katrina will destroy the left with their 'please, sir, may i have another' begging. we need people who can stand up, not roll over on their backs, toss all four legs in the air and whimper.
ron jacobs has a really strong piece at counterpunch entitled 'COINTELPRO and the Panthers' and this is from the opening:
The history of relations between the Black liberation movement and law enforcement has always been adversarial, at its best. At its worst, it is a history of murder, beatings, lies and frame-ups. There are few groups in this history that experienced the latter more than the Black Panther Party. The history of FBI and police harassment and intimidation of Panther members during the Party's heyday is well documented. It includes the murders of several members, the constant harassment and petty arrests of members by local police forces and the framing of many of its leaders. Most of these frame-ups resulted in long prison terms for the members accused and convicted falsely.
What may be surprising to many who know this history is that these frame-ups continue today. It was under the FBI/Justice Department program known as COINTELPRO that the first frame-ups took place and it is that program's successors that have occurred under. Two false convictions that received much of the publicity in the 1990s were those of Geronimo Pratt and Dhoruba bin Wahad. Both of these men spent over fifteen years in prison for crimes they did not commit, thanks to frame-ups carried out under the auspices of the COINTELPRO program.
Two ongoing cases that appear to be frame-ups from this vantage point are those of Mumia abu Jamal and the San Francisco 8. The former is a case involving the murder of a Philadelphia police officer in 1981 and the latter involves the murder of a San Francisco policeman in 1971. In both situations, the prosecution's case is based on evidence that is flimsy at best and just plain false at its worst. Neither prosecution has proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt despite several chances. In addition, the politics of the defendants has been used by the prosecution in an attempt to prejudice the jury.
it's amazing that all this time after, mumia is still imprisoned. you think that can't happen then you get something like the san francisco 8. then you start thinking about leonard peltier. then ... and you grasp quickly just how common it is.
thank you so much to betty for filling in for me friday. her 'Betty filling in for Rebecca' was amazing. and be sure to check out her latest chapter 'Betinna goes to Harlem (the White section)'. and ruth has started her own site - Ruth's Report - so please check that out as well.
let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
Monday, October 22, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, Blackwater remains in the news, tensions continue to be inflamed between Turkey and northern Iraq, a US air strike on Sunday leads to civilian deaths, Bully Boy wants more money for his blood lust addiction, and more.
Starting with war resisters, Laura Rumpf (The Stanford Daily) reports on Stephen Funk, the first public war resister of the Iraq War who singed up with "the Marine Corps in 2002 at age 19" and "realized almost immediately after starting boot camp in Afghanistan that he opposed the war and could not morally be a part of violence he did not condone" so he filed for CO status. Where did Funk go for information? As most other war resisters have cited, Funk declares that "I had no idea about conscientious objection as an option until I researched my military rights online." Ordered to deploy to Iraq in 2003, Funk assumed his CO application was being processed and handled the issue. Rumpf reports, "On Sept. 1, 2004, Funk became the first known soldier to be jauiled for refusing to serve in Iraq. In a victory for anti-war activists helping his cause, he was acquitted of desertion charges, but he received a six-month sentence in a military brig at Camp Lejune, N.C., for unauthorized absence." In the time since, Stephen Funk has continued to be active in the peace movement and Rumpf notes, "On campus [Stanford], Funk is active in the LGBT community and at the Native American Cultural Center. He serves as chapter president of the San Francisco Iraq Veterans Against the War organization, which helps raise enlistees' awareness about their rights among other activities."
Iraq Veterans Against the War's chair Camilo Mejia is the first Iraq veteran to publicly resist the illegal war. On Saturday he spoke at the national conference of the Campus Antiwar Network held at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Pedro Oliveira Jr. (Badger Herald) reports that the conference had a turn out of "nearly 100 students from CAN chapters across the nation this weekend. During the conference, students had a chance to hear Iraq Veterans Against the War founder Camilo Mejia speak about his experiences in Iraq."
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, 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 National Lawyers Guild's convention begins shortly: The Military Law Task Force and the Center on Conscience & War are sponsoring a Continuing Legal Education seminar -- Representing Conscientious Objectors in Habeas Corpus Proceedings -- as part of the National Lawyers Guild National Convention in Washington, D.C. The half-day seminar will be held on Thursday, November 1st, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the convention site, the Holiday Inn on the Hill in D.C. This is a must-attend seminar, with excelent speakers and a wealth of information. The seminar will be moderated by the Military Law Task Force's co-chair Kathleen Gilberd and scheduled speakers are NYC Bar Association's Committee on Military Affairs and Justice's Deborah Karpatkin, the Center on Conscience & War's J.E. McNeil, the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee's Peter Goldberger, Louis Font who has represented Camilo Mejia, Dr. Mary Hanna and others, and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objector's James Feldman. The fee is $60 for attorneys; $25 for non-profit attorneys, students and legal workers; and you can also enquire about scholarships or reduced fees. The convention itself will run from October 31st through November 4th and it's full circle on the 70th anniversary of NLG since they "began in Washington, D.C." where "the founding convention took place in the District at the height of the New Deal in 1937, Activist, progressive lawyers, tired of butting heads with the reactionary white male lawyers then comprising the American Bar Association, formed the nucleus of the Guild."
