Monday, April 6, 2009.  Chaos and violence continue, the US miltiary announces deaths over the weekend, violence sweeps Baghdad today, jury pool selection for USA v. Steven D. Green began today, and more.   Cindy Sheehan's latest Soapbox (her weekly internet radio program) went up Sunday. Her guests were Sara Rich (sexual assault activist, peace activist and mother of Suzanne Swift) and retired Army Col and retired State Dept diplomat Ann Wright.  Cindy's son Casey Sheehan died at age 24 in Iraq April 4, 2004.  During this show she spoke about counter-recruitment and she and her guests spoke about a number of other topics including Janis Karpinski being the fall person for Abu Ghraib.  From the broadcast, we'll note intros in case anyone doesn't know Cindy's guests and then focus on sexual assaults and traumas.   Cindy Sheehan: And you were concerned with -- in your career, being in the military and being in the diplomatic corps -- you were concerned with US foreign policy a lot but there was one thing that finally pushed you over the edge, wasn't there?    Ann Wright: Well indeed.  It was the decision of the Bush administration to invade and occupy an oil rich Arab Muslim country that had not attacked the United States and had nothing to do with 9-11.  And that was the decision to invade and occupy Iraq.  And I ended up resigning in March of 2003 in opposition to that war and ever since then I've been working with people like yourself and Sara Rich on stopping wars and proper treatment of our veterans when they return.   Cindy Sheehan: And Ann actually is one of the hardest working people in the peace movement.  She helped me at Camp Casey every single time we went to Crawford [Texas}.  She helped coordinate the volunteers and coordinate activities and she just is very admirable.     [. . .]   Sara Rich: Well I've always been a human rights activist -- even before she [her daughter Suzanne Swift] joined the military.  And when she joined the military she was told by the recruiter that she -- if she signed up for five years, that she wouldn't be deployed to a combat zone.    Cindy Sheehan: Right.   Sara Rich: And basically she was sent to a combat zone.   Neither of us had any idea about military sexual assault or that there was a term called military sexual trauma -- MST -- or anything about command rape.  Suzanne was more than just harassed, she was actually raped  by her commanding officer in Iraq and we didn't understand quite what was going on but it was she was harassed by one of her commanding officers, raped by another and then harassed by another.  So it was three different men, all who had direct authority over her in a combat zone because she did see combat.  It wasn't  that she was stationed somewhere safe.  She was shot at, she was doing combat patrol.  She was the driver of a Humvee doing combat patrol in Karbala '04 - '05.  And the whole time she was there I kept thinking this isn't right, something's wrong, what can I do and then finally when she got out of Iraq I said "Now can we say something?  Can we do something?" Because she was too scared for me to say something while she was in Iraq because you know we have cases like LaVena Johnson.   Cindy: Absolutely Sara Rich: Where, you know, women speak out and their murdered.  So she was too scared to say anything and finally she was being redeployed to Iraq for a second time and her PTSD and Military Sexual Trauma just exploded and she went AWOL instead of returning which was a huge turning point in our whole family.  She refused to go back.  She went AWOL.  We got an attorney and a psychologist and that's when we finally started coming out about the sexual assault and the rape and all of the trauma that she experienced while in Iraq because up until that point it was just too raw for her to talk about.  So she was seeing a psychologist, we had an attorney, we were trying to work with the army to get her so that she could turn herself in and get the help she needed but nobody would work with us so finally the AWOL Apprehension Team called their good buddies down here in Eugene [Oregon] at Eugene police department and they sent people to our home at ten-thirty on a Sunday night and took her in handcuffs.  You know here we have this -- by then she's  how old was she about 22 by then.  A 22-year-old who had been raped, who had Combat Trauma and they put her in handcuffs and threw her in jail.   Cindy Sheehan: She had been raped, she had been the victim of a crime actually while she was stationed in another profound crime -- a crime against humanity, an international crime, the occupation of Iraq.  Were her assaulters, were her rapists and harassers, were they hauled off in handcuffs at any time?   Sara Rich:  No.   [. . .]  They just stripped of her rank and sent her to prison.   Cindy Sheehan:  And ultimately nothing has happened to the people who raped her?   Sara Rich:  No.  No.  The one, the man who raped her, his wife ended up calling us about a year ago saying she was divorcing him.   I always called him the molester because his name is Mark Lester   Cindy Sheehan: Uh-huh   Sara Rich: And she told me that he had been hired as a police officer in Kent, Washington and so I put a blast to my friends saying, you know, call the mayor, call the police chief and by the end of the week he was fired.   Cindy Sheehan: Well at least he had a little bit of accountability but you know there was Mark Lester that raped Suzanne but actually the entire system raped Suzanne.   Sara Rich: You better believe it.   Cindy Sheehan: And this is an absolute tragedy.  I have read statistics where at least 30% of females are sexually harassed or raped in the military and of course that's probably a much higher number and we read and are still hearing about cases where female soldiers have died of dehydration in Iraq because they don't drink water because they don't want to get up to use the latrine in the middle of the night because they don't want to be raped so here Suzanne was in a war zone battling the resistance -- the Iraqi resistance -- but she also had to battle her own, her fellow soldiers -- her colleagues.  You know, to me, if this isn't a reason to not join the military, I don't know what could be the reason.  So thank you, Sara, we'll come back to you in a second.  Ann, Sara talked about the case of LaVena Johnson and I know you have worked with the family and you know about the case.  Can you tell my listeners about the case of LaVena Johnson?   Ann Wright: Sure I -- I will tell them about it.  Let me just mention though that on the statistics on sexual harassment well over 90% of the women who are in the military say that they have been sexually harassed.  Sexual assault and rape, the crimes of sexual assault and rape, that's where one-in-three soliders, service members, are saying that they have been sexually assaulted or raped while they've been in the military and these are figures, statistics, that are given by the Veterans Administration   Cindy Sheehan: So but sexual harassment -- sexual harassment is almost 100%?   Ann Wright: That's right.  That's right.  Yes, it is.  The case of LaVena Johnson, a young woman, twenty-one-years-old who had -- or pardon me, nineteen-years-old.  Nineteen-years-old who had gone to Iraq.  Within two weeks of her having been there, she ended up being found in a tent, a burning tent, she had been shot in the head and uh when her parents uh were notified of her uh death uhm they were told she was dead of a noncombat related incident.  [. . .] 104 have been killed in Iraq and 43 have been killed in what they call noncombat related incidents and of that 43, there are 15 of them that when you look at the cases you think, "Mmm, there's something really strange."  And one of them is LaVena Johnson who was found shot in a tent.  When her body came back to her home in Missouri and they had the body at the funeral home, her mom and dad touched their daughter's body.  The mother tried to rub her [LaVena's} hand and the gloves the military had put on her hands would not move and they looked at the gloves and they had been glued on.  And so they went to the morturary guy and said, "What's going on here?  