The road

I'm going to be very brief tonight. In part because I'm watching Rebecca's baby while she blogs. Be sure to read her tonight. C.I. had a thing in the snapshot, a one liner, that got pulled because C.I. wasn't sure if it might offend a community member or not?

Rebecca said, "Every one will get that it's a joke. Leave it in. It's funny." But C.I. didn't want to risk upsetting anyone. Those are things that the rest of us never worry about. We just speak for ourselves. C.I. has to speak for an entire community.

So Rebecca's grabbing that scrap (with permission) tonight and it should be a lively post. She'll be adding to it and making it her own.

I love having Rebecca (and Flyboy and their baby) on the road with us. Ava and C.I. are great but they're on superdrive or something. Nothing stops them.

I've seen them puking moments (not "minutes") before they had to face a crowd, watched them toss a Listerine strip in their mouths and just keep going. I've seen them about to fall over in the car because they were so tired but face a crowd minutes later with so much energy that you wouldn't believe they hadn't had 8 hours sleep the night before (more often it's less than 5 hours of sleep -- in fact 5 hours of sleep for them these days is a luxury).

And it's great and it's wonderful but it can leave me feeling Slug Bug Yellow wondering, "How do they do it?" Followed by, "Why can't I?"

And they know what they're going to say. Always. They may not know how they're going to word it but nothing throws them. A question comes up and they're ready -- even if it's nothing they've ever been asked before, even if it's nothing most of us would have ever thought of. They're just so good and so able to turn it "on" when it's needed. If I'm sick on the road, I'm lagging in the speaking. I'll say, "Sorry, I'm sick." And no one ever says, "You bore us! Get off the stage!" But when those two are sick (and they've had the worst time getting over this cold), it never shows when they're in front of people.

And we can all be in the car and even they'll say, "Thank goodness this is the last one tonight." And yet, someone will say they have a group or wish a group of their friends had heard it and Ava and C.I. will say, "What about right now? Could you pull them together on short notice?" And it's always yes and they're always willing to go on and on and on. They really are amazing and gifted.

But it can leave me feeling way, way behind. So along comes Rebecca, with the normal human limitations, and I'm so happy she's on the road.

This is "As West Virginia Takes Center Stage, Clinton Campaign Ramps Up Statewide Get Out The Vote Effort" (HillaryClinton.com):

Charleston, WV) - All eyes are on West Virginia as the Mountain State takes center stage in the Democratic presidential primary. West Virginia leaders and Clinton campaign volunteers will be out in full force tomorrow, urging West Virginians to make their voice heard by Early Voting.

"If there was ever a critical time to vote in a primary election, this is it. The eyes of the world are watching to see what West Virginia voters will do. The Mountain State has made the difference in choosing a President before and we can do it again by supporting Hillary Clinton," said Kent Carper, President of the Kanawha County Commission.

Former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton will also campaign in the Mountain State tomorrow, attending an "Our Economy, Our Future" event at Shepherd University. Sen. Hillary Clinton will campaign in Charleston on Thursday with a "Solutions for America" Rally at the West Virginia State Capitol.

"West Virginia is ready to go. This is a competitive race and every vote makes a difference. We are working hard to turn our strong support for Hillary Clinton in Early Vote and in the upcoming primary," said House Delegate Bob Tabb (56th District).

Elected leaders from across the Mountain States are joining volunteers in knocking on doors, making calls, and holding visibilities to get out the vote for Hillary.

"Hillary Clinton has shown a strong commitment to our state and an understanding of the issues affecting the everyday lives of West Virginians. Now it is time to make our voice heard for Hillary Clinton," said Mayor of Hinton Cleo Mathews, who is holding a "Honk and Wave" tomorrow in Hinton.

The West Virginia Veterans for Hillary Steering Committee is also organizing veterans across the state to get out the vote for Clinton.

"Hillary Clinton stands up and delivers for veterans and military families. I am proud to be working with veterans across the state to get out the vote for Hillary," said John Clarke, a member of the West Virginia for Hillary Steering Committee.

Get Out the Vote Activities Wednesday, May 7, 2008 include:

7 a.m. - Honk and Wave with Mayor Cleo Mathews - HINTON
Intersection of 2nd Avenue and Temple Street
Hinton, WV 25951

7:30 a.m. Honk and Wave - MORGANTOWN
County Courthouse Courtyard at High Street & Spruce Street
Morgantown, WV 26505

7:30 a.m. Honk and Wave - CHARLESTON
Washington Street West & Pennsylvania Street
Charleston, WV 25302

7:30 a.m. Honk and Wave - MARTINSBURG
King St. & Queen St
Martinsburg, WV 25401


7:30 a.m. Honk and Wave - LEWISBURG
Intersection of US 219 & US 60
Lewisburg, WV 24901

7:30 a.m. Honk and Wave - FAIRMONT
Fairmont St & 10th Street
Fairmont, WV 26554

4:30 p.m. "Honk and Wave" - KANAWHA CITY
35 Street Bridge
Charleston, WV 25311

6 p.m. Wheeling for Hillary Headquarters Open House - WHEELING
62 12th Street
Wheeling, WV 26003

6 p.m. Women for Hillary Phone Bank - FAIRMONT
Fairmont for Hillary Headquarters
312 Adams Street
Fairmont, WV 26554

6:30 p.m. Women for Hillary Phone Bank and Sign-Making Party - CHARLESTON
Charleston Headquarters
191 Summers Street
Charleston, WV 25301

And I'm so glad that Hillary didn't drop out. She shouldn't. She won Indiana last night! But with the way the press was acting this morning, I was worried. I asked C.I. and C.I. said there was no way Hillary was getting out today. I wanted so to believe that but I had my doubts because the press was treating her win like it didn't happen. I am so thrilled she's still in the race. She is the only nominee who can carry the Democrats to victory in November.

Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Wednesday May 7, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces deaths, Congress' hearing on veterans' suicide gets little attention from the media, and more.

Starting with war resistance. Chris Kirby (Oklahoma's Pioneer Online) notes that Ann Wright recently spoke on campus and explained, "Hundreds of soldiers are going AWOL (absent without leave) because they don't agree with the way that the war in Iraq is being handled. Instead of court-martialing all of these soldiers who are going AWOL, it is easier and faster for the government to just give them a dishonorable discharge." Wright is both retired State Dept and retired military (Army Col.) and she is also the co-author with Susan Dixon of DISSENT: Voices of Conscience.
Wright has traveled extensively getting the word out and that includes getting the word out on war resisters and speaking with them. She's recently been of assistance to James Burmeister who has returned from Canada. In Canada, war resisters are hoping the Parliament will take action on a motion waiting to be debated. Currently, you can utilize the following e-mails to show your support: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (http://us.f366.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (http://us.f366.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (http://us.f366.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. In addition Jack Layton, NDP leader, has a contact form and they would like to hear from people as well. A few more addresses can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).


Yesterday's snapshot addressed Tuesday's House Committee on Veterans' Affairs hearing entitled "The Truth About Veterans' Suicides." But the hearing received little coverage. You can read Lisa Mascaro (Las Vegas Sun), Kimberly Hefling (AP), Afani Ruzik, Ben Bauman and Stefanie Sloan (KTKA -- text and video), Lisa Desjardins (CNN) and CBS News. And that was really it. More have filed since earlier this month but that was it for this morning, the morning after the hearing.

The hearing started with the broadcast of CBS News' reports (Armen Keteyian reporting, Pia Malbran producing) here and here and then US House Rep Steve Buyer worried how this would look in the record? A transcript of the clips, a website, how? "This is a first," Buyer stated, "that we actually watch a news program. And uh-uh . . . I'm willing to work with the chairman to do something anew but either we refer to a website whereby individuals could pull down the rec-- could pull that down from the record and actually view the video because that was how it was viewed in the committee. Or do we take a trans-trans-transcribe what was just put in there and put that in there." Buyer wasted time there and wasted time throughout. Surprisingly Panhandle Media didn't leap on one of his statements since they love to insult Real Media: "I want to caution my friends in the fourth branch of government who may be covering this hearing: Please do not refer to suicide as an 'epidemic' without saying that treatment is available." No, the press is not "the fourth branch of government." It is supposed to be independent of the government. And suicide is an epidemic among veterans, no matter how Buyer wants to spin it (he's Republican) or how much he wants to pretend that veterans are looking for copy-cat things to do. (That opinion, which he expressed, is very insulting. But he didn't care about insulting veterans, only in attempting to clamp down on the story. Judging by the lack of coverage of yesterday's hearing, he succeeded.)

The topic of the hearing itself was, as Chair Bob Filner noted, "A matter of life and death. A matter of life and death for the veterans that we are responsible for. And I think there's criminal negiligence in the way this was handled." How was suicide handled? The Dept of Veterans Affairs elected fudge and hide the numbers and provided little (being extremely generous) aid to those veterans at risk of committing suicide. Filner connected the cover up to earlier ones such as Agent Orange. "Deny, deny, deny," declared Filner of the pattern. "Then when facts seemingly . . . come to disagree with the denial, you cover up. When the cover up falls apart, you admit a little bit of the problem and underplay it. 'It's only a few people, only a thousand veterans got exposed to that gas. Agent Orange wasn't done very well. Atomic testing, well -- nobody knew what was going on.' And then finally, maybe, you admit it's a problem, way after the fact, try to come to grips with it. We've seen it again and again and again."

Filner pointed out that the VA was reducing it to "numbers, numbers, as if that's all, it's just a sort of bureacratic situation. This is not a bureacratic situation with just numbers. This is a matter of life and death. A matter of life and death for the veterans that we are responsible for. And I think there's criminal negligence in the way this was handled.
If we do not admit, if we do not assume, if we do not know what the problem is then the problem will continue and people die. If that's not criminal negligence, I don't know what is."