"We will not hand any Kurdish man to Turkey, even a Kurdish cat." So Michael Howard and Fred Attewill (Guardian of London) report Kurd and Iraqi president Jalal Talabani declaring in a conversation where he also declares that the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq has long been in contact with and "appealed to the PKK to desist fighting." This follows continued violence over the weekend. As Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) observes, "Tension is escalating along the Turkish-Iraqi border after 17 Turkish soldiers were killed Sunday in an ambush carried out by fighters with the Kurdistan Workers Party. The Turkish government accused the Kurdish militants of crossing the Iraq border into Turkey to carry out the ambush. 10 Turkish troops are still missing in what was the deadliest attack by the PKK in over a decade. It came just days after the Turkish parliament overwhelmingly approved a motion to allow troops to invade northern Iraq. On Sunday the Turkish government said it is willing to pay whatever price is necessary to protect its unity and citizens. The Iraqi government has urged Turkey to restrain from using force. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice called the Turkish prime minister and urged him to restrain from taking any action for at least a few days." CNN notes that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey, is insisting that the United States "take 'speedhy steps' towards cracking down on Kurdish separatists accused of launching attacks across the Turkey broder from northern Iraq." The PKK is a group that has, for decades, fought to create a Kurdish region in what is currently Turkey much as northern Iraq has long favored breaking away from that nation-state and creating their own. The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by most western nation-states including the United States. Suna Erdem (Times of London) reports that the search continues for the eight missing Turkish soldiers "believed kidnapped" and that violence "continued through the day, claiming the lives of 34 PKK rebels so far, according to the military." Reuters notes that Firat News Agency has provided the names of "seven Turkish soldiers it said had been captured by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels near the Iraqi border during fierce fighting that started on Sunday. The statement, posted on Firat's Website, said eight soldiers had been taken hostage in total, but it gave the names of only seven." Meanwhile Deborah Haynes (Times of London) visits a PKK camp in the Qandil Mountains and discovers a large number of women training for combat, "The women are mostly former Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters who say that they now pursue more of an educational and co-ordinating role in support of Kurdish women's rights. Airstrikes have become a regular hazard as tensions rise between their outlawed organisation and the Turkish Government. Women play a crucial role in the PKK, which has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades in a campaign that has cost more than 30,000 lives." The now apparently inpending conflict is not a new development though the US White House prefers to act as if it is. In April 2004, The War Comes Home's Aaron Glantz was reporting for Pacifica that "American soldiers could be on the verge of fighting another war in the Middle East. In Washington for meeting with the US military leaders, the Deputy Chief of the Turkish Army General Staff demanded the US Army start fighting against approximately 5,000 Turkish Kurdish guerillas hold up in camps in the snow-capped mountains of Northern Iraq. . . . After meeting with senior American military officials in Washington, the Deputy Chairman of the Turkish Army faced reporters. The General, Ilker Basburg, told reporters the Bush Administration agreed to take what he called 'concrete steps' against the PKK before handing authority over to the Iraqi governing Council at the end of June." Which, for the record, did not happen. While the US was happy to create a civil war between Shi'ites and Sunnis, the Kurds were always elevated to their own status due to business interests in the region leading to the non-stop flurry of the "Kurdish Oasis" in the press that has repeatedly ignored the violence in the area -- violence intended to purge/'cleanse' the region of non-Kurds. In addition the PKK is seen as hostile to Iran, an attitude they share with the current US administration.
Having done nothing, the US administration now attempts to prevent the outbreak of an out and out war. Howard Schneider and Amit R. Plaey (Washington Post) report that the US measure is having US Secretary of State Condi Rice and US Ambassador to Iraq meet "with an arry of Turkish and Iraq officials" while the US State Department flack Sean McCormack insists a "full-court press" is ongoing. What is ongoing, Suna Erdem (Times of London) reports, is protests in Turkish cities and "As the United States and Europe engage in a diplomatic scramble to deter unilateral Turkish action in northern Iraq, convoys of Turkish military vehicles moved towards the mountainous border with Kurdish-run northern Iraq".
Vincent Boland and Alex Barker (Financial Times of London) report that Talabani declared today that "the PKK would announce a 'ceasefire'"; howevever, that "is unlikely that Turkey, which, along with the US and the European Union regards the PKK as a terrorist organisation, would respond to such a development, at least officially." At the White House today, press flack Tony Fratto took questions from the press revealed that the Bully Boy is not highly involved in averting the outbreak of further conflict in Iraq ("I'm not aware that the President has made personal calls on his own with the leadership there") but is instead pushing it off on the State Department and the Defense Department and denied hearing "official word" on any ceasefire while insisting that "we just want to make sure that the PKK stops these activities, stops these attacks. It's not helpful in that part of the world right now and so we want to see it stopped." But in April of 2004? That didn't come up. He also stated that the US cabinet members were "asking" the PKK to cease but then corrected himself with "not 'asking' the PKK, but addressing the situation of the PKK to stop these attacks on the Turkish people and the Turkish army." Al Jazeera reports that the PKK has denied, on their website, that they are "offering a ceasefire if Turkey abandons plans to launch cross-border raids against them" and that "Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reporting from northern Iraq said PKK fighters based in the region were not confirming the ceasefire offer. 'The leadership based here is denying that at this point of time a truce offer has been made,' she said, underlining the confusion." And of interest is that the White House flack doesn't know the White House talking point. Tabassum Zakaria (Reuters) reports that Bully Boy is stating he's been in talks with puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki and that "they agreed to work with Turkey to prevent the Kurdish rebels from carrying out attacks from Iraqi soil". Meanwhile, Talabani's long silence followed by justifications of the PKK led to a damage control interview -- or an attempted one -- with Georges Malbrunot (France's Le Figaro) where he stayed on message for most of the interview but then lashed out at Syria again (he lashed out at them repeatedly last week for their public support of last week's vote in the Turkish parliament) declaring that they are harboring a Ba'athis from Saddam Hussein's regime and that "Those people cannot be integrated into the national reconcialition process."
