Document 1: Summary of the Family Jewels Memorandum for the File, "CIA Matters," by James A. Wilderotter, Associate Deputy Attorney General, 3 January 1975Source: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
On New Years' eve, 1974, DCI Colby met with Justice Department officials, including Deputy Attorney General Lawrence H. Silberman, to give them a full briefing of the "skeletons."
Document 2: Colby Briefs President Ford on the Family JewelsMemorandum of Conversation, 3 January 1975Source: Gerald R. Ford President Library
Ten days after the appearance of Hersh's New York Times story, DCI William Colby tells President Ford how his predecessor James Schlesinger (then serving as Secretary of Defense) ordered CIA staffers to compile the "skeletons" in the Agency's closet, such as surveillance of student radicals, illegal wiretaps, assassination plots, and the three year confinement of a Soviet defector, Yuri Nosenko.
Document 3: Kissinger's ReactionMemorandum of Conversation between President Ford and Secretary of State/National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, 4 January 1975Source: Gerald R. Ford President Library
An apoplectic Kissinger argues that the unspilling of CIA secrets is "worse than the days of McCarthyism" when the Wisconsin Senator went after the State Department. Kissinger had met with former DCI Richard Helms who told him that "these stories are just the tip of the iceberg," citing as one example Robert F. Kennedy's role in assassination planning. Ford wondered whether to fire Colby, but Kissinger advised him to wait until after the investigations were complete when he could "put in someone of towering integrity." The "Blue Ribbon" announcement refers to the creation of a commission chaired by then-vice president Nelson A. Rockefeller.
Document 4: Investigations ContinueMemorandum of Conversation between Kissinger, Schlesinger, Colby et al., "Investigations of Allegations of CIA Domestic Activities," 20 February 1975Source: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
Cabinet and sub-cabinet level officials led by Kissinger discuss ways and means to protect information sought by ongoing Senate (Church Committee) and House (Pike Committee) investigations of intelligence community abuses during the first decades of the Cold War. Worried about the foreign governments that have cooperated with U.S. intelligence agencies, Kissinger wants to "demonstrate to foreign countries that we aren't too dangerous to cooperate with because of leaks."
The above is from the National Security Archives and all links are PDF for those who have trouble with pulling up PFD files on their computer. (And if you didn't go far enough down to see that warning before clicking, I'll consider that your personal issue.)
I'm trying to go through those and having problems of my own with PDF. (It's taking forever to scroll to the bottom of the page). I'm going to copy this section (from the first link at the top):
Apparently, a November, 1967 document in the CIA's possession refers to a CIA survey of anti-war activities, including the U.S. peace movement and foreign groups.
In September, 1969, according to CIA documents, Helms reviewed the CIA's efforts against "the international activites of radicals and black militants."
Apparently, under this program, the CIA alerted people abroad to try to identify the foreign contacts of American dissidents. According to Colby, many requests in this area were originated by
[line missing but 'placed' is the last word of this line]
some agents in the peace movement in the United States, with the purported purpose of establishing credentials to travel abroad. A "by-product" of these agents-in-place was information on the domestic activities of various peace organizations. Apparently, these CIA agents undertook no disruptive activities.
Apparently, the CIA's files under this program contain the names of some 9,900 plus Americans. In response to a question from LHJ referring to the New York Times sotries about the "files of 10,000 Americans." Colby indicates that the CIA's "9,900 names is not the same as the IDIS master subject index described in the December 30, 1974 memorandum from LHS to Philip E. Areeda, Counsel to the President.
According to Colby, approximately two-thirds of the names in the CIA's "9,900 plus" list were the results of either FBI requests or reports from the CIA's foreign offices. The other one-third consists of FBI reports on Americans in the peace movement, but no other information. Colby indicated he does not know why the CIA held these latter reports since no foreign travel was involved, etc. He speculated that they were kept as a result of the tendency of bureaucrats to retain paper whether they needed it or acted on it or not.
And Jane Fonda's ears must be burning (that's not a crack at Jane Fonda, I like Fonda) because this is from a memo of a conversation of then president Gerald Ford and CIA with William E. Colby (then CIA director), Lt. General Brent Scowcroft (then Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs), John O. Marsh, Jr. (Counsellor to the President) and Philip W. Buchen (Counsel to the President) that took place Janurary 3, 1975 at 5:30 pm. Colby says, "We did have a New York and Los Angeles program in the 50's of opening first-class airmail from the USSR. For example we have four to Jane Fonda. That is illegal, and we stopped it in 1973."
This is from a memo of a conversation on the CIA between then president Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger on January 4, 1975 that began at 9:40 am (and must be censored since it is brief and the conversation ended at 12:20 pm) -- also present was Scowcroft. Kissinger has a snit fit over the relevations and it doesn't take him long to get to why, "The Chilean thing -- that is not in any report. That is sort of blackmail on me." Care to elaborate War Criminal?
Now here, February 20, 1975, Kissinger meets with several people to figure out how to keep things from Congress:
Secretary Kissinger: You can initially take a position on professional judgement, but then we must go to the President. Bill should invoke the President initially in each ase. We must say this involves the profoundest national security. Of course, we want to cooperate, but these are basic issues of national security.
[. . .]
Secretary Kissinger: Let's establish categories of especially sensitive activities. Then whoever testifies will follow these guidelines.
Director Colby: The dangerous thing on NSA is whether they can pick up conversations between Americans.
Now Laurence Silberman participated in the above as "Deputy Attorney General." He heard Kissinger's plot to leak generic, to obstruct investigations and more. Silberman now sits on the US Court of Appeals for the DC circuit. I think in a real world, he would be forced to step down for his participation in this planning to undermine democracy and Congress.
We got back and I'm still a little jet lagged from the plane but I walk in (at C.I.'s) on this interesting conversation that I'll probably screw up. This man is working on something about positive and negative charges. Apparently the thing that pushes crude to the surface (if I have this correct) is that it picks up a charge as it travels through soil and sediment. It's a positive charge. Otherwise, it's neutral with no charge. It does the same when traveling through porous or liquid. In refining, various elements (I believe this includes the elements that gather a charge) are filtered out. This work could apparently make extraction more environment friendly and reduce the price of oil per barrel. To which I said, no, it will just give Big Oil a greater margin profit.
I don't think there's any problem with writing about the above. I'm not a scientist and I'm sure I screwed up the preceeding paragraph about a dozen ways. I did try to get permission but it wasn't, the guy, anyone C.I. knew and he must have tagged along to C.I.'s with someone else. There's always a huge crowd and it's always an interesting mix. I do know the man said he'd been working on this project for some time and it was at least two more years of work (something about how they're working with conceptual models or something like that).
Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, June 22, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces another death, CounterSpin covers a report the mainstream media (domestic) has shown no interest in, Falluja is addressed (and on going), watch out for that tidal wave of Operation Happy Talk!, and more.
Starting with news of war resistance. Joshua Key's The Deserter's Tale continues to garner good reviews. Anita Joshua (India's The Hindu) reviews the book and concludes, "For over a year, he lived in the U.S. in constant fear of being caught before he fled with his family to Canada in search of asylum. But, he makes no attempt to exaggerate his travails to sell his story, and it is this honesty that reflects through all the detail." Key served in Iraq and, while back in the US, made the decision to self-check out instead of returning to an illegal war. He, his wife Brandi Key and their children then lived underground in the US before crossing the border into Canada where he is attempting to win refugee status. From page 171 of his book (written with Lawrence Hill):
One morning in Ramadi, while I was sitting on top of my armored personnel carrier outside a little house controlled by men from another platoon in the 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment, I saw soldiers open the door and push a naked prisoner outside. The prisoner looked like he was about forty years old. One soldier kicked him as he stumbled out the door and into the light, and another soldier kicked him as he passed through the gate. The detainee was sent to stand in the middle of the street, and for an instant I wondered why he had been brought out like that. And then, in full view of passerby, the naked man defecated in the street. I turned my head guiltily, but not before I had witnessed his humiliation. He stood up and was kicked on his way back inside the building. I never saw him again, and I don't know what happened to him.
It would not be until much later, after I deserted the army, that I heard of Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, or about the abuses of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of Americans, or about human rights violations at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Also noting Key is Kim Peterson (Dissident Voice) in his exploration of genocide which puts the illegal war into that context and quotes Key and Jimmy Massey. Massy is quoted stating, "As far as I'm concerned, the real war did not begin until they saw us murdering innocent civilians. I mean, they were witnessing their loved ones being murdered by US Marines. It's kind of hard to tell someone that they are being liberated when they just saw their child shot or lost thei husband or grandmother."
The movement of resistance within the US military grows and includes Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Augstin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty 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, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
Speaking out to end the war is a duty Iraq Veterans Against the War takes very seriously. Monday IVAW's Adam Kokesh appeared on Mark Levine's Inside Scoop for the hour. We've noted the interview all week (and the link was left out of yesterday's snapshot when it first went up, my apologies) and we'll close out the week by noting it again:
Mark Levine: Tell me about combat stress?
Adam Kokesh: As you said, it's hard to get care. It's one of those things we're fighting for with Iraq Veterans Against the War, full funding of the Department of Veteran Affairs. But for me, when I came home, I didn't even allow myself to get into PTSD because I didn't want to think about my experiences in a way that would have that kind of emotional reaction.
Mark Levine: Denial. Just forget. Denial. [crosstalk]
Adam Kokesh: . . . and for me, when I came back, I had combat stress which is distinctly different because it's much more superficial and about habitual things. But the worst of it for me, was I had, I had a few anxiety attacks. You know, you just lose control of your brain for a few minutes and it's a little disturbing but it was something we were warned about. And for me, it was kind of a good thing. [cross talk] . . . No, no, no. You lose control of your brain and you just shut down. It's more of a --
Mark Levine: You just shut down.
Adam Kokesh: It's more of an internal thing than an external thing.
Mark Levine: So people don't even realize it's going on maybe.
Adam Kokesh: Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes I would cry. Sometimes I would shake. But it was internal. But it's mainly because of being overwhelmed by the environment and being in such a beautiful enivornment as my college campus was. To go from Falluja one week to campus the next week. . . . That caused the anxiety for me. The other things were I would wake up early well before my alarm and feel this strange sense of urgency, like I had to be somewhere, and not be able to go back to sleep.
Adam Kokesh's service in Iraq was not ingored by the US military. It was 'rewarded' with a witch hunt and Liam Madden and Cloy Richards are also targeted. The US military feels harrassment is a form of a 'thank you'. That's the reality of the US administration and the US military brass when it comes to veterans.
And if how little the lives and wounds (on all sides) from the illegal war matter isn't coming through, check out Robert Gates and Peter Pace. Josh White (Washington Post) reports Gates and Pace have launched a new wave of Operation Happy Talk -- the number of US service members who have died and are dying in Iraq is not an issue, that's the "wrong metric". That is the wrong thing to focus on, say Gates and Pace, as CBS and AP note that at least 16 US service members have been announced dead "over the past three days."
Nancy A. Youssef (McClatchy Newspapers) notes that the Operation Happy Talkers also said success "should be measured not by whether violence is reduced, but by whether Iraqis feel better about their nation's future." Gates and Pace, after splashing one another with waves of Operation Happy Talk, ran down to the beach to enter a wet t-shirt contest before expounding further on the notion of deluded levels of self-esteem being the true measure of success while living in a combat zone. No word on whether the rumors are true that both will dress up in silk nighties and have a pillow fight late tonight.
Realities on Iraq were addressed today on CounterSpin where co-host Janine Jackson interviewed Celine Nahory, co-author of [PDF format warning] "Independent Report on Iraq" which examines the causes of violence in Iraq. A sample of the discussion.
Janine Jackson: Well, I want to draw you out on another issue in the report -- there are many of them, of course -- but you talked about attacks on cities and I think many people, of course, as we've mentioned may believe that the 'coalition' is in the position of mainly defending or protecting but I think they still could tell you that the US-led 'coalition' did fiercely attack the city of Falluja. I think most people remember that but that would be a very incomplete picture, wouldn't it?
Celine Nahory: Well, at the very moment the US is actually imposing another siege on Falluja. There were two in 2004 and there is one going on right now -- for about a month now. But Falluja is absolutely not the only city on which there have been assaults. Part of the "anti-insurgency operation" that the US is pursuing in Iraq. A dozen other cities have suffered: Najaf, Tal Afar, Samarra, al Qaim, Haditha, Ramadi, Baquba, many others. And this is not something that happened here and there. It's really ongoing operations. And usually those operations follow the same pattern where the city is sealed off, a very harsh curfew is imposed, residents are encouraged to leave resulting in massive displacement of people. After awhile they assume that those who stay inside are only 'insurgents' and they cut water, food, electricity, medical supplies and carry massive bombardments on urban households and this destructs a very large part of the city. Reports say that more than 75% of the city of Falluja lies in ruins today. And many of those occasions, the US military has taken over medical facitilies such as hospitals. In those cities, very often hospitals are the tallest building in those cities. So the US takes them over and puts snipers on top and you have once again control over the city or neighborhoods.
