Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Revisionary Kevin Zeese

Future of the Court

Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Future of the Court" and don't ever forget that our alleged left refused to call for Judge Anne Diggs Taylor to be on the Supreme Court despite the fact that she was the only judge who stood up to Bully Boy Bush.


Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox Sunday featured my BFF Kevin Zeese. If you want to laugh and you want to laugh hard, make a point to listen.

Now Cindy ran against Nancy Pelosi (I voted for Cindy) so no one expects Cindy to ever have a nice thing to say about Pelosi or even to have a balanced thing to say about her.

But if you make a point to listen, pay attention to Kevin.

Listen closely and notice who gets nothing, no excuses, no minimizing, no rationalizations.

Is it Barack Obama?

No, of course not. Even now, Kevie Pooh can't call Barry O like a grown up. Even now, Kevie Pooh hedges and hems and acts like Barry O is pressured by mean people and we have to pressure Barry O because we have to be there for him.

What a load of s**t.

And let me be honest here, Cindy, I don't take you at all seriously when you go on and about Nancy. I voted for you. I like you. But I'm not going to listen to your show when you say you "know" something when, in fact, you don't know. It's embarrassing to listen to.

And they don't know what Nancy was told and what she wasn't told.

But what quickly emerges is that women are resposible for everything they do and they may do and that they don't do.

And men?

Women are responsible there as well.

Nancy FORCED John Conyers not to pursue impeachment.

No, John Conyers made that decision.

They want Nancy to take responsibility for her actions and everyone else's. They don't make Conyers or Barack or any man take responsiblity for their actions but they'll blame Nancy for everything.

Conyers could have started impeachement. And we all know it would have been so popular that no one in leadership could have touched him.

Conyers made the decision not to impeach. Conyers.


I'm just not in the mood for this nonsense. I had to put up with all this crap -- Cindy knows because she was part of the crap -- during the primaries. When any lie could be told against Hillary by the people who didn't like her. Cindy knows because she haunted the comments section at Common Dreams and left all these attacks on Hillary and -- pay attention -- flattery for Barack.

She'd already endorsed Cynthia McKinney and had no damn business praising Barry O.

It got so bad that, at Third, we did a feature making the point -- this was during the Democratic Party primaries -- that Barry's plans -- the expanison of the war in Afghanistan was always known -- meant US service members would die in that country and that we found it appalling that instead of calling out Barry O, Cindy Sheehan, the Peace Mom, was proving him cover.

So let me go one further than C.I. does in the snapshot, it was a LAUGH to hear both of them talk about those people fooled by Barack and how people weren't honest and now we've got Barack in the White House and wah-wah-wah.

Cindy wasn't honest and Kevin Zeese damn well wasn't honest.

It was really something to watch Cindy build up Barack -- the candidate of her opponent. It was really something to watch Cindy do Nancy's bidding for her without even grasping that was what she was doing.

And to hear Cindy and Kevin say this week that there was no difference between John McCain and Barack Obama after they'd both done their part for Barack was just appalling. Now Kevin did it more than Cindy. Cindy largely confined her embarrassments to the comments at Common Dreams. Whereas Kevin Zees penned one embarrassing column after another.

But people better start getting honest.

I'm not in the mood.

I'm not in the mood for these chicken s**ts who couldn't call out Barack in real time to show up and act like they did.

We always knew he would expand the war in Afghanistan. We also knew, based on his advisors, that he would attempt to get the bases in African (AFRICOM is currently set up in Europe because Bully Boy Bush couldn't get those bases) and attempt to spread the war there.

If you didn't know that, you weren't doing the work necessary.

Maybe because you were a stupid idiot who thought independent media would do the work necessary.

Maybe because you just didn't give a f**k.

I don't know and I don't care.

What I do care about is that you put a War Hawk in the White House and you're not going to now act like you didn't.

You're not going to pretend like you were speaking out all along.

And Cindy Sheehan? How stupid was that. How stupid was she to pimp for Barack?

Her son died in Iraq and she's pimping for the candidate promising to increase the killing in Afhgnistan.


And Kevin Zeese is never smart. He wrote those love letters to Barack with a moment or two of reality and pretended like that was no-holds barred criticism. He was a chicken s**t waste of time bulls**ter.

If you missed it, Kevio loves Sexist Pig Ed Schultz. Hilarious. What a failure on every damn level Kevin Zeese is. What a world class embarrassment.

"Votes for Peace" is the name of his organization because he's such a dumb f**king idiot. We're not voters, we're citizens, you candy ass liar.

And to call your organization "Voters for Peace" when you refused to use it to advocate for peace?

And remember Kevie's 'winning strategy' in 2006?


A great point someone else told me recently. Cardin does not deserve to be a senator, he has shown no leadership in 40 years. He will be a crappy Lieberman light type Democrat, and didn't you just knock that guy out. Why not let him lost this time have the Dem's run someone who does not suck (Mfume? VanHollen? Raskin?) in 6 years and kick Steele's ass out then, just don't run a pro-war, pro-patriot act, neo-con again and you wont have the Green menace to worry about from your "left" flank. If Steele win's he will be a one term senator because it shows the leadership that when a state is 30%+ Afro-American you need to show them some respect. If Cardin wins that ass will be in for 20 years. Thats all assuming the Democratic or Republican party does not collapse in 6 years. Then again there are like what 20 die hard Cardin supporters in the state.

That's Kevie's son Alex exmplaing that Michael Steele should be in the US Senate. Our friend of peace, Kevy Zeese.


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

Tuesday, May 26, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, Sahwa threatens a return to open war, Iraq loses a Trade Minister, the 4300 mark was passed over the weekend, the US military announces deaths including a US State Dept employee, Mike Mullens doesn't think the US is leaving Iraq, Ralph Nader allegedly calls Barack Obama a "War Criminal," and more.

On Saturday the 4300 mark was passed. The US military announced: "CAMP VICTORY, Iraq -- A Multi-National Corps - Iraq Soldier died in a non-combat related incident in Baghdad Province, May 22. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense. The incident is under investigation." With that death, the number of US service members killed in the illegal war reached 4300. Already the mark -- which really wasn't noted by the press -- has been passed. The US military announced today: "BAGHDAD -- Three people were killed and two were wounded May 25, when an improvised explosive device detonated during a visit of construction sites near Fallujah. The IED struck a vehicle traveling as part of a convoy that included Coalition Forces and U.S. Government civilians and contractors. The two wounded personnel were medically evacuated to a hospital for treatment. The names of the deceased and injured are being withheld pending next of kin notification." Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reports one of the dead is a US service member bringing the number killed in the Iraq War to 4301 and bringing the number killed in the month of May thus far to 19. That's the same number killed in April. Unless you're the Mainstream Media which damn well better not try to pull "It's the same number" if 19 sticks and they're doing their end of the month reports. They didn't say 19. One of the 19 who died in April was a service member who left Iraq for medical treatment and continued to receive that treatment (hospitalized the entire time) only to die. The media didn't count him. They didn't give a damn. Sgt Christopher D. Loza died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center April 10th. They acted as if he didn't exist and ran with 18 deaths. So they can't turn around now and claim, should it not go higher than 19, "It's the same number as last month." Not after they all but spat on Christopher D. Loza.

One person killed in yesterday's bombing has already been identified.
Erika Slife (Chicago Tribune) reports that 56-year-old Terry Barnich was killed in a roadside bombing yesterday and that he "was serving as deputy director for the Iraq Transition Assistance Office for the State Department". Cara Siever reported on Barnich's work in Iraq in January 2008: "Terry has been in Baghdad since mid-January 2007 and lives in a 150-foot trailer in the Green Zone, a heavily guarded area of closed-off streets in central Baghdad where U.S. authorities live and work. Terry travels frequently through the Red Zone -- less safe areas of the city where the risk of a roadside bomb or kidnapping always is present. However, he says traveling with the State Department security makes him feel very safe. While attacks in the Green Zone have subsided since he arrived, Terry had one close call; he missed being hit by two rockets by 44 paces and about eight seconds." Barnich was in the 1971 graduating class from Washington High School in Chicago. He was legal counsel to Illinois Govenor James R. Thompson during the time when Gary Dotson was in the news (Cathy Webb falsely accused him of rape and Dotson was imprisoned for six years before Webb got honest and also tried to cash in with her book Forgive Me). Thomas F. Roser (Chicago Daily Observer) remembers Barnich here which also includes comments from others who remember him including David Karmol who worked with Barnich in Baghdad. Carol Wilson knew Barnich from when "he was still the chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission" and she explains, "I didn't realize Terry had spent the last two-and-a-half years in Iraq, not as an independent contractor, getting rich during wartime, but as a government employee, trying to help rebuild critical infrastructure that will enable Iraq to be economically stronger and more secure. But it doesn't surprise me now to learn what he was doing and to hear that, despite repeated plans to return to the U.S. for good, Barnich kept going back." The Illinois Commerce Commission issued the following statement today:The Illinois Commerce Commission extends its deepest sympathy to the family, friends and colleagues of former ICC Chairman Terry Barnich, who died Monday, May 25 in Iraq, where he was working as a deputy director for the U.S. State Department's Iraq Transition Assistance office. A native of Chicago, he served as chairman of the ICC from 1989 to 1992. Funeral arrangments are pending.

