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Tomorrow's International Women's Day. Correction, International Women's Day is Thursday. That has me thinking about a number of things so consider this a talking post. Where are the women in this country against the war?

They are there. Off Our Backs, Ms. and others have done strong work on peace in the last months. Robin Morgan covered Abeer. But I'm thinking about Robin Morgan's book, which I haven't read but just borrowed from C.I., and wondering where are the women?

What am I talking about? Why is it macho, macho, macho, drip, drip, drip precum over and over?

There's Cindy Sheehan, for instance, who presents a positive message and we're lucky to have her. But, I'm over at C.I.'s, and C.I. and some friends were discussing this and discussing actions in Vietnam. Now CODEPINK, bless them, okay? I'm not insulting them or any woman doing something. But I am wondering why the press that's against the war is so macho?

I was participating in the conversation (and actually made sense) but what I'm getting at is, we waste how much time discussing strategy -- not us, not the community, I'm talking about the press -- and we waste time trying to be macho and oh-we-need-to-send-this-weapon-or-this-armor.

What happened to the notion that peace was a noble value?

And, in terms of the two sides of our nature, they've generally been labeled the masculine side and the female side, with each person having the ability to touch both sides. (Though some men and women refute what's been called the feminine side.) What is all the war talk? The war imagery?

And why do those of us who are for peace still, all this time later, have to step aside?

Flashpoints last night was an embarrassment. (And consider who was behind the episode that's not usually. That's all I'm saying.) So we got the first segment that was nothing but macho bullshit from supposed MEN against the war who all couldn't wait to suit up and follow orders.
They'd tell you they were against it but they spoke with the war lust. As though that proved they were men. All it proved to me was that Appeal For Redress is a bunch of War Hawks in terms of who they present to the public.

I'm sick of it. I'm sick of the war side of the peace movement. I'm sick of the War Hawks taking up time that should go to peace. Those jerks had no point in being on a program billed as a "speakout." They weren't speaking out against the war. They were eager to get in there and get their kills.

Where's the real peace program? Now there were men, in other segments, who spoke bravely and caringly. But why did we have to endure the WAR DANCE of the first segment?

I'm sick of Jonathan Hutto. Let me just get that out up front. If you worked for the ACLU and Amensty, you don't pass yourself off as someone who never did a political thing before. It's dishonest. It's lying. But when you're a WARRIOR, I guess it's what you do.

It's a lot like the lousy 2004 DNC convention where we met WARRIOR JOHN KERRY but couldn't meet the brave peace activst who said enough to war. That side got buried in the convention.

Where is the peace?

Cindy Sheehan offers it. CODEPINK and others. But the dialogue from some of the outlets that are supposed to be pro-peace offer WAR WAR WAR and I'm staring to feel like Laura Nyro here -- "In my mind I can't study war no more." "Save The Country," indeed.

I was making a point about that and we all just burst out into that song and it was like I was hearing for the first time. Really hearing it.

I think there's a place for both sides of our selves (however you want to bill it). But I don't feel like the side considered the feminine is getting honored. I feel it is repeatedly under attack. Sometimes it's by people who don't know better. Sometimes it's by people who damn well should.

And I've been thinking about what Katha Pollitt's offered lately. Where's the humanity? She thinks she's funny in that last book review. I thought she was just running on fumes. Can she touch into the humanity at any point?

I'm not saying "Don't joke, or don't scream! Or don't rage!" But can you move someone while you do?

Katha Pollitt's written many wonderful things. But I think she's caught in a cycle here that the entire country, more or less, is caught in. And I'm wondering how we break through it?

I'm not against hard hitting commentary. But does it have a point besides showing how tough talking you can be?

C.I. hits hard. But you never lose sight of the humanity. Now I've seen enough snapshots composed to know C.I. frequently has tears running while those are being pulled together. And maybe that's what it takes? Maybe it takes being that open?

That's why Jim, in the editorials for The Third Estate Sunday Review, when we're all tired (those are almost always the last things written) and about to fall over, never panics. Dona will tell you that she does and she worries we won't have an editorial. But Jim always knows that if everything collapses, he can just pitch to C.I. And it's like watching C.I. grab a knife and cut a vein open. I mean it can be painful to watch. But what's produced from that is authentic.

I can always, even in an easy editorial, when we're all awake, go back and pick out C.I.'s points. I can usually pick out Ty's as well and frequently Jess and Ava (who tend to team up during the editorials). But I can always tell C.I.'s.

And what I'm getting at is you can rage (C.I. will rage and then some) but you can remember while you're raging why you are. It's not to show boat (the way that book review in The Nation came off to me), it's because there's something at stake here, not an election, but people's lives.

And I really feel that we've run from that in the discussions. Again, Cindy Sheehan, CODEPINK and others don't. C.I. doesn't. Elaine doesn't. But, for instance, take this blame Iraqis that is still going on and you heard it on Flashpoints from some speakers last night -- especially from Hutto's group.

Why are we blaming Iraqis? I think it's because humanity is erased from most conversations.
Iraq was invaded. Iraq was attacked. By the US and it's so-called coalition of the willing. After the initial invasion, it was then occupied, it was controlled by the US (and still is) so if you're not pleased with the Iraqi parliament (which didn't meet today) or you're not pleased with the fact that a civil war is going on, why are you blaming the Iraqis?

Joe Biden does that. He's got his partition plan that he's quite proud of. Where is the humanity in that? Where is the humanity in Joe Biden decided that Iraq should be partitioned?

Last time I checked, Biden wasn't an Iraqi so where does he get off splitting up the country? Where does he get off thinking that's his right?

By erasing the humanity. By blaming the Iraqis for what the US has created.

Now women are no more naturally peaceful than men due to biology. I don't buy into biological arguments. But I do think the rhetoric has ignored the humanity and I do think we've lost a very valuable part of ourselves.

In the middle of addressing that, I suddenly got a remark C.I. made at The Common Ills this week, I don't remember when. It was a comment about the mosques being invaded and how that would have shocked and appalled us at one point, but now?

You can kid yourself and think the war isn't effecting you because you don't know anyone fighting or maybe you're not following it. But the war is poisoning our country and it's not just the Bully Boy. Or just the Republicans. Or just War Hawks and War Cheerleaders like Hillary Clinton or whomever.

I love KPFA but from now on, it goes off when I get crap.

While we were talking, I mentioned the guest on The Morning Show that I didn't care for and was explaining why when I realized C.I. left him out of the snapshot. He was one of people talking about the war.

He was just so deep in the macho. I'm so tired of it. And I'm tired of Hutto and his gang putting down war resisters and basically saying (without using the words) that they're cowards. (Wait, they did say that in The Nation article.) They're cowards? Like Appeal For Redress, they believe the war is illegal and immoral. Unlike Appeal For Redress, they're taking stands and getting punished for it. Who's the coward?

Someone who thinks the war is illegal and immoral and refuses to participate or some macho bullshitter who thinks the war is illegal and immoral but will go along with it saying "I just follow orders"?

Ehren, Agustin, Kyle, Darrell, Ricky, Mark, Camilo, Kevin and the rest have made a difference and they've showed real courage. Little e-activists who want to sneer and put them down do not belong at a so-called speak out.

Bring them on and bill it as a balanced discussion, if you want (I won't listen) but don't promote them as peace advocates or against the war because all they offer is the mildest lip service against the war and they're so deep into gung-ho that they don't give a damn about what this war has done. If they did, they'd be praising the likes of Ehren.

Instead they sneer at him and he's shown more courage than any little jerk who thinks the war is illegal but will still follow orders because "I signed up and it's my job."

I think we've glorified the wrong things for the last 6 years (actually 7 -- starting in November of 2000) and I think the country suffers for it. I think the violence is going to come home in the years to come in our schools because we are embracing the violence right now. Our society is infected with it.

I don't know how you stop it. I know that if you call out the ones being passed off as friends who are really foes, you're doing something. And Appeal For Redress is my foe. Anyone who presents them as people attempting to end the war is my foe because they're not trying to end the war. They made that perfectly clear on Flashpoints. They appear to want media attention for signing a weak-ass petition (BRAVERY!) and then want to smear and sneer at the people who actually put something on the line for their beliefs.

This was a wonderful conversation tonight and I don't think I've done it justice. I know I haven't done it justice. But I don't think I've even conveyed it here. As I would've said awhile back, "It blew my mind." It really did.

We are going to be paying for this illegal war for years to come in terms of the financial impact. But we're also going to be paying for embracing the violence and we've done that. It's why a 24 is on the air. It's reflective of the society we've become. It's why people take to the reality shows like audiences at a gladiator fight. It's about debasement and degradation.

And at this point, Liza Featherbrain wants to write that Anna Nicole Smith is a topic because it's interesting. Toni brought that idiotic piece up. Featherbrain, no friend of peace, is defending the coverage of Smith and saying that her life is interesting. Interesting? It was a pathetic life. She had to hide her son to be a Guess Jeans model or maybe Featherbrain doesn't know that. She was denying who she was then and all through her life. That's not explored in the "OMG!" coverage. Instead it's non-stop celebrity and a lot of fluff.

