In early may, after the District of Columbia Council announced it would recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, former Mayor and current Ward 8 Council-member Marion Barry addressed a small crowd of protesters in Freedom Plaza.
"I am a politician who is moral," Barry declared. "Living morally means standing on the moral compass of God."
Some local residents were understandably shocked by his statements, perhaps wondering how Barry's moral compass had become so demagnetized that it pointed him toward four divorces and a dramatic arrest for smoking crack cocaine with an undercover cop he thought was a prostitute. (Maybe the compass set him up?) Barry told reporters that he thought at least 70 percent of his constituents were against marriage equality. "All hell is going to break lose," Barry said. "The black community is just adamant against this."
That's from Adam Serwer's "Marion's Moral Compass" (American Prospect) and if you're part of the LGBT community or LGBT friendly, you better grasp that Marion The Crook Barry has declared war on us. I think a mayor who becomes a crack addict while he's a mayor has a lot of nerve lecturing anyone.
And I doubt most African-Americans give a damn about him. He's got pull in the White community (obviously) but he's not got it nationally in our community. The reason for that is that we're taught that we have to achieve and those who achieve and are victimized get support but those who achieve and blow it?
We're not real fond of them. They've let down the entire community. And a mayor doing crack and visiting hookers?
The community didn't need the same.
But it's cute that he can show up and lecture about morality, isn't it?
Marion's part of the problem with this country. And he's specifically a problem for my community because there is homophobia in the African-American community. There are attempts to confront it and there is increased awareness. But there are some who will hear Marion and think, "Yeah!" He will be the crutch they use to walk around with their homophobia intact and flaunted.
Related, as CNN reports, one-time US House Rep William Jefferson has been convicted on eleven of the sixteen felony charges about his corruption.
There's no excuse for it. And those who set themselves up as role models better be ready for the scorn when they disgrace the community.
By the way, I love Trina and I loved her "Lou Dobbs doesn't need to be fired" so make a point to read that.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Wednesday, August 5, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, we examine the useless and uninformed Senator Barbara Boxer who tosses out some Iraq crumbs on NPR, the assault on Camp Ashraf garners worldwide attention, Kurdistan set to become partners in an international oil company, and more.
We'll start with NPR's The Diane Rehm Show. Today US Senator Barbara Boxer was the guest for the first hour, in part to promote her new thriller, written with Mary-Rose Hayes, Blind Trust. We'll note the section on Iraq -- very brief. Those opposed to the Afghanistan War will have much to dig around in the section that follows -- none of it good for Boxer. We're jumping in where she's been listing regrets and grabbing at Iraq.
Senator Barbara Boxer: I regret that even after voting "no" on the War on Iraq, I should have been down there every day making my voice louder and stronger.
Diane Rehm: Why didn't you?
Senator Barbara Boxer: [Sighs] I thought that I said enough when I voted "no" and I continued to speak but not loudly enough and not clearly enough and you know that's why I like this novel because Ellen's my hero, she does everything right I don't.
Diane Rehm: That's quite an admission.
Senator Barbara Boxer: Well it's true.
Diane Rehm: Alright. Speaking of Iraq, there is some talk that the US may, before it's planned deadline, pull its troops out and declare victory. What's your thought?
Senator Barbara Boxer: Well that is definitely some of the advice we're getting from some of our military people. I think it's time to leave, I thought it was time to leave before, so much blood and sweat and tears and guts have been left there and I just have a view of this that-that the people of Iraq have an opportunity now to-to build their own country --
Diane Rehm: They're still killing each other.
Senator Barbara Boxer: Well, you know what? The people of Iraq have to decide if they want a country or they don't want a country and we can't decide it for them.
And that was it. It made Barbara's short list of regrets but?
But it passes like the summer
I'm a wild seed again
Let the wind carry me
-- "Let The Wind Carry Me" written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her For The Roses
A caller brought her back to earth and Iraq but first Barbara had to make an ass out of herself. It's one thing to say that you're not going to speak to the 'birther' topic, it's another to say that and go on to accuse them of not having their facts and then offer up idiocy passed off as fact. I don't follow that issue but I'm damn well aware that John McCain's birth has been addressed by them and, in fact, they point to Claire McCaskill's actions (including an aborted one) within the Senate to back up their beliefs. Ava and I began speaking to friends of Ann Dunahm's in 2007 and continued through 2008, we spoke to men who were friends with Barack Sr. in college. We do not believe he was born in Kenya. We heard one story repeatedly and consistently. Those who do believe he was born in Kenya should pursue that because this is still, Barbara Boxer's embarrassing performance today on Diane's show not withstanding, a democracy.
(Embarrassing performance? Examples include telling of trying to get a man kicked out of a public event for tossing fake money at her, referring to two journalists as "young women" over and over except to refer to one as a "mother" -- they have careers, Barbara, quit being so damn insulting, and her little grudge f**k against Bill and Hillary Clinton -- we're all sorry your daughter couldn't make her marriage work, quit being such little s**t about it, Barbara).
It's not our issue but, unlike Barbara Boxer, we don't need to tear down people who believe differently than we do. And we don't disgrace ourselves by coming off like a raving lunatic on NPR or, for that matter, by co-writing one book that bombed and inflicting another bad attempt at John Grisham on the American public. And someone who wants to lecture others on facts, should have them. Including on the name of the Feminist Majority Foundation. It's not a difficult name to remember, Barbara. But it's not difficult to follow the headlines and, as her Iraq answer revealed, she can't even do that. (And that's among the most recent statewide poll, PDF format warning The Field Poll, found 43% supproting her re-election and 44% "not inclined to re-elect her." When you're that evenly divided and you're a sitting senator, you've done a great deal wrong.)
Senator Barbara Boxer: First of all, I have never heard Nouri al-Maliki ask us to stay so I don't know what particular speech he [the caller] was referring to. He said for a long time it's time for Americans to leave and I think it is. And what will guide me, obviously the reports on the ground from the military but my overwhelming belief that we have bled so much and done so much that I already say and I said a long time ago we gave the Iraqi people the chance to govern themselves, to rebuild and anyone who served there or any of the families who lost people there or any of those who were wounded there should know they gave their all to give the Iraqis a chance and now they have to take that chance and run with it.
This is the best my state can do? This passes for liberal? Barbara Boxer lying, LYING, about the Iraq War. Did you hear the Barbara say one damn word about the Iraqis who have died? And excuse me, but Barbara knows Nouri's a thug so is she being stupid or playing us for stupid when she says the Iraqi people have a chance at a government?
The Iraqi people have had a government imposed upon them by the US government. The Iraqi people would never, NEVER, elect a government of exiles to represent them. No one would. You wouldn't elect someone to the board of supervisors if their 'qualification' was they hid in another region because they were too scared to stand up. With each addition of highlights, Barbara loses more intelligence so maybe she truly is as stupid as she came off but it felt more like she was playing listeners for stupid. Reality, Adil E. Shamoo and Bonnie Bricker (Foreign Policy In Focus) explain, "Parliament members are afraid to attend meetings. Iraq's nascent economy is deteriorating. Hundreds of armed militias are ready to fight for their own interests. This is Iraq today." But Barbara wants to turn it into a fledging democracy?
it appears she's not looking at the facts and let me do her snide little laugh at her because the stupid idiot is so out of touch that she's not aware of the speech. Reading list for the failed and failing author, Margaret Talev's "Iraq's Maliki raises possibility of asking U.S. to stay on" (McClatchy Newspapers) and, Barbara, Anne Gearan covers al-Maliki's remarks for AP. From the July 23rd snapshot:
The articles repeatedly (and falsely) claim the US will be out of Iraq in 2011. That's not what's happening. It's not even claimed to be happening. Does no one listen to Adm Mike Mullen, Gen Ray Odierno or even Secretary of Defense Robert Gates? Reading the articles today, it doesn't appear that anyone does. Uh-oh. Reality slaps them in the face. Aljazeera reports, "The Iraqi prime minister has admitted US troops could stay in the country beyond 2011." Yeah, he did it today and it's only a surprise if you've never grasped what the Status Of Forces Agrement does and does not do. The Washington Post, for example, has one person on staff who understands the SOFA completely. That's one more than the New York Times has. Drop back to real time coverage (Thanksgiving 2008) and you'll see the Washington Post could explain what it did and didn't do and get it right. No other US outlet can make that claim. (The Los Angeles Times hedged their bets but did appear to grasp it in an article co-written by Tina Susman.) McClatchy Newspapers? Oh goodness, Leila Fadel made an idiot of herself over the SOFA. Even more so than the New York Times (Elisabeth Bumiller -- in December and January -- offered some realities but they were lost on the other reporters at the paper). The Times just got it wrong. Fadel got it wrong and sang praises of it. It wasn't reporting, it was column writing passed off as such. Today, Nouri declared, "Nevertheless, if the Iraqis require further training and support we shall examine this at the time, based on the needs of Iraq." Sound familiar? It should. This month you should have heard Adm Mike Mullen make the same statement, you should have heard General Ray Odierno make it over and over beginning in May and US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has made it many times -- generally he's asked when he's visiting a foreign country because US reporters don't really seem to care. One exception would certainly be Dahr Jamail who was on KPFA's Flashpoints yesterday and explained, "We still have over 130,000 troops in Iraq. Troops are not being withdrawn from Iraq. They are being relocated to different bases, some of the bases still within cities, but they are not being withdrawn thus far." Dahr's latest book The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan has just been released this month. IPA provides this context from Global Policy Forum's James Paul: "For all the talk of 'U.S. withdrawal' from Iraq, the reality on the ground is starkly different. U.S. troops still patrol the cities, in flagrant violation of the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement, while Washington remains hugely influential in the politics of the country. The gigantic U.S. embassy looms large in Baghdad, U.S. forces still hold thousands of Iraqi prisoners in the vast U.S. prison camp in the southern desert, dozens of U.S. military bases remain in place including the sprawling 'Camp Victory' complex in Baghdad and Washington continues to press towards its ultimate goal -- the de facto privatization of Iraq's vast oil resources."
So before you go to town on others for not knowing the facts, Barbara, how about you first explain how you, a sitting US Senator pretending to give a damn about Iraq and putting the war on your list of regrets, aren't even aware of what Nouri publicly stated less than three weeks ago while he was in DC? Your incompentence does not do a great deal to encourage a belief that the US Senate knows what it is doing. It does, however, explain why you have NEVER led on the issue of Iraq despite the fact that you -- not Hillary -- had the safest seat from which to do it. Our state has sent huge numbers of service members to Iraq and has seen a large death toll and an even large number of wounded. We have had tremendous leadership in the House, we've had none in the Senate. Want to explain that, Barbara? Want to explain how little you've done to end the illegal war while allegedly representing the people of California? Want to match your record (or lack of it) against US House Rep Lynn Woolsey or Maxine Waters or Diane Watson or . . . Get the point?
Boxers done nothing on the issue of the MEK, of course. Someone explain to her how many potential voters in California care about this issue and maybe she'll suddenly 'discover' it? Last Tuesday, Nouri al-Maliki ordered the assault on Camp Ashraf, home to the MEK. The MEK has been in Iraq for decades. They are Iranian exiles welcomed into Iraq by Saddam Hussein. They are currently considered "terrorists" by the US. They were formerly considered such by the European Union and England; however, both re-evaluated and took them off the terrorist watch list. The US military protected the residents of Camp Ashraf during the first six years of the Iraq War. Matt O'Brien (Contra Costa Times) describes the group as having "an ideology that has blended elements of Islam, feminism and Marxism. To some Iranian-Americans and their political backers in the U.S. Congress, the terrorist label unfairly maligns a group of former militants who have cooperated with America and dedicated their lives to ending an Iranian regime that had oppressed them." Tim Cocks, Muhaned Mohammed and Sophie Hares (Reuters) report the latest involving the MEK at Camp Ashraf, Shirwan al-Waeli (Minister of State for National Security) declares that Iraq will evict them and, if it means sending them back to Iran, they'll do so. Mark Knoller (CBS News) reports a domestic protest in support of Camp Ashraf residents, "Iranian-American protestors have set up camp directly in front of the White House. They're urging President Obama to intervene on behalf of an Iranian enclave inside Iraq." Ken McLaughlin (San Jose Mercury News) explains, "The 3,500 residents of Camp Ashraf are members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or People's Mujahedeen of Iran, a dissident group initially formed in the mid-'60s to help topple the regime of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. After the 1979 revolution that deposed the shah, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini turned against the group, executing more than 100,000 of its members and supporters -- and driving others into exile. Many of those exiles landed in the Bay Area, which has an Iranian-American population of more than 200,000." Ensieh and Parviz Yazdanpanah are among the Bay Area residents with relatives at Camp Ashraf and they tell McLaughling "that emails and phone calls have stopped since the July 28 raid". The National Iranian American Council notes US House Rep Bob Filner introduced a resolution last week calling out the assault on Camp Ashraf and that fellow Californian and Democrat US House Rep Howard Berman has called it out as have Republican US House Reps Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart both of Florida. The resolution (in PDF format form) is here and it is entitled "Deploring the ongoing violence by Iraqi security forces against the residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq:"
Whereas on July 28, 2009, Iraqi troops and police carried out a violent raid against the residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq, the longstanding home of an Iranian opposition group;
Whereas Iraqi troops fatally shot a number of Camp Ashraf residents and wounded scores of others; and
Whereas the United States Embassy Statement on Transfer of Security Responsibility for Camp Ashraf of December 28, 2008, states that, "The Government of Iraq has provided the US Government written assurances of humane treatment of the Camp Ashraf residents in accordance with Iraq's Constitution, laws and international obligations.": Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives --
(1) deplores the ongoing violence by Iraqi security forces against the residents of Camp Ashraf;
(2) calls upon the Iraqi Government to live up to its commitment to the United States to ensure the continued well-being of those living in Camp Ashraf and prevent their involuntary return to Iran; and
(3) calls upon the President to take all necessary and appropriate steps to support the commitments of the United States under international law and treaty obligations to ensure the physical security and protection of Camp Ashraf residents against inhumane treatment and involuntary deportation by Iraqi security forces.