Filner reminded the Secretary of the Dept of Veterans Affairs James Peake that they spoke after Peake was confirmed (December 14, 2007) and Filner asked him then if he was going to just try to tide the current administration over for a year or "do something real and have a legacy to look at?" The answer now is that there is a bueracratic coverup and Filner noted that Dr. Michael J. Kusman, the Under Secretary of the VA, wasn't even present despite being mentioned in the e-mails "and he ought to be here."

Where is accountablity? Filner wanted to know if any resignations are being asked for, if there would be any "accountability for what has gone on here?" Filner noted that Peake's perpared statement just offers "bureacratic details". US Rep John Hall used his time to question the fact that veterans seeking help are shuffled around as opposed to meeting with the same provider and forming some sort of bond as well as by noting that the thirty minute 'treatment' periods are ridiculous in terms of therapy ("just about enough time to get started"). US House Rep Phil Hare Mike and Kim Bowman of Illionis whose son Timothy Bowman committed suicide: "They are rightly outraged and angry that from their perspective, the VA didn't do more to help their son." Timothy Bowman returned from serving in Iraq and killed himself nine months after returning from Iraq, in November of 2005. His father told the Committee in December:


As my family was preparing for a 2005 Thanksgiving meal, our son Timothy was lying on the floor, slowly bleeding to death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His war was now over, his demons were gone. Tim was laid to rest in a combination military, firefighter funeral that was a tribute to the man he was. . . . Today you are going to hear a lot of statistical information about sucide, Veterans, and the VA. But keep one thing in mind, our son, Specialist Timothy Noble Bowman, was not counted in any VA statistics of any kind. He had not made it into the VA system because of the stigma of reporting mental problems, he was National Guard, and he was not on a drill weekend when he took his life. The only stastical studay that he was counted in was the CBS study. And there are many more just like him. We call them KBA's, killed because of action. The unkown fallen.

Hare called for universal screenings. And also wondered "how we reach out to those rural veterans" who do not live in close proximity to a VA hospital. Remember the suicide coordinators are only at the 153 VA hospitals, not at the 875 VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinics. Dr. Ronald Maris pointed this out yesterday and told the committee, "Thus the vast majority of VA facilities in fact do not have suicide coordinators." Rep Harry Mitchell noted that the Dept of Veterans Affairs was "not keeping track" of veterans' suicides nationally and:

in December we had a hearing to find out why and Mr. Chairman, I don't know if there was anyone here who attended that hearing and will ever forget it. Mr. Hare mentioned that we heard from Mike and Kim Bowman whose twenty-three-year-old son Tim survived a year of duty in Iraq only to come home to take his own life. Mr. Bowman warned us that our troops were coming home to an underfunded, understaffed, under-equipped VA medical health care system that imposes so many challenges that many are just giving up and so when Dr. Katz insisted at that hearing repeatedly that the VA had all the necessary resources to reach all veterans at risk for suicide and make special treatment available to them I was skeptical. How could Dr. Katz be so sure that there weren't any requests for addtional resources sitting somewhere within the vast VA system that have gone unfulfilled? Was he absolutely certain that there were no pending requests for an additional mental health counselor, for extra gas money to enable a VA employee to drive somewhere to contact an outreach? As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversights and Investigations, I felt I had a responsibility to make sure. So I asked the VA to double check. I asked them to take a look at their records and send us any documents relating to any requests for additional resources that have gone unfulfilled or underfilled. My thought was, "If we can find out what the VA needs are to address this problem, we could get to work and make sure that they got it." More than four months later, however, all I've gotten are excuses, complaints and, most recently, a suggestion that I, quote, "Go file a Freedom of Information Act Request." That's not just an insult to me, it's an insult to this committee and to our veterans. I've tried to be reasonable. I've tried to work with Secretary Peake's office but, Mr. Chairman, my patience is at an end. I've given the Department until Friday to finally produce the documents I've requested. If they do not, Mr. Chairman, I want you to know that I will be asking you to pursue a subpoena.

Telling a member of Congress conducting official business to file a freedome of information request is an insult and it's ignoring the separation of powers set up in the Constitution. Yesterday Thomas Ferraro (Reuters) reported that a subpoena has been authorized by the House's Judiciary Committee for David Addington, Dick Cheney's chief of staff, regarding interrogation policies approved by the White House. One would have assumed that Mitchell's comments would have either rated a stand-alone story or been piggy-backed onto that story but instead they've been largely ignored by the press. It should be noted that in December the VA's Ira Katz gave prepared remarks that were pretty much the same as what James Peake provided yesterday.

After Peake read his prepared statement full of figures and charts, Filner pointed out "We can't do our job if you are not honest with us."

Bob Filner: We're not doing the job. I don't care what your figures show. We have tens of thousands of young people getting out of the military or the guard who have not been adequately diagnosed for either PTSD or brain injury. Every one of your statistics says, 'Those who have come to us,' you know, which is a small fraction of who is out there. So we are not doing the job and we can't do our job, if you are not honest with us. And as I said before in my opening statement, we only came into possession of certain e-mails -- I don't know how many there are out there, but we only have a few -- brought to the public by discovery in a legal case out on the West Coast. So three days after the hearing in which Mr. [Katz], we asked directly, Mr. Mitchell just said it, we asked Dr. Katz, "Do you need any help from us? What resources do you need?" And he said, "No, we've got it taken care of. And here's our statistics and CBS was wrong and you guys shouldn't worry about this." Three days after that, Dr. Kussman writes to Mr. Katz and others that . . . 'in the clips this morning' -- I don't know if this is from home or work, but you're all working Saturday, that's good -- '18 veterans kill themselves every day. That's what CBS report said. Sounds awful but let's not worry too much if you're considering 24 million veterans.' Even in the first e-mail we have, I don't know how many there are, no one is saying 'We're not doing the job here.' There saying, 'Oh, does this sound good? Does this sound bad?' And Dr. Katz says, 'Yes, there are 18 suicides. Is this supported by the CBS numbers?" Now Dr. Katz, this contradicts what you told us in the hearing three days earlier. Why didn't you just call us up or ask for another hearing and say, 'You know, we're looking at things differently, I misspoke, I want to talk to you some more about the stastics.' This looks like a cover up because you didn't tell us anything. . . . And this is contradictory to what you said under oath to our committee. Why should not either . . . go to court for perjury or resign because you didn't tell us the truth? Dr. Katz, I'm asking you. You keep looking at him, but I'm asking you.

Ira Katz: Thank you for asking. In response to a question from Mr. Mitchell in the December 12th hearing, I and my colleague, Dr. Fred Blow, who accompanied me to the hearing, did mention the eighteen a day for suicides among all veterans. We mentioned the four-to-five a day of suicides among those we cared for in VHA health care services. When I asked him to, Dr. Blow mentioned the fact that overall veterans had a rate suicide of about 1.5 times that of age and sex matched individuals from the general population and he mentioned the fact that among women the ratio of suicide among veterans in our system to the general population was about two. That was mentioned in the hearing on December 12th. There was no cover up. This was mentioned --

Bob Filner: Did you not, did you not say -- and we saw the clips -- did you not say that CBS data was wrong?

Ira Katz: I was not referring to the entire data but the subset of data dealing with the youngest of veterans.

Bob Filner: (chuckeling) So the "Mission Accomplished" should have said "Mission Accomplished Only By Those Sailors Who Are Aboard This Ship In Those Two Days"? We didn't see the fine print? We asked you several times and you said several times that the CBS data was wrong and you never made any qualification of that as far as I can remember. Your story was 'they were wrong.' And you didn't need any help either to deal with this issue. Is that right? You were fine. Why do you keep looking at him? I'm asking you.

Ira Katz: Sir, I did speak about the suicide rates among veterans on December 12th and I continue to have concerns about the CBS reports about rates and standard mortality ratio or ratios among the youngest veterans. I wish they would present their data so we could review it.

Bob Filner: Yeah but you're in charge. They're just reporting. They asked for all of this data and you never gave it to them so they spent six months tryng to find stuff that, Dr. Peake, you said 'We don't have as the VA.' Well they went out and found it. So I assume someone can go out and find it if you thought it was important enough.

James Peake: Mr. Chairman, if I may, I don't disagree with your premise that somebody should be able to go out and find it. We -- they did not provide it to us. Even though we asked so we have now gone out and asked for the same information and I'm very anxious to see what actually came back. We, as I tried to explain, we are using the data from the national sources which is the gold standard that any responsible uhm statistician would be able to use for this. I will tell you that I am worried that suicide in general in this nation is under-reported. Not just in the military. Not just in the VA --

Bob Filner: Well don't start that red herring. We're talking about veterans right now so don't tell me 'well the whole of society is screwed up.' We're going to do this job. On the December 12th data, you don't see any difference, Dr. Katz, between what you told us then and what you said a few days later? You say your consistent?

Ira Katz: Again, the issue is the eighteen a day, the four to five a day, the ratios of 1.5 and 2.0 and those were provided at the December 12th hearing in response to a question by Mr. Mitchell.

Bob Filner: Let me ask on the February 13th e-mails. As we read them, I mean, first you say in one of them "Sh!" -- what did you mean by that, by the way?

Ira Katz: That was very unfortunate.

Bob Filner: Yes, it was.

Ira Katz: I think the e-mail has to be divided into the subject line and the content. I deeply regret the subject line. It was an error and I apologize for that. However, the content of the e-mail, the body of the e-mail, reflects an appropriate and healthy dialogue among members of VA staff about when it's appropriate to disclose and make public information early in the process of developing --

Bob Filner: No, no, an appropriate thing would say 'We're not sure this data . . . We'll study it further. Maybe we should inform the committee." But what you say, "Is this something we should carefully address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?" I mean, that's what you're concerned about, not the suicides, but someone stumbling upon this data.

Ira Katz: No, sir. I'm concerned about saving lives.

Bob Filner: Well but that's not what you suggest here [in the e-mail]

Ira Katz: Sir, that e-mail was in poor tone but the content was a dialogue about what we should do with new information.