But maybe that fits the country today. We're, as a country, in denial and embracing the lies and violence. How do we stop? I don't know but we need to. We need to connect with the humanity. We need to stop being so desperate to appear 'with it' that we right pathetic pieces defending the coverage of Anna Nicole Smith. We need to stop being so despearte that we'll allow people who are not for ending the war to be promoted as if they were.

We need to be able to call out the nonsense that the Iraqis who have been victimized throughout this war just aren't trying.

I've done a lousy job explaining what I'm talking about and I know it. I'll try to process it all and return to this topic. But we are embracing the things that are destroying us. As surely as we're destroying our environmental system, we're destroying ourselves. And to be clear, I'm not talking about "tone." I'm talking about what we're embracing and accepting.


Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, March 6, 2007. Chaos and violence continue in Iraq, the US military announced the death of 9 service member, a US war resister is court-martialed and sentenced to 8 months, Bully Boy invents a committe to distract the press from the Walter Reed scandal,
tears in the White House as one of their own is found guilty in a court of law, and, despite the 'crackdown,' over 100 are dead in Iraq today.

Starting with war resistance, today, in Germany Agustin Aguayo's court-martial began.
Ashraf Khalil (Los Angeles Times) reports that Courage to Resist's Jeff Paterson expects "Aguayo will get up to a year in jail followed by a less than honorable or bad conduct discharge." Agustin Aguayo faces charges of missing movement and desertion. And Paterson made a strong guess. Catherine Hornby (Reuters) reports that Aguayo was convicted of the charges: "Aguayo, 35, pleaded guilty to going absent without leave and missing his deployment, but denied charges of full desertion. But Colonel Peter Masterton, the judge at the court-martial in southern Germany, said the court had found Aguayo guilty as charged and sentenced him to eight months in prison." AP notes that with the 161 days already served, Aguayo "could be free within a few weeks" and quotes Aguayo: "I respect everyone's views and your decision. I understand that people don't undestand me. I tried my best, but I couldn't bear weapons and I could never point weapons at someone. . . . The words of Martin Luther come to mind, 'Here I stand, I can do more'."

Agustin Aguayo did enough. He stood up and he was counted. The father of two eleven-year-old girls, husband of Helga, used his voice and refused to take part in an illegal war. As his two daughters wrote in a letter to him, which Helga spoke about in a video posted at Courage to Resist, that said "We are strong. We will get through this. Never forget that." Aguayo reasons may not be understood by all (and some pretend not to understand them) but he made his point and he stood up. That's a lot more than many do.

Yesterday on KPFA's Flashpoints, Dennis Bernstein and Nora Barrows-Friedman hosted a speak out on the war. Of course some speak out and some whimper. The whimpers came first. Yes, it's the e-activists, the WalkOn kids, doing nothing but eating up air time. Listen, if you dare, to hear statments glorifying following orders (even when you think the war is illegal and/or immoral), statements of "I do the job I was hired for," statements of wimpering little children who take swipes at Ehren Watada more and more. As though their bended knee plea to a Congress shows any strength or has made a damn bit of difference.

Jonathan Hutto "But at the same time we have to make it clear that we're not" a long list of nots -- things they are not. And they're not smart and they're not accomplishing anything and they need to find a better use for the time. Hutto on Watada: "I personally don't believe that individual acts of refusal or desertion is what's going to change the actual culture of our country, the actual mission of the military."

"Is"? I guess the revision/recast of Hutto is so out of control that now he isn't even a college graduate who grasps subject-verb agreement? It is honestly hilarious to watch Hutto come off less and less educated with each interview. And you have to wonder what anyone thinks that will accomplish? (Or if they believe that past interviews aren't archived for those who want to seek them out?)

The e-activists aren't accomplishing anything. How many, Dennis Bernstein asked, Congress members had signed up to their plea? There was a long list of ones who had handed out 'atta boys, but in terms of actual support? Ten? Beg on your bended knees, boys and girls, but don't kid yourself that you're accomplishing anything with your anonymous activism (which applies not just to the signature but the marketing as well). You've been ignored by Congress, you've been brushed off. A few patted you on the head and that's it. Aguayo stood out, as have others, they wait on bended knee.

The e-activists were supposed to produce a petition and supposed to deliver it to Congress on MLK day but someone in the brain trust was too stupid to grasp that MLK Day is a holiday and Congress would be out of session. So they delivered it on the 16th of January. Why are they still boring everyone with their petition?

Is it 200 more signatures to a useless petition since then? "Patriotic!" they keep insisting! "Wouldn't want to do anything that wasn't okay with the military!" they brag. Is that really something to brag about, 200 more? Almost two months later? Does the toothless, symbolic petition have a point because most points have an ending but this is never ending -- or maybe the egos are just too mighty to nah-nah-nah-good-bye already. "I support continuing to do the mission," an e-activst with Appeal to Whimper told Dennis Bernstein. That would be the illegal war. It's past time that the peace movement and the anti-war movement stopped promoting those people who can't call the war out. Patrick Buchanan showed more bravery than these supposed anti-war activists. Dennis Bernstein attempted to bring up the issue of the principles outlined in the Nuremberg Trials. And the response?

"I chose to wear this uniform and I'm going to continue to do what I'm paid to do. But at the same time, I don't think there's anything wrong with petitioning Congress in this appeal for redress to say 'Hey, we could use a little help over here.' So that's my thing, I think that we should be able to appeal for redresses and at the same time getting on with the business of what we volunteered and are paid to do and that's uh go where we're told and do what we're told" at which point Jonathan Hutto tries to rescue his pro-war buddy. It's too late for a rescue. And it's past time that the left leave the nonsense e-activism to the 'left'.

Segment one plays out like a joke. Segment two is worth hearing (featuring Iraq War Veterans Against the War) as Garrett Reppenhagen, Prentice Reid and Jason Lemieux speak strongly (no whimpers in this segment). (This is the section Elaine chose to start with when she wrote about the broadcast last night.) Reid spoke of participating in a protest in support of Mark Wilkerson because he feels the war is wrong. He feels the war is wrong. It's not that difficult to say -- unless, like the Hutto crowd, you've attempted to pass yourself off as something you're not and surrounded yourself with War Hawks just to get a electronic signature on your petition. (What might you do for a wet signature!) Reid's not been polished and doesn't have a crew of advisors, but he can speak proudly and strongly. Garrett spoke of his service and how Iraq was different from the way it was sold,
"I think that the administration bascially abused our sense of patriotism our sense of courage and our sense of values to motivate this nation to back the war.
And I wasn't happy about it. So the people I killed in Iraq and the missions I went on I don't feel supported American security, I don't think that it was very moral and just what we did,
and it went against what I was actually being trained for, as far as army values,
and as far as the characteristics of what a soldier represents and the values of the country."

Segment three features a heartbreaking story told by Tina Richards about the struggles her son Cloy had after returning from Iraq: "When he got back from Falluja he was completely broken, he suffered severe PTSD. He often called me where he was doing his MP duty at Camp Pendleton to tell me he had a gun in his mouth, he had to pull the trigger, he could no longer live with all of the innocent women and children he killed over in Iraq and that he didn't deserve to have a mother and a sister. And that is . . . It just, as a mother, tears you apart.
and you don't know what to do. And when he was deployed I was torn apart because I felt so helpless. And when I was trying to get him help through the VA system which, first the military and then the VA system which completely failed him I finally started getting involved with varioius activist groups such as Veterans for Peace , Military Families Speak Out."

Then a speech by Cloy Richards was played where he discussed being told that they were shooting advancing insurgents and, looking at the bodies later, it was "women and children, elderly," about how his brother served in Iraq and has been torn apart by it (and is now headed to Afghanistan).

Jeff Paterson pointed out that Courage to Resist is a resource for everyone -- it provides information, it raises money, it provides support. Most of all, Jeff Paterson pointed out,
"We heard a soldier earlier speak saying individual resistance doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter unless there's a community, a movement, backing them up. That they're part of something, that they're part of stopping a war. And that's what Courage to Resist is dedicated to." Ramon Leal (Iraq Veterans Against the War) spoke of how the war was illegal and how "now that we know it's illegal, what to do about it?"

Amnesty International had an observer in the court room where Agustin Aguayo's court-martial took place today and they have issued a statement:

Agustin Aguayo is a legitimate conscientious objector who should not be imprisoned for his beliefs, Amnesty International said today after Aguayo, a U.S. Army medic, was sentenced by U.S. court martial to eight months in prison for his refusal to participate in the war in Iraq. The organization considers Aguayo to be a "prisoner of conscince" and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.
"Refusing military service for reasons of conscience isn't a luxury -- it's a right protected under international human rights law," said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA. "Agustin Aguayo wasn't just complaining about his assignment -- he clearly made the case that he objects to war itself. He should be released."
It is evident from the statements made by Aguayo and members of his family that he is a legitimate conscientious objector whose opposition to war developed over the course of time and evolved further in response to his experiences in Iraq. Amnesty International believes that he took reasonable steps to secure release from the army through applying for conscientious objector status.