We want to see why these things were glued on."  And when they cut those off they saw that her hand had been burned and indeed her whole body, one side of her body, had been burned. So how was this noncombat related incident?  Why was she burned? Well over a period of two and a half years as the family kept begging the military for information -- first to get the autoposy, then, later on, to try to find documetns about the death.  Try to get information that is held by the military but they won't give it to the families  unless you file a Freedom of Information Act on it.  Well ultimately, after two and a half years they finally got the CD that contained the photographs of her body as her body was undressed in Iraq before it was shipped back to the United States and the -- the body showed that she had been beaten in the face that her nose had been broken, that there were -- the father says that it appears that there were bite marks on her body, that one of her arms had been distended and dislocated  that there were -- that her vaginal area looked as though she had been sexually assaulted and then a caustic acid poured in her genital area.  So, um, the Johnson family has been demanding that the US military review thsi case.  That they do not believe that um, well, the military has said that she comitted suicide.  that on one killed her, that she comited suicide. With all of those injuries, she committed suicide.  So I've been assisting the family to try to get a hearing before the army to make the army reopen that case.  And we've gone to Congress to try to get Congress men and women involved in this and it's a real slow process of making the army reopen cases.  You know, the Pat Tillman case, here after three Congressional hearings on his death in Afghansitan  we now know that he was shot by friendly fire, he was shot in the head, it looks like he was assassinated and yet after three Congressional hearings, the parents of Pat Tillman don't know who among that small unit that Pat Tilman was a part of, who killed Pat Tillman and why?  So for a family like LaVena Johnson's who have no political pull, there daughter was not an NFL star, she was just one of hundreds of thousands of young men and women who decide to join the military and then terrible things happen to them.  The family is still pushing very, very hard on the military to try to get more answers on what happened to their daughter. But one thing for sure, they do not believe that she comitted suicide nor do I.     [. . .]   Sara Rich: It's interesting when I -- when I found out about LaVena's case, it just sent absolute shivers up my spine, thinking this is what would have happened to my daughter if she had told about what was going on to her to her superior officers in Iraq.  This is what would have happened, she would have been murdered, they would have said it was a suicide.  Their birthdays are very close to each other, there a few years apart, but their birthdays are within a couple of days of each other.  And it just, it made me feel so -- so thankful for my -- that my daughter was -- you know, still with us.   Cindy Sheehan: Right.   Sara Rich: LaVena is not.  And it made me feel the Johnsons and I have a real heart connection.  They're very protective of Suzanne and I think about LaVena every day.  It's just, we have a very deep, very deep connection about that.  And when Ann and the Johnsons and I were going to Congress men and Congress women and senators, trying to talk to them about reopening LaVena's case and showing them that it was not a suicide, it was a murder, they were treated in a way that just infurated me.  I mean here they have a fallen soldier who is obviously raped and murdered and they were seeing -- taken to these little teeny rooms with junior staffers and weren't even given the respect and care that we as military parents of combat veterans should be absolutely demanding from people that say that they run our country.   Sara Rich is holding a retreat this weekend in Portland, Oregon, "It's going to be in the Applegate Valley which is in southern Oregon.  This is actually a pilot program.  We're really trying to find a way that we can take this on the road and start providing healing retreats in every state because the need is so great in women veterans, the need to connect, the need to heal and I'm one of three trauma informed therapists that's going to be helping facilitate this weekend and we're going to come together and really take care of each other and take care of our veterans because that's what needs to happen.  We're trying to offer it as low-cost as possible so that it's available and accessible for everybody and just create a place that's safe."  To get in touch with Sara Rich you can e-mail her through the Suzanne Swift website.   Today jury selection began in Paducah, Kentucky for USA v Steven D. Green.  Green's trial is set to start April 27, 2009.   Who is Steven D. Green?  Who is Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi -- or rather, who was Abeer.  March 12, 2006 Abeer's parents -- Qassim Hamza Raheem and Fakhriya Taha Muhasen -- were murdered as was Abeer's five-year-old sister Hadeel Qassim Hamza.  Abeer was gang-raped during the murders.  After the murders, the gang-rape continued and then she was murdered.  Remember how LaVena Johnson had acid or lye poured on her to destroy evidence?  Abeer's attackers attempted to set her body on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence.  The crime was blamed on 'insurgents.'   As Gregg Zoroya (USA Today) reported, Justin Watt came forward (Watt was not involved in the rape, murder or conspiracy to commit the War Crimes) with some troubling things he was hearing, the 'incident' was looked into anew.  The military immediately went into major spin control as it became obvious that US soldiers were responsible.  In an attempt to 'lessen' the gang-rape and murder of Abeer, they insisted she was 26-years-old.  She wasn't.  She was fourteen-years-old but if she had been twenty-six, it wouldn't have made the events any less horrible or any less criminal.    Friday, June 20, 2006, Steven D. Green was arrested in the US (Asheville, North Carolina) having already been discharged in May.  He was charged with murder and with rape.  Green appeared in a Kentucky federal court November 8, 2006 and entered a plea of not guilty.  Green was out of the US military, Paul Cortez, Jesse Spielman, Bryan Howard and James P. Barker were still in.  An Article 32 hearing was scheduled for August (2006) and, strangely, Robert F. Worth and Carolyn Marshall (New York Times), ahead of the Article 32 hearing, presented the defense's argument.  That was strange not only because the defense hadn't presented their argument yet but also because the defense argument was a strange one.  After the defense had made the argument, Andy Mosher (Washington Post) would quote the go-to-military law expert for the press, Eugene Fidell stating, "This is not a defense known to the law.  But this kind of evidence could come in during the court-martial, and it might be pertinent to the sentence.  They could be setting the stage to avoid a death penalty."  Wow.  So will Robert F. Worth and Carolyn Marshall ever be asked to explain how they offered the defense -- excuse me, how they made the defense argument in an alleged article of reporting?  They didn't quote the defense.  They didn't have to.  They didn't present this as an argument, they presented it as what happened.  It sure is good to know that the New York Times will work it, whore it out, when they feel the need.  This is, remember, the same paper that has REFUSED to ever print Abeer's name.  They have rendered her invisible and victimized her all over again.  But by rendering her invisible, by refusing to print her name, they have made her a non-entity and that was their point. At the Article 23 hearing, Captain Alex Pickands, for the prosecution, responded to the defense's argument: "Murder, not war. Rape, not war. That's what we're here talking about today. Not all that business about cold food, checkpoints, personnel assignments. Cold food didn't kill that family. Personnel assignments didn't rape and murder that 14-year-old little girl."   