CBS and AP note his "sister, Rochelle Barnich, described her brother as a person with a great sense of humor who had great pride in his country and had been interested in politics since they were children." In 1993, he and Craig Clausen co-founded NPRG. Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) quotes from US Ambassador to Iraq Chris Hill's written statement: "We and all who are working for a brighter future for Iraq condemn this terrible attack in the strongest possible terms. We remain committed as ever to helping Iraqis achieve the peace, stability and prosperity that will make such acts of terror a thing of the past."

US civilians died over the weekend as well with a corpse discovered Friday in the Green Zone which
Ernesto Londono and Steve Fainaru (Washington Post) identified as Jim Kitterman who had been "president of Janus Construction" and they note, "Another American working for a contractor was killed Friday in a suspected rocket attack near the U.S. Embassy, U.S. officials said. It appeared to be the first fatal rocket attack in the Green Zone in more than a year." Iraqi civilians died over the weekend also. Sunday's violence contained a juxtaposition Rod Nordland (New York Times) caught, "On the same day that military spokesmen gave a rare briefing in Baghdad to announce a continued rop in overall violence, insurgents killed at least 22 people in eight attacks in Mosul and Falluja on Sunday, using roadside bombs, drive-by shootings, suicide bombers and execution-style killings, police officials said."

Military spokespeople weren't the only ones making statements Sunday. The Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff also made statements publicy. The New York Times ignored it naturally. Noting it here led to five e-mails from CENTCOM trying to insist what it did and didn't mean. Sorry folks, I believe Mike Mullen is conversant in English. Sunday
Adm Mike Mullens appeared on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos (link has video option and the transcript is here).STEPHANOPOULOS: OK. Let me move to Iraq then. U.S. combat forces are scheduled to complete their pullout from Iraqi cities by June 30th. But in recent weeks, we've seen an uptick again in the violence. Does that rise in violence mean that the deadline for pulling American forces out of the cities might not be met? MULLEN: Oh, I think we're still very much on a track in terms of pulling the forces out of the cities, which is the end of next month. We're on track to decrease the number of troops down to 35,000 to 50,000 in August of 2010. We've had an uptick in violence, but the overall violence levels are at the 2003 levels. It's still fragile. There's an awful lot of political positioning and political debate that's going on right now, and I think that in great part becomes the essence of how Iraq moves forward. I'm actually positive about what the Iraqi security forces have done, their army and their police in terms of providing for their own security. They've improved dramatically. So the path, I think, is still the right path. These ticks, upticks in violence are going to occur. We said that going in, even into -- as we talked about coming down in force. So we just have to, we have to constantly keep an eye on that. Al Qaida is still active. They're not gone. They're very much... STEPHANOPOULOS: Al Qaida in Iraq. MULLEN: Al Qaida in Iraq is very much diminished, but they still have potential to create these kinds of incidents. STEPHANOPOULOS: And the president has said that his overall goal is to have all forces out of Iraq by 2011. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: Under the status of forces agreement with the Iraqi government, I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. (END VIDEO CLIP) STEPHANOPOULOS: That is pretty unequivocal. Yet I was reading the proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute. They had an interview with Tom Ricks, the U.S. military historian, where he says he worries that the president is being wildly over- optimistic. He says we may be only halfway through the war. And he talks about a conversation he had with the commanding general in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, who told him he'd like to see 35,000 troops in Iraq in 2015. Is that what you expect, as well? MULLEN: Well, certainly the direction from the president and the status of forces agreement that we have with Iraq right now is that we will have all troops out of there by the end of 2011. And that's what we're planning on right now. STEPHANOPOULOS: But can Iraq be safe with all U.S. troops out of Iraq in 2007 (sic)? MULLEN: Well, we're on a good path now. And we'll have to see. I mean, the next 12 to 18 months are really critical there in that regard, and I think that answering that question will be much clearer given that timeframe. The other thing is, we have -- this is a long-term relationship we want with Iraq, and Iraq has stated they want with the United States. And part of that is the possibility that forces could remain there longer. But that's up to the Iraqi people and the Iraqi government to initiate discussions along those lines, and that hasn't happened yet. STEPHANOPOULOS: It's up to the Iraqi people and the Iraqi government. It's up to the president, of course, as well. But from a military perspective, General Odierno says that he would like to see 35,000 troops in 2015. Is that what you all believe is necessary to secure Iraq from a military perspective? MULLEN: There's no definitive number right now beyond the end of 2011. STEPHANOPOULOS: But it's not zero? MULLEN: Well, I mean, when I'm engaged in other countries around the world, I have very small footprints of military personnel in that engagement. You know, and I would hope long-term, that we would have a great military-to-military relationship with Iraq. STEPHANOPOULOS: That could include U.S. troops there? MULLEN: Well, I mean, we've got small numbers of troops throughout the world that conduct training activities, exercises, and those kinds of things. So long-term in Iraq, I would look to be able to do something like that. "It's not zero," George asked. Basic question. Mullen is a 63-year-old man who's spoken English for at least 61 -- if not 62 -- of those years. Yes, CENTCOM, they speak English in Sherman Oaks. Edward DeMarco (Bloomberg News) caught it, "On Iraq, Mullen said he would like to have some U.S. forces available there for training and exercises with the Iraqi military beyond 2011, when all U.S. forces are set to leave. He didn't specify how many U.S. military personnel would be needed." And though I have to hold my nose to note, Manu Raju (Hedda Hopper Lives!) observed Mullen "left open the option of keeping residual forces there after that deadline passes." Holding my nose for that source (not the reporter, the outlet) but we gave credit where it was due. By the way, Whores For Centcom who lied about what was stated included Janet Adamy (Wall St. Journal), AFP and many, many more. Decide on your own whether it's worse to do as the New York Times did and ignore it or to 'report' on it and deliberately lie.

Members of Sahwa ("Awakenings," "Sons Of Iraq") have long been under attack this year. Indpedent journalist
Dahr Jamail (at ZNet) reviews some of his months many, many attacks on Sahwa and observes, "The Maliki government in Baghdad, which has perceived the Sahwa as a threat from the beginning of the group's formation, is systematically eliminating the perceived threat. Maliki has broken his promise to integrate the Sahwa into the government security apparatus, while continuing to forgo payment to Sahwa forces working in security positions around much of Baghdad." Over the weekend, Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) spoke with Sahwa Abu Fatma who stated, "All our arms are from old army caches underground; they will allow us to fight another 20 years. I've told the Americans, 'If you keep alienating the people, all the Iraqis will fight." Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) spoke with a Sahwa commander who preferred to remain nameless and he stated, "If we hear from the Americans they are not capable of supporting us . . . within six hours we are going to establish our groups to fight against the corrupt government. There will be a war in Baghdad." Meanwhile the US military rushes out a press release today explaining that "big gains in SoI pay reconciliation" is taking place. Thanks to al-Maliki's government! Really? Then why did the "U.S. Military forces oversaw another series of paydays in Multaka"? So in one village -- not even a major town or city -- where al-Maliki had not been paying 228 members of Sahwa, with US help, the number was just dropped to only 18 not being paid. For the record, the world was informed last fall that al-Maliki had taken over payments of ALL Sahwa. That was not true. Then we were told it had happened early this year. Then that it would take place April 1st.

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

Bombings?

Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report a Baghdad mortar attack which injured eight people and a Baghdad car bombing which left three people injured and a Kirkuk roadside bombing which injured a driver and two "members of a military inspection committee from the Iraqi Ministry of Defence". Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing which left two police officers injured and an Iskandariya car bombing which left "two bankers" injured. Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reports, "Also on Tuesday, a suicide bomber targeted a U.S. convoy in the still-troubled northern city of Mosul, the second suicide attack against Americans operating there in as many days. The bomber missed the Americans but killed one Iraqi and wounded 45 others, the military said."

Shootings?

Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report a Kirkuk home invasion which claimed the lives of Ali Ahmed Hussein and his sons Salah and Hussein. Reuters notes 1 taxi driver shot dead in Kirkuk.

Abed Falah al-Sudani is no longer Iraq's Trade Minister. Over the weekend,
Jack Dolan and Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reported al-Sudani was expected to be out of office shortly and they noted, "All of Baghdad seemed to watch last weekend when Sudany appeared on state TV to answer questions about his two brothers allegedly skimming millions from a national food program as ordinary Iraqis went without staples such as rice, wheat and cooking oil. Sudany also struggled to answer charges that when government investigators arrived at the Trade Ministry, his guards had fired into the air, allowing his brothers to escape out a back door, and about why an inspector general was transferred to Beijing after he asked about shipments of spoiled food." Timothy Williams and Abeer Mohammed (New York Times) report Sudani has quit and note the rations shortages throughout "Sudani's tenure . . . arousing widespread anger." Nouri al-Maliki appointed al-Sudani, who is also a member of Nouri's political party. Yesterday Dolan and Hammoudi quoted Nouri mouthpiece Yaseen Majeed declaring, "It's over. They [Parliament] don't have to have a no confidence vote anymore." That's no doubt what Nouri wants. That's not necessarily where it stands.
Alsumaria reports, "As Parliamentarian and presidential elections are looming in Iraq Kurdistan, the IHEC announced that submitting candidacies for presidential elections has ended on Monday while current President Massoud Barazani and five other candidates are on the list." The elections are scheduled for July 25th. The KRG did not participate in the January 31st elections. Nor did Kirkuk. Massoud Barzani is the current president of the KRG and his political party is the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP). Jalal Talabani is the current president of Iraq and his political party is the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The elections will follow Kurdistan history and be a face off between the two parties.