Aguayo stood strong and stood up today. He didn't whimper. He didn't say, "Give me my orders." He didn't, as an e-mail activist told Bernstein, say of course the war is illegal but he's happy to serve in it. Aguayo is part of a movement of resistance with the military that includes others such as Ehren Watada, Kyle Snyder, Mark Wilkerson, Camilo Mejia, Patrick Hart, Joshua Key, Ivan Brobeck, Darrell Anderson, Ricky Clousing, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Corey Glass, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.


Speaking of history, in these past months, while the world watched, the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq was broadcast on live TV. Like Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan, the regime of Saddam Hussein simply disappeared. This was followed by what analysts called a "power vacuum." Cities that had been under seige, without food, water, and electricity for days, cities that had been bombed relentlessly, people who had been starved and systematically impoverished by the U.N. sanctions regime for more than a decade, were suddenly left with no semblance of urban administration. A seven-thousand-year-old civilization slid into anarchy. On live TV.
Vandals plundered shops, offices, hotels, and hospitals. American and British soldiers stood by and watched. They said they had no orders to act. In effect, they had orders to kill people, but not to protect them. Their priorities were clear. The safety and security of Iraqi people was not their business. The security of whatever little remained of Iraq's infrastructure was not their business. But the security and safety of Iraq's oil fields were. Of course they were. The oil fields were "secured" almost before the invasion began.
On CNN and the BBC the scenes of the rampage were played and replayed. TV commentators, army and government spokespersons portrayed it as a "liberated people" venting their rage at a despotic regime. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said:
"[I]t's untidy. . . . [F]reedom's untidy. And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things." Did anybody know that Donald Rumsfeld was an anarchist?
-- Arundahti Roy, An Ordinary Person's Guide To Empire, "Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy (Buy One, Get One Free) pp. 46-49. The essay is from the a speech "first delivered May 13, 2003, at the Riverside Church, New York City, and broadcast live on Pacifica Radio. The lecture, sponsored by the Lannan Foundation and the Center for Economic and Social Rights, was delivered as an acceptance speech for the 2002 Lanna Prize for Cultural Freedom."

Rumsfeld, as Roy notes further in, refers to footage and basically claims that Iraq had just one vase in the entire country. That's not all that different from, in the face of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal, claiming that the press is offering "one-sided" coverage which, as Zachary Coile's (San Francisco Chronicle) points out, is just what Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley (army's surgeon general) did early on as the scandal was breaking. Yesterday, a House subcommittee asked questions and heard testimony, today, it was the Senate's turn with US Senator Carl Levin. Anne Flaherty (AP) reports that Levin stated the purpose early on, "Today's hearing is about another example of the lack of planning for a war that was premised on the assumption that combat operations would be swift, casualties would be minimal, and that we would be welcomed as liberators, instead of being attacked by the people we 'liberated'." AP also notes US Senator John McCain's comments: "I am dismayed this ever occurred. It was a failure in the most basic tenets of command responsibility to take care of our troops."

If you don't hear a great deal about the Senate committee's hearings, there's a reason for that. Bully Boy attempted to shift the topic and the press went along with it. He's created another one of his non-impressive commissions, this time chaired by former Britney Spears drooler and Viagra spokesperson Robert Dole and Donna Shalala who served as the Health and Human Services Secretary in former president Bill Clinton's administration. CBS and AP report the commission is to be called The Wounded Warrior Commission.

Bully Boy, announcing the laughable commission, said something akin to, "Listen I am, I am as concerned as you are. My decision that put our kids in hard way." On Democracy Now! today, Amy Goodman noted of the scandal: "Meanwhile Vermont Congressman Peter Welch said a major factor in the conditions at Walter Reed might be the result of the privatization of services. Welch cited a five-year $120 million contract given to a company called IAP Worldwide Services, which is operated by a former Halliburton executive. The Corporate Research Project is reporting IAP has close ties to the Republican Party. Ownership of the company is controlled by the giant hedge fund Cerberus, whose chair is former Bush Administration Treasury Secretary John Snow. The IAP board of directors includes former Vice President Dan Quayle and retired Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee."

When you're up to you neck in the scandal because it happened on your watch, because complaints were made and ignored, because cronies filled positions and because you turned over government's business to inept campaign contributors, start a faux commission quickly and hope the press stamps a happy face on it.

Bully Boy addressed the American legion today and, looking drunk or as though his face got run over, CBS and AP report that he said he sees "encouraging signs" in the so-called crackdown. Well, as noted, he did look possibly drunk.

This on the day when the US military announces the deaths of 9 US service members in Iraq -- announced: "Task Force Lightning Soldiers were attacked while conducting combat operations in Salah ad Din province Monday. Six Task Force Lightning Soldiers died as a result of injuries sustained following an explosion near their vehicles. Three other Soldiers were wounded and taken to a Coalition medical facility for treatment."; and announced: "Task Force Lightning Soldiers were attacked while conducting combat operations in Diyala Province Monday. Three Task Force Lightning Soldiers died as a result of injuries sustained following an explosion near their vehicles. One other Soldier was wounded and taken to a Coalition medical facility for treatment." Both announcements came well before his laughable speech.

In addition, the ridiculous statement came on a day when there were over 100 reported deaths in Iraq. CNN reports that, in Hillah and elsewhere in Iraq, a series of attacks ("bombings and small arms attacks") "left over 120 dead and more than 200 wounded." This Bully Boy reads as "encouraging"? CBS and AP note: "Hours after the attack, boys used long-handled squeegees to push pools of blood off the road. The shoes and sandals of the victims were gathered in haphazard piles." Habib al-Zubaidi (Reuters) reports that the number of Shi'ite pilgrims killed is now at 149.

In addition to the mass attacks on Shi'ite pilgrims . . .

Bombings?

Reuters reports, in Mosul, five Iraqis were killed and 18 wounded by a "car bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol," an attack on Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad killed four as well as "two civilians and wounded 11 others." Daliah Hassan (McClatchy Newspapers) reports (in addition to the four Iraqi soldiers killed) a car bomb targeting a check point killed 1 Iraq soldier and left 3 wounded, while a mortar attack in Basra injured a child and an adult and killed one person


Shootings?

Dalia Hassan (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "The head of relations and media department in touriscm committee Ahmed Gati'a was killed when gun men shot him in Al-Iskandariya district (South of Baghdad)" and two police officers "were injured in an armed attack" in al-Abara.


Corpses?

Dalia Hassan (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 24 corpses were discovered in Baghdad.


The topic of the care for veterans was the subject on today's KPFA's The Morning Show, and among the guests were Peter Laufer, author of Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq, and Michael T. McPhearson of Veterans for Peace.

McPhearson noted that Walter Reed is "considered the jewel" so if the scandal's happening there, imagine what it's like elsewhere. Laufer noted a "Daniel" profiled in his book who was scheduled for his third tour of duty in Iraq and wanted out so he took cocaine, knowing he had a drug test coming up, to be "mustered out." After he was out, he attempted to get help in San Jose but "they refused him attention because he had been mustered out for failing one drug test." Philip Maldari (who co-hosts with Andrea Lewis) and McPhearson discussed the issue of how medical discharges can be held up if your unit doesn't have enough people with McPhearson adding, "You have pressure on you to meet an expectation. It's similar to the recruiters and then they end up maybe going across the line ethically." The comparisons to the care scandals during the Vietnam era and today were brought up and Laufer noted that the scandal was unfolding "at Walter Reed, right in the shadow of the White House, right in the shadow of the Pentagon". On this topic, Danny Schechter (News Dissector, MediaChannel.org) notes: "250,000 -- Roughly, the number of American servicemen and women struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 60,000 -- Almost the number of military marriages that have been broken by this war".

On the heels of one report that sounded the alarms re: life for women in Iraq, another report is released. Last week, Minority Rights Group International's (PDF format) report "Assimilation, Exodus, Eradication: Iraq's minority communities since 2003" focused on religious and ethnice minorities as well as women (click here for a summary on the section on women). Now MADRE has released their report. Interviewed today by Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) with Houzan Mahmoud (Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq), MADRE's Yifat Susskind explained, "There's been, since the US invasion, a virtual epidemic of all forms of gender-based violence in Iraq, a sharp rise in violence against women in the public sphere, women being harassed, beaten, assassinated, raped. Much of it is directed by Islamist militias on both sides of the sectarian divide. But what is really remarkable is that much of the violence -- in fact, the most widespread violence -- in many instances is being carried out by these militias who are essentially the armed wings of the political parties that the US has boosted to power in Iraq. So these are sort of shock troops of political parties that are closely allied with the United States. At a certain point, the US was providing military training and arms and money to these militias, in the hopes that they would sort of step up where the official Iraqi army had not and were to combat the anti-US insurgency. You know, there's a lot of pieces that, you know, we've seen in the press sort of in bits and pieces. But what we haven't seen is kind of the story of the Iraq war told from the perspective of Iraqi women, and that's what we aim to do in the report."

