Music, Ruffles and more

Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Barack Prepares To Talk To The Kids" went up on Sunday. My "Kat's Korner: Cass Elliot's buried classic surfaces" went up yesterday and Mike mentioned an album on the phone last night that I had forgotten. I was planning to review it in August. I grabbed C.I.'s copy back in July and planned to review it in August when we'd be home-based for the month. But that never happened and I honestly forgot I never reviewed it. So now I'm juggling my time to see if I'll be able to review it this weekend?

And if not, community members, how long is too long to wait on reviewing an album?

I really love Cass Elliot's reissue. I really, really wish it was a download. I think it's silly to release things today and not also make them downloads.

For example, the Cass collection I reviewed in 2005? It's no longer available on disc. And it wasn't a download. You can try to buy a used copy.

At the same time, I always meant to get the Simon Sisters (Lucy and Carly Simon, from their folk days) on CD. Rhino had a deluxe package. That's gone. They sold their copies and I never got one. But I was able to download it because it was also a MP3 download and still is.

Which is what bothers me about the Cass reissue. At some point (three years?), it will be all sold out and no new copies. Then what?

To me, not releasing something on MP3 today is the same as, back in 1996, just releasing a music album on cassette tape. Yes, some people were still buying cassettes. But the reality was most of us were buying CDs.

I prefer CDs but a huge number of people now buy just MP3s. So it makes more sense to release in all available formats and releasing as an MP3 would mean that ideally the album was available forever and wouldn't go 'out of print.'

Equally true, although someone like me has a collection that has many formats, for some music purchasers today, MP3 is really all they know and ordering a CD through Amazon probably seems as unrealistic as those "For $4.99 plus postage and handling . . ." albums sold on TV seemed to me back when I was a teenager.

We're back on the road and Ava and Wally were teasing me when we stopped to put some gas in the car today. There was a green bag of Ruffles and it was labeled Queso. It was the lunch box size so I bought it (ha ha on Ava and Wally). It was interesting. The cheese taste was a little sharp for something called queso. (They were making jokes due to my well known problems with Pringles -- I can't eat just one and if I eat too many, ay-yi-yi -- and due to my Lays potato chip review awhile back. Limon Lays are wonderful. I stand by that evaulation.)

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

Tuesday, September 8, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces multiple deaths, the new trend in violence in Iraq is attacking checkpoints, Nouri continues war of words on Syria but there's a pushback in Iraq, Thomas E. Ricks soils himself in public and much, much more.

Today the US military announced: "A Multi-National Corps – Iraq servicemember was killed today when an improvised explosive device targeting the patrol detonated in southern Baghdad at approximately 10: 30 a.m. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense. The names of servicemembers are announced through the U.S. Department of Defense official website at http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/ The announcements are made on the Web site no earlier than 24 hours after notification of the servicemember's primary next of kin. The incident is under investigation." And they announced: "Three Multi-National Corps -- Iraq Soldiers were killed today when an improvised explosive device targeting their patrol detonated in northern Iraq at approximately 11:40 a.m. The names of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense. [. . .] The incident is under investigation." ICCC has been down since Wednesday. It is still down. Sunday the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war should have been 4338. It should now be 4342 unless we've missed a death. We haven't missed any announcements by MNF; however, they don't always remember to announce. If DoD has covered a death that MNF never announced, then our estimate is off. AFP also estimates that ICCC's number should be 4342. Ali Windawi and Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) observe today "was the deadliest day for the Americans since June 29, when four soldiers were killed in Baghdad."

Windawi and Parker note, "It was also a bloody day for Iraqi security forces around the oil-rich Kirkuk region of northern Iraq, the territory at the center of a land dispuate among Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen" with 2 police officers dead and four injured in a bombing outside of Kirkuk. Meanwhile BBC News reports an Amirli roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 police chief and four police officers today while one in Baghdad claimed the life of 1 "health ministry employee" with four others left injured. The police chief was Maj Zaid Hussein, Windawi and Parker explain. Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a roadside bombing in Kirkuk today targeted the home "of a judge . . . without causing casualties." Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 man, a Mosul bombing claimed the life of 1 person and injured another (both are labeled "insurgents" by the police), a Daquq roadside bombing claimed the lives of 2 police officers and injured three, a Tikrit roadside bombing claimed the lives of 2 of Salahuddin Province Deputy Governor Ahmeda Abdul-Jebbar's bodyguards, a Tuz Khurmato roadside bombing claimed the lives of 4 police officers and left three more injured, a second Tuz Khurmato roadside bombing claimed 1 life, a Baquba sticky bombing injured one civilian and one police officer, a Baghdad roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 Ministry of Health employee with twelve people injured (four MoH employees), another Baghdad roadside bombing which left eigh people injured (four are police officers) and a third Baghdad roadside bombing left two police officers injured. In addition, Reuters notes 1 Iraqi soldier was shot dead in Mosul.

Many of the wounded and dead Iraqi security forces were killed in attacks on police and military checkpoints. This has been a recent pattern of violence. Sunday's violence trend in Iraq was attacks on checkpoints with 3 attacks in Mosul on army and police checkpoints. Monday saw an attack on a military checkpoint and on a police checkpoint. Marc Santora (New York Times) noted, "For those seeking to undermine the Iraqi government, attacking checkpoints is a natural way to undermine public confidence. However, the attacks at checkpoints could also indicate a frustration at being able to penetrate attack more populated areas, Iraqi officials say."


Meanwhile Nouri al-Maliki attempts to create an international crisis as he goes after Syria with accusations that they harbor the two masterminds behind Black Wednesday's bombings. Ned Parker and Caesar Ahmed (Los Angeles Times) report Nouri continues to air 'confessions': "Two confessions have been shown on state television and a third was aired at a news conference." Today Sherko Raouf, Waleed Ibrahim, Missy Ryan and Samia Nakhoul (Reuters) report "rifts" emerging in Nouri's assault incluidng the country's Presidency Council (made up of Iraq's President and two vice presidents) releasing a statement "calling for dialogue and speaking of the need 'to ease tension with Syria'." President Jalal Talabani is quoted saying the escalation is "unacceptable. This is not in the interest of Syria, Iraq or (other) Arab nations. Such a stand from the Iraqi government, without consultation with the presidency council, is illegal." They also note that Iraqi's Sunni vice president, Tareq al-Hashemi, released a statement which "called for an internal fact-finding committee to collect more evidence about the Aug. 19 attacks." [Adil Abd Al-Mahdi is Iraq's Shi'ite vice president.] In addition, Hannah Allam (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that Nouri is being accused "of lunching a purge of senior security officials in order to weaken political rivals ahead of winter elections. Maliki ordered the dismissals of at least three senior officials from the Interior Ministry over the weekend, Iraqi newspapers reported Tuesday: Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, the ministry's commander of operations; Gen. Ahmed Abu Rikheef, the head of internal affairs; and the director of the explosives division, who wasn't identified in the reports."

Friday, Jasim Azzawi (Al Jazeera's Inside Iraq, video link) observed, "A so-called Bloody Wednesday has put the brakes on Prime Minister Maliki's claim of winning the war on violence. The question is will he use Syria as the whipping boy to engender sympathy to avoid the backlash of angry voters in January's next election?" Samir Altaqi and Saad al-Muttalibi were the guests.

Jasim Azzawi: To discuss the rising tension between Iraq and Syria, I'm delighted to welcome from Baghdad Saad al-Muttalibi a political adviser to the Ministry of National Dialogue in Iraq and from Damascus Samir Altaqi, Director of the Orient Center for International Studies. Gentlemen welcome to Inside Iraq. Saad Muttalibi, let us go the heart of the matter, rhetoric aside, where is the evidence that Syria is implicated in Bloody Wednesday.

Saad al-Muttalibi: Well next time maybe we should ask the terrorists to bring an authorization when they come and commit a crime I mean this is -- this question should not be asked this way. There are evidence, there are confessions, there are roots, there are cameras, there are maps, there are -- there are millions of things that indicate that 90% of terrorists come through Syria into Iraq. We are not implicating the Syrian government, I must be very clear on this. We implicating Iraqi citizens living in Syria, taking advantadge of the hosp -- of the Syrian hospitality, using Syria as a launch pad to organize crimes against state of Iraq and the people of Iraq.

Jasim Azzawi: Samir Altaqi, Syria has a history of not handing over political refugees requested by their mother country. al-Maliki himself, when he resided in Syria, was asked by Iraq to hand him over during Saddam Hussein and Syria refused. Is this a principle position or is Syria keeping those two suspects for a rainy day.

Samir Altaqui: Not all. Practically the Syrian position for a long time was that it won't be handling those opposition people since not only Mr. Maliki even Mr. [Masoud] Barazani at a certain moment and [Iraqi President Jalal] Talabani were guests in Syria and Syria did not deliver them. Unless there is real evidence that would implicate them directly, that Syria would be convinced that this is not coming because of conflictual positions within the Iraqi political arena.

Jasim Azzawi: Saad Muttalibi, I will come to the maps and the other evidence you alluded to but for the time being regarding Bloody Wednesday, the trucks, the explosives, the suicide bombers, they were all in Baghdad. And some people, they say al-Maliki is shifting the blame against himself because he was the one who ordered those concrete blast walls around the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be removed.

Saad al-Muttalibi: No, that's not ver -- that's not very honest statement. Not from you, but from the people who says that. The environment in Baghdad became better. Security became much better. A drop -- over 90% drop in violence in Baghdad. The walls beca -- constituted a hurdle in the way of Ira -- in the way of Iraqi citizens. So they were not -- they were not needed anymore. That's the general feeling of people had so the government acted on the general will of the people. That was not a deliberate act of removing these walls to allow bombing -- that's ridiculous. The -- the-the-the bombs were in Baghdad but the political will to start and use these bombs came from overseas or abroad. We say from Syria. We have evidence. We have proof. From Syria. [Turkey's] Foriegn Minister [Ahmed] Oglu was completely convinced of all the evidence otherwise he wouldn't have presented them to the Syrians. He was completely convinced that if this evidence were about Turkey, Turkey would have acted. So there is no question about the validity Syrian political will to hand over those criminals.That's basically it.