During the hearing, Pickands would explain, "They gathered over cards and booze to come up with a plan to rape and murder that little girl. She was young and attractive. They knew where she was because they had seen her on a previous patrol. She was close. She was vulnerable."  Though the New York Times was happy to carry propaganda for the US military and to render Abeer invisible, they weren't interested in the actual Article 32 hearing.  Which is why you'd have to go elsewhere for that coverage.  Elsa McLaren (Times of London) reported:     Special Agent Benjamin Bierce recalled how Specialist James Barker described how the couple and their youngest child were put in another room, while the teenager was kept in the living room.  Barker said that he held the girl's hands while Sergeant Paul Cortez raped her or tried to rape her. Barker then switched positions with Cortez and attempted to rape the girl, but said he was not sure if he had done so, Special Agent Bierce told the hearing. Some shots were fired in the other room and Private Steven Green emerged, saying "They're all dead. I just killed them." Green put down an AK-47 assault rifle and raped the girl while Cortez held her down, the hearing heard.    Special Agent Bierce said Green then picked up the weapon and shot the girl once, paused, and shot her several more times. Kerosene from a lamp was poured over the girl and someone - it was not clear who - set her alight.       Back then, we had to say "alleged" when speaking of the soldiers.  Alleged murder or alleged rapist or alleged co-conspirator.  We don't have to do that now with anyone except Green.  The others have all either been convicted or entered a plea of guilty.  Cortez and Barker offered confessions in court when they entered their plea.  Some found the confessions emotionally compelling.  Others of us noted the weasel words such as "kind of".  In his confession, he admited that while "Cortzed pushed her to the ground. I went towards the top of her and kind of held her hands down while Cortez proceeded to lift her dress up."  Kind of.  He kind of held her hands down.  Her parents are being shot and killed in the next room, her sister is being shot and killed in the next room, these Americans dressed in black are in her home, they are lifting up her dress and Barker wants the world to know he "kind of" held her hands.  Kind of.  Well he "kind of" took repsonsibility when he admitted to his guilt.  Kind of.   They plotted it.  They have fingered Steven D. Green as the ringleader.  They said he plotted it, he came up with the conspiracy.  Iraqis have spoken of how Green made Abeer uncomfortable (had she lived, her parents had already arranged to get her out of the area), how, at the US checkpoint he supervised, he would stop her, he would touch her face, he would intimidate her.  AFP reminded yesterday, "Cortez testified that he raped Abeer Kassem Hamza al-Janabi while Barker pinned the sobbing girl to the floor.  The men switched positions and then heard about four or five shots from a bedroom where Green had taken the girl's father, mother and six-year-old sister, Cortez said.  Green shot the girl when he was finished raping her and the soldiers set the home on fire by tossing a lighter onto a Kerosene-soaked blanket covering her naked body, the other soldiers said."  Today Brett Barrouquere (AP) reports, "Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Ford, who is prosecuting the case, said at least three of those soldiers as well as members of the slain girl's suriving family may be called as witnesses in the case."  Darren Wolff,  one of Green's attorneys and apparently insane, wants to ask of the prospective jury, "How can they accurately get the impression of a battelfield in Paducah?"  Yeah, it was real torture for Green -- grilling chicken breasts and downing booze after the gang-rape and murders.  And of course, "battlefield" excuses rape, right Wolff?  That's what you're saying.  And not just any rape, mind you, but the rape of a young girl.  They were better off flirting with the insanity plea.  If this is where they're headed and this is the sort of defense they intend to mount, they're just inviting outrage.  Brett Barrouquere, by the way, always included Abeer's name in his reports.  As did other AP reporters.  Gregg Zoroya at USA Today (already noted) also didn't shy from reporting the victims' names nor did Ellen Knickmeyer (Washington Post) who did one of the most intensive reports when the crimes were revealed.  Mentioning the victims names was never a problem for foreign outlets and it wasn't a real problem in the US except for one outlet, the alleged paper of record, the New York Times.   Today violence sweeps through Iraq at the sort of levels the Operation Happy Talkers had told us was long gone. Thomas E. Ricks (Foreign Policy) explains, "former secretary of State Condoleezza Rice thinks that Iraq is 'on its way to becoming a strategic asset' of the United States. Someone in Baghdad who didn't get that memo set off a bunch of car bombs that killed about three dozen people today."  Ricks is the author of the new bestseller The Gamble.  Leila Fadel and Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) report there were at least 7 bombings in Baghdad resulting in multiple deaths and multiple wounded, "All but one explosion had detonated by 9 a.m. in markets and other gathering places in Baghdad.  The bloody morning was a reminder of how fragile the country's security gains are, after a series of fatal bombings in March."  Deborah Haynes (Times of London) reports the bombings "tore through Baghdad . . . as [UK Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform"] Peter Mandelson passed through with a delegation of British businessmen to spread the message that it is safe to invest in Iraq." Steven Lee Myers (New York Times) reveals, "Most of the bombs struck largely Shiite neighborhood, but there did not appear to be any obvious pattern to the attacks.  There were no claims of responsibility, and Iraqis disagreed on whom to blame."  Myers quotes MP Abbas al-Bayati blaming the "Awakening" Council members for the violence.  Abbas al-Bayati does a lot of public blather for Nouri al-Maliki so when he speaks, he's usually repeating what he's been told.  (As when the news broke about the US spying on Nouri al-Maliki.)  Usama Redha, Caesar Ahmed and Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) add, "The string of explosions came just three months before U.S. combat troops are expected to withdraw to bases outside cities and a week after Iraqi forces put down an insurrection by Sunni paramilitary fighters in eastern Baghdad, which has raised fear that Sunnis, who had turned on groups such as Al Qaeda in Iraq, could return to fighting the Shiite-led government."  Anthony Shadid (Washington Post) observes, "The strikes called into question statements by Iraqi military officials that insurgents had lost their ability to attack in the heart of the capital with ease and reflected a sense by many in Baghdad and elsewhere that violence may be worsening, as the American military begins a withdrawal of combat troops slated to end by August 2010."  Sahar Issa and Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) break down the Baghdad bombings as follows Baghdad car bombing at seven in the morning 4 dead, fifteen wounded, Baghdad car bombing "targeted the motorcade of Brigadier General Sadoun" at eight in the morning 2 dead and four wounded, Baghdad car bombing at eight-thirty this morning 10 dead sixty-five wounded, another Baghdad car bombing at eight-thirty 4 dead and twenty wounded, a Baghdad sticky bombing which wounded two, two Baghdad car bombings at one this afternoon killing 12 and leaving twenty-five wounded and a five o'clock this evening Baghdad roadside bombing which left three wounded.  They note that the tolls were expected to rise.  Aseel Kami, Mohammed Abbas, Hadir Abbas, Tim Cox, Wisam Mohammed, Tim Cocks and Charles Dick (Reuters) count at least 37 dead and (check my math) one-hundred and fourteen people injured.  They also note speculation that Sahwa, "Awakening" or "Sons of Iraq" (all the same group, different names) might have been involved but quote the US military going with their catch-all: al Qaeda in Iraq.  