From the Executive Summary of "Promising Democracy, Imposing Theocracy: Gender-Based Violence and the US War on Iraq:"

Amidst the chaos and violence of US-occupied Iraq, the significance of widespread gender-based violence has been largely overlooked. Yet, Iraqi women are enduring unprecedented levels of assault in the public sphere, "honor killings," torture in detention, and other forms of gender-based violence. Women are not only being targeted because they are members of the civilian population. Women--in particular those who are perceived to pose a challenge to the political project of their attackers--have increasingly been targeted because they are women. This report documents the use of gender-based violence by Iraqi Islamists, brought to power by the US overthrow of Iraq's secular Ba'ath regime, and highlights the role of the United States in fomenting the human rights crisis confronting Iraqi women today.
drives that home.


And finally, the jury is no longer out on Scooter Libby. As noted October 31, 2005 on Democracy Now!:

Libby Resigns After Five Count Indictment in CIA Leak CaseFor the first time in 130 years, a White House staff member has been indicted for crimes committed in the office. On Friday, Lewis "Scooter" Libby was indicted on five counts of obstruction of justice, perjury to a grand jury and making false statements to FBI agents during the CIA leak investigation. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.25 million in fines. Until Friday Libby was a central figure in the Bush White House holding three top positions: chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, national security adviser to the vice president and assistant to the president. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald announced the indictment on Friday. President Bush's chief advisor Karl Rove has so far escaped indictment for his role in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame, the wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson. But Rove remains under investigation. On Sunday Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called on Bush to apologize and for Rove to resign. Bush and Cheney have both praised Libby for his service. The top candidate to replace Libby is David Addington who currently works as the vice president's legal counsel. Three years ago he wrote a memo that asserted the war on terrorism renders obsolete the Geneva Convention's limitations of questioning detainees. Ambassador Wilson accused Libby and the White House of outing his wife, Valerie Plame. He said, "Senior administration officials used the power of the White House to make our lives hell for the last 27 months. But more important, they did it as part of a clear effort to cover up the lies and disinformation used to justify the invasion of Iraq. That is the ultimate crime."

That was 2005. Today? He'll need a new nickname in prison, but the jury has decided and found him guilty of all but one charge. CNN reports that the jurors "were certain of the former vice presidential aide's guilt, but they also harbored sympathy for him as a 'fall guy'." David Corn (The Nation) notes, "The ruling: Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff lied to federal investigators." Rory O'Connor (Media Is Plural, MediaChannel.org) notes that the jurors wondered where Karl Rove was and observes "Libby, of course, is the only person ever indicted after a multi-year investigation which ultimately reached deep inside the White House. The central issue in that investigation revolved around allegations that someone within the White House illegally disclosed classified information during the late spring and early summer of 2003, when it was revealed that Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had criticized the Iraq policy, was married to an undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame."


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Richie Havens, Daniel Ellsberg and more

WBAI has a great special on. Those of us listening here are listening in C.I.'s bedroom to avoid stream issues (a friend in NYC calls C.I. and puts the phone up to the speakers usually whenever WBAI has special on -- that's been an ongoing thing since the pre-online days). We also have a phone next to the speakers so that Rebecca can hear (I think Ruth's listening as well).

Nancy Pelosi said impeachment is off the table. Janet Coleman (who is hosting the two-hour special) and her guests are saying, "Oh no, it isn't." Daniel Ellsberg is speaking and noting the illegal war, Katrina and now the Walter Reed scandal. "Everywhere you look . . . all of those matters . . . have two consequences" revealing criminal, illegal behavior and stonewalling by the administration. Ellsberg believes that investigations will lead to stonewalling (obstruction of justice) as well as revelations.

In other news, we got to see Richie Havens perform this weekend. C.I. said, "Look, I'm not missing this." I was all for it. Turned out everyone was. So we really had to juggle for the writing this weekend at The Third Estate Sunday Review. I read the edition today and I was really surprised by how it turned out. I think it's pretty good and because we were doing it piecemeal, before the concert and then after, and we were wiped out by four Sunday morning so we ended up taking a nap. But I think it really hangs together as an edition. I had no idea that would happen and couldn't tell it while we were working on it. I know Jim, Dona, Ava, C.I. and Elaine started talking about the edition mid-week because, even before those of us out here were going to the concert, we were all feeling like we needed an easy weekend. We didn't get it but that pre-work really shows.

Iraq is really important and it's really important that we cover it, especially war resisters. We did that this edition and we also addressed the way students are seen (or not seen), gatekeepers, the representation of women, the lack of Congressional leadership, Iraq news that you may have missed, an editorial on Kyle Snyder, a thing on Agustin Aguayo and, of course, Ava and C.I. turning out another one of their brilliant commentaries. Sumner said (and thought he was the first to make this point) that Ava and C.I. really do reporting. They do. These aren't op-ed pieces or even just TV reviews. There is other reporting going on at Third, but if you were to pull all Ava and C.I.'s TV commentaries and read them one after the other, you'd be blown away with all they've covered. I'm not even talking about "how many TV shows they've covered!" They do amazing work. (FYI, their latest is "TV: In Case of Emergency, Laugh!")

I wrote about Richie Havens in "Kat's Korner: Richie Havens: The Economical Collection" and I just think he's amazing. Andrea Lewis interviewed him last week and it was a pleasure to hear that but it doesn't compare with hearing him perform and perform live.

There are some people that you hear and think, "Oh, they should pack it in." They lose their ability to communicate, they get mechanical or perform by rote. Or they become a caricature of themselves. Richie Havens is older but wiser and, I think, at the top of his game in terms of reaching an audience.

I was tired all today and frequently wondering where that "easy weekend" went? But it was worth it when I think about Richie Havens. If all the pre-work hadn't been done ahead of time, if they hadn't scheduled the writing sessions, et al, there wouldn't have been time for Havens and that isn't something I wanted to miss before the concert. (After? This is my favorite concert of 2007 thus far.)

Now, changing subject, file this under "I get crappy e-mails:"

March Madness!
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To make sure you continue to receive our emails, please add our address - TowerRecords@email.tower.com - to your address book now.
Tower Records respects your right to privacy.

First, Tower Records didn't respect your right to privacy when they were handing over info to the government to help military recruiters. Second of all, why the hell would I shop at Tower?

The physical store is no more. Why would I shop there online? If I'm going to shop online, aren't there cheaper choices, choices with better reputations? Some people may want to shop there. If so, go for it. But those assholes closed the physical stores and I'll be damned if I give them a single cent after that.

My thoughts for tonight, here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Monday, March 5, 2007. Chaos and violence continue in Iraq (in the midst of the 'crackdown'), US war resister Agustin Aguayo is one day away from his court-martial, the care crisis of Walter Reed Medical Center gets noticed in Congress, and Iraqi children continue to face health risks as the illegal war continues.



Starting with war resistance. Tomorrow Agustin Aguayo's court-martial begins in Germany. He is charged with missing movement and desertion which, if convicted of both charges, could mean being senteced to seven years in military prison. President of the National Lawyers Guild Marjorie Cohn (writing at CounterPunch) reviews the basics of Aguayo's case noting that what was happening to Aguayo during training was a phase he couldn't name until he and his wife Helga learned of US war resister Stephen Funk and realized the term for those opposed to war is conscientious objector. Cohn also notes, "Agustin Aguayo is represented by National Lawyers Guild lawyers James Klimaski, Peter Goldberger, and James Feldman." Amnesty International announced last week that they would have "a delegate to observe the court-martial proceeedings . . . and asses whether Agustin Aguayo would be a prisoner of conscience if convicted and imprisoned." In addition, as El Universal reported previously, Aguayo, who holds dual citizenship (Mexico and United States), will receive some form of consular assistance as a result of Susana Aguayo's request. (Susana is Agustin's mother.) Bertrand Benoit (Financial Times of London) notes that the court-martial "will cast some light on what non-governmental ogranisations claim is a serious drop in troop spirits in Germany" and notes Michael Sharp (Military Counseling Network) stating: "We normally get an average of eight calls a month. In January alone, we got 30 calls."


Courage to Resist has posted video (by Jeff Paterson) of Agustin Aguayo and others speaking in Los Angeles at his press conference on September 26th La Placita Olivera including Father Steve Niskanen, Father Richard Estrada and Fernando Suarez del Solar (whose son Jesus A. Suarez Del Solar died in Iraq on March 27, 2003).