Appearing Sunday on
Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox, Kevin Zeese declared, "It's funny you say that, I was just -- before you called -- talking to Ralph Nader and Ralph says Obama's a War Criminal." Here's where the remarks pops up.


Cindy Sheehan: I've just crossed that third rail and said that Obama doing this and killing innocent Afghanis and Pakistanis and covering up torture and covering up the war crimes of the Bush administration, that makes him a War Criminal too.

Kevin Zeese: It's funny you say that, I was just -- before you called -- talking to Ralph Nader and Ralph says Obama's a War Criminal. For exactly the same reasons you just laid out: he's killing civilians, wedding party bombings, drones killing 70 civilians for every one fighter . And so I think more and more people are seeing that Obama is part of this.

That's what Kevin Zeese said. Did Ralph Nader say it? We don't know. Did Ralph Nader say it and expect it to be private? We don't know. It's Kevin Zeese. Factor that in. For your laughing pleasure, here's Kev-o blathering on:

It shows the left needs to get better organized and become more agressive and withhold their votes from people who promise more war. We can't just vote for someone who promises to, as he did during the campaign, expand Afghanistan, attack Pakistan, very slowly and incompletely withdraw from Iraq and hope that someone who says that's gonna actually support our cause when he says he doesn't. We have to use our vote to stop that.

The public e-mail address for this site (
The Common Ills) can be used to contact Kat. That's fine. (It can also be used to contact Ruth and Isaiah who also write here.) The mirrorsite (here) has a contact forum. There's no reason to use that contact forum to e-mail Kat unless you're e-mailing her about her music articles. That's the only thing she writes that goes up at the mirror site. If you're writing about what's she's written at her own site, don't use the contact form on the mirror site because her writing from her own site DOES NOT APPEAR THERE and you are CLOGGING UP THE E-MAILS. I bring that up for a reason. Kevin Zeese used the mirror site to contact Kat and, goodness, did Kat and I laugh at his cowardly punk ass. Now Kevin wants people to use their votes? Now? He damn well didn't in 2008. Half the time you couldn't understand what he was saying in 2008 because he had his tongue so far up Barack's ass. Kevin Zeese is a damn liar and Kat didn't come out and call him that. But then little punk ass wouldn't stop e-mailing and she did. Kevin Zeese pimped and whored for Barack. And he shows up on the Soapbox to tell the world that people should withhold their votes? Where the hell was he when it mattered? Listen to him whine about mountain top removal ("it just pierces me through my body") and grasp that Barack was always promising that. And that Kevin was happy to cheerlead Barack. In July of 2008, Barack wasn't just a candidate, according to Kevy, Barack was the next president. We don't need Kevin Zeese now. He certainly couldn't be counted on back when it actually mattered.

He and his little punk ass that wants to whine today? He made sure Barack was installed. He offered weak-ass criticisms and wanted to whine that all he could do was that weak-ass criticism because otherwise people wouldn't listen. Oh, poor little baby. People might not listen. How sad. He needs to take accountability for what he did and stop trying to act big, bad and brave today. We're not in the mood for it. Kat's laughing as I'm dictating this, she may or may not write about the topic tonight. But there's no way in hell that either of us is going to hear that crap without laughing. This is the same Kevin Zeese who wanted to whine that his 90% praise of Barry O and 5% maybe and 5% criticism was all that could be managed. Go Dick Cheney yourself, Kevin Zeese. Ralph may have said it. He may not have. I hope he did say it but, if he did, he wasn't saying it for public consumption. If he meant for it to be passed around, he would have said it himself publicly or
written about it.

Cindy Sheehan's
speaking tour takes her to Corvallis, Oregon tomorrow (Unitarian Universality Fellowship of Corvallis at seven p.m.).

Phoenix: June 5th
Dallas: June 7th and 8th
Waco: June 9th
Austin: June 10th and 11th
Nashville: June 14-16
St. Petersburg, FL: June 17-18
Philadelphia: June 20-23
NYC: June 24-26
Cape Cod: June 27-29
New Hampshire: June 30 - July 1
San Francisco: July 3 - 5 (Socialist Conference)
Cleveland: July 8-9 (National Assembly to end the Iraq War)
Pittsburgh: July 11-12
Norfolk, VA: July 15-18
Vashon Island, Washington: July 25-26


Kevin Zeese, Willem Buiter's "
Obushma-Biney in the Home of the Frightened" (Financial Times of London) demonstrates how a grown up calls out Barry O:The spinelessness and moral cowardice of the Obama administration know no bounds. The Bush-Cheney team ordered the torture and abuse of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and assorted other locations abroad -- offshore detention without trial as well as torture by US officials or persons acting under their instructions being permitted by Article VIII of the United States Constitution, as confirmed in the XXVIIIth Amendment to the US Constitution. Candidate Obama declares he abhors torture and deplores what went on in Gitmo and in secret detention centres around the world, but President Obama decides that the Camp may have to remain open for another year, as he doesn't seem to know what to do with the prisoners. The right thing to do would have been to send a plane to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base on the day of his inauguration, to move all the prisoners to the US. President Obama then also decides not to prosecute those who committed the crimes of torture or abuse of prisoners or were responsible for these crimes. The president's excuse was was that he sought to turn the page on "a dark and painful chapter". It was a "time for reflection, not for retribution", he said.


iraqerika slifecara sievers
the washington posternesto londonosteve fainaru
the new york timesrod nordland
timothy williamsabeer mohammedmcclatchy newspapersleila fadel
laith hammoudi
jack dolan
abc newsthis week with george stephanopoulos
dahr jamail
liz sly
the los angeles timesned parker
cindy sheehan
cbs news
now on pbs
pbs
alsumariafinancial times of londonwillem buiter

Friday, May 22, 2009

Barack's detention policies

Civil liberties and human rights groups who criticized the Bush administration's detention policies are definitive in their opposition to Mr. Obama's plans.
"It's really crossing a constitutional Rubicon," said Jonathan Hafetz, American Civil Liberties Union attorney who represented Ali al Marri. Mr. al Marri recently pleaded guilty to being an al Qaeda sleeper agent after years being held without charge as an "enemy combatant."
Mr. Hafetz says that President Obama is "taking steps that are inconsistent with our legal traditions and values. At the same, he's closing Guantanamo but he's creating a new Guantanamo in another form."
In recent weeks, the Obama administration has won court backing for important elements of the policy. District court rulings have agreed with the administration that the congressional authorization for military force following the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, as well as the laws of war, give the government the right to detain indefinitely members of al Qaeda and affiliated groups at war with the U.S. Those cases will likely continue to be in litigation for months to come.


That's from Evan Perez' "Obama's Detention Plans Face Scrutiny" (Wall St. Journal) and we are in for some scary times if the Cult of St. Barack can't stop covering for their loverboy and excusing his actions.

America doesn't have a dictator. Americans don't bow to a leader. This Cult of St. Barack is more dangerous than any of those Republican freaks who got orgasms every time Bully Boy Bush spoke. We had a real left while Bush was in the White House. And we were willing to stand up to abuses. Of course, for a lot of them, it was just about ripping Bush apart.

It wasn't about ending the Iraq War or about freeing the prisoners at Guantanamo or anything else. Their objections were made just to advance Democratic prospects in each election cycle.

And that's why we're so screwed right now.

But people who have called it like it is will continue to do so. And, bit by bit, we will make a difference. We may never wake up the entire Cult of St. Barack (Bully Boy Bush could usually count on approximately 30% of the population even after most had caught on) but enough will awake and admit the truth. And that's how we bring democracy back to the country.

No doubt only to jump on another Cult of Personality next election go-round. We're not especially smart in the United States, are we?

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

Friday, May 22, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, the 4300 mark hovers, Green gets life in prison and Iraqis aren't happy, and we look back at the Abeer coverage since the War Crimes were first exposed.


Yesterday the KPFA Evening News didn't air (or not at its usual hour if it did). KPFK did carry the KPFA Evening News. This being Pacifica, we should probably point out that it's fundraising before someone thinks there was another lock-out. On the KPFA Evening News aired on
KPFK, KPFA's Andrea Lewis covered the War Crimes.

Andrea Lewis: An ex-soldier convicted of raping and killing an Iraqi teen and murdering her family was spared the death penalty today and will serve a life sentence after jurors could not agree unanimously on a punishment.

Evan Bright reports:

The jury deliberated for a total of ten hours and twenty minutes. While waiting for the jury, Jim Lesousky(P) was seen, hands clasped, as if in prayer. Scott Wendelsdorf(D) was pacing around the defense table, anxious and apprehensive. His hands were shaking as he took his seat. Green, appearing in the same maroon sweater vest as before, appeared surprisingly calm, his breathing steady; the exact same calm-cool-collected look could also be seen on Green's father John and uncle David, present in court. Pat Bouldin(D) twiddled his thumbs with his head down, knowing that this was the moment they'd spent the past two and a half years preparing for. The jury entered, looking quite stern. Two juror's lips were near quivering. The members of the defense team looked down, while the prosecution eyed the flock of jurors for the last time. After reviewing the verdict forms, Judge Russell announced that the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, giving Green life in prison without possibility of parole.


Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) broke it down thusly, "Green was given the life term after jurors couldn't come to unanimous agreement on sentencing him to death."
AFP explains, "Their failure to agree effectively handed Steven Dale Green life in prison without the possibility of parole for the rape and killing of Abeer al-Janabi, 14, and the murder of her mother, father and six-year-old sister." As James Dao (New York Times) notes, "At least four other soldiers have pleaded guilty or were convicted in military courts for their roles in the rape and murders. While most received long prison terms, none are facing the death penalty, and all will be eligble for parole in 10 years or less." UPI explains, "The trial was the first in which a civilian jury was asked whether to execute a former service member for a wartime crime." Alsumaria notes, "Green acknowledged the 17 charges addressed to him including rape, murder and judicial obstruction." Andrew Wolfson (Courier-Journal -- link has a video option as well) observes, "Green broke into a slight smile when the verdict was announced."

While Green was grinning, Iraqis were less than pleased.
Marc Santora and Suadad al-Salhy (New York Times, for tomorrow's paper so it will not be considered in the next section of the snapshot) quote Sheik Fahil al-Janabi stating, "There is no comparison between the crimes and the sentence. That soldier entered an Iraqi house, raped their underage daughter and burned her with her family, so this sentence is not enough and it is insulting for Iraqi's honor." The reporters tell you that the case was news ("extensive coverage") on Iraqi TV -- well at least some media system cared -- and that Green has been dubbed "the killer of innocence." Sami al-Jumaili and Habaib al-Zubaidy (Reuters) quote Abeer's uncle Raad Yusuf stating, "It's a real shock. That court decision is a crime -- almost worse than the soldier's crime." Earlier, Habib al-Zubaidy (Reuters) noted a mechanic from Abeer's home time, Ahmed Samir stating, "What the American soldier did is a terrorist act and he deserves execution. The court has not delivered justice. If I killed an American girl, the American court would have executed me." CNN quotes Sahwa leader Mustafa Kamel Shabib al-Jaoburi stating, "He raped a girl and killed an entire family, and he got only life in prison. . . . This is an unjust trial. We demand a new trial."

And Green may get a new trial. It's always sad when anyone -- guilty or innocent -- who is poor is betrayed by a public defender. Maybe the defender falls asleep in court, maybe the defender just doesn't give a damn about the client? There are many wonderful public defenders in the US and they work very, very hard. They are heroes and heroines because they ensure that everyone gets a voice, that everyone has representation. But not every public defender is up to the job. Steven D. Green entered a plea of "not guilty." As reporters have repeatedly noted, his attorneys decided (they say) not to fight the guilt but to work on being sure Green didn't get the death penalty. If that is correct, Green's got solid grounds for an appeal because his attorneys disregarded his wishes. A public defender does not determine what the client will plead. Nor is a public defender allowed to say, "I'll just sit out the trial but, after they convict my client, I'll earn the tax payers dollars by fighting to prevent him/her from receiving the death penalty." Green does not appear to have been served by his attorneys who appear to have either thought they couldn't win or just didn't want to work for a win. This appears likely not only by their comments to the press but also by their behavior in the courtroom. April 28th the prosecution began calling their witnesses and they rested
May 4th. That afternoon the defense began calling their witnesses and they rested . . . the following day. 1 day and a half of witnesses. May 7th the jury returned their verdict (guilty on all counts). Green was now guilty. It was time for sentencing. The defense called their first witness on May 11th. May 18th, the defense called their last witness. Throughout the case, the defense verbally argued the entire system failed Green. With their actions, the defense failed him. (Click here for more on that.) Comments made by Green's father and brother indicate it's likely Green may indeed appeal. He's due to be sentenced September 4th. This may or may not be over.


But let's look back to what should be the most known War Crimes of the Iraq War. The fact that they aren't go to a media failure. There are some who have earned praise. Many more have not. From
July 2, 2006 snapshot: "Lupien also noted the arrest of Steven D. Green. Green, is 21 and was with the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army. Friday, in Asheville, North Carolina, he was arrested and charged with both the four deaths as well as the rape. According to the US government press release, if convicted on the charge of murder, 'the maximum statutory penalty . . . is death' while, if convicted on the charge of rape, 'the maxmium statutory penalty for the rape is life in prison'." Green's trial finally began April 27th. The first day, Andrew Wolfson (Courier-Journal) reported, "In an opening statement in a trial that is expected to last three to five weeks, Justice Department lawyer Brian Skaret said the government will present at least five witnesses who say Green bragged about the crimes, including one who says Green told his fellow soldiers that it was 'awesome'." Wolfson bid closest without going over: Four weeks. The trial lasted four weeks. In all that time, there was only one known editorial. The Washington Observer-Reporter made the trial the topic of an editorial and they concluded, "But there are no hardships, military or otherwise, that could excuse an atrocity like this and you can't blame it on a 'lack of leadership'." The New York Times? During the four weeks, they filed three reports on the story. Three. Campbell Robertson and Atheer Kakan filed "Ex-G.I. Guilty of Rape and Killings in Iraq" from Iraq and this is the first report the paper ever carried which mentioned Abeer by name. It was not their first story on the topic, or the second or third or . . . But it was the first time that Abeer's name was ever mentioned. The paper had repeatedly rendered her invisible for nearly three years. James Dao filed "Civilian Jury Considers Death Penalty for Ex-G.I." which moved Abeer's name back to paragraph 14 (paragraph thirteen was where Robertson and Kakan were able to get it in) and was a pretty sorry report with no saving graces. Today Dao filed "Ex-Soldier Gets Life Sentence for Iraq Murders" which is such a huge improvement, it's hard to believe that both articles were written by the same reporter. Praise for Dao.

That was the New York Times. The Los Angeles Times loves, loves to cover 'military justice.' They're always dispatching Tony Perry to . . . Well, as a friend at the San Diego Union-Tribune likes to put it, "Where ever Rick goes, they [LAT] send him." And if anyone ever doubted that Tony was anything other than a camp follower they had their proof over the last four weeks. Rick Rogers wasn't dispatched to Kentucky so . . . Tony didn't go. Some people call it "competition," some people call it "stalking." The Washington Post? Though Ellen Knickmeyer wrote the definitive newspaper account of the crimes in 2006, "
Details Emerge in Alleged Army Rape, Killings" (July 3, 2006), the paper made do with Reuters and AP when 'covering' the Green trial. Wall St. Journal? Didn't Old Man Rupaul Murdoch promise no lay offs and that resources would be pooled so there would be even more coverage? Apparently the only thing that pooled was the blood from his lifeless head because the Wall St. Journal which should have been covering it wasn't covering it. Now everyone knows -- check any Marriott -- that the Wall St. Journal isn't really the paper with the largest circulation in the US (the bulk of the Wall St. Journals at Marriotts are never picked up -- many front desks 'store' them in the closet nearest to the front desk) but it claims to be and, as such, it certainly should have been able to manage one reporter covering the case. September 13, 2006, USA Today ran Gregg Zoroya's "Soldier describes anguish in revealing murder allegations" on the front page which not only offered a look at Justin Watt who heroically came foward, it also named the victims (Abeer, sister Hadeel, parents Fikhriya Taha and Qassim Hamza) and featured photos of her two brothers Ahmed (then nine) and Mohammed (then eleven). Justin Watt did a courageous thing in coming forward and Zoroya explained that he took the issue to a mental health counselor "because he wanted to bypass what he thought would be a skeptical command structure and get an audience with Army investigators". You might have thought they'd want to live up to their high water mark because, let's be honest, USA Today is not the paper most people read -- it's a glance-at. It's the paper which causes serious readers to groan at the airports when they realize it's the only one left. And yet despite having one of those few moments in their history that they could be proud of, they elected not to build it and appeared to think they'd show the world they were a real news outlet -- honest they were -- by blogging about what the AP wrote. Yesterday they teamed their Andrea Stone up with the Courier-Journal's Andrew Wolfson for "Ex-soldier gets life for Iraqi murders." It was a move they should have considered weeks ago but they still come out ahead of many, many other outlets.
And what about radio? A lot of McBurgers were sold to make NPR what it is so where's the beef? Never on air.
Diane Rehm famously BANNED the topic from her show when the jury released their verdict of guilty (on all counts). After they were exposed (here) the show sent out a laughable e-mail to those who had e-mailed on the topic and those who had called Rehm out for banning the topic. We've got seven forwarded copies of that and I've confirmed it with a friend with the show so on a slow day this summer we may include it in the snapshot. (Click here for some of the e-mails sent into the show on the day Diane was banning the topic.) All those hours to fill every day and not a word about Abeer on the NPR programs. This afternoon Frank James blogs and includes some comments by NPR's JJ Sutherland. But actually getting it on air was too damn much work for NPR. Pacifica Radio? They didn't send anyone. They're begging for money right now and they're doing awful. KPFA, for example, is supposed to be ending their fund drive and they are $100,000 short of their target goal. KPFA has the best fundraising (because it has the richest base) of any Pacifica radio station. WBAI is teetering due to already being in debt. No one thought to send anyone to Kentucky and despite the fact that all the Pacifica stations have listeners in Kentucky, no one thought to ask one of them to file some sort of report or, for that matter, to interview Evan Bright. We'll come back to Evan. Lila Garrett talks a good game about caring about Iraqis, she talks a good game. But when it came to an Iraqi teenager who was gang-raped and murdered by US soldiers? Where were you, Lila? We know where Margret Prescond was -- on the corner whoring for Barack. Remember that when Maggie The Cat wants to tell you yet again how wonderful she is and how she interview Hugo Chavez and how she . . . Didn't do s**t.