The previously mentioned 'talk' between the Bully Boy and the puppet of the occupation must have made for an interesting talk considering other developments. As Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) reported this morning, "In Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has condemned U.S. forces for carrying out a deadly ground and air raid on the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad. According to Iraqi sources, 15 civilians were killed including three children. Another 69 civilians were wounded. One local resident said some of the casualties were people sleeping on roofs to seek relief from the heat and lack of electricity. The U.S. military has denied any civilians were killed in the pre-dawn raid. In a statement the Pentagon said U.S. troops had killed 49 militants. " On Sunday, Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reported a Baghdad bombing that targeted US troops and US "Troops responded by bombing the area" -- this is the attack on a civilian population. Last night, Reuters reported the Baghad air strike killed at least two toddlers. Today, Christian Berthelsen (Los Angeles Times) reports that the US insists all 49 (the US military figure) who died are "criminals" and Iraqi governmental officials say "many of the victims were civilians" while a journalist working for the paper "said he saw the corpses of a woman and two small children. The wounded included two boys, 8 and 11, who were interviewed in their beds at Imam Ali Hospital by The Times. Another man said his 18-month-old son was killed, as well as a neighbor's son who was the same age." Al Jazeera reports, "Iraqi police and hospital officials said US helicopters and fighter jets bombed buildings during the 5am raid in the district. . . . James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Baghdad, said a television cameraman had filmed bodies of dead children. Several houses and stores were damaged. Clouds of black smoke rose from the area early on Sunday as sirens wailed, heavy gunfire echoed and US helicopters circled overhead, Reuters television footage showed. Relatives gathered at the Imam Ali hospital as the emergency room was overwhelmed with bloodied victims and the dead were placed in caskets covered by Iraqi flags." The US military is denying in some reports that an air strike took place (see previous Al Jazeera report for one example) but the BBC notes that the US millitary "called in air strikes." Bobby Caina Calvan (McClatchy Newspapers) speaks with eye withness Jassim Hashim who "said he had just set out to work when U.S. helicopters swept low over Sadr City, which is home to more than 2 million Shiites in Baghdad's northeast quadrant. He said the helicopters began raining fire on the city below. Hashim was shot in the leg, while two companions, he said, were seriously hurt. He said he also saw two neighborhood boys, one 13 and the other 14 years old, crumple to the ground as bullets struck them. Both died, Hashim said. Hashim identified the younger boy as Husham. 'The helicopters were shooting randomly here and there,' Hashim said."
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bomings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Baghdad bombings claimed 2 lives "in Zafaraniyah district" (eight more injured), 2 lives "near al Elwiyah" (thirteen more injured), claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier "in Al Jamia'a neighborhood" (two more injured), while 2 people died in a Babil bombing, an Eskandariyah mortar attack claimed 1 life and a Mosul bombing claimed the life of 1 police officers (with four other people injured).
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an engineer was shot dead outside Hilla city. Reuters reports "a former member of the ousted Baath Party" shot dead in Kut and that "local Sadr official in the town of Ifech" Abbas al-Ghurabi was found "critically wounded hours after local police had arrested him and that "Iraqi security forces arrest Abdul Hadi al- Mohamadawi, the head of Sadr office in Kerbala and his aide in a raid on the Sadr office in the city, police said. Kerbala is 110 km (68 miles) southwest of Baghdad."
Corpses?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 5 corpses were discovered in Baghdad while 2 were discovered in Kirkuk. Reuters reports 5 corpses discovered in Mosul (4 males, 1 female).
Turning to the subject of mercenaries, Blackwater USA continue to attempt to remake their image. Over the weekend, Bill Moyers interviewed Jeremy Scahill on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal (watch, listen and read). Friday, Cedric (substituting for Kat) observed, "It was a really strong discussion and the point that stands out to me most is the proposal that the FBI oversee Blackwater. Scahill explained how that was a joke. The FBI would set up an office in Iraq (probably the Green Zone) and be expected to oversee all 180,000 plus contractors in Iraq (more than the number of US troops in Iraq). That one office would then be responsible for investigating and then the issue would be decided in US courts. That's a joke. That's not oversight and the White House has so politicized the Justice Department that no one should expect justice. Scahill also made the point that not only does Blackwater protect the State Department and the Pentagon but when Congress goes to Iraq, their members are also protected by Blackwater. The idea that the FBI or anyone protected by Blackwater can offer oversight is just ludicrous." Wally (filling in for Mike) noted, "Bill Moyers shared that he wondered if Blackwater would be used to guard DC. He said that if there was an attack after the next president was elected, would we find mercenaries guarding DC? Jeremy Scahill talked about Blackwater going into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and how they were there before FEMA. I knew that part but I didn't know the part about Erik Prince sending in 150 without even being asked. About a week later, Homeland Security would give them a contract which is bad enough but do we all get that the mercenaries were sent in with loaded weapons on no authorization at all? Is that what America's supposed to be? Mercenaries can just enter a city and take over? That should scare the hell out of everyone." Moyers pointed out the p.r. push Erick Prince (CEO of Blackwater) had been on during last week:
JEREMY SCAHILL: Well, let's remember, this is a guy who prior to the September 16th shooting in Baghdad had only done one television interview ever. And it was right after 9/11 on Fox News with Bill O'Reilly. And during that interview, he said that after 9/11, the phone's been ringing off the hook at Blackwater. Other than that, this is a guy who hasn't really appeared in public. So, it was unusual to see him, A, appear before the Congress. And B, do this blitzkrieg of interviews. I think the message was very clear. He was trying to say we're a patriotic American company. That we're Americans protecting Americans. We want accountability for our industry. But there is also something that sort of reminded me of Jack Nicholson in A FEW GOOD MEN where he's talking about 'I eat my cereal, you know, meters away from Cubans who want to kill me.' Where Erik Prince uses terms like the bad guys and our blood runs-- runs red, white and blue.
BILL MOYERS: And nobody talks like that in normal life do they -- our blood runs red, white and blue.
JEREMY SCAHILL: Right. It's almost I think part of the point here was to say, look, you don't understand really, American people, what we're doing for you. While you're enjoying comfort here in the United States, we're over there protecting our-- men in women in uniform, our diplomats. I think that there's a way that he wants to increase the mystique about the company and the operations of Blackwater.
BILL MOYERS: But do you think he was motivated and his PR firm was motivated in part because he didn't do that well before Congress at the recent hearings into this investi-- into this shooting?
JEREMY SCAHILL: I think that Blackwater has made a very serious strategic error in how they've handled their publicity for years. And now, we're seeing the company go on the offensive. I think Erik Prince held his own in front of the Congress. And I attribute it largely to the fact that it appeared as though the Democrats didn't really do their homework on him.
I mean, here you have the man who owns the company providing the largest private army on the US government payroll in Iraq. A billion dollars in contracts. Twenty-seven of his men killed in Iraq. We don't know how many people he killed. No private actor in the occupation of Iraq has had more of a devastating impact on events in Iraq than Blackwater. And I just felt watching that hearing, and I went down for it, that many of the Democrats hadn't done their homework.