Agustin Aguayo notes, in the video, that he is both an Iraq war veteran and a
Conscientious Objector and "I believe it is one of the greatest tragedies of our lifetime that we use war in an attempt to solve problems." His wife Helga noted that their twin daughters prepared a letter for their father: "They wrote him a letter and at the bottom of the letter they wrote: 'We are strong, we will get through this. Never forget that.' and they're only eleven" years-old. Helga also noted her pride in her husband "because he has been fighting" for c.o. status non-stop, for two years, within the military and within the US civilian courts.

The Center on Conscience & War notes that the civilian courts have not provided the oversight or recourse that they are supposed to and quotes attorney Peter Golberg stating, "The decision, in the wake of [Ehren] Watada outcome, makes the court martial of Aguayo all the more urgent as a focus of support." CCW further notes: "Had Aguayo gone AWOL 3 years ago, he may have been out of the Army two and a half years ago -- as happened to someone else in his unit. As a person of conscience, he played by the rules, trusting that the law would work as it should. It is unconsioable that Aguayo is still in the Army and facing court-martial 3 years after he first applied for conscientious objector discharge."

Turning to US war resister Ehren Watada who, in June 2006, became the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq, Jim Borg (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) profiled Eric Seitz, Watada's civilian attorney who noted several things. On the issue of the legality of Watada's stand: "Treaties, when they are properly adopted by this country, become part and parcel of American law. The president cannot select which treaties he is going to implement and ingore others. And his selective enforcement of the provisions of the law . . . frankly, in my view, should subject him to a war crimes trial -- and, in fact, to the ultimate punishment which the statute requires, which is death. And if you want to quote me, you can say that. I am more than happy to see President Bush and Vice President Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld tried for war crimes. And I would be the first one to stand up and clap if they were punished as a consequence." A court-martial for Watada has been scheduled for July. This would be the second court-martial. The first of last month saw three days of a court-martial that ended in a mistrial when Judge Toilet (aka John Head) repeatedly prompted the prosecution to ask for a mistrial which they finally did. Judge Toilet granted a mistrial over the defense's objection. Seitz tells Borg: "If it's going badly for the prosecutor, the prosecution can't abort the case and then start over. Nor can a judge abort the case for the prosecutor because the judge thinks it's going badly. When you have a mistrial in a criminal case, you always have a double jeopardy issue because jeopardy has attached as soon as the jury has been sworn in or the first witness testifies. And then you try and figure out whether by conduct or by some statement the defendant has caused the mistrial. . . . I'm thinking to myself, 'My God, this is a defense's lawyer's dream!' We didn't create this mistrial, we didn't agree to it, we didn't approve it. Jeopardy is attached. And I don't think either the judge or the military lawyers had any inkling that that was going to be the bottom line."


Aguayo and Watada are part of a movement of resistance with the military that includes others such as Kyle Snyder, Mark Wilkerson, Camilo Mejia, Patrick Hart, Joshua Key, Ivan Brobeck, Darrell Anderson, Ricky Clousing, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Corey Glass, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.

Turning to Iraq and the so-called crackdown which, in one form or another, has been going on since June of 2006 when resistance fighters came close to breaching the Green Zone. The official talking point from the latest wave of Operation Happy Talk is that over 1,000 Iraqi and American forces entered the Sadr City section of Baghdad on Sunday and this was proof that the 'crackdown' was working. Kirk Semple (New York Times) reports that the effort "lacked any element of surprise. It followed protracted negotiations -- between representatives of Mr. [Moqtada al-] Sadr, neighborhood leaders, Iraqi government officials and American and British military commanders . . . The cleric has privately ordered his militia fighters not to resist the military sweeps regardless of the level of provocation. Many militia leaders, in turn, have left Sadr City and sought sanctuary in Shiite-dominated southern Iraq and Iran, possibly figuring that they can wait out the offensive and return to the capital later." Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) noted that the Sunday effort was "termed a 'soft-knock' operation, clearly aware that one wrong move could stoke anger among supporters of Sadr."

Sunday's broadcast of The KPFA Evening News explored the military effort in Sadr City.
Rahul Mahajan offered,"It's a tremendous non-event. We have known for weeks now that the Sadrist . . . Army has decided to lay low and not to confront the American troops during this so-called security crackdown. This is completely consistent with their behavior before now and not a surprise at all. The Mahdi army has basically clashed with American forces on only two occassions -- in April and August of 2004." Edward Peck, who served in Baghdad from 1877-1980 as the US mission chief, in the US State Department, etc., observed, "The Sadr City thing is just one more little piece of something that's gone past or is going past or will go past. You know it doesn't do anything for anybody who is really concerned about what it is that's supposed to happen there because the basic problems will continue when the troops whatever troops they are, when they leave, you go right back to where you were. And they have to leave at some point. They're not going to stay there forever. Two days, three days, a week, less, more? My outlook is I'm afraid grimly realistic . . . We have taught the rest of the world and we have relearned ourselves the meaning of that terrible word 'quagmire'."

As the 'crackdown' continues (three months shy of a year) Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks (Washington Post) report that the US White House has no "Plan B" -- accepting the 'crackdown' as a plan, the US administration hasn't bothered to make preparations for what to do when it fails: "Eager to appear resolute and reluctant to provide fodder for skeptics, they have responded with a mix of optimism and evasion."

Reality does have a way of intruding. In the midst of the latest Crackdown Verson 6.0, a bombing took place in Baghdad, on Mutanabi Street, today claiming multiple lives. As AFP observes: "The blast came despite a massive Iraqi-US security operation involving more than 90,000 troops, launched just over two weeks ago and aimed at quelling sectarian violence that has ravaged Baghdad for more than a year." CBS and AP call it "the largest bombing in the capital in three days". Al Jazeera notes it was at least one car bomb and the explosion "set alight" shops and cars. AFP notes that the historic area targeted was "crammed with bookshops and frequented by writers, poets and artists, [seen] as one of the most important centres in the literay world. It was opened in 1932 by King Faisal II, and is named after Arab poet Abu Taib-alMutanabi." CBS and AP note the dark fumes of smoke drifting overhead and quote eye witness Naeem al-Daraji: "Papers from the book market were floating through the air like leaflets dropped from a plance. Pieces of flesh and the remains of book were scattered everywhere." The BBC puts the toll (which has risen throughout the day) at 30 with "at least 65" wounded. Video of the aftermath (when the flames were largely put out) showed Iraqis standing, many with hands on hip, staring in disbelief.

In other violence today . . .


Bombings?

Reuters notes a car bombing in Baghdad took the life of one police officer and wounded another, while a roadside bomb in Baghdad took two lives and left 10 wounded. Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports notes a bombing in the Dakhiliya neighborhood of Baghdad the wounded two "servicement."


Shootings?

Reuters notes the shooting death of one person in Diwaniya, of a police officer in Kirkuk, of five police officers in Ishaqi, and of five pilgrims in Baghdad (17 were also wounded). Lauren Frayer (AP) reports seven piligrims died from and notes: "The Shiites were apparently heading to shrines and holy sites in southern Iraq for the annual commemoration of a 40-day mourning period for the death of a revered 7th-century warrior, Hussein." Christian Berthelsen (Los Angeles Times) notes of the attack, "gunmen in a car and on a motorcycle shot at groups of pilgrims as they walked along roads in Baghdad". Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that the pilgrims shot dead were "headed for Karbala for the 'Fortieth day of mourning' ceremony for the Imam Al-Hussein, Grandson of the Prophet Mohammed" and that the gunfire came "from the orchards of Qadisiya"; in addition, Issa notes the shooting deaths of one man and the kidnapping of two in Diyala, the shooting deaths of 2 Iraqi soldiers in Diyala, and the shooting deaths of four police officers in "Al Nai town (north of Al Khalis city)."

Corpses?

Reuters notes four coprses were discovered in Sulaiman Bek while six corpses were discovered in Baghdad. Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports the number of corpses discovered in Baghdad climbed to 15 and that a "chopped head in a box" was discovered in Baqouba.

Also today, the US military announced: "One 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) Soldier was killed and one was wounded in an improvised explosive device attack on their M-1117 Armored Security Vehicle while traveling in a convoy south of Tikrit at approximately 9 p.m. Mar 4."

Meanwhile, as Aaron Glantz noted today on KPFA's The Morning Show, children are at risk in Iraq of being underweight and under height. IRIN reports that UNICEF puts the figure of undernourished at 4.5 million, that "[p]overty and insecurity" are the chief causes (from the chaos and violence), that breast feeing would be healthier for the children than formula (formula can contibute to the rates of pneumonia and diarrhoea), and that one and ten Iraqi children are underweight.