Golly, I thought Baghdad was said to be protected from them and they'd all been driven out of that area.  Weren't they allegedly just hanging around in and outside Mosul?  The official story changes so frequently you can never pin it down.  Independent journalist Dahr Jamail contributes "The Growing Storm" (Dissident Voice) and notes the fall out from the attacks on Sahwa and the fears from the response in Baghdad two weekends ago: "This distrubing event is the realization of what most Iraqis have long feared -- that the relative calm in Iraq today would eventually be broken when fighting erupts between these two entities."  Sahwa was under attack over the weekend and while today's violence is garnering press attention, yesterday's violence was an increase as well and saw a variety of groupings targeted.     Reuters noted two Baghdad home bombings which claimed the life of 1 man and left two women injured -- one home was of a Sahwa leader and "It was not clear if the target was the 'Sahwa' leader's house."  Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reported Dr. Yasir Khdaiyir ("well known surgeon") was assassinated Saturday night in Baghdad, the Ministry of the Interior's Brig Gen Ahmed Kathum Breesem was shot dead in Baghdad tonight, a Sahwa ("Awakening") was shot dead in Baquba (in the latest of continual attacks on Sahwa) and 1 Peshmerga (Kurdish security forces) was shot dead in Kirkuk City, 1 person shot dead in Mosul. In addition, Issa noted 1 police officer killed in Samarra by either "a thermal charge or an armour-penetraing grenade" (four more were wounded), a Falluja roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 police officer and left another wounded, a second Falluja roadside bombing resulted in one police officer being injured, a Kirkuk roadside bombing which wounded seven people, a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 "small boy" and left his mother wounded, one al Jazair (Ninevah Province) grenade attack which injured one Iraqi soldier and one Mailyah (Ninevah Province) grenade attack which injured another Iraqi soldier and 1 corpse discovered Saturday night in Mosul with signs of torture.   Today's violence didn't spring out in total surprise.  Also today  Sahar Issa and Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) report a Kirkuk suicide bombing which left seven Iraqi soldiers wounded and that Iraqi police state the US military shot dead an innocent civilian by mistake in Nineveh Province.     Over the weekend, the US military had announcements.  Saturday the US military announced: "AL ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq -- A Multi National Force -- West Marine died as the result of a non-combat related incident in Al Anbar Province April 3. The Marine's name is being withheld pending next-of-kin notification and release by the Department of Defense. The incident is under investigation."  Sunday the US military announced: "TIKRIT, Iraq – A U.S. Coalition forces Soldier died as a result of operations in Diyala province, Iraq, April 5. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin and release by the Department of Defense."  The announcements brought to 4266 the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war.   In other violence noted over the weekend, Wisam Mohammed and Khalid al-Ansary (Reuters) reported Saturday that gays are being targeted in Baghdad, with four corpses discovered March 25th and 2 gay men murdered Thursday 'after clerics urged a crackdown'." Sunday Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reported the two were first "disowned" (by their homophobic and hateful families) and "The shootings came after a tribal meeting was held and the members decided to go after the victims." Tawfeeq reports the other were also disowned (and gives the date of their deaths as March 26th) and states a cafe in Sadr City was torched when it was said to be an LGBT hangout in Baghdad. The Dallas Morning News wrote a brief on the topic and UPI summarized Tawfeeq's report. AFP reported Sunday that the two corpses discovered Thursday "had pieces of paper attached on which was written the word 'Pervert" and that the two men were aged sixteen and eighteen and had also had "their arms and legs broken". In addition, AFP reports another man presumed to be gay was found on Friday -- which would bring the toll to seven -- and this follows Sheikh Jassem al-Muatairi's 'inspiring' sermon denouncing "new private practices by some men who dress like women, who are effeminate. I call on families to prevent their children from following such a lifestyle."    Meanwhile in the US,independent journalist David Bacon, author of (most recently) Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalize Immigrants (Beacon Press), writes (at ZNet) of what's coming up on May Day:   In a little over a month, hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of people will fill the streets in city after city, town after town, across the US. This year these May Day marches of immigrant workers will make an important demand on the Obama administration: End the draconian enforcement policies of the Bush administration. Establish a new immigration policy based on human rights and recognition of the crucial economic and social contributions of immigrants to US society.             This year's marches will continue the recovery in the US of the celebration of May Day, recognized in the rest of the world as the day recognizing the contributions and achievements of working people. That recovery started on Monday, May 1, 2006, when over a million people filled the streets of Los Angeles, with hundreds of thousands more in Chicago, New York and cities and towns throughout the United States. Again on May Day in 2007 and 2008, immigrants and their supporters demonstrated and marched, from coast to coast.                     One sign found in almost every march said it all: "We are Workers, not Criminals!" Often it was held in the calloused hands of men and women who looked as though they'd just come from work in a factory, cleaning an office building or picking grapes. The sign stated an obvious truth. Millions of people have come to the United States to work, not to break its laws. Some have come with visas, and others without them. But they are all contributors to the society they've found here.                        The protests have seemed spontaneous, but they come as a result of years of organizing, educating and agitating - activities that have given immigrants confidence, and at least some organizations the credibility needed to mobilize direct mass action. This movement is the legacy of Bert Corona, immigrant rights pioneer and founder of many national Latino organizations. He trained thousands of immigrant activists, taught the value of political independence, and believed that immigrants themselves must conduct the fight for immigrant rights. Most of the leaders of the radical wing of today's immigrant rights movement were students or disciples of Corona.            Immigrants, however, feel their backs are against the wall, and they came out of their homes and workplaces to show it. In part, their protests respond to a wave of draconian proposals to criminalize immigration status, and work itself for undocumented people. But the protests do more than react to a particular congressional or legislative agenda. They are the cumulative response to years of bashing and denigrating immigrants generally, and Mexicans and Latinos in particular.              In other news, Bob Somerby takes on Rachel Maddow's 'strength' and other nonsense here.     iraq cindy sheehan ann wright sara rich brett barrouquere the new york times robert f. worth carolyn marshall the washington post ellen knickmeyer the new york times steven lee myers campbell robertson the washington post anthony shadid thomas e. ricks mcclatchy newspapers leila fadel deborah haynes usama redha the los angeles times ned parker caeser ahmed dahr jamail mohammed tawfeeq aseel kami wisam mohammed sami al-jumaili waleed ibrahim khalid al-ansary mohammed abbas david bacon