In England, Deborah Haynes (Times of London) reports that a group of demonstrators on behalf of Camp Ashraf have announced they are going on a hunger strike including Farzaneh Dadkhad who has relatives at Camp Ashraf: "'I am here for Ashraf and I will continue this until I die,' Ms Dadkhad wailed, collapsed on a stretcher at the rally because she was apparently too weak to walk. It was impossible to verify her fasting claim. 'I am here so that my voice is heard by the US Government. They are responsible for what happened,' she said. In a message to Britain, she added: 'Why are you silent, why are you doing nothing? You must take action'." Toby Cohen (Religious Intelligence) quotes "Lord Cobertt of Castle Vale, chairman of the all-party British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom" stating, "It is a shame to this Government and to the American government in particular that so far they have not done anything to stop the violence. I don't care about the arguments about the status of those refugees, under international humanitarian law the actions of the Iraqi security forces are illegal and any other UN member state has the authority to take action. The British Government and the American government are especially complicit in those acts of violence. Why? Because we were the powers that gave protected person status to the residence of Camp Ashraf under the fourth Geneva Convention, and we cannot walk away." The National Council of Resistance of Iran notes, "Today is the seventh day of such strikes [to protest the treatment of the Camp Ashraf residents] in Berlin and Ottawa outside the U.S. ebmassies" and that "demonstrations, sit-ins and gatherings by Iranians against brutal attacks by Iraqi forces on Ashraf and killing and arresting of PMOI members in the Camp have been going on in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo in Sweden; Geneva in Switzerland; The Hague in The Netherlands; Melbourne in Australia; Vancouver in Canada; Paris in France, Copenhagen and Arhus in Denmark; and Rome in Italy."
Robert Evans and Jonathan Lynn (Reuters) report, "Iraqi authorities are blocking supplies of food and water going into" Camp Ashraf. They're blocking food and water. At 11:00 p.m. in Baghdad, it was ninety-five degrees. At eleven at night. The high during the day was 114 degrees. And Nouri's thugs are preventing water from being brought into the camp. The reporters quote Jean Ziegler ("a top adviser to the U.N. Human Rights Council") stating, "Preventing people getting food is a gross violation of international law . . . Thas has been going on for 10 days. It is totally scandalous." World Against Torture's General Secretary Eric Sottas is quoted decrying the "sort of passivity on the part of international bodies" and states, "Unless these unarmed and defenceless people are properly protected, this could happen again, perhaps worse." AFP quotes Eric Sottas stating, "The most practical thing would be that the Americans assume their responsibility and intervene again to ensure protection (and) that should late be transferred to an international force." They quote Jean Ziegler stating, "It's shameful. The United States and the European Union should be ashamed of what they did." Massachusetts' Stoneham Sun observes that "an attempt by the Iraqi government to assert control over a camp of Iranian exiles, who until February were under U.S. protection, turned violent. The U.S. reaction was instructive. In essence, it was: While we disagreed with the methods, it was a sovereign matter for the Iraqi government." Eli Lake (Washington Times) maintains the US is pressing for action and quotes an unnamed US official who emailed them the following, "Embassy officials met with representatives from the Government of Iraq [GOI] on July 29, to stress the importance of the GOI fulfilling its commitment to the United States Government to treat Ashraf's residents humanely and to propose permitting an assessment of injuries and deaths by U.S. forces. The GOI allowed a U.S. medical assessment team to enter Ashraf and subsequently approved joint U.S.-Iraqi medical assistance to injured MEK Ashraf residents." Amnesty International issued the following statement:
Iraq: Concern for detained Camp Ashraf residents
Contact: AIUSA media office at 202.544.0200x302
Amnesty International is urgently seeking information about 36 Iranian residents of Camp Ashraf who have been detained since Iraqi security forces seized control of the camp on 28 July 2009 and have been moved to an unknown location in Baghdad amid allegations that some or all of them have been beaten and tortured. According to Abdul Nassir al-Mehdawi, governor of Iraq's Diyala province, quoted by Reuters press agency, "Their cases are being investigated now. They are being charged with inciting trouble. We will deal with them according to Iraqi law; we won't send them back to Iran". It remains unclear, however, whether the 36 have been allowed access to lawyers, contact with their families or any medical treatment that they need.
Amnesty International is urging the Iraqi authorities to disclose the whereabouts of the 36, to allow them immediate access to lawyers, to investigate, fully and impartially, allegations that they were tortured or beaten while held at a provisional detention facility near Camp Ashraf before their transfer to Baghdad, and to ensure that they are being treated humanely.
Amnesty International is also continuing to urge the Iraqi authorities to establish an immediate, independent inquiry into allegations that Iraqi security forces used excessive force when taking control of Camp Ashraf last week. According to unofficial sources, at least eight camp residents were killed and many others injured. 'Ali al-Dabbagh, the spokesperson for the Iraq government, has acknowledged that seven camp residents were killed but said that "five of them threw themselves in front of Iraqi police vehicles" and that two others were shot by other Iranians when they sought to leave the camp. He said that two members of the Iraqi security forces were also killed.
Background
Camp Ashraf, situated about 60km north-east of Baghdad, has hosted some 3,400 members or supporters of thePeople's Mojahedeen Organization of Iran (PMOI), an Iranian opposition organization, since the 1980s. They were formerly under the protection of US forces in Iraq but in recent months they have come under increasing pressure from the Iraqi authorities to relocate to other parts of Iraq or go abroad.
Public Document
# # #
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: press@amnesty.org
International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK www.amnesty.org
From the human rights organization to the US government's war think-tank, the RAND Corporation issued the following press release yesterday:
At the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Coalition forces classified the Mujahedin-e Khalq, a militant organization from Iran with cult-like elements that advocates the overthrow of Iran's current government, as an enemy force.
The MeK had provided security services to Saddam Hussein from camps established in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War to fight Iran in collaboration with Saddam's forces and resources. A new study from the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, looks at how coalition forces handled this group following the invasion.
Although the MeK is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States, coalition forces never had a clear mission on how to deal with it.
After a ceasefire was signed between Coalition forces and the MeK, the U.S. Secretary of Defense designated this group's members as civilian "protected persons" rather than combatant prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. The coalition's treatment of the MeK leaves it -- and the United States in particular -- open to charges of hypocrisy, offering security to a terrorist group rather than breaking it up.
Research suggests that most of the MeK rank-and-file are neither terrorists nor freedom fighters, but trapped and brainwashed people who would be willing to return to Iran if they were separated from the MeK leadership. Many members were lured to Iraq from other countries with false promises, only to have their passports confiscated by the MeK leadership, which uses physical abuse, imprisonment, and other methods to keep them from leaving.
Iraq wants to expel the group, but no country other than Iran will accept it. The RAND study suggests the best course of action would have been to repatriate MeK rank-and-file members back to Iran, where they have been granted amnesty since 2003. To date, Iran appears to have upheld its commitment to MeK members in Iran. The study also concludes better guidelines be established for the possible detention of members of designated terrorist organizations.
The study, "The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq: A Policy Conundrum," can be found here. For more information, or to arrange an interview with the authors, contact Lisa Sodders in the RAND Office of Media Relations at (310) 393-0411, ext. 7139, or lsodders@rand.org.
Remember the pathologizing of gender that took place over the issue of female bombers? They were raped. They were this, they were that. There was nothing factual about any of their crap but some MPs in Parliament used that pathology to advocate 'centers' (prisons) for women whose husbands or fathers or brothers died. Because that is the only way any woman would bomb. Because bombing, they insisted, was just not a thing a woman would do. Of course a woman would do it. Their little sexist minds can't handle reality.So they must be spinning as details in a new case emerge. A would-be female bomber has been convicted. Natalia Antelava (BBC News) reports that 16-year-old Rania Ibrahim states "a relative of her husband had told her to wear the vest" and that, by the way, "she was sold into marriage" approximately five months before she was caught in a bombing attempt on August 23, 2008. Jamal Hashim and Ali I-Khaiyam (Xinhua) quote Rania Ibrahim stating, "I haven't committed any crime or any sin. I was the victim. They forced me to wear the explosive-belt. I didn't want to kill any human being." Forced into marriage. Not raped. No relatives died. Another slap in the face to the stereotyping.
Forced into marriage? Does anyone even care? It doesn't appear they do. For example, Iraq will not allow two men or two women to marry each other. In fact, they are assaulting their own gay and lesbian community. The LGBT community is 'wrong' and somehow 'criminal' for their actions. But the government's paying out $2000 to men to marry women who are Shi'ite or Sunni (if the male is Sunni, he's being paid to marry a Shi'ite, if he's Shi'ite, he's being paid to marry a Sunni). And where's the objection? And who's checking to see if, in a country where forced marriage is not uncommon, that the marriages are partnerships both mates want to enter into? No one's checking, no one's objecting. They won't even state the obvious that the man is being paid. They'll say the couple is getting the money. Bushra Juhi and Deb Riechmann (AP) are the latest to play ASS. In the past, it's been Fox News trumpeting this garbage. Now it's AP. And we're apparently supposed to be charmed by this passage: "His wife, Samma Nasir, said shyly: 'He has chosen me despite my being Shiite'." Men are being paid and whether or not the women really have a choice in this isn't being addressed but US 'reporters' find it 'cute' and rush to coo over it. It's disgusting. And let's note that there are sects in Iraq where the women are kidnapped to force them out of their religion. but Deb and Bushra had other things to grin over, apparently.
Turning to today's reported violence, Reuters notes an armed clash in Mosul which claimed the life of 1 police officer and 2 unknowns with four other people injured, a Ramadi car bombing which claimed the life of 1 woman and left three people (including two police officers) injured and, dropping back to last night, a Baghdad roadside bombing which claimed the lives of 5 police officers and left five more wounded. AFP adds that 11 pilgrims have been kidnapped from a minibus enroute to Karbala.
Meanwhile that government the US installed in Iraq is anti-every freedom. Last month Khalid al-Ansary (Reuters) reported the Ministry of Culture is censoring books in 'free' Iraq and quotes the ministry Taher al-Humoud explaining that all publishers now must "submit lists of titles for approval". Yesterday Timothy Williams (New York Times) reported on efforts by Nouri "to ban sites deemed harmful to the public, to requier Internet cafes to register with the authorities and to press publishers to censor books." The Times has still not reported on the latest assault on journalism in Iraq. When Kurdistan was holding elections, the press was meeting with the judiciary about the problems they face. A draft law has been proposed and -- supposedly yea! -- it will provide a few pennies to the families of Iraqi journalists killed in Iraq. The pennies are a disguise. The law actually exists to control the press. It requires that they sign off to note reporting on anything that might 'endanger' Iraq's 'security'. The pennies are the sugar coating which attempts to sell this latest attempt to legislate censorship.