Turning to the United States, Anne Hull and Dana Priest (Washington Post) continue to explore the care injustice (injustice -- not misfortune, using Judith N. Shklar's definition) for US service members seeking care and speak with others including Ray Oliva of Kelseyville, CA who tells them, "It is just not Watler Reed. The VA hospitals are not good either except for the staff who work so hard. It brings tears to my eeyes when I see my brothers and sisters having to deal with these conditions. I am 70 years old, some say older than dirt, but when I am with my brothers and sisters we become one and are made whole again." Hull and Priest note: "Olivia is but one quaking voice in a vast outpouring of accounts filled with emotion and anger about the mistreatment of wounded outpatients at Wlater Reed Army Medical Center. Stories of neglect and substandard care have flooded in from soldiers, their family members, veterans, doctors and nurses working inside the system. They describe depressing living conditions for outpatients at other military bases around the country, from Fort Lewis in Washington state to Fort Dix in New Jersey." The Washington Post has gathered their reporting on this crisis into one folder, click here. Attention has brought to the crisis thanks to the reporting of Priest and Hull and ABC News's Bob Woodruff (click here for Woodruff). So much so that the US Congress that appears to be unable to address Iraq, addressed this crisis today.

William Branigin (Washington Post) reports that "Senior Army commanders today apologized for failures that forces some wounded outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to live in substandard conditions and wage lengthy bureaucratic battles over their treatment" -- apologized to the the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee. CNN reports that also testifying were two Iraq vets and "the wife of a third," Annette McLeod ("wife of Cpl. Wendell McLeod") who stated: "I'm glad that you care about what happened to my husband after he was injured in the line of duty. Because for a long time, it seemed like I was the only one who cared. Certainly, the Army didn't care. I didn't even find out that he was injured until he called me himself from a hospital in New Jersey" -- her husband was wounded in Iraq -- "This is how we treat our soldiers -- we give them nothing. They're good enough to go and sacrifice their life, and we give them nothing. You need to fix the system."
CBS and AP note: "Staff Sgt. Daniel Shannon, who took a bullet to the head in Iraq and lost an eye, told the panel [that] patients are sometimes just left in their barracks, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss. He said he 'sat in my room for a couple of weeks wondering when someone would contact' him about continuing treatment. 'The truly sad thing is that surviving veterans from every war we've ever fought can tell the same basic story -- a story about neglect, lack of advocacy and frustration with the military bureaucracy." Branigin notes that the chair of the subcomitte, US Rep John F. Tierney, stated: "More and more evidence is appearing to indicate that senior officials were aware for several years of the types of problems . . . These are not new or sudden problems. Rats and cockroaches don't burrow and infest overnight. Mold and holes in ceilings don't occur in a week. And complaints of bureaucratic indifference have been reported for years." Susan Cornwell (Reuters) reports that Tierney also wondered: "Is this just another horrific consequence of the terrible planning that went into our invasion of Iraq?"


Monday evening on WBAI (which you can listen to over the airwaves in the NYC area and beyond and which can be streamed online as well):Monday, March 5, 9-11pm [EST]IMPEACHMENT SPECIALWorld Can't Wait/Drive Out the Bush Regime Director Debra Sweet hosts this panel with Daniel Ellsberg; activist professor Father Luis Barrios; Hip Hop Caucus leader Rev. Lennox Yearwood; recent college grad Anastasia Gomes and others. With listener call-ins.So that's a two hour live special (9 to 11 pm EST) on WBAI Monday.

ehren watada
aaron glantz
kpfa
the morning showthe kpfa evening news
agustin aguayothe new york timeskirk semple
the washington postkaren deyoungthomas e. ricks

The unmentionable?

Back in October, I 'wrote' "Kat's Korner: The death of Ani DiFranco?" ("wrote" because I dictated it over the phone to C.I. -- I was in Ireland and computer-free). Today, I check the public account at The Common Ills and there's a prissy little twit who's all pissy with me over the review. She'd just stumbled onto it and apparently can't read.

She took me to task for not liking the CD mainly. Which is proof that she didn't read my review because I praise Reprieve like crazy. Not only that, I placed it at number two on my year's top ten for 2006.

Now in the review proper, I was addressing a number of things including that women who have children, women who rock, tend to go soggy. I noted there were exceptions (Toni and I have three in that review -- Aretha Franklin, Carly Simon and Etta James) and noted that I would be thrilled if others could think of more names to put on the list. But I noted that women who had children tended to hit the sog-wall and that, for many, it was a temporary thing. Somehow this upset twit so that she had to tell me how insane that was. Now her only example was her own sister who doesn't rock and doesn't make music as far as I know so I have no idea how she thought she'd disproven me.

She could have. That was my point of reference for the review. Ani's made her finest album and it should be a time of great joy but, as Toni passed on, Ani was now pregnant. I noted Pat Benetar, Patti Smith and Laura Nyro as examples (there may be more) of women who hit the sog-fest wall when they did their post-pregnancy albums.

Now twit can disagree with my take on pregnancy and rock. She doesn't even have to back it up, she can just say, "You're wrong." I really don't care. But I do care that she is so illiterate that, when supposedly reading a review that praises the album over and over, she wants to e-mail me that I trashed the album. I did no such thing. Learn to read, you idiot.

Can women have children and stay true to themselves, avoid the sog-fest? Carly, Aretha and Etta did. But Liz Phair didn't. And Liz is more true to the norm than the exceptions are.

Having kids is a lot of work. It's also true that some don't seem to focus on their art. (That can be due to a label rushing you into the studio. It can also be due to the fact that you have little to write about. I don't care for the rock boys playing cowboys writing about the road any more than I care for superficial songs about parenthood.) I note all of this in the review.

When it went up, months ago, I got a lot of e-mails from visitors on it. Some disagreed with my theory and that's fine. Most agreed and shared their own moments when someone they were so into released the first post-baby album. But until today, no one accused me of hating Reprieve and trashing it.

The reason for that is because I praised the album. I still praise it. I still listen to it.

But this is an issue and I'm sorry that twit doesn't think so. Women have had to grapple with many responsibilities. In Russia, at the turn of the last century, some women were grappling with whether or not marriage was even possible to combine with a lived life. They weren't the first to ask that question. Katharine Hepburn, of course, famously explained that she didn't think she could have children and a career and that she made the choice to have a career.

I remember the turmoil that greeted Hepburn's remark. I think it's because we like to think we can have it all. Then we're surprised we're so tired, of course. But these are issues women have been grappling with for some time.

You can disagree that it takes a lot to juggle everything, you can disagree with women who decide they can't do everything and make choices, but you can't deny that there's a struggle.

I know Toni is always the person called on when her parents or any older relatives are sick. That's another task that tends to fall on women more often than on men. (Though I hope that's changing. I do think there have been changes and I do credit that to the second wave of feminism last century that put these questions forward and challenged assumptions on roles. I think that gave many women the affirmation to make choices and to stand up for themselves. I think it also sent a message to men. I know there are men who are feminists and men who are pro-feminists and I hope there's some improvement in the way things are today.) I'm lucky in that I have a large family so we can spread that out. (But when it has to do with our extended family in Ireland, that does tend to fall on me because I am self-employed so I have the easiest time of taking off.)

The twit seemed offended that I had raised the issue of women who rock going soggy after the child is born. I also noted that women tended to leave that phase and end up with mature work while many men ended up stuck in the eternal adolescence singing the same songs they were doing when they were in their 20s which is rather sad when they're over 50.

What will happen to Ani? I don't know. I noted that she doesn't like labels and she doesn't want to be the standard bearer. I belive I also noted that she shouldn't have the pressure put on her. But if you've listened to music over time, if you've followed women as well as men, I'm sorry that the notion of the sog-wall is any surprise to you. You can disagree but this is something many women discuss. I almost didn't write about it. I was in Ireland and hadn't done any reviews because I was caring for a dying relative. I didn't expect to be gone so long (I believe I was gone over 6 weeks). I had no reviews in this time. I called C.I. who had kindly volunteered (because I was feeling guilty) to take notes and string together a review from that. I don't remember now what the other album was, but I explained that I was going to do that one and C.I. asked, "What about Ani?" I then explained what I was feeling about that. C.I. pointed out, "Kat, a lot of people think that, fear that, few write about it." Which is true and why I did write about it.

I'm sorry the twit was offended and bothered by the Sex in the City episode Toni mentioned that I note in the review (and note that I didn't see the episode) but if she's got a problem with that show, she should probably take it up with people working for the show or fans of it. (I don't generally watch TV.) Most of all, twit should learn how to read. I didn't trash Ani's Reprieve. I praised it.

Again, the response was huge on that review with visitors citing their own examples.
That doesn't mean "We're right!" That does mean enough women have noticed it (I heard from some male visitors about that review but the majority were women) that it is worth exploring.

There were a number of e-mails noting the three exceptions (and there was one woman that was noted as an exception that I'm forgetting) (Judy Collins! She came up in five e-mails). (I'd add Joan Baez as well.) Whether they were writing about Etta, Aretha or Carly, the feeling was that those women were conveying something. Aretha sometimes writes. Etta usually covers. But both Etta and Aretha found a way to convey something. Carly, who generally writes the majority of her songs (or co-writes), really plumbs the depths of her world. That's probably why Carly could avoid the sog-fest. "Fairweather Father," to name only one, doesn't pretend like it's all sugar & spice. Aimee Mann, for the same reason, could probably sidestep the sog-fest. I hope Ani does.