Jackson observed that outside of AFP, she hasn't seen any press coverage of the report. The report is in PDF format and you can read it by sections:
Executive Summary [Read] [French]Map of Major Coalition Attacks, Bases and Prisons [See map]Political Map of Iraq [See map]1. Introduction [Read]2. Destruction of Cultural Heritage [Read]3. Indiscriminate and Especially Injurious Weapons [Read]4. Unlawful Detention [Read]5. Abuse and Torture of Prisoners [Read]6. Attacks on Cities [Read]7. Killing Civilians, Murder and Atrocities [Read]8. Displacement and Mortality [Read]9. Corruption, Fraud and Gross Malfeasance [Read]10. Long-Term Bases and the New Embassy Compound [Read]11. Other Issues [Read]- Iraqi Public Opinion and the Occupation- Cost of the War and Occupation12. Conclusion and Recommendations [Read]
On the subject of Falluja, let's turn to a speech from last weekend's conference in Chicago, given by Dahlia Wasfi and focus on the Falluja section of her talk, "Falluja -- God help us for what we have done to the people of Falluja. On March 31, 2004, four American civilians lost their lives in Falluja. They were civilians with military backgrounds, in the same that a paramilitary death squad in El Salvador responsible for the brutal rape, torture and murder of four American nuns was comprised of civilians. Though they had GPS systems from Blackwater, those systems were not working that day, and they became disoriented. But they should have known long before, when they were boarding a plane for Baghdad, that they were going the wrong way. Perhaps they only signed a contract with Blackwater to achieve financial security for their loved ones. But there is a word in the English language to describe an individual who sells his body, his principles and his soul for monetary reward. That's a congressman. In the same way that Nazi soldiers fell victim to their system during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, these hired killers from Blackwater got justice served to them on a silver platter. Then, revenge was carried out on a people who can truly be identified as civilians. In April 2004, U.S. Marines closed the bridge to the city and a hospital road -- a war crime. The U.S. military and its vehicles stood at the hospital entrance -- a war crime. And snipers were positioned on rooftops, targeting ambulances and the clinic doors. Between 600 and 800 civilians were killed in that siege, but that wasn't enough. In November 2004, the second major siege of Falluja began. The Nazzal Emergency Hospital, protected by the Geneva Conventions, was leveled to the ground, and Falluja General Hospital, was seized by the U.S. military. Doctors described being tied and beaten, despite being unarmed and having only medical instruments. Burhan Fasa'a, a cameraman with the Lebanese broadcasting company, reported that there were American snipers on top of the hospital, shooting everyone in sight. In addition, the U.S. military blocked the Iraqi Red Crescent from entering the city for seven days. The result was a death toll of between 6,000 and 8,000 civilians. This means that the Iraqi death toll in November 2004 alone surpassed the invaders' death toll for all of Operation Enduring Freedom thus far."
Many of those people driven from their homes can't go back. In chapter eight of [PDF format warning] "Independent Report on Iraq," the issues involved in Iraq exploding refugee crisis are explored (over 4 million if you combine internally displaced and externally displaced). It is noted that, on the Iraqi death toll, "Washington insists that the lowest numbers are most accurate, while refusing to publish its own official statistics." As Nancy A. Youssef noted almost exactly one year ago, the US is keeping figures, the US military in Iraq is provided with those figures, and yet the American people are kept in the dark. The section concludes with the following:
Iraq faces a growing humanitarian emergency, with unprecedented death and displacement. As of April 2007, the United Nations estimated that up to 8 million people were vulnerable and in need of immediate assistance. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been forced to flee from their homes and hundreds of thousands more are casualties of the violence through death and injury. Education has broken down. Unemployment has reached about 60% and the annual inflation rate peaked at about 70% in July 2006. An estimated 54% of the Iraqi population lives on less than a dollar day, among capacity. Electricity is in short supply. Only 32% of Iraqis have access to clean drinking water. The Public Distribution System food ration has stopped functioning in certain areas of the country, leaving 4 million Iraqis acutely vulnerable due to food insecurity. Severe malnutrition doubled between 2003 and 2005. Iraq's humanitarian emergency has reached a crisis level that compares with some of the world's most urgent calamities.
And as the crisis grows even worse, some of the violence in Iraq today includes . . .
Bombings?
Mohammed al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad mortar attack that wounded four people, a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded 2 police officers, US missiles launched from US helicopters that killed 17 Iraqis whom the US says were suspected 'gunmen' or suspected 'al Qaeda' or both depending upon the report but 17 are dead and they are dead on nothing more than, at best, suspicion, a Qara Taba roadside bombing that wounded three Iraqi soldiers, and an al Hawija roadside bombing that wounded one peson. Reuters reports that a Falluja bombing killed two civilians and left four wounded.
Shootings?
Mohammed al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a person shot dead in a Bahgdad market today and a person shot dead in Dali Abbas village.
Corpses?
Mohammed al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 11 corpses were discovered in Baghdad today.
Also today, the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier was killed during combat operations in a southwestern section of the Iraqi capital June 21.
Finally, in political news, US Senator Hillary Clinton would like to be the Democratic nominee in 2008 for president. Turkish Daily News reports that she announced Tuesday she was happy to keep US forces in Iraq to defend "close U.S. allies" Iraqi Kurds. Due to the pronounced and ongoing tensions between Turkey and northern Iraq, they would highlight that because it goes to their own security but . . . what's the excuse for that photo of Hillary? Seriously. Ouch.
In other political news, Robin Wright (Washington Post) reports that the US House of Representatives -- in a 355 pro and 69 against vote -- decided to get James Baker to round up his friends in the James Baker Circle Jerk to listen to the September reports from the US administration and the US military about 'progress' in Iraq, decipher and figure out what to do. Translation, the US House would like to outsource their own jobs, duties and responsiblities to a center-right group which can provide cover. If the duties are too much for any US House Rep, I do believe they have all been informed of the resignation process and possibly some should considering putting that process in motion? James Baker and Lee Hamilton were not voted into Congress in 2006. The Democratic upset resulted from voters wanting change and believing Democrats could deliver. So far Americans join Diana Ross in singing, "And I'm still waiting . . . Ooooh-oooh-oh . . . Still waiting . . ."
iraq
counterspinceline nahory
dahlia wasfi
robin wrightthe washington post
Friday, June 22, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Ward Churchill
Okay, I'm rushing tonight. This is from Natsu Saito's "The Regents and Ward Churchill" (CounterPunch):
More generally, Indigenous scholar/activists and their allies have recognized that this is an attack on those who challenge mainstream "truths" about U.S. history, as well as an attempt to eliminate ethnic and gender studies. Public intellectuals including Derrick Bell, Noam Chomsky, Richard Falk, Howard Zinn, and Immanuel Wallerstein published an open letter in the NY Review of Books denouncing CU's actions as part of the repressive post-9/11 "militarist reflex." A petition opposing Ward's dismissal was signed by nearly 500 scholars and activists with Teachers for a Democratic Society. Many other groups have submitted letters and petitions denouncing CU's tactics and calling for Ward's reinstatement. What has meant the most to us, however, has been the support of elders like Carrie Dann of the Western Shoshone and Japanese American activist Yuri Kochiyama, young people who are searching for a way to cope with an uncertain future, and regular people on the street--parking lot attendants, baggage handlers, homeless people--who consistently express their appreciation that Ward refuses to be silenced. They know this is not about footnotes. I hope you will take the time to e-mail the CU Regents and urge them not to fire Ward Churchill. They can be reached c/o Millie.Cortez@cu.edu , or individually atSteve.Ludwig@cu.edu,
Cindy.Carlisle@cu.edu,
Patricia.Hayes@cu.edu,
Michael.Carrigan@cu.edu,
Tom.Lucero@cu.edu,
Steve.Bosley@cu.edu,
Kyle.Hybl@cu.edu,
Paul.Schauer@cu.edu,
Tillie.Bishop@cu.edu
(For maximum effectiveness, please cc: wcsn@wardchurchill.net.)
We have no illusions that the Regents will suddenly wake up and decide to take academic freedom seriously. However, the resistance they encounter in firing Ward Churchill will determine how readily others will be subjected to similar treatment. Resistance is never futile, for it defines the terms of the next struggle.
In solidarity,
Natsu Taylor Saito
Boulder, Colorado
June 20, 2007
p.s. A brief outline of key facts and links follows. See also http://www.wardchurchill.net/and http://www.defendcriticalthinking.org/.
Ward Churchill is an academic and scholar, a professor and thinker/theorist. And he hasn't done anything wrong. So why is he the target of a witch hunt? Because he's alive and he's not in entertainment. Like Susan Sontag and Bill Maher, Ward Churchill was attacked by the thought police post-9-11 for comments regarding 9-11. None of them deserved to be attacked. Susan Sontag passed away and Maher ended up on HBO. Ward Churchill was the one they could hurt the most because they both had higher profiles and weren't professors. He is and you can always scare the academic grove. So now he will most likely lose his job and he wouldn't if the non-stop, years of hysteria following 9-11 hadn't happened. To be clear here, those attacking him were attacking him before 9-11. His work makes some people (especially right wingers but apparently some left wingers as well to judge by the lack of defense he received from many outlets -- or the weak defense he got) uncomfortable because he's looking at the power structure in this country and how it has abused. He's a serious thinker and he didn't plagarize or do anything wrong. Read the article if he's new to you.
Did they win with Sontag? I don't think so. Except for AlterPunk, I don't remember any 'left' voice attacking her. (I don't follow the psuedo left so there may have been more.) I also think her profile was too high for them to do lasting damage. But with Maher, they were able to get his ABC show cancelled and, as tempers cooled and people got a grip on their better selves, he ended up on HBO. Ward Churchill is their only hope for 'success.' If they can fire him, they can demonstrate their 'power' which is really just, create psuedo outrage, lead a witch hunt and, if the target is academic, you can get him or her removed from their post if you pile on long enough and hard enough.
If you were silent during the witch hunts following 9-11, here's a chance to be heard and redeem your own soul. You can use the e-mail addresses to register your objections. Maybe you're still a coward? Maybe the bark of Bill O'Lielly frightens you and causes you to cower? If so, stay silent and stay useless. But if you believe that it's wrong to oust someone through a witch hunt, you can get vocal.
I'm at Rebecca's tonight and that's going to be it for me because I want to play with her baby. I told her I'd play with it while she blogged. So let me wrap up so I can play with Bejing. (I don't mean to call her baby "it" but that's the one thing she's not free about online -- her baby. She doesn't even want the gender noted, which I respect. "Bejing" is a name one of her readers came up with that could be gender neutrel.) Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Thursday, June 21, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the US military annouces the deaths of more service members, IPA presents a report on Iraq, and more.
Starting with war resistance. In June 2006, Ehren Watada became the first US officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq. He explained his reasons for that publicly (illegal war, violation of treaties, setting those serving under him up for charges of war crimes); however, in Judge Toilet's court (John Head) all that got flushed for the February 2007 court-martial as Watada was prevented why explaining his reasons for refusing deployment. Despite this, Watada was coming out ahead and the prosecution's own witnesses were very effective . . . for the defense. Sensing this, Judge Toilet immediately called a mistrial on the third day, before Watada could take the stand and testify, and did so over the objection of the defense (and, initially, over the objection of the prosecution which took a bit to grasp the gift of 'do over' Judge Toilet was attempting to hand them). Due to the fact that there was no reason for a mistrial (Judge Toilet did a song and dance about a signing statement that he had reviewed prior, that he had instructed the jury on and now, on the third day, wanted to play dumb about) and that it was called over the objection of the defense, the double-jeopardy clause of the Constitution should prevent Watada from being retried. As Marjorie Cohn (president of the National Lawyers Guild) has pointed out, the judge in a trial -- any trial -- cannot just call a mistrial because s/he doesn't like the anticipated verdict. Next month, Ehren Watada's court-martial is scheduled for July 23rd; however, as his website points out, "legal proceedings are occuring on two fronts:
* a second trial in Ft Lewis, Washington, based on the original charges against Lt. Watada for failing to deploy and speaking agains the war, and
* a Defense motion before the Army Court of Criminal Appeals in Arlington, Virginia to dismiss all charges on the basis of Double Jeopardy.