Losing a free press? It's not like the US is in much place to lecture since the domestic outlets rarely utilize the freedomes they have. Example, reporting on Iraqi "confessions." You expect better from Liz Sly and Saif Hameed (Los Angeles Times). Maybe if Ned Parker wrote the article, it would be worth reading (it's actually a blog post at the paper). We know Iraqi journalist Atwar Bahjat was murdered. By whom? The Iraqi government has a confession which they aired -- it's really appalling how US outlets have failed to report on the aired confessions, on how often they air, how they are Iraq's 'reality' television. The Iraqi government has a confession. 'Confession.' They lie about everything. Even a shoe tosser suddenly has a 'confession' only, when he's allowed to speak, he doesn't. Torture. Torture doesn't bother Sly or Hameed. They run with the 'confession.' All that's known is that Atwar Bahjat was murdered in 2006 and that the Iraqi government claim to have her killer (and rapist) and that they are airing a 'confession' which, if pattern holds, was obtained via torture. Such a confession couldn't be admitted in a US court. But the reporters are happy to run with it.So are Timothy Williams and Rod Nordland (New York Times) who add the lurid details that Sly and Hameed may have had the good sense to leave out. Let's note how the confession doesn't add up (which doesn't mean it's not true but it does make it all the more suspect):The man, Yasser Mohammed Hamad al-Takhi, 25, was shown on Iraqi television in a videotaped confession describing how he and three other men, including one of his brothers, had set up a checkpoint on a road outside the city of Samarra to stop a car carrying the journalist, Atwar Bahjat, and two members of her crew. Mr. Takhi said he had been working for a Sunni armed group with ties to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a homegrown insurgent group that American intelligence agencies say has some foreign leadership. Ms. Bahjat, a journalist working for Al Arabiya, a satellite television station based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, had been returning to Baghdad after having covered the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, an event that pushed Iraq into sectarian warfare.So you blow up a Shi'ite shrine and you do that . . . in public. Meaning, you do that to send a message. To send a message you need . . . the media. So you blow up a shrine and you also kill a reporter covering the bombing? Doesn't make sense. You might kill a reporter not covering it. But why kill a reporter whose amplifying your deed?Here's another thing to think about. When Nouri's toppled, and he will be at some point, and there's a truth commission in Iraq, it's going to be really interesting to find out how many Sunnis were wrongfully convicted, tortured into confessions and blamed. Remember last Tuesday's big bank robbery and how it was Sunnis and it was al Qaeda in Iraq and it was . . . Oh, it was Shi'ites. Working for the government.Yara Bayoumy and Tim Pearce (Reuters) explain what the Times of LA and NY forget to. Suspects were arrested days ago. A key detail. Arrested days ago and yesterday a confession begins airing? When someone confesses, the first thing you want to look at is the timeframe of the confession. You want to consider whether or not it's logical that a torture free confession took place based on the timeline. Based on the timeline, this would appear to be a forced confession. And the key detail: "Iraq previously accused a different man of murdering Bahjat."
Official results from the Kurdistan elections last month have still not been released. But Robin Pagnamenta (Times of London) reports the region "is set to become one of the biggest shareholders in Heritage Oil in a variety of corporate marriages/mergers which would put it in bed with Turkish corporations. The deal requires the Kurdistan Regional Government "cancel a $1.1 billion . . . payment that Genel had been due to make to the KRG for its right to drill and produce oil in the region." Meanwhile Larry Kaplow (Newsweek) explores possible resolutions for oil-rich Kirkuk and observes:
According to the Iraqi constitution, written under U.S. supervision in 2005, Kirkuk residents are supposed to be able to decide their fate in a public referendum. The vote was required by the end of 2007 but has been delayed despite Kurdish protestations. In fact, the extra time has accommodated the return of thousands of Kurds displaced by Saddam Hussein's "Arabization" of the region. Arab leaders allege many more have come in too. No one knows the demographic breakdown of the cities Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen and a census -- with all its own controversial sidelights -- is scheduled for October. But the Kurds probably hold a majority, something that frightens the minority factions. That's probably why Barzani slyly stresses the referendum -- secure that the Kurdish will would triumph.
But the constitution does not spell out what the referendum question is. Barzani says it should be: "Do you want Kirkuk to be part of the Kurdistan region or not, or to be an independent region by itself?" He further said, "The people of Kirkuk are free to decide their future, whether they want to be part of the KRG or an independent region or to join another region."
iraq
the diane rehm show
tim cocksmuhaned mohammed
mark knollercbs news
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margaret talevmcclatchy newspapersanne gearan
the new york timestimothy williams
the los angeles timesliz slysaif hameed
rod nordland
newsweeklarry kaplow
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Be Who You Are
I’m so excited to be here celebrating with you guys and I’mhonored to speak on this stage.
My name is Rochelle Hamilton. I’m 16 years old and I go to Hogan High School in Vallejo. The last couple years have been a challenge, and I’ve been through a lot. Last year was the first time I went to Pride. It was awesome to march through the streets in San Francisco holding a rainbow flag. This year, I’m here with my family and a bunch of friends from Vallejo who wanted to experience Pride.
I came out to my family when I was 13. They’ve been sosupportive, and they helped me be proud to say I’m an out lesbian.
But two years ago, I started attending Jesse Bethel High School, and thingswere different. Almost from the minute I got there, I started being harassedbecause I’m gay.
That's from a speech Rochelle Hamilton gave and you can find it in full at the ACLU's blog, "Be Who You Are." Be Who You Are.
It really is that easy.
People try to clutter it up and they try to demonize and they try to scare.
But rights and the struggle for them are really just about being who you are.
Be Who You Are.
If we'd all do that, the world would be so much more peaceful and so much more beautiful.
And good for Bill Clinton. The former president has left North Korea and, on the plane with him, are reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling. They have been imprisoned and were convicted and were sentenced to twelve years in prison. Bill Clinton went there and Kim Jong II has pardoned the women and let them return home.
The women weren't guilty of anything.
They shouldn't have been sentenced.
I congratulate Bill Clinton on his successful diplomatic mission and I even say "thank you" to Kim Jong II.
I'm not joking on the thank you. I don't know why he did the pardon. I don't care. It was the right thing to do and maybe he did for that reason, maybe for another, who cares. It needed to be done and it was. Thank you.
And that's it. I'm up to my neck in spread sheets and had to bring some home from work tonight. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Tuesday, August 4, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, the military announces two deaths, Nouri's new friends with benefits didn't renounce violence (they still say they'll be attacking US troops), Iraq War veterans continue to suffer to get the needed medical care and to re-adjust to daily life, and more.
Today the US military announced: "A Soldier assigned to Multi-National Division - South died of a non-combat related injury August 4. The Soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin." That announcement came from M-NF which is supposed to announce deaths and, later, DoD announces the names of the dead. That's how it's supposed to work. But frequently that's not how it works. Late yesterday, DoD announced: "Staff Sgt. Johnny R. Polk, 39, of Gulfport, Miss., died July 25 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds suffered when his vehicle was struck by anti-tank grenade on July 23 in Kirkuk, Iraq." That July 25th death was never reported by M-NF and, again, was only announced late yesterday -- long after the outlets had done their 'end of the month' pieces. This happens over and over and the press falls for it everytime -- like saps, like suckers. The announcements bring to 4330 the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war. Back to Polk, the Killeen Daily Herald informs that Polk's full name is Johnny Roosevelt Polk and that he enlisted in March 1992, deployed to Iraq at the start of the year and his "awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon and the Overseas Service Ribbon."
We'll move on to today's reported violence in Iraq. Bombings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing wounded four people. Reuters notes a Jurf al-Sakhar roadside bombing left two people injured and, dropping back to Monday, a Mosul roadside bombing which left two Iraqi soldiers injured.
Shootings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 Iraqi soldier wounded in a Mosul shooting. Reuters drops back to Monday to note 1 "off-duty government employee" shot dead in front of his Mosul home and 1 "brother of Iraq's chief of traffice police" shot dead in Mussayab.
Though the Iraq War hasn't ended and the violence hasn't stopped, it's fallen off the radar -- or further off. Michael Crowley (New Republic) notes the 'downgrading' of the ongoing war:
A recent dispatch from Iraq by The New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller articulated something that has been true for several months now: America has moved on from the Iraq War. Much of the 2008 election was organized around that conflict. Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton in large measure by deriding the judgment she showed in supporting the 2003 Iraq war resolution. And John McCain's public embrace of George W. Bush's policies may have doomed his campaign from the start. Few things seemed to exhilarate Obama's supporters more than his firm call for "an end" to the Iraq war. And now, just six months into Obama's presidency, and even before Obama's troop-withdrawal plan has begun in earnest, Iraq has been replaced by Afghanistan as the conflict that will probably define his presidency.
Crowley believes US forces are the only thing keeping the 'peace' in Iraq -- we obviously disagree (though they're the only thing keeping Nouri in office) on that and other things but Crowley wrote a serious piece about Iraq and that's so very rare today so we'll link As noted in yesterday's snapshot, Nouri lost that loving feeling. Nouri has teamed up with the Righteous League or the Leage of Righteous, warmly wecloming them into the fold. You have to read to the fifth paragraph of Rod Nordland's report (New York Times) this morning to discover that, contrary to Nouri's claims, the group has not renounced violence. In the fifth paragraph, Nordland slips in "the group has not renounced fighting the Americans" and quotes their spokesperson Salam al-Maliki declaring, "We are only fighting the United States." Then, point of fact, they're fighting the puppet government. Not just because Nouri's propped up by the presence of US service members but also because of the various security agreements between the US and Iraq -- more than just the SOFA. So everybody needs to grasp what happened -- it's apparently beyond the New York Times and Rod Nordland. The US has recognized their installed government as a legitimate one and have entered into various contracts with it. Nouri signed off on those. And now Nouri's welocming into the process the League of Righteous who have not renounced violence against the US and who maintain they will continue violence against the US.
How did Bobby Ghosh (Time magazine) describe it last month when Nouri came begging to the US? Oh, yes, Nouri "talked about broadening Iraq's relationship with the U.S. and cooperation in the area of economics, culture and education as well as a conference in October for potential investors in Iraq." Forget the "War on Terror" (though Congress has refused to repeal that legislation), the United States has never been in the position of maintaining diplomatic relations with a foreign country who openly embraces a group that publicly announces it will attack the US. That's not how it works, that's not ever how it has worked.
The group not only maintains that they will continue to attack US forces, they brag about killing Brian S. Freeman, Jabob Fritz, Johanthan B. Chism, Shawn P. Falter and Johnathon M. Millican. Despite that, see the June 9th snapshot, the US military released the two brothers who lead the group in an effort apparently to get the group to release the five British hostages they kidnapped May 29, 2007. They realeased two: Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell. Both men were released dead The British government considers Alec Maclachlan and Alan McMenemy to be dead (the families are still hopeful). The British government hopes Peter Moore is alive. (In part because they need some good news to stem the outcries for the inept performance throughout the kidnappings.) So two ringleaders of a group which publicly claims credit for the kidnappings of 5 British citizens and the deaths of 5 US soldiers are released by the US and the trade off is the group hands over two corpses? No, it doesn't seem fair.
Nor does Nouri making nice. Oliver August (Times of London) offers the British government spin of Nouri raising the issue of Peter Moore with the group. Really? Nouri's bag boy Ali al-Dabbagh tells the New York Times, the British hostages were not discussed ("We cannot negotiate with the kidnappers" -- so why have talks with them) and the Times of New York also states Nouri "said that their status had not been discussed." Nordland can leave out a great deal (and frequently does) but he's never been busted lying intentionally. Today Robert Dreyfuss (The Dreyfuss Report, The Nation) covers some of the issues and wonders, "In other words, Maliki met with a bunch of Shiite terrorists, welcomed them with open arms. Why would he do that?" Because Nouri's a thug. Better question is why the US is trashing every rule of diplomacy they've operated under -- regardless of which party occupied the White House -- and acting as if it's suddenly okay for a foreign power the US funds (one we installed, of course) and one the US provides military backing for to conduct business with a group that has openly and publicly stated they will KILL US service members? That's just not allowed. That's just not done. The normal response to that is for the US to break off all diplomatic ties and recall their ambassador. But there's been no response at all to this and the US continues spending billions on Iraq and Nouri wants more US businesses to come to Iraq. They shouldn't. And if you're a business in Iraq -- and several California-based companies now are in Iraq -- you should be very worried that your stoes might be protested, that you might lose business because what Nouri's doing is unacceptable and apparently Barack's cast himself as President Pushover because this is a very embarrassing moment for the United States as he refuses to make a comment or call it out, let alone follow normal diplomatic guidelines for this situation.
On diplomatic, one thing Michael Crowley gets very right in his post is that Chris Hill, US Ambassador to Iraq, doesn't speak Arabic and has a background in Eatern Europe and Asia." Golly, remember all the jokes about Condi Rice's field of study being the now disengrated USSR?
The memo by US Col Timothy Reese advocating all US troops out of Iraq by the end of 2010 is covered by Rory O'Connor (Media Is A Plural):
Colonel Reese argues instead that all American forces should withdraw by August 2010, pointing out, "If there ever was a window where the seeds of a professional military culture could have been implanted, it is now long past. U.S. combat forces will not be here long enough or with sufficient influence to change it."
So who's right -- the military and political forces that want to prolong our long national nightmare in Iraq as a means of extending American presence and leverage there, or the expert analyst who literally wrote the book on the U.S. Army's history in Iraq?
Colonel Reese - and the now late, but still great Senator Aiken -- had it right. Out Now!
Sidebar, Media Channel is not yet back online but O'Connor's blog is back up and Danny Schechter's News Dissector blog is back up.
Yes, the US needs to leave Iraq and it appears the British may have. Deborah Haynes (Times of London) reports, "British troops may not return to southern Iraq to finish their mission in the country, David Miliband has admitted." Now help me out here because I was immune to the Barry O Kool-Aid flavor but what situation is created for the US in Iraq right now? It already felt like Somolia with Nouri's verbal attacks on US service members but now that Nouri's welcoming in groups who are publicly stating (presently stating, this isn't the past) that their mission is to kill US troops, what is the reason to remain in Iraq?
And does anyone give a damn about the US service members?