And to be clear, for those who didn't read the review (including twit), sog-fest means you're doing weak songs -- weak musically, sketched out lyrically, that sound like you're hoping to place them in some soft hue baby commerical.

Now Betty's latest -- ''Thomas Friedman's immoral non-authority'' -- is up so check it out.
Now here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Friday, March 2, 2007. Chaos and violence continue in Iraq; the non-issue of rape (to follow the US coverage) turns out to be not such a non-issue (surprising only to big media); Walter Reed continues to be a problem for the Bully Bully (similar to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the incompetence of management); Amnesty International issues a statement about a US war resister; and the targeting of minorities in Iraq continues to be a minor story in the mainstream media (domestic).

Starting with war resisters, Agustin Aguayo faces a court martial in Germany Tuesday, March 6th. Amenesty International has released a statement:

Amnesty International is closely monitoring the case of Agustin Aguayo, a US army medic who is scheduled to face a US court-martial on 6 and 7 March in Wurzburg, Germany, for his refusal to deploy to Iraq.
In February 2004, Agustin Aguayo applied for conscientious objector status. He says that he began developing doubts about war shortly after enlisting in the army and that he now feels that he cannot participate in any war based on his moral objections to hurting, killing or injuring another person. Whilst his application was being considered, Agustin Aguayo was order to deploy to Iraq where he received formal notification in July 2004 that his application had been turned down. The army's Conscientious Objector Review Board had found that he did not present clear and convincing evidence of his beliefs.
Agustin Aguayo served a year in Iraq where he says he refused to carry a loaded gun. He says that "I witnessed how soldiers dehumanize the Iraqi people with words and actions. I saw countless lives which were shortened due to the war. I still struggle with the senselessness of it all . . ."
When Agustin Aguayo's unit was ordered to redeploy to Iraq in September 2006, he did not report to duty and went absent without leave (AWOL). He has been charged with desertion and missing movement and is currently held in pre-trial detention at a US military base in Mannheim, Germany. If convicted on both these charges he could be sentenced to up to 7 years in prison.
Lawyers for Agustin Aguayo filed a write of habeas corpus in US federal court in August 2005, asking for his honourable discharge from the army as a conscientious objector. This request was denied and a subsequent appeal turned down. The judge wrote that "Though Aguayo stated that his Army training caused him anguish and guilt, we find little indication that his beliefs were accompanied by study or contemplation, whether before or after he joined the Army."
Amnesty International is sending a delegate to observe the court-martial proceedings in Germany next week to learn further details about the case and assess whether Agustin Aguayo would be a prisoner of conscience if convicted and imprisoned.

Speaking with Gillian Russom (Socialist Worker), Helga Aguayo, Agustin's wife, stated the following on war resisters: "They're important because they're taking a stand that all the Americans who are against the war can't really take. They're making it difficult for the Army to continue their mission. My husband's a paramedic, and medics are needed desperately in Iraq. I think that these soldiers who stand up and say, "I won't do it," are frustrating the plans of these particular units. It's important for the antiwar movement to adopt these soldiers and say that this guy has taken a remarkable step. We need to support him because he's doing what we would do if we were in his position."

Meanwhile, US war resister Kyle Snyder was arrested last Friday at the request of the US military who have no jurisidiction in Canada. Snyder served in Iraq, then self-checked out of the US military and went to Canada. In October of 2006, he returned to the United States to and on October 31st, he turned himself in at Fort Knox only to self-check out again the same day (no, AP, he did not turn himself in during the month of November -- AP seems to have confused Snyder with Ivan Brobeck who turned himself in November 7, 2006 -- election day). Snyder was arrested the day before his planned wedding ceremony (the wedding has been rescheduled for this month). The British Columbia police, at the US military's request, at the residence he shares with Maleah Friesen (the woman he'll be marrying this month) and US war resister Ryan Johnson and Johnson's wife Jenna. As Sara Newman (Canada's Globe & Mail) reported, the police showed up at the door, asked for Kyle and when he came to the door in his boxer shorts and robe, they grabbed him and refused to let him either change into some clothes or bring any along with him. Snyder told Vancouver News: "I couldn't believe it could happen that way. The only thought that was going through my head was I thought Canada was a completely separate country, thought it was a sovereign nation. I didn't know they took orders from the United States." ForLawyers Against the War's statement click here. Snyder tells Newman: "Basically the next step is to keep doing what I'm doing, go on with my life. I'm planning on getting married to a very wonderful woman, and I am planning on trying to find the best way to move on with my life." Before he decided to return to the US, Kyle enjoyed working with disabled children.

Another US war resister in Canada is Joshua Key (as his wife Brandi and their children) and he's put his story down on paper in The Deserter's Tale. Reviewing the book, Martin Rubin (Los Angeles Times) quotes Key: "I never thought I would lose my country, and I never dreamed that it would lose me. I was raised as a patriotic American, taught to respect my government and to believe in my president. Just a decade ago, I was playing high school football, living in a trailer with my mom and step dad, working at Kentucky Fried Chicken, and hoping to raise a family one day in the only town I knew. . . . Back then, I would have laughed out loud if somebody had predicted that I would become a wanted criminal, live as a fugitive in my own country, and turn my wife and children into refugees as I fled with them across the border." Rubin observes, "One of the book's great pleasures is in seeing the author's personal development, the journey he has taken, turning away from violence and destruction to become more humane. 'One's first obligation, Key says, 'is to the moral truth buried deep inside our own souls.' He understands a soldier's obligations under the Geneva Conventions and the Nuremberg doctrine not to participate in atrocities. He has pad a stiff price for his desertion: exiled in Canada (where he may not be able to remain) and shunned by much of his family. Near the end of his tale, Key insists that he is 'neither a coward or a traitor.' He is believable, as he has been from the outset, and through his words and the actions he describes, he conveys hard-earned honesty and integrity. In this testament of his experience in military service in Iraq he is making a substantial contribution to history."

Aguayo, Snyder and Key are part of a movement of resistance with the military that includes others such as Ehren Watada, Mark Wilkerson, Camilo Mejia, Patrick Hart, Ivan Brobeck, Darrell Anderson, Ricky Clousing, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Corey Glass, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.


Turning to Iraq, Brian Murphy (AP) notes that Iraq's health ministry says 1,646 Iraqi civilians died in Iraq in the month of February while the AP count is 1,698 and the UN "and other groups often place the civilian death count far higher." (For good reason including the mainstream rarely notes deaths of Iraqis who do not fall into one of three groups: Shia, Sunni or Kurd.) On this week's CounterSpin, Peter Hart addressed last week's hula-hoop -- bad Americans don't care about the deaths of Iraqis as witnessed by a poll that found most estimated 9,000 Iraqis had died in the illegal war. Hart noted that people get information from their media so the finger pointing might need to point at the media. Equally true is the fact that attempts to count the number of Iraqis who have died are met with the right-wing screaming "Foul!", muddying the waters and the mainstream media playing dumb as though there's no way to sort out the truth. (Most recently, this was seen when The Lancet's study found that over 655,000 Iraqis had died. Instead of noting that the sampling method used was a standard method used by the US to estimate deaths, the media played dumb.) Without any sort of standard number used in the press (and note, AP runs their monthly toll but rarely notes a running total), it bears noting that the US military keeps a running tally.

Nancy A. Youssef (McClatchy Newspapers) broke that story last summer. The US military refuses to release that number to the American people. Presumably, they utilize the numbers when evaluating how their 'mission' is performing. Since a democracy is built upon the foundation of the will of the people and since Congress is currently debating whether to do anything, the American people would benefit from knowing that number (an undercount to be sure and the US military only admits to keep a count since June of 2005).


The American people would also benefit from reality in the reporting. While rape has been a topic in foreign press and on the ground in Iraq, the US press (mainstream) has dropped the issue -- or thought they had. It pops back up today. Alexandra Zavis (Los Angeles Times) reports that a claim by a group in Iraq that they had "kidnapped 18 interior Ministry employees in Dyiyala province in response to claims that Shiite-led security forces had raped a Sunni Arab woman" was followed by police discovering the corpses of 14 police officers in Baqubah. AFP quotes Uday al-Khadran ("mayor of Khalis, the slain officers' hometown in Diyala province") stating: "They were found in the streets of Baquba. Their throats had been cut and their hands were bound." Al Jazeera quotes their reporter Hoda Abdel Hamid: "Sabrin al-Janabi did come and say that she was raped by three Iraqi security forces. The government at first reacted by saying that it will conduct an investigation. . . . Hours later, the government came back and said the three men were cleared of that accusation, that Sabrin al-Janabi had come out with false accusations, and that the three men would each be given a medal of honour. That has caused a big uproar among the Sunni groups." AFP observes: "The alleged rape of Janabi -- who appeared in a video broadcast on Arab news networks to complain of being raped by interior ministry officers -- has triggered a bitter row at the highest levels of the Iraqi state."