Is the p.r. push working? Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) reported today, "In North Carolina, police arrested seven protesters on Saturday during a demonstration at the headquarters of the private military company Blackwater. The protesters re-enacted the Sept. 16 shooting in Iraq when Blackwater forces opened fire and shot dead 17 Iraqis. Saturday's demonstration marked the first protest at Blackwater's headquarters since the company was formed." And the Chicago Sun-Times editorializes:If the U.S. government persists in outsourcing war to private contractors, those companies need to be accountable to the American people. They are not. The FBI investigation into the Sept. 16 killings of 17 Iraqi civilians by employees of Blackwater USA, a private security contractor, exposes a gaping lack of accountability. U.S. soldiers are investigated and tried under clear and established rules when accused of wrongdoing. A cottage industry that has grown exponentially since Sept. 11, 2001, private military companies are policed by a patchwork of rules and agencies that have left officials unclear on how to scrutinize and prosecute them. Contractors shouldn't be rogue militia, roaming the country shooting without justification and without consequences. This is especially true since the federal government has apparently hired out the Iraq war right under our noses: There are nearly as many private military employees there as troops.Stil the New York Times continued to carry water for Blackwater. As if minimizing the September 16th slaughter wasn't enough, as if trumpeting a report as being written by the US embassy staff in Iraq when it was actually written by Blackwater, as if attempting to turn Prince into the next Ollie North via a variety of lies (including that Prince has a crew-cut) weren't enough, Paul von Zielbauer shows up today to praise the small modifications in Blackwater's corporate logo which consist of making the bear-like paw print more like a bear's and reducing the gun site markings. PvZ dubs the older logo "rough-neck" (so manly, Pvz, so manly) but there was (and is) nothing "rough-neck" about the logo because the mercenaries of Blackwater were not in the business of going into towns plagued by rogue bears. The logo was not "rough-neck," it was xenophobic because the mercenaries were saying they'd track down any "animal" with their logo and "animals" obviously referred to people.
In the face of all the above, Bully Boy announces his illegal war needs more money. Bully Boy announced of his latest request, "The majority of the supplemental funding is for day-to-day -- is for day-to-day military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The bill provides for basic needs like bullets and body armor, protection against IEDs, and Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles. It also funds training missions, vital embassy programs, improvements in Iraq and Iraqi security forces, and intelligence operations that protect our troops. These are urgent military necessities, and the supplemental was prepared in close consultation with our commanders on the ground. This funding is what General Petraeus and other military leaders say we need -- and Congress ought to give it to them." The bill provides for? Almost five years into the illegal war and Bully Boy wants to claim that? Of course, he has made similar claims before and the fact that he has to make those claims yet again just indicates he's pushing another bill that will enrich defense contractors but do nothing to assist those on the ground. Bully Boy pushes another tax payer give away to his cronies and acts as if the funding has been day-to-day (period to period, actually) as a result of someone's actions other than his own. He has repeatedly refused to level with the American people about the real financial costs of the illegal war, electing instead to go for piecemeal measures that would make the appear far less. As with other bills he's insisted upon having, this one does nothing for those serving on the ground but will allow the DoD to get more big monied items. And it comes as news breaks about more robo-weapons being sent to Iraq. Bully Boy is not funding the service members, he is funding big corporations and an illegal war. As the slogan Tina Richards and IVAW coined says, "Funding the war is killing the troops." That reality remains despite Bully Boy's latest round of lies.
Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes, Valerie Plame discussed with Katie Couric how her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, calling out Bully Boy's lies of war led to covert CIA agent Plame being outed by the US government. Plame declared, "When I was outed on July 14th, 2003, I was, until that moment, covert. . . .We understood that he would be criticized deeply. I never once considered that in fact this administration would betray my identity as payback for his criticism." For those late to the party or who have swallowed GOP talking points, Plame was an undercover CIA agent. Her husband Joe Wilson was sent to Niger to see if Saddam Hussein was attempting to purchase yellow cake uranium from Niger. Wilson knew the country well and also knew Hussein well (stood up to him during Poppy Bush's presidency). Wilson went to Niger to check out the rumors and found there was no truth to them. In the 2003 State of the Union speech -- the only speech a president is Constitutionally mandated to deliver and, therefore, the only one that the oath applies to without any doubts or quibbles -- Bully Boy declared his 16-word lie about Saddam seeking yellow cake from Africa. Lie and the White House eventually (long after the illegal war started) had to retract it. In his 2003 performance for the United Nations, Collie Powell would make clear what country Bully Boy was referring to. Lies, lies, lies.Joe Wilson would go public with "What I Didn't Find In Africa" in the New York Times. The White House would immediately respond by leaking the fact that Valerie Plame was CIA. Robert Nov-a-hack would be the first to run with it. Valerie Plame would be outed, her career destroyed, by the US government -- the same government she worked for.
the council of/for/and on foreign relations' katrina feels she's gone out on a limb (she's gone out of her mind) and has to whimper near the end 'with all due respect, i think the speaker should ...' spit and polish pelosi's slippers, katrina, with your mouth, you useless, centrist, sexist and idiotic school girl mouth.
pelosi stabbed a democrat in the back for speaking the truth. and katrina can't tell you about that because she's too busy trying to purchase more awards for herself (granddaddy's money makes up for the shoddy spy daddy). on saturday, c.i. noted:
Meanwhile Zachary Coile (San Francisco Chronicle) reports on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's latest backdown:
The 18-term lawmaker stirred the pot again Thursday when he attacked President Bush and congressional Republicans for backing hundreds of billions of dollars for the Iraq war, but blocking a $35 billion expansion of a children's health insurance program."You're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement," Stark told Republicans on the floor of the House.The remarks during the debate over Bush's veto of the children's health bill drew howls of outrage from House Republicans and conservative commentators. His words were replayed endlessly on cable news and talk radio. By Friday, even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- who praised Stark for his leadership on the children's health bill a day earlier -- was distancing herself from his comments."While members of Congress are passionate about their views, what Congressman Stark said during the debate was inappropriate and distracted from the seriousness of the subject at hand -- providing health care for America's children," Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said.