In their "MISTRIAL SYNOPSIS," Judge Toilet's mistakes are noted and they include immediately scheduling a new trial (for March 19th) which was a case where the judge "exceed his authority, because a trial date cannot be set until the charges against Lt. Watada are again referred for court martial by the Ft. Lewis base commander and convening authority, Lt. General James Dubik."
Earlier this week Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Anna Quindlen (Newsweek) examined war resistance and noted Watada's statement, "My participation would make me party to war crimes." Watada made that statement at a June 7, 2006 Tacoma, Washington press conference. August 12, 2006, he would speak at the Veterans for Peace conference in Seattle, Washington where he noted (PDF format warning), "I have broken no law but the code of silence and unquestioning loyalty. If I am guilty of any crime, it is that I learned too much and cared too deeply for the meaningless loss of my fellow soldiers and my fellow human beings. If I am to be punished it should be for following the rule of law over the immoral orders of one man. If I am to be punished it should be for not acting sooner. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, 'History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period . . . was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people'."
The movement of resistance within the US military grows and includes Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Augstin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty 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, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
Turning to Iraq Veterans Against the War's Liam Madden who, along with Cloy Richards and
Adam Kokesh, has been targeted by the US military for actions and free speech in an attempt to silence voices speaking out against the illegal war. Ron Jacobs (here for OpEd News, here for CounterPunch) interviews Madden about the US military's efforts to strip him of his honorable discharge and instead discharge him from the IRR with an other-than-honorable discharge for the 'crimes' of "Wearing a partial USMC camoflage uniform at a political protest" and "Making Disloyal Statements at a speech in New York City. I said that 'The war in Iraq is, by Nuremberg standards, a war crime and a war of agression' and 'the president has betrayed U.S. service members by committimg them to a war crime." Madden tells Jacobs that, "Normally people aren't discharged from the IRR. It is simply a list of names the military can call upon in times of national crisis. When they don't want someone on the list they typically just cross them off. However it is not unusal that the government cracks down on those who are questioning the motives of their actions. For example, COINTELPRO, the imprisonmnet of Eugene Debs, and harassment of Martin Luther King, Jr." The IRR is a list of service members who have been discharged from the military. Should a president declare a national emergency, some names on the IRR list can be called up but only 30,000 -- in a declared national emergency -- can be called from the IRR list. If they are called up, UCMJ then applies to them (and nearly 15,000 have been called up since the start of the illegal war) (as explained by a friend in the US Marine Corps Judge Advocate Division). Clicking on Liam Madden's name takes you to a petition you can sign to show your support for Madden, democracy and free speech.
From Madden to Iraq Veterans Against the War's Adam Kokesh who appeared Monday on Mark Levine's Inside Scoop discussing multiple topics for the hour. We've noted the interview all week (and the link was left out of yesterday's snapshot when it first went up, my apologies) and we'll note it again today and here he is speaking of his return to the US after serving in Iraq:
Adam Kokesh: It was already like a bad dream. Like you wake up and it already feels like it happened to someone else. But I had to stay on active duty for two more weeks and go through all these debriefing classes and all this administrative b.s. And I was actually more stressed out from these classes teaching me about post-traumatic stress disorder because I was missing class [college], I wanted to be in school, I was already late.
Mark Levine: So you weren't having post-traumatic stress disorder?
Adam Kokesh: No, but what I experienced then was more what I learned in those classes, at least the one bit of useful information is that typical combat stress symptoms last twelve to sixteen weeks. And for me, it took me about three months to really feel comfortable being a student again.
Today, Nigel Yin (The Daily Egyptian) observes, "People these days throw the word 'hero' around without a second thought. Devin Hester opens the Super Bowl with a kickoff-return TD -- He's a hero! Bob Barker retires after 35 years of hosting the Price is Right -- What a hero! Kobayashi eats a whole lot of hot dogs -- Hero! Hero! Hero! But I'd like to pay respect to a hero whose contributions go unsung: Sgt. Adam Kokesh, a Marine who strives to protect veterans' right of dissent. . . . So while certain political figures may openly mock a mother of a deceased soldier, they now cower behind the uniform code of military justice to quell the seeds of dissent of a decorated Iraqi war veteran to avoid a PR backlash." And while Kokesh and others demonstrate heroism, Congress does nothing and Bully Boy thinks adding more fuel to the fire will put it out. Or possibly, he just thinks that when everything's burned away, no objections will exist?
But reality is that today the US military announced: "Four Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers were killed when their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb in a western Baghdad neighborhood June 20. One other Soldier was wounded in the attack." And they announced: "Five Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers, three Iraqi civilians and one Iraqi interpreter were killed when a roadside bomb detonated near a Coalition vehicle during combat operations in a northeastern section of Baghdad June 21." And they announced: "Two Marines assigned to Multi National Force-West were killed June 20 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar Province." Now those 11 deaths may not be as fun to write about as American Idol or your daughter's sweet sixteen (you don't think it's your sweet sixteen, do you?) but it happened and it continues to happen. 3545 is the current total for the number of US service members killed in Iraq with 68 being this month's total thus far.
Marie Cocco (Truthdig) attempts to address other realities. She notes that Iraq can now be considered a "failed state" and that "[t]o bring Iraq to the brink, we have invested half a trillion dollars in military alone and staffed the largest U.S. embassy anywhere and now have 150,000 U.S. troops on the ground." She notes that the food crisis results in 60% of children and pregnant women in the capital being anemic, thyphoid fever being common in Basra, etc. She also correctly notes: "The Bush White House and, for their part, the Republican presidential candidates, continue to push a military solution that alread has been shown to be no solution. The Democrats, including the party's presidential candidates, want to withdraw troops but promote the notion that the factionalized and corrupt Iraqi government can somehow pick up the slack." The last statment doesn't apply to Democratic candidates for the 2008 presidential nomination Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel and Bill Richardson. (It can be argued that it doesn't apply to John Edwards as well.) But Cocco, possibly exhausted by the killings, the never ending illegal war, notes the James Baker Circle Jerk's proposal of partioning Iraq ("along sectarian lines" -- so the 8 Christian college students kidnapped yesterday -- if they turn up alive -- would live where?) and wonders if that would work. And then Cocco quickly winds down. The US (or the US and England) dividing up Iraq is not an "answer" and it's not "self-determination." The US government has provided non-stop promises of democracy never delivered (like the Iraq constitution which has never been addressed or modified even though the push through on that promised it would be) and US solutions are not the answer to Iraq. Iraq is a nation-state filled with adults. It is not a nation of children that needs another government to impose its will. Iraq needs to be allowed to decide what's best for Iraq and that will not happen while a US installed puppet government is in place and it will not happen by the US decreeing that Iraq is now three different "partitions." The US has no business being in Iraq (never did) and it certainly has no right to determine what another country (an inhabited country, please remember) will be like. That's not democracy, that's not self-rule, that's not self-determination. US Senator and 2008 Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden also favors partitioning Iraq.)
This week the Institute for Public Accuracy released their "Independent Report on Iraq" co-authored by James Paul and Celine Nahory with Paul noting of the report: "While most people focus on the sectarian bloodshed, our report highlights the enormous violence of the occupation forces. There is an increasing air war that results in heavy casualties as well as the daily killing of civilians at checkpoints, during house searches, by snipers, and by ground bombardment. Nearly a million Iraqis have died due to the effects of the occupation and 4 million have fled their homes. . . . Under the control or influence of U.S. authorities, public funds in Iraq have been drained by massive corruption and stolen oil, leaving the country unable to provide basic services and incapable of rebuilding. The U.S. government has repeatedly violated many international laws, but top officials reject any accountability."
The [PDF format warning] 117 paged "Independent Report on Iraq" can be accessed in full or by section:
Executive Summary [Read] [French]
Map of Major Coalition Attacks, Bases and Prisons [See map]
Political Map of Iraq [See map]
1. Introduction [Read]
2. Destruction of Cultural Heritage [Read]
3. Indiscriminate and Especially Injurious Weapons [Read]
4. Unlawful Detention [Read]
5. Abuse and Torture of Prisoners [Read]
6. Attacks on Cities [Read]
7. Killing Civilians, Murder and Atrocities [Read]
8. Displacement and Mortality [Read]
9. Corruption, Fraud and Gross Malfeasance [Read]
10. Long-Term Bases and the New Embassy Compound [Read]
11. Other Issues [Read]
- Iraqi Public Opinion and the Occupation - Cost of the War and Occupation
12. Conclusion and Recommendations [Read]
Focusing on Chapter 6 ("Attack on Cities") because Norman Solomon has been sounding the alarm about the air war for some time now (Solomon is a member of IPA), we learn of the collective punishments on cities which are judged or just guessed to be 'insurgent strongholds.' (Being against the occupation is often enough to get you judged 'insurgent.') Once that judgement/guess has been made the process usually begins with razor wire, sanbags, and various barricades being utilized to 'wall off' the city in question while US troops gather around it and "seize control of all movement into and out . . . including goods and supplies, water, food, medicines and emergency assistance of all kinds. This 'sealing off' strategy seeks to isloate insurgents and show ordinary civilians the heavy cost of not cooperating." Citizens are then encouraged to leave (and we've seen that with the reporting of the current actions in the Diyala province). Those who can (and that generally does not include all males of the city) do and as they become refugees, their city becomes a free-fire zone. As the US military cuts off water, power and anything else, they also cut off access to journalists not in bed (to steal Amy Goodman's term) with the military. And then comes the bombings:
Coalition forces have inflicted prolonged and intesne air and ground bombardment on these cities, destroying thousands of homes, shops, mosques, clinics and schools, and inevitably -- killing and injuring many civilians. The strategy of indiscriminate and massive bombardment, in advance of ground offensives, has reduced the number of Coalition casualties, at a heavy cost in life and injury to the remaining Iraqi city residents.
The Washington Post reported that in Falluja, an "official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described 12 hours of overnight strikes by American helicopters, fighter-bombers, field artillery and tanks as 'shaping operations.' Military commanders use the term as shorthand for battlefield preparation, combat operations specifically intended to remove enemy strong points in advance of an assault. In the second assault on Falluja, the air strikes began on October 15, the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and continued for three weeks prior to the assault of November 7. In Najaf, US Marines bombarded the cementery near the famous Imam Ali Shrine as well as much of the city center, in a massive attack backed by aircraft and tanks. In Ramadi, US forces carried out intensive bombardment, targeting the city's power stations, water treatment facilities, and water pipes, leaving many destroyed houses and no civilian services functioning.
US military bombardment has destroyed large areas of the cities. Reports have confirmed that whole neighborhoods have been leveled and elsewhere just hulks of buildings stand. "Those who have witnessed US aircraft firing missiles into packed tenements in Sadr City, and have seen the resulting carnage, treat claims of 'precision strikes' . . . with deep skepticism" commented the London-based Independent newspaper.
Air strikes and artillery bombardment are typically indiscriminate. According to an Iraq Body Count study on different types of weapons, aircraft attacks have been responsible for the largest proportion of children killed. In addition to massive bombardment with high explosives, there is clear evidence of the use of indiscriminate and especially injurious weapons, particularly incendiaries, in these ferociously violent campaigns.
In the New York Times today, War Pornographer Michael Gordon and Alissa J. Rubin contributed "Heavy Fighting as U.S. Troops Squeeze Insurgents in Iraq City." Just as sure Gordo will go soft in the head and sticky in his y-fronts, he will usually use "precision strike" and similar terms (as he did on his own yesterday) but today -- either due to a co-writer or a 'discovery' -- he forgets the term. The 'discovery.' A medical center. And it's an "insurgent!" one. How is that "known"? "The hsopital, uncovered by troops from the Fifth Battalion, 20th Infantry, was equpped with oxygen tanks, defibrillators, generators and surgical equipment, as well as pieces of insurgent propaganda." It's that latter group, the pamphlets, that tell Gordo all he needs to 'know.' The same pamphlets can be found throughout Iraq, including in the capital. Also noted is an airstrike in Nasiriya (no mention of wounded or dead) -- again no 'precision strike' -- he must have felt so awkward, wanting to pull his War-On out with Rubin standing there. Meanwhile, Reuters notes: "A U.S. air strike on a booby-trapped house in Baquba north of Baghdad on Wednesday missed its target and hit a nearby structure, wounding 11 people".
On the topic of peace, in 2005, Veterans for Peace staged their conference in Irving, Texas and Cindy Sheehan went right from there to Crawford, Texas where she started Camp Casey. In 2006, Veterans for Peace staged their conference in Seattle, Washington and Ehren Watada was among the speakers. This year, Veterans for Peace will be holding their conference in St. Louis, Missouri and the dates for that are August 15 through 19th -- click here for more information. What will happen? Chances are it will set the stage for much to follow. Sheehan kick started the peace movement. Watada kicked off a summer and fall of war resisters speaking out and coming forward. What 2007 will be a springboard for is anyone's guess, but it is scheduled for St. Louis, Missouri in August.