Jasim Azzawi: Samir Altaqi, the evidence against you is air tight, he says

Samir Altaqi: Not at all, I think. If we are speaking on behalf of Mr. Ahmed Oglu, he -- as a mediator -- he has to present the Iraqi position but practically he didn't consider them as tight -- water proof. I think practically what is needed is a direct dialogue between the two sides -- not across the media centers today or the press -- but through specialist channels, through diplomatic channels to present those evidences and to discuss them in a decent way.

Jasim Azzawi: The fact that 1.2 million Iraqis live in Syria, can they do exactly what they like regarding Iraq without the knowledge and consent of the Syrian government and Syrian intelligence as Saad al-Muttalibi alludes.

Samir Altaqi: I -- I think we have to take in account the fact that you have one-million-two-hundred-thousand refugees in Syria, they are not from one faction, they are not from one confession. They are Shia, they are Kurds, they are Sunnis and everyone of them is still having his political view about what is going on. And the more the political process in Iraq would be inclusive, the more this will withdraw any support, any domestic support and refugee support to those who are still thinking about regulating their positions in Iraq through violence.

Saad al-Muttalibi: I must comment here. Really. For you to dictate to us that we should include this part -- faction or that faction, that is --

Samir Altaqi: No, no, no, no --

Saad al-Muttalibi: -- interference in Iraqi affairs --

Samir Altaqi: I'm not, I'm not --

Saad al-Muttalibi: You are not, we do not interfere in your affairs --

Samir Altaqi: You are expression to me one million --

Saad al-Muttalibi: No, no, no, I'm not accusing anybody.

Samir Altaqi: -- one million refugees --

Saad al-Muttalibi: No, no --

Samir Altaqi: -- refugees. I'm telling you, it's --

Saad al-Muttalibi: With a welcome mat! First of all -- first of all ---

Samir Altaqi: I'll try to make the situation --

Saad al-Muttalibi: -- first of all -- first of all --

Samir Altaqi: Please -- please. Exactly, they don't consider themselves safe and they don't consider justice available nor justice even fairness would be --

Saad al-Muttalibi: Okay, okay.

Samir Altaqi: -- available for them in Iraq. That's why

Saad al-Mmuttalibi: Okay, okay, let me correct some information. Let me correct some information for you, my dear friend. First of all, the United Nations says there are 160,000 Iraqis in Syria, not 1.2 million. That's one. Second, as from this moment, I am saying we are ready to have all of this 160,000 back --

Samir Altaqi: They are not ready

Saad al-Mmuttalibi: -- We'll pay them.

Samir Altaqi: They are not ready.

Saad al-Muttalibi: -- if they want to come back. They are Iraqis. Well that is their problem, that's not my problem.

First off, al-Muttalibi is incorrect as usual. 160,000 have been registered. state they have registered that many. Yet again, Saad al-Muttalibi has gone on Al Jazeera and lied. The United Nations Refugee Agency (one of the few UN agencies Nouri hasn't been able to successfully bully) carries the estimate of 1,105,698 Iraqis in Syria. Click on this page, on the right side of the page is "Statistical Snapshot" the number follows "Refugees" and you get the information when you run your mouse across the blue "i".

Second of all, Saad al-Muttalibi's 'that's their problem' attitude to refugees who don't feel it is safe to return (and many of whom do not wish to ever return) when you consider that Saad turned tail and ran to England in 1977 and stayed there until 2003. In other words, by his 'logic,' it was HIS PROBLEM he was a refugee back then. It needs to be especially pointed out that for someone who went to college in the United Kingdom and lived there for nearly 30 years, Saad never managed to master the English language. He can't even get his subjects and verbs to agree. Apparently his planning to pull the US into an illegal war was more important than anything else. At the end of last week, The Economist offered an editorial entitled "Iraq's freedoms under threat: Could a police state return" in which they noted:

Old habits from Saddam Hussein's era are becoming familiar again. Torture is routine in government detention centres. "Things are bad and getting worse, even by regional standards," says Samer Muscati, who works for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based lobby. His outfit reports that, with American oversight gone (albeit that the Americans committed their own shameful abuses in such places as Abu Ghraib prison), Iraqi police and security people are again pulling out fingernails and beating detainees, even those who have already made confessions. A limping former prison inmate tells how he realised, after a bout of torture in a government ministry that lasted for five days, that he had been relatively lucky. When he was reunited with fellow prisoners, he said he saw that many had lost limbs and organs. The domestic-security apparatus is at its busiest since Saddam was overthrown six years ago, especially in the capital. In July the Baghdad police reimposed a nightly curfew, making it easier for the police, taking orders from politicians, to arrest people disliked by the Shia-led government. In particular, they have been targeting leaders of the Awakening Councils, groups of Sunnis, many of them former insurgents and sympathisers, who have helped the government to drive out or capture Sunni rebels who refused to come onside. Instead of being drawn into the new power set-up, many of them in the past few months have been hauled off to prison. In the most delicate cases, the arrests are being made by an elite unit called the Baghdad Brigade, also known as "the dirty squad", which is said to report to the office of the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki.


Turning to England, there's news regarding the kidnapped British citizens. To recap, May 29, 2007, Alec Maclachlan, Jason Crewswell, Alan McMenemy, Peter Moore and Jason Swindelhurst were kidnapped in Baghdad. Both Jasons are confirmed dead. At the end of July, the British government stated they believed Alec Maclachlan and Alan McMenemy were dead. The families remained hopeful. Last Wednesday a third British corpse was turned over and Thursday it was announced it was Alec's. That leaves Alan McMenemy and Peter Moore unaccounted for. (The three corpses were turned over by the League of Righteous after the US military released the group's leader and the leader's brother -- a deal was made. Not a very good deal obviously.)Tom Pettifor (Daily Mirror) reports Peter Moore's mother Avril Sweeney feels the kidnapping was an inside job (press reports in England have maintained the same for over a month now) and explains her son "was working on a computer system which could have tracked billions in stolen aid and oil money." She points out the League of Righteous (Asaib al-Haq) sent firty people dressed in police uniforms and driving 19 Land Cruisers to kidnap all five. She states:The cat's out of the bag. All evidence shows the men who took my son had help from the Iraqi Government. I will leave no stone unturned. I'm a normal working woman but I can't sit quietly waiting any more. I gave Peter life and I'll fight to the end to save that life.On the subject of Iraqi government involvement, press reports have linked the League of Righteous to both Nouri al-Malik and Ahmed Chalabi. Last week, Hannah Allem's "Chalabi aide: I went from White House to secret U.S. prisoner" (McClatchy Newspapers) backed up Eli Lake's earlier "EXCLUSIVE: Iraqi official's top aide linked to Shi'ite terrorists" (Washington Times) which reported that Ahmed Chalabi's secretary Ali Feisal al Lami had ties to the League of Rightous. While briefly imprisoned, Lami brags in Allem's article, he encountered his old friend, leader of the League of Righteous, "I asked him, 'So, Sheikh Qais, which is better: your military way or my political way?' He said, 'It's all the same. We're both in prison.' He was right and I was wrong." Lami states that the leader of the League of Righteous "was right" to use violence. Grasp that.BBC News reports that Alec Maclachlan's body arrived in the United King yesterday.
David Zeiger, Director of Sir! No Sir! and Bestor Cram, Director of Unfinished Symphony note:Episode Five: This is Not Human Nature available now. Click here This Is Where We Take Our Stand discussed in a New York Times piece on the antiwar movement and Afghanistan. Click here Episode Five of the ground breaking web series, This is Where We Take Our Stand, is now live at http://www. thisiswherewetakeourstand.com. "This is Not Human Nature" tells the story of the Iraq Veterans Against the War members' struggle to bring hundreds of veterans to Washington, DC, to tell their stories and reveal the true nature of these occupations. If you've watched the first four episodes, you won't want to miss this one. And if you haven't, WATCH THEM. This is Where We Take Our Stand is a series that can and should help push the debate about these wars back on to the table. Experience the series, send this email to everyone you know, and spread the word! This is Not Human Nature: For the first time in history, women have combat and other front-line roles in the U.S. military, yet the military today is rife with sexual harassment, as Wendy Barranco reveals. Is this progress? Is it inevitable? Human nature? Or perhaps it's the sign of a deeper malignancy. For Wendy, her treatment was "the last thing I would have imagined from my own peers and comrades." This is Where We Take Our Stand, the series that tells the riveting and timely story of the hundreds of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who testified at last year's Winter Soldier investigation, continues today. Watch episode five, tell friends, forward this email, spread the word and fan the debate. These stories must be heard. Stay tuned for the final episode: Episode Six: No Longer a Monster will launch September 20, 2009.Spread the link and mark your calendar!

Over the weekend, the Kurdish region of Iraq received some attention. Tim Cocks, Shamal Aqrawi and Michael Christie (Reuters) reported tensions in Nineveh Province as Mayor Barzan Said Kaka (who is Kurdish) declared "independence from the largely Arab-run council" in the province while offering a list of allegations against the council including violent crimes and claims that they aren't concerned at all with Kurds. The reporters note that the province's governor, Atheel al-Nujaifi, has made repeated statements against the Kurds and that he "has so upset mayors in 16 Kurdish areas that they're threatening to secede."Staying with the Kurdish focus, Azad Aslan (Kurdish Globe) reported that Barham Salih, who recently resigned as deputy prime minister of the central government (under Nouri al-Maliki) is expected to "start negotiations to form the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)." Saturday the Kurdish Globe reported on the KRG's reaction to Nouri's announcement that the long-promised census will not, in fact, take place this year:"The KRG is concerned that the decree has been issued. The census process is a national right for all Iraq, including Kurdistan Region. By holding the census, all of us would have benefited from the great information that would have been gained," said Osman Shwani, KRG Minister of Planning. Shwani explained that the delay had political backgrounds. The decree came during a meeting of the Iraqi Council of Ministers, according to a statement published by government spokesman Ali al-Dabagh on Thursday. Al-Dabagh stated that the Council of the Ministers agreed to postpone the census until October 2010 as reply to "social changes" in provinces of dispute.Ako Muhammed (Kurdish Globe) reports that Kamal Kirkuki (Speaker of KRG Parliament) is calling out the United Nations' inept and unfocused 'help' offered in the last years. It's noted that Staffan de Mistura did very little as the UN rep in Iraq. The article notes:UN involvement came as Baghdad halted fulfilling constitutional Article 140, which calls for returning displaced families home in the disputed areas, deporting brought-in people from those areas, and allowing the original people of those places to decide in a referendum whether to be governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government or directly by the federal government. "We insist on the resolution of this issue in accordance with the implementation of Article 140 of the Constitution, because we do not want to see our people go through hardships and tragedies again." [KRG President Massoud] Barzani also assured of their readiness to cooperate with the UN, "but this issue concerns a whole nation and we will not make any concessions on this issue in any way whatsoever.