With only himself present yesterday senate wise, Senator Byron Dorgan noted he was going to call the hearing ("in the interest of time") of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee to order. Dorgan declared the hearing was the 20th oversight hearing the DPC had done into the contracting fraud and waste in Iraq and Afghanistan and, "On June 20th of last year, we held a hearing that revealed how Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), at a site in Iraq, had exposed US troops and its own workers to -- among others -- to sodium dichromate -- a highly toxic, cancer-causing chemical. This exposure took place in the spring and summer of 2003 at a water facility -- water treatment facility -- in Qarmat Ali, Iraq. In my judgment, the Army's response to this incident and to the findings of our hearing has been tragically inadequate. Sodium dichromate is a deadly poison. According to an expert who testified at our hearing last year, a grain of sand worth of chromium dichromate per cubic meter could lead to serious long-term health problems including cancer."
Sodium dichromate was in the news at the end of 2008. From the December 4, 2008 snapshot:
Yesterday, KBR was in the news for imprisoning workers in Iraq and now Scott Bronstein and Abbie Boudreau (CNN) report KBR is being sued by 16 members of Indiana's National Gaurd who served in Iraq and maintain that KBR knew a water treatment plant (which the soliders were assigned to) exposed them to dangerous chemicals such as the carcinogenic sodium dichromate. David Ivanovich (Houston Chronicle) explains, "In their suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Evansville, Ind., the plaintiffs contend KBR knowingly allowed them to be exposed to sodium dichromate, a chemical used as an anti-corrosive but containing the carcinogen hexavalent chromium. The alleged exposure occurred while the guardsmen were providing security for KBR workers at the Qarmat Ali water plant in southern Iraq." Rajini Vaidyanathan (BBC) elaborates, "The soldiers say that they and other civilian contractors there were repeatedly told there was no danger, and that when they reported health problems such as nose-bleeds to their bosses, they were told they were simply 'allergic to the sand'. The court papers claim that these symptoms were the early side-effects of the chemical, and that some who served on the site went on to suffer severe breathing problems and nasal tumours."
December 22nd Armen Keteyian (CBS Evening News with Katie Couric -- text and video) reported on James Gentry's developing lung cancer after serving at Iraq where he guarded KBR's water plant, "Now CBS News has obtained information that indicates KBR knew about the danger months before the soldiers were ever informed. Depositions from KBR employees detailed concerns about the toxin in one part of the plant as early as May of 2003. And KBR minutes, from a later meeting state 'that 60 percent of the people . . . exhibit symptoms of exposure,' including bloody noses and rashes."
Dorgan's noted the witnesses for the hearing: Iraq War veterans Russell Kimberling, Rocky Bixby, Russel Powell and Glenn Bootay and Dr. Herman Gibb. Dorgan explained one person would not be with them, "Sergeant First Class David Moore, a platoon leader and a 20-year veteran of the Indiana National Guard, was exposed to sodium dichromate at Qarmat Ali. He died in 2008 from lung disease after returning from Iraq. He was wheezing, unable to breathe, constantly coughing, yet doctors were mystified by the cause of his disease." Dorgan noted the government's inability to take accountability from time to time such as with Agent Orange or, more recently, the repeated denials about KBR's shoddy electrical work in Iraq which led to the deaths of US service members.
Senator Evan Bayh wondered why the Indianna National Guard wasn't notified promptly since so many of those exposed were serving with the Indianna National Guard? He also declared, "I've got two principle interests in this. First, to ensure that all those of you who were exposed and were potentially exposed get the treatment to which you are entitled You served our country honorably, you deserve the best medical care possible. We shouldn't put the burden of proof on you because there are photographs of piles of this stuff sittting around. There's no doubt at all that people were exposed so you shouldn't be in the position, as Senator Dorgan was saying, today or five years or ten years from now trying to go back and prove that it was service related. So that's my principal concern: To make sure that you're treated well and get the medical care you deserve. And then the second thing, Senator Dorgan, would be to make sure that this kind of thing never happens again."
We won't note all the opening statements. Those two were worth noting. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid showed up. For what reason? To show that any senator serving on the committee was more qualified than he is to be Senate leader? It was an embarrassing reading of a statement, one in which he never managed to note the Iraq War veterans present as witnesses or to even look at them. But he appeared more concerned with his stop-and-start 'innovative' style of reading from a piece of paper -- or, as he might put it, in . . . novativestyleof . . . readingfromapieceofpap . . . er.
Batallion medic Rusell Powell spoke of being assigned to the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant and the orange power everywhere, with ripped open bags leaving the sodium dicrhomate exposed to the wind, "These bags were spread throughout the facility, both inside and outside the buildings. The bags were often placed at the doorways of the buildings so we had to walk through piles of the orange powder when we entered and exited the buildings. The soldiers at Qarmat Ali would even use the bags as protection during storms, we'd use them as security measures as sand bags, we'd eat there, we'd sit there and eat lunch." Despite the powder being everywhere, the US Army and KBR never provided any warnings or even "voiced any concerns." In 2004, he left Iraq and his rashes, nose bleeds, stomach problems and lesions continued. Finally, in 2009, the West Virginia National Guard notified him via letter that he was "exposed to sodium dichromate while serving at Qarmat Ali."
"My symptoms haven't changed since my service in Iraq," Powell told the committee. "I go almost weekly to doctors appointments for various medical conditions and I have to miss work and ask for additional sick time. I'm testifying today because it is disheartening to know I may not be able to see my sons graduate from high school , college, get married or hold my grandchildred because of this completely avoidable exposure."
And that really does capture what's been stolen and what the reckless endangerment has left those at the water treatment facility plant with: The knowledge that even events in the immediate future, their children's graduation, may be things they are not present for as a result of the actions and decisions made by KBR and, at the very least, the inaction of the US military command. Rocky Bixby noted his difficulty in carrying on conversations because he has to cough repeatedly. He explained that, "Each morning we received regular briefings from KBR about our security work. The only hazards identified at the Qarmat Ali facility were related to developments in the war. No one from KBR or the Army ever told us about hazardous materials at the Qarmat Ali facility."
Bixby explained x-rays have discovered a node on his chest. Approximately every fourth or fifth continuous sentence of speaking at the hearing would require Bixby having to clear his throat or experiencing a coughing spasm where he coughed repeatedly. As he pointed out, had they been warned, none of this would have happened. Had they been warned, they would have taken protections including using the suits provided because of the fear/threat that Saddam Hussein would use chemical weapons on US forces. In the end, Saddam had no chemical weapons and the real chemical threat came from KBR.
"At no time during our deployment," declared Russel Kimberling, "were we told to wear face masks or chemical gear." By the two month mark, he'd developed a hole inside his nose, the navel cavity, and he noted that all the people he knows who have served at Qarmat Ali has symptoms. He is now judged to have "a pre-existing condiction" and has difficulting obtaining life insurance as a result. As the father of a four-year-old son, this is not a minor worry for Kimberling. In addition, he explained, "I am hesitant to have another child because I could be passing on genetic defects to him or her. If I do develop cancer, I am concerned about the financial situation of my loved ones who would be left behind."
Dorgan followed up with a question about the insurance issue.
Senator Byron Dorgan: Mr. Kimberling, you said that you were turned down for life insurance. Did they tell you why that you were denied?
Russell Kimberling: I just got a letter, after after I found this out five years later. I had let my life insurance from the deployment kind of lapse and i figured uhOh I better go back in. And they didn't tell me it was directly related to my exposure they just said due to my -- I had to sign a waiver for my VA which, you know, I think it has my shoulder, hearing and a back problem. I wouldn't be denied life insurance for that. They said I was a high risk. And I don't know what -- they didn't give me a reason.
"After I returned from Iraq, I was never contacted by the army about the potential exposure at Qarmat Ali," explained Glen Booty. "I was unaware that I had been exposed to a toxic chemical but my health problems continued to get worse. I began vomiting up to twenty times a day and I couldn't keep any solid food down. My headaches continued. The point of origin of my illness was while I was in Iraq." Even now knowing about the exposure and receiving some treatments, Booty continues to suffer from: "constant headaches, constant chest pain with skipped heart beats, shortness of breath due to the lower edge of my lungs being collapsed, extreme fatigue, periodic skin rashes, inability to sweat, periodic vomiting without nausea, loss of feeling on my left side and torso, high blood sugar, episodes of kidney stones, episodes of blacking out and short term memory loss."
We'll note this exhange from the hearing.
Senator Evan Bayh: Captain Kimberling, you testified that you escorted a group of, was it KBR employees, who had the white suits on, the environmental suits on, to the site. Did I understand your testimony correctly?
Russell Kimberling: Civilian attired. I couldn't say whether they were, you know, Corps of Engineers or KBR.
Senator Evan Bayh: Ah but they had --
Russell Kimberling: Civilian attire on.
Senator Evan Bayh: Oh, civilian attire. I thought you said they had enviornmental suits.
Russell Kimberling: Well they had it, when they got in the vehicles, civilian attire, when they got out of the vehicles, at the site, they had white PPE [Personal Protective Equipment], the gear.
Senator Evan Bayh: So when you were -- why do you suppose they put that on? Before they got out of the vehicles?
Russell Kimberling: They knew something we didn't.
Senator Evan Bayh: Well that's my point. And so they drove up in civilian attire but before they got out to set foot on the ground, they put on the environmental suits obviously indicating they were worried about something?
Russell Kimberling: Yes.
Senator Evan Bayh: But you and your men and women hadn't been informed of anything at that point, correct?
Russell Kimberling: Correct.
Senator Evan Bayh: At what point after that, if at all, were you informed?
Russell Kimberling: It was within a couple of weeks that, uh, Lt Col [James] Gentry, once he -- once we figured out what it was, we were informed and we didn't go back to the site.
Senator Evan Bayh: So there were at least a couple of weeks there when presumably they didn't find out that dayso there was a period of some time, at least a couple of weeks, probably longer ,that people were aware there was some pretty hazardous stuff there -- so much that they protect themselves -- but you and your men hadn't been notified?
Russell Kimberling: Yes, sir.
The civilian visit was in August 2003. Kimberling had been stationed at the water treatment facility since April 2003. Elsewhere in the hearing, he noted that Lt Col James Gentry "is currently battling terminal lung cancer, most likely caused by his exposure to sodium dichromate, and has entered hospice care."
Meanwhile, David Martin (CBS Evening News with Katie Couric -- link has text and video) reports on Iraq War veteran Casey Owens who lost his legs while serving in Iraq who has had to fight the VA for needed treatment and who TBI is repeatedly swept aside and ignored. "I've gone to the VA and complained," he explains, "about certain symptoms but it's usually just shrugged off as sinus headaches or migraines or stress." Gregg Zoroya (USA Today) reports on the strain deployments are causing military families such as Lynn and Capt Mark Flitton with Mark having a very difficult time readjusting to life with his family after being deployed three times in the last ten years. He tells Zoroya, "I haven't come home yet. I'm still in the war mode, and I don't know that I'm going to come back out of it until I know I don't have any more war rotations to go back on." Drop back to Friday's snapshot and pair Flitton's statements with Mary who called into NPR's The Diane Rehm Show to share her story:Hi there. As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I was calling about. My husband is currently on his fourth tour in Iraq which is his fifth deployment in six years. As a matter of fact, he's physically lived at home six months since 2001. There's -- there's two reasons I think why the high suicide rate You have these up tempo deployments. When someone comes back from being deployed in Iraq you have what's called a honeymoon period and it might be a month or several months where everyone's happy to see you and every thing's going fine and then the cracks start to show a little bit the stress that every body's been under -- whether it's the normal stress or maybe PTSD. But by the time that starts to rear it's head, they're back for another deployment again and so those issues don't get addressed. And I live in fear for when my husband is home permanently and I know for certain that we're going to have to address that. My husband told me once a story when they were in Iraq, in a combat mission. There was a young gentlemen, maybe 19, scared to death to go out -- understandably. And he was out maybe thirty minutes and they got hit by an IED. He was absolutely terrified and the next day he had to go back out on another mission. And he did not want to go and he had to. And I asked my husband what do you do in those circumstances? And my husband said "Charley Mike" which is an acronym for CM and it means continue mission. That is the most important thing is you continue the mission and you don't stop until it's complete and then you look back and maybe try to figure out what's wrong with these poor people. The -- I don't care what any senior officials say -- the mental health is abysmal in the military. It's frowned upon, there's not enough services. Also I think because the rest -- only the military is at war and the rest of the country is not, there's not -- there's a big disconnect there and I think that adds to the situation. My husband is proud to do his service. He's happy to be there so many other fathers don't have to be. But he would like at least some acknowledgment and recognition. When you turn on the TV and very little is talked about.
Moving to the press, pundits, gas bags. And if they don't like being called out, they should try talking about the Iraq War than, for example Naomi Klein, repeatedly using women to get some cheap laughs. Like Klein, two journalists working for the Washington Post thought it was fine and dandy to go to town, CJR's Greg Marx calls it out here, Kirsten Powers (New York Post) goes further in calling all out all this sexist garbage:
If [Dana] Milbank made a "satirical" race-based joke about Obama, he'd be fired. But that's not going to happen here.