In Iraq today . . .
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a mortar attack on the heavily fortified Green Zone, the bombing of "a primary school in Qara Taba village," and a truck bombing in Sleiman Bek village that killed 15 (70 wounded). Reuters notes a Madaen truck bombing that killed two police officers (12 more wounded) and a Baghdad mortar attack that claimed one life.
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports "a corporal of the Iraqi army" was shot dead "between Kirkuk and Biji".
Corpses?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports three corpses discovered in Khalis. Reuters notes 20 corpses discovered in Baghdad.
In a reality check on 'progress' in Iraq, Jamie Tarabay (NPR's Morning Edition) reported yesterday on musicians who've performed the "Baghdadi Square" for years in the capital -- on the streets, at functions, etc. "Baghdad was safe," says Mouwafak al-Tayar. "We could go out and perform as we liked. Everybody would come out from their homes and take part. Kids would follow us. They liked this kind of music because it's very lively." Today they have to travel "incongnito about Baghdad. They leave their traditional costumes, white robes and turbans, at home. Fearing Islamist extremists who condemn music of any kind, they also conceal their music when they travel."
Finally, in the United States, Yaderlin Hiraldo may no longer need to worry about deportation. Hiradlo's husband is Alex Jimenez who is serving in Iraq and went missing on May 12th and is assumed captured. US Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry have spoken out strongly about the treatment. Jose Martinez and Richard Sisk (New York Daily News) report that that Homeland Security stated Yaderlin "no longer faces deportation."
iraq
liam maddenadam kokeshron jacobs
iraq veterans against the war
nigel yin
Anna Quindlenthe new york timesalissa j. rubin
More generally, Indigenous scholar/activists and their allies have recognized that this is an attack on those who challenge mainstream "truths" about U.S. history, as well as an attempt to eliminate ethnic and gender studies. Public intellectuals including Derrick Bell, Noam Chomsky, Richard Falk, Howard Zinn, and Immanuel Wallerstein published an open letter in the NY Review of Books denouncing CU's actions as part of the repressive post-9/11 "militarist reflex." A petition opposing Ward's dismissal was signed by nearly 500 scholars and activists with Teachers for a Democratic Society. Many other groups have submitted letters and petitions denouncing CU's tactics and calling for Ward's reinstatement. What has meant the most to us, however, has been the support of elders like Carrie Dann of the Western Shoshone and Japanese American activist Yuri Kochiyama, young people who are searching for a way to cope with an uncertain future, and regular people on the street--parking lot attendants, baggage handlers, homeless people--who consistently express their appreciation that Ward refuses to be silenced. They know this is not about footnotes. I hope you will take the time to e-mail the CU Regents and urge them not to fire Ward Churchill. They can be reached c/o Millie.Cortez@cu.edu , or individually atSteve.Ludwig@cu.edu,
Cindy.Carlisle@cu.edu,
Patricia.Hayes@cu.edu,
Michael.Carrigan@cu.edu,
Tom.Lucero@cu.edu,
Steve.Bosley@cu.edu,
Kyle.Hybl@cu.edu,
Paul.Schauer@cu.edu,
Tillie.Bishop@cu.edu
(For maximum effectiveness, please cc: wcsn@wardchurchill.net.)
We have no illusions that the Regents will suddenly wake up and decide to take academic freedom seriously. However, the resistance they encounter in firing Ward Churchill will determine how readily others will be subjected to similar treatment. Resistance is never futile, for it defines the terms of the next struggle.
In solidarity,
Natsu Taylor Saito
Boulder, Colorado
June 20, 2007
p.s. A brief outline of key facts and links follows. See also http://www.wardchurchill.net/and http://www.defendcriticalthinking.org/.
Ward Churchill is an academic and scholar, a professor and thinker/theorist. And he hasn't done anything wrong. So why is he the target of a witch hunt? Because he's alive and he's not in entertainment. Like Susan Sontag and Bill Maher, Ward Churchill was attacked by the thought police post-9-11 for comments regarding 9-11. None of them deserved to be attacked. Susan Sontag passed away and Maher ended up on HBO. Ward Churchill was the one they could hurt the most because they both had higher profiles and weren't professors. He is and you can always scare the academic grove. So now he will most likely lose his job and he wouldn't if the non-stop, years of hysteria following 9-11 hadn't happened. To be clear here, those attacking him were attacking him before 9-11. His work makes some people (especially right wingers but apparently some left wingers as well to judge by the lack of defense he received from many outlets -- or the weak defense he got) uncomfortable because he's looking at the power structure in this country and how it has abused. He's a serious thinker and he didn't plagarize or do anything wrong. Read the article if he's new to you.
Did they win with Sontag? I don't think so. Except for AlterPunk, I don't remember any 'left' voice attacking her. (I don't follow the psuedo left so there may have been more.) I also think her profile was too high for them to do lasting damage. But with Maher, they were able to get his ABC show cancelled and, as tempers cooled and people got a grip on their better selves, he ended up on HBO. Ward Churchill is their only hope for 'success.' If they can fire him, they can demonstrate their 'power' which is really just, create psuedo outrage, lead a witch hunt and, if the target is academic, you can get him or her removed from their post if you pile on long enough and hard enough.
If you were silent during the witch hunts following 9-11, here's a chance to be heard and redeem your own soul. You can use the e-mail addresses to register your objections. Maybe you're still a coward? Maybe the bark of Bill O'Lielly frightens you and causes you to cower? If so, stay silent and stay useless. But if you believe that it's wrong to oust someone through a witch hunt, you can get vocal.
I'm at Rebecca's tonight and that's going to be it for me because I want to play with her baby. I told her I'd play with it while she blogged. So let me wrap up so I can play with Bejing. (I don't mean to call her baby "it" but that's the one thing she's not free about online -- her baby. She doesn't even want the gender noted, which I respect. "Bejing" is a name one of her readers came up with that could be gender neutrel.) Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Thursday, June 21, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the US military annouces the deaths of more service members, IPA presents a report on Iraq, and more.
Starting with war resistance. In June 2006, Ehren Watada became the first US officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq. He explained his reasons for that publicly (illegal war, violation of treaties, setting those serving under him up for charges of war crimes); however, in Judge Toilet's court (John Head) all that got flushed for the February 2007 court-martial as Watada was prevented why explaining his reasons for refusing deployment. Despite this, Watada was coming out ahead and the prosecution's own witnesses were very effective . . . for the defense. Sensing this, Judge Toilet immediately called a mistrial on the third day, before Watada could take the stand and testify, and did so over the objection of the defense (and, initially, over the objection of the prosecution which took a bit to grasp the gift of 'do over' Judge Toilet was attempting to hand them). Due to the fact that there was no reason for a mistrial (Judge Toilet did a song and dance about a signing statement that he had reviewed prior, that he had instructed the jury on and now, on the third day, wanted to play dumb about) and that it was called over the objection of the defense, the double-jeopardy clause of the Constitution should prevent Watada from being retried. As Marjorie Cohn (president of the National Lawyers Guild) has pointed out, the judge in a trial -- any trial -- cannot just call a mistrial because s/he doesn't like the anticipated verdict. Next month, Ehren Watada's court-martial is scheduled for July 23rd; however, as his website points out, "legal proceedings are occuring on two fronts:
* a second trial in Ft Lewis, Washington, based on the original charges against Lt. Watada for failing to deploy and speaking agains the war, and
* a Defense motion before the Army Court of Criminal Appeals in Arlington, Virginia to dismiss all charges on the basis of Double Jeopardy.
In their "MISTRIAL SYNOPSIS," Judge Toilet's mistakes are noted and they include immediately scheduling a new trial (for March 19th) which was a case where the judge "exceed his authority, because a trial date cannot be set until the charges against Lt. Watada are again referred for court martial by the Ft. Lewis base commander and convening authority, Lt. General James Dubik."
Earlier this week Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Anna Quindlen (Newsweek) examined war resistance and noted Watada's statement, "My participation would make me party to war crimes." Watada made that statement at a June 7, 2006 Tacoma, Washington press conference. August 12, 2006, he would speak at the Veterans for Peace conference in Seattle, Washington where he noted (PDF format warning), "I have broken no law but the code of silence and unquestioning loyalty. If I am guilty of any crime, it is that I learned too much and cared too deeply for the meaningless loss of my fellow soldiers and my fellow human beings. If I am to be punished it should be for following the rule of law over the immoral orders of one man. If I am to be punished it should be for not acting sooner. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, 'History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period . . . was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people'."
The movement of resistance within the US military grows and includes Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Augstin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty 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, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
Turning to Iraq Veterans Against the War's Liam Madden who, along with Cloy Richards and
Adam Kokesh, has been targeted by the US military for actions and free speech in an attempt to silence voices speaking out against the illegal war. Ron Jacobs (here for OpEd News, here for CounterPunch) interviews Madden about the US military's efforts to strip him of his honorable discharge and instead discharge him from the IRR with an other-than-honorable discharge for the 'crimes' of "Wearing a partial USMC camoflage uniform at a political protest" and "Making Disloyal Statements at a speech in New York City. I said that 'The war in Iraq is, by Nuremberg standards, a war crime and a war of agression' and 'the president has betrayed U.S. service members by committimg them to a war crime." Madden tells Jacobs that, "Normally people aren't discharged from the IRR. It is simply a list of names the military can call upon in times of national crisis. When they don't want someone on the list they typically just cross them off. However it is not unusal that the government cracks down on those who are questioning the motives of their actions. For example, COINTELPRO, the imprisonmnet of Eugene Debs, and harassment of Martin Luther King, Jr." The IRR is a list of service members who have been discharged from the military. Should a president declare a national emergency, some names on the IRR list can be called up but only 30,000 -- in a declared national emergency -- can be called from the IRR list. If they are called up, UCMJ then applies to them (and nearly 15,000 have been called up since the start of the illegal war) (as explained by a friend in the US Marine Corps Judge Advocate Division). Clicking on Liam Madden's name takes you to a petition you can sign to show your support for Madden, democracy and free speech.
From Madden to Iraq Veterans Against the War's Adam Kokesh who appeared Monday on Mark Levine's Inside Scoop discussing multiple topics for the hour. We've noted the interview all week (and the link was left out of yesterday's snapshot when it first went up, my apologies) and we'll note it again today and here he is speaking of his return to the US after serving in Iraq:
Adam Kokesh: It was already like a bad dream. Like you wake up and it already feels like it happened to someone else. But I had to stay on active duty for two more weeks and go through all these debriefing classes and all this administrative b.s. And I was actually more stressed out from these classes teaching me about post-traumatic stress disorder because I was missing class [college], I wanted to be in school, I was already late.
Mark Levine: So you weren't having post-traumatic stress disorder?
Adam Kokesh: No, but what I experienced then was more what I learned in those classes, at least the one bit of useful information is that typical combat stress symptoms last twelve to sixteen weeks. And for me, it took me about three months to really feel comfortable being a student again.
Today, Nigel Yin (The Daily Egyptian) observes, "People these days throw the word 'hero' around without a second thought. Devin Hester opens the Super Bowl with a kickoff-return TD -- He's a hero! Bob Barker retires after 35 years of hosting the Price is Right -- What a hero! Kobayashi eats a whole lot of hot dogs -- Hero! Hero! Hero! But I'd like to pay respect to a hero whose contributions go unsung: Sgt. Adam Kokesh, a Marine who strives to protect veterans' right of dissent. . . . So while certain political figures may openly mock a mother of a deceased soldier, they now cower behind the uniform code of military justice to quell the seeds of dissent of a decorated Iraqi war veteran to avoid a PR backlash." And while Kokesh and others demonstrate heroism, Congress does nothing and Bully Boy thinks adding more fuel to the fire will put it out. Or possibly, he just thinks that when everything's burned away, no objections will exist?
But reality is that today the US military announced: "Four Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers were killed when their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb in a western Baghdad neighborhood June 20. One other Soldier was wounded in the attack." And they announced: "Five Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers, three Iraqi civilians and one Iraqi interpreter were killed when a roadside bomb detonated near a Coalition vehicle during combat operations in a northeastern section of Baghdad June 21." And they announced: "Two Marines assigned to Multi National Force-West were killed June 20 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar Province." Now those 11 deaths may not be as fun to write about as American Idol or your daughter's sweet sixteen (you don't think it's your sweet sixteen, do you?) but it happened and it continues to happen. 3545 is the current total for the number of US service members killed in Iraq with 68 being this month's total thus far.