TV notes. NOW on PBS asks: "Is Obama tossing out the Constitution with his new anti-terror plan?" -- the program began airing on many PBS stations Friday:

This week NOW, as part of a collaboration with the nonprofit investigative unit ProPublica, explores the controversial tactic of "preventative detention," a government plan that may detain suspects indefinitely without trial or even formal charges. Implementing such a plan may have far-reaching consequences on not just our fight against terrorism, but the integrity of the U.S. Constitution and the cause of human rights.

They round that out with an online exclusive: "In an eye-opening web-exclusive video, a government prosecutor talks candidly about his appointment to convinct an alleged 9/11 conspirator, and the surprising decision he made after gaining access to what he considers evidence of torture."

Related, Sunday I noted of Ned Parker and Caesar Ahmed's decision to reprint the transcript of a 'confession,' "I don't question their right to do so. However, we're not quoting from it. The current 'government' of Iraq has already notched up a bulky history of torturing people for 'confessions' and I will not knowingly allow the possible work-product of torture to go up here." I didn't condemn them, I didn't question their ethics or motives. And I won't. It is news. They have every right to print it in full. I have the right to decide I'm not going to include it here but I would look like a fool if I stomped my feet and started screaming at two reporters for practicing journalism. America, meet Thomas E. Ricks whose brains have apparently slipped down to his man boobs. (Click here for Isaiah's comic on that back in May.)

The Associated Press had a photo of a dying Marine and ran it. First of all, AP owns NO papers and owns NO TV stations. (Radio would not appear to apply here but they also don't own any radio stations.) Point, if the photo ran in a newspaper, it ran due to a decision made by newspaper staff not the AP. But Saturday, Thomas E. Ricks soiled his Depends as he screamed and yelled at the AP for putting the photo out on their wire services (from which TV or newspapers can grab it). Ricks lies: "I'm a 1st Amendment fundamentalist." No, Ricks, you're not. You can't scream that AP covering the news is "morally indefensible" and claim to support the First Amendment. You've spent too long with your head up the ass of counter-insurgency. That's reality. You're becoming a huge embarrassment and, every day, less and less of a reporter. Saturday was such a big disgrace that you really need to issue an apology or accept the fact that you're now a journalist in the same way that Robert Novak was.

Well into his rant, Tommy Ricks lets slip, "I confess that I haven't looked at the photo, and don't want to." It's his right not to want to look at it. It's not his right to scream and yell and question the journalism ethics of AP while boasting he hasn't even seen the photo. Ricks then further disgraces himself suggesting that the phto could have run if AP had held it "a few weeks or months". No, you dumb idiot, news is a daily cycle and when you were still a reporter, before you became a WAR ADDICT, you damn well grasped that. The photo was news. Anyone can choose to look away but no one has a right to censor it. An AP photographer snapped the news photo. They made the decision to put it out on the wires. That is perfectly in keeping with the ethics of journalism.

Apparently Tommy Ricks was too bored to find one of those cheesy nude or half nude pics of young women to post at his blog -- which really qualifies as sexual harassment at Foreign Policy -- it's not Sports Illustrated and every time that s**t goes up, Tommy runs off women. So, bored, he decided to attack journalism. "Today I am embarrassed for American journalism," he whines. Guess what, American journalism is embarrassed for you and many more little stunts like your assualt on AP and you can forget about ever going back to journalism. Robert Novak is your other future. You're at a fork in the road, make a damn decision.

I'll note Kat's "Kat's Korner: Cass Elliot's buried classic surfaces" went up yesterday and Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Barack Prepares To Talk To The Kids" went up Sunday. Mike posted yesterday at his site with "Labor Day post."

iraqthe los angeles timesned parker
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the daily mirrortom pettiforiraq veterans against the warmarc santora
the washington timeseli lake
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sahar issa
the economist
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The Diane Rehm Show can't find Iraq

4,340 American military service members -- 4 more than last week -- have died in Iraq since the war began in 2003, according to the US Department of Defense. A total of 13,862 have suffered injuries serious enough to keep them from returning to duty.
2 days. That's reportedly how long a trial lasted for 1 of the 1,000 people -- including 2 women -- on Iraq's death row, according to Amnesty International. The human rights organization is calling for a halt to executions until the Iraqi justice system can better guarantee fair trials.


That's from Jake Armstrong of Pasadena Weekly and they may be the only weekly newspaper that acknowledges the Iraq War every issue. You'd think as the illegal war drags on the coverage would increase. Instead, it declines.

I was at the wedding of two friends mid-afternoon. And that was wonderful and much happiness to the couple. But I just ended that party and came over to C.I.'s (where another party is going on). I'm reading over the snapshot and wonder about Iraq and The Diane Rehm Show?

I go to look for C.I. to ask what the deal was and discover that Iraq wasn't even mentioned. You had Cuba, Honduras, Afghanistan, North Korea and a hundred other things but Susan Page and her guests couldn't take their little candy asses over to Iraq.

How disgusting.

C.I. said Diane's supposed to be back next week. Maybe Iraq will get covered.

With all the developments this week -- including Amnesty's report on Iraq's death row prisoners, the tensions between Syria and Iraq, the League of the Rightousness releasing another British corpse and so much more -- they couldn't spare a minute on The Diane Rehm Show. Not a moment.

That's pretty damn disgusting.

Of course they didn't cover that Steven D. Green would be sentenced today but then The Diane Rehm Show was never interested in him or his War Crimes.

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

Friday, September 4, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, two fallen US soldiers are identified, the Bremer walls are put back up in Baghdad, Nouri courts an international crisis, Jordan and Iraq strengthen their ties, Steven D. Green gets sentenced for War Crimes and more.

A US soldier in Iraq posted the following to his blog (through amber lenses) August 27th:

Leaning up against the back of the building we discovered half of a rusted Russian heavy machine gun, and another piece of a Cold War era anti-aircraft gun. No big deal, except both weapons had been used against our company two years prior during the retaking of the city of Baqubah. Pretending this find meant the IPs were doing their job and taking dangerous weapons off the street and not that they were the average two-faced insurgents, we rounded the last corner of the compound and headed for the front gate. Thanks to the hand-tying status of forces agreement between Iraq and the United States, American soldiers are not allowed to operate in urban areas without having the Iraqi Police or Iraqi Army present. Exceptions apply, but they're few and far between. By the time our squad had regrouped around the front of the building, our IA escort forces from outside the city had exited their humvees and stood around smoking and joking with each other. They were dressed in USMC desert fatigues, military body armor, and commercial tactical vests. They were also carrying clean weapons outfitted with modern American optics and flashlights. Apparently, Iraqi Army Special Forces are fairly well funded. We passed them by and headed out the gate, since our absurdly strict platoon leader wasn't around to stop us. One lonely IP stood guard just outside the entrance to the station. He remained rooted to the ground while we moved past him and out into the neighborhood. We figured he'd count as our Iraqi escort if someone important came along. Crossing a small lot with a few scattered cars and trash piles, a pack of four or five dogs picked up our scent and barked to alert the area to our presence. We held up at the far side of the lot, less than a hundred meters from the IP station. A group of kids had been playing around in the street, but had scattered as soon as we left the station. In previous years, that was a bad sign. Kids scattered and plugged their ears before roadside bombs detonated. This time around, it's a different war. "War" is hardly the word to describe the current situation. Anyway, the unit we're replacing didn't spend a single second of their tour mingling with the locals around this particular IP station. It had been months since the last American foot patrol through their village. They peeked around corners and out from behind courtyard gates. Families weaving around rubble and small rivers of sewage eyeballed us suspiciously, rarely returning a wave. Two young boys crept closer, stopping about ten meters ahead of us. I motioned to them to come closer while Todd called to them in broken Arabic. Cautiously, the older of the two darted up to us. Todd pulled a pack of gum from his pants pocket and handed a piece to the boy, who looked confused but optimistic. Todd pulled out another piece for himself, and popped it in his mouth. The boy smiled and darted back to the safety of his house. When he stuck his head out a moment later, he was chewing happily and surrounded by a new group of local kids. I motioned again to them, and a younger boy came running up over the broken bricks and dirt littering the street. I handed him a little pack of Sweet Tarts as my squad started moving back to the police station. He accepted happily and ran back to the house. I turned and followed the squad out of the neighborhood and back through the guarded station entrance, offering the lone IP a wave as he closed the gate behind me. We walked up to the front of the building, wondering where our blundering platoon leader was. The Iraqi Army Special Forces soldiers were still lounging around, smoking cheap cigarettes in the scorching afternoon sun. Approaching them, they welcomed us with open arms and all sorts of broken English. Cigarettes were offered all around, we removed our helmets and gloves, and relaxed. The language barrier is always difficult to overcome, but through the few Arabic phrases I remember from my first deployment and creative sign language, we got to know each other. We examined each others rifles and pistols, resisted the pleas of the IA soldiers to trade watches and jokingly traded insults. An American private from Guam was played up as an Iraqi who forgot how to speak Arabic, and the sexual preference of all involved was questioned. Some things are funny to soldiers no matter their nationality.That blog post was written by Jordan Shay who was killed while serving in Iraq. Yesterday the US military issued the following announcement: "CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, TIKRIT, Iraq -- Two Multi-National Division - North Soldiers were killed and five wounded in a vehicle rollover accident in the Diyala province of northern Iraq Sept. 2. ICCC is currently down [they note a server crash and that they are working to get the site back up] but the announcement should bring the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4338. (It was 4336 on Sunday. ICCC was down yesterday and remains down today.) It appears the two killed were Todd Selge, 25-years-old, and Jordan Shay, 22-years-old. Frederick Melo (Pioneer Press) reports Selge was on his second tour of duty in Iraq and his wife Dellona Selge states, "He was definitely gung-ho about the military. He was going to get out. He wanted to finish up school and move back home and have a regular life." With her and their sons "ages 6 and 2." John R. Ellement (Boston Globe) reports Shay was also on his second tour of duty and had been engaged to marry. Marie Szaniszlo (Boston Herald) adds that his MySpace page has "a clock counting down how many days he had left in the Army".