A series of six car bombs exploded in or near Baghdad on Monday, killing more than 30 people and wounding scores more, according to witnesses and the police.
Three bombs struck markets in predominately Shiite neighborhoods around Baghdad, but there did not appear to be any obvious pattern to the attacks. The blasts began shortly after dawn and continued in disparate parts of the city into the afternoon.

The violence never ends in Iraq though people try to pretend it has or it's about to. The above is from Steven Lee Myers' "Six Car Bombs Kill 30 in Iraq" (New York Times). At the Washington Post, Anthony Shadid's "Series of Baghdad Car Bombs Kills at Least 32" provides some perspective and raises the 'uncomfortable' issues that the press is supposed to:


The toll rivaled a bombing last month at the police academy in a fortified part of Baghdad, when an assailant plowed into a crowd and killed 28 people. But the breadth and coordination of Monday's attacks, from one end of the capital to the other, were reminiscent of the violence from Baghdad's bloodiest days in 2006 and 2007.
The strikes called into question statements by Iraqi military officials that insurgents had lost their ability to attack in the heart of the capital with ease and reflected a sense by many in Baghdad and elsewhere that violence may be worsening, as the American military begins a withdrawal of combat troops slated to end by August 2010.

Click here for CBS and AP's report. The death toll may rise as the day continues and other bodies are found or the wounded do not recover. The death toll may fall as well as deaths are verified. Myers and Shadid are offering immediate reporting -- like Politico does but on serious issues, ones that matter. Oh, was that rude to the gossip sheet Politico? You know I'm feeling awful about that, you just know it. Aseel Kami, Hadir Abbas, Tim Cocks and Katie Nguyen (Reuters) report the death toll is 34 and I'm counting (check my math, always) one-hundred and six wounded (they've broken up the wounded by the bombings). They also add, "Interior Ministry officials declined to comment on whether the bombs were a coordinated strike or a reaction to the arrests, one of which sparked clashes on Saturday between Iraqi forces and supporters of their arrested Sahwa leader."