Pelosi does the cower dance quite well (never grasping that it only fuels GOP attacks), it's courage she continues to have a problem with. With Bully Boy having long ago announced that the illegal war would continue after he left office and Congressional Dems buying into the illegal war, with the three media favorites in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination -- Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama -- refusing to pledge that, if elected president, they would end the illegal war by 2013, obviously many more people will die in Iraq. That five years now and the deaths -- if the illegal war continues to drag on -- will include some who are not yet 18 now. That's reality. But leave it Fancy Nancy to backdown. Had Pelosi stated, "I have no problem with the remarks," there wouldn't be a story today. Instead she does what so much Democratic leadership does today, provide the opening for each attempted attack from the GOP to get a leg to stand on and then the GOP hits on them again and again. Pelosi is not fit to be Speaker of the House. She may be fit to be leader of the Democrats in the House but, if so, that's only due to the fact that the bulk of them are weaklings.
that's how it's done, katrina.
she's so busy trying to line up her social calender (lost of empty spots because a lot of people - her betters - have lost interest in her) that she's scribbling away like it's 2003 and she's at the new republic(an). what a wimp. what a disgusting coward.
and cowards like katrina will destroy the left with their 'please, sir, may i have another' begging. we need people who can stand up, not roll over on their backs, toss all four legs in the air and whimper.
ron jacobs has a really strong piece at counterpunch entitled 'COINTELPRO and the Panthers' and this is from the opening:
The history of relations between the Black liberation movement and law enforcement has always been adversarial, at its best. At its worst, it is a history of murder, beatings, lies and frame-ups. There are few groups in this history that experienced the latter more than the Black Panther Party. The history of FBI and police harassment and intimidation of Panther members during the Party's heyday is well documented. It includes the murders of several members, the constant harassment and petty arrests of members by local police forces and the framing of many of its leaders. Most of these frame-ups resulted in long prison terms for the members accused and convicted falsely.
What may be surprising to many who know this history is that these frame-ups continue today. It was under the FBI/Justice Department program known as COINTELPRO that the first frame-ups took place and it is that program's successors that have occurred under. Two false convictions that received much of the publicity in the 1990s were those of Geronimo Pratt and Dhoruba bin Wahad. Both of these men spent over fifteen years in prison for crimes they did not commit, thanks to frame-ups carried out under the auspices of the COINTELPRO program.
Two ongoing cases that appear to be frame-ups from this vantage point are those of Mumia abu Jamal and the San Francisco 8. The former is a case involving the murder of a Philadelphia police officer in 1981 and the latter involves the murder of a San Francisco policeman in 1971. In both situations, the prosecution's case is based on evidence that is flimsy at best and just plain false at its worst. Neither prosecution has proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt despite several chances. In addition, the politics of the defendants has been used by the prosecution in an attempt to prejudice the jury.
it's amazing that all this time after, mumia is still imprisoned. you think that can't happen then you get something like the san francisco 8. then you start thinking about leonard peltier. then ... and you grasp quickly just how common it is.
thank you so much to betty for filling in for me friday. her 'Betty filling in for Rebecca' was amazing. and be sure to check out her latest chapter 'Betinna goes to Harlem (the White section)'. and ruth has started her own site - Ruth's Report - so please check that out as well.
let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
Monday, October 22, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, Blackwater remains in the news, tensions continue to be inflamed between Turkey and northern Iraq, a US air strike on Sunday leads to civilian deaths, Bully Boy wants more money for his blood lust addiction, and more.
Starting with war resisters, Laura Rumpf (The Stanford Daily) reports on Stephen Funk, the first public war resister of the Iraq War who singed up with "the Marine Corps in 2002 at age 19" and "realized almost immediately after starting boot camp in Afghanistan that he opposed the war and could not morally be a part of violence he did not condone" so he filed for CO status. Where did Funk go for information? As most other war resisters have cited, Funk declares that "I had no idea about conscientious objection as an option until I researched my military rights online." Ordered to deploy to Iraq in 2003, Funk assumed his CO application was being processed and handled the issue. Rumpf reports, "On Sept. 1, 2004, Funk became the first known soldier to be jauiled for refusing to serve in Iraq. In a victory for anti-war activists helping his cause, he was acquitted of desertion charges, but he received a six-month sentence in a military brig at Camp Lejune, N.C., for unauthorized absence." In the time since, Stephen Funk has continued to be active in the peace movement and Rumpf notes, "On campus [Stanford], Funk is active in the LGBT community and at the Native American Cultural Center. He serves as chapter president of the San Francisco Iraq Veterans Against the War organization, which helps raise enlistees' awareness about their rights among other activities."
Iraq Veterans Against the War's chair Camilo Mejia is the first Iraq veteran to publicly resist the illegal war. On Saturday he spoke at the national conference of the Campus Antiwar Network held at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Pedro Oliveira Jr. (Badger Herald) reports that the conference had a turn out of "nearly 100 students from CAN chapters across the nation this weekend. During the conference, students had a chance to hear Iraq Veterans Against the War founder Camilo Mejia speak about his experiences in Iraq."
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, 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 National Lawyers Guild's convention begins shortly: The Military Law Task Force and the Center on Conscience & War are sponsoring a Continuing Legal Education seminar -- Representing Conscientious Objectors in Habeas Corpus Proceedings -- as part of the National Lawyers Guild National Convention in Washington, D.C. The half-day seminar will be held on Thursday, November 1st, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the convention site, the Holiday Inn on the Hill in D.C. This is a must-attend seminar, with excelent speakers and a wealth of information. The seminar will be moderated by the Military Law Task Force's co-chair Kathleen Gilberd and scheduled speakers are NYC Bar Association's Committee on Military Affairs and Justice's Deborah Karpatkin, the Center on Conscience & War's J.E. McNeil, the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee's Peter Goldberger, Louis Font who has represented Camilo Mejia, Dr. Mary Hanna and others, and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objector's James Feldman. The fee is $60 for attorneys; $25 for non-profit attorneys, students and legal workers; and you can also enquire about scholarships or reduced fees. The convention itself will run from October 31st through November 4th and it's full circle on the 70th anniversary of NLG since they "began in Washington, D.C." where "the founding convention took place in the District at the height of the New Deal in 1937, Activist, progressive lawyers, tired of butting heads with the reactionary white male lawyers then comprising the American Bar Association, formed the nucleus of the Guild."