July 31st, Jordan Shay wrote (on his Twitter accont), "I've been saying I'm ready to go, and I am, but it's amazing how fast the last two weeks have flown by." August 23rd, he noted "back in iraq for round two, probably won't fire a shot in anger all tour. sucks." In his last post at his blog, Shay observed, "We are respected in Baqubah. We are also feared. Our battalion has a fantastic opportunity to use these facts to our advantage and make a real difference before the withdrawal of all combat forces in the summer of next year. We made a difference in 2007, we could do it again in 2009. I fear we will not."

Any such efforts at "a real difference" seem blocked as Nouri al-Maliki continues his quest to create an international incident. August 19th was Black Wednesday -- mulitple bombs going in off in Baghdad, the Foreign Ministry and the Finance Ministry being targeted, at least 101 people were killed nearly 600 hundred injured. Though no one knows who is responsible, Nouri has attempted to make political hay by blaming Ba'athists in Syria and demanding that the Syrian government turn over to Ba'athists. The Syrian government has responded by following the laws on extradition and requesting evidence before making a move. Boht countries have recalled their ambassadors. Nouri bloviates about evidence but either has none or is unwilling to turn any over. Nouri's demanding the United Nations set up some sort of tribunal to investigate the bombing -- which actually makes it clear how inept Nouri's 'leadership' is that he can't handle an incident of violence. Alsumaria reports that Syrian President Bashar Al Assad denounced the proposal at a press conference today with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Khalid al-Ansary, Muhanad Mohammed, Tim Cocks and Janet Lawrence (Reuters) report that Nouri's sending "thousands of extra police" to the border with Syria and Iraqi police chief Tariq Yusuf describes those being sent as "emergency forces." BBC quotes Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's Foreign Minister, stating, "We have given them [the Syrian government] the evidence that we have through the Turkish foreign minister and we are waiting for their response." Efforts by Turkey to mediate between the governments of Syria and Iraq earlier this week appear to have fallen apart after Turkey refused to send more water to the two countries. Alsumaria reports that Jordan's Prime Minister Nader Al Dahabi (visiting Baghdad and now in the Kurdistan region) "noted that his country is willing to calm tensions between Baghdad and Damascus". As Mike noted yesterday, the Jordan Times reported Iraq and Jordan reached an agreement to establish "a free trade zone".


Iraq as the Angry Child. Stomping its feet and demanding everyone bow to its wishes. If you learn one thing from following the current government, it's how ignorant and uninformed or uncaring the officials are. Inside Iraq airs every Friday on Al Jazeera and usually includes one Iraqi government employee who struggles to redefine what government actually is and only succeeds in demonstrating how nothing resembling democracy is taking root in Iraq. Forget respect, there is no understanding of the press and you get idiots like the Ministry of National Dialogue's Saad al-Muttalibi (see the August 21st broadcast) stating:

And I'm not here to defend anybody, I'm just saying that there were no evidence. For somebody to write a piece, an article in a state-owned newspaper and claim that he knew in advance that somebody, anybody has the intention of doing the robbery and buying blankets and distributing the blankets through -- during the elections, that sounds to me like going out of the norm, this is not media reporting, this is accusation and without any evidence. I mean the journalists didn't have any evidence for his case. A journalist's job is uh to produce the news uh to convey the news and events that happen in the country and as truthfully and honest as possible and but not to make interpretation, their own interpretation of events. Thank you.

A journalist doesn't gather 'evidence.' Journalism is not a court of law. Reporting isn't a court of law. There are different standards in a court of law than are required for journalism and that's because public shaming (the worst that journalism can do) is not the same as imprisonment. Equally true, journalism is reporting and it is more than that. The article that had Saad al-Muttalibi so enraged wasn't "reporting." He wants to impose reporting standards on what was an opinion piece, a column. Forget that it was parody -- which the uneducated Saad al-Muttalibi and a whole host of others can't grasp -- it was an opinion column. But Saad thinks he can dictate what journalism will be in a country and what it would be under him is nothing but "The government said today . . ." That's not how journalism works and it's not even reporting is supposed to work. The thugs in charge in Iraq like to toss around "evidence" but they never understand what it is nor do they ever grasp that just because they dub something "evidence" doesn't mean others would recognize it as such. The government's a joke and it would deservedly fall apart if the US pulled out all troops tomorrow. Which should probably happen because it would allow the Iraqis a fighting chance -- the people who the US military was supposedly 'freeing' but instead have been enslaved to the whims of a bunch of cowardly exiles who couldn't fight Saddamn but could run off and hide in other countries where they lobbyied for US involvement for decades. These cowards are the ones the US government put in charge of Iraq and they have no legitimacy in the eyes of the average Iraqi which is not a surprise because no one would want their rulers to be composed of a slew of cowards and turncoasts who didn't have the guts to struggle in the country with everyone else but instead fled for posh and cushy lives in London, Iran, Jordan, Syria, etc.
When you grasp how many exiles make up the so-called 'government,' it's all the more shocking the central government's lack of concern for the ongoing external refugee crisis. UNHCR announced today that 36 Iraqi refugees living in Jordan and Syria have been "resettled to Belgium". On the subject of refugees, Marcia noted the appeal sent out by the US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents -- Camp Ashraf is a camp of Iranian exiles who have been in Iraq for decades now.

On the 38th day of a hunger strike outside the White House in protest against the continuing siege of Camp Ashraf in Iraq, speakers at a news conference called on President Obama to intervene and end the humanitarian crisis in Ashraf, home to 3,400 members of the People's Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and their families.Steven Schneebaum, U.S. Counsel for the families of Camp Ashraf residents,said, "The position of the United States that it no longer has any obligationtowards the residents of Ashraf is plainly wrong. The US is still responsiblebased on the agreement it signed with each and every member in 2004, accordingto Article 45 of the 4th Geneva Convention and International Customary Law."Colonel Gary Morsch, Reservist, Commander, Combat Support Hospital in the USarmy, who severed in Ashraf in 2004, remarked that, "I am speaking as asoldier and cannot comprehend why our military did nothing to stop the carnageat Ashraf.""There are hundreds of people across the world on hunger strike. If we can getour government to act quickly, and get the 36 hostages released, we can bringthe hunger strike to an end," Colonel Morsch added.

Unlike their 'leaders,' for the Iraqi people, the stuggle never ends. Campbell Robertson (online at the New York Times) reports from northern Iraq's "small Christian villages" where "residents seem tired; looking into their empty, often unhealthy faces, you wonder whether the massive exodus of Christians from Iraq -- half the population by many estimates -- has left only the weakest and least capable behind to look after their homeland." And in order "to look after their homeland," Nordland reports, a new development has emerged, the formation of Christian militias. Militia member Thabid Daoo is quoted stating, "We are protecting the whole city, not the churches only. We are the people of our city, so we know the strangers who are coming from outside."

Meanwhile Quil Lawrence (NPR -- text only) reports that Iraqi security forces are using an instrumbent to detect bombs that probably doesn't do that: "Many U.S. officials say the science is about as sound as searching for groundwater with a stick. [. . .] One American expert in Baghdad compared the machine with a Ouija board but wouldn't comment on the record. A U.S. Navy investigation exposed a similar device made by a company called Sniffex as a sham." Meanwhile one security measure is in the news. Martin Chulov (Guardian) reports that not only have they stopped taking down the Bremer walls (blast walls) in Baghdad, "This week walls were again being erected across the capital in areas where they had only just been removed. The symbolism was unmistakable: forebodying landmarks of Iraq's descent into chaos were once again necessary. The security gains of the past year are starting to look like a false dawn."


Bombings?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad sticky bombing and a Baghdad car bombing last night with seven injured from the latter. Reuters notes a Basra rocket attack last night "on the South Cas company offices" and a Baghdad car bombing which injured three people last night (in addition to the one that injured seven).

Corpses?

Reuters notes 1 corpse discovered in Kirkuk.

Turning to the United States and what may be the only accountability for the crimes in Iraq. May 7th Steven D. Green (pictured above) was convicted for his crimes in March 12, 2006 gang-rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, the murder of her parents and the murder of her five-year-old sister while Green was serving in Iraq. Green was found to have killed all four, to have participated in the gang-rape of Abeer and to have been the ringleader of the conspiracy to commit the crimes and the conspiracy to cover them up. May 21st, the federal jury deadlocked on the death penalty and instead kicking in sentence to life in prison. Today, Green stood before US District Judge Thomas B. Russell for sentencing. Kim Landers (Australia's ABC) quotes Judge Russell telling Green his actions were "horrifying and inexcusable." Not noted in any of the links in this snapshot (it comes from a friend present in the court), Steven Dale Green has dropped his efforts to appear waif-ish in a coltish Julia Roberts circa the 1990s manner. Green showed up a good twenty pounds heavier than he appeared when on trial, back when the defense emphasized his 'lanky' image by dressing him in oversized clothes. Having been found guilty last spring, there was apparently no concern that he appear frail anymore.

Italy's AGI reports, "Green was recognised as the leader of a group of five soldiers who committed the massacre on September 12 2006 at the Mahmudiyah check point in the south of Baghdad. The story inspired the 2007 masterpiece by Brian De Palma 'Redacted'." BBC adds, "Judge Thomas Russell confirmed Green would serve five consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole." Deborah Yetter (Courier-Journal) explains, "Friday's federal court hearing was devoted mostly to discussion of technical issues related to Green's sentencing report, although it did not change Green's sentence. He was convicted in May of raping and murdering Abeer al-Janabi, 14, and murdering her parents, Kassem and Fakhriya, and her sister, Hadeel, 6, at their home outside Baghdad."