Marie Cocco (Truthdig) attempts to address other realities. She notes that Iraq can now be considered a "failed state" and that "[t]o bring Iraq to the brink, we have invested half a trillion dollars in military alone and staffed the largest U.S. embassy anywhere and now have 150,000 U.S. troops on the ground." She notes that the food crisis results in 60% of children and pregnant women in the capital being anemic, thyphoid fever being common in Basra, etc. She also correctly notes: "The Bush White House and, for their part, the Republican presidential candidates, continue to push a military solution that alread has been shown to be no solution. The Democrats, including the party's presidential candidates, want to withdraw troops but promote the notion that the factionalized and corrupt Iraqi government can somehow pick up the slack." The last statment doesn't apply to Democratic candidates for the 2008 presidential nomination Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel and Bill Richardson. (It can be argued that it doesn't apply to John Edwards as well.) But Cocco, possibly exhausted by the killings, the never ending illegal war, notes the James Baker Circle Jerk's proposal of partioning Iraq ("along sectarian lines" -- so the 8 Christian college students kidnapped yesterday -- if they turn up alive -- would live where?) and wonders if that would work. And then Cocco quickly winds down. The US (or the US and England) dividing up Iraq is not an "answer" and it's not "self-determination." The US government has provided non-stop promises of democracy never delivered (like the Iraq constitution which has never been addressed or modified even though the push through on that promised it would be) and US solutions are not the answer to Iraq. Iraq is a nation-state filled with adults. It is not a nation of children that needs another government to impose its will. Iraq needs to be allowed to decide what's best for Iraq and that will not happen while a US installed puppet government is in place and it will not happen by the US decreeing that Iraq is now three different "partitions." The US has no business being in Iraq (never did) and it certainly has no right to determine what another country (an inhabited country, please remember) will be like. That's not democracy, that's not self-rule, that's not self-determination. US Senator and 2008 Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden also favors partitioning Iraq.)
This week the Institute for Public Accuracy released their "Independent Report on Iraq" co-authored by James Paul and Celine Nahory with Paul noting of the report: "While most people focus on the sectarian bloodshed, our report highlights the enormous violence of the occupation forces. There is an increasing air war that results in heavy casualties as well as the daily killing of civilians at checkpoints, during house searches, by snipers, and by ground bombardment. Nearly a million Iraqis have died due to the effects of the occupation and 4 million have fled their homes. . . . Under the control or influence of U.S. authorities, public funds in Iraq have been drained by massive corruption and stolen oil, leaving the country unable to provide basic services and incapable of rebuilding. The U.S. government has repeatedly violated many international laws, but top officials reject any accountability."
The [PDF format warning] 117 paged "Independent Report on Iraq" can be accessed in full or by section:
Executive Summary [Read] [French]
Map of Major Coalition Attacks, Bases and Prisons [See map]
Political Map of Iraq [See map]
1. Introduction [Read]
2. Destruction of Cultural Heritage [Read]
3. Indiscriminate and Especially Injurious Weapons [Read]
4. Unlawful Detention [Read]
5. Abuse and Torture of Prisoners [Read]
6. Attacks on Cities [Read]
7. Killing Civilians, Murder and Atrocities [Read]
8. Displacement and Mortality [Read]
9. Corruption, Fraud and Gross Malfeasance [Read]
10. Long-Term Bases and the New Embassy Compound [Read]
11. Other Issues [Read]
- Iraqi Public Opinion and the Occupation - Cost of the War and Occupation
12. Conclusion and Recommendations [Read]
Focusing on Chapter 6 ("Attack on Cities") because Norman Solomon has been sounding the alarm about the air war for some time now (Solomon is a member of IPA), we learn of the collective punishments on cities which are judged or just guessed to be 'insurgent strongholds.' (Being against the occupation is often enough to get you judged 'insurgent.') Once that judgement/guess has been made the process usually begins with razor wire, sanbags, and various barricades being utilized to 'wall off' the city in question while US troops gather around it and "seize control of all movement into and out . . . including goods and supplies, water, food, medicines and emergency assistance of all kinds. This 'sealing off' strategy seeks to isloate insurgents and show ordinary civilians the heavy cost of not cooperating." Citizens are then encouraged to leave (and we've seen that with the reporting of the current actions in the Diyala province). Those who can (and that generally does not include all males of the city) do and as they become refugees, their city becomes a free-fire zone. As the US military cuts off water, power and anything else, they also cut off access to journalists not in bed (to steal Amy Goodman's term) with the military. And then comes the bombings:
Coalition forces have inflicted prolonged and intesne air and ground bombardment on these cities, destroying thousands of homes, shops, mosques, clinics and schools, and inevitably -- killing and injuring many civilians. The strategy of indiscriminate and massive bombardment, in advance of ground offensives, has reduced the number of Coalition casualties, at a heavy cost in life and injury to the remaining Iraqi city residents.
The Washington Post reported that in Falluja, an "official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described 12 hours of overnight strikes by American helicopters, fighter-bombers, field artillery and tanks as 'shaping operations.' Military commanders use the term as shorthand for battlefield preparation, combat operations specifically intended to remove enemy strong points in advance of an assault. In the second assault on Falluja, the air strikes began on October 15, the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and continued for three weeks prior to the assault of November 7. In Najaf, US Marines bombarded the cementery near the famous Imam Ali Shrine as well as much of the city center, in a massive attack backed by aircraft and tanks. In Ramadi, US forces carried out intensive bombardment, targeting the city's power stations, water treatment facilities, and water pipes, leaving many destroyed houses and no civilian services functioning.
US military bombardment has destroyed large areas of the cities. Reports have confirmed that whole neighborhoods have been leveled and elsewhere just hulks of buildings stand. "Those who have witnessed US aircraft firing missiles into packed tenements in Sadr City, and have seen the resulting carnage, treat claims of 'precision strikes' . . . with deep skepticism" commented the London-based Independent newspaper.
Air strikes and artillery bombardment are typically indiscriminate. According to an Iraq Body Count study on different types of weapons, aircraft attacks have been responsible for the largest proportion of children killed. In addition to massive bombardment with high explosives, there is clear evidence of the use of indiscriminate and especially injurious weapons, particularly incendiaries, in these ferociously violent campaigns.
In the New York Times today, War Pornographer Michael Gordon and Alissa J. Rubin contributed "Heavy Fighting as U.S. Troops Squeeze Insurgents in Iraq City." Just as sure Gordo will go soft in the head and sticky in his y-fronts, he will usually use "precision strike" and similar terms (as he did on his own yesterday) but today -- either due to a co-writer or a 'discovery' -- he forgets the term. The 'discovery.' A medical center. And it's an "insurgent!" one. How is that "known"? "The hsopital, uncovered by troops from the Fifth Battalion, 20th Infantry, was equpped with oxygen tanks, defibrillators, generators and surgical equipment, as well as pieces of insurgent propaganda." It's that latter group, the pamphlets, that tell Gordo all he needs to 'know.' The same pamphlets can be found throughout Iraq, including in the capital. Also noted is an airstrike in Nasiriya (no mention of wounded or dead) -- again no 'precision strike' -- he must have felt so awkward, wanting to pull his War-On out with Rubin standing there. Meanwhile, Reuters notes: "A U.S. air strike on a booby-trapped house in Baquba north of Baghdad on Wednesday missed its target and hit a nearby structure, wounding 11 people".
On the topic of peace, in 2005, Veterans for Peace staged their conference in Irving, Texas and Cindy Sheehan went right from there to Crawford, Texas where she started Camp Casey. In 2006, Veterans for Peace staged their conference in Seattle, Washington and Ehren Watada was among the speakers. This year, Veterans for Peace will be holding their conference in St. Louis, Missouri and the dates for that are August 15 through 19th -- click here for more information. What will happen? Chances are it will set the stage for much to follow. Sheehan kick started the peace movement. Watada kicked off a summer and fall of war resisters speaking out and coming forward. What 2007 will be a springboard for is anyone's guess, but it is scheduled for St. Louis, Missouri in August.
In Iraq today . . .
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a mortar attack on the heavily fortified Green Zone, the bombing of "a primary school in Qara Taba village," and a truck bombing in Sleiman Bek village that killed 15 (70 wounded). Reuters notes a Madaen truck bombing that killed two police officers (12 more wounded) and a Baghdad mortar attack that claimed one life.
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports "a corporal of the Iraqi army" was shot dead "between Kirkuk and Biji".
Corpses?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports three corpses discovered in Khalis. Reuters notes 20 corpses discovered in Baghdad.
In a reality check on 'progress' in Iraq, Jamie Tarabay (NPR's Morning Edition) reported yesterday on musicians who've performed the "Baghdadi Square" for years in the capital -- on the streets, at functions, etc. "Baghdad was safe," says Mouwafak al-Tayar. "We could go out and perform as we liked. Everybody would come out from their homes and take part. Kids would follow us. They liked this kind of music because it's very lively." Today they have to travel "incongnito about Baghdad. They leave their traditional costumes, white robes and turbans, at home. Fearing Islamist extremists who condemn music of any kind, they also conceal their music when they travel."
Finally, in the United States, Yaderlin Hiraldo may no longer need to worry about deportation. Hiradlo's husband is Alex Jimenez who is serving in Iraq and went missing on May 12th and is assumed captured. US Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry have spoken out strongly about the treatment. Jose Martinez and Richard Sisk (New York Daily News) report that that Homeland Security stated Yaderlin "no longer faces deportation."
iraq
liam maddenadam kokeshron jacobs
iraq veterans against the war
nigel yin
Anna Quindlenthe new york timesalissa j. rubin
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Marty Niland
Okay, Walter Reed Army Medical Center is a military hospital and, along with military patients, you also get people in the White House, former presidents, secretaries of various departments and many 'big names' checking in. So it being a military hospital, I would assume it would have military protection?
But apparently even that can be 'privatized.' And at what result? This is from Marty Niland's "Guard opens fire outside Walter Reed" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer):
An armed security guard fired at least 10 shots at another guard during an argument outside a busy entrance to Walter Reed Army Medical Center early Wednesday, police said. No one was hurt.
Armed security guard. That's what the article says over and over. Then at the end, you're told the guard work for . . . Vance Federal Security Services. People on the street duck for cover and two parked cars were shot. Why is the Walter Reed Army Medical Center using rent-a-cops?
By the by, has anyone noticed that a certain 'left' 'news' site appears to be competing with The New Republi(an) to see how right-wing they can be? Or maybe it's considered normal to put out propaganda on Iran? A US commander in Iraq says something and they run with it, even headline it. I'm confused how that's any different than what the New York Times did with Judy Miller and Michael Gordon's 'reporting'? (I'm not speaking of BuzzFlash, if anyone's confused. I don't link to that site and never will. I have family in Ireland and that 'left' site was among the ones spitting garbage at Irish Catholics in 2005. With their 'expert' whose apparently dipped her toe everywhere but never learned a damn thing.)
Just a heads up to study your news carefully. "We're not interested" isn't that what the e-mail to Maria said when it came to the issue of the Ohio vote? Not all things claiming to be left are left.
That's it for me tonight. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Wednesday, June 20, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, a US service member in Iraq announces his resistance, the US threatens to deport the wife of a US service member, the British military announces the death of a service member, Amy Goodman wonders since when did Iraq become a banned topic in high schools, and more.
Starting with Iraq Veterans Against the War's Adam Kokesh who was selected for the Wings of Justice Award today -- BuzzFlash's weekly honor which concludes: "The Marine Corps treated Kokesh unfairly for expressing his viewpoints, a freedom he put his life on the line for in Fallujah. That is what Bush says we are fighting for there, doesn't he? Adam Kokesh, to us, you served honoroably and bravely. You truly merit this week's BuzzFlash Wings of Justice award."
Iraq Veterans Against the War's Adam Kokesh appeared Monday on Mark Levine's Inside Scoop discussing many topics for the hour.
Adam Kokesh: To call it a protest isn't exactly accurate. This was a demonstration conducted by Iraq Veterans Against the War called Operation First Casulty and it's called that because it has long been said that the first casulty of war is truth and the purpose of the demonstration was to bring a small part of the truth of the occupation home to the American people who have largely forgotten that there is a military force representing our people imposing martial law in another country on the other side of the world. And we did that by conducting a mock combat patrol through the streets of DC and we had civilian actors who were playing effected peoples -- they weren't playing Iraqis, they weren't pretending to speak Arabic or anything like that -- but as average Americans being subjected to the same thing that Iraqis are subjected to every day.
Mark Levine: So you were showing Americans what the Iraqi civilians have to go through?
Adam Kokesh: Well, yes, but not just that. But also giving them a taste of what it's like to come around a street corner and see a squad of armed men in uniform in a patrol. And these actors that we had were integrated into wherever they were standing in the city, we had them in lines full of tourists, we had them in parks and so on -- and we would randomly accost them, search them, zip cuff them and put sandbags over their heads.