After all, calling Hillary Clinton the b-word is practically mainstream behavior. During the '08 campaign, a (female) questioner at a McCain event asked "How can we beat the bitch?" McCain laughed. Conservative commentator Alex Castellanos defended this on CNN saying that Clinton deserves to be called a "bitch."
For what? Running for president? How dare she!
The only thing worse would be running for vice president. Just ask Sarah Palin.
I'm no fan of the former governor of Alaska, but as a life-long feminist I can't ignore the endless stream of sexism directed at her.
Friday on MSNBC, guest host Donny Deutsch asked, "If Palin wasn't hot, would we be talking about her?" His two female guests -- one Republican and one Democrat -- were united in their disagreement with this assertion.
But Deutsch was adamant: "The only reason we are so fascinated, the American public has never seen a woman that looks like this in power. That's where the fascination starts."
Where was this insightful analysis when the vapid JFK-wannabe John Edwards and his silky hair ended up as the Dems choice for VP in 2004? Or was everyone too dazzled by his completely undistinguished one term as a senator?
Lastly, Iraq Veterans Against the War's Adam Kokesh is running for the US Congress out of New Mexico's third district and he announced last month he was going to be on the Republican ticket (link has video and text). An e-mail came in asking if we'd dumped Adam because he was on the Republican ticket? No. We'll continue to note him and Congress would be lucky to have Adam as member on any party ticket. There's just not time for everything -- the hearing covered today couldn't go into yesterday's snapshot because there wasn't room and I didn't feel like boiling it down to one paragraph which was all the room that was left -- so something's get held with the hopes that they'll be noted at a later date. This week, Iraqi refugees should be a topic, hopefully tomorrow. But I'm holding things on that. There's never enough room for everything on Iraq. Things like a political run are more likely to get held. But there's no walk away from Adam because he's running on the Republican ticket. We're not a Libertarian site but we never ignored Adam because he's a Libertarian. We'll continue to note him and probably more so this month because Congress is about to go on recess.
iraq
the killeen daily herald
gregg zoroyausa today
cbs news
armen keteyian
nprthe diane rehm showdanny schechter
the new york timesrod nordland
the times of londonoliver augustdeborah haynes
My name is Rochelle Hamilton. I’m 16 years old and I go to Hogan High School in Vallejo. The last couple years have been a challenge, and I’ve been through a lot. Last year was the first time I went to Pride. It was awesome to march through the streets in San Francisco holding a rainbow flag. This year, I’m here with my family and a bunch of friends from Vallejo who wanted to experience Pride.
I came out to my family when I was 13. They’ve been sosupportive, and they helped me be proud to say I’m an out lesbian.
But two years ago, I started attending Jesse Bethel High School, and thingswere different. Almost from the minute I got there, I started being harassedbecause I’m gay.
That's from a speech Rochelle Hamilton gave and you can find it in full at the ACLU's blog, "Be Who You Are." Be Who You Are.
It really is that easy.
People try to clutter it up and they try to demonize and they try to scare.
But rights and the struggle for them are really just about being who you are.
Be Who You Are.
If we'd all do that, the world would be so much more peaceful and so much more beautiful.
And good for Bill Clinton. The former president has left North Korea and, on the plane with him, are reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling. They have been imprisoned and were convicted and were sentenced to twelve years in prison. Bill Clinton went there and Kim Jong II has pardoned the women and let them return home.
The women weren't guilty of anything.
They shouldn't have been sentenced.
I congratulate Bill Clinton on his successful diplomatic mission and I even say "thank you" to Kim Jong II.
I'm not joking on the thank you. I don't know why he did the pardon. I don't care. It was the right thing to do and maybe he did for that reason, maybe for another, who cares. It needed to be done and it was. Thank you.
And that's it. I'm up to my neck in spread sheets and had to bring some home from work tonight. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Tuesday, August 4, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, the military announces two deaths, Nouri's new friends with benefits didn't renounce violence (they still say they'll be attacking US troops), Iraq War veterans continue to suffer to get the needed medical care and to re-adjust to daily life, and more.
Today the US military announced: "A Soldier assigned to Multi-National Division - South died of a non-combat related injury August 4. The Soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin." That announcement came from M-NF which is supposed to announce deaths and, later, DoD announces the names of the dead. That's how it's supposed to work. But frequently that's not how it works. Late yesterday, DoD announced: "Staff Sgt. Johnny R. Polk, 39, of Gulfport, Miss., died July 25 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds suffered when his vehicle was struck by anti-tank grenade on July 23 in Kirkuk, Iraq." That July 25th death was never reported by M-NF and, again, was only announced late yesterday -- long after the outlets had done their 'end of the month' pieces. This happens over and over and the press falls for it everytime -- like saps, like suckers. The announcements bring to 4330 the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war. Back to Polk, the Killeen Daily Herald informs that Polk's full name is Johnny Roosevelt Polk and that he enlisted in March 1992, deployed to Iraq at the start of the year and his "awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon and the Overseas Service Ribbon."
We'll move on to today's reported violence in Iraq. Bombings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing wounded four people. Reuters notes a Jurf al-Sakhar roadside bombing left two people injured and, dropping back to Monday, a Mosul roadside bombing which left two Iraqi soldiers injured.
Shootings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 Iraqi soldier wounded in a Mosul shooting. Reuters drops back to Monday to note 1 "off-duty government employee" shot dead in front of his Mosul home and 1 "brother of Iraq's chief of traffice police" shot dead in Mussayab.
Though the Iraq War hasn't ended and the violence hasn't stopped, it's fallen off the radar -- or further off. Michael Crowley (New Republic) notes the 'downgrading' of the ongoing war:
A recent dispatch from Iraq by The New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller articulated something that has been true for several months now: America has moved on from the Iraq War. Much of the 2008 election was organized around that conflict. Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton in large measure by deriding the judgment she showed in supporting the 2003 Iraq war resolution. And John McCain's public embrace of George W. Bush's policies may have doomed his campaign from the start. Few things seemed to exhilarate Obama's supporters more than his firm call for "an end" to the Iraq war. And now, just six months into Obama's presidency, and even before Obama's troop-withdrawal plan has begun in earnest, Iraq has been replaced by Afghanistan as the conflict that will probably define his presidency.
Crowley believes US forces are the only thing keeping the 'peace' in Iraq -- we obviously disagree (though they're the only thing keeping Nouri in office) on that and other things but Crowley wrote a serious piece about Iraq and that's so very rare today so we'll link As noted in yesterday's snapshot, Nouri lost that loving feeling. Nouri has teamed up with the Righteous League or the Leage of Righteous, warmly wecloming them into the fold. You have to read to the fifth paragraph of Rod Nordland's report (New York Times) this morning to discover that, contrary to Nouri's claims, the group has not renounced violence. In the fifth paragraph, Nordland slips in "the group has not renounced fighting the Americans" and quotes their spokesperson Salam al-Maliki declaring, "We are only fighting the United States." Then, point of fact, they're fighting the puppet government. Not just because Nouri's propped up by the presence of US service members but also because of the various security agreements between the US and Iraq -- more than just the SOFA. So everybody needs to grasp what happened -- it's apparently beyond the New York Times and Rod Nordland. The US has recognized their installed government as a legitimate one and have entered into various contracts with it. Nouri signed off on those. And now Nouri's welocming into the process the League of Righteous who have not renounced violence against the US and who maintain they will continue violence against the US.
How did Bobby Ghosh (Time magazine) describe it last month when Nouri came begging to the US? Oh, yes, Nouri "talked about broadening Iraq's relationship with the U.S. and cooperation in the area of economics, culture and education as well as a conference in October for potential investors in Iraq." Forget the "War on Terror" (though Congress has refused to repeal that legislation), the United States has never been in the position of maintaining diplomatic relations with a foreign country who openly embraces a group that publicly announces it will attack the US. That's not how it works, that's not ever how it has worked.
The group not only maintains that they will continue to attack US forces, they brag about killing Brian S. Freeman, Jabob Fritz, Johanthan B. Chism, Shawn P. Falter and Johnathon M. Millican. Despite that, see the June 9th snapshot, the US military released the two brothers who lead the group in an effort apparently to get the group to release the five British hostages they kidnapped May 29, 2007. They realeased two: Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell. Both men were released dead The British government considers Alec Maclachlan and Alan McMenemy to be dead (the families are still hopeful). The British government hopes Peter Moore is alive. (In part because they need some good news to stem the outcries for the inept performance throughout the kidnappings.) So two ringleaders of a group which publicly claims credit for the kidnappings of 5 British citizens and the deaths of 5 US soldiers are released by the US and the trade off is the group hands over two corpses? No, it doesn't seem fair.
Nor does Nouri making nice. Oliver August (Times of London) offers the British government spin of Nouri raising the issue of Peter Moore with the group. Really? Nouri's bag boy Ali al-Dabbagh tells the New York Times, the British hostages were not discussed ("We cannot negotiate with the kidnappers" -- so why have talks with them) and the Times of New York also states Nouri "said that their status had not been discussed." Nordland can leave out a great deal (and frequently does) but he's never been busted lying intentionally. Today Robert Dreyfuss (The Dreyfuss Report, The Nation) covers some of the issues and wonders, "In other words, Maliki met with a bunch of Shiite terrorists, welcomed them with open arms. Why would he do that?" Because Nouri's a thug. Better question is why the US is trashing every rule of diplomacy they've operated under -- regardless of which party occupied the White House -- and acting as if it's suddenly okay for a foreign power the US funds (one we installed, of course) and one the US provides military backing for to conduct business with a group that has openly and publicly stated they will KILL US service members? That's just not allowed. That's just not done. The normal response to that is for the US to break off all diplomatic ties and recall their ambassador. But there's been no response at all to this and the US continues spending billions on Iraq and Nouri wants more US businesses to come to Iraq. They shouldn't. And if you're a business in Iraq -- and several California-based companies now are in Iraq -- you should be very worried that your stoes might be protested, that you might lose business because what Nouri's doing is unacceptable and apparently Barack's cast himself as President Pushover because this is a very embarrassing moment for the United States as he refuses to make a comment or call it out, let alone follow normal diplomatic guidelines for this situation.
On diplomatic, one thing Michael Crowley gets very right in his post is that Chris Hill, US Ambassador to Iraq, doesn't speak Arabic and has a background in Eatern Europe and Asia." Golly, remember all the jokes about Condi Rice's field of study being the now disengrated USSR?
The memo by US Col Timothy Reese advocating all US troops out of Iraq by the end of 2010 is covered by Rory O'Connor (Media Is A Plural):
Colonel Reese argues instead that all American forces should withdraw by August 2010, pointing out, "If there ever was a window where the seeds of a professional military culture could have been implanted, it is now long past. U.S. combat forces will not be here long enough or with sufficient influence to change it."
So who's right -- the military and political forces that want to prolong our long national nightmare in Iraq as a means of extending American presence and leverage there, or the expert analyst who literally wrote the book on the U.S. Army's history in Iraq?
Colonel Reese - and the now late, but still great Senator Aiken -- had it right. Out Now!
Sidebar, Media Channel is not yet back online but O'Connor's blog is back up and Danny Schechter's News Dissector blog is back up.
Yes, the US needs to leave Iraq and it appears the British may have. Deborah Haynes (Times of London) reports, "British troops may not return to southern Iraq to finish their mission in the country, David Miliband has admitted." Now help me out here because I was immune to the Barry O Kool-Aid flavor but what situation is created for the US in Iraq right now? It already felt like Somolia with Nouri's verbal attacks on US service members but now that Nouri's welcoming in groups who are publicly stating (presently stating, this isn't the past) that their mission is to kill US troops, what is the reason to remain in Iraq?
And does anyone give a damn about the US service members?
With only himself present yesterday senate wise, Senator Byron Dorgan noted he was going to call the hearing ("in the interest of time") of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee to order. Dorgan declared the hearing was the 20th oversight hearing the DPC had done into the contracting fraud and waste in Iraq and Afghanistan and, "On June 20th of last year, we held a hearing that revealed how Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), at a site in Iraq, had exposed US troops and its own workers to -- among others -- to sodium dichromate -- a highly toxic, cancer-causing chemical. This exposure took place in the spring and summer of 2003 at a water facility -- water treatment facility -- in Qarmat Ali, Iraq. In my judgment, the Army's response to this incident and to the findings of our hearing has been tragically inadequate. Sodium dichromate is a deadly poison. According to an expert who testified at our hearing last year, a grain of sand worth of chromium dichromate per cubic meter could lead to serious long-term health problems including cancer."
Sodium dichromate was in the news at the end of 2008. From the December 4, 2008 snapshot:
Yesterday, KBR was in the news for imprisoning workers in Iraq and now Scott Bronstein and Abbie Boudreau (CNN) report KBR is being sued by 16 members of Indiana's National Gaurd who served in Iraq and maintain that KBR knew a water treatment plant (which the soliders were assigned to) exposed them to dangerous chemicals such as the carcinogenic sodium dichromate. David Ivanovich (Houston Chronicle) explains, "In their suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Evansville, Ind., the plaintiffs contend KBR knowingly allowed them to be exposed to sodium dichromate, a chemical used as an anti-corrosive but containing the carcinogen hexavalent chromium. The alleged exposure occurred while the guardsmen were providing security for KBR workers at the Qarmat Ali water plant in southern Iraq." Rajini Vaidyanathan (BBC) elaborates, "The soldiers say that they and other civilian contractors there were repeatedly told there was no danger, and that when they reported health problems such as nose-bleeds to their bosses, they were told they were simply 'allergic to the sand'. The court papers claim that these symptoms were the early side-effects of the chemical, and that some who served on the site went on to suffer severe breathing problems and nasal tumours."