Green was tried in civilian court because he had already been discharged before the War Crimes were discovered. Following the gang-rape and murders, US soldiers attempted to set fire to Abeer's body to destroy the evidence and attempted to blame the crimes on "insurgents." In real time, when the bodies were discovered, the New York Times was among the outlets that ran with "insurgents." Green didn't decide he wanted to be in the military on his own. It was only after his most recent arrest -- after a long string of juvenile arrests -- while sitting in jail and fearing what sentence he would face, that Green decided the US Army was just the place he wanted to be. Had he been imprisoned instead or had the US military followed rules and guidelines, Green wouldn't have gotten in on a waiver. Somehow his history was supposed to translate into "He's the victim!!!!" As if he (and the others) didn't know rape was a crime, as if he (and the others) didn't know that murder was considered wrong. Green attempted to climb up on the cross again today. AP's Brett Barrouguere quotes the 'victim' Green insisting at today's hearing, "You can act like I'm a sociopath. You can act like I'm a sex offender or whatever. If I had not joined the Army, if I had not gone to Iraq, I would not have got caught up in anything." Climb down the cross, drama queen. Your entire life was about leading up to a moment like that. You are a sociopath. You stalked a 14-year-old Iraqi girl while you were stationed at a checkpoint in her neighborhood. You made her uncomfortable and nervous, you stroked her face. She ran to her parents who made arrangements for her to go live with others just to get her away from you, the man the army put there to protect her and the rest of the neighborhood. You are one sick f**k and you deserve what you got. Green play drama queen and insist "you can act like I'm a sex offender" -- he took part in and organized a gang-rape of a 14-year-old girl. That's a sex offender. In fact, "sex offender" is a mild term for what Green is.

Steven D. Green made the decision to sign up for the US military. He was facing criminal punishment for his latest crimes, but he made the decision. Once in the military, despite his long history of arrests, he didn't see it as a chance to get a fresh start. He saw it as a passport for even more crimes. What he did was disgusting and vile and it is War Crimes and by doing that he disgraced himself and the US military. His refusal to take accountability today just demonstrates the realities all along which was Green did what he wanted and Green has no remorse. He sullied the name of the US military, he sullied the name of the US. As a member of the army, it was his job to follow the rules and the laws and he didn't do so. And, as a result, a retaliation kidnapping of US soldiers took place in the spring of 2006 and those soldiers were strung up and gutted. That should weigh heavily on Steven D. Green but there's no appearence that he's ever thought of anyone but himself. He wants to act as if the problem was the US military which requires that you then argue that anyone serving in Iraq could have and would have done what he did. That is not reality. He does not represent the average soldier and he needs to step down from the cross already.

AFP notes, "During closing arguments at his sentencing, Green was described alternately as 'criminal and perverse' and deserving of the death penalty, and as a 'broken warrior" whose life should be spared'." Brett Barrouquere (AP) has been covering the story for years now. He notes that Patrick Bouldin (defense) attempted to paint Green as the victim as well by annoucing that Green wanted to take responsibility "twice" before but that Assistant US Attorney Marisa Ford explained that was right before jury selection began and in the midst of jury selection. In other words, when confronted with the reality that he would be going to trial, Steven D. Green had a panic moment and attempted to make a deal with the prosecution. (The offer was twice rejected because the 'life in prison' offer included the defense wanting Green to have possible parole.) Steve Robrahn, Andrew Stern and Paul Simao (Reuters) quote US Brig Gen Rodney Johnson ("Commanding General of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command") stating, "We sincerely hope that today's sentencing helps to bring the loved ones of this Iraqi family some semblance of closure and comfort after this horrific and senseless act."

While Green plays victim, Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan attempts to end the wars. Last week, she led demonstrations on Martha's Vineyard while US President Barack Obama vacationed there. John V. Walsh (CounterPunch) reports:

I spent but a short time with Cindy Sheehan as she carried her antiwar protest from an earlier time at Crawford, TX, to Martha's Vineyard, vacation spot for Obama and many other Democrat Party elite. As Cindy remarked, the real story was not that she was protesting Obama's wars but that the "leadership" of the peace movement did not support her protest. When the target was Bush in Crawford, she was all the rage with antiwar celebrities, but not so now that the target is Barack Obama. While there is considerable enthusiasm for her anti-Obama protest on the part of the rank and file in the anti-war movement, a refusal of its "leaders" to notify their members far and wide, high and low, crippled the action. As a result of this betrayal, the numbers at Martha's Vineyard were not large. But Cindy and her fellow anti-warriors were undeterred. While I was there, she mounted a spirited march down the road to Obama's place, no more than a quarter mile away from where she stayed. The purpose was to present the President with a poster of Cindy bearing a signed plea to end the wars. The considerable armed force at the gate and the Secret Service officers would not even bring out the lowliest of staffers to receive the poster. Clearly the message from Obama was "Get lost, Cindy." And we were quickly told to move a considerable distance down the road. At least in Crawford it had been possible to demonstrate at the checkpoint to the site -- not so at Obama's place. Thus, did Obama greet a mother whose son was lost in the wars, which he continues and enlarges by the day.

CounterPunch's Alexander Cockburn observes:


Is there any sign of life in a movement that marshaled hundreds of thousands to march in protest against war in Iraq? Ah, but those were the Bush years. Now we have a Democrat in the White House.
One person hasn't tossed aside her peace sign. Cindy Sheehan sees war as war, whether the battle standard is being waved by a white moron from Midland, Texas or an eloquent black man from Chicago. But when she called for protesters to join her on Martha's Vineyard to stand outside Obama's holiday roost for four days at the end of August there was a marked contrast to the response she got when she rallied thousands to stand outside Bush's Crawford lair.
As John Walsh described it here last week, "the silence was, as Cindy put it in an email to this writer, 'crashingly deafening.' Where are the email appeals to join Cindy from The Nation or from AFSC or Peace Action or 'Progressive' Democrats of America (PDA) or even Code Pink? Or United for Peace and Justice. And what about MoveOn although it was long ago thoroughly discredited as principled opponents of war or principled in any way shape or form except slavish loyalty to the 'other' War Party. And of course sundry 'socialist' organizations are also missing in action since their particular dogma will not be front and center. These worthies and many others have vanished into the fog of Obama's wars."
Before he joined Sheehan on Martha's Vineyard, Walsh says he contacted several of the leaders of the "official" peace movement in the Boston area -- AFSC, Peace Action, Green Party of MA (aka Green Rainbow Party) and some others. Not so much as the courtesy of a reply resulted from this effort -- although the GRP at least posted a notice of the action.

TV notes. NOW on PBS begins airing tonight on many PBS stations:This week NOW, as part of a collaboration with the nonprofit investigative unit ProPublica, explores the controversial tactic of "preventative detention," a government plan that may detain suspects indefinitely without trial or even formal charges. Implementing such a plan may have far-reaching consequences on not just our fight against terrorism, but the integrity of the U.S. Constitution and the cause of human rights.Washington Week also begins airing tonight on many PBS stations and sitting around the table with Gwen this week are Dan Balz (Washington Post), Jackie Calmes (New York Times), John Dickerson (CBS News and Slate) and Martha Raddatz (ABC News). Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe and her guests Sam Bennett, Amanda Carpenter, Karen Czarnecki and Eleanor Holmes Norton discuss the week's news on this week's edition of PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:The Age of Megafires Global warming is increasing the intensity and number of forest fires across the American West. Scott Pelley goes to the fire line to report. Watch VideoCombat in Afghanistan The enemy is on the rise in Afghanistan and Lara Logan's report from a forward operating base near Pakistan includes 60 Minutes footage of up-close combat. Watch VideoMr. Ayers and Mr. Lopez Discovered living on the streets by Los Angeles Times newspaper columnist Steve Lopez, mentally ill musician Nathaniel Ayers has become the subject of a book by Lopez and now a Hollywood film. Morley Safer reports. Watch Video60 Minutes Sunday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.


iraqsteven d. green
brett barrouquere
the new york timescampbell robertson
nprquil lawrence
mcclatchy newspaperssahar issa
cindy sheehan
john v. walsh
al jazeera
reuters
martin chulovthe guardian
bbc newsalsumaria
washington weekiraq60 minutescbs newspbsto the contrarybonnie erbenow on pbs

Music snapshot (Carly, Cass, Carole, Cynthia, Ellie)

A correction to my post last night. I will be posting my review on Monday. C.I. correctly guessed that I was thinking I'd post my review on Saturday night/Sunday morning and grab another CD (a children's record) to review on Monday. C.I. threatened to change the password at The Common Ills. "Enjoy the holiday, don't work yourself into the ground," she told me. She and Ava have decided to hold off on their DVD review o make sure it doesn't make me rush my review.

At Entertainment Weekly today, Jeff Labrecque asks, "What are some of your favorite pop-culture eff-yous, Popwatchers? Can I get some love for Carly Simon's 'You’re So Vain'?" He's asking for kiss off songs, f**k off songs. I'd go with "You're So Vain." There's also Alanis' "You Oughta Know." Liz Phair's "The Divorce Song." I'm not really thinking of too many others. I would put the Rolling Stones' "Out Of Touch" on the list and think it's the best kiss off song Mick and Keith ever wrote. It's got the right amount of everything and I love the drums on it.

Last week Ellie Greenwich died and I noted it but there's an article on her, Carole King and Cynthia Weil that I'm highlighting tonight. This is from Laura Barton's "Simply Brill: the women who shaped rock'n'roll" (The Guardian):

Carole King, Cynthia Weil and Ellie Greenwich – who died last week at the age of 68 – were three of the Brill Building's finest songwriters, and some of the first women to embed themselves in the pop machine. Writing alone or in partnerships, they were responsible for hits such as Will You Love Me Tomorrow? and The Loco-Motion (King), You've Lost That Loving Feeling and We Gotta Get Out of This Place (Weil) and Leader of the Pack and River Deep, Mountain High (Greenwich). Their compositions in the 60s defined the era – full of all the doo-wop and sweet kisses, heartache and innocence of teenage love affairs – and gave a voice to many young female music fans.