In the print version of today's New York Times, Campbell Robertson offers "Palestinians Are Focus in Abbas Visit to Baghdad" and the big takeaway there may be how quickly leaders sell out their own for oil. From Robertson's article:

They also discussed the status and resettlement possibilities of the 2,300 Palestinians stranded in two refugee camps on the Iraq-Syria border.
Mr. Zebari said that the Iraqi leaders assured Mr. Abbas that they would support his government in substantial, and not just symbolic, ways.
"Gone are those days when Iraq and other countries used to use the Palestinian issue for political bargaining or score settling," Mr. Zebari said.

Those days have apparently been changed to days where Palestinian leaders refuse to speak up for their own just to get some oil slid their way at a cheap price.

Those 2,300 didn't just get "stranded" on the border recently nor are they "stranded." They are penned in. They are forced in. They are abandoned and Syria won't let them in.

In April of last year, Amnesty International offered "Refugee camp trauma continues for Palestinians:"

More than 3,000 Palestinian refugees are currently cut off from the rest of the world in dire conditions without access to adequate humanitarian assistance.

In March 2008, Amnesty International delegates met with Palestinian refugees stranded in al-Tanf camp in no-man’s land between the borders of Iraq and Syria.

Al-Tanf camp, a narrow strip of land wedged between a concrete wall and the main transit road from Baghdad to Damascus, is dry and dusty. Temperatures soar to 50ºC in summer and plunge to below freezing in winter.

The camp accommodates hundreds of Palestinian refugees seeking to flee from Iraq, where they were formerly long term residents. Palestinians have been among those particularly targeted for sectarian killings and violence.

Overcrowded tents are the only protection from the heat, the snow and the blinding sandstorms. Danger is everywhere, especially for the children. The land is infested with scorpions and snakes.

The school tents are unprotected from the busy highway, which has already claimed the life of a boy knocked down by a truck.

According to residents who spoke to Amnesty International delegates visiting the camp in March 2008, heating and cooking systems in the tents regularly cause fires that destroy tents -- 42 tents in all so far.