Bob Filner: And did you tell Dr. Peake about all of this? About the new data or what this 1000 attempts per day --

Ira Katz: The purpose of that e-mail was to open extensive dialogue within VHA about this emerging data.

Bob Filner: I mean, did you tell Dr. Peake about that, you were showing 1,000 suicide attempts per month?

Ira Katz: I reported it to VHA senior leadership.

Bob Filner: That's not what we have in the e-mails. We just have you talking to the PR guy.

Ira Katz: We were opening a dialogue about what to do with the new information.

Bob Filner: Yeah and the first thing you do is talk to your public relations guy instead of somebody who might know something about how to treat suicide? I mean it seems to me that what you are trying to do is manage the data and not deal with the data.

Ira Katz: Sir, there's been extensive conversation about this with other suicide and mental health people.

Bob Filner: I'm sorry, I didn't --

Ira Katz: There's extensive conversation about the thousand a month with uh-uh other people --

Bob Filner: Not in any information that we have.

Ira Katz: Not in that e-mail, no.

Bob Filner: So you would think that you would tell us about it since we have obviously a concern about it. We're the -- we're the ones that can help get you the money to deal with the issue. It looks to me -- and all I have is what you provided to the court by discovery motions which I assume is as complete as you wanted to be and if you gave us more complete stuff than you probably didn't give enough to the original discovery -- but that your interest is in managing the data as opposed to helping the veteran.

Ira Katz: Sir, earlier at the court in the same hearing I testified under oath about the thousand a month and about knowing about that number was so very important cause that pointed to a thousand people a month where we really could do something to dramatically decrease.

Bob Filner: Why didn't you just write us a letter or come to a meeting or brief us? I mean instead of this kind of managing the data, why didn't you just talk to us about it and say 'We're on it. We're serious. We care about it. We want you to know about it. And we need this much more money or not to do something about it'?

Ira Katz: Dr. Peake spoke to the fact that this wasn't data yet. These were observations in measurements --

Bob Filner: When do you expect that to be real data? Another year? After your term is over? Or what? I mean, it looks like this would never have come to our attention unless there was a court case with discovery. You had never had any intention of talking to us, dealing with the data in an open way, but you were trying to manage it from inside. And who knows when we would have heard about it? Both that court case that got the data and the news media that is looking at this has done a far better job than you have in keeping us informed. I would say.


The court case being referred to started in April. Click here for Bob Egelko (San Francisco Chronicle) reporting on the opening day (text) and here for audio of Aimee Allsion and Aaron Glantz KPFA live coverage from April 22nd. Register that the VA knew what they were turning over in the court case and had ample time to contact Congress in the many weeks (months) since the Feb. 12th e-mails. They did not do so. As Filner noted, the issue was management of the p.r., not assisting veterans.

We may return to the hearing in a later snapshot this week. Again, it did not get the attention it should have. Turning to Iraq, where the assault on Sadr City continues. Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) reports, "Families have begun to leave Sadr City over the past several days, trickling into the grounds of a sports stadium in Baladiat, which is on the western edge of Sadr City. The families, who lived near the front lines of the fighting and the wall being built by the American military to partition the neighborhood, said they had fled because their children were terrified of the bombing. As many as 1,500 families are expected to go to the area in the next few days, said Abu Wa'il, the informal mayor of the refugees who live in the area." Meanwhile Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) traces the ever changing position of the US with regards to Moqtada al-Sadr whom currently the US military brass avoids distinguishing from "the militia in and around Sadr City" and, although dropping the honorific "sayyid" title recently, "the military still insists that Sadr's Mahdi Army is not its main problem, saying it is 'special groups' that have broken away from Sadr's control." At the paper's blog (Baghdad & Beyond), Sumsan elaborates more explaining that the US military had shifted to JAM to refer to them but today "it is difficult to get the military to even utter the word Mahdi Army, much less JAM, during news brieifins. Instead, when discussing the ongoing fighting with militiamen in Shiite neighborhoods, they refer to 'criminal gangs' or 'thugs.' They insist that Sadr's fighters are not being targeted in the fighting that has raged in his stronghold, Sadr City, since Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops launched an offensive against militias -- er, criminal gangs and thugs -- in March." NPR's Day to Day reported today that the Sadr City death toll "has reached more than 1,000" and Tom Bowman explained that "Jalal Talabani, he's the president of Iraq, he sent a letter to Parliament basically saying, let's try to come up with a truce here and one of his suggestions is for the fighters to turn in their medium and heavy weapons. Also he's proposing an amnesty for those who have not killed either Iraqi or American forces." Left unstated was why anyone in Sadr City needs an amnesty? Think about it, Talabani's amnesy does not include anyone who has killed either Iraq or American forces. So who needs an amnesty? Apparently the residents of Sadr City because they have been targeted by the militaries of two countries (the US and Iraq) and they are a civilian population. Apparently Iraqi civilians need to be granted amnesty by Talabani and, until they are, they are all 'worthy' targets.

Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad stick bombing wounded three people, another wounded one person and a Mosul bombing "flattened a policeman's house". Reuters notes a Mussayab oil pipeling bombng that wounded four guards.

Shootings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an armed clash in Nineveh resulted in the deaths of 2 Iraqi soldiers. Reuters notes 1 Iraqi military officer shot dead in al-Numaniya outside his home.

Corpses?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 5 corpses were discovered in Baghdad.

Today the US military announced: "A Multi-National Force -- West Soldier was killed in action against an enemy force while on patrol in Anbar Province May 6." This follows the announcement made late yesterday: "A Multi-National Division -- North soldier was killed from wounds sustained in an insurgent attack against the soldier's patrol in Ninewah Province May 6. One soldier was also wounded in the attack and was taken to a Coalition force hospital for treatment." The announcements brings the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4073.

In other news, Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Iraq's puppet government is no longer willing to play the matchmaker for the US and Iran and quotes Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari declaring, "We believe the conditions should be conducive. In the atmosphere of media attacks . . . and the lack of trust and confidence, I don't think we will succeed in having the fourth round." Meanwhile IRIN reports, "The Iraqi authorities in the self-ruled northern region of Kurdistan are gearing up to face a possible cholera outbreak which last year affected nearly 4,200 people, and caused the deaths of 24 nationwide, a local official said on 6 May."


Turning to US politics. 1972's BIG FAILURE George McGovern -- who stabbed women in the back at the Miami Convention -- wasn't content with undercutting Hillary Clinton's historic run while chatting with Movement types on Democracy Now! back in March, he's now come out and endorsed Barack Obama. The tired, old, sexist fool has switched from Hillary to Barack. So let's revisit the March 11th broadcast of Democracy Now! but since we don't link to trash, we won't link to the program. Ava and I noted it in real time:

For those not old enough to remember, McGovern can't stand up. Never has been able to and many women suffer the war wounds from Miami 1972 to this day when he demonstrated just how craven he could be.So there was McGovern, who endorsed Hillary Clinton for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, gushing over Barack. He would offer excuses that he endorsed early ("Well, I endorsed Hillary last October"). He would say he only endorsed out of friendship. He would claim he couldn't take back an endorsement. In fact, that exchange ran like this:GEORGE McGOVERN: I would stay with Hillary. I don't change my mind on things like this in the middle of the battle. I made the decision to back her, and I'll stay with her. I don't want to be jumping around from one candidate to another. And as I said, we've got two excellent candidates here, both well qualified. And I'll be out campaigning for whichever one wins. Am I ducking your question? Yes. AMY GOODMAN: Why? GEORGE McGOVERN: Because I want to stay with the person I chose six months ago. "I would stay with Hillary," Liar and Loser McGovern declared. "I don't want to be jumping around from one candidate to another." If today's stab in the back surprises you, you never heard the truth about Miami (Amy Goodman certainly never told it) or McGovern's long list of back stabbing moves which most publicly included throwing Thomas Eagleton under the bus after stating he would stand by his running mate. McGovern couldn't stand up in 1972 and he can't stand up today as he zooms closer and closer to 90. What is he? A loser. His margins in the popular vote (he got 38%) would probably echo Barack's should Barack become the nominee. In the Electoral College he got 17 votes and, again, that will probably echo Barack's total should he become the nominee. Most importantly, the loser McGovern getting the nomination created "Democrats For Nixon" and don't be surprised, should McGovern's choice of the moment (Barack) get the nomination if you don't see "Democrats For McCain."

Yesterday Indiana and North Carolina held primaries. Lauren Lafaro (Politcker) shows more sense than most of her peers: "Now that Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have split Indiana and North Carolina, Oregon can be assured that it will receive attention." And that's the reality. One state was won by each. But it's time for all the fringe elements (some of whom are Democrats and many of whom are not) to begin their cry of "Hillary must drop out!" yet again. The candidate just won Indiana. There's no reason to drop out. Neither candidate will end the primary races with enough delegates awarded to have a lock on the nomination. Hillary states: "Today, in every way that I know how, I am expressing my personal determination to keep forging forward in this campaign." That's a fighter. And the campaign's working in West Virginia on getting out the vote which includes dairy farmers Ed King and Roxaina Hurlburt giving their time to the campaign, traveling from their homes in New York, to explain why Hillary's the candidate for farmers and for all Americans. Meanwhile the faux candidate Barack had a faux event and Uppity Woman (No Quarter) provides the photos


iraq
ann wright
lisa mascarofally afani ruzikben baumanstefanie sloanlisa desjardinscbs news
armen keteyianpia malbran
kpfa
iraq veterans against the war
aimeee allisondavid solnit
alissa j. rubinthe new york times
mcclatchy newspapers
leila fadel
the los angeles times
tina susman
npr
day by day

Carly

Staring with Howard Wolfson's "HUBdate: Election Day" (HillaryClinton.com):