And as Kokesh and other members of Iraq Veterans Against the War attempt to bring the war home via street theater and truth telling, a US service member takes resistance to Iraq.
Iraq Veterans Against the War posts the following:
Yesterday, June 19, 26 year old SPC Eli Israel put himself at great personal risk by making the courageous decision to refuse futher participation in the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Eli told his commanding officer and sergeants that he will no longer be a combatant in this illegal, unjustified war. Eli believes that the U.S. government used the attacks of September 11, 2001 as a pretense to invade Iraq and that "we are now violating the people of this country (Iraq) in ways that we would never accept on our own soil." Eli is stationed at Camp Victory in Baghdad with JBV Bravo Company, 1-149 Infantry of the Kentucky Army National Guard. This soldier's decision to refuse orders put him at great risk, especially because he's in Iraq, isolated from legal assistance and other support. The following is a message that Eli sent yesterday to a friend back home:
"I have told them that I will no longer play a 'combat role' in this confllict or 'protect corporate representatives,' and they have taken this as 'violating a direct order.' I may bein jail or worse in the next 24 hours. Please rally whoever you can, call whoever you can, bring as much attention to this as you can. I have no doubt that the military will bury me and hide the whole situation if they can. I'm in big trouble. I'm in the middle of Iraq, surrounded by people who are not on my side. Please help me. Please contact whoever you can, and tell them who I am, so I don't 'disappear'."
Eli is taking an incredible risk by refusing orders in Iraq and will most likely be court martialed. Please help him by contacting his Senator and requesting that he take any steps necessary to support and protect this soldier and ensure that the Army respects his rights and does not illegally retaliate against him.
Senator Mitch McConnell:
Washington Office
361-A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2541
Fax: (202) 224-2499
The movement of resistance within the US military grows and includes Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Augstin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty 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, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
And resistance is going on everywhere -- around the world. Turning to England, where the mother of a British soldier serving in Iraq has issued a public message to Gordon Brown (Tony Blair is expected to step down next Wednesday -- June 27th -- and Gordon Brown would then become prime minister of the UK). Lily Walker states (via Great Britain's Socialist Worker), "My message to Gordon Brown is that we must get the troops home now. My son is a serving soldier just back from Iraq. I am not a pacisfist, but I am against what is happening in Iraq -- the illegality and the lies. None of the troops enlisted to fight for a lie. I won't sit back and be quiet about what is happening in Iraq. I live in Tameside, just outside Manchester, and I have been calling on people to come to the demonstration on Sunday 24 June. Together we can make a difference. Tony Blair has let people down. It remains to be seen what Gordon Brown will do." Lily Walker is a member of Military Families Against the War and the demonstration this coming Sunday is "Gordon Brown's coronation as Tony Blair's successor" in Manchester (starting at noon at St. Peters Square, more information by clicking here).
Turning to the United States, June 13th, Amy Goodman (writing at Truthdig) reported on Voices in Conflit -- the Wilton High School production kicked off school property because the principal didn't want a play about Iraq; not only that, didn't want discussions about Iraq in any class; and quoted student Jimmy Presson stating, "We are not allowed to talk about the war while discussing current events." Today, Goodman (Democracy Now!) spoke with Presson, student Courtney Stack, Bonnie Dickinson (director of Voices in Conflict) and Iraq Veterans Against the War's Charlie Anderson about the experience and the NYC off-broadway performances of their play. Goodman questioned Presson about the ban on Iraq in his high school:
AMY GOODMAN: Jimmy, how often do you get to talk about war at school?
JIMMY PRESSON: We very rarely to never talk about the war through the curriculum. In classes in which we discuss current events, we are required to not bring in current events that relate to the war.
AMY GOODMAN: Wait, what do you mean? What about social studies or history?
JIMMY PRESSON: In history classes, the current events that we bring in are -- we've been instructed to have the articles be unrelated to the war.
AMY GOODMAN: You're not allowed to talk about war in your history class?
JIMMY PRESSON: We're not allowed to talk about the war.
AMY GOODMAN: Why?
JIMMY PRESSON: Because it's too controversial, I guess. Because they don't want kids arguing in class.
AMY GOODMAN: Is there any class that you can talk about it?
JIMMY PRESSON: We can talk about it a little bit in Middle Eastern studies, a little bit, but it's not even that much in that class.
BONNIE DICKINSON: That class is not offered.
JIMMY PRESSON: Every year. It's only offered every other year.
AMY GOODMAN: So this past year, it wasn't offered?
JIMMY PRESSON: It was not offered this past year.
AMY GOODMAN: So the only class to discuss this was in drama?
JIMMY PRESSON: Yeah.
A war is ongoing, it passed the four year mark in March and a high school thinks it's a topic to be banned? Let's all pretend it's not going on and it won't be? Is that the 'plan'? It's certainly not education. Presson portrays Charlie Anderson in the play and Anderson gave the play and Presson high marks. Some attempted to silence the students -- they did not succeed.
"It's really simple," Dr. Dahlia Wasfi says, "You bring the troops home, they stop dying there." Wasfi speaks with James Harris and Robert Scheer (Truthdig -- transcript and audio at the link) and addresses the Salvadorian model utilized in Iraq to create divisions and a number of other topics including nothing that "first and foremost, there's no security now. People used to stay out to the late hours, having a social life, meeting at the tea cafes, coffee cafes. From the days of the invasion, 'Everybody inside by 6 o'clock!' Because it was out responsibility, American forces' responsibility, to establish law and order, and we faield miserably. In addition, the infrastructure continues to deteriorate. The services, as has been documented by the U.S. Government Accounting Office, even in 2004, the services had already deteriorated to be worse than under Saddam Hussein. So you have a population whose government, the puppet government in the Green Zone, is not providing security, is not providing electricity, is not providing potable water. What are they doing? They're working on oil laws that will privatize Iraq's oil and give up ownership to foreign companies. Unless you have a government in place that will serve the people, it will not last. If you need a military force to maintain a government in power, what does that tell you?"
Meanwhile, the US Congress is gearing up for it's summer break which will begin August 6th. Jeff Lays (CounterPunch) notes that is also the kick off of the Occupation Project, "a reinvigorated campaign of sustained noviolent civil disobedience/civil resistance to end Iraq war funding" and but before that takes place, there is an ongoing action lasting "[t]hrough the end of July, Grassroots America for Us is organizing the Swarm on Congress, intensive and extensive lobbying on Capitol Hill." Kevin Zeese (writing at Grassroots for America) notes, "The 'SWARM' will build on the successful efforts of activists in DC and around the country who have been occupying offices, protesting in the Halls of Congress and sending a consistent message. It will build on the Occupation Project, Voices for Creative Non-Violence, and the Declaration of Peace as well as the works of Code Pink and our Maryland peace coalition. Already, key anti-war groups are supporting this effort including United For Peace and Justice and Voters For Peace, among others."
As pressure is brought to bear on Congress, US Senator and Democratic presidential nominee hopeful Hillary Clinton's speech yesterday is getting attention. Matthew Rothschild (The Progressive) observes that after winning over some of the crowd mid-speech "then she got into trouble by returning to the topic of the Iraq war. First, she tried to align herself with the crowd. 'We need to end the war in Iraq and finally bring our troops home,' she said. 'I voted against the supplemental.' She also said that the United States has no reason to be a part of the sectarian war there. But she blamed the Iraqis for the mess. 'The American military has succeeded,' she said. 'It is the Iraqi government that has failed to make the tough decisions.' This brought the boo birds out in force, with the Code Pink contingent holding up signs saying 'Lead Us Out of Iraq Now!'" David Swanson (AfterDowning Street) also reports "loud booing" and concludes with this: "Clinton never mentioned the point Ted Koppel reported last week and Bill Richardson raised here yesterday that she intends to have the occupation of Iraq still going at the end of her second term, should she be elected."
Susan J. Douglas (In These Times) explores the contradiction in Clinton's campaign and whom the core voters would be expected to be.
In Iraq, the death toll from yesterday's truck bombing in Baghdad continues to rise. 78 was the count yesterday. AP, Reuters, CNN and Al Jazeera report that the death toll has now climbed to 87 and CNN notes the tally for wounded stands at 214. Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) quotes Abu Muhammed ("one of the custodians of the bombed mosque") stating, "The Americans know everything, they can do everything, they can repair the space shuttle without touching it, why do they let these things happen here in Iraq? We think the Americans want these things to happen in Iraq, to keep things like this."
Meanwhile, the offensive in the Diyala province continues. The New York Times' imploded star, War Pornographer Michael Gordon, is allowed to soil the front page with his War-On drippings this morning in an alleged "military analysis" which fails to offer any analysis but does provide much rah-rah-rah Operation Happy Talk. Gordo fails to note what Damien McElroy (Telegraph of London) can: "The offensive has seen the revival of a tactic rarely used since the Vietnam war: air assaults by troops dropped into fighting zones by helicopter." Gordo gets all giddy over the detention of Iraqis noting that "the goal is to capture or kill" alleged 'insurgents' (an elastic term which can include any Iraqi opposed to the illegal military occupation of Iraq) and so much blood rushes to Gordo's nether regions he fails to wonder how many people are already imprisoned in Iraq? 20,000 is the figure for Iraqis currently imprisoned (not counting imprisoned at secret sites off the books) with 8,000 of those having been held for more than one year (via Socialist Worker compiling figures from UNHCR, UN, World Vision, Brookings Institution and Global Poverty Forum to present "Iraq in figures"). Gordo's also so busy with both hands digging in his pants (apparently in search of something very small) that he gets Falluja wrong (only women and boys thought to be under 12 years old were allowed to leave when that city was under attack), that he minimizes the death of a US service member when a Bradley is attacked ("What made the loss of the Bradley particularly worrisome is that the exposion occurred in a heavily trafficked area" -- actually, the family and friends of the dead service member would probably argue that the death itself was "particularly worrisome" and much more) and tries to slap some life into his libido with this, "American forces have already fired more than 20 satellite-guided rockets intwo western Baquba. . . . Warplanes have also dropped satellite-guided bombs on suspected roadside bombs and a wapons cache, which produced spectacular secondary expolsions after it was struck." And presumably an unspectacular one in the front of Gordo's pants which would explain why 20 satellite-guided rockets and multiple bombs being dropped in a civilian area does nothing to prevent from Gordo from getting off on the blood bath.
Gordo also fails to point out what Phil Ittner (CBS News) does, house to house searches are going on in Baquba -- read Gordo in vain for any mention of that. CBS and AP also report gun battles in the city.
In Iraq today . . .
Bombings?
The mosque bombings go on. CBS and AP report: "In a renewed blow to stability Wednesday, suspected Shiite militans blew up three Sunni mosques south of Baghdad, causing heavy damage but no casualties. The bombings were apparently revenge strikes for a suicide truck bombing a day before that badly damaged an important Shiite mosque in the heart of the capital." Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing that killed 1 person (3 wounded) and a Baghdad mortar attack that injured 3 people. Reuters reports a Ramadi car bombing that claimed the lives of 5 police officers (12 more injured) and a Baquba mortar attack that claimed the lives of 2 children and 3 women (8 people were injured).
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Ali Kadhim Jwad Allaw was shot dead in Baghdad -- he had been "the general director of the Iraq American contracts company" and 7 police officers were shot dead in Khalis. Reuters notes that "a police major" was shot dead in Aziziya.
Corpses?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 29 coprses discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes 2 corpses ("a young woman and a man") were discovered in Kut.
Today, the UK's Ministry of Defence announced: "It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm the death of a soldier from the 4th Battalion The Rifles in Basra City today, Wednesday 20 June 2007." This death brings to 152 the total number of UK soldiers killed while serving in the illegal war.
Late yesterday, the US military announced the deaths of three more US soldiers. They announced: "A Task Force Marne Soldier was killed and three were wounded when their patrol was struck by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad Monday." And they announced: " One Task Force Lightning Soldier died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion near his vehicle while conducting operations in Diyala Province June 19." And they announced: "A Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier was killed when a patrol was attacked with small arms fire during combat operations in an eastern section of the Iraqi capital June 18." These three deaths bring the ICCC count to 3531 US troops have died in the illegal war since it began with 54 of those deaths being in the month of June.