Despite the unsafe and harsh conditions at al-Tanf, the number of Palestinian refugees from Iraq in the camp is growing as Palestinians who entered Syria on false passports are identified and deported to the camp. Many camp residents described to Amnesty International the horrific events that prompted them to flee Iraq and have left them traumatized.

Amnesty International has provided many reports on this crisis but I'm going with that one because if you use the link you will also find photos of the tent cities. The above is not the entire text, it's an excerpt but we'll note these resources listed at the end of AI's article:

Download interviews with some of the refugees in the camp:

Read More

Al-Tanf Camp; Trauma Continues for Palestinians Fleeing Iraq (14 April 2008)
Palestinian refugees suffer in Lebanon (News, 17 October 2007)
Palestinian refugees targeted in Iraq (News, 1 October 2007)

Last Tuesday, Senator Bob Casey Jr. chaired a subcommitee hearing on Iraqi refugees. Nabil al-Tikriti (University of Mary Washington) was one of three witnesses offering testimony to the subcommittee. In his closing remarks, al-Tikriti briefly noted the Iraqi Palestinians and declared that they were "effectively trapped. They need to go somewhere and they're stuck."


Bonnie notes that Kat's "Kat's Korner: When you build your house . . ." and Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Pig-Pen Ambassador" went up yesterday. Also Diana notes that Cindy Sheehan's latest Soapbox (internet radio program) is up. Her guests are Sara Rich (sexual assault activist, peace activist and mother of Suzanne Swift) and retired Army Col and retired State Dept diplomat Ann Wright. Diana says to be sure to check out Cindy's editorial on protesting in the age of 'change'. (I haven't heard it yet. I'll try to listen before dictating the snapshot.)

We noted the subcommittee hearing (Senate Foreign Relations Committee) from last week above and we'll again note that Senator Bob Casey Jr.'s office issued the following:

March 31, 2009

WASHINGTON, DC- U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs Subcommittee, today chaired a hearing on the return and resettlement of displaced Iraqis. The hearing focused on the efforts being taken by the Iraqi government, the United States and the rest of the international community to facilitate the return of Iraqis displaced internally and the repatriation of Iraqi refugees living in neighboring countries.

"Large numbers of Iraqis unable to return home not only has humanitarian consequences, but poses security risks to future Iraqi stability and the interests of neighboring states and the international community," Senator Casey said. "Accordingly, as the United States begins to draw down its military presence in Iraq, we have a both a moral and a security interest in ensuring the safety and welfare of Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs)."

At the hearing, Senator Casey urged the United States to work in concert with Iraq’s neighbors, donor governments and other international actors to address challenges facing Iraqi refugees and IDPs, such as: the lack of legal status for refugees; the inability of refugees to work legally; limited access to health care and education; critical food shortages and inadequate shelter, drinking water, sanitation and protection. The panel of witnesses that testified at today's hearing included: Ms. Ellen Laipson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Henry L. Stimson Center; Ms. Nancy Aossey, President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Medical Corps; and Mr. Nabil Al-Tikriti, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Mary Washington.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that 4.7 million Iraqis have been forced to leave their homes. Approximately 2.7 million are displaced internally, while 2 million have fled to neighboring states, particularly Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Last year, Senator Casey joined Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) in introducing the Support for Vulnerable and Displaced Iraqis Act of 2008 to mandate the development of a comprehensive U.S. strategy to address the mass displacement of Iraqis.

Senator Casey's opening statement follows below.

U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs Subcommittee

Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr.

Opening Statement on the Return and Resettlement of Displaced Iraqis

March 31, 2009

Today, the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs meets to examine the crisis concerning Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), one of the tragic humanitarian consequences of America’s war in Iraq. The purpose of this hearing is to determine the efforts being taken by the Iraqi government, the United States and the rest of the international community to facilitate the resettlement of Iraqis displaced internally, and the repatriation of Iraqi refugees living in neighboring countries. The presence of such a large population in a state of displacement not only has humanitarian consequences, but poses security risks to future Iraqi stability and the interests of neighboring states and the international community. Accordingly, as the United States begins to draw down its military presence in Iraq, we have a both a moral and a security interest in ensuring the safety and welfare of Iraqi refugees and IDPs.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that 4.7 million Iraqis have been forced to leave their homes. Approximately 2.7 million are displaced internally, while 2 million have fled to neighboring states, particularly Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Indeed, these numbers have been called into dispute, and I invite the views of our witnesses today on whether they are too high or too low. The Iraqi government has demonstrated an inability to deal with a problem of such magnitude. Declining oil revenues and institutional deficiencies are preventing the government from effectively addressing this issue. In spite of improved security conditions, displaced Iraqis who return home are confronted with deplorable living conditions, or worse, destroyed homes. I am also concerned that ongoing sectarian divisions could be preventing the government from mustering the political will necessary to deal with the refugee crisis. We should assess whether the government’s Shiite majority has an agenda to keep large numbers of Sunni refugees from returning to Iraq, and we also need to understand what is prompting thousands of Iraqi Christians to flee to Syria.