I'm not overly fond of Amy Goodman. I'd love to right now be able to point to someone else but Amy's the only one who consistently was aware of Abeer. It was never more than headlines but when Goodman's getting ready to go to bed, she can tell herself, "I did cover it." And she did. Credit where it's due. Not as much but also deserving credit, Andrea Lewis on KPFA. Andrea covered it twice. Andrea does know what actual news is. Which puts her far ahead of her morning replacement, to be honest. When Andrea co-hosted The Morning Show and when Sandra Lupien did the news breaks? They broke the story. No other radio station in the country had run with the arrest of Steven D. Green. Sandra worked her ass off and she didn't -- as Aileen does -- just grab AP and read it out loud (which some call plagiarism when you don't say "AP reports . . ."). She found the government's announcement of the arrest and found it about ten minutes after it was released and worked furiously to include it in the news break she was about to do. KPFA was the first broadcast outlet to note Steven D. Green's death.

They're short now. And why is that? Why should we give money to KPFA? They didn't send anyone to cover Abeer's case. We had Aimee Allison making a fool herself every damn morning, being the equivalent of Phyllis George, and we're supposed to pay for that? We're supposed to pay to listen to them read Associated Press stories to us that they pass off as news? We're supposed to pay for all that Barack Whoring? It's not news. It's not free speech. It is propaganda and, no surprise, they're learning people aren't going to pay for it. (See
Panhandle Media for how KPFA in particular ABUSED the airwaves and the audience to WHORE for Barack.) Andrea Lewis is a functioning adult. She may be one of the few left at KPFA. But despite all the calls and e-mails and all the blog comments they've had (you can leave comments at their archives) asking why they weren't covering the Green trial, the only KPFA employee who seemed to think "Maybe in a fundraising cycle it's really not good to piss off our audience?" was Andrea. When the layoffs come, they need to start way at the top. When the layoffs come they need to start with the execs who allowed this to go on and who have turned The Morning Show into two hours that no one can listen to because it's a daily sermonette (preached strongest by Brother Mitch Jeserich in that hideous "Washington Letter") on the Glory and Goodness of St. Barack. Instead of sending Mitch to DC to reach his hands down St. Barack's pants, maybe the money could have been spent reporting on the War Crimes trial coz, pay attention, in ten years when Pacifica really needs to beg for money, their happy time chatter about Barack won't be worth s**t but if they could say "We covered the War Crimes trial" they might have have impressed someone. That's especially true of Free Speech Radio News which appears to be utilizing all of their energies currently to demonstrate that they are not "free speech" nor are they news. Message received. May you share warm reminisces . . . on the unemployment line.


Turning to televison. I have friends with The NewsHour and I know they are re-tooling the show. That's no excuse for their silence on this story. That's no excuse for not covering it. For those wondering, PBS does have a member station in Paducah, Kentucky (where the trial was held), WKPD. There's no reason they couldn't have partnered with that station to cover it. There's no reason -- other than it wouldn't let her be the airhead she loves to be -- that Washington Week couldn't have covered the trial in their gas bag way. (For those not aware of it, even under Gwen, Washington Week has brought reporters on to do a report and not gas bag, they're usually reporting by remote from outside the studio.) PBS is broadcast television. The network news? Damn disgusting. And it's really sad that when we finally do have a woman anchor that the gang-rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager by US soldiers isn't seen as news. It's really sad.

MSNBC? They don't do news, kids. They think they do comedy and that actually is funny. CNN? CNN covered this story starting in 2006. They have always covered the story. While MSNBC and Fox 'News' served up pompous wind bags, CNN offered news. They deserve a lot of credit for the reports they did -- including the reports done by Dave Alsup and Deborah Feyerick on the Green trial. Yet again, CNN proved they are in the news business. They may be the only ones, but they are in it.

The weeklies? Newsweek couldn't be bothered. When can they be? TIME magazine offered
a report by Jim Frederick who has long covered the story and who is writing a book on Green's unit. US News & World Reports? Stop, you're making us laugh. The Nation? Oh that is funny. You think any of those useless writers at The Nation gives a damn about Abeer. Ugly Girl Katha Pollitt who poses as a feminist? What has that useless woman ever done? Not real damn much. She's trashed the NAACP, true. That made her feel good, I guess. What a proud moment for White Katha, lecturing the NAACP on what she thinks they should focus on. How they were wasting their time complaining about the unfair portrayals on TV and the lack of them. But what does Katha do but kvetch and moan every two weeks about something in the media. Real problems? Katha doesn't have time for them. And she never had time for Abeer. It was almost one year after the War Crimes were known that, under tremendous pressure, Katha was forced to mention Abeer. Which she did . . . for a half-sentence. The self-styled den mother of the push-up bra set of 'feminists,' the 21st century's Charlotte Rae, Katha Pollitt, take your bow. Ruth Conniff? She makes Katha look like a deep thinker. The Progressive's a monthly but, no, it didn't cover Abeer. There was time for Matthew Rothschild to come out of the closet this week but no time for Abeer. Never time for Abeer. Well, hey, Matthew Rothschild, what he's really like, him telling us that, does qualify as news, right? News you can use? No, it's more naval gazing from the man who is far too intimate with his own pot belly and who, honestly, should have grasped long enough that, as a news topic, he's just not interesting.

Reuters, UPI, AFP and AP filed stories. AP was fortunate to have Brett Barrouquere who has covered the story for nearly three years and may know it better -- all the ins and outs -- than any other reporter who has followed the story. AP's not really fond of bylines. They're not really fond of reporters names. They prefer their 'product' be known and not individuals -- their 'product' is not the news reports, they mean "Associated Press." Well tough, because Brett Barrouquere deserves praise for the work he's long done on this story and, his own natural talents aside, he's also the strongest argument for keeping reporters on stories. Other outlets should learn something from that. In a reporter's universe, 'heaven' may be tenacity paying off. If so, Brett's earned his joy.

And then there's
Evan Bright. The 18-year-old high school senior, one who's not even necessarily planning to be a reporter, one who wasn't even aware the case over six months ago. But he reported -- REPORTED -- on the case. He was in the court room every day. During the last four weeks we've been treated to a load of sanctimonous claims about the power of the newspapers and how important they are and how much they matter to democracy and how we need to give them a bail out and blah, blah, blah. No national newspaper put a reporter in a court room every day. Evan Bright put himself in that court room. When the US media system failed (excepting only Brett's work for AP), Evan Bright was there. Instead of bailing out newspapers, maybe Congress can fund Evan's college career? Evan's offered closing thoughts on the trial here.

Here is the
US Justice Dept press release on yesterday's events:

WASHINGTON -- A federal jury that convicted Steven D. Green, a former Ft. Campbell, Ky., soldier of charges arising out of the rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the murder of the girl and her family today said it was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether the defendant should be sentenced to death. Because the jury did not unanimously reach a decision on the death penalty, U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell will sentence Green to life without parole, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Candace G. Hill of the Western District of Kentucky announced.
Judge Russell is scheduled to formally sentence Green on September 4, 2009.
Green, 24, was convicted by the federal jury on May 7, 2009, in Louisville, Ky., on all charged counts, including premeditated murder, aggravated sexual abuse, felony murder, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated sexual abuse, use of firearms during the commission of violent crimes and obstruction of justice. Green was indicted by a federal grand jury on Nov. 2, 2006.
Green was charged with the crimes following an incident that occurred on March 12, 2006, in and around Mahmoudiyah, Iraq. According to evidence presented at trial, while manning a military checkpoint, Green and other fellow soldiers discussed raping and killing Iraqis. Trial evidence showed that Green and others then took off their uniforms, put on black clothing, left their post and forced their way into the nearby home of the Al-Janabi family. Evidence presented at trial proved that Green then took the mother, father and six-year-old into a bedroom where he shot and killed them. In the living room, Green and the other soldiers raped the 14-year-old and then Green repeatedly shot her in the face and set her body on fire. Green then tried to blow up the house, according to trial evidence, after which the soldiers returned to their checkpoint. After committing the rape and murders, trial testimony revealed that Green bragged to others that the experience was "awesome."
Green was discharged from the U.S. Army in May 2006 and was prosecuted in U.S. District Court under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA), a statute that gives U.S. courts jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed outside the United States by, among others, persons who served with the armed forces but who are no longer subject to military prosecution. Green's co-conspirators were prosecuted by military authorities under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Green, formerly stationed at Ft. Campbell and deployed to Iraq while serving with the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army, was arrested by the FBI on June 30, 2006, on federal charges of murder and rape based on MEJA.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marisa Ford and Jim Lesousky of the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of Kentucky and Trial Attorney Brian Skaret of the Criminal Division's Domestic Security Section.

Yesterday's violence in Iraq resulted in 27 reported deaths and thirty-two reported wounded. The 27 includes the 3 US soldiers killed. This morning Reuters adds the following on Thursday's violence: a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 police officer and injured six more, another Mosul roadside bombing injured a woman, 2 corpses discovered in Mosul ("man with bullet wounds" and "woman with bullet wounds"). So there are 30 reported deaths from Thursday's violence (at least thirty) and thirty-nine reported wounded plus nine US soldiers wounded for a total of forty-eight wounded. And the violence follows Wednesday's Baghdad bombing which resulted in at least 40 dead. On yesterday's Baghdad bombing, Nada Bakri (Washington Post) notes eye witness Raed Nizar stating, "Blood was all over the ground. The wounded were pleading with motorists who happened to drive by to take them to the hospital." Timothy Williams and Abeer Mohammed (New York Times) describe the Baghdad bomber as "a beared man dressed in a woman's black floor-length cloak".

