Today on KPFA's Guns and Butter, Bonnie Faulkner's guest was (again) Sander Hicks. Possibly he'd calmed down some (or I might have been in a mood) but in the second hour of the interview (first hour aired last week), he was less annoying.
It would be wonderful if he could organize his points. I didn't believe most of his theories. That's not to say he's wrong. That is to say that I'm not Clinton lover (of Bill or Hillary) but if there was smoke with Vince Foster (yes, he connected Foster's death to 9-11), I would assume that Bill and/or Hillary would be behind bars long ago.
That's not to say he shouldn't have said what he said. If he believes it (and he appears to), he should say it. I don't like people who hedge their bets so I actually had more respect for him because he didn't do that.
Is Foster in some way involved in what led up to the events of 9-11? He may be. But you're going to need more than a man who stopped at a park to take a piss in the woods. (I mean come on, who does that? If the man was trying to get a pick up, okay. But pissing in public is against the law for men -- they're cocks are exposed and they can be arrested for that.) And you're going to need more than the hack Ambrose to convince me.
There may be truth in what Ambrose or the man says. Well, in what the man says. He claims that he went to the park Vince Foster's body was discovered in. He was there an hour before (I believe Hicks wrote 70 minutes in his book). He stopped there to take a piss in the woods. He was glared at by a man as he entered the park. Then he left.
Foster's body was later found in the park and the man claims that this should have been the time (while he was at the park) that Foster was. He is sure that he did not see Foster's car. (Hicks brought up that Foster's keys weren't found on him, or his wallet.)
I tried to give him (Hicks) every benefit of the doubt but between praise for Rita Katz and treating Ambrose as a journalist, I had a real hard time with this angle.
It may be true.
It was the right wing, and not the mainstream, who put out details about Marilyn Monroe's death long before (decades) they were picked up (even a little) by the mainstream. There were bits of truths in some of the 'facts.' There may be bits of truth in Ambrose's claims.
(Or they could be completely true even.)
When the interview ended, I was just hoping there wouldn't be a third part.
Sander Hicks was more likeable this interview. He was frequently funny. He was still jumping all over the place, but he didn't seem to be attempting to steer the interview or control it. (He may have been nervous in the first hour or ticked off about something else.)
I wish him the best in his pursuit of truth. I hope he follows his leads. But he has been the least impressive guest to me.
That's it for me tonight. I'm going over to eat with everyone at C.I.'s. I will post the "Iraq snapshot" but then I need to get in the car.
C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Chaos and violence continue.
Five corpses were found in Baghdad on Tuesday. Other incidents included, in Mahaweel, a roadside bomb took the life of a police officer and three were wounded amd, in Kirkuk, a car bomb took the lives of three and wounded 17. In all, the New York Times estimates that 21 Iraqis died Tuesday and forty-one were wounded.Today bombs continued. CNN notes a carbomb in Baquba "near a coffee shop" that took at least one life and wounded at least fourteen more. Reuters notes that bombing as well as nother in Baquba which "seriously wounded two" police officers. Reuters also notes a bomb that went off in a Baghdad market and resulted in one death and eight wounded. CNN notes "a roadside bomb targeting a U.S. military convoy detonated" taking the lives of "one civilian and wounding two." The Associated Press notes that Riyad Abdul-Majid Zuaini ("customs director for Central Baghdad") was shot dead by assailants (as was his driver) and that, in Mosul, a clash "between gunmen and police . . . broke out" with one police officer left wounded.
As Amy Goodman noted on Democracy Now!, Russia's lower house of parliament has "criticized the occupying countries in Iraq for losing control in the country." Xinhua reports Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Foreign Minister of Germany, noted, on behalf of the ministery, that they were "outraged and shocked over the terrible fater of our Russian colleagues." KUNA notes that Kuwait has "condmended . . . the killing of Russian diplomats by a terrorist group in Iraq."