December 22nd Armen Keteyian (CBS Evening News with Katie Couric -- text and video) reported on James Gentry's developing lung cancer after serving at Iraq where he guarded KBR's water plant, "Now CBS News has obtained information that indicates KBR knew about the danger months before the soldiers were ever informed. Depositions from KBR employees detailed concerns about the toxin in one part of the plant as early as May of 2003. And KBR minutes, from a later meeting state 'that 60 percent of the people . . . exhibit symptoms of exposure,' including bloody noses and rashes."
Dorgan's noted the witnesses for the hearing: Iraq War veterans Russell Kimberling, Rocky Bixby, Russel Powell and Glenn Bootay and Dr. Herman Gibb. Dorgan explained one person would not be with them, "Sergeant First Class David Moore, a platoon leader and a 20-year veteran of the Indiana National Guard, was exposed to sodium dichromate at Qarmat Ali. He died in 2008 from lung disease after returning from Iraq. He was wheezing, unable to breathe, constantly coughing, yet doctors were mystified by the cause of his disease." Dorgan noted the government's inability to take accountability from time to time such as with Agent Orange or, more recently, the repeated denials about KBR's shoddy electrical work in Iraq which led to the deaths of US service members.
Senator Evan Bayh wondered why the Indianna National Guard wasn't notified promptly since so many of those exposed were serving with the Indianna National Guard? He also declared, "I've got two principle interests in this. First, to ensure that all those of you who were exposed and were potentially exposed get the treatment to which you are entitled You served our country honorably, you deserve the best medical care possible. We shouldn't put the burden of proof on you because there are photographs of piles of this stuff sittting around. There's no doubt at all that people were exposed so you shouldn't be in the position, as Senator Dorgan was saying, today or five years or ten years from now trying to go back and prove that it was service related. So that's my principal concern: To make sure that you're treated well and get the medical care you deserve. And then the second thing, Senator Dorgan, would be to make sure that this kind of thing never happens again."
We won't note all the opening statements. Those two were worth noting. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid showed up. For what reason? To show that any senator serving on the committee was more qualified than he is to be Senate leader? It was an embarrassing reading of a statement, one in which he never managed to note the Iraq War veterans present as witnesses or to even look at them. But he appeared more concerned with his stop-and-start 'innovative' style of reading from a piece of paper -- or, as he might put it, in . . . novativestyleof . . . readingfromapieceofpap . . . er.
Batallion medic Rusell Powell spoke of being assigned to the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant and the orange power everywhere, with ripped open bags leaving the sodium dicrhomate exposed to the wind, "These bags were spread throughout the facility, both inside and outside the buildings. The bags were often placed at the doorways of the buildings so we had to walk through piles of the orange powder when we entered and exited the buildings. The soldiers at Qarmat Ali would even use the bags as protection during storms, we'd use them as security measures as sand bags, we'd eat there, we'd sit there and eat lunch." Despite the powder being everywhere, the US Army and KBR never provided any warnings or even "voiced any concerns." In 2004, he left Iraq and his rashes, nose bleeds, stomach problems and lesions continued. Finally, in 2009, the West Virginia National Guard notified him via letter that he was "exposed to sodium dichromate while serving at Qarmat Ali."
"My symptoms haven't changed since my service in Iraq," Powell told the committee. "I go almost weekly to doctors appointments for various medical conditions and I have to miss work and ask for additional sick time. I'm testifying today because it is disheartening to know I may not be able to see my sons graduate from high school , college, get married or hold my grandchildred because of this completely avoidable exposure."
And that really does capture what's been stolen and what the reckless endangerment has left those at the water treatment facility plant with: The knowledge that even events in the immediate future, their children's graduation, may be things they are not present for as a result of the actions and decisions made by KBR and, at the very least, the inaction of the US military command. Rocky Bixby noted his difficulty in carrying on conversations because he has to cough repeatedly. He explained that, "Each morning we received regular briefings from KBR about our security work. The only hazards identified at the Qarmat Ali facility were related to developments in the war. No one from KBR or the Army ever told us about hazardous materials at the Qarmat Ali facility."
Bixby explained x-rays have discovered a node on his chest. Approximately every fourth or fifth continuous sentence of speaking at the hearing would require Bixby having to clear his throat or experiencing a coughing spasm where he coughed repeatedly. As he pointed out, had they been warned, none of this would have happened. Had they been warned, they would have taken protections including using the suits provided because of the fear/threat that Saddam Hussein would use chemical weapons on US forces. In the end, Saddam had no chemical weapons and the real chemical threat came from KBR.
"At no time during our deployment," declared Russel Kimberling, "were we told to wear face masks or chemical gear." By the two month mark, he'd developed a hole inside his nose, the navel cavity, and he noted that all the people he knows who have served at Qarmat Ali has symptoms. He is now judged to have "a pre-existing condiction" and has difficulting obtaining life insurance as a result. As the father of a four-year-old son, this is not a minor worry for Kimberling. In addition, he explained, "I am hesitant to have another child because I could be passing on genetic defects to him or her. If I do develop cancer, I am concerned about the financial situation of my loved ones who would be left behind."
Dorgan followed up with a question about the insurance issue.
Senator Byron Dorgan: Mr. Kimberling, you said that you were turned down for life insurance. Did they tell you why that you were denied?
Russell Kimberling: I just got a letter, after after I found this out five years later. I had let my life insurance from the deployment kind of lapse and i figured uhOh I better go back in. And they didn't tell me it was directly related to my exposure they just said due to my -- I had to sign a waiver for my VA which, you know, I think it has my shoulder, hearing and a back problem. I wouldn't be denied life insurance for that. They said I was a high risk. And I don't know what -- they didn't give me a reason.
"After I returned from Iraq, I was never contacted by the army about the potential exposure at Qarmat Ali," explained Glen Booty. "I was unaware that I had been exposed to a toxic chemical but my health problems continued to get worse. I began vomiting up to twenty times a day and I couldn't keep any solid food down. My headaches continued. The point of origin of my illness was while I was in Iraq." Even now knowing about the exposure and receiving some treatments, Booty continues to suffer from: "constant headaches, constant chest pain with skipped heart beats, shortness of breath due to the lower edge of my lungs being collapsed, extreme fatigue, periodic skin rashes, inability to sweat, periodic vomiting without nausea, loss of feeling on my left side and torso, high blood sugar, episodes of kidney stones, episodes of blacking out and short term memory loss."
We'll note this exhange from the hearing.
Senator Evan Bayh: Captain Kimberling, you testified that you escorted a group of, was it KBR employees, who had the white suits on, the environmental suits on, to the site. Did I understand your testimony correctly?
Russell Kimberling: Civilian attired. I couldn't say whether they were, you know, Corps of Engineers or KBR.
Senator Evan Bayh: Ah but they had --
Russell Kimberling: Civilian attire on.
Senator Evan Bayh: Oh, civilian attire. I thought you said they had enviornmental suits.
Russell Kimberling: Well they had it, when they got in the vehicles, civilian attire, when they got out of the vehicles, at the site, they had white PPE [Personal Protective Equipment], the gear.
Senator Evan Bayh: So when you were -- why do you suppose they put that on? Before they got out of the vehicles?
Russell Kimberling: They knew something we didn't.
Senator Evan Bayh: Well that's my point. And so they drove up in civilian attire but before they got out to set foot on the ground, they put on the environmental suits obviously indicating they were worried about something?
Russell Kimberling: Yes.
Senator Evan Bayh: But you and your men and women hadn't been informed of anything at that point, correct?
Russell Kimberling: Correct.
Senator Evan Bayh: At what point after that, if at all, were you informed?
Russell Kimberling: It was within a couple of weeks that, uh, Lt Col [James] Gentry, once he -- once we figured out what it was, we were informed and we didn't go back to the site.
Senator Evan Bayh: So there were at least a couple of weeks there when presumably they didn't find out that dayso there was a period of some time, at least a couple of weeks, probably longer ,that people were aware there was some pretty hazardous stuff there -- so much that they protect themselves -- but you and your men hadn't been notified?
Russell Kimberling: Yes, sir.
The civilian visit was in August 2003. Kimberling had been stationed at the water treatment facility since April 2003. Elsewhere in the hearing, he noted that Lt Col James Gentry "is currently battling terminal lung cancer, most likely caused by his exposure to sodium dichromate, and has entered hospice care."
Meanwhile, David Martin (CBS Evening News with Katie Couric -- link has text and video) reports on Iraq War veteran Casey Owens who lost his legs while serving in Iraq who has had to fight the VA for needed treatment and who TBI is repeatedly swept aside and ignored. "I've gone to the VA and complained," he explains, "about certain symptoms but it's usually just shrugged off as sinus headaches or migraines or stress." Gregg Zoroya (USA Today) reports on the strain deployments are causing military families such as Lynn and Capt Mark Flitton with Mark having a very difficult time readjusting to life with his family after being deployed three times in the last ten years. He tells Zoroya, "I haven't come home yet. I'm still in the war mode, and I don't know that I'm going to come back out of it until I know I don't have any more war rotations to go back on." Drop back to Friday's snapshot and pair Flitton's statements with Mary who called into NPR's The Diane Rehm Show to share her story:Hi there. As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I was calling about. My husband is currently on his fourth tour in Iraq which is his fifth deployment in six years. As a matter of fact, he's physically lived at home six months since 2001. There's -- there's two reasons I think why the high suicide rate You have these up tempo deployments. When someone comes back from being deployed in Iraq you have what's called a honeymoon period and it might be a month or several months where everyone's happy to see you and every thing's going fine and then the cracks start to show a little bit the stress that every body's been under -- whether it's the normal stress or maybe PTSD. But by the time that starts to rear it's head, they're back for another deployment again and so those issues don't get addressed. And I live in fear for when my husband is home permanently and I know for certain that we're going to have to address that. My husband told me once a story when they were in Iraq, in a combat mission. There was a young gentlemen, maybe 19, scared to death to go out -- understandably. And he was out maybe thirty minutes and they got hit by an IED. He was absolutely terrified and the next day he had to go back out on another mission. And he did not want to go and he had to. And I asked my husband what do you do in those circumstances? And my husband said "Charley Mike" which is an acronym for CM and it means continue mission. That is the most important thing is you continue the mission and you don't stop until it's complete and then you look back and maybe try to figure out what's wrong with these poor people. The -- I don't care what any senior officials say -- the mental health is abysmal in the military. It's frowned upon, there's not enough services. Also I think because the rest -- only the military is at war and the rest of the country is not, there's not -- there's a big disconnect there and I think that adds to the situation. My husband is proud to do his service. He's happy to be there so many other fathers don't have to be. But he would like at least some acknowledgment and recognition. When you turn on the TV and very little is talked about.
Moving to the press, pundits, gas bags. And if they don't like being called out, they should try talking about the Iraq War than, for example Naomi Klein, repeatedly using women to get some cheap laughs. Like Klein, two journalists working for the Washington Post thought it was fine and dandy to go to town, CJR's Greg Marx calls it out here, Kirsten Powers (New York Post) goes further in calling all out all this sexist garbage:
If [Dana] Milbank made a "satirical" race-based joke about Obama, he'd be fired. But that's not going to happen here.
After all, calling Hillary Clinton the b-word is practically mainstream behavior. During the '08 campaign, a (female) questioner at a McCain event asked "How can we beat the bitch?" McCain laughed. Conservative commentator Alex Castellanos defended this on CNN saying that Clinton deserves to be called a "bitch."
For what? Running for president? How dare she!
The only thing worse would be running for vice president. Just ask Sarah Palin.
I'm no fan of the former governor of Alaska, but as a life-long feminist I can't ignore the endless stream of sexism directed at her.
Friday on MSNBC, guest host Donny Deutsch asked, "If Palin wasn't hot, would we be talking about her?" His two female guests -- one Republican and one Democrat -- were united in their disagreement with this assertion.
But Deutsch was adamant: "The only reason we are so fascinated, the American public has never seen a woman that looks like this in power. That's where the fascination starts."
Where was this insightful analysis when the vapid JFK-wannabe John Edwards and his silky hair ended up as the Dems choice for VP in 2004? Or was everyone too dazzled by his completely undistinguished one term as a senator?