"We will not hand any Kurdish man to Turkey, even a Kurdish cat." So Michael Howard and Fred Attewill (Guardian of London) report Kurd and Iraqi president Jalal Talabani declaring in a conversation where he also declares that the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq has long been in contact with and "appealed to the PKK to desist fighting." This follows continued violence over the weekend. As Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) observes, "Tension is escalating along the Turkish-Iraqi border after 17 Turkish soldiers were killed Sunday in an ambush carried out by fighters with the Kurdistan Workers Party. The Turkish government accused the Kurdish militants of crossing the Iraq border into Turkey to carry out the ambush. 10 Turkish troops are still missing in what was the deadliest attack by the PKK in over a decade. It came just days after the Turkish parliament overwhelmingly approved a motion to allow troops to invade northern Iraq. On Sunday the Turkish government said it is willing to pay whatever price is necessary to protect its unity and citizens. The Iraqi government has urged Turkey to restrain from using force. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice called the Turkish prime minister and urged him to restrain from taking any action for at least a few days." CNN notes that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey, is insisting that the United States "take 'speedhy steps' towards cracking down on Kurdish separatists accused of launching attacks across the Turkey broder from northern Iraq." The PKK is a group that has, for decades, fought to create a Kurdish region in what is currently Turkey much as northern Iraq has long favored breaking away from that nation-state and creating their own. The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by most western nation-states including the United States. Suna Erdem (Times of London) reports that the search continues for the eight missing Turkish soldiers "believed kidnapped" and that violence "continued through the day, claiming the lives of 34 PKK rebels so far, according to the military." Reuters notes that Firat News Agency has provided the names of "seven Turkish soldiers it said had been captured by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels near the Iraqi border during fierce fighting that started on Sunday. The statement, posted on Firat's Website, said eight soldiers had been taken hostage in total, but it gave the names of only seven." Meanwhile Deborah Haynes (Times of London) visits a PKK camp in the Qandil Mountains and discovers a large number of women training for combat, "The women are mostly former Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters who say that they now pursue more of an educational and co-ordinating role in support of Kurdish women's rights. Airstrikes have become a regular hazard as tensions rise between their outlawed organisation and the Turkish Government. Women play a crucial role in the PKK, which has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades in a campaign that has cost more than 30,000 lives." The now apparently inpending conflict is not a new development though the US White House prefers to act as if it is. In April 2004, The War Comes Home's Aaron Glantz was reporting for Pacifica that "American soldiers could be on the verge of fighting another war in the Middle East. In Washington for meeting with the US military leaders, the Deputy Chief of the Turkish Army General Staff demanded the US Army start fighting against approximately 5,000 Turkish Kurdish guerillas hold up in camps in the snow-capped mountains of Northern Iraq. . . . After meeting with senior American military officials in Washington, the Deputy Chairman of the Turkish Army faced reporters. The General, Ilker Basburg, told reporters the Bush Administration agreed to take what he called 'concrete steps' against the PKK before handing authority over to the Iraqi governing Council at the end of June." Which, for the record, did not happen. While the US was happy to create a civil war between Shi'ites and Sunnis, the Kurds were always elevated to their own status due to business interests in the region leading to the non-stop flurry of the "Kurdish Oasis" in the press that has repeatedly ignored the violence in the area -- violence intended to purge/'cleanse' the region of non-Kurds. In addition the PKK is seen as hostile to Iran, an attitude they share with the current US administration.
Having done nothing, the US administration now attempts to prevent the outbreak of an out and out war. Howard Schneider and Amit R. Plaey (Washington Post) report that the US measure is having US Secretary of State Condi Rice and US Ambassador to Iraq meet "with an arry of Turkish and Iraq officials" while the US State Department flack Sean McCormack insists a "full-court press" is ongoing. What is ongoing, Suna Erdem (Times of London) reports, is protests in Turkish cities and "As the United States and Europe engage in a diplomatic scramble to deter unilateral Turkish action in northern Iraq, convoys of Turkish military vehicles moved towards the mountainous border with Kurdish-run northern Iraq".
Vincent Boland and Alex Barker (Financial Times of London) report that Talabani declared today that "the PKK would announce a 'ceasefire'"; howevever, that "is unlikely that Turkey, which, along with the US and the European Union regards the PKK as a terrorist organisation, would respond to such a development, at least officially." At the White House today, press flack Tony Fratto took questions from the press revealed that the Bully Boy is not highly involved in averting the outbreak of further conflict in Iraq ("I'm not aware that the President has made personal calls on his own with the leadership there") but is instead pushing it off on the State Department and the Defense Department and denied hearing "official word" on any ceasefire while insisting that "we just want to make sure that the PKK stops these activities, stops these attacks. It's not helpful in that part of the world right now and so we want to see it stopped." But in April of 2004? That didn't come up. He also stated that the US cabinet members were "asking" the PKK to cease but then corrected himself with "not 'asking' the PKK, but addressing the situation of the PKK to stop these attacks on the Turkish people and the Turkish army." Al Jazeera reports that the PKK has denied, on their website, that they are "offering a ceasefire if Turkey abandons plans to launch cross-border raids against them" and that "Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reporting from northern Iraq said PKK fighters based in the region were not confirming the ceasefire offer. 'The leadership based here is denying that at this point of time a truce offer has been made,' she said, underlining the confusion." And of interest is that the White House flack doesn't know the White House talking point. Tabassum Zakaria (Reuters) reports that Bully Boy is stating he's been in talks with puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki and that "they agreed to work with Turkey to prevent the Kurdish rebels from carrying out attacks from Iraqi soil". Meanwhile, Talabani's long silence followed by justifications of the PKK led to a damage control interview -- or an attempted one -- with Georges Malbrunot (France's Le Figaro) where he stayed on message for most of the interview but then lashed out at Syria again (he lashed out at them repeatedly last week for their public support of last week's vote in the Turkish parliament) declaring that they are harboring a Ba'athis from Saddam Hussein's regime and that "Those people cannot be integrated into the national reconcialition process."
