Adding to the chorus of women leaders demanding that President Bush retreat from the possibility of war against Iran, retired Army Reserves Colonel and former high-ranking diplomat Mary Wright asked military personnel to refuse potentially imminent orders to attack Iran. "Attacking Iran will be a crime against peace, a war crime," wrote Wright in a recent column published by Truthout.org.
[. . .]
Wright served 29 years in the US Army and Army Reserves, rising to the rank of colonel. In March 2003, Wright was one of the highest-ranking State Department officials to resign in protest of the Iraq war. Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal joined with Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams of the US and Shirin Ebadi of Iran in April of last year to call for a peaceful resolution to the tensions between the two countries. A May 2006 Ms. magazine poll found that 67 percent of US women (compared with 59 percent of men) oppose the US taking a preemptive, unilateral military action against Iran.
That's from Feminist Wire Daily's "Woman Colonel Urges Troops to Refuse Orders if US Attacks Iran." Rebecca and I were on the phone earlier and we both agreed to grab one of the two items at Feminist Wire Daily to make sure people are aware of the resource.
Now I finally got off my ass and postea review on Saturday, "Kat's Korner: Air kisses from Diana Ross" if you haven't seen it already. And let me note Trina's "Arroz Con Pollo in the Kitchen " and Betty's "A Foreign Affairs Columnist Built of Do-Do" which also went up Saturday. (There's another Saturday post that I intend to comment on tomorrow.)
And I type that and then see something I have to note, Elaine's "It's a democracy, not a junta." I wish I had written that. She's addressing toothless measures, and they're not all coming from our Congress. It's incredible writing and the sort of thing we all count on from her.
Bad writing? Maggie passed it on to me. A dumb ass wonders if she has to vote for Hillary Clinton because they're both women? That's not feminism, you idiot and maybe you've spent too much time picking out push up bras and not enough time learning to think?
(When I say things like that I do get how a TV character based on me ended up the way it is but I still don't like that character. I don't blame C.I. and Ava for the character to be clear. I wrote about this for Maria, Miguel and Francisco's newsletter Sunday just to have something to contribute. I thought that would be the start and end of it. But e-mails poured in asking what that was like? It's weird as hell to turn on your TV and see a character that's supposed to be you. Has your job, supposedly has your life. At first I was mad at the friend of Ava and C.I.'s and felt like my soul was being stolen or something. Now I'm not even mad about that. But it's just too weird for me to be objective about it or to watch more than a few seconds of.)
(C.I. explained it best, telling me that the writer grabbed one part of me that would fit and that no TV character is ever going to be fully rounded even if a show airs for years. To answer a question that both Bryan and Charlie e-mailed with, yes, I would be happy if the show was cancelled.)
Feminism, real feminism and not 'gal talk' trying to pass itself off as feminism, was always about supporting pro-women candidates (and maybe becoming one yourself). I don't see Hillary as pro-woman. Those days are long behind her. I also don't give a damn about the dippy, drippy WhiteHouseProject which is a waste of time and money, if you ask me.
In fact, Ava and C.I. covered all of this sometime ago in "TV Review: Commander-in-Chief aka The Nah-Nah Sisterhood:"
We've never doubted that a woman could be president (and at some point will be). But we've never assumed that gender would be an answer. A woman who supports equality? Absolutely, that's a great thing. A woman who makes her way as an exception, backs up an agenda she doesn't believe in and does nothing to help other women? We don't see the point in applauding that.
It's a pertinent issue as two women are repeatedly named as potential candidates in the real world: Condi Rice and Hillary Clinton. If either woman (or both) runs, will we get the same giddy "It's a woman!" nonsense? Under no circumstance would either of us vote for Rice. We'd be reluctant to vote for Clinton considering her waffles on the issue of choice and her stance on the war. But will those issues be silenced in the giddy cry of, "It's a woman! It's a first!"
That's troubling.
Ava and C.I. were exploring that in November of 2005. Now, in 2007, a woman stops flipping through thongs and push-up bras long enough to pretend she's a feminist and wonder if, being a woman, she has to vote for Hillary? Shallow waters run endless (not deep, Paul Simon).