Energized: Hillary "had been campaigning for more than 16 hours when she strode onto the stage at Evansville Central High School just before 11 p.m….But Clinton betrayed barely a hint of fatigue as she beamed at a crowd of screaming supporters at the high school. 'This campaign has been a joy,' she said...Clinton has brought a new zeal to the trail in recent weeks that she shows no signs of abandoning." Read more.
By the Numbers: "The latest Ipsos poll conducted over the weekend shows that on the eve of the Indiana and North Carolina primaries, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has taken over the lead in popular support from Democrats nationally (47-40)." Less than two weeks ago, Ipsos showed Sen. Obama leading nationally. Read more.
If You Watch One Thing: "Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton appeared on Monday on the 'Late Show with David Letterman' to deliver the 'Top 10' reasons she loves America, which included the ability to order her trademark pantsuits around the clock on the Internet." Watch here. Read more.
Why I Support Hillary: General Hugh Shelton, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on why he supports Hillary: "We need a president who will end this war honorably...Clinton is the best person for the huge challenge we still face in Iraq...[she] has gotten to know our military during her time as first lady and as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee...She understands the impact of endless commitments on the service families who also serve our country...After five years, we now have the opportunity to bring this war to an honorable end, with Sen. Clinton as our next commander-in-chief." Read more.
Sen. Obama's Attacks Debunked: "Obama is wrong about the gas tax: Think Clinton's plan to suspend the gas tax temporarily is a bad idea? A similar measure in Illinois -- which Obama backed -- seems to have helped consumers." Read more.
"Illuminating, Inspiring" A Charleston Gazette op-ed describes how "Hillary Clinton's performance on the Senate Armed Services Committee demonstrates her deep desire to know everything necessary to lead this country in difficult, even dangerous, times." Read more.
Clinton Is Right For Democrats: The Bend Bulletin endorsed Hillary yesterday: "[S]he is a candidate of proven substance. Even if you discount the value of her eight years as first lady -- which, if nothing else, familiarized her with the position she seeks -- her Senate tenure has been more than twice as long as Obama's... this country would be better off under the leadership of a pragmatic realist than a celebrity politician whose legislative record, such as it is, contradicts his oratory. In any case, she'd probably be more likely than Obama to defeat McCain in November."

Primary results aren't in yet. So I know nothing on that.

I got an e-mail from Taylor, a non-community member, about my Carly Simon review and she or he is as excited by Carly as I am (and a lot of others are as well) so I made a point to write back. It was a brief e-mail, a quick one done during lunch. Also Taylor said I used "Midnight" or "Moonlight" in place of the other. I'm sure Taylor's correct. I'll try to fix that Saturday. It's been a long day and we hit the road at seven tomorrow morning. We just got back (or Rebecca and I did, Ava and C.I. are still speaking). Flyboy's rounding up some food (takeout) nearby. We're going to eat, we're going to wait for the results and try to relax for a little bit before getting some sleep.

Carly speaks with Christian John Wikane for "Saudade: A Conversation with Carly Simon" (PopMatters):

Bette Davis is very important to Carly Simon. “The way she talks is so individual. Nobody can imitate her. If I could imitate her, that’s all I would do with my life,” she laughs. Believe it or not Bette Davis, or more specifically, a movie inhabited by Bette Davis, is an integral part of Carly Simon’s new album, This Kind of Love. So is legendary Brazilian composer, Antonio Carlos Jobim.

The unlikely proximity these two figures share should not surprise anyone familiar with the trajectory that Carly Simon has followed since her debut in 1971. She's covered both Bob Marley and Stephen Sondheim, recorded the first "standards" album of the rock generation, wrote an opera, inspired Janet Jackson, serenaded James Bond, and created one of the longest-standing riddles in popular culture. To call the compass points of Carly Simon’s creativity "multi-directional" would be an understatement. The Brazilian flavor of This Kind of Love is yet another stroke in the Pollock-esque portrait of Carly Simon's career.
There is variety even among the 13 tracks of newly written material, her first such album since The Bedroom Tapes (2000). When Carly Simon challenges me to guess which of the news songs is her favorite, I struggle in the way that guessing someone’s favorite dessert is often a fruitless exercise. How could any one of these exquisite tracks possibly stand out over another, especially when the choices are such a variegated bunch? I answer “Hola Soleil”, thinking its furious explosion of sunshine and samba would naturally bring Simon the ultimate satisfaction as a writer and musician. Though she does love that song, I’m wrong. "People Say a Lot" is the correct answer, but more on that later.

What do you know, Elaine's favorite song is also Carly's favorite. (If it weren't so late, I'd call Elaine. When she told me that, she felt like I was going to disagree. While I love the song, it's not my favorite. Elaine has good taste.) Okay, that's going to be it, Flyboy's back with food and we're starving. (Although I think Rebecca's planning to blog and eat at the same time.)

Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, May 6, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, Jim Moran shows he grasps the VA duties better than those in leadership at the VA do, veterans suicides gets some attention in Congress, Helen Thomas questions Perino and more.

Starting with war resistance. Claudia Parson (Reuters) reports on Iraq Veterans Against the War's Eli Wright who awaits "a medical discharge for post traumatic stress disorder and a shoulder injury" and has added to his tattoo collection "a black paper clip on his right hand." From Different Drummer Cafe, Wright explains, "During Vietnam, guys that were against the war would wear a paper clip on their uniform somewhere, it was a little way for them to identify themselves. It stands for People Against People Ever Re-enlisting -- Civilian Life is Preferred. We decided instead of just ewaring paper clips, we would actually tattoo them, a permanent reminder of our dedication to getting out."

March 14th, Wright testified at IVAW's Winter Soldier on the experience of health care and cautioned veterans, "Don't keep it quiet," demand the health care you've been promised. Vet health care will be a later topic this snapshot but if you missed Winter Soldier you can stream it online at IVAW's Winter Solider page (audio or video). You can also stream audio at War Comes Home, at KPFK, at the Pacifica Radio homepage and at KPFA, here for Friday, here for Saturday, here for Sunday. Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz were the anchors for Pacifica's live coverage. Allison and Glantz also hosted KPFA's live coverage April 22nd on the lawsuit against the Veterans Administration.

In Canada, war resisters are hoping the Parliament will take action on a motion waiting to be debated. Currently, you can utilize the following e-mails to show your support: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (http://us.f366.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (http://us.f366.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (http://us.f366.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. In addition Jack Layton, NDP leader, has a contact form and they would like to hear from people as well. A few more addresses can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

Today the US House Committee on Veterans' Affairs held a hearing entitled "The Truth About Veterans' Suicides." Among those questioned by the committee were the Sec of the Dept of Veterans Affairs James Peake, Deputy Under Secretary for Health, Veterans Health Administration Gerald Cross, the VA's Dr. Iraq Katz, the University of Georgia's Stephen L Rathbun, Texas Tech's M. David Rudd, University of South Carolina's Ronald Maris and, from the Inspector General's office, Dr. Michael Shepherd.

US House Rep Bob Filner chairs the committee and noted in his opening statements, "On December 12, 2007, this Committee held a hearing entitled 'Stopping Suicides: Mental Health Challenges within the Department of Veterans Affairs.' Nearly five months later, we are again holding a hearing on the tragic issue of suicide among our veterans and what the VA is doing to address what is clearly an epidemic. In November of last year, CBS News aired a story entitled 'Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans.' On April 21, 2008, CBS News aired a story 'VA Hid Suicide Risk, Internal E-mails Show.' The first step in addressing a problem is to understand the scope and extent of the problem. In the case of the VA and the epidemic of veteran suicides, either the VA has not adequately attempted to determine the scope of the problem, which is an idictment of the VA's basic competence, or the VA knows the extent of the problem, but has attempted to obfuscate and minimize the problem to veterans, Congress, and the American people, which is an indictment of the leadership of the entire Department. In December, Dr. Katz, in testimony before this Committee, stressed a low-rate veteran suicide, stating that 'from the beginning of the war through the end of 2005 there were 144 known suicides among these new veterans.' In responding to the figures used by CBS, Dr. Katz stated that 'their number for veteran suicides is not, in fact, an accurate reflection of the rates of suicide'."

The reports Filner references were done by CBS Evening News and Armen Keteyian was the reporter and Pia Malbran the producer for both reports. CBS obtained (for the April report) an e-mail (warning PDF format) that Katz had sent out stating that "our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among that veterans we see in our medical facialities" which was considerably higher than the less than a thousand suicides (790) per year that the VA had insisted to CBS was the accurate number. In addition, the e-mail opens with "Sh!" and is entitled "Not for the CBS News interview segment." The e-mail was sent to the VA's chief communications director, Ev Chasen, who replied, "I think this is something we should discuss among ourselves, before issuing a release. Is the fact that we're stopping them good news, or is the sheer number bad news? And is this more than we've ever seen before? It might be something we drop into a general release about suicide prevention efforts, which (as you know far better than I) prominently include training employees to recognize the warning signs of suicide." Kats replies back, "I want to wait until Jan gets back from leave and then plan talking points with her."

Speaking for the VA, Peake attempted to bore the world with a lecture on suicide, its history, its measurements. Well into his opening remarks he admitted something truly appalling that some may miss: "Until VA committed itself last year to providing full time suicide prevention coordinators at each of its 153 hospitals, it could provide no useful number of attempted suicides among patients." Suicide is epidemic for Iraq and Afghanistan wars, no question. But suicide is also a serious isssue for veterans period. That's Vietnam, that's Korea, that's . . . The idea that until 2007 the VA was not staffing each VA hospital with a full time suicide prevention coordinator is appalling. And, as Dr. Ronald Maris would later point out, this is just VA hospitals, it doesn't include the 875 VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinics. Maris noted [paraphrase on at least two words]:

Thus the vast majority of VA facilities in fact do not have suicide coordinators. Several questions remain. What do these coordinators do, exactly? How are they trained to do suicide assement and prevention ? What are their professional credentials and licensing? Who supervises these suicide coordinators? Do suicide coordinators interact directly with suicidal vets in clinical care of the VA? What exactly are they coordinating?