"Today, we tend to overlook and write off the Brill Building era as that girly period between Elvis and the Beatles," says Professor Mary E Rohlfing, author of Don't Say Nothin' Bad About My Baby: A Re-evaluation of Women's Roles in the Brill Building Era. "The passing of Ellie Greenwich has begun what I hope will be a more serious look at how women shaped rock'n'roll and how that sound continues to permeate and matter to the music today."

The Brill Building's relationship with songwriting began soon after its completion in 1931, when the Depression forced its owners to rent out office space to music publishing companies. Many of the Big Band era hits were written here, and the path for King, Weil and Greenwich was arguably paved by Rose Marie McCoy. One of the most influential songwriters of the 50s and 60s, she wrote hits for Elvis Presley and Ike and Tina Turner and, as a black female songwriter from the American south, had to fight harder than anyone to get her songs heard. "She knew how to hang in there with the big boys," soul singer Maxine Brown explains. "Everyone was scrapping to get there, but it was always men. They were the producers, they were the promoters, they were the piano players. Women didn't have a place, so she made a place for herself."

Just to add to the above, Cynthia Weil wrote most of her songs from that period with her husband Barry Mann. She and Barry are still together and they continue to write songs together and have had many post-sixties hit. (For example, Dolly Parton's "He'll Come Again," the Pointer Sisters' "He's So Shy," etc.) Carole King, of course, became a huge solo act starting in the seventies with the release of her Tapestry album. In the sixties, she and then-husband Gerry Goffin wrote together. Though no longer together, they still write the occassional song together. Ellie Greenwich wrote in the sixties primarily with her husband Jeff Barry. When he left her, she was pretty much lost. And it didn't help that hse was a New Yorker who loved the region because the industry had moved out to the West Coast. The article argues that the Beatles followed by Joni, et al, meant the end of the Brill Building but I don't think that's the case myself. Carole managed to work through that as did Cynthia and Barry and others. It had to do with location and I think Grace Of My Heart (an excellent movie) captured that in the last part of the film where the songwriters are out in LA writing for a female group that's really a stand-in for the Monkees.

Cass Elliot, for example, was recording at the end of the sixties (solo) and in the seventies. She was doing songs by Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Leah Kunkel (her sister who is a very gifted songwriter) and others, many others. She wasn't writing songs. And she recorded a lot of Cynthia and Barry's songs like "Make Your Own Kind Of Music."

Cynthia and Barry have had a long career so I think it's a little easy to say that singer-songwriters came along and it was over for people who just wrote songs.