By the way, in "Mailbag," Betty talks about how, had Hillary said "My vote was a mistake" last week, she'd be supporting her right now. No one had a problem with that. Betty (who said I could write about this) respects the way Hillary conducted during the whole Lewinsky ordeal. Betty went through something similar (without cameras and news crews) and she knows how hard a spouse cheating can be. She saw that as a test, a curve ball tossed out, and felt Hillary handled it well and that an argument could be made that she demonstrated she could think on her feet and handle anything that came her way. She still has a lot of respect for Hillary but Hillary's refusal to admit the mistake is why Betty's now going elsewhere. None of us questioned Betty's choice or ragged her about it. I actually think the logic she was applying was very solid. Especially when you contrast it with how Bully Boy's need to always appear to have the upper hand has led to many problems for the country. I'm not for Hillary but there are people who are for reasons other than gender.
Okay, changing topics, this is from Danny Schechter's "The Real Media Mantra: 'Let's Make A Deal'" (BuzzFlash):
Finally here's Rupert Murdoch buying DIRECT TV from John Malone's Liberty Media. The Deal characterized it as an "exchange of gifts befitting of moguls" and ending an "often silly saga in mogul one-upmanship." In the end, Murdoch generated about $3.5 billion in stock gains for his News Corpse. Who lost?
We the taxpayers, of course! While we pay ours, they avoid theirs.Explains The Deal, "And it was all accomplished, of course, in the tax-free manner both moguls prefer." Of course! And don't think that the Bush Administration's favorite media owner was not getting a wink and a nod from the IRS and the interests he shills for. Many of the businesses he promotes can't wait for the new Fox Business Channel, which has already promised to be more corporate friendly than those commies over at CNBC.
Most of our business journalists don't do enough to scrutinize and expose Mafia-like machinations at the top. They tend to beatify the Captains of Capitalism. Media companies rarely expose their own ways of doing business. Often the last place to look for the corporate crimes of media is in the media.
The Deal lashes out at Business Week noting that one week it reads like muckrakers with a cover story on "Gluttons on the Gate:" which "all but declared private equity a criminal enterprise that laid too much debt on its companies, raped them for big dividends, and charged dubious fees to investors."
Okay, I should have covered more than enough topics for one post. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Monday, February 26, 2007. Chaos and violence continue in Iraq; the Iraqi president is out of the country recovering while one of the vice-presidents is targeted; a group that tried so damn hard to play it apple pie learns that when you're given the spotlight and have nothing to say you bore everyone; the privatization of Iraq's oil moves to parliament; and mass protests took place in London and Glasgow over the weekend.
Starting with news of war resistance. Friday, the US military decided to charge Ehren Watada again. In June of last year, Watada became the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq. At the start of this month, he was court-martialed for his stand. Over defense objection, and only after repeatedly hinting to the prosecution that they should request a mistrial, Judge Toilet (John Head) declared the court-martial a mistrial. The US military is attempting to maintain that the double-jeopardy clause doesn't apply. Peter Boylan (Honolulu Advertiser) reported Saturday that Eric Seitz, Watada's civilian attorney, was "surprised" by the decision to refile the charges and that he believes "the Army has made so many bad mistakes in this case that the chances of them having a successful outcome are very slim." Tuesday, The Honolulu Advertiser notes, Eric Seitz will debate Michael Lewis at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa -- the debate is billed as "Lt. Watada's Case and the Legality of the War in Iraq" (12:40 pm to 1:25 pm).
Ehren Watada is part of a movement of resistance with the military that includes others such as Kyle Snyder, Patrick Hart, Agustin Aguayo (scheduled to be court-martialed in Germany beginning March 6th), Ivan Brobeck, Mark Wilkerson, Darrell Anderson, Ricky Clousing, Aidan Delgado, Joshua Key, Camilo Meija, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Corey Glass, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
In addition CBS' Lara Logan spoke with a group of people who have signed a petition that states: "As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home." But, as demonstrated in statements to Logan for the piece that aired Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes, the war not being "worth the price" doesn't mean that any signer won't go. The speakers took great stride to point out that they were good soldiers who would obey every order. Maybe next time they can be ordered not to sign petitions? Coming off less than appealing (Ronn Cantu: "By volunteering we've done more than about 99 percent of the population"), they (or their egos) may have finally buried their own timid action. Putting out the weakest and most rah-rah voices didn't help. Playing politically stupid didn't help. A smart group of service members put the project together and in the weeks since it's been repeatedly dumbed down for public consumption.