Maris points would come after Peake was done. During his testimony, Peake cited the e-mail CBS got hold of from Katz and attempted to state that due that the lack of full time coordinators (apparently until October) resulted in the data having only been compiled for "three months" which he maintained was "too short a time period to determine if it was reliable." For that reason, Peake stated, "The data was not sent to CBS". He identifes that as one of Katz' "concerns" but that's not in the e-mail. Peake's inventing a cover story after the fact. Katz' e-mails reflect that he does not the want the number getting out. There is nothing about the time period the figures are being pulled from. He then tries to question the numbers themselves stating that people were still learning -- full time suicide prevention coordinators are still learning? On the tax payer dime? Was the VA unable to find qualified people to fill the positions because, if so, that should be the subject of another committee hearing.

He claims that "borderline calls" were being included. Despite his lengthy lecture on sucides at the beginning of his remarks, he didn't define that term. But presumably a "borderline call" would be included by most studying suicide.

Peake needs to resign. He needs to resign effective immediately and the VA needs to apologize. That's for what he then launched into. Peake announced that the VA, as part of their efforts, "intends to ask suicide prevention coordinators for the names of all those in their facility who have attempted suicide." The VA has regularly and repeatedly lost computers, accidentally disclosed private information to the public and a host of other issues. Is Peake such an idiot that he doesn't grasp that his little bit of information will likely result in at least some (possibly many) who need help deciding to forgoe out of fear that they'll be on some list that will follow them around -- follow them around outside of the VA?

Peake then wanted to play with the data (Dr. Stephen L Rathbun's testimony refuted Peake's nonsense so we won't even go into it) and shade the issue before launching into what the VA's doing. What is the VA doing? Not a damn thing to be proud of and a hell of a lot to be ashamed of. Peake spoke of the "two National VA Suicide Prevention Awareness Days" -- one of which piggy-backed on the National Suicide Prevention Awareness Week. The same way that 'their' hotline piggy backs on the National Suicide Hotline (already set up). Peake revealed that callers who press "1" (we went over this before) are immediately taken to a separate call center because they are veterans (no, they are not always taken there) and that they then receive help from "mental health professionals . . . trained in both crisis intervention strategies and in issues" such as PTSD and TBI. He goes on to reveal something else and again this DOES NOT encourage veterans to call. If the veteran has a VA record and gives out his or her information, the 'operator' is pulling up their information and putting "consults in the patient's medical record," etc. That's not how the National Suicide Hotline works. They guarantee confidientiality and since the VA has -- to save money -- piggy-backed on their efforts, they should follow the same system. That they aren't is misleading and hurts veterans as well as the National Suicide Hotline. Is it really the place of some 'operator' to, as Peake says they do, "check patient's records to see if consultations were completed; actions are taken; and follow-ups are ongoing"?

It's past time for the press to stop treating the VA as its own little island. Doctors and counselors working in suicide prevention can tell you (loudly) that the hodge-podge system Peake's speaking of does not encourage those in need to reach out and that, again, it will actually harm the National Sucide Hot Line because people will confuse the two and assume they are being put (with their names) on some national list if they call (I'm referring to civilians). What is the VA doing? Not a damn thing. Peake spoke of posters! Posters! Wow, what is this third grade? And MTV's doing a video! This is a disgrace and the resignations from all in leadership at the VA should be turned in immediately. They repeatedly refuse to address this problem and any tiny steps they take are done on the cheap (and in such a way that it puts veterans and civilians at risk). This is shameful.

Texas Tech's Dr. M. David Rudd spoke of the illness and noted, "The tragic increase in both active duty and veteran suicide rates since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedome (OIF/OEF) underscores a seldom recognized but very real fact about mental illness; that it can be fatal." From Dr. Ronald Maris, we'll zoom in on this:One reason I cannot answer definitely about what causes veteran suicides is that the Office of Veteran Affairs has not provided me or the courts crucial data that are needed. For example, each time there is a military death, suicide attempt, or other serious incident, the VA produces a short 'incident brief' which summarily describes the suicide or suicide attempt. Then about 45 days later each incident undergoes what is called a 'root cause anaylsis' and a three-page report is generated. On April 22, 2008, when I was an expert for the plaintiff in the Veterans v. Peake trial in San Francisco, I was given only 170 of the estimated 15,000 incident briefs and none of the root cause analyses. Clearly these VA documents could go a long way in establishing what causes veteran suicides and whether or not there is an epidemic. It seems that these personal, clinical documents could be redacted, with patients' names and other indentifying information removed, and then supplied to independent scientific investigators, like myself."

US House Rep Jim Moran spoke to the committee about the need for a suicide hotline for veterans -- not piggy backing off an existing hotline. He noted the Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline Act and how it would be "a stand-alone 24-hour national toll-free hotline" which "would be staffed by veterans, trained to appropriately and responsibly answer calls from other veterans." Moran grasped the fact that there is a stigma still associated with suicide or even asking for help. He grasps that fear "of potential job-related consequences keep many active duty soldiers and recent veterans from seeking the care they need." And he grasps the need for those seeking help to fill that the person on the other end of the line has "a real-life perspective of what's happening." In short, Moran's more on the ball than all the VA staff trotted out before Congress.

We can return to the hearing tomorrow (or later in the week) because there's enough to make the hearing alone the entire snapshot. Instead, we'll move on by noting that, at the White House today, press flack Dana Perino expressed her firmly held spin that "the President has full confidence in Secretary Peake and believes that he is handling it appropriately." It? The VA or maybe accusations. She also firmly spun that "Secretary Peake answered those [accusations] today" but when pressed on what his answer was she stated "nobody was covering it, so I wasn't able to see it directly." But by osmosis, Dana Perino just knows the accusations were answered.

Perino was also asked about the Iraq War supplemental the US Congress is currently working on and, in one of the more laugh inducing moments, she denied that the Bully Boy was in denial about the economy. Perino denied that Bully Boy was in denial. Sort of like the cereal box with the picture of the cereal box on it with the picture of the cereal box with the picture of the cereal . . .

The Iraq War supplemental? Carl Hulse (New York Times) reported this morning that House Democratic leadership intends to include -- among other measures -- in the House bill a call for 'significant' withdrawals of US troops in Iraq by December 2009; however, they expect it to be stripped out in the US Senate's version of the bill. Richard Cowan (Reuters) reports, "Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives have agreed on a plan to fund the Iraq war into next year but included a provision to withdraw combat troops by the end of 2009, lawmakers said on Tuesday. The plan for supporting the approximately $170 billion request from President George W. Bush to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also would expand education benefits for war veterans and give more help to the long-term U.S. unemployed." Anne Flaherty (AP) notes, "The bill also includes a mandate that the president negotiate an agreement with Baghdad to subsidize the U.S. miltiary's fuel costs so troops operationg in Iraq aren't paying any more than Iraqi citizens are" and a prohibition on US dollars for reconstruction "unless Baghdad matches every dollar spent".

Meanwhile the assault on Sadr City continues in Iraq. Helen Thomas questioned Perino about that today.

Helen Thomas: Yesterday, according to the New York Times, we dropped a bomb on a home in Sadr City and burned alive a pregnant woman and her children. How long is the siege of Sadr? How long are we going to keep bombing Iraqis?

Dana Perino: Well, I'm not aware of that particular report. I have not -- I've not seen it.

Helent Thomas: Well it was pretty buried in the story.

Dana Perino: Okay. Well the operation against the militias in Sadr City will continue until they root them out. And that is expressly in order to protect people like you just mentioned.

Helen Thomas: Root who out? Iraqis? In their own country?

Dana Perino: It is Prime Minister Maliki's government which is going after the militia, which is appropriate.

Really? Because Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) offers different terminology calling them "American strikes on Shiite fighters" in today's paper.

Bombings?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 Baghdad mortar attacks that claimed 3 lives and left twelve people wounded, 2 Baghdad missile attacks that wounded ten people, a Diyala Province roadside bombing that claimed the life of 1 "Awakening" Council member and left another wounded, a Tikrit car bombing that claimed 2 lives and left twenty-six people wounded and a Mosul roadside bombing that claimed the life of 1 police officer.

Shootings?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Baghdad armed clashes resulted in 3 deaths and nine people wounded and an armed clash in Mosul that claimed the lives of 2 police officers with one more wounded.

Corpses?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad.

On NPR's Morning Edition, Guy Raz reported (text and audio) the lastest on the military's use of "counter-insurgency." To back up, "counter-insurgency" is attacking and tricking civilians and, once upon a time, it was seen as something to be called out. But note the 60s Peace Train hopping on board Bambi For Prez -- alleged 'peace warriors' -- who repeatedly ignore Barack's own ties to counter-insurgency. Raz reports today that the Pentagon is now worried that too much focus has been placed on 'counter-insurgency' in Iraq and not engough on training "to fight conventional battles". Lt Col Gian Gentile is quoted (from a lecture he gave) stating, "Due to five years in Iraq and six years in Afghanistan, I believe that the U.S. Army has become a counterinsurgency-only force. . . . The high public profile of the new counterinsurgency manual, combined with the perception that its use and practice with the surge in Iraq has lowered the violence, I think has had a Svengali effect on us."

But don't worry, crap-ass outlets like 'Voters For Peace,' like a number of aging hippies, have other things to focus on than the actual Iraq War. As long as they can pretend they care enough for some people to believe that they do, that's fine and dandy. They damn well knows what 'counter-insurgency' is and damn well decried its use during Vietnam. Today? It's ignore it and hop on board the corporate and psuedo peace train. Take Tom-Tom Hayden (forever on the outside) whinging at Aged Socialite's Cat Mix on March 18th that Barack "failed to dissociate from the grim counterinsurgency war envisioned by Gen. Petraeus" in a fifth anniversary speech he gave. Like self-loathing lesbian Laura Flanders calling for Barack to break with Richard Dailey over torture, Tom-Tom has to pretend that Barack could make the break, as though Barack hasn't stacked his adivsors with the ones who approve and wrote the Army's 'counter-insurgency' manual.