The previously mentioned 'talk' between the Bully Boy and the puppet of the occupation must have made for an interesting talk considering other developments. As Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) reported this morning, "In Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has condemned U.S. forces for carrying out a deadly ground and air raid on the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad. According to Iraqi sources, 15 civilians were killed including three children. Another 69 civilians were wounded. One local resident said some of the casualties were people sleeping on roofs to seek relief from the heat and lack of electricity. The U.S. military has denied any civilians were killed in the pre-dawn raid. In a statement the Pentagon said U.S. troops had killed 49 militants. " On Sunday, Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reported a Baghdad bombing that targeted US troops and US "Troops responded by bombing the area" -- this is the attack on a civilian population. Last night, Reuters reported the Baghad air strike killed at least two toddlers. Today, Christian Berthelsen (Los Angeles Times) reports that the US insists all 49 (the US military figure) who died are "criminals" and Iraqi governmental officials say "many of the victims were civilians" while a journalist working for the paper "said he saw the corpses of a woman and two small children. The wounded included two boys, 8 and 11, who were interviewed in their beds at Imam Ali Hospital by The Times. Another man said his 18-month-old son was killed, as well as a neighbor's son who was the same age." Al Jazeera reports, "Iraqi police and hospital officials said US helicopters and fighter jets bombed buildings during the 5am raid in the district. . . . James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Baghdad, said a television cameraman had filmed bodies of dead children. Several houses and stores were damaged. Clouds of black smoke rose from the area early on Sunday as sirens wailed, heavy gunfire echoed and US helicopters circled overhead, Reuters television footage showed. Relatives gathered at the Imam Ali hospital as the emergency room was overwhelmed with bloodied victims and the dead were placed in caskets covered by Iraqi flags." The US military is denying in some reports that an air strike took place (see previous Al Jazeera report for one example) but the BBC notes that the US millitary "called in air strikes." Bobby Caina Calvan (McClatchy Newspapers) speaks with eye withness Jassim Hashim who "said he had just set out to work when U.S. helicopters swept low over Sadr City, which is home to more than 2 million Shiites in Baghdad's northeast quadrant. He said the helicopters began raining fire on the city below. Hashim was shot in the leg, while two companions, he said, were seriously hurt. He said he also saw two neighborhood boys, one 13 and the other 14 years old, crumple to the ground as bullets struck them. Both died, Hashim said. Hashim identified the younger boy as Husham. 'The helicopters were shooting randomly here and there,' Hashim said."
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bomings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Baghdad bombings claimed 2 lives "in Zafaraniyah district" (eight more injured), 2 lives "near al Elwiyah" (thirteen more injured), claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier "in Al Jamia'a neighborhood" (two more injured), while 2 people died in a Babil bombing, an Eskandariyah mortar attack claimed 1 life and a Mosul bombing claimed the life of 1 police officers (with four other people injured).
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an engineer was shot dead outside Hilla city. Reuters reports "a former member of the ousted Baath Party" shot dead in Kut and that "local Sadr official in the town of Ifech" Abbas al-Ghurabi was found "critically wounded hours after local police had arrested him and that "Iraqi security forces arrest Abdul Hadi al- Mohamadawi, the head of Sadr office in Kerbala and his aide in a raid on the Sadr office in the city, police said. Kerbala is 110 km (68 miles) southwest of Baghdad."
Corpses?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 5 corpses were discovered in Baghdad while 2 were discovered in Kirkuk. Reuters reports 5 corpses discovered in Mosul (4 males, 1 female).
Turning to the subject of mercenaries, Blackwater USA continue to attempt to remake their image. Over the weekend, Bill Moyers interviewed Jeremy Scahill on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal (watch, listen and read). Friday, Cedric (substituting for Kat) observed, "It was a really strong discussion and the point that stands out to me most is the proposal that the FBI oversee Blackwater. Scahill explained how that was a joke. The FBI would set up an office in Iraq (probably the Green Zone) and be expected to oversee all 180,000 plus contractors in Iraq (more than the number of US troops in Iraq). That one office would then be responsible for investigating and then the issue would be decided in US courts. That's a joke. That's not oversight and the White House has so politicized the Justice Department that no one should expect justice. Scahill also made the point that not only does Blackwater protect the State Department and the Pentagon but when Congress goes to Iraq, their members are also protected by Blackwater. The idea that the FBI or anyone protected by Blackwater can offer oversight is just ludicrous." Wally (filling in for Mike) noted, "Bill Moyers shared that he wondered if Blackwater would be used to guard DC. He said that if there was an attack after the next president was elected, would we find mercenaries guarding DC? Jeremy Scahill talked about Blackwater going into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and how they were there before FEMA. I knew that part but I didn't know the part about Erik Prince sending in 150 without even being asked. About a week later, Homeland Security would give them a contract which is bad enough but do we all get that the mercenaries were sent in with loaded weapons on no authorization at all? Is that what America's supposed to be? Mercenaries can just enter a city and take over? That should scare the hell out of everyone." Moyers pointed out the p.r. push Erick Prince (CEO of Blackwater) had been on during last week:
JEREMY SCAHILL: Well, let's remember, this is a guy who prior to the September 16th shooting in Baghdad had only done one television interview ever. And it was right after 9/11 on Fox News with Bill O'Reilly. And during that interview, he said that after 9/11, the phone's been ringing off the hook at Blackwater. Other than that, this is a guy who hasn't really appeared in public. So, it was unusual to see him, A, appear before the Congress. And B, do this blitzkrieg of interviews. I think the message was very clear. He was trying to say we're a patriotic American company. That we're Americans protecting Americans. We want accountability for our industry. But there is also something that sort of reminded me of Jack Nicholson in A FEW GOOD MEN where he's talking about 'I eat my cereal, you know, meters away from Cubans who want to kill me.' Where Erik Prince uses terms like the bad guys and our blood runs-- runs red, white and blue.