As Mike noted Friday, The Pooper was crowing about how he was the first to cover the timid group -- as though that's something to be proud of? -- but the reality is many others (including Nora Barrows-Friedman, that's Law & Disorder) had covered it long before the Pooper did.
Today, Jon Cohen (Washington Post) reports on the paper's most recent joint-poll (with ABC) which found that respondes favored "Congressional Democrats over Bush to handle the situation in Iraq by a 54 percent to 34 percent margine"; however, there was also "a five-point increase in the number who trust neither the Democrats in Congress nor the President on the issue". This as Jeff Leys (CounterPunch) reports on how Dems in Congress "are buying the Iraq war lock, stock and barrel. Indeed, fewer votes may be cast against continuing Iraq war funding this year than last". The five-point increase in the Washington Post - ABC poll could increase next go round if Democrats do not start recognizing what's gone on around the country. As Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted, "In Election news, five peace activists were arrested on Friday at a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in San Francisco. They held banners that said 'We Need a Peace Presidet' and 'Hillary, Stop Funding War'." The Occupation Project -- where citizens visit and sit in at the offices of their elected representiatives -- is currently going on throughout the country and you can click here for more information. Meanwhile Margaret Taley (AP) reports that Dems in the US Congress are feeling boxed in by the meaningless, marketed phrase that was created to clampdown on dissent but silly fools thought that adding "We" in front of it would 'frame' it.
Meanwhile, as Molly Hennessy-Fiske (Los Angeles Times) reports, US Secretary of State (and Anger) Condi "Rice spoke out Sunday against efforsts in Congress to limit the role of U.S. forces in Iraq, saying President Bush would not allow himself to be constrained by such a 'micromanagement of military affairs'." Congress, of course, has the right, power and duty to oversee the Iraq war (and bring an end to it). But Rice is fully aware that on the chat & chews she can say whatever she wants and get away with it. It's only when called to testify under oath that things get ugly. All together now, "I believe the title was, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States'."
Turning from "No one could have guessed" Condi to Ahnold, Peter Nicholas (Los Angeles Times) notes that Republican governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, spoke with Bob Schieffer on CBS' Face the Nation yesterday where he "reiterated . . . that the U.S. needs to set clear timelines for bringing troops home, lest Iraq devolve into a quagmire with no end in sight."
Also appearing on Face the Nation (PDF format warning) was 2008 Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards who stated, "I think the Congress should use its authority, its funding authority to bring down the troop level an initial 40- to 50,000 out of Iraq, and continue to use that authority to redeploy troops out of Iraq over the next year or so." Also, on the issue of those, such as Hillary Clinton, who cannot or will not apologize for their 2002 vote that led to the illegal war, Edwards declared: "I--I think that there are two issues. One is what the situation -- difficult situation we're in, in Iraq now, what's the right and responsible course, and telling the American people and the world, for that matter, the truth about that. I also think it's important for those of us who were responsible for voting on the resolution in 2002 to say whatever the truth is for us about that vote. For those who voted for it, including me, if we believe we were wrong -- and I believe I was -- I think it's important to be honest about that and to say it. But I think that's an individual decision to be made by those who were responsible."
Meanwhile US House Rep and 2008 Democratic Presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich received an award yesterday. "[T]he only Presidential candidate who voted against the original Iraq war authorization and every funding appropriation since has received the first-ever Champion for Peace Award in Hollywood from a group of families of military members opposed to U.S. involvement in the Iraq War. Military Families Speak Out honored Kucinich for being 'a strong advocate for bringing the troops home now and never wavering from that position despite the politics going on,' said Pat Alviso, leader of the organization's Long Beach and South Bay Chapter." Last week, in Nevada, Kucinich noted, "It must be really tough for Presidential candidates to come before the American people and claim that they were tricked, deceived, misled . . . by George Bush? Well here's one person who wasn't. I saw the same information all these other candidates saw."