On September 12, 2007, Matt Lehrich posted (at Barack's website) a rave about Sarah Sewall (aka Sarah Sewer) and Sammy Get The Axe Power noting that not only were they two of Bambi's foreign policy advisors but they were selling Bambi via a conference call with bloggers. (And you wonder how so many idiots could defend War Hawk Power online when her trashing of Hillary Clinton and Gordon Brown as well as her revealing that Barack's Iraq "promises" were empty to the BBC.) Sammy just blurbed the manual (and believed in it), Sarah Sewer offered so much and was in charge of it. That would be the same Sarah Sewer who declared on PBS' The Charlie Rose Show, on the last week of 2007, that the US must not, cannot, see the Iraq War as a failure because it would prevent future interventions. As Ava and I noted last December of the interview:

Sewer came close to unhinging in public when she went into rapid-fire mode, spitting out sentences about the failure of states, her desire to create "a strong, international force," how the illegal war must not be seen "as a failure" and her "concern" that, if Iraq is seen as a failure, "we'll move towards isolationism" or, worse, send in the military to "strike him and get out" (as opposed to occupying -- and "him" wasn't identified by the War Pig). That truly does concern Sewer because her whole existence, her belief system such as it is, is rooted in the notion that she, and only she, possess the wisdom to decide. She's a hairy-legged version of the Bully Boy with better vocab.

These are the War Hawks Barack selected. But don't worry, your 'peace' 'leaders' won't bother you with those realities, they're far too busy lying to get Barack into office. Equally true is just as Judith Miller's past includes The Progressive, Sarah Sewall's includes the Institute of Policy Studies and, no, IPS hasn't called out Sewall. In fact, IPS hasn't addressed the issue of 'counter-insurgency' at all. (The organization. Phyllis Bennis has addressed it and has addressed it as applied to Barack. And we've noted that before. She's addressed it as an individual. IPS, the organization, has remained silent.)

Yesterday Brian Montopoli (CBS News) reported:On a conference call with reporters this morning, the Clinton campaign knocked Barack Obama over a report in the Wall Street Journal today that Obama "won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption."Clinton has not taken a position on oversight of the Teamsters, and, as the Journal notes, Obama's stance is unusual, as "[p]olicy makers have largely treated monitoring of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters as a legal matter left to the Justice Department since an independent review board was set up in 1992 to eliminate mob influence in the union."

Today Green Change reposts Brody Mullins and Kris Maher's Wall St. Journal article which opens: "Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption, according to officials from the union and the Obama campaign." Well thank goodness RFK's children didn't embarrass themselves endorsing Barack. Too bad other members of the Kennedy clan can't say the same.

Yesterday's snapshot noted this: "Jeralyn (TalkLeft) highlights his new ad attacking Hillary Clinton -- both are running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination -- and he says 'I approved this message' at the end. So he's responsible for its accuracy." Jake Tapper (ABC News) notes that the ad doesn't quote correctly from a column by Paul Krugman. Tapper also steers to Paul Krugman's comment on the distortion: "I did not say that the Clinton proposal would increase oil industry profits. If the ad implies that I did, it should be retracted."

From today's HUBdate (Clinton campaign): "Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton appeared on Monday on the 'Late Show with David Letterman' to deliver the 'Top 10' reasons she loves America, which included the ability to order her trademark pantsuits around the clock on the Internet." Watch here. Read more.


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brian montopoli

One day until two primaries

Yesterday "Kat's Korner: This Kind Of Art" went up. As did Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Sunset Campaign" and, unless I'm able to get into Flickr tonight, I'll just have that link. I keep trying to log in and keep getting an error message. If I'm not able to post it tonight, I'll do so tomorrow.

On my review, thank you to everyone for the e-mails. I am so sorry because you all got one-line replies. I feel awful about doing that but there were so many. And I didn't reply to non-community members. I just don't have the time for e-mails. I enjoyed reading all of them. Community members know that I'm now on the road from Monday through Friday with Ava and C.I. (and starting this week Rebecca -- and her huband and their child) talking about Iraq. That's a lot of time and I really don't have a great deal more. I'm sorry.

Keith and Susan's e-mails especially stood out because they were sharing their own excitement when listening to Carly Simon's This Kind Of Love. But I appreciated all the e-mails and I hope you'll check out the CD. In terms of doing e-mails . . .

I was supposed to be in Ireland now. I skipped the wedding because of Hillary's campaign. I grab the politics of Iraq in the talks and I didn't want to come back from Ireland, find out Bambi had stolen the nomination and think, "Maybe if I hadn't gone . . ."

That's not, "Oh, all powerful me!" I can't give Hillary the nomination. But all of us who support her working together can make a difference. So I'm doing my part and I know all of you are as well.

On Hillary, I killed a CD review. I was reading it to Ava and C.I. on the way to the airport this morning (it wasn't completed, I just had notes on two songs) and they were laughing so hard. I was planning to finish it and have it up next weekend. Then I made the mistake of saying, "___'s probably endorsed Barack." Ava said, "Actually, ___'s endorsed Hillary." C.I. nodded. I killed the review. It would have been hysterical and maybe needed. (It wasn't a positive review.) But with so many hating on Hillary the last thing I want to do right now is tear apart someone who's endorsed her. So I've killed that review.

On strong writing, please read Ava and C.I.'s "TV: The Beauty & The Grump," "Dear Betsy Reed," and "TV: The candidates quick take" -- yes, they wrote three pieces for Third.

I don't want to hear about it!

I'm laughing but really, it's like pulling teeth for me to do a review and I don't know how they're able to do one feature article a week let alone three this week with everything else they have to do. They're on the road, they're writing pieces for community newsletter, they're still speaking tonight. The rest of us headed back to the hotel. They're doing two more speaking things. (One is just on the Dem race. We're in Oregon, by the way.) And with all they do, they can still produce. I'm not them. I'm lucky to manage with what little I do.

But they wrote three great pieces Sunday. So be sure to read all of them. The 'quick take' is on Hillary's appearance on ABC and Barack's on NBC.


Here's Howard Wolfson's "HUBdate: Fighting For Every Vote" (HillaryClinton.com):

By the Numbers: A new USA Today/Gallup Poll shows Hillary "lead[ing] Obama among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents by 7 percentage points... Obama led by 10 points" only two weeks ago. Read more.
State of the Race: Howard Wolfson and Phil Singer assess the state of the race on a call this morning at 9:45 a.m. ET.Endorsement Watch: "Groundbreaking IndyCar Series driver and team owner, Sarah Fisher" endorsed Hillary today... Fisher said: "[w]e need a president who will stand up for us and be a fighter for Hoosiers and all Americans." Read more.
In Case You Missed It: Today's NYT explores how yesterday, "Clinton Steals One Show, While Obama Endures Another: Television interviews provide snapshots, not full portraits, but that does not make them any less telling. Mr. Obama revealed that he was not impervious to pressure, while Mrs. Clinton once again proved that it takes more than a village to make her sweat." Read more.
Click here to read the transcript and watch the video of Hillary on ABC’s "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."On the Gas Tax: Yesterday in South Bend, IN, Hillary "scolded both Sen. Barack Obama (D) and 'elite opinion'...for opposing her proposals to fix the ailing economy...[she said on the race:] 'There's a big difference between us, and the question is: Who understands what you’re going through, and who do you count on being on your side…I believe I have what it takes to stand up and fight for you when you need a president on your side.'" Read more.
A Critical Distinction: Communications Director Howard Wolfson described "a critical distinction in this race between, in Senator Clinton, someone who understands the pain that middle class and working class families are feeling, who wants to help bring immediate relief to them...and Senator Obama, somebody who just doesn’t seem to understand that middle class families are hurting, working class families are hurting and that they need relief." Read the transcript here and listen here.
Ready to Deliver: In a Charlotte Observer op-ed, Hillary Clinton writes to voters in North Carolina: "It has been an honor and privilege to travel across North Carolina and talk to you about the issues that matter most to you and your families. I know how hard you're working, how much you love this country, and how big you dream for your children. But I also know that you're feeling squeezed from every direction…I don't back down from a challenge -- and neither do the American people. It's up to all of us to keep the promise of America for the next generation, and together, that's exactly what we'll do." Read more.
Previewing Today: Hillary hosts "Get Out The Vote" events in Greenville and High Point, NC. She also hosts "Get Out The Vote" events in Merrillville, New Albany, and Evansville, IN. Hillary's stop in Evansville will mark her 100th campaign stop in the Hoosier State.
Recapping Yesterday: Hillary spoke before a crowd of 2,300 at the Indiana Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner, offering her pledge to continue to fight for every American from the moment she becomes president: "There's one thing you know about me. I am no shrinking violet. I may get knocked down. But I will always get right back up, and I will never quit until the job is finished." Read more.

Here's Isaiah's comic:



Thank you to Rebecca who walked in to blog and figured out why I was having a problem getting into Flickr.


Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Monday, May 5, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the assault on Sadr City continues, Iraq's First Lady surives a bombing, others are less fortunate, and more.

Starting with war resistance. David Giuliano and Jane Orion Smith (Canada's The Hill Times) [click here for Google cache if you don't subscribe to The Hill Times] note, "In the comming weeks, the House of Commons will consider a recommendation from the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration that would allow conscientious objectors to be able to stay in Canada with their spouses and immediate families. U.S. soldiers who are in Canada have been largely responsible for the focus on this issue in this country. Globally, however, it is important for many who face even more harsh circumstances. If today's U.S. soldiers are a part of an 'all-volunteer army,' should they have any rights of asylum? The UNCHR Handbook on Refugees, the standard-bearer for such questions, say 'yes.' To qualify for asylum, a soldier must 'show that the performance of military service would have required his participation in military action contrary to his genuine political, religious or moral convictions, or to valid reasons of conscience.' . . . The findings of the Nuremberg Tribunals after World War II remind us that following orders is not an excuse for committing crimes in war. Once you are in the field, it is ever the more difficult to refuse an order, even if illegal. Many of the U.S. 'war resisters' in Canada already saw a tour of duty in Iraq and were under pressure to commit acts that violated basic rules of human conduct. Joshua Key is currently having his day in Federal Court seeking refugee status."