This as Martin Fletcher (Times of London) journeys to Fort Hood (Texas) to report on conditions there and is told by Major Ben Phillips that between "15 to 30 per cent of soldiers are returning from Iraq with psychological problems -- mostly posttraumatic stress disorder and a condition known as traumatic brain injury, a bruising of the brain caused by explosions. He says that a soldier's vulnerability to psychological disorders increases with each deployment, and he was now seeing soldiers who had served in Iraq four or five times. . . . Asked whether soldiers were returning to Iraq before they were fully recovered, he equivocates. 'Our goal is to ensure everybody is ready to go back.' As the Smith Middle School, on Fort Hood's Tank Destroyer Boulevard, 70 per cent of the 500 pupils have a parent serving in Iraq and five had one killed."
Yesterday on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, Rehm spoke with Anne Hull and Dana Priest of the Washington Post about their reporting on the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Hulle: When we started our reporting last fall, many of the soldiers we dealt with had physical wounds but many also had signs of post-traumatic-stress -- if not disorder then heavy symptoms of post-traumatic-stress -- and it just became the next natural step to explore. A lot of these soldiers weren't getting psychological help they needed. Our original reporting focused at Walter Reed and, even there, at the country's top hospital, we noticed they weren't getting enough help.
Hull noted that the official figures currently are 18% for marines and 20% for soldiers and 25% army and Priest commented that in the last five years the army has diagnosed 27,000 service members with PTSD the VA has "treated 45,000 people from Iraq and Afghanistan largely who believe they have PTSD." Priest and Hull's reporting (and Bob Woodruff's for ABC and others as well) has resulted in the departures of the follow: Major Generarl George W. Weightman, Lt. General Kevin C. Kiley and Francis J. Harvey who had been the Secretary of the Army. In other Iraq and Washington Post news, Ben Hoyle (Times of London) notes Rajiv Chandrasekaran's Imperial Life in the Emerald City -- an inside look at the Green Zone -- has been awarded the Samuel Johnson Prize. Michael, who had just returned from serving in Afghanistan weeks ago, called in to Rehm's show and spoke of needing help but most of all needing someone to talk to. 1-800-984-8523 is the toll free number the US military has set up in the wake of the Walter Reed scandals and it is a toll free number that is supposed to be staffed from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm EST, Monday through Friday. The military expert, Col. E. Cameron Ritchie, brought on the show failed to give that number out. She did speak of a toll free number where counseling could be provided and referred people to the Army Behavioral Health website which is a mess, a waste of time and refers you to crappy things you can print out such as "Two-page Tri-fold Brochure"s. If there is a counseling number for service members, let's be really damn clear here, the US military needs to have it displayed on the front page of the website. Otherwise it's a bunch of b.s. created to sound like the military's addressed the situation when, in reality, they have done nothing. It should also be noted, Ritchie appeared on Rehm's show yesterday and this 'wonderful' website was last updated? March 29, 2007. Ritchie needs to quit kidding that this website's offering anything other than sop and needs to get off her ass and get someone post to the counseling number at the top of the main page or else she needs to quit thinking she's fooling anyone.
And no one's being fooled that the US military 'cares' when the wife of a service member is threatened with expulsion from the United States. Since May 12th, following an attack, Byron W. Fouty and Alex R. Jimenez were missing assumed captured. They remain classified as missing. Dominican Today reports that Yaderlin Hiraldo, the wife of Alex Jimenez, is being threatened with deportation back to the Dominican Republic and "Hiraldo's green card processing was stopped by an immigration judge when her husband went missing, and the government has so far refused to grant a so-called hardship waiver that would allow her to stay in the country." Her attorney, Matthew Kolken, tells the AP: "I can't imagine a bigger injustice than that, to be deporting someone's wife who is fighting and possibly dying for our country." To repeat, the woman's husband is missing in Iraq and now, on top of that, the US government thinks "helpful" is informing that her citizenship might not go through and they may be returning her to the Dominican Republic. CBS and AP feature a photo of the couple and notes that US Senator John Kerry "has asked federal immigration officials not to deport Hiraldo" writing Michel Chertoff (head of 'Homeland Security'): "Under no condition should our country ever deport the spouse of a soldier who is currently serving in uniform abroad. I feel even more strongly in this case, given the terrible uncertainty surrounding Army Specialist Alex Jimenez."
Returning to the topic of PTSD, Robin Wright (Washington Post) reports that Steven Kashkett (American Foreign Service Association) testified to Congress Tuesday that appoximately "40 percent of State Department diplomats who have served in danger zones suffer some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder". Following that testimony, it's now been made public that US Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker sent a memo to Condi Rice (US Secretary of State) where Crocker notes, "In essence, the issue is whether we are a Department and a service at war. If we are, we need to organize and prioritize in a way that reflects this, something we have not done thus far." Richard Beeston (Times of London) terms the memo "blunt" and feels it will "cause consternation" for those wanting "America to reduce, not expand, its presence in Iraq." Crocker's arguing for the diplomatic service to be intensified and out beyond the Green Zone.
iraq
adam kokesh
iraq veterans against the warbuzzflash
mcclatchy newspapers
the washington post
dana priestanne hull
the new york timesalissa j. rubin
david swanson
matthew rothschild
susan j. douglas
amy goodmandemocracy now
But apparently even that can be 'privatized.' And at what result? This is from Marty Niland's "Guard opens fire outside Walter Reed" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer):
An armed security guard fired at least 10 shots at another guard during an argument outside a busy entrance to Walter Reed Army Medical Center early Wednesday, police said. No one was hurt.
Armed security guard. That's what the article says over and over. Then at the end, you're told the guard work for . . . Vance Federal Security Services. People on the street duck for cover and two parked cars were shot. Why is the Walter Reed Army Medical Center using rent-a-cops?
By the by, has anyone noticed that a certain 'left' 'news' site appears to be competing with The New Republi(an) to see how right-wing they can be? Or maybe it's considered normal to put out propaganda on Iran? A US commander in Iraq says something and they run with it, even headline it. I'm confused how that's any different than what the New York Times did with Judy Miller and Michael Gordon's 'reporting'? (I'm not speaking of BuzzFlash, if anyone's confused. I don't link to that site and never will. I have family in Ireland and that 'left' site was among the ones spitting garbage at Irish Catholics in 2005. With their 'expert' whose apparently dipped her toe everywhere but never learned a damn thing.)
Just a heads up to study your news carefully. "We're not interested" isn't that what the e-mail to Maria said when it came to the issue of the Ohio vote? Not all things claiming to be left are left.
That's it for me tonight. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Wednesday, June 20, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, a US service member in Iraq announces his resistance, the US threatens to deport the wife of a US service member, the British military announces the death of a service member, Amy Goodman wonders since when did Iraq become a banned topic in high schools, and more.
Starting with Iraq Veterans Against the War's Adam Kokesh who was selected for the Wings of Justice Award today -- BuzzFlash's weekly honor which concludes: "The Marine Corps treated Kokesh unfairly for expressing his viewpoints, a freedom he put his life on the line for in Fallujah. That is what Bush says we are fighting for there, doesn't he? Adam Kokesh, to us, you served honoroably and bravely. You truly merit this week's BuzzFlash Wings of Justice award."
Iraq Veterans Against the War's Adam Kokesh appeared Monday on Mark Levine's Inside Scoop discussing many topics for the hour.
Adam Kokesh: To call it a protest isn't exactly accurate. This was a demonstration conducted by Iraq Veterans Against the War called Operation First Casulty and it's called that because it has long been said that the first casulty of war is truth and the purpose of the demonstration was to bring a small part of the truth of the occupation home to the American people who have largely forgotten that there is a military force representing our people imposing martial law in another country on the other side of the world. And we did that by conducting a mock combat patrol through the streets of DC and we had civilian actors who were playing effected peoples -- they weren't playing Iraqis, they weren't pretending to speak Arabic or anything like that -- but as average Americans being subjected to the same thing that Iraqis are subjected to every day.
Mark Levine: So you were showing Americans what the Iraqi civilians have to go through?
Adam Kokesh: Well, yes, but not just that. But also giving them a taste of what it's like to come around a street corner and see a squad of armed men in uniform in a patrol. And these actors that we had were integrated into wherever they were standing in the city, we had them in lines full of tourists, we had them in parks and so on -- and we would randomly accost them, search them, zip cuff them and put sandbags over their heads.
And as Kokesh and other members of Iraq Veterans Against the War attempt to bring the war home via street theater and truth telling, a US service member takes resistance to Iraq.
Iraq Veterans Against the War posts the following:
Yesterday, June 19, 26 year old SPC Eli Israel put himself at great personal risk by making the courageous decision to refuse futher participation in the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Eli told his commanding officer and sergeants that he will no longer be a combatant in this illegal, unjustified war. Eli believes that the U.S. government used the attacks of September 11, 2001 as a pretense to invade Iraq and that "we are now violating the people of this country (Iraq) in ways that we would never accept on our own soil." Eli is stationed at Camp Victory in Baghdad with JBV Bravo Company, 1-149 Infantry of the Kentucky Army National Guard. This soldier's decision to refuse orders put him at great risk, especially because he's in Iraq, isolated from legal assistance and other support. The following is a message that Eli sent yesterday to a friend back home:
"I have told them that I will no longer play a 'combat role' in this confllict or 'protect corporate representatives,' and they have taken this as 'violating a direct order.' I may bein jail or worse in the next 24 hours. Please rally whoever you can, call whoever you can, bring as much attention to this as you can. I have no doubt that the military will bury me and hide the whole situation if they can. I'm in big trouble. I'm in the middle of Iraq, surrounded by people who are not on my side. Please help me. Please contact whoever you can, and tell them who I am, so I don't 'disappear'."
Eli is taking an incredible risk by refusing orders in Iraq and will most likely be court martialed. Please help him by contacting his Senator and requesting that he take any steps necessary to support and protect this soldier and ensure that the Army respects his rights and does not illegally retaliate against him.
Senator Mitch McConnell:
Washington Office
361-A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2541
Fax: (202) 224-2499
The movement of resistance within the US military grows and includes Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Augstin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty 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, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
And resistance is going on everywhere -- around the world. Turning to England, where the mother of a British soldier serving in Iraq has issued a public message to Gordon Brown (Tony Blair is expected to step down next Wednesday -- June 27th -- and Gordon Brown would then become prime minister of the UK). Lily Walker states (via Great Britain's Socialist Worker), "My message to Gordon Brown is that we must get the troops home now. My son is a serving soldier just back from Iraq. I am not a pacisfist, but I am against what is happening in Iraq -- the illegality and the lies. None of the troops enlisted to fight for a lie. I won't sit back and be quiet about what is happening in Iraq. I live in Tameside, just outside Manchester, and I have been calling on people to come to the demonstration on Sunday 24 June. Together we can make a difference. Tony Blair has let people down. It remains to be seen what Gordon Brown will do." Lily Walker is a member of Military Families Against the War and the demonstration this coming Sunday is "Gordon Brown's coronation as Tony Blair's successor" in Manchester (starting at noon at St. Peters Square, more information by clicking here).
Turning to the United States, June 13th, Amy Goodman (writing at Truthdig) reported on Voices in Conflit -- the Wilton High School production kicked off school property because the principal didn't want a play about Iraq; not only that, didn't want discussions about Iraq in any class; and quoted student Jimmy Presson stating, "We are not allowed to talk about the war while discussing current events." Today, Goodman (Democracy Now!) spoke with Presson, student Courtney Stack, Bonnie Dickinson (director of Voices in Conflict) and Iraq Veterans Against the War's Charlie Anderson about the experience and the NYC off-broadway performances of their play. Goodman questioned Presson about the ban on Iraq in his high school:
AMY GOODMAN: Jimmy, how often do you get to talk about war at school?
JIMMY PRESSON: We very rarely to never talk about the war through the curriculum. In classes in which we discuss current events, we are required to not bring in current events that relate to the war.
AMY GOODMAN: Wait, what do you mean? What about social studies or history?
JIMMY PRESSON: In history classes, the current events that we bring in are -- we've been instructed to have the articles be unrelated to the war.
AMY GOODMAN: You're not allowed to talk about war in your history class?
JIMMY PRESSON: We're not allowed to talk about the war.
AMY GOODMAN: Why?
JIMMY PRESSON: Because it's too controversial, I guess. Because they don't want kids arguing in class.
AMY GOODMAN: Is there any class that you can talk about it?
JIMMY PRESSON: We can talk about it a little bit in Middle Eastern studies, a little bit, but it's not even that much in that class.
BONNIE DICKINSON: That class is not offered.
JIMMY PRESSON: Every year. It's only offered every other year.
AMY GOODMAN: So this past year, it wasn't offered?
JIMMY PRESSON: It was not offered this past year.
AMY GOODMAN: So the only class to discuss this was in drama?
JIMMY PRESSON: Yeah.
A war is ongoing, it passed the four year mark in March and a high school thinks it's a topic to be banned? Let's all pretend it's not going on and it won't be? Is that the 'plan'? It's certainly not education. Presson portrays Charlie Anderson in the play and Anderson gave the play and Presson high marks. Some attempted to silence the students -- they did not succeed.