Lastly, Iraq Veterans Against the War's Adam Kokesh is running for the US Congress out of New Mexico's third district and he announced last month he was going to be on the Republican ticket (link has video and text). An e-mail came in asking if we'd dumped Adam because he was on the Republican ticket? No. We'll continue to note him and Congress would be lucky to have Adam as member on any party ticket. There's just not time for everything -- the hearing covered today couldn't go into yesterday's snapshot because there wasn't room and I didn't feel like boiling it down to one paragraph which was all the room that was left -- so something's get held with the hopes that they'll be noted at a later date. This week, Iraqi refugees should be a topic, hopefully tomorrow. But I'm holding things on that. There's never enough room for everything on Iraq. Things like a political run are more likely to get held. But there's no walk away from Adam because he's running on the Republican ticket. We're not a Libertarian site but we never ignored Adam because he's a Libertarian. We'll continue to note him and probably more so this month because Congress is about to go on recess.
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Monday, August 3, 2009
Cash for Clunkers
Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Full On Federline" and it's true, the bloom fell off the rose.
In more ways than one.
BBC reports, "US vehicle sales were mixed in July, with Ford seeing sales rise compared to a year earlier while both Chrysler and GM posted a fall." Mike Ramsey and Alex Ortolani (Bloomberg News) then explain, "Ford Motor Co.’s July U.S. sales rose 2.3 percent while General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. pared declines as the government’s so-called cash-for-clunkers incentive stoked the strongest demand for new autos this year. The annual sales pace was 11.2 million, the highest for any month in 2009." Detroit Free Press' Greg Gardner adds:
Cash-for-clunkers reinforced a trend that has been unfolding since gas prices peaked above $4 a gallon a year ago – the American migration out of large, heavy SUVs and pickup trucks into small and midsize cars and car-based crossover vehicles like the Ford Escape, Edge or Flex.
“This is probably the greatest one-week energy conservation program that has ever come out of Washington,“ said George Pipas, Ford’s sales analyst.
Escape sales nearly doubled to 20,241, while sales of the mid-size Ford Fusion leapt 66% to 17,610.
GM also experienced the same trend. July sales increased from a year earlier for such models as the Chevrolet Impala, Pontiac G5, Pontiac G8 and Pontiac Vibe, which goes out of production this month. However, Cadillac sales tumbled 52.6%, largely because it offered few leases, which account for a high percentage of luxury vehicle sales.
And yet, they're planning on ending the program -- which was scheduled to run through November 1st. The federal government offers a plan that's wild and crazy with the voters and they talk of ending it. And then wonder why government has such a bad image in the minds of so many citizens. The House voted last week (over 300 voted for it) to put additional money into the program. The Senate's supposed to vote this week. On the Senate, San Francisco Chronicle's Kathleen Pender reports:
Senators Dianne Feinstein and Susan Collins said today they favor extending the cash for clunkers program as is, without amending it to require bigger improvements in gas mileage.
On Friday, Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Collins (R-Maine) said they would oppose any new money for the program -- which might have burned through the $1 billion initially allotted in the first week -- unless it required that the minimum fuel economy improvement for newly purchased vehicles be at least two miles per gallon higher than it is under the enacted clunkers program. They also wanted people to be able to trade in a clunker and buy a used vehicle, not just a new one as the existing program requires.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/pender/detail?entry_id=44829#ixzz0NAE3uCUq
Is it saving the environment? Is it saving the economy?
I don't know.
But I do know we've had plenty of money to toss at Big Business so, even if the program's not doing either, the fact that some citizens are able to get a sizeable amount knocked off the price of a new car is something to me.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Monday, August 3, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, Nouri blows kisses and holds hands with a group reportedly responsible for the deaths of 5 US soldiers and 4 British citizens, last week's bank robbery pulled by Iraqi government employees (working for the Shi'ite vice president), violence today and yesterday claims at least 24 lives and leaves sixty injured, propaganda to sell the illegal war has a sad ending, and more.
Michael Scott Speicher is dead. Ron Mott filed a report for NBC's Today Show this morning (right now, click here for video) noting Speicer's plane was shot down the first night of the Gulf War. All these years later his remains have been found. Mott noted one time POW and now Senator John McCain's Facebook page commnet: "The long ordeal for Capt Scott Speicher's family is over -- god bless and American hero." Mott had time to troll the web, he just apparently didn't have time to report. He's far from the only one 'missing' details. Thom Shanker (New York Times) does note, "After the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the collapse of Saddam Hussein's government, a joint team from the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency sifted through recorded documents, interrogated prisoners of war and searched possible crash sites to try to determine Captain Speicher's fate." But, Thom, why was their a search for him in 2003?
Maybe because the then US Bully Boy George W. Bush was ginning up tales of Speicher the same way he did of WMDs? Bush even mentioned Speicher (not by name) in a 2002 United Nations speech attempting to convince the world that Saddam Hussein was more evil than . . . well more evil than George W. Bush. Of course, Speicher was used by Bush for more than just selling his illegal war. If only Saddam had useful tools like Amy Waters Yarsinskey. If you recognize the name, it's more likely due to a press conference then her own failed writing. Scott McClellan was asked about her in a May 15, 2003 White House press briefing where a friendly plant raised her and went into a riff on how Yarsinskey blamed Bill Clinton for 'abandoing' Speicher (Speicher crashed during the presidency of George H.W. Bush). Yeah, the pilot could be used for partisan nonsense as well by the administration. In 2002, Yarsinske was gushing to the BBC, "I'm so glad President Bush mentioned Scott in his UN speech about Iraq. He said an American pilot 'is' among the personnel held by Saddam. He didn't say 'if' or 'was' -- Bush knows Scott is alive. He's priority in Bush's planning." While she was a two-bit liar or dumb as a doornail (take your pick), "Antony, UK, England" left a very telling comment: "I hope that President Bush is not cynically using this tragedy as another pretext to attack Iraq, causing countless civilians casualties." Antony nailed it perfectly. January 11, 2001, Christopher Marquis (New York Times) was reporting on the decision by the Navy to change Speicher's status from "killed in action" to "missing in action" -- allegedly based on evidence. Based on lies. In March of 2002, Iraq would issue a denial that they were holding Speicher and offer to address the issue only to be dismissed by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. (Click here for BBC story of the offer from Iraq.)
Also that month, March 14, 2002, the New York Times was explaining how Bush had declared Speicher could be alive and a hostage in Iraq. August 15, 2002 came news from the Times that Gordon England, Secretary of the Navy, was considering another change in status for Speicher from MIA to "M.I.A.-captured". By the way, had Barack Obama's administration not trashed the White House website -- several violations in and of itself -- a picture of just how ruthlessly the previous administration used Speicher's memory near daily could be witnessed by all Americans.
The illegal war breaks out in March of 2003. Weeks before it's launch, Elisabeth Bumiller and Eric Schmitt (New York Times) were reporting (Jan. 31, 2003) on then president of vice Dick Cheney ("the administration's chief schmoozer and enforcer") meeting two months prior with US Senators Pat Roberts and Bill Nelson regarding the fate of Speicher and the senators considering a trip to Iraq to search for details. Roberts explains to the Times, "The vice president weighed in and said now was not the time to go." Of course not. Couldn't have two US senators declare in November 2002 that there was no evidence Speicher was alive when the administration was repeatedly using that as a selling point for the illegal war. Selling point. January 10, 2003 Barbara Starr (CNN) reported, "The United States in recent months has received another intelligence report suggesting U.S. Navy Capt. Scott Speicher is alive in Iraq, but intelligence sources emphasize they have not corroborted the information and have nothing to indicate it is accurate."
March 15, 2004, Jonathan S. Landay and Tish Wells (now McClatchy, then Knight Ridder -- yes, Tish is a woman -- no Bill Moyers didn't include her in his "Boys of McClatchy" report on the debut of Bill Moyers Journal and why would anyone be surprised that Moyers would render a woman invisible?) reported that the Iraqi exiles who were feeding false information -- know by US intelligence to be false -- to the White House ahead of the Iraq War were also feeding the same false info to the press: "A June 26, 2002, letter from the Iraqi National Congress to the Senate Appropriations Committee listed 108 articles based on information provided by the INC's Information Collection Program, a U.S.-funded effort to collect intelligence in Iraq." The article continues:
The assertions in the articles reinforced President Bush's claims that Saddam Hussein should be ousted because he was in league with Osama bin Laden, was developing nuclear weapons and was hiding biological and chemical weapons.
Feeding the information to the news media, as well as to selected administration officials and members of Congress, helped foster an impression that there were multiple sources of intelligence on Iraq's illicit weapons programs and links to bin Laden.
It then notes the 'information' pushed by the exiles which includes: "Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher, missing since the 1991 Gulf war, was seen alive in Baghdad in 1998. The case remains unresolved, but the Navy last week said there was no evidence that Speicher was ever held in captivity." The next paragrah?
According to the letter, publications in which the articles appeared included The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic Monthly, The Times of London, The Sunday Times of London, The Sunday Age of Melbourne, Australia, and two Knight Ridder newspapers, The Kansas City Star and The Philadelphia Daily News. The Associated Press and others also wrote stories based on INC-provided materials.
Michael Scott Speicher's family now knows his fate and, with the pain, hopefully there is some peace for them in knowing. But the tragedy was turned into a mockery by an administration determined to go to war and by a rag-tag band of cowards -- Iraqis who didn't have the guts to fight Saddam themselves. The same cowards who came to power after the US invasion. The same cowards who could suddenly return to Iraq. The same cowards like Nouri al-Maliki who put down the US service members while speaking in Iraq then dash through Arlington Cemetary to toss a wreath and expect Americans to forget every verbal attack he's launched on US service members?
By the way, though Wells was disappeared by Moyers, she and Landay won the Award of Distinction from the Medill School of Journalism for the 2004 story quoted above. (That's not the only reporting award Wells has won this decade.)
Two months after Landay and Wells broke that news, Mikey Its-a-cough and Mark Hosenball (Newsweek) showed up to announce the Pentagon was cutting off funding for the exiles of the Iraqi National Congress and they rewrote history:
Another top priority for the INC's intelligence-gathering apparatus was the collection of information on the "fate/whereabouts of U.S. POW Capt Michael Scott Speicher," a Navy pilot who was shot down over Iraq during the first gulf war. Though the INC and other exile groups stoked prewar rumors among U.S. conservatives that Speicher was alive and being held by Saddam's regime in a secret Iraqi prison cell, most U.S. intelligence officials, including senior DIA officials, believe that Speicher probably died years ago. Current and former U.S. intelligence officials say that the DIA concluded shortly after major combat operations ended in Iraq last year that Speicher almost certainly was dead and that prewar reports from exiles and defectors that he was still alive probably were hoaxes.
Among US conservatives? The New York Times, Vanity Fair, AP and other outlets are suddenly "US conservatives"? No, but Its-a-cough has never really been one to tell the truth, now has he? And no one really wants to explore do they? Amy Goodman's off spending the hour on food today. Instead of addressing how the previous administration and Iraqi exiles worked together to use the death of US service member to help sell an illegal war. And the New York Times files a story that leaves out all the details -- despite their long, long history of publishing articles on Speicher.
Turning to Iraq where three Americans apparently were hiking and apparently wandered over the border into Iran and have been detained by Iranian authorities. This afternoon Sam Dagher and Sharon Otterman (New York Times) breathlessly announce the names of the three Shane Michael Bauer, Joshua Felix Fattal and Sarah Emily Shourd. That was news . . . Saturday when Nandini Sukumar (Bloomberg News) noted that three Americans --Shane Bower, Sara Short and Joshua Steel -- supposedly ended up in Iran, supposedly accidentally -- while visiting Iraq. So Steel's name is really Fattal? Or he's changed it to Fattal? Or, since his father's an Iraqi, he's using Fattal in Iraq and using Steel in the US? Look for The Nation to develop a sudden and serious (and temporary) renewed interest in Iraq.
But don't look for them to call out thug-meister Nouri. The puppet's been holding meetings galore but it's his meeting today that is of 'interest'. AFP reports, "Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met members of the radical Shiite group believed to have kidnapped five Britons in Iraq two years ago after it said it had renounced violence, a government spokesman said on Monday." AFP calls the group the League of Righteous and states that Nouri's bag boy declared on Iraqi television yesterday that the League of Righteous had just announced that it "renounces violence and supports the political process and efforts to achieve national unity." Wait one damn minute, Nouri's attacking Sunnis, having them arrested for alleged actions three and four and five years ago but the League of the Righteous declares Sunday that they're renouncing violence and Nouri's meeting with them today?