BILL MOYERS: And nobody talks like that in normal life do they -- our blood runs red, white and blue.
JEREMY SCAHILL: Right. It's almost I think part of the point here was to say, look, you don't understand really, American people, what we're doing for you. While you're enjoying comfort here in the United States, we're over there protecting our-- men in women in uniform, our diplomats. I think that there's a way that he wants to increase the mystique about the company and the operations of Blackwater.
BILL MOYERS: But do you think he was motivated and his PR firm was motivated in part because he didn't do that well before Congress at the recent hearings into this investi-- into this shooting?
JEREMY SCAHILL: I think that Blackwater has made a very serious strategic error in how they've handled their publicity for years. And now, we're seeing the company go on the offensive. I think Erik Prince held his own in front of the Congress. And I attribute it largely to the fact that it appeared as though the Democrats didn't really do their homework on him.
I mean, here you have the man who owns the company providing the largest private army on the US government payroll in Iraq. A billion dollars in contracts. Twenty-seven of his men killed in Iraq. We don't know how many people he killed. No private actor in the occupation of Iraq has had more of a devastating impact on events in Iraq than Blackwater. And I just felt watching that hearing, and I went down for it, that many of the Democrats hadn't done their homework.
Is the p.r. push working? Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) reported today, "In North Carolina, police arrested seven protesters on Saturday during a demonstration at the headquarters of the private military company Blackwater. The protesters re-enacted the Sept. 16 shooting in Iraq when Blackwater forces opened fire and shot dead 17 Iraqis. Saturday's demonstration marked the first protest at Blackwater's headquarters since the company was formed." And the Chicago Sun-Times editorializes:If the U.S. government persists in outsourcing war to private contractors, those companies need to be accountable to the American people. They are not. The FBI investigation into the Sept. 16 killings of 17 Iraqi civilians by employees of Blackwater USA, a private security contractor, exposes a gaping lack of accountability. U.S. soldiers are investigated and tried under clear and established rules when accused of wrongdoing. A cottage industry that has grown exponentially since Sept. 11, 2001, private military companies are policed by a patchwork of rules and agencies that have left officials unclear on how to scrutinize and prosecute them. Contractors shouldn't be rogue militia, roaming the country shooting without justification and without consequences. This is especially true since the federal government has apparently hired out the Iraq war right under our noses: There are nearly as many private military employees there as troops.Stil the New York Times continued to carry water for Blackwater. As if minimizing the September 16th slaughter wasn't enough, as if trumpeting a report as being written by the US embassy staff in Iraq when it was actually written by Blackwater, as if attempting to turn Prince into the next Ollie North via a variety of lies (including that Prince has a crew-cut) weren't enough, Paul von Zielbauer shows up today to praise the small modifications in Blackwater's corporate logo which consist of making the bear-like paw print more like a bear's and reducing the gun site markings. PvZ dubs the older logo "rough-neck" (so manly, Pvz, so manly) but there was (and is) nothing "rough-neck" about the logo because the mercenaries of Blackwater were not in the business of going into towns plagued by rogue bears. The logo was not "rough-neck," it was xenophobic because the mercenaries were saying they'd track down any "animal" with their logo and "animals" obviously referred to people.
In the face of all the above, Bully Boy announces his illegal war needs more money. Bully Boy announced of his latest request, "The majority of the supplemental funding is for day-to-day -- is for day-to-day military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The bill provides for basic needs like bullets and body armor, protection against IEDs, and Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles. It also funds training missions, vital embassy programs, improvements in Iraq and Iraqi security forces, and intelligence operations that protect our troops. These are urgent military necessities, and the supplemental was prepared in close consultation with our commanders on the ground. This funding is what General Petraeus and other military leaders say we need -- and Congress ought to give it to them." The bill provides for? Almost five years into the illegal war and Bully Boy wants to claim that? Of course, he has made similar claims before and the fact that he has to make those claims yet again just indicates he's pushing another bill that will enrich defense contractors but do nothing to assist those on the ground. Bully Boy pushes another tax payer give away to his cronies and acts as if the funding has been day-to-day (period to period, actually) as a result of someone's actions other than his own. He has repeatedly refused to level with the American people about the real financial costs of the illegal war, electing instead to go for piecemeal measures that would make the appear far less. As with other bills he's insisted upon having, this one does nothing for those serving on the ground but will allow the DoD to get more big monied items. And it comes as news breaks about more robo-weapons being sent to Iraq. Bully Boy is not funding the service members, he is funding big corporations and an illegal war. As the slogan Tina Richards and IVAW coined says, "Funding the war is killing the troops." That reality remains despite Bully Boy's latest round of lies.
Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes, Valerie Plame discussed with Katie Couric how her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, calling out Bully Boy's lies of war led to covert CIA agent Plame being outed by the US government. Plame declared, "When I was outed on July 14th, 2003, I was, until that moment, covert. . . .We understood that he would be criticized deeply. I never once considered that in fact this administration would betray my identity as payback for his criticism." For those late to the party or who have swallowed GOP talking points, Plame was an undercover CIA agent. Her husband Joe Wilson was sent to Niger to see if Saddam Hussein was attempting to purchase yellow cake uranium from Niger. Wilson knew the country well and also knew Hussein well (stood up to him during Poppy Bush's presidency). Wilson went to Niger to check out the rumors and found there was no truth to them. In the 2003 State of the Union speech -- the only speech a president is Constitutionally mandated to deliver and, therefore, the only one that the oath applies to without any doubts or quibbles -- Bully Boy declared his 16-word lie about Saddam seeking yellow cake from Africa. Lie and the White House eventually (long after the illegal war started) had to retract it. In his 2003 performance for the United Nations, Collie Powell would make clear what country Bully Boy was referring to. Lies, lies, lies.Joe Wilson would go public with "What I Didn't Find In Africa" in the New York Times. The White House would immediately respond by leaking the fact that Valerie Plame was CIA. Robert Nov-a-hack would be the first to run with it. Valerie Plame would be outed, her career destroyed, by the US government -- the same government she worked for.
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