"It's really simple," Dr. Dahlia Wasfi says, "You bring the troops home, they stop dying there." Wasfi speaks with James Harris and Robert Scheer (Truthdig -- transcript and audio at the link) and addresses the Salvadorian model utilized in Iraq to create divisions and a number of other topics including nothing that "first and foremost, there's no security now. People used to stay out to the late hours, having a social life, meeting at the tea cafes, coffee cafes. From the days of the invasion, 'Everybody inside by 6 o'clock!' Because it was out responsibility, American forces' responsibility, to establish law and order, and we faield miserably. In addition, the infrastructure continues to deteriorate. The services, as has been documented by the U.S. Government Accounting Office, even in 2004, the services had already deteriorated to be worse than under Saddam Hussein. So you have a population whose government, the puppet government in the Green Zone, is not providing security, is not providing electricity, is not providing potable water. What are they doing? They're working on oil laws that will privatize Iraq's oil and give up ownership to foreign companies. Unless you have a government in place that will serve the people, it will not last. If you need a military force to maintain a government in power, what does that tell you?"
Meanwhile, the US Congress is gearing up for it's summer break which will begin August 6th. Jeff Lays (CounterPunch) notes that is also the kick off of the Occupation Project, "a reinvigorated campaign of sustained noviolent civil disobedience/civil resistance to end Iraq war funding" and but before that takes place, there is an ongoing action lasting "[t]hrough the end of July, Grassroots America for Us is organizing the Swarm on Congress, intensive and extensive lobbying on Capitol Hill." Kevin Zeese (writing at Grassroots for America) notes, "The 'SWARM' will build on the successful efforts of activists in DC and around the country who have been occupying offices, protesting in the Halls of Congress and sending a consistent message. It will build on the Occupation Project, Voices for Creative Non-Violence, and the Declaration of Peace as well as the works of Code Pink and our Maryland peace coalition. Already, key anti-war groups are supporting this effort including United For Peace and Justice and Voters For Peace, among others."
As pressure is brought to bear on Congress, US Senator and Democratic presidential nominee hopeful Hillary Clinton's speech yesterday is getting attention. Matthew Rothschild (The Progressive) observes that after winning over some of the crowd mid-speech "then she got into trouble by returning to the topic of the Iraq war. First, she tried to align herself with the crowd. 'We need to end the war in Iraq and finally bring our troops home,' she said. 'I voted against the supplemental.' She also said that the United States has no reason to be a part of the sectarian war there. But she blamed the Iraqis for the mess. 'The American military has succeeded,' she said. 'It is the Iraqi government that has failed to make the tough decisions.' This brought the boo birds out in force, with the Code Pink contingent holding up signs saying 'Lead Us Out of Iraq Now!'" David Swanson (AfterDowning Street) also reports "loud booing" and concludes with this: "Clinton never mentioned the point Ted Koppel reported last week and Bill Richardson raised here yesterday that she intends to have the occupation of Iraq still going at the end of her second term, should she be elected."
Susan J. Douglas (In These Times) explores the contradiction in Clinton's campaign and whom the core voters would be expected to be.
In Iraq, the death toll from yesterday's truck bombing in Baghdad continues to rise. 78 was the count yesterday. AP, Reuters, CNN and Al Jazeera report that the death toll has now climbed to 87 and CNN notes the tally for wounded stands at 214. Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) quotes Abu Muhammed ("one of the custodians of the bombed mosque") stating, "The Americans know everything, they can do everything, they can repair the space shuttle without touching it, why do they let these things happen here in Iraq? We think the Americans want these things to happen in Iraq, to keep things like this."
Meanwhile, the offensive in the Diyala province continues. The New York Times' imploded star, War Pornographer Michael Gordon, is allowed to soil the front page with his War-On drippings this morning in an alleged "military analysis" which fails to offer any analysis but does provide much rah-rah-rah Operation Happy Talk. Gordo fails to note what Damien McElroy (Telegraph of London) can: "The offensive has seen the revival of a tactic rarely used since the Vietnam war: air assaults by troops dropped into fighting zones by helicopter." Gordo gets all giddy over the detention of Iraqis noting that "the goal is to capture or kill" alleged 'insurgents' (an elastic term which can include any Iraqi opposed to the illegal military occupation of Iraq) and so much blood rushes to Gordo's nether regions he fails to wonder how many people are already imprisoned in Iraq? 20,000 is the figure for Iraqis currently imprisoned (not counting imprisoned at secret sites off the books) with 8,000 of those having been held for more than one year (via Socialist Worker compiling figures from UNHCR, UN, World Vision, Brookings Institution and Global Poverty Forum to present "Iraq in figures"). Gordo's also so busy with both hands digging in his pants (apparently in search of something very small) that he gets Falluja wrong (only women and boys thought to be under 12 years old were allowed to leave when that city was under attack), that he minimizes the death of a US service member when a Bradley is attacked ("What made the loss of the Bradley particularly worrisome is that the exposion occurred in a heavily trafficked area" -- actually, the family and friends of the dead service member would probably argue that the death itself was "particularly worrisome" and much more) and tries to slap some life into his libido with this, "American forces have already fired more than 20 satellite-guided rockets intwo western Baquba. . . . Warplanes have also dropped satellite-guided bombs on suspected roadside bombs and a wapons cache, which produced spectacular secondary expolsions after it was struck." And presumably an unspectacular one in the front of Gordo's pants which would explain why 20 satellite-guided rockets and multiple bombs being dropped in a civilian area does nothing to prevent from Gordo from getting off on the blood bath.
Gordo also fails to point out what Phil Ittner (CBS News) does, house to house searches are going on in Baquba -- read Gordo in vain for any mention of that. CBS and AP also report gun battles in the city.
In Iraq today . . .
Bombings?
The mosque bombings go on. CBS and AP report: "In a renewed blow to stability Wednesday, suspected Shiite militans blew up three Sunni mosques south of Baghdad, causing heavy damage but no casualties. The bombings were apparently revenge strikes for a suicide truck bombing a day before that badly damaged an important Shiite mosque in the heart of the capital." Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing that killed 1 person (3 wounded) and a Baghdad mortar attack that injured 3 people. Reuters reports a Ramadi car bombing that claimed the lives of 5 police officers (12 more injured) and a Baquba mortar attack that claimed the lives of 2 children and 3 women (8 people were injured).
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Ali Kadhim Jwad Allaw was shot dead in Baghdad -- he had been "the general director of the Iraq American contracts company" and 7 police officers were shot dead in Khalis. Reuters notes that "a police major" was shot dead in Aziziya.
Corpses?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 29 coprses discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes 2 corpses ("a young woman and a man") were discovered in Kut.
Today, the UK's Ministry of Defence announced: "It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm the death of a soldier from the 4th Battalion The Rifles in Basra City today, Wednesday 20 June 2007." This death brings to 152 the total number of UK soldiers killed while serving in the illegal war.
Late yesterday, the US military announced the deaths of three more US soldiers. They announced: "A Task Force Marne Soldier was killed and three were wounded when their patrol was struck by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad Monday." And they announced: " One Task Force Lightning Soldier died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion near his vehicle while conducting operations in Diyala Province June 19." And they announced: "A Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier was killed when a patrol was attacked with small arms fire during combat operations in an eastern section of the Iraqi capital June 18." These three deaths bring the ICCC count to 3531 US troops have died in the illegal war since it began with 54 of those deaths being in the month of June.
This as Martin Fletcher (Times of London) journeys to Fort Hood (Texas) to report on conditions there and is told by Major Ben Phillips that between "15 to 30 per cent of soldiers are returning from Iraq with psychological problems -- mostly posttraumatic stress disorder and a condition known as traumatic brain injury, a bruising of the brain caused by explosions. He says that a soldier's vulnerability to psychological disorders increases with each deployment, and he was now seeing soldiers who had served in Iraq four or five times. . . . Asked whether soldiers were returning to Iraq before they were fully recovered, he equivocates. 'Our goal is to ensure everybody is ready to go back.' As the Smith Middle School, on Fort Hood's Tank Destroyer Boulevard, 70 per cent of the 500 pupils have a parent serving in Iraq and five had one killed."
Yesterday on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, Rehm spoke with Anne Hull and Dana Priest of the Washington Post about their reporting on the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Hulle: When we started our reporting last fall, many of the soldiers we dealt with had physical wounds but many also had signs of post-traumatic-stress -- if not disorder then heavy symptoms of post-traumatic-stress -- and it just became the next natural step to explore. A lot of these soldiers weren't getting psychological help they needed. Our original reporting focused at Walter Reed and, even there, at the country's top hospital, we noticed they weren't getting enough help.
Hull noted that the official figures currently are 18% for marines and 20% for soldiers and 25% army and Priest commented that in the last five years the army has diagnosed 27,000 service members with PTSD the VA has "treated 45,000 people from Iraq and Afghanistan largely who believe they have PTSD." Priest and Hull's reporting (and Bob Woodruff's for ABC and others as well) has resulted in the departures of the follow: Major Generarl George W. Weightman, Lt. General Kevin C. Kiley and Francis J. Harvey who had been the Secretary of the Army. In other Iraq and Washington Post news, Ben Hoyle (Times of London) notes Rajiv Chandrasekaran's Imperial Life in the Emerald City -- an inside look at the Green Zone -- has been awarded the Samuel Johnson Prize. Michael, who had just returned from serving in Afghanistan weeks ago, called in to Rehm's show and spoke of needing help but most of all needing someone to talk to. 1-800-984-8523 is the toll free number the US military has set up in the wake of the Walter Reed scandals and it is a toll free number that is supposed to be staffed from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm EST, Monday through Friday. The military expert, Col. E. Cameron Ritchie, brought on the show failed to give that number out. She did speak of a toll free number where counseling could be provided and referred people to the Army Behavioral Health website which is a mess, a waste of time and refers you to crappy things you can print out such as "Two-page Tri-fold Brochure"s. If there is a counseling number for service members, let's be really damn clear here, the US military needs to have it displayed on the front page of the website. Otherwise it's a bunch of b.s. created to sound like the military's addressed the situation when, in reality, they have done nothing. It should also be noted, Ritchie appeared on Rehm's show yesterday and this 'wonderful' website was last updated? March 29, 2007. Ritchie needs to quit kidding that this website's offering anything other than sop and needs to get off her ass and get someone post to the counseling number at the top of the main page or else she needs to quit thinking she's fooling anyone.
And no one's being fooled that the US military 'cares' when the wife of a service member is threatened with expulsion from the United States. Since May 12th, following an attack, Byron W. Fouty and Alex R. Jimenez were missing assumed captured. They remain classified as missing. Dominican Today reports that Yaderlin Hiraldo, the wife of Alex Jimenez, is being threatened with deportation back to the Dominican Republic and "Hiraldo's green card processing was stopped by an immigration judge when her husband went missing, and the government has so far refused to grant a so-called hardship waiver that would allow her to stay in the country." Her attorney, Matthew Kolken, tells the AP: "I can't imagine a bigger injustice than that, to be deporting someone's wife who is fighting and possibly dying for our country." To repeat, the woman's husband is missing in Iraq and now, on top of that, the US government thinks "helpful" is informing that her citizenship might not go through and they may be returning her to the Dominican Republic. CBS and AP feature a photo of the couple and notes that US Senator John Kerry "has asked federal immigration officials not to deport Hiraldo" writing Michel Chertoff (head of 'Homeland Security'): "Under no condition should our country ever deport the spouse of a soldier who is currently serving in uniform abroad. I feel even more strongly in this case, given the terrible uncertainty surrounding Army Specialist Alex Jimenez."
Returning to the topic of PTSD, Robin Wright (Washington Post) reports that Steven Kashkett (American Foreign Service Association) testified to Congress Tuesday that appoximately "40 percent of State Department diplomats who have served in danger zones suffer some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder". Following that testimony, it's now been made public that US Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker sent a memo to Condi Rice (US Secretary of State) where Crocker notes, "In essence, the issue is whether we are a Department and a service at war. If we are, we need to organize and prioritize in a way that reflects this, something we have not done thus far." Richard Beeston (Times of London) terms the memo "blunt" and feels it will "cause consternation" for those wanting "America to reduce, not expand, its presence in Iraq." Crocker's arguing for the diplomatic service to be intensified and out beyond the Green Zone.
iraq
adam kokesh
iraq veterans against the warbuzzflash
mcclatchy newspapers
the washington post
dana priestanne hull
the new york timesalissa j. rubin
david swanson
matthew rothschild
susan j. douglas
amy goodmandemocracy now
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