In some of today's reported violence . . .

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad mortar attack on the Green Zone (missed), a Baghdad mortar attack which wounded two people, a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 police officer and left six people injured and a second Mosul roadside bombing which injured one person.

As the US heads into Memorial Day weekend, the number of US service members killed in the Iraq War stands at
4299 -- one away from the 4300 mark.

TV notes.
NOW on PBS begins airing on many PBS stations tonight (check local listings):This week NOW on PBS partners with best-selling author and journalist Robert Lacey to investigate the surprising success of Saudi Arabia's approach to dealing with terrorists and extremists - without torture or water-boarding. Given extraordinary access to the Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry and its practices, Lacey visits terrorist rehabilitation camps that use "soft policing" tactics to be nice to the bad guys.In the program we see the Saudis providing a private jumbo jet to bring inmates home from Guantanamo Bay, giving them a hero's welcome, then sending them to a converted holiday resort for re-education. Then, the men are set free.Is this rehab program working, and can we trust the Saudis to protect themselves - and us - against Islamic extremism in the future? Watch this NOW on PBS report for a perspective on terrorism you've never seen before.Washington Week also begins airing tonight and Catty Girl Gwen invites three boys over for her sleep over and tosses Karen Tumulty (TIME) in for giggles (NYT's David Sanger, Wall St. Journal's Naftali Bendavid and National Journal's John Maggs compete to be Gwen's Dream Date). Golly, you know if PBS had been okay with this sort of 'representation' of the American public, Gwen would never have been a host of any PBS show. Don't worry though, she's off singing "I got mine." Four guests, one is a woman. No that's not reflective of the population. Yes, it does speak to Gwen's own sexism and her own vanity. As a fix you can watch (and starts airing tonight on many PBS stations, check local listings) as Bonnie Erbe sits down withCari Dominguez, Karen Czarnecki, Patricia Sosa and Avis Jones-DeWeever to discuss this week's news on To The Contrary. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:Buy AmericanThe economic stimulus package includes a "buy American" clause that the steel and other U.S. industries lobbied hard for. However, American businesses that export overseas now fear foreign governments will retaliate and keep U.S. products out of their market, hurting their business. Lesley Stahl reports. Watch Video
Sergeant BillWaving a badge he bought on the Internet and claiming to belong to the "Multi-jurisdictional Narcotics Task Force," Bill Jakob fooled a small town's officials into granting him the authority of a law enforcement officer. Katie Couric reports. Watch Video
Wine RxScientists have found a substance called resveratrol in red wine that slows down the aging process in mice. Will it someday lengthen the lives of humans, too? Morley Safer reports. Watch Video
60 Minutes, Sunday, May 24, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.


iraq
evan brightsteven d. green
the new york timesjames daoandrew wolfsoncnnhabib al-zubaidy
justin wattgregg zoroyausa today
the washington postellen knickmeyer
andrea stone
campbell robertsonatheer kakandemocracy now
kpfa
npr
nada bakrithe new york timesabeer mohammedtimothy williams
60 minutescbs newspbsto the contrarybonnie erbenow on pbs

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Senate Armed Services Committee

Among things not covered already by C.I. in today's snapshot -- things which took place during the Senate Armed Services Committee -- I'd rank most interesting the fact that this is the 62nd wedding anniversary for Millie and Daniel Akaka. Senator Akaka is from Hawaii.

After that?

I agree with C.I. that Carl Levin, the chair, snapped the committee and the room to attention with his first questions. You could just fill the spark and you could see the senators sit up a little straighter and lose the dazed look in their eyes.

Other than that?

Senator Mel Martinez (Republican out of Florida) was more than willing to hand over our money. Joint Cargo Aircraft. The Air Force says they need 38. He disagrees. (Because of jobs lost at Jacksonville, Florida, let's be honest.) He wants them to have more.

Mel Martinez, everyone's Dream Dad on a Friday night. "Can I have twenty?" "Twenty, take two hundred!"

Of course someone might want to let Mel know that the money's he's so eager to give away, it's not his money. It's our money.

I wish Mel had waited. The hearing was really cooking and even Republicans were doing a better job than last week. John McCain was actually one of the stronger voices -- I'd rank him third, behind Carl Levin in first place and Ben Nelson in second place. But the Republicans seemed to be paying attention until John Thune let Mel jump ahead of him and then it was stupidity on parade. Duh, duh, duh.

Wally leaned over and said, "Remember, I didn't vote for him." (Florida's Wally's home state.) I could probably add some more details but I think C.I. did the overview amazingly well especially considering that the verdict came in while C.I. was dictating the snapshot. And there were two different calls on that at the same time with two different people giving two different versions. So C.I. had to put in a call to a friend at AP to ask if Brett had filed yet? And was trying to reconfigure the snapshot on the fly while waiting to find out what happened.

C.I. was wrong on the jury's time. Her guess was that they'd give a verdict on Friday. She was right about the verdict. She guessed that Steven D. Green wouldn't get the death penalty (and noted that this morning in an entry).


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

Thursday, May 21, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces deaths, the jury decides Steven D. Green's sentence, the Senate shows some oversight before handing out the people's monies, a large wave of violence sweeps through Iraq and more.

Starting with Steven D. Green who was convicted two
Thursdays ago in the gang-rape of 14-year-old Iraqi Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, her murder, the murder of her five-year-old sister and the murders of both of her parents. Then the jury began hearing testimony to weigh when determining his sentencing. Green could receive the death penalty; however, all 12 jurors would have to vote to sentence him to death. If that does not happen, he is facing life in prison. Two Thursdays ago the verdict was decided by the jury and only yesterday were closing statements made and the jury sent to deliberate Green's sentencing. This Thursday they issue a verdict. Evan Bright reports, "JURY UNABLE TO REACH VERDICT IN USA V GREEN. STEVEN DALE GREEN SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON W/O PAROLE." The Courier-Journal's Andrew Wolfson and Andrea Stone team up for Stone's outlet (USA Today) and observe, "Green's sentence closes the case on one of the worst war crimes committed by U.S . forces or contractors in Iraq. The atrocity in Mahmoudiya may not pack the political wallop that the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison did but it ranks with other infamous incidents in Iraq, some military experts say." Brett Barrouquere (AP) notes the life in prison sentence comes following the jury deliberating for "10-and-a-half hours".

The verdict follows another bad 'report' filed by
Gail McGown Mellor, this one at Women's Media Center, where she floats, maybe, just maybe, Abeer wasn't raped! Based on? The fact that Gail's an idiot. The weeping rapists showed up at their military courts and one offered he wasn't sure if he had a boner. By the time they gave testimony in Green's trial both -- to run from their guilt -- were floating the notion that maybe, just maybe, they couldn't get erections. Grow the hell up. Every damn one of you putting that out, grow the hell up. You think Steven D. Green wouldn't know if his co-gang-rapists hadn't cum in Abeer. Do we really need to get graphic. He's third in line in the gang-rape, you think he wouldn't notice? Also don't forget that Abeer, prior to being gang-raped by US soldiers, was a virgin. You think Green wouldn't have noticed if he were first?

This is such stupidity and it is appalling that a feminist website wants to serve that crap up. Women are raped every day in the United States.
Over 92,000 reported rapes in 2006 alone -- reported. We don't need Gail's fantasies. It happens. There's no reason for it to be stripped out of Abeer's story because Gail wants to make her 'respectable.' Stripping the gang-rape out of Abeer's story is not at all different than blaming a woman for being sexually assaulted. It happend, it is a crime and it's part of the story of Abeer. It's not pretty, but life isn't always pretty. And it is an insult to the millions of rape survivors for Gail to prattle on -- in her own ignorance -- about how maybe Abeer's wasn't gang-raped, maybe the soldiers couldn't get erections, maye . . . Women's Media Center isn't supposed to be a lurid pulp magazine. They should be ashamed of themselves. Gail? This is her second novelization of the case. If familiarizing herself with the case is that difficult for her, she should stick to writing fiction -- she's repeatedly attempted to write fiction while allegedly 'reporting.' Abeer was held down by Paul Cortez while James Barker raped her and by Barker while Cortez raped her. Abeer screamed, yelled and fought back. That is part of the testimony and was part of the testimony in these War Crimes long before this month. Gail needs to do the work required which entails looking at the confessions made to the military courts.

Stupid is apparently contagious for those reporters flitting through Kentucky. Which is how James Dao's wretched "
Civilian Jury Considers Death Penalty for Ex-G.I." appears in today's New York Times. The paper rendered Abeer invisible. Intentionally. When finally forced to file something on the case, they went with a front page propaganda piece by
Carolyn Marshall and Robert Worth which presenting the defense's case before the defense could present it at the Article 32 hearing in August of 2006. Abeer's name never appeared in that. She is "14-year-old girl" or "14-year-old Iraqi girl" when she's mentioned. She has no name because giving her a name humanizes her and the paper certainly wasn't interested in that. They were more than happy to defend the War Criminals and did so repeatedly backing off only when, one after the other, received a prison sentence. In late June and early July of 2006, most oulets (Washington Post, CNN) were covering the story and mentioning Abeer by name. Not the New York Times. Abeer's name finally appears in print May 9th of this year when the paper ran Campbell Robertson and Atheer Kakan contribute "
Ex-G.I. Guilty of Rape and Killings in Iraq." Nearly three years after the War Crimes were known. Even then, the paper wouldn't open with her name. It wasn't until the 13th paragraph that they finally mentioned her name. Today James Dao does mention her name. Once. Paragraph 14. It's disgusting. But the paper -- which has never printed a photo of Abeer or either of her surviving younger brothers (USA Today did back in 2006) -- prints a photo of Steven D. Green.