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

Thursday, September 3, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces more deaths, at least 15 Iraqis are reported dead today and 120 are reported injured, a British hostage missing since 2007 is confirmed dead, the US military -- according to a military official -- has little power in Iraq now due to reduced size, the Iraqi government continues to target the press, Cindy Sheehan provides input on a recent NYT article, and more. Yesterday a British corpse surfaced in Baghdad. A somber UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced the cameras to issue a statement. Via ITN News (video link): Gordon Brown: It's with the deepest regret that the body passed to the British embassy today is now discovered to be that of Alec Maclachlan. My thoughts, and I believe the thoughts of the whole country, are with the Maclachlan family at this time of great grief. No family should have to endure what they have gone through. The loss through the hostage taking, then the period of silence and not knowing what was happening and now to find that their loved one is lost -- Our thoughts are also with the families of those people who are the other hostages. We are demanding of the hostage takers that they now give us information about the whereabouts of Alan McMenemy and return Peter Moore who we still believe to be alive as soon as is possible. We will pursue these hostage takers. There is no justification for what they've done. And we are working with the Iraqi government at every point to ensure that we get information to the relatives, we get the return of the others and, at the same time, we bring the hostage takers to justice. That is what every family should expect of us and that is what we are going to do. May 29, 2007 the League of Righteousness kidnapped five British citizens in Baghdad. Three are known to be dead: Jason Creswell, Jason Swindlehurst and Alec Maclachlan. Alan McMenemy is assumed dead (but that is not known) and Peter Moore is thought alive. Yesterday Colin Freeman (Telegraph of London) explained, "The men were abducted by gunmen posing as policemen by a group calling itself League of the Righteous, a group of Shia militants. They were recently understood to have been seeking to enter mainstream politics in Iraq, but attempts to release the hostages through dialogue have proved fruitless." The Daily Mail noted that the League of the Righteous had earlier attempted to use the five hostages to broker a release of "nine Iraqi militants" at Camp Cropper (the leader and his brother were two and, again, they were released in June) and that this "is Britain's longest running hostage crisis since Terry Waite and John McCarthy who were held for nearly five years in Lebanon in the 1980s." Nouri is very close with the League and last week Eli Lake (Washington Times) reported that Ahmed Chalabi was as well. Today Oliver August (Times of London) reports, "Mr MacLachlan, who is from Llanelli, south Wales, died from multiple gunshots in what appears to have been an execution. According to sources close to the investigation, the killing took place quite some time ago, possibly last year, given the partly decomposed state of the body." BBC News' Frank Gardner states, "When I last met the men's families, they were still hoping reports of more deaths were untrue." He's referring to the announcement a month and a half ago by the British government about their believing Alec Maclachlan and Alan McMenemy were dead. The families remained hopeful due to the fact that there were no bodies. The League of Righteous is now responsible for the murders of three British citizens and is assumed to be holding 2 more and they are also responsible for an attack on US forces in which 5 US soldiers (Brian S. Freeman, Jacob N. Fritz, Johnathan B. Chism, Shawn P. Falter and Johnathon M. Millican) were slaughtered. Because the League of Righteousness is Nouri's best buddy, the UK and the US apparently have decided to humor the organization. Deborah Haynes (Times of London) reported on the release by the US military of Laith al-Khazali (the ringleader of the group) and his brother. At the end of July BBC News' Humphrey Hawksley (link has video and text) filed this report: Humphrey Hawksley: Alan [McMenemy] from Dunbarton, Alec [Maclachlan] from South Wales believed to be two more victims in this long running Iraq hostage tragedy. Security guards whose colleagues Jason Swindlehurst from Lancaster and Jason Creswell from Glasgow were shot dead, their bodies recovered last month. There's hope that Peter Moore, the IT specialist they were protecting, is still alive. This is the fortified Finance Ministry in central Baghdad from where the five men were kidnapped more than two years ago in May 2007 in a highly organized operation. Forty men wearing the uniforms of the Iraqi police drove up surrounded the building and took the hostages off to a secret location. For moths there was no news then, in November, there came a video from Jason Swindlehurst and, three months later, another from Peter Moore. He called for the release of nine Shia Iraqis being held by the Americans, release them so we can go, he said. And a year ago Alan asked the British government to try to get them home as soon as possible. The Foreign Office has adopted a low profile, softly-softly approach although the families did speak out from time to time hoping their voices might lead to the freedom of their loved ones. But nothing until last month. Thousands of suspected insurgents are being held in Iraq but are slowly being released. On June 7th, one of the nine referred to in Peter Moore's appeal was freed. Twelve days later, the two bodies were recovered. They'd been shot some time earlier. It's not know if there was a connection. The hope now is that somewhere in the dangerous world of Iraqi militias, Peter Moore is alive with a chance of being released. Humphrey Hawksley, BBC News. Oliver August includes an interesting aside deep in his report, "The staggered return of the hostages is part of a quid-pro-quo deal brokered by the Iraqi Prime Minister, who met representatives of the kidnappers two months ago. The League of the Righteous has apparently renounced violence and is seeking to enter the open political process ahead of parliamentary elections next year." Nouri and his friends are so very close. Some say it was this close nature that allowed them to successfully kidnap 5 British citizens to begin with. July 29th, the families of the hostages held a press conference. Haley Williams is the mother of Alec's child and she spoke at the press conference noting the British government's statements that Alec and Alan were thought to be dead. Haley Williams: These reports are the worst possible news for us but we continue to hope that they cannot be true. But whatever Alec's condition, he no longer should remain in Iraq. We appeal to those holding him to please send him home to us. I speak to you as the mother of Alec's son. We are not the people holding your men but I do understand your feelings cause you're going through the same pain we are going through. If we had any influence over the release of your men we would release them to you but we don't. Please send him home because as a family we can't cope with this anymore." Yesterday Martin Chulov (Guardian) reported: The release of the third body had been widely anticipated since members of the Righteous League were hosted by the Iraqi prime minister, Nour al-Maliki, in July. The group, which has strong links to the Lebanese Hezbollah, has been campaigning for political legitimacy in the run-up to national elections in January.Britain has maintained a policy of not negotiating with the hostage takers and moves towards the release of the captives have been handled by Iraqi mediators, who have attempted to convince them that legitimacy will remain out of reach as long as they hold hostages. In one positive sign, the group promised in August to lay down its weapons and join the political process. Over the past three months, up to 15 high-profile members of the Righteous League have been freed from American custody in Iraq. Today the US military issued the following announcement: "CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, TIKRIT, Iraq -- Two Multi-National Division - North Soldiers were killed and five wounded in a vehicle rollover accident in the Diyala province of northern Iraq Sept. 2. The names of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense. The names of service members are announced through the U.S. Department of Defense official website at http://www.defenselink.mil/. The announcements are made on the website no earlier than 24 hours after notification of the service member's primary next of kin. The incident is under investigation." ICCC is currently down [they note a server crash and that they are working to get the site back up] but the announcement should bring the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4338. (It was 4336 on Sunday.) We'll stay with today's reported violence. Bombings? Mohammed al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing which injured three people, a second Baghdad roadside bombing which resulted in five people wounded, a Baghdad sticky bombing targeting the Sahwa ("Awakenings" or "Sons Of Iraq") which resulted in eight people being injured (four were Sahwa), a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 police officer, another Mosul roadside bombing which injured two people, a third Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 police officer, a fourth Mosul roadside bombing which injured three people, a Babil car bombing and four other Babil bombings which claimed 4 lives and left sixty-five people wounded, a Baquba car bombing which wounded four people, a roadside bombing outside Karbala which claimed 2 lives and left three people injured and, dropping back to yesterday, a Tal Afar suicide bomber who invaded a home and killed the wife and husband and then detonated his bomb when the police showed up wounding seven of them and an Iraqi soldier. Reuters notes a Mussayab bombing at a mosque which claimed 4 lives and left twenty-four people injured and, dropping back to yesterday, a Ramadi suicide bombing that left five people wounded (four were police). July 28th was when the assault on Camp Ashraf by Nouri al-Maliki's 'troops' began. During Saddam's time, Iranian exiles were allowed safe harbor in Iraq. The exiles were leftists who were opposed to the religious fundamentalist leaders following the toppling of the Shah (the exiles did not favor the Shah). They utilized violence and are known as the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran or the MEK. They remained in Iraq in the 80s, the 90s and this decade. The European Union and England are among the organizations and countries that listed the MEK as a terrorist group -- past tense. The MEK has renounced violence and was removed from the terrorist listing. The US still has the MEK listed as a terrorist organization. There were efforts to remove it from that listing by Congress beginning in 2008; however, the previous administration wasn't interested in that or anything else to do with MEK. It is a hot button issue and it was ignored repeatedly by the Bush administration. This is one of the hot potatoes dropped into the current administration's lap. Repeating (for friends in the administration who have become whiners), Camp Ashraf is a hot potato that was dropped into the lap of the current administration. The outgoing administration made promises to Nouri and promises to Camp Ashraf. They also declared it protected under the Geneva Conventions. While it was a hot potato and unexpected, they were aware of how serious it was following the election. (To be clear, it was an obvious problem prior to the election and any observer could have known that. It was only after the election, during the weeks of information being passed on and relayed from outgoing to incoming, that they realized just how explosive it was due to a lot of empty promises made to both sides by the Bush administration. As that became clear, it was tasked to two people who were supposed to lead on the issue. They did not lead. They carved it out and removed it from the State Dept -- long before Hillary was asked to be Secretary of State -- and were supposed to lead on the issue. They did not lead. That is among the reasons -- there are at least four primary ones -- that Vice President Joe Biden was recently put in charge of Iraq.) As happened with the Bush administration in the fall of 2008, Nouri promised that he had no intention of assaulting Camp Ashraf. (To its credit, the Bush administration strongly suspected Nouri was lying. They were right.) AP's Kim Gamel files an in-depth report on Camp Ashraf and notes the video of the US military (who protected Camp Ashraf prior to the start of 2009) near the camp as the assault begins, with bloodied camp residents pleading for help to US "soldiers [who] get into a white SUV and roll up their windows as the bloodied men plead for help." Well they bellowed, and they hollered And they threw each other down Down in this valley This cruel and lovely valley Oh it should have been an alley In some low down part of town As the lights came up There was no sun And brandy splattered all over the ground As this woman with her head held high Yelled love and why oh why You're killing me, oh follow me As I watched safe and clean From the frosted windows of my limousine -- "Memorial Day," written by Carly Simon, from her album Spy. [Spy features the classic "Never Been Gone" and it is among the songs she's redone for Never Been Gone, Carly's latest (and mainly acoustic) album which will be released October 27th. (The album also contains two new compositions.)] Gamel quotes an anonymous "senior US military official" stating, "We could not become decisively engaged with a situation that really is up to the sovereign Iraqi government to settle in a peaceful manner as they have assured us that they would do. Even in a situation that allowed engagement, we didn't have nearly the amount of forces present to jump in the middle of this fray." So why is the US military still in Iraq? Why is a long 'withdrawal' of "combat" troops planned when that will only create more moments where the US military can't step forward and watches as an assault takes place. Which is one of the scenarios then-Senator Joe Biden tossed out during an April 2008 Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing he chaired. Another was that the US military remaining on the ground in Iraq would be utilized to prop up Nouri's government and attack Iraqi civilians. So why is the US not leaving immediately and quickly? Exactly how long will thug of the occupation Nouri be humored? Oliver August (Times of London) reports on the 'plan' to withdraw US "combat" troops from Iraq and he paints it as incredible difficult, "a logistics feat," when it is no such thing. There were more US service members in Vietnam in 1972 than are in Iraq now and George McGovern ran for the presidency with a plan to withdraw all in six weeks. It was possible. When tensions at home required Georgia (country, not US state) to withdraw their military at the start of 2008, they did so quickly demonstrating that the US could, in fact, do a complete and full withdrawal in six weeks. Anyone who tells you it's not possible is either uninformed or a liar. As commander in chief, all Barack has to do is give the order and the US military would make it happen. "A more difficult task is the removal of 100,000 vehicles, including tanks," August writes. But then goes on to note: "After six years of heavy use, much of the US military's equipment is in a bad state. Bases are littered with broken air-conditioners, leaking generators and discarded barbecues." Exactly. The bulk of the machinery does not need to be brought back and, check out the military's wishlist, you'll see that a large number of things being brought back are due to be replaced shortly. Give it to Iraq. Give it to Kuwait. Over half the equipment and machinery can easily be transported out of Iraq (with all US troops, ALL) in six weeks. A little over third of the equipment and machinery does not need to be brought back. Which really means that the inventory would have to be reviewed and some choices to do a FULL withdrawal in six weeks. Barack's not doing a withdrawal. He's removing "combat" troopos. We've long noted that more than 50,000 US troops would remain in Iraq -- we've noted that since the election. And that's because, as repeatedly pointed out, that's what the White House has been saying privately. Oliver August doesn't address the fact that the press began whispering in sotto voice in the last 13 or so days that, golly, 75,000 US troops may remain in Iraq. (After the 'withdrawal' of 'combat' troops.) George F. Will (Washington Post) has a column calling for withdrawal today. We'll go into that tonight in "I Hate The War." Unlike Peter Hart, I promise not to go off topic to snark on Will and we'll instead focus on reality and what's taking place (which we've noted repeatedly in the Thursday night entries was coming). July 28th, a Baghdad bank, Rafidain Bank, was robbed and eight security guards were killed as millions were taken out of the bank. Yesterday, four of the nine robbers were sentenced to death by hanging. Some of the robbers were body guards for Abdel Mahdi, Iraq's Shi'ite vice president. Today Rod Nordland and Riyahd Mohammed write a major piece for the New York Times entitled "In Bank Killings, Highs and Lows of Iraq Justice" filled with details that haven't made it into the paper before. Possibly, they