There were four diplomats kidnapped on June 3rd in Baghdad after their car was attacked by unknown assailants. During the attack a fifth diplomat,Vitaly Vitalyevich Titov , was killed. On Sunday, a videotape was released which showed what appear to be three of the four being killed. The Mujahedeen Shur Council have proclaimed that they are responsible for the murders.
Reuters reports that Russia experienced "a roadblock" today when it the United States and England "objected to parts of a draft Russian statement on the killings, arguing the text amounted to a slap at the U.S.-led multinational force, which includes 127,000 U.S. troops and 7,000 British soliders".
This as another official 'response' is reported: Russian president Vladimir Putin, according to the Associated Press, has sent "special services to hunt down and 'destroy' the killers." Possibly this is what Bully Boy saw when he looked Putin in the eye? Pavel Felgenhauer dismisses the news as "a public relations excercise" to AFP and dubs it "an obvious imititation of those of Bush after September 11."
Meanwhile, Japanese government feels they met their "objectives" in Iraq. Japan's chief of defense, Fukushiro Nukaga, termed the venture "a success" while speaking to the Associated Press and noted that, "The Iraqis are ready to resume control."
But are the bits and pieces of the so-called coalition willing to leave? Reuters reports that Austraila's Brendan Nelson (defense minister) is making noises about not being held 'hostage' by a deadline and comparing his government's position to that of the United States' government.
In other news, apparently there was a poll of so-called insurgents. The Associated Press is all over the so-called news (anonymice, of course) that "insurgents" are pushing for a withdrawal of US forces within two years. Does anyone believe that? Nouri al-Maliki may be meeting with representatives for resistance groups but, despite what an unnamed "senior Iraqi government" official says, it doesn't seem logical that the resistance would propose a two-year timetable. It will be all over the news but to buy into it, you have to suspend all disbelief and then some. (For any who are confused, people -- from various groups -- are willing to risk their lives, give their lives, resort to various acts of violence and they're going to send envoys to tell occupation puppet al-Maliki, "Hey, we're good. Two more years? Sure." Call it the resistance or call it the "insurgency," it's not about a two-year time-line. This very obvious propanganda is American made, my opinion.)
On the issue of "a media feeding frenzy," Dahr Jamail takes a look at the so-called "plan" offered by al-Maliki and notes that resistance groups have "rejected the 'plan' because they do not recognize the Iraqi 'government' as a legitmate entity. These same resistance groups understand that under international law, the current Iraqi 'government' controls nothing outside of the 'green zone,' and its existence violates the Geneva Conventions."
Meanwhile, Iraqi forces have Yousri Fakher Moahmmed Ali in custody and allege that he is the one who blew up the Shi'ite shrine in February. As Amy Goodman noted, the Samarra bombing was followed by "increased fighting" which has resulted in the displacement of at least 150,000 Iraqis. Yusri Fakhir Muhammad Ali is also known as Abu Qudama and Al Jazeera quotes Iraq's national security adviser (Mouwafak al-Rubaie) reports that he "is also wanted for the murder of Atwar Bajhat, a television correspondent for Al-Arabiya news channel who was shot dead along with two of her colleagues hours after the shrine bombing". China's People's Daily notes: "The shrine of Ali al-Hadi, or the al-Hadhrah al-Askariyah, contains two tombs of Ali al-Hadi, who died in 868 A.D., and his son Hassan al-Askari who died in 874 A.D. The two were the 10th and 11th of Shiite's twelve most revered Imams. Shiite pilgrims visit the shrine from all over the world."
The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq estimates a total of 1.3 million are displaced. One of the refugee camps is Baladiyat Refugee Camp set up for the Palestinian refugees. This camp was attacked Sunday June 25th and Omar interviews residents of the camp at Alive in Baghdad.
And finally, the ICRC is noting that "public services have almost ground to a halt" in Ramadi which "has been without power since 22 May." That's when US forces began the seige of Ramadi and power, water and phone services were cut.