If that sounds at all familiar, you probably heard Dahr Jamail and Nora Barrows-Friedman discussing that on KPFA's Flashpoints Tuesday. Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily (IPS) report today on Wassan Talib, Zaineb Fadhil and Liqa Omar Muhammad -- "[t]hree young women accused of joining the Iraqi insurgency movement . . . [who] have been sentence to death, provoking protest from rights organisations fearing that this could be the start of more executions of women in post-Saddam Hussein's Iraq." The fairness of the trials are in question as is the women's guilt.

Fairness is nowhere to be found in the puppet government. Minority Rights Group International's (PDF format) report "Assimilation, Exodus, Eradication: Iraq's minority communities since 2003" drives that home. While the mainstream continues to speak in terms of Shia and Sunni with the occasional Kurd tossed in, minority groups in Iraq are regularly targeted for violence, death, and theft. As the report notes: "The Armenian Church of Iraq said it was working with government officials to obtain the return of property that the former regime had forced it to sale. Although the church was paid fair market values for six properties in Mosul, Basra, Kirkuk, Baghdad and Dohuk, it was coerced. Church officials said discussions with the transitional government yielded no results in 2005." Let's hope they don't take a check for payment or they may find themselves in the same situation as the Mandaens in Baghdad whose property was taken by the post-invasion installed government and was given a check for 160 million dinar ($100,000 in US dollars) but, when they attempted to deposit the check, they "were told that the signature was not legitmate, and payment was refused." Let's also hope the Armenian Church also has some form of documents -- also not easy in the post-invasion. From the report: "According to Zaynab Murad of the Cultural Association of Faili Kurds, during the Anfal campaign Faili merchants and traders were summoned to an emergency meeting and told to bring all their documents. When they complied, they were arrested. Their documents were confiscated and they were sent to the Iraq/Iran border without their families. To reclaim property today, those documents must be presented. 'The question is -- who owns [sic] the documents that prove that they are true owners of the property?' he said."

Brian Murphy (AP) notes that "4 million Iraqis are displaced within the country or are refugees abroad, mostly Sunnis who fled to neighboring Syria or Jordan, international agencies estimate." Alexandra Zavis (Los Angeles Times) reports that, in Baghdad, "Maliki has taken a tough line, labeling as terrorists everyone living in homes that were taken by force and informing parliament they would be arrested." That, of course, doesn't apply to the minority groups whom al-Maliki has been more than fine with seeing stripped of property.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Philippe Douste-Blazy (France's Foreign Minister) is sounding the alarm that Iraq could be partitioned at any point as the chaose continues and that he stated: "We think that the only solution, we have already said so, is to have a withdrawal by 2008 of the international forces which are in Iraq today and at the same time the restoration of the rule of law."

As Iraq crumbles further, the US Congress dithers and dallies. AP reports: "House Democratic leaders have coalesced around legislation that would require troops to come home from Iraq within six months if that country's leaders failed to meet promises to help reduce violence there, party officials siad Thursday. The plan would retain a Democratic proposal prohibiting the deployment to Iraq of troops with insufficient rest or training or who already have served there for more than a year. Under the plan, such troops could only be sent to Iraq if President Bush waives those standards and reports to Congress each time. . . . The Senate, meanwhile could begin floor debate on Iraq as early as next week." Ned Parker (Times of London) notes that prior to "the US November midterm elections four out of five voters siad that if the Democrats won Congress US troop levels in Iraq would fall." Those four out of five aren't idiots, that's how it was sold by a number of outlets. It's just not what's happening currently.

Yesterday Military Families Speak Out's Nancy Lessing spoke with Dennis Bernstein on KPFA's Flashpoints and noted: "There is no military solution, there is no good outcome from the US military occupation continuing, it's only going to make more deaths. So we're at that moment where we're at that moment again where, I think, the majority of people at all levels of this country understand that there is no military solution and yet we have Congress not doing what it needs to do -- which is to cut the funds for continuing the war and bring the troops home. So we as military families and together with Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace and Vietnam Veterans Against the War will continue to be building the movement. And I've said it before on this program and I'll say it again, we do understand that it's never been a politician that's ended a war it's always been a social movement and so our goal is to build our movement as strong as it needs to be to get Congress to do what it needs to do."

They have released an open letter to Congress (PDF format) here:

We are asking that, as leaders in Congress, you exercise leadership. Your voice is needed now more than ever. Tell the American people the truth about President Bush's funding request. President Bush is not asking for more funds for the troops. He is asking for more funds to continue a war that should never have happened, a war that is killing so many U.S. service members and leaving even more physically and psychologically damaged on a daily basis. This is a war that has killed untold numbers of Iraqis, is draining our national treasure and cultivating a growing hatred against our nation. Hope, a rare commodity for us these days, is even harder to find within the current morass of non-binding resolutions and rhetorical statements in Congress about preventing "surges" and changing strategies. Hope is hard to find when we see so many in Congress adopting the morally indefensible stand of opposing escalation of this war, while poised to support its continuation.It is not too late for you to do the right thing. We ask you to exercise your leadership, stand up and call for the de-funding of the Iraq War. Stand strong when you explain that de-funding the war is not de-funding or abandoning our troops. Let the American people know what we as military families and Veterans know -- that de-funding the war will not leave our trooops without equipment or supplies. Stand strong when you explain that there are sufficient funds available to bring our troop shome quickly and safely, and that if more funds are ever needed, Congress has the ability to re-program monies from the Department of Defense budget to use for this purpose. Stand strong and fight to bring our troops home.Stop telling us that you don't have the votes and work to secure them. That is what leaders do.Right now, it seems that you cannot see the political upside of doing what we and the majority of people in this country are calling on you to do. It is important that you understand the political downside of allowing this war to continue. If you provide further funding for the war in Iraq, it will no longer be President Bush's war. You will be co-owners. You will share responsibility for the continued chaos and loss of life in Iraq. You will have lost the opportunity to provide leadership when it is sorely needed. You will have given license to more years of a failed policy and countless deaths.

John Walsh (CounterPunch) places blame both on elected Democrats and on "the 'mainstream' peace movement" which he argues should be demanding actions such as filibusters but instead plays 'nice': "Whenever a UFPJ group goes to 'lobby' the Congressmen or Senators, the unwritten rule (violated by the present writer on many occasions) is to 'make nice'. Do not risk weakening the 'relationships' with legislators and staff is the mantra. It is all carrot and no stick. And what are the results? No filibuster. Continued war. And from first hand experience, when one threatens the legislator with supporting another candidate in the coming election, a pained look comes over the UFPJ 'facilitator,' and one can rely on being tut-tutted into silence."

In Iraq today . . .

Bombings?

CNN notes 10 dead and 17 wounded from a car bombing "at a popular used-car lot in Baghdad's Sadr City" and a car bomb "near an Iraqi National Police patrol in the Saydiya neighborhood in southwestern Baghdad" that killed one police officer and left two more wounded. Alexandra Zavis (Los Angeles Times) reports that it was three police officers wounded in that bombing (with one dead). Robert H. Reid (AP) reports a roadside bomb "southeast of Baghdad" killed one Iraqi soldier. Reuters notes a mortar attack in Iskandariya that either killed 4 and left 20 wounded (US military) or killed eight people (Iraqi police) that is provided "the reports were referring to the same incident."

Shootings?

BBC reports: "Two players from the Ramadi football club are shot dead by gunmen as they take part in a training session". Reuters notes that the two men were Mohammed Hamid (27-years-old) and Mahommed Mishaan (23-years-old).

Corpses?

Mohammed al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 5 corpses discovered in Baghdad
Reuters reports 6 corpses were discovered in Balad.


On CounterSpin today, Peter Hart interviewed Mark Benjamin about the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal. Why now is it getting attention? (As opposed to 2004 when Diane Sawyer reported on the medical scandals in April 2004 -- not mentioned on the program.) Benjamin felt there was more interest/acceptance in something other than happy talk on both the part of the public and the press. Another reason it's getting more attention now is because Dana Priest and Anne Hull didn't file a one day story that they picked up on weeks later. It was a series of articles and Bob Woodruff's return to ABC News (Tuesday) with a hard hitting look at what he (he was injured while reporting in Iraq) went through and what service members go through helped focus attention. As noted in yesterday's snapshot, Major General George Wieghtman was fired as the head of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center yesterday. Today, Steve Holland (Reuters) reports Bully Boy is "[s]crambling to answer an outcry over shoddy health care for U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq" and has made the announcement that "a bipartisan commission" will be created "to review health care for military veterans." And Holland and Kristin Roberts (Reuters) report that "U.S. Army Secretary Francis Harvey has resigned after reports that troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were being poorly treated at the Army's top hospital". CBS and AP note that Harvey has been in charge "since November 2004."



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