The exodus of refugees out of Iraq is overwhelming Iraq’s neighbors, which I witnessed firsthand during my trip to Jordan in 2007. Counties like Jordan and Syria cannot handle the constant flow of refugees from Iraq, and some have started to impose legal and visa restrictions on new arrivals. These countries are not signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention and have denied Iraqi refugees within their borders the protections and basic human rights refugees claim in most countries. As Refugees International reported last month, these Iraqis cannot find gainful employment in their host countries, and they are quickly running out of resources to sustain themselves. Unfortunately, the return of refugees to Iraq, however desirable, continues to be problematic, due to a difficult security environment and inadequate living conditions awaiting them at home.

I was pleased to hear that the Obama Administration announced FY2009 contributions of more than $141 million to help displaced Iraqis. However, the crisis does not appear to be improving. It is my understanding that the Administration is engaged in an ongoing review of policy towards the refugee challenge. President Obama has announced that, by August 2010, the majority of U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Iraq. While I fully support the President’s plan to withdraw our forces from Iraq, I believe we must sustain our commitment to the refugee and IDP situation affecting nearly five million of its citizens, especially when the problem cannot be effectively controlled by the Iraqi government and places undue strain on its neighbors. We cannot ignore the consequences for regional stability and Iraq's internal order if a large population of dispossessed and displaced individuals remains in place. Without any opportunity for reintegration or an escape from poverty and despair, displaced populations may be susceptible to recruitment by extremist groups, threatening the viability of the Iraqi state.

In September 2008, my distinguished colleague, Senator Ben Cardin, and I filed legislation -- titled "The Support for Vulnerable and Displaced Iraqis Act of 2008" -- to mandate the development of a comprehensive U.S. strategy to address the mass displacement of Iraqis. This bill addressed several issues that are still pertinent today. And as several of my colleagues and I emphasized to then President-elect Obama in a letter we wrote in December 2008, these issues should be a focus of his administration’s overall approach to Iraq.

First, a U.S. strategy on Iraqi refugees should address the responsibility of the Iraqi government to help meet the urgent needs of its displaced citizens, including an assessment of how much assistance is needed to help meet these needs. Second, it should assess what conditions are necessary for the voluntary, safe, and sustainable return of displaced Iraqis. Finally, it should outline steps the U.S. government will take to engage the international community to implement the strategy. It is imperative that the United States work in concert with Iraq's neighbors, donor governments, and other international actors to address challenges facing Iraqi refugees and IDPs, such as:

the lack of legal status for refugees;
the inability of refugees to work legally;
limited access to health care and education;
critical food shortages;
inadequate shelter, drinking water, sanitation and protection.

Moreover, in the context of renewing U.S. engagement with Syria, the Administration could find an important avenue for cooperation by working with Damascus on the refugee crisis.

The U.S. government can also bolster its efforts to resettle in the United States those Iraqi refugees who risked their lives to assist the U.S. mission. Resettlement is the right thing to do, and it would also ease the burden on Iraq's neighbors. Only in 2007 did the previous Administration significantly increase the number of Iraq refugees to be settled in the United States. And even though the U.S. exceeded its FY 2008 admissions target of 12,000 Iraqi refugees, the demand for resettlement outpaces the steps the U.S. government is taking. Any comprehensive U.S. strategy on Iraqi refugees should examine our current resettlement plan, and draw on all relevant government agencies to support this process.

We are joined here today by an esteemed panel of experts, who will discuss the myriad challenges involved in the Iraqi refugee crisis. Our first witness is Ellen Laipson, President and CEO of The Henry L. Stimson Center since 2002. Ms. Laipson is one of Washington’s preeminent authorities on the Middle East, having written extensively about the challenges the United States faces in Iraq. Prior to joining the Stimson Center, Ms. Laipson served nearly 25 years in the United States government, many of which were devoted to analysis and policymaking on Middle Eastern issues. She was the Vice Chair of the National Intelligence Council from 1997-2002, and held senior posts at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and in the National Security Council. I look forward to her analysis of the refugee crisis, how it relates to regional stability, and how the United States should approach this problem.

Nancy Aossey is President and CEO of the International Medical Corps. After becoming CEO shortly after IMC's founding in the mid-1980s, Ms. Aossey helped to transform International Medical Corps into one of the world's largest humanitarian organizations, providing more than $120 million in disaster response and recovery programs annually. Thanks to Ms. Aossey’s leadership, International Medical Corps assists the internally displaced throughout Iraq, providing badly needed medical care to those in need. She has also served as Chairman of the Board of InterAction and now serves on its Executive Committee.

Our final witness is Dr. Nabil al Tikriti of the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Dr. al Tikriti has written extensively on the effects of population displacement in Iraq and its neighbors, and its policy implications for the region. In addition to his scholarship, Al-Tikriti volunteered with the Catholic Relief Services humanitarian assistance project in Iraq in 1991-1992, and later served with Doctors without Borders as a relief worker in Somalia, Iran, Albania, Turkey, and Jordan.

###

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The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

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Isaiah's latest The World Today Just Nuts "The Pig-Pen Ambassador." Chris Hill, nominee to be US Ambassador to Iraq, declares, "March 25th I told the Senate that Nouri al-Maliki was paying the Awakenings -- all of them. Last week the US military said maybe next month. I called Kirkuk 'just an old