Yesterday the jury heard closing arguments.
Deb Feyerick (CNN) explains:

But prosecutors seeking the death penalty told the jury Wednesday it was time to end the blame game.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Skaret said that the soldiers in Green's unit who died honorably "would be rolling over in their graves" if they knew their deaths were being used to explain why Green went on the murder rampage.
Skarat said that before the killings, Green and his four co-conspirators were talking about "sex" and "screwing Iraqi chicks" rather than avenging their colleagues' deaths.

Today the
US military announced: "BAGHDAD -- Three Multi-National Division -- Baghdad Soldiers died when an improvised explosive device detonated near their patrol in Baghdad at approximately 10:40 a.m. May 21. The Soldier's names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense." The announcement brings to 4299 the number of US service members killed in the illegal war -- one away from the 4300 mark. Usama Redha and Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) report that the soldiers were "on foot patrol" when the bomb exploded also killing 12 Iraqis. Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report it was a suicide bomber and that thirty people were wounded (they also state twelve Iraqis were killed). Meanwhile in Kirkuk, CNN reports: "Also Thursday, a bomber struck outside an army headquarters in southern Kirkuk, a city about 150 miles north of Baghdad, police said. The explosion killed eight Awakening Council members who were lining up to receive their monthly salaries. Four other council members were wounded in the attack." Caroline Alexander (Bloomberg News) adds, "The bomber ran into the group today as they queued to collect their salaries and detonated a belt laden with explosives, according to the Web site of President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party."

In other violence . . .

Bombings?

Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report a Baghdad roadside bombing injured five people, a Baghdad bomb "in a plastic bag and planeted in a waste paper basket in Mamoun Police Station" resulted in the deaths of 2 police officer and left twenty people injured, a Kikurk bombing apparently tarketing the Chief of Police (Brig Burhan Tayib) resulted in one security officer being injured, a Baquba bombing left two people (on the bomb squad) wounded and a Mosul grenade attack left three people injured.


Shootings?

Sahar Issa and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report 2 brothers shot in Mosul (wounded, not killed) and 1 mother and 1 daughter shot dead in Mosul (both women were seamstresses).


Today the
United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq issued the following statement: "The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG) Staffan de Mistura strongly condemned the bombings in Baghdad and Kikruk on Wednesday, 20 May and Thursday 21 May, Mr. de Mistura described these attacks which resulted in the death and injury of dozens of innocent Iraqi citizens, as 'reprehensible crimes that have indiscrimately targeted ordinary Iraqis'. Mr. de Mistura extends the United Nations' sincere condolences to the bereaved families, and his wishes for a full and speedy recovery for the wounded." Xinhua quotes the Turkish Foreign Ministry's statement: "We observe with great regret and concern that there has been a recent upsurge in the acts of terrorism in Iraq. . . . We condemn these latest abhorren terrorist attacks in the strongest terms and we call on all the parties in Iraq to put an end to violence and contribute to peace and security in the country."

The statements come because Iraq is swept up in another wave of violence so sweeping that even the press has to acknowledge it.
Jack Dolan and Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) explain, "The bombing started a wave of violence that spread across the country over 18 hours, killing at least 63 people. They included three U.S. service members, who were attacked by a suicide bomber while they were on foot patrol in Doura, a Sunni Muslim neighborhood in southern Baghdad, Iraqi police said. Twelve Iraqis died in that attack, police said." Jamal Hashim (Xinhua), "The latest bloodshed arouses fears of a return of al-Qaida-style bomb attacks aimed at sparking sectarian strife that threatened to bring the country to the edge of civil war two years ago."


Chris Hedges: If you're an Iraqi or Afghani it makes no difference at this point whether George Bush is president or Barack Obama is president. The imperial projects in Iraq and Afghanistan continue. As you mentioned the unraveling in Iraq is beginning. The attempt to essentially silence Sunni insurgents by buying them off is fraying at the edges. We tried the same tactic in Afghanistan with tribal groups and once the money and the weapons stop or once the Taliban began to assert itself in the areas they were operating in they went right back into the arms of the Taliban. So the situation is increasinly precarious in Iraq and deteriorating at a very alarming rate in Afghanistan.

Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian, authors of
Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians, were guests on Tuesday's KPFA Flashpoints (show is archived at Flashpoints and at KPFA).

Laila Al-Arian: Last week there was a very revealing incident in Iraq where a soldier basically stepped into a mental health counseling center and killed some of his comrades. And I think it was very reavealing because I think it kind of touches on some of the work we did which is the psychologically destructive impact of war, especially an unnecessary war like the war in Iraq. The soldier was on his third tour in Iraq and he had seen a lot. And we hear so many stories like this. Some of the 50 veterans we interviewed in our book talked about having thoughts of suicide. And it all really stems from seeing injustice before their eyes either participating in it or witnessing it and as Chris could tell you having covered so many wars, this is something that is not unique to the Iraq War and to the Occupation. This happens in every war when you see a civilian population suffer disproportionately.

Friday, Hedges and Al-Arian will be speaking at MLK Auditorium (MLK Middle School) in Berkeley and ticket prices are twelve to fifteen dollars. The event starts at seven p.m.

Laila Al-Arian: We hear estimates of more than a million Iraqis killed, how did this happen? So we were told convoys -- the way that the military travels in Iraq, twenty to thirty vehicles, told don't stop if you see an Iraqi child step in front of you, they were able to just run over medians, drive on the other side of the road, the wrong side. The raids that took place night after night you'd be hard pressed to find an Iraqi family that didn't expereince the terror of that. Having people with alien looking uniforms barge into your home speaking a different language that you don't understand. Checkpoints that would pop up randomly across the country at a moment's notice and being told basically that there was no accountability -- that if you shoot an Iraqi who drives through your checkpoint you won't face any trial, any court-martial, nothing like that. And we were told time and time again that there were cover ups of these incidents. And, again, you see the same thing happening in Afghnaistan and finally hearts and minds which is the racist attitude in the military that help justify these actions. Calling Arabs H**jis which is a racial slur that's used to basically dehumanize them.

Chris Hedges: Yeah, we focused on those particular activites where you had daily intersections between occupation troops and Iraqi civilians. Iraq is so fraught now with violence and, because there's no stability, foreign journalists can't stay in one place more than fifteen or twenty minutes -- those that are there. And we really wanted to find a way to tell the stories of Iraqi civilians. And the way that we did it was to find very courageous service members who were willing to go on the record and speak about civilian atrocities that they had either witnessed or in some cases participated in. And we characterized the -- as Laila said -- the functioning of convoys for instance which are just freight trains of death in Iraq barreling down highways fifty -- sixty miles an hour. As Laila said, they are told not to stop even if whole families go in front of the convoys -- smashing into Iraqi vehicles, jumping over merdians and, of course, when an IED goes off laying down what they call suppressing fire which is essentially unleashing with very high caliber weapons [. . .] which are like machine guns, 50 caliber and very rarely stopping to inspect the human carnage that they have left behind. This is what the occupation is day in and day out for Iraqis and that is very rarely glimpsed much less examined by the American media -- partly because of their inability to get out and partly because it it runs against the counter-narrative. It runs against that idea of "Our Boys! Our heroes!" and I think that even people who oppose the war have not been able to excape from.

Repeating, Friday, Hedges and Al-Arian will be speaking at MLK Auditorium (MLK Middle School) in Berkeley and ticket prices are twelve to fifteen dollars. The event starts at seven p.m.


"The previous Chief of Staff of the Air Force said that something like an additional $20 billion per year beyond the Fiscal Year 2009 budget request would be required to maintain and modernize the Air Force,"
declared US Senator Carl Levin this morning as he chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to review the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2010 and the Future Years Defense Program. Two witnesses appeared before the committee, the Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley and US Gen Norton A. Schwartz.

Noting past cost "overruns" on other programs, Ranking Member Senator John McCain stated he was interested in hearing of the status of the Joint Strike Fighter program and whether it might mirror the cost overruns of the F22. And he put the rest of his prepared opening statement into the record. Credit to Donley for not attempting to pass off a goody list as 'We're helping our people!' Apparently that sort of nonsense is left to the Secretary of the US Army. (
Click here.) Donley didn't insult anyone by attempting to pass off the Air Force's goody list as 'empowering' those who have enlisted. PDF format warning, click here for a rough outline of his and Schwartz' opening statements. He listed the twelve core functions for the Air Force.

1) Nuclear Deterrence Operations
2) Air Superiority
3) Space Superiority
4) Cyberspace Superiority
5) Global Precision Attack
6) Rapid Global Mobility
7) Special Operations
8) Global Integrated ISR
9) Command and Control
10) Personal Recovery
11) Building Partnerships
12) Agile Combat Support

Donely declared that the Fiscal Year 2010 budget request "reflects a commitment to our Core Functions". The song and dance Donley didn't want to do? Schwartz was eager to strap on his tap shoes.