With other issues occupying the debate in Canada's Parliament last month, the war resisters motion has not yet been debated. Currently, you can utilize the following e-mails to show your support: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (http://us.f366.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (http://us.f366.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (http://us.f366.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. In addition Jack Layton, NDP leader, has a contact form and they would like to hear from people as well. A few more addresses can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

Turning to Iraq where yesterday saw an attack on Hiro Abrahim Ahmed. Who is she? India's Economic Times noted a Baghdad bombing targeting here, the First Lady of Iraq, which wounded "four of her body guards but . . . [left] her unharmed." BBC reported she "was travelling to a cultural festival at the city's National Theatre at the time. . . . Ms Hiro Ibrahim is a daughter of Ibrahim Ahmed, one of the founders of the Kurdish Democratic Party, and married Mr Talabani in 1970. She owns a media group and is a children's rights activist." Sunday also saw the US military announce the deaths of 4 US service members. Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) observed, "The death of the marines in Anbar, in an attack on Friday that the military reported Sunday was one of the deadliest in months on American troops in the province. For much of the past 18 months, Anbar, once one of the most violet place in Iraq, has been mostly quiet." The announcement put the Sunday April 27th to Sunday May 4th period's death toll at 19. The US military's announcement notes that the four died "when their vehicle was attacked by an enemy force with an improvised explosive device". Sunday also saw the murder of journalist Sarwa Abdul Wahab in Mosul. Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reported that the "journalist, lawyer and member of the Mosul Branch of the Independent Electoral Commission in Iraq" was shot dead outside her home in Mosul. Canada's CBC reported she had received threatening text messages demanding she stop reporting and that she was apparently in a taxi and pulled from it in what may have been an attempted kidnapping before "she was shot twice in the head." CBS and AP report the following details, she was 36-years-old, she and her mother, Umm Mohammed, were returning home from the market (on foot), she worked in print and broadcasting and Yasir al-Hamadani explains, "Besides her work as a journalist, she was activist working with non-governmental organizations as well as being a lawyer. We are very sorry to lose her. She was very active and very passionate about her work." She was murdered one day after World Press Freedom Day. Reporters Without Borders states of her death: "This is yet another case to add to the long list of Iraqi journalists who have been targeted by armed groups operating with complete impunity. We urge the Iraqi authorities to carry out a thorough investigation in order to identify those responsible and to discourage similar murders in the future. . . . As has happened so often in the past, Wahab was caught in an ambush from which she no chance of escaping. Our thoughts are with her family and colleagues to whom we offer our sincerest condolences." At the end of last month, the Committee to Protect Journalist issued a report entitled "Getting Away With Murder" which charted "the worst countries in the world at prosecuting journalists' killers" and found that "[t]he countries with the worst records for impunity -- Iraq, Sierra Leone and Somalia -- have been mired in conflict." Iraq topped the list with CPJ noting: "Iraq became the world's most dangerous country for the press after the 2003 U.S. invasion led to armed conflict and sectarian strife. Journalists have generally not died in combat, however. Most are targeted for professional reasons and murdered. Most of the victims, such as Al-Arabiya correspondent Atwar Bahjat, are Iraqis. Seventy-nine cases are unsolved." Saturday (World Press Freedom Day) found a McClatchy Iraqi correspondent sharing thoughts (at Inside Iraq) on the Journalistic Freedom Observatory in Iraq's findings that "between March 3, 2007 and March 3, 2008 violations against journalists marked a 60% increase over the last year. This means one violation every 43 hours" and also noted that "the report didn't mention . . . the provoking attempt against some media institution by religious pulpits and mosques that air the agendas of their political parties which may represent a threat against Iraqi independent media, that one well known Iraqi cleric and MP used his Friday speech to urge worshipers against certain Iraqi media TV channels or newspapers that oppose the government's agendas."

Meanwhile US journalist Anna Badkhen has returned to Iraq where she will be filing reports for Salon. Her first one can be read here where she notes, "This is my 10th reporting trip to Iraq since the war began, and my fifth trip as an embedded reporter. My last trip was in 2006." The Los Angeles Times' Borzou Daragahi completed his reporting on Iraq in early 2007 but has also returned to Iraq. On Sunday he and Raheem Salman reported on the mercenary company Blackwater Worldwide which is responsible for the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians from last September 2007 Blackwater shoot-em-up in Baghdad: "Blackwater officials have said their workers feared they were under attack; Iraqi officials and witnesses called it a massacre. U.S. officials say the investigation of the shooting continues, though they have been tight-lipped about details. An FBI report is due this year. In April, the State Department renewed Blackwater's contract for another year, a move that enraged many Iraqis affected by the killings." This as Frontera Norte Sur reports on Blackwater's project to create a viligante camp "in the rural San Diego County community of Potero" . . . US Congressman Bob Filner (D-CA), a leading Blackwater critic, said in a radio interview late last week that the presence of a 'private mercenary army' on the border, where it is hard to tell who is a citizen and who is not, was a 'recipe for disaster'." Douglas Turner (Buffalo News) notes Blackwater "may have evaded up to $50 million in income taxes." Turners listing various corruptions in the White House contracting 'system' and notes, among other problems, electrocutions. On Sunday, James Risen (New York Times) reported on KBR's we-built-it-no-one-said-it-had-to-safe-for-people defense. Risen explained "at least a dozen American military personnel have been electrocuted in Iraq" as a result of faulty wiring (failure to ground the electrical wires) and that KBR's attitude for these projects they were over is that the blame goes to "poorly trained Iraqis and Afghans paid just a few dollars a day" (which KBR hired) and feel the failures are no big deal because they explained there might be problems. Carmen Nolasco Duran lost her brother who was serving in Iraq and wasn't killed in battle, wasn't killed by a bombing, but made the 'error' of thinking he could shower. As a result of corners cut, Marcos O. Nolasco died in Baiji (May 2004) by electrocution while taking a shower. His sister tells Risen, "I don't feel like they did their job. They hired these contractors and yet they didn't go and double-check that the work was fine."

Switching from contractors to civilian empoyees, last week the US House Armed Services Committee subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations released a report [PDF format warning] entitled "Deploying Federal Civilians to the Battlefield: Incentives, Benefits, and Medical Care." The report states:

Reconstruction and stabilzation operations require a "whole government" approach with the deployment of both uniformed and civilian personnel from the Department of Defense (DOD) and other departments and agencies. To support these stabilization and reconstruction missions, the President has requested $249.0 million in the fiscal year 2009 budget to build an Active and Standby Response Corps of over 2,000 federal civilian personnel from all 15 civilian agencies and to build a Civilian Reserve Corps comprised of about 2,000 experts from state and local governments and from the private sector. H.R. 1084, which passed in the House on March 5, 2008, authorizes funds and responsibilities for the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization within the Department of State (DOS) to establish and manage these corps.

[. . .]

The United States has deployed a large part of our volunteer military to support the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we have also called on an army of federal civilian volunteers from the Department of Defense and other departments and agencies to serve. Over the course of more than seven years of war, nearly 10,000 federal civilian employees have been deplored to Iraq or Afghanistan to support security, political, and economic development. While certainly unique in scale and complexity, the stability and reconstruction missions in Iraq and Afghanistan are also unprecedented in their risk to our deployed citizens. Some claim these posts are exposed to such a high level of threat that most civilian personnel would have been evactued from them in the pre-9/11 era. There are few safe places in countries where terrorists, militia, insurgents, and criminals are seeking power and attempting to undermine efforts to establish legitimate governments. Even in 'secure' areas such as military bases or the Baghdad 'Green Zone,' personnel are at risk of attack by mortars, rockets, and the possibility that a suicide bomber could infiltrate defenses. Notwithstanding these risks, federal civilian personnel working in these war zones have been deemed essential to the success of the stabilization and reconstruction efforts.

The report identifies "Ares of Concern" including that "the committee heard directly from two DOD civilians who faced challenges in receiving: proper medical treatment for their wounds, approval for admission to Military Treatment Facilities (MTF), help with OWCP claims process from the Department of Labor, and support from their parent organization to be put back to work." The Office of Workers' Compesnation Programs (OCWP) was also cited as an error of concern:


The subcommittee heard about problems with: (1) claims officers not recognizing unique aspects of combat injuries; (2) an antiquated and inefficient paper system and inadequate automated system software for handling claims filed by those in sensitive assignments; and (3) the lack of support provided to those who have to negotiate the system for approval of claims. Considering the importance of encouraging civilians to volunteer to serve in combat zones,the burden of negotiating the OWCP paperwork and bureaucracy should not fall solely on the wounded civilian. They should be assured that they will receive informed and educated help with this process.

These issues come at a time when the State Dept is threatening to 'draft' employees and station them in Iraq. The report notes, "Despite assurances from federal agency witnesses who testified before the committee that the relevant agencies can meet the current demand for civilian assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of State met with strong opposition from some of its FSOs [Foreign Service Officers] when it announced in October, 2007 that directed assignements might be required to fill positions in Iraq. There was significant concern among FSOs, including the AFSA President and Vice President, about how FSOs were informed of these assignments. Soon after, the Department of State stated that the use of directed assignments would not be necessary since they expected all of their current FSO positions in Iraq to be filled by 'volunteers'." In April, another change emerged. CBS and AP reported: "The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats they may be forced to serve in Iraq next year and says it will soon start identifying prime candidates for jobs at the Baghdad embassy and outlying provinces, according to a cable obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. A similar call-up notice last year caused an uproar among foreign service officers, some of whom objected to compulsory work in a war zone, although in the end the State Department found enough volunteers to fill the jobs. Now, the State Department anticipates another staffing crisis." By September of 2007, 1500 State Dept employees had worked in Iraq and, in terms of the 2007 attempt to 'draft' employees, after forced to back down the State Dept only filled 94% of the jobs in Iraq.