Across the Atlantic, in the United Kingdom, over 100,000 gathered in London and Glasgow to march against the war Saturday. Matthew Cookson (Socialist Worker) reports on the London rally: "The march once again showed the depth, breadth and vibrancy of the anti-war movement. Thousands of students, trade unionists, Muslims, Christians and campaigners joined the protest." Manchester.com offers that "[t]he main emphasis of the London protest was against the war in Iraq" and that demonstrators met up "at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park before marching to Trafalgar Square." Arifa Akbar (Independent of London) spoke with Ceinwen Hilton who participated in the 2003 peace demonstration and explained why she was taking part again, "In 2003, the feeling was incredible. I was delighted that people had made an effort to show just how widely the opposition to war was felt. I remember the amazing feeling I had walking down Shaftesubry Avenue and seeing all the cast of Les Miserables cheering us from the balcony. When we were demonstrating four years ago, 600,000 were not dead. I'll be remembering them on today's march." The protests came with a theme song and a video. Life Style Extra reports that Stop The War Coalition has taken the song "War" and created a video with Tony Blair in it, where he appears to be singing the song, with the hopes of getting it into the top ten next Sunday -- "Mobile users can text PEACE1 to 78789 to download the tune" and you can purchase it here and you can watch the video (no purchase necessary) here. The BBC reports that, along with the London and Glasgow rallies, "Relatives of soldiers killed or serving in Iraq set up a camp outside Downing Street on Friday to coincide with the protest. They handed in a letter to Mr Blair calling for all British troops to be withdrawn immediately and demanding a meeting with him." CBS and AP note: "The speakers in London, and at a second demonstration in Glasgow, Scotland, also voiced fears the United States and Britain could take military action against Iran over its . . . nuclear programme."
Iran? As Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted: "The New Yorker magazine is reporting the Pentagon has established a special planning group within the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to plan a bombing attack on Iran. According to investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, the new planning group has been charged with a developing a bombing plan that could be implemented within 24 hours of getting the go-ahead from President Bush. Hersh also reveals that U.S. military and special-operations teams have already crossed the border into Iran in pursuit of Iranian operatives." Iran and Iraq were also addressed on KPFA's The Morning Show today with the guest Chris Toensing of the Middle East Report. Philip Maldari pointed out the push to scapegoat Iran for the problems in Iraq, specifically attempting to draw relationships between Iran and roadside bombs, and, as Toensing noted, "they threw it up against the wall, it didn't stick, so back to the drawing board." [Richard A. Oppel Jr. and James Glanz (New York Times) reported this morning on another attempt to pass weapons off as tied to Iran: "But critics assert that nearly all the bomb components could have been produced in Iran or somewhere else in the region. Even if the evidence were to establish that Iran is the source, they add, that does not necessarily mean that the Iranian leadership is responsible."] Maldari noted the attempts by the US administration to draw ties between Muqtada al-Sadr and Iran while ignoring how close Nouri al-Maliki was to Iran and how al-Maliki was in Iran "for decades before the overthrow of Saddam Hussein." Toensing agreed and observed that, "If one wants to look at major Iraqi political figures who've recently been to Iran, the list would be long and they're all allies of the United States."
Andrea Lewis noted the sentencing of Paul Cortez for his role in the gang rape of Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and Tinsling pointed out how significant it was that two women came out last week to state that they had been raped by Iraqi security forces. Feminist Wire Daily notes the the gang rapes and quote Jodie Evans (CODEPINK) stating, "This is nothing new. Women . . . pay the worst price of the war, they live in total anarchy and in fear for their lives constantly -- [imagine] how easy rape is in that situation." Feminist Wire Daily also notes that Ann Wright (retired army col.; retired State Dept.) has "asked military personnel to refuse potentially imminent orders to attack Iran." This as Michael Smith and Sarah Baxter (Times of London) report: "Some of America's most seniour military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources. Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack."