That Righteous League, is responsible for the deaths of Jason Creswell and Jason Swindlehurst. The British government also considers Alec Maclachlan and Alan McMenemy dead. The family of the two continue to hold out hope. (The July 29th snapshot covers the families press conference.) They and Peter Moore were kidnapped in Baghdad May 2, 2007. Moore is not considered by the British government to be dead. Friday's snapshot noted the latest news on the kidnapping -- news which is all the more damning as Nouri rushes off to hold hands and skip down the lane with the League of Rightous. The Telegraph of London reported:
An unnamed senior Iraqi intelligence source told The Guardian the highly-organised kidnapping was "one only a government can do". Mr Moore had been installing a computer system to track billions of pounds in foreign aid and oil revenue through the finance ministry. The intelligence source told the paper: "Many people don't want a high level of corruption to be revealed. "Remember this is the information technology centre, this is the place where all the money to do with Iraq and all Iraq's financial matters are housed." Paul Wood, a former British Army officer who investigated the abduction for the four bodyguards' employers, GardaWorld, said it was "too perfect". "It would make sense to think that there was someone on the inside telling the kidnappers when to come, what to expect and how to deal with any security issues they were going to face," he told the paper. Meena Muhammed, Maggie O'Kane and Guy Grandjean (Guardian) added: Unknown to the kidnappers, two intelligence officers were parked opposite the centre, outside an outpatients' clinic. Through an intermediary -- a former high-level intelligence source -- one of the officers described the operation to the Guardian: "The cars started coming down the street and surrounding the ministry. The cars were marked 'ministry of the interior' – they are Toyota Land Cruisers, they belong to the ministry of the interior ... The operation was well planned and they were carrying Kalashnikovs. One group came out with two of the hostages. They put them in the first car. They weren't hooded or handcuffed. Then they brought the other three men out. Then they brought out the men's belongings, their briefcases and rucksacks. They put those things in a separate car. "People started gathering around. It was near the al-Rafidain Bank on Palestine Street. The people were gathering around and the kidnappers were shouting: 'Go home now, this is nothing do with anyone. Do not look, this has nothing to do with you.'"
Repeating, Friday fingers point at Nouri's government. This weekend the League of Righteous suddenly denounce violence. Today Nouri meets with them. It's offensive. It's outrageous. And that's just for the British. What about for the US? Dropping back to the June 9th snapshot:
This morning the New York Times' Alissa J. Rubin and Michael Gordon offered "U.S. Frees Suspect in Killing of 5 G.I.'s." Martin Chulov (Guardian) covered the same story, Kim Gamel (AP) reported on it, BBC offered "Kidnap hope after Shia's handover" and Deborah Haynes contributed "Hope for British hostages in Iraq after release of Shia militant" (Times of London). The basics of the story are this. 5 British citizens have been hostages since May 29, 2007. The US military had in their custody Laith al-Khazali. He is a member of Asa'ib al-Haq. He is also accused of murdering five US troops. The US military released him and allegedly did so because his organization was not going to release any of the five British hostages until he was released. This is a big story and the US military is attempting to state this is just diplomacy, has nothing to do with the British hostages and, besides, they just released him to Iraq. Sami al-askari told the New York Times, "This is a very sensitive topic because you know the position that the Iraqi government, the U.S. and British governments, and all the governments do not accept the idea of exchanging hostages for prisoners. So we put it in another format, and we told them that if they want to participate in the political process they cannot do so while they are holding hostages. And we mentioned to the American side that they cannot join the political process and release their hostages while their leaders are behind bars or imprisoned." In other words, a prisoner was traded for hostages and they attempted to not only make the trade but to lie to people about it. At the US State Dept, the tired and bored reporters were unable to even broach the subject. Poor declawed tabbies. Pentagon reporters did press the issue and got the standard line from the department's spokesperson, Bryan Whitman, that the US handed the prisoner to Iraq, the US didn't hand him over to any organization -- terrorist or otherwise. What Iraq did, Whitman wanted the press to know, was what Iraq did. A complete lie that really insults the intelligence of the American people. CNN reminds the five US soldiers killed "were: Capt. Brian S. Freeman, 31, of Temecula, California; 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz, 25, of Verdon, Nebraska; Spc. Johnathan B. Chism, 22, of Gonzales, Louisiana; Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Cortland, New York; and Pfc. Johnathon M. Millican, 20, of Trafford, Alabama." Those are the five from January 2007 that al-Khazali and his brother Qais al-Khazali are supposed to be responsible for the deaths of. Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Robert H. Reid (AP) states that Jonathan B. Chism's father Danny Chism is outraged over the release and has declared, "They freed them? The American military did? Somebody needs to answer for it."
They freed them and Nouri made nice with them today. And if British reports are true, Nouri's been making nice with them for some time. Nouri's apparently saved his rage for the residents of Camp Ashraf. Over the weekend, Christopher Booker (Telegraph of London) observed, "Last week Iraqi government forces stormed the camp, bulldozing buildings, shooting and beating the inhabitants with nailed clubs and axes, leaving at least 12 dead and 400 injured. Despite outcries from the European Parliament and an all-party group of MPs and peers at Westminster, not a squeak of protest has been heard from the British Foreign Office, Brussels or Washington at this flagrant breach of the Geneva Convention." Damien McElroy (Telegraph of London) notes how little press coverage the assault has received and declared, "The American-installed government in Iraq has shown its true colours. By fighting its way into an Iraqi camp of Iranian dissidents, possibly killing 11 people in the process, it has earned brownie points in Iran. America disapproved, but its diplomatic intervention was limited to medical assistance." The MEK has been told by Nouri & thugs that they have one month to leave Iraq. Or? Or is left unexplained. In addition, Nouri's 're-branded' Camp Ashraf following the assault which started on Tuesday. He now wants the press to call it the "Camp of New Iraq." The Iranian press is running with it and, probably a good idea, when you've committed a War Crime to change the name of the scene of your crime -- it helps confuse the issue. Today Chris Hughes (Daily Mirror) observes, "A few days ago a camp of dissident Iranians living near Baghdad was raided by Iraqi police and soldiers who proceeded to shoot seven dead and injure 300. It's one way to handle the local traveller problem but it might surprise some of the US forces who trained these Iraqi police and soldiers on how to behave."
Saturday Nouri's government insisted 22 residents of Camp Ashraf want to leave but the National Council of Resistance of Iran states that is propaganda and that "Ashraf residents declared that the claim is an absolute lie and no one among them since the violent assault by the Iraqi forces has either left Ashraf or requested to do so." NCRI also issued the following statement:This morning, in a bid to carry out a stage managed theatrics meant to cover up the inhumane crimes in Camp Ashraf, Iraqi forces allowed journalists from some news organizations, such as Reuters, AFP, Associated Press, and al-Arabiya, al-Sharqiya and al-Hurra TV stations as well as the al-Sabah daily to visit Ashraf. The Iraqi forces had planned to concentrate the media on themselves and claim that there is nothing wrong in Ashraf and calm prevails all over the camp.The reporters, who picked up on the orchestrated attempt, requested to meet with Ashraf residents themselves and see those injured and dead firsthand. However, the Iraqi forces, who are immensely fearful of the media witnessing their crimes, vigorously opposed the request, and while hurling insults and profanities at reporters, confiscated their pictures and videos and forced them out of the camp.Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of IranAugust 1, 2009
Iran's Fars News Agency reports today that Iraqi MP Hossein Ali states that MEK needs to be expelled. Suadad al-Salhy, Tim Cocks and Patrick Graham (Reuters) report that 36 residents have been arrested and removed from the camp -- apparently picked at random -- and they note, "Some human rights groups and PMOI sympathisers in the West, who have been highly critical of the way Iraq has handled Ashraf, say closing the camp and driving residents out against their will would violate international human rights law." Mark Mazzetti and Mark Landler (New York Times) tracked the scrambles in the US government after the assault began last week:
But a senior State Department official said there was some skepticism that the Iraqis were taking these concerns seriously. "The Iraqis will tell you what you want to hear," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the matter. "That's why we're going to continue to watch the situation very closely."
Nouri al-Maliki, a thug and a war criminal. And thug things run fast in Iraq. Tuesday a bank was robbed in Baghdad. As is always the case, the government spokespeople (so often Shi'ite) blamed the Sunnis. Not so fast. Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reports last week's bank robbery in which 8 guards were killed and $4.8 million was stolen was not the work of Sunnis -- Nouri's favorite blame target. No, they were Shi'ites and, not just any Shi'ites, they "were in fact Iraqi army officers attached to the elite unit guarding Shiite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi." Oliver August (Times of London) adds: "They killed eight bank staff last week and used dynamite to blast open the vault of the Rafidain Bank in the wealthy district of Karrada, making off with £4.3 million. On the run, the men passed through five official checkpoints and defied a night-time curfew in southern Baghdad without being challenged. No wonder -- their day job was to protect the Vice-President, Adel Abdul Mehdi, the highest-ranking Shia official in the country after the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki. No street cop dared to stop them. The men later stashed their loot in offices belonging to Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the second-largest Shia party, ISCI, and a close ally of the Vice-President." Turns out that before they could arrest the bank robbers, they had to get Nouri's permission. Thug Justice: Nouri Style. Apparently not everything was given clearance. Sam Dagher (New York Times) explains, "One of Iraq's two vice presidents, Adel Abdul Mahdi, admonished the Interior Ministry on Sunday for revealing that the robbery last Tuesday had been masterminded by two senior officers of the guard assigned to protect him."
Yesterday, Waleed Ibrahim, Tim Cocks and Yara Bayoumy (Reuters) reported that Tariq Aziz has been sentenced to seven years in prison. This isn't his first sentencing in post-war Iraq and whether he's guilty of what he's been found guilty of I'll leave for others to decide because we don't promote the myth here that Iraq has justice or a functioning judicial system. (It is strange how three weeks ago their press had to meet with the judiciary to devise ways to protect press freedom and how none of the reporters for US outlets were interested in covering that story.) So Tariq Aziz was found guilty and maybe he is and maybe he isn't. But the charge itself, the crime that took place (whomever was responsible)? It was "the forced displacement of Kurds from oil-prosperous northeastern Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule." And the boundaries are unclear why? Because of the forced displacement. That's not hard to follow. Stars and Stripes' Leo Shane III is able to follow it. He can lay it out as it is. The same can't be said for all outlets. Sunday Nouri al-Maliki visited the KRG and met with their leaders. Jamal Hashim (Xinhua) observes, "Maliki's talks with Kurdish leaders came amid U.S. pressure on the central government and the Kurdish authorities to compromise the deep differences between Arabs and Kurds before the U.S. troops complete withdrawal from Iraq in 2011." Nada Bakri (Washington Post) reports,"The dispute between the two sides includes a disagreement over a hydrocarbon law to share oil revenue and manage oil reserves, some of the world's largest; demarcation of the border between the country's Kurdish and the Arab regions; and the fate of Kirkuk, an oil-rich city with mixed Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen ethnicities." Larry Kaplow (Newsweek) interviews KRG President Massoud Barzani who makes statements similar to what he has stated before, "In fact, my position has been the same from day one. I did not ask for anything else for my people beyond what the Constitution entitles us to. I have always stated that I will defend the rights of our people, and the only weapon in my hand will be the Constitution." The Iraqi Constitution guarantees that a census and vote will take place in Kirkuk to determine its fate. The census and the referendum were supposed to have taken place no later than 2007.
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing that injured two people, a Baghdad minibus bombing which also injured two, a Falluja car suicide car bombing which claimed the life of the driver and 2 bystanders (seven more injured), a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier, a second Mosul roadside bombing which also claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left two others injured, an Eskendariyah car bombing which claimed 1 life and left three people injured, a Hilla car bombing which claimed 2 lives and left nineteen injured and another Hilla car bombing which wounded eight people.
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 suspect shot dead by police in Mosul.
That was today's violence. Dropping back to Sunday, Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing injured a police officer, 1 Iraqi soldier was injured in a Mosul shooting, another was wounded in another Mosul shooting, 7 corpses were discovered in Baghdad and a Haditha car bombing claimed 6 lives and left twenty-one people injured. Alsumaria explains 8 people died in the Haditha car bombing with dozens wounded and adds, "A citizen was killed and 3 were wounded in a separate bomb blast placed in a pile of rubble near Abu Hanifah Mosque in Al-Azamiyah neighborhood, police reported."
Finally, independent journalist David Bacon continues to report on labor issues and, at AfterDowningStreet, he reports on Tosha Alberty's fight to keep her Oakland home as the First Franklin Mortgage Service attempts to shut down and the Community springs into action. Bacon can be heard on KPFA's The Morning Show (over the airwaves in the Bay Area, streaming online) each Wednesday morning (begins airing at 7:00 am PST) and his latest book is Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press) which just won the CLR James Award. And, one more thing actually, "Brand Obama has allocated nearly one trillion dollars in defense related spending and the continuation of our doomed imperial projects in Iraq where military planners now estimate that 70,000 troops will remain for the next fifteen to twenty years." That's Chris Hedges from KPFA last Tuesday. Maggie asked Kat to pass it to me for the snapshot and Kat did but with Congressional hearings last week a lot got cut. I meant to note it already, my apologies. Also "Kat's Korner: Elvis almost made a great album" went up Saturday night, a review of Elvis Costello's new album, and Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Full On Federline." Bonnie reminded me to note Isaiah this morning and I did but I forgot to note Kat so I'm noting both in the snapshot.
iraq
the new york times
thom shankereric schmittelisabeth bumiller
mcclatchy newspapers
jonathan s. landay
nadina sukumar
guardianmeena muhammedmaggie okaneguy grandjeanthe telegraph of london
campbell robertsonalissa j. rubinmichael r. gordondeborah haynesmartin chulovbbc news
the telegraph of londondamien mcelroychristopher booker
mark landlermark mazzettilaith hammoudi
the los angeles timesliz sly
the washington postnada bakri
newsweeklarry kaplow
david baconkpfathe morning show
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