Staying with the topic of civilians but turning to Iraqi civilians, the assault on Sadr City continues and civilians continue to die and be injured. Shashank Bengali (McClatchy Newspapers) reported that Saturday the US military conducted an assault which damaged "[a] major hospital in Baghdad's Sadr City". Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) explained that 3 "precision-guided munitions" hit "a small mosque," that children were wounded (a total of 28 people were wounded) and ambulances damaged, while the hospital's windows were blown out. Rubin noted, "Haider Abbas, 10, was brought to the hospital with what appeared to be a gaping hole in his back and shrapnel injuries across his stomach. The boy screamed in pain, barely able to answer a doctor's questions." Peter Symonds (World Socialist Web Site) offers, "The incident provides a glimpse of the hellish conditions created for residents of the huge working class slum through the month-long siege by American and Iraqi government forces. Prensa Latina leads with, "The US air force bombed a hospital in Sadr City district in the capital, wounding about twenty people, among them women and children" and quotes Ali Bistan ("chief of health department") stating, "They [the US] will say it is a hidden weapons store but they really want to destroy the country's infrastructure, to prevent staff and doctors from arriving to the hospital." As the assault continues, barriers continue to be erected (by the US military) in Sadr City, walling the area off. The Los Angeles Times runs a photo by Petr David Josek (AP) showing one such walling. Gina Chon (Wall St. Journal) notes of her return "to Baghdad after a monthlog break," "The fighting that began against the Mahdi Army (or what the U.S. calls 'criminal elements' disobeying Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr) before I left is ongoing. As a result, the humanitarian situation in the Sadr City area of Baghdad has worsened. Sadr City was already a poor area of the capital, but the recent clashes have made it difficult to get aid to the people. And many families have been displaced. . . . At a press conference today, Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said the government recognizes the need to rebuild and provide economic aid to Sadr City. But he said the government has been unable to spend all of the $100 million in reconstruction money pledged for Sadr City because of the bad security situation. As the weather grows increaingly hotter, the importance of providing adequate supplies of electricity and clean water becomes even more crucial." CBS and AP note: "Iraqi health officials on Monday said that 41 people, including women and children, have been wounded since Sunday" in Sadr City. Hala Jaber (Times of London) reports from Sadr City. Among the many noted are Amira Zaydan:

"Ya'mma, Ya'ba" ("Oh mother, oh father"), cried Amira Zaydan, a 45-year-old spinsiter, slapping her face and chest as she grieved for her parents Jaleel, 65, and Hanounah, 60, whose house had exploded after apparently being hit by an American rocket.
"Where are you, my brothers?" she sobbed, lamenting Samir, 32, and Amir, 29, who had also perished along with their wives, one of whom was nine months pregnant.
"What wrong have you done, my children?" she howled to the spirits of four nephews and nieces who completed a toll of 10 family members in the disaster that struck last Tuesday. "Mothers, children, babies; all obliterated for nothing."

AFP reports, "The Iraqi government, meanwhile, said Sunday that it had no evidence to link Iranian support for militiamen leading attacks in Sadr City and called for better relations with Tehran. On US accusations that weapons captured from Shiite fighters bore 2008 markings suggesting Iranian involvement, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said: 'We don't have that kind of evidence.'" Considering last week's non-stop press coverage trying to bolster/enable the White House in their claims, the denial has interested very few US outlets. Leila Fadel and Shashank Bengali (McClatchy Newspapers) did report on it: "The Iraqi Government seemed to distance itself from U.S. accusations towards Iran Sunday saying it would not be forced into conflict with its Shiite neighbor" and quoted alDabbagh stating, "We don't want to be pushed into any conflict with any neighboring countries, especially Iran." Meanwhile Walter Pincus (Washington Post) reports, "The United States is moving south in Iraq, planning to upgrade facilities at Camp Delta and the Al Kut Air Base, which is about 140 miles southeast of Baghdad and just 35 miles from the Iranian border. . . . There has been no public announcement. But two weeks ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers posted modifications to an earlier notice tha disclosed it is seeking construction companies or joint ventures interested in bidding to design and build two 'life support areas' at Camp Delta".

Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports US air strikes in Sadr City claimed 6 lives with thrity-one more left injured, another US bombing in Baghdad (in Amil) claimed 5 lives ["including three members of one family (parents and their child")] with an additional eight injured, a Baghdad bombing left two people wounded, a Diyala Province roadside bombing that injured seven members of the Iraqi military, two other Diyala Province roadside bombing that injured three police officers and three people belonging to "Kurdish security forces known as Bashmarga" and a Kirkuk roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer (seven more injured).

Shootings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an armed clash in Diyala Province that left one person wounded and one person wounded in Nineveh Province shooting. Reuters reports an attack on an Iraqi checkpoint that claimed the lives of 10 Iraqi soldiers with thirteen more wounded. Reuters also notes 3 women shot dead in Mosul in an apartment invasion,

Kidnappings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Diyala Province kidnapping of 3 truck drivers.

Corpses?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 4 corpses discovered in Baghdad and 1 in Mosul.

Turning to the US presidential race. It wasn't enough for Barack Obama to embarrass himself by thinking the Great Lakes were in Oregon [which PaganPower (No Quarter) demonstrates the Obama campaign is trying to make disappear], now he shows even more geographical stupidity. Jeralyn (TalkLeft) highlights his new ad attacking Hillary Clinton -- both are running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination -- and he says "I approved this message" at the end. So he's responsible for its accuracy. The New York Times, a national paper, is published in NYC. The ad calls the Times Hillary's "hometown paper." Hillary and Bill Clinton live in Chappaqua, NY. That's over a half-hour (with no traffic -- there's always traffic -- and going at least 60 mph) from the edge of NYC. The Times really isn't Hillary's "hometown paper" (Gannett's The Journal News would be the local daily) but any idiot who thought the Great Lakes were in Oregon isn't going to be teaching geography anytime soon. Meanwhile Big Tent Democrat (TalkLeft) educates on counting (which, as he points out, is apparently harder than might be thought). Joe Wilson (Raleigh News and Observer via TaylorMarsh.com) explains Barack's inexperience and lack of judgement and points out, "Obama repeats the incorrect and politically irresponsible mantra that Sen. Hillary Clinton voted for the war and that therefore he is more qualified to be president. Unlike Obama, as the last acting U.S. ambassador to Iraq during the first Gulf War, I was deeply involved in that debate from the beginning. . . . The betrayal occurred not when the president was given the tools he needed to secure international support for inspections, but rather when Bush refused to allow the inspectors to complete their work and decided preemptively to invade, conquer and occupy Iraq. That decision and power was his alone -- not the Congress' and certainly not Hillary Clinton's. Obama is wrong to turn Bush's war into Clinton's responsibility. And Obama is dangerously naive in failing to understand the need in international crises to blend tough diplomacy with the other foreign policy tools at our disposal to achieve a strong national security posture." Meanwhile Susan UnPC (No Quarter) has been covering the realities of Weather Underground victims. Noting a Fox interview with John M. Murtagh (whose home was bombed when he was an 8-year-old child -- with him in it -- in an attack on his father, NY State Supreme Court Justice John Murtagh ), Susan UnPC wonders today, "Where the hell is the media?" She's posted the videos of the interviews and also refers you "here and here" for two pieces John M. Murtagh wrote last week. Why the bombing? This February 16, 1970 Time magazine piece provides some more details.

The candidates took part in the Sunday chat and chews, Hillary appearing for the hour on ABC's This Week and Barack appearing for the hour on NBC's Meet The Press. Alessandra Stanley (New York Times) offers the following critique:


Senator Barack Obama sat hunched on Sunday across the desk from Tim Russert on "Meet The Press" on NBC and wearily endured question after question about his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton stood up from her armchair on Sunday to tower over George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" on ABC and merrily took on all critics, even the king of the Clinton-bashers, the talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh."He's always had a crush on me," Mrs. Clinton said with a sly smile.

Ava and I noted:

In other words, while Barack was locked in the gas bag bunker, Hillary was mixing it up with the people and looking very of the people. (George noted that both Barack and John McCain had a standing invitation to appear on This Week in the same format.) Some questions were warm, some were pointed and Hillary showed grace and leadership throughout. It was a winning format, true, but it was also the difference between a candidate who was prepared and one who stumbled throughout. Barack mainly talked about . . . well himself. When all you have to sell is your increasingly tired personality, you come off like Ann Turkel alternately trying to convince the people that Humanoids From The Deep was a work of art and that your bathing suits really will allow people to darken without tan lines. It was really that pathetic.

We'll close with Lori Bernardini's "My '88 Years' House Party for Hillary" (HillaryClinton.com):

On a typical springtime Saturday morning in Portland (partly cloudy with a chance of rain) several women gathered in an Irvington neighborhood bungalow to rally for Hillary Clinton. Most of the guests arrived in anticipation, donning campaign buttons or carrying banners.
The party was held to commemorate the fact that it had been 88 years since women were given the right to vote -- and we wanted to celebrate the first opportunity for citizens to vote for a woman for president. This house party was one of 88 parties planned for the weekend statewide.
The bungalow was decorated with official Hillary Clinton campaign signs along with some homemade versions made by the children of the party's hosts. Good smells wafted from the kitchen as one of the hosts produced an assortment of delicious homemade, freshly baked bagels and pastries.
The discussion about campaign topics was lively. Blogging soon became a topic of interest, including whether this relatively new online communication significantly impacts voter preferences. Finally, the group settled in to focus on the key task of the morning -- making calls to Oregonians to get out the vote in support for Hillary Clinton. The guests had varying amounts of experience making campaign calls -- many had never made calls before and were a little anxious; a few were seasoned callers. One guest said she made calls while grocery shopping!
As the party ended, the guests shuffled out the door with more campaign materials than they arrived with including calling instructions, Clinton campaign information, bumper stickers, and a dose of optimism about Hillary Clinton's chances of winning Oregon -- and the general election.

iraq
the new york timesalissa j. rubin
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