Writing at Truthout, Wright noted: "George Bush is going to war again. We see it in the Bush administration's rhetoric about Iran's nuclear program. We see it in the Bush administration's commentary on Iran's reported role in training and equipping Iraqis who are fighting US forces that have invaded and occupied that country. We see it in the Bush administration's criticism of Iran's role in funding and equipping Hezbollah in Lebanon. We see it in the Bush administration's direction to the US military to detain Iranian diplomats in Iraq, breach diplomatic facilities, and capture or kill Iranian operatives in Iraq." CNN reports that five Iranians are currently being held by US forces includ Mohsen Chirazi who has been held since December.
In Iraq the never-ending 'crackdown' continues (ongoing since June). Yesterday, CNN reported that Jalal Talabani had been flown to Amman, Jordan following a collapse. Talabani is the president of Iraq. Today, CBS and AP quote his doctor stating that he was suffering "from exhaustion and a lung inflammation". The presidential post is thought to be ceremonial in Iraq (though those who've read the Iraqi constitution closely dispute this to a degree and also dispute how many powers are actually vested in the country's prime minister position). Serving under Talabani are two vice-presidents, one Sunni, one Shia.
This morning in Baghdad, an attack was launched against Adel Abdul-Mahdi who is the Shia vice-president of Iraq. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reported that the bomb was not from a car but actually inside the building a conference was being held in. Ahmed Rasheed and Ibon Villelabeitia (Reuters) report that six people were killed in the bombing, 31 were wounded, that Riad Ghareeb (Public Works Minister) was injured and that Abdul-Mahdi had "shrapnel wounds." CBS and AP report that Tariq al-Hashemi, Iraqi's Sunni vice-president, "has urged the Americans to come up with a 'Plan B' in case the current crackdown fails to stem the violence in Baghdad."
In addition to an attempt on the Shia vice-president's life, Iraq was also rolled by a Sunday bombing that resulted in mass fatalities. Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) reports: "A suicide bomber pushed past guards at a crowded college campus Sunday and set off a thunderous blast that killed at least 40 Iraqis, most of them female students waiting in line to enter classrooms for midterm exames. The attack was the second in recent weeks to target the mainly Shiite Muslim Mustansiriya University. Even as rescue workers mopped up blood from the college grounds, the Iraqi government insisted that the U.S.-Iraqi security plan launched nearly two weeks ago was succeeding." Also yesterday, Sinan Salaheddin (AP) quoted a statement reported to be from Muqtada al-Sadr noting: "I'm certain, just like all oppressed Iraqis are certain, that no security plan will work and no good will come of any occupier. Here we are, watching booby trapped cars exploding to harvest thousands of innocent lives from our beloved people in the middle of a security plan that is controlled by an occupier who does as he please."
Today?
Bombings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that an explosion in southern Baghdad killed two police officers and left another wounded, while a mortar attack in downtown Baghdad killed two people and wounded four. Reuters reports one Iraqi soldier dead and two more wounded in a bombing attack on a "checkpoint near the small town of Abbasi".
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an attack in Baghdad on "a center of civil defense unit" which utilized "machineguns and grenades" and left three police officers dead and three more wounded.
Corpses?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that 18 corpses were discovered today in Baghdad.
Also today, the US military announced: "A Marine assigned to Multi National Forces-West was killed Feb. 26 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar Province."
Last Friday, Antonia Juhasz and Kris Welch discussed the privatization of Iraq's oil on KPFA's Living Room. Andy Rowell (Oil Change International) notes today that the "hugely controversial oil law edged closer to approval after Kurds said some key issues had now been resolved between them and Baghdad." Dr Ashti Hawrami, Kurdistan Regional Government's Minister for Natural Resources, answers some basic questions here and raises more questions (and fears) than he addresses. Robert H. Reid (AP) reports that the proposed law has already been approved by the Iraqi cabinet and now will move to parliament.
iraq
agustin aguayo
ehren watada
antonia juhasz
kpfakris welch
living room
the new york timesrichard a. oppel jr.