Gen Norton A. Schwartz: In
recent testimony, Adm Mullens stated, "We are what we buy." Following his lead, we intend to maintain stewardship of America's resources, for our war fighters in the field and the tax payers at home by recapturing aquistion excellence in fielding the right capabilities for our nation on time and within budget.

Buy? The Air Force was asking for money. We'll note this exchange.

Senator Carl Levin: Last year, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General [Michael] Mosely testified that the Air Force would require something like $20 billion per year additionally beyond the budget request to maintain and modernize the Air Force. Secretary Donley, General Schwartz, have you made your comparable assessment of modernization needs for sustaining the Air Force? How much additional -- if any -- do you believe will be required? Secretary?


Michael B. Donley: Uh, Mr. Chairman, we have uh reviewed with Secretary Gates, Adm [Mike] Mullen the overall requirements for the Air Force. Uh. You have an unfunded requirements list from General Shwartz that reflects his military judgment on those capabilities above and beyond those proposed in the FY'10 buget which we would prioritize for additional consideration. The Air Force --

Senator Carl Levin: Are they prioritized?

Michael B. Donley: Yes, they are.

Senator Carl Levin: And that was the total of 1.7?

Michael B. Donley: 1.9.

Senator Carl Levin: 1.9.

Michael B. Donley: Yes, roughly.

Senator Carl Levin: And you join in that request?

Michael B. Donley: Yes, we discussed that fully. The request went to General Schwartz so it is answered by General Schwartz discussed across the Air Force leadership.

Senator Carl Levin: And, General Schwartz, I take it that is your personal judgment.

Gen Norton A. Schwartz: It is, it is, sir, and the twenty items are in priority order.

Senator Carl Levin: Relative to the Joint Cargo Aircraft Reduction Proposal by the administration is it your intention that those air craft be assigned exclusively to the air guard or the air force reserve units?

Gen Norton A. Schwartz: Mr. Chariman, I say that's not yet clear. We - we have the direction from the department to make the transition of the program from the army to the Air Force. That is not an instantaneous undertaking. It will take us into -- well into 2010 in order to accomplish that. We, the army and General McKinnley from the National Guard Bureau and our people are meeting to get together with how one would execute a program of at least 38 air craft which is reflected in the budget proposal and how we would operate the fleet and what the basing footprint would look like and so on. We have to make a recommendation to the Deputy Secretary not later than the 30 of this month.

Senator Carl Levin: Do you support the reduction in the Joint Cargo Reserve Aircraft? 78 to 38?

Gen Norton A. Schwartz: Sir, we will have an opportunity through the quadrennial defense review to confirm that 39 is the right noumber. My view is the correct number is at least 38.


Senator Carl Levin: Have you made a personal assestment as to what the right number is?


Gen Norton A. Schwartz: Mr. Chairman, we have a number of studies including the analysis of alternatives which the army did in the 2005 - 2006 time frame. A more recent study's accomplished by RAND as late as 2009 that suggests that the 78 air craft package which was split between the Army and the Air Force originaly at 24 and 54 respectively. It is a valid -- a valid need. And obviously what occurred through the budget process committment on the part of the department to recommend the Army C23 Shurpas [. . .]

As Schwartz and Donley went on (and on), Levin broke into the non-answers answering to state, "We're going to need to have your further thoughts on that if you want your thoughts to be considered we're obviously going to need those before we take up this authorization bill in mark up." That's a basic point and it took the witnesses by surprise. They apparently thought they could josh their way through the hearing which, in fairness to the two witnesses, the army had already recently done. Credit to Carl Levin for immediately raising these issues. The above exchange was from the first round of questioning. No the Air Force wasn't at all prepared to answer. Yes, it did show that the Congress was taking the spending of the tax payers' money seriously. And Levin's exchange also showed the committee it was time to get serious. The looks during this exchange were priceless and can be best be described as surprise replaced with enjoyment. Levin set the tone and brought an energy into the hearing right away with that first exchange.

John McCain followed and immediately asked for "an update on the Joint Strike Fighter -- whether it's on time and what if any cost overruns are associated with it?" McCain got a song and dance about it being national and international and across the branches and . . . McCain interrupted to ask "what's the cost" and how it was going? Donley threw together a bunch of words that really said nothing (as his last sentence indicated).

Senator John McCain: Maybe you can submit in writing a response as to where we are as to the original cost estimates and the original schedule?

Michael B. Donley: Be happy to do that.

Senator John McCain: Appreciate it. But I still don't get from your answer a feel has there been cost overruns that have been signficant already?

Michael B. Donley: I'd have to go back and look at the baseline program, sir, and -- to sort of give you a sense as to where things have come since the program started.

Senator John McCain: I'd certainly hope you'd keep track of that every single day.

Exactly. The Air Force should have been prepared with the answer for the hearing and they should be following it every day. This was where the Air Force made the case for the monies they say they need -- or it was supposed to be. And the Air Force should have come prepared. A basic question from Senator Ben Nelson about whether something was being carried over to Fiscal Year 2011 led to Schwartz yet again being unable to provide an answer.

Yesterday the Senate Democratic Committee held a hearing about KBR's war profiteering and, specifically, how their shoddy electrical work put US service members at risk of death. Kimberly Hefling (AP) offers a BAD 'report' on the hearing, specifically this section:William P. Utt, the chairman of Houston-based KBR Inc. told The Associated Press in an interview that the company was not expected to meet the U.S. electrical code in a wartime environment. He said the company was striving to meet the British electrical code, which was more in line with the Iraqi electrical system.Were you at the hearing, Hefling? (I didn't see her.) If she was, why did she print KBR's assertion and not the testimony offered at the hearing which contradicts it? From yesterday's snapshot:Jim Childs went over his various and many qualifications and explained he went to work for Stanley Baker Hill in Iraq and was there for fifteen months. He explained that KBR built "roughly 90,000 buildings" in Iraq and that none of them were up to code which led KBR to insist they were using the British electrical code BS7671 but holding it to that code only results in more errors for KBR. "During my theater-wide inspections," Child explained, "I concluded that roughly 90 percent of the new construction buildings worked on by KBR were not properly wired. This means that over 70,000 buildings in Iraq were not up to code." KBR's shoddy work is not limited to Iraq, Childs explained, "While doing inspections in Afghanistan, I found the exact same code violations." Eric Peters than spoke.PDF format warning, from Childs' opening statement:KBR is responsible for about 4,000 to 6,000 hardstand buildings that existed before the war. The other roughly 90,000 buildings that KBR is responsible for under LOGCAP were built after the War in Iraq started and most were built by KBR and/or its subcontractors and the military. Many of these buildings are containerized living units, shower units, and latrines for soldiers to use on a daily basis. KBR did not do this work to any electrical code. KBR now claims to have used the British code BS7671 as its code, not the NEC. If you were to use the BS7671 standards, there would be even more KBR code violations. Army inspectors interviewed KBR workers at the time of inspections. Almost all stated they were working to meet the NEC. They did not even know the British code and had never received any training related to the British code. This is just the tip of the iceberg.Is that too hard for Hefling to understand? And is it too much for AP to send reporters into hearings or just to expect that they will pay attention? AP has a real problem when it comes to reporting on Congressional hearings and apparently that includes reporting on the Senate Democratic Committee.KBR chose not to appear at the hearing. As Senator Byron Dorgan noted during the hearing, he was sure they'd offer a denial after the hearing. It sure was 'nice' of Hefling to not only get a statement from them but to refuse to report how their claim had already been rejected by a Master Electrician in the hearing. Some might call it reporting -- they apparently have very few standards. Kat reported on the hearing last night:

Second big point from me, why did we keep hearing that people were threatened with being fired if they told the truth? If people are being threatened by KBR with firing seems to me the Congress needs to do more than nod their heads and refer to it. If there were people who could have prevented some of the electrical shocks that killed at least 18 soldiers and they were silent because they were threatened, it seems to me Congress needs to be on that issue as well. My suggestion? There are protections in place for government whistle blowers. KBR was working on government funds. There should be whistle blower protection for anyone working for the government and for anyone whistle blowing on a project that uses government funds in full or in part.


Today the President of the United States, Barack Obama, gave attempted another pretty words speech, this one to note why he wasn't releasing torture photos but was bringing military tribunals back. Though he didn't look directly into the camera and proclaim "I am George W. Bush Jr.!" he might as well have.
The Center for Constitutional Rights Michael Ratner observes, "The president wrapped himself in the Constitution and then proceeded to violate it by announcing he would send people before irredeemably flawed military commissions and seek to create a preventive detention scheme that only serves to move Guantanamo to a new location and give it a new name." Along with being a Constitutional Law expert, Ratner is also a co-host of WBAI's Law and Disorder. (Along with Heidi Boghosian, Michael Smith and Dalia Hashad.) The ACLU's Suzanne Ito quotes the organization's Senior Legislative Counsel for the Washington Legislative Office:

Chris Anders: Interestingly, President Obama gave his speech while standing within a few feet of the Constitution. He and Congress should keep that cherished document in mind when considering today's proposals. You can't square upholding the Constitution with pushing for a new military commission scheme that would allow people to be convicted based on coerced evidence and asking Congress to pass the nation's first-ever law permitting the federal government to declare someone dangerous and imprison the person indefinitely without any criminal charges. Congress should reject that proposal.



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