can be so free with the information because they tie a ribbon around it? They note one of the nine was aquitted and four are missing. But then they get to that you-see-Timmy moment (see Speechless starring Michael Keaton and Geena Davis where he explains a speech needs a you-see-Timmy moment, end of the episode of Lassie where an episode and life lesson is quickly summed up): But the suspected ringleaders, with well-known ties to the Shiite political elite, have escaped. Even so, the Zuwiya robbery also demonstrated in some rickety way that Iraq's young institutions, the judiciary, the news media and its increasingly democratic politics, make it difficult for even the country's most powerful people to snap their fingers and make an embarrassing case go away. As details emerged, the vice president and his party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, the largest Shiite grouping, would suffer a public relations body blow, one that may well affect Mr. Abdul Mahdi's ambitions to become the next prime minister in elections in January. "I am sure Adel Abdul Mahdi was not involved," said Ahmad Abdulhussein, a journalist threatened for an article he wrote on the case. "But the Iraqi people have to think, do they want a leader who has bodyguards who rob banks and kill?" Possibly because the verdict and (limited) trial can be spun as "Iraqi justice on the move!" the readers of today's paper can finally learn some of the efforts on the part of Abdul Mahdi to stop the proceedings? Strangely, the paper continues to avoid the attacks on the press. For example, they included Mahdi and his party threatening Iraqi newspapers that printed stories of the robbers connections to the vice president (and in one case, they sued a paper for such reporting). The reporters tell you that five of the nine robbers were Mahdi's bodyguards. That lawsuit? It involves details like that. Details that the Times was silent on in real time while an Iraqi paper struggling to report was under attack. And it involved bullying journalists who write opinion pieces. Ahmed Abdul Hussain wrote "800,000 blankets" for Al Sabah and it was social satire. A concept that members of the Shi'ite vice president's political party especailly refused to grasp. Maybe noting the lawsuit and the bullying and blustering wouldn't have allowed a you-see-Timmy moment? But it would have meant that (a) readers could get the truth and (b) an Iraqi paper struggling to utilize freedom-of-the-press got some backing from a heavy weight who could well afford to toss some support into the ring. Another thing harming the life lesson is the fact that the judge in the case refuses to be identified in any reporting. If things were progressing as brightly and shiningly as everyone keeps saying, that wouldn't happen, now would it? If you go to Al Jazeera, you'll see the names of the four convicted (Ali Eidan, Basheer Khalid, Ali Ouda and Ahmad Khalaf) as well as this detail: Most of the money was later recovered in the office of a newspaper owned by Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the Iraqi vice president and a senior member of Iraq's largest Shia party, investigators said. Abdul-Mahdi has denied any involvement saying one of those charged in the robbery worked as part of his security team. He has said any suggestions of wrongdoing on his part were a politically motivated attempt to sabotage his bid to be re-elected in next January's polls. Last week Agnes Callamard (Guardian) tackled the proposed draft-law in Iraq which is seen as an effort to destroy a free press and among the points she explained was this one: When local media workers express their concerns about the draft journalists' protection law, one of the issues they point to is the extremely narrow definition of a journalist as "one who works for press … and who is affiliated with the Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate". This specifically excludes editors, commentators, bloggers, citizen journalists and freelancers who may also be in the business of providing information and comment to the public sphere. Friday August 21st, Inside Iraq's Jasim Al-Azzawi addressed the topic of press freedom in Iraq with panelists Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor), Saad al-Muttalibi (Ministry of National Dialogue) and Freshta Raper (Iraqi reporter). Jassim al-Azzawi: Jane Arraf let me start with you, in light of the powerful bombs in Baghdad yesterday [Black Wednesday, August 19th] killing scores of people, is it still relevant for us to discuss an issue like freedom of the press in Iraq? Jane Arraf: That's a great question and certainly as journalists I think we definitely have an interest in discussing this. But for the rest, I think, what that attack does, that horrifying attack which really shook so much that we thought was at the heart of the improving security here, it shows what the stakes are. That these are life and death stakes and that journalists are part of that and that's the atmosphere they're not only trying to cover but the events they are trying to convey and the threat that the government feels in responding to journalists. Jassam al-Azzawi: And yet, Saad al-Muttalibi, in the package we've just seen we saw Jalal Talibani, the Iraqi president, in a way sniping at the Iraqi journalists and the Iraqi media for somehow covering the Rafidain robbery and there are enough circumstantial evidence to implicate the Iraqi vice president Abdul Mahdi. Why Jalal Talabani being so super sensitive? Saad al-Muttalibi: Well start with we're in the process of building a stable state and that requires legislation and that requires that even at the darkest moments to look at the press, freedom of the press, and to look at other aspects of the state of Iraq. And I'm not here to defend anybody, I'm just saying that there were no evidence. For somebody to write a piece, an article in a state-owned newspaper and claim that he knew in advance that somebody, anybody has the intention of doing the robbery and buying blankets and distributing the blankets through -- during the elections, that sounds to me like going out of the norm, this is not media reporting, this is accusation and without any evidence. I mean the journalists didn't have any evidence for his case. A journalist's job is uh to produce the news uh to convey the news and events that happen in the country and as truthfully and honest as possible and but not to make interpretation, their own interpretation of events. Thank you. Jassim al-Azzawi: Freshta Raper, of course that journalist is in hiding right now fearing for his life. The article he wrote pretty much is a tongue-in-cheek, political satire if you will, rather than a direct accusation. But let me talk to you about yourself. You are one of the Iraqi journalists, if I'm not mistaken, whose name is on a list. Tell us about it. Freshta Raper: Last year, last year exactly, just July to say of a year ago, I -- the paper has leaked from the KRG [Kurdistan Regional Government] official offices that 14 journalists are the most wanted and has to be take care of and we even -- again we make sure that this was a genuine statement. I personally sent a letter e-mailed to Nechirvan Barzani personally sent to the Iraqi the embassy, we sent a letter to everyone of them to make sure this is genuine or is this a joke because if this is a joke, this is a sick joke to threaten people with killing. They have been doing it for many years and Jalal Talabani has to condemn this because he has a lot for himself to cover up, a lot of dirty secrets what are they doing against the journalists. The only thing I have done in the past four or five years, I'm writing more as criticizing the abuse of power, the corruption, and there are billions of evidence over there of how they misuse the power and how they are abusing people and abusing the system in a daily light. So I am -- I am one of those who could become a victim and at the time I was a lucky one. The person in Baghdad, I feel sorry for. Jassim al-Azzawi: And you are remarkably lucky in the sense that you live in London and you contribute to the news and you appear on the news but, Jane Arraf, not everybody is as luck as Freshta. Iraq has been for the last few years perhaps the most dangerous place on earth. More Iraqis as well as foreign journalists have been killed in Iraq than in any other war zone and you have covered many of these war zones. Jane Arraf: Absolutely I think they're some of the bravest people on the earth and one of the amazing things about this past six years has been that throughout the tragedy Iraqi journalists really keep coming out and trying to tell the news. Now they are working in a very difficult background. This is a new industry. Press freedom here is not developed as we're talking about. There also aren't a lot of entrenched standards for the press but one of the things that you see over and over is just an absolute proliferation of journalists who, despite the fact that almost 200 journalists and media workers have been killed here, still feel that they are going to go out, go out on those streets, stand up to those officials and it's -- it's absolutely amazing. Jassim al-Azzawi: And yet Saad Muttalibi, this proliferation Jane Arraf is talking about, you cannot help but seeing a tinge of sectarianism in it. Most of the newspapers and most of the TV stations and the radios somehow, one way or another, they are affiliated by or financed by this political party and that political party and they take a life of their own. They pretty much attack the others based on sectarian, on ethnicity and other calibrations. Saad al-Muttalibi: Absolutely right. Hence we require regulations. We require laws to define rights and to define limitations. Journalists jobs in Iraq is probably the hardest job to do, the most dangerous job -- Jassim al-Azzawi: What will laws do if you have militias assigned to a political party? They do the actual on behalf of that political party if they're politicians are attacked. Saad al-Muttalibi: I must interrupt you -- I must interrupt you. There are no militias anymore. [The two journalists on the panel react in disbelief to the statement.] The militias were crushed in a very bloody way last year and we have now remnants of gangs that could be -- Jassim al-Azzawi: Hold that statement for a second. Jane Arraf: That's an extraordinary statement. Jassim al-Azzawi: Jane wants to say something. Jane Arraf: I'm sorry. Jassim al-Azzawi: Go ahead Jane. Jane Arraf: I was just going to say that would really be wonderful if that were the case but that's not the evidence that we are seeing, that we are hearing from Iraqis when we go out in the street. They're -- I think the consensus is that there are militias. There certainly are not the militias there were a year ago that is certainly true but there are places where militias are creeping back and a lot of it depends upon how you define militias. Saad al-Muttalibi: Yes, you are -- yes, you are absolutely right. As I said -- Freshta Rape: Exactly Saad al-Muttalibi: -- as I said there are still criminal elements and gangs roaming certain parts of-of Iraq. Including al Qaeda, including uh uh from this party or that party that is all possible. I'm sure Freshta could tell us more about the things in Kurdistan but -- but the case is that regulation is required. We do require to make sure that we safeguard the journalists. As I said, the journalist job in Iraq is very-very tough. So is the soldiers so is every individual living in Iraq now. I mean people who died yesterday in the explosion, they weren't journalists, they weren't soldiers, they were just passers-by. So things here in Baghdad are very, very dangerous and journalists know that. But journalists also need to know the limitation of journalism. They need to know that they cannot accuse any citizen in Iraq -- Jassim al-Azzawi: Indeed, indeed they should, Saad Muttalibi, but when it comes to the ultimate sacrifice -- hold on -- by somebody going after them and killing them, that is not the way to settle the political atmosphere, Freshta, is it? Saad al-Muttalibi: Of course, of course, of course -- Freshta Raper: No, it's not -- Saad al-Muttalibi: I'm saying Jassim al-Azzawi: Saad Muttalibi, hold on just a second Freshta Raper: Sorry. It's caused more violation. I-I totally agree with Jane. It's what sort of militia we're talking about. It is different. But the militia of today in the street -- especially if I look at the north part of Iraq -- is-is almost an enormous number of youths, unemployed and skillful, they are deprived from job, deprived from basic rights. And they are angry, they are upset. They are -- these are the people contributing the violence because they have been ignored and they don't feel they are part of there. They are not brutal murders. They are not bad people. But they can't get a basic right like the son and the daughter of people in power. They've got all the privilege in the world and there is no equality. There is no equal opportunity between the normal people and the people's children in power. That is what causes all these violations. People are very, very angry. And the government officials mainly, they don't listen to poor people. The people outside their zone and outside their border And that is -- I'm 100% sure yesterday's bombing is caused from -- it's not al Qaeda but anger of people anger of people that they are crying and screaming for some sort of security or basic life or imporving that poverty. You go to Baghdad you look like a stoneage village, is just feel some area of Baghdad you just feel disgusted with the country of an ocean of oil and a region of such poverty. "I'm standing on the banks of the Tigris River where the water is so low the banks are cracked and dry," declares NPR's Deborah Amos (Morning Edition). "There's been a two year drought decades of war and mismangement. But Iraq once had the most fertile lands in the region. The Tigris is a reminder that's there's an environmental disaster." It's an important report at any time but it's especially important at a time when Nouri's created an international incident with the Syrian government. Nouri's attempting to force them to hand over to guests in their country, former Ba'athists. And since the law isn't on Nouri's side, he's resorted to bluster. As the tensions have risen, Turkey was presented as a broker in the dispute. A broker? Iraq and Syria will listen to Turkey why? As Deborah Amos pointed out, Iraq's suffering from a drought. Turkey has water. Some say it has water as a result of damns. Some in Iraq say that. Ivan Watson and Yesim Comert (CNN) report ministers of the three countries met in Anakara today and the topic was water: "Baghdad and Damascus want Turkey, where the source of the Tigris and Euphrates is located, to increase the flow of water passing through its network of dams." Ibon Villelabeitia and Diana Abdallah (Reuters) report, "Turkey has failed to meet a pledge to release more water down the Euphrates and Tigris rivers to Iraq, an Iraqi minister said on Thursday, and called for a coordinated water policy in the region." Monday's snapshot included comments on the hideous article in the New York Times Sunday. Tuesday, Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan offered her critique of the article: The New York Times ran an article on Sunday claiming that after a long period of dormancy, the "anti-war" movement was getting "restive" and planned to do some actions in October around the 8th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan. Well, some of us have been restive and working for years and the groups that are now becoming "restive" are the very ones that let the War Genie out of the bottle, and will have a lot of problems putting it back in, if that is really the intention of these groups. The "restive anti-war movement" is planning "teach-ins" and "memorials" but not planning on surrounding the White House and demanding that their leader bring the troops home from all theaters of war and then threatening to withhold support if he doesn't. The "restive anti-war movement" will not do anything it thinks will compromise Democratic chances in the 2010 midterms. I have two questions to ask of the "restive anti-war movement." 1) How did the people of Iraq/Afghanistan lose value as human beings when the Democrats took over power in 2007? 2) How did the people of Pakistan lose their value as humans when Obama became president at the beginning of the year? The born-again "restive anti-war movement" allowed the Democratic Party to suck the wind out of our sails in 2007 and it is almost like we will have to start from scratch. "Give Him a chance," they say. "He's better than McCain," they say. "If you question Him then you're a racist," they say. I say "go to Iraq-Af-Pak and tell these things to the people who are being drone bombed for simply having the nerve to want to get married." Give Him a chance for what? No thanks, keep the change! That's an excerpt, read the whole thing. We will include all the resource links Cindy notes: Go here for more information about the October 5th protests. Go here to view a great interview that Cindy did with Russian TV this past week in Martha's Vineyard. Go here to listen to last week's Soapbox with attorney, Ellen Brown who talks about monetary policy. Go here to donate to our continuing efforts for peace. iraq the new york times rod nordland riyahd mohammed al jazeera kim gamel carly simon ivan watson yesim comert cnn reuters ibon villelabeitia diana abdallah npr deborah amos morning edition oliver august the times of london martin chulov deborah haynes the guardian agnes callamard cindy sheehan the christian science monitor jane arraf