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Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tuesday,
August 12, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the refugee crisis
continues (though we're supposed to forget), the US military announces
another death, and more. Starting with war resistance. Rich Droste is a US war resister in Canada. Law is Cool interviewed Droste for their podcast Friday. Rich Droste: My name is Richard Drew Droste, the second. I'm age 22. I've lived in Canada since March 7th Rich
Droste: It's a long, long. long journey and a long and winding and road
that led me to Canada. I joined the army at the age of 17 for many
reasons -- mostly to escape the lifestyle I was living, the promise of
education, the pursuit of something more grand than what I was living.
I was homeless at the time, living in my car for the previous two
years, still trying to get my own education and just maintain a working
lifestyle. They provided me with so many benefits of what I now know
is half-truths obviously but didn't at the time. And at the age of 17,
I was able to make that one decision to give my life for the country
that I barely knew anything about but you're not old to make any other
adult decision in the US at that age, right? So I joined as a combat
engineer time at this time, believing that there was this huge
terrorist threat on our nation, believing that America could not wrong
type mentality, you know, I followed CNN and Fox 'News' pretty much for
my whole life and, you know, if you don't look for an outside source
you're not going to find it. And if you're happy in your bubble why
burst it, right? So the further I get into the military I become more
educated with what's really going on all across the world and not just
in Iraq or just Afghanistan but also the human trafficking and
prostitution rings around military institutions across the world. The
fact that we're standing up for human rights and freedom to me and
seeing these things happen in Korea while I was stationed there was my
first big question against the military and I basically got told to
shut and try not to fix anything that your pay grade can't handle, you
know. They say they don't support it if you ask them and they'll be
quoted saying they don't support it but during the day there's
regulations and only US soldiers and citizens can go inside these clubs
and these bars that contain all this human trafficking and
prostitution. All of their money for those rings are coming from
soldiers' pockets. It shows that there may not be verbal support but
there's definitely financial support, right? And that was my first big
problem. Around my second year in the military I became a
Conscientious Objector the war in Iraq because of the illegalities, the
unhumane activities that are happening there. The just unusual
behavior -- the way we treat men, the way we treat women. Law is Cool: What does it mean to be a Conscientious Objector for those of us who don't know? Rich
Droste: Within the military, there's a system so if you want to be a
non-combatant, this is supposed to be a legal thing. You can file this
Conscientious Objector packet which states that you are against the
dualities of the war that the efforts working for and then you can work
as a noncombatant inside the US military such as a cook, a medic, an
X-ray technician, whatever it may be, there's numerous jobs and there
supposed to supply you with that. Well around a year after I filled
out that paperwork, it was mysteriously lost. And I was told this with
a wink from the person I was asking. So it just goes to show they
weren't trying to put that much effort into helping me with this
Conscientious Objector packet. Around my third year, six month, which
meant I only had about six months left on my original contract, I found
out I was getting stop-lossed and sent to Iraq. By this time I had
already stated I was an objector and I would have no part in this war,
if anything I would like to end this war -- you know what I mean --
I'm not going to fight in it. And they said you go to this war, you go
jail, your only other option is to re-enlist , signing on a new
contract, and get a non-combatant job, right? So those are my
options. I decide through friends and people that were looking out for
me honestly that had no role over what happens to me they advised me to
re-enlist for a different job and I did. I thought it was a smart thing
to do. So I re-enlist to be a computer networker, well a systems
operator analyst, it's all computer networking, IP configuration,
connecting servers, routers and such. Law is Cool: What was your reason for choosing that kind of a job? Rich
Droste: It was -- it was mostly just maintaining networks for
the generals and superiors that are going over there anyway. Which I
didn't know when I signed up for the job. The reason I signed up for
the job was because I thought it was a communication job. So I could
communicate. Law is Cool: But you probably wouldn't be in the front lines with something like that? Rich
Droste: Absolutely. And by my understanding, I wouldn't be
participating in any combatant side of the military. Well my last week
of training, I'm about to graduate this new course, and I find out that
I'm going to 4th RTB which stands for Ranger Training Battalion. So
not only am I training combatants, I'm training elite combatants to go
fight in this war and I told them I wouldn't have any part of it. So
there I got to try to fill out another Conscientious Objector packet.
It's denied because I don't meet the quote-unquote "criteria." I ask
them what the criteria is, they can't give me an answer. Then I go to
mental health and explain my reasoning behind all this. They try to
put me on sleeping aids and anti-depressants saying I'll get over it, I
just need rest, and to lighten up. And I was told to "suck it up and
drive on." And that was their cure-all answer for that. And then I
went to a chaplain which is a preacher, a priest, and he finds your
religious denomination. At this time, I was still very much agnostic
which is I believe in a higher power but I think there's too much out
there for the human mind to comprehend really. And I'm talking to him
and he tried to explain to me that God justified this war and wouldn't
harm us or call us sinners for our wrong doings to the Iraqi people --
civilian and terrorist alike because humans are humans, regardless of
their decisions, right? And uh, so that's what he tried to convince
me. I talked to him numerous occasions and I couldn't get anything out
of him or any help. After I went up and down the chain of command and
tried to get this non-combatant job and after so much so much
dedication I actually went AWOL four days after my original ETS date
-- so I fulfilled my original contract and I came to Canada. Rich
Droste: There we go, yeah. That's a great question and that's
something I wish more potential resisters would know is when I was
going through this I was looking for other instances where soldiers
experienced similar grounds, same thing that happened to me, because I
knew it was happening all across the military . So I looked up
online. What better source, right? So I find there's all these
soldiers and there's so many thousands living in the States and there
was anywhere from 200 to 500 living in Canada. I found that there was
about 50 that applied for refugee status in Canada. And the things that
they were doing, the political aspects, the education . . . I didn't
come here to hide. I came here very well knowing that I could be
deported and sentenced in the United States for my 'wrong doing' and
that's -- I'm fine with that. I accept that. I came here to educate
the people. I came here to open people's views and even if they don't
understand it, even if they disagree, at least they're not ignorant to
the matter. There
is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which
includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei
Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste,
Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano
Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal,
Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn,
Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross
Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique,
Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez,
Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada,
Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen,
Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman,
Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck,
Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine,
Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey,
Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua
Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell,
Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake,
Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres,
Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and
Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada
have applied for asylum. King Abudllah II of Jordan made an unnannounced visit to Baghdad yesterday. Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) observes,
"The visit is the latest in a eries of moves by Arab states that Iraqi
and U.S. officials say could improve security and counter the influence
of Shiite-led Iran, a player here in economic, diplomatic and security
matters." Lelia Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) reports,
"Iraq had planned to give the monarch a state welcome but instead the
king arrived and left with no fanfare. The announcement of his visit
came as he boarded a plane to leave Iraq." AP notes
that "U.S. officials had been urging King Abdullah to visit Iraq to
bolster ties between the two countries as part of Washington's campaign
to shore up support for the Iraqi government as a counterweight to
Iranian influence." Deutsche Welle points out,
"Jordan hosts about 500,000 Iraqi refugees who have fled violence in
their war-torn country, and Amman has estimated the costs of sheltering
them so far at more than 1.3 billion euros ($2 billion)." Dominique Soquel (WeNews) reports
on the Iraqi refugees in Syria where "women [are] barely eking out a
living from low-income jobs, international aid and sex work. Women
such as Mohamed Ali, whose husbands are dead, missing or disabled, were
hit hardest." Soquel provides the stories of a number of women such as
"Sajida Baha Al Deen, . . . from Mansour, Baghdad, and has been in
Damascus for 16 months. She turned to sex work to provide for herself
and her two children. 'What matters is that I am still standing on my
feet,' she said after a short storm of tears came and went. 'Something
in your sould gets numb.' One year after her husband's death, Shiite
militias sprayed her hairdressing salon with bullets and looted the
remains. In September 2006, at 2 a.m., 12 masked men barged through her
bedroom door threatening to end her life and that of her two
Sunni-named Boys, Bakar, now age 9, and Omar, age 10, because her
husband was an American collaborating traitor." The twelve men gang
raped her, forced to sign over her home and car to one of them and
finally departed her home. The Iraq War has resulted in an estimated
4 million refugees (internally and externally displaced). Yesterday it
was time for a big press to-do over 250 Iraqi refugees 'returning' from Egypt. Reality was provided today by IRIN: " At
the airport, some of the returnees said they were returning because
their savings had run out; others said they had been ill-treated and
had no rights in the host countries." Last Friday, Refugees International issued a statement which included: Refugees
and IDPs know from their contact with friends and family that it is not
safe to go home. Violence is still widespread, and basic services such
as access to healthcare, clean water or adequate shelter are
unavailable in many parts of the country. As the situation in Iraq
evolves, it is essential the US Government, the Government of Iraq and
other countries in the region do not encourage returns to Iraq until
conditions are met for a voluntary, safe and sustainable return
process. A rushed premature return process would have disastrous
consequences both for the displaced and for the stability of Iraq. And what is anyone returning to? Earlier this week, Lara Logan (CBS Evening News) reported
on the realities for autistic children in Iraq: No medical care
providers. Logan notes, "Incredibly, the only doctor who did treat it,
who founded a medical center in the name of his own autistic son, has
fled the country. He left behind some social workers who try their
best to help, but even they haven't been paid in four months." Rahna
Abdul is the only parent for her son Alli and she has no doctors she
can turn to and what happens to him if something happens to her? Rahna
Abdul: Who will take care of him if I die for example? Maybe I go in
the street and there is a bomb in my way, and I'll die. Lara Logan: Especially now? Rahna Abdul: Especially in these situations, so who would take care of him? In his situation who would take care of him?" Turning to some of today's reported violence . . . Bombings? Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports
a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded three, a Diyala Province
assassination attempt on the Governor via a bomber who took his/her own
life apparently as well the lives of 3 civilians (seven people were
left wounded). The Governor was unscathed and, Reuters notes, a curfew is in place until tomorrow morning. Shootings? Corpses? Today, the US military announced:
"A Multi-National Force - West Marine was killed when his unit was
attacked by an enemy force in Anbar Province Aug. 10." The death was
in Tirkrit and two more marines were wounded. That means 12 US service
members have died in Iraq so far this month. ( ICCC says eleven but hasn't noted this death yet.) Reuters notes 4,139 US service members have died in Iraq since the start of the illegal war (one more than ICCC's current count). Turning to the US presidential race. To The Contrary's Bonnie Erbe (writing at US News & World Reports) notes
that of the Democratic Party's proposed platform that people are saying
"the Clinton camp is quite happy with the platform's including of
language to the effect that Clinton placed 18 million 'cracks' in the
glass ceiling (an allusion to her winning 18 million votes during the
primaries)" and notes JustSayNoDeal's
Diane Mantouvalos believes Barack still can't close the deal "because a
large chunk of Clinton's 18 million supporters are upset that the Obama
campaign has not been more gracious toward Senator Clinton and has done
little to reach out to her former supporters." And possibly it also
has something to do with what Erbe notes today, "More evidence of a candidate faux pas. 'O-Force One' as CBS' Allison O'Keefe describes
Obama's campaign plane, contains a luxurious section for the candidate
more reminiscent of an airborne corporate executive suite than a
presidential candidate who has to appeal to working class American
voters." It probably doesn't help that Barack's on yet another
vacation -- his third since March -- and that has the Limp Noodle Women
Haters ready to scream for Cokie Roberts' head. On ABC's This Week Sunday, Roberts noted ( here for video)
that Barack's still "tied in the polls" and yet he's on a "vacation in
Hawaii" which "does not make any sense whatsoever." Limp Noodles think
they're offering 'analysis' with non-pith such as "She knows Hawaii's a
state!" They really are pathetic. Roberts is noting that candidates
don't campaign in Hawaii. (And Barack's not campaigning there.) No
presidential nominee of one of the two primaries has since Richard
Nixon (in the run he lost to JFK). [Ralph Nader campaigned there last
month.] That's not new and it's not news but the Limp Noodles work
real hard to act like Cokie's said something crazy. Hawaii is seen as
a Democratic state. It's not a place where the party thinks their
presidential nominee needs to campaign (and Barack is not campaigning
there). Residents in Hawaii feel differently (as they should). But
Cokie's pointing out that, "He should be in Myrtle Beach and, you know,
if he's going to take a vacation at this time. And I just think this
is not the time to do that." Where is Myrtle Beach? South Carolina.
Now why might Cokie make that statement? Hmmm. American Research Group's polling
found Barack to have a 5% lead in South Carolina (plus/minus 4%) in
June which is not a lead. In July? They found McCain to be at 47% to
Barack's 45%. McCain had increased by 3% in their polling while Barack
had dropped by 4% and undecided had increased by 1%. That's one of the
better polls for Barack (of reputable pollsters, don't include the hack
Zogby). Rasmussen Reports' June poll found McCain at 48% and Barack at
39% in South Carolina. Public Policy Polls survey last month
found McCain at 45% and Barack at 39%. Now why might Cokie Roberts have
said Barack -- if he was going to vacation -- would be better off in
Myrtle Beach? You can dispute her conclusions, you just can't pretend
you have no idea why she 'went there' unless you're really eager to
show how uninformed you are. It really is amazing when you grasp how
damn few women are even invited into the conversation in print or on TV
but how, week after damn week, the little Limp Noodles manage to savage
women. They do it over and over. King Limp Noodle probably exhausted
himself today since he rips into Cokie, Maureen Dowd (as always) and
Emily Bazelon. For those needing audio, Roberts also discussed the race on NPR.
We've called out Cokie before here and will do so again. That's not
the issue. The issue is the Limp Noodles who have to rip apart a woman
in order to get it up. Buy Viagra, you dirty, old men. No man ever
faces the same type of wrath from the Limp Noodles as does every
woman. We've noted that before and they are again eager to play Bash the Bitch again. It's getting real damn old. Nothing
wrong with holding a woman accountable -- and 'tone' doesn't matter as
long as it's applied in the same way (zeal) towards both men and
women. Watch as we go after a woman right now. Her name is Holley Simmons and she graduated college in 2007 and is now, for all intents and purposes, NPR's acting ombudsperson.
Shocking as that alone is, let's add that she has no journalism degree
that, until being hired as an intern by NPR, had no journalism
experience. Yet now she 'handles' listeners complaints in e-mails and
at blog posts at the ombudsperson's website. Consider it fraud.
Completely unqualified to get a job as a reporter, she now 'explains'
NPR's journalistic decisions (as she sees them) to listeners. An
English lit major with a sociology minor and no journalsim training. She 'explained' (justified) NPR's sorry record of covering candidates this year. NPR
is failing and having some untrained idiot excuse their failures
doesn't make it look any better. In her laughable blog post, she
writes about being told that as the candidates make news, they will be
covered. Barack's on vacation. His campaign got two stories on
Morning Edition today (one on how he'd like to win Virginia -- I'm sure
any presidential candidate would like to win Virginia -- I'm not sure
how that ever qualifies as news?). Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader are being shut out of the coverage on what is supposed to be National Public Radio. (We'll get to Pacifica, hold on.) At Minnesota's MPR, Tom Scheck manages to post on a Ron Paul event and on Ralph Nader's September 4th super rally in Minneapolis. Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is planning super rallies. Foon Rhee (Boston Globe) notes the August 27th one in Denver and Nader's call for the opening of the debates. Sam Youngman (The Hill) also saw the super rallies as news. As did Jesse A. Hamilton (Hartford Courant). Ralph is scheduled to be a guest on NPR's Talk of the Nation
tomorrow (which will broadcast live from the Newseum in DC). But Nader
was in Canada last night and that's not news to NPR and the super
rallies aren't news and . . . Go down the list. NPR decides what it
wants to emphasize and calls it news. Barr, McKinney and Nader are
being shut out. At a pretty much Democratic geared website, Jeralyn (TalkLeft) noted Ralph's trip to Canada and the comments included some surprisingly supportive remarks. You should also check out Elaine
later tonight. If she decides to respond to the ridiculous e-mail from
a 'journalist,' it should make for interesting reading. But Queen
Norman Approximately. Yeah, he was lying again. Yeah, it was
embarrassing. For now, Ava
and I will note, Norm was spraying the drapes today and he's never been
housebroken, somebody get him to the vet already. We'll tackle that
garbage Sunday. If you suffered through Queen Norman today and need some reality, check out Katiebird's post (The Confluence). Ralph
Nader: The only time when tens of millions of Americans tune in for a
couple of hours and pay attention to politics is during the prime time
presidential debates. For our democracy to survive, prevail and
thrive, we must have an open debate about the challenges we face and
the solutions that we must apply. We really don't need two-candidate
debates that sound like canned interviews. We don't need debates
prepped to look like a couple of game show contestants. We don't need
show business, we need serious debate. We are launching a new feature on votenader.org. It's a daily audio message from Ralph Nader. Anyone
who has traveled with Ralph marvels at his encyclopedic knowledge of
the workings, failings, and potential of our democracy, from the
marketplace to the workplace to liaisons between corporations and
government to the courageous stands politicians used to take once in a
while. From now until Election Day, five days a week, we will feature new, short audio recordings from Ralph. It starts with a message on opening the debates. You can download the podcast, or listen at your computer. Unlike
the corporate candidates who stick to a narrow message until their
handlers allow them to take a half-step, Ralph expresses himself freely
on issues that affect you each day. It'll be like traveling the road with Ralph. Tell your friends about it. And look for future recordings from Matt Gonzalez as well. Thanks for checking in. Onward to November. |
Posted at 03:31 pm by thecommonills
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the los angeles times
tina susman
leila fadel
mcclatchy newspapers
lara logan
the cbs evening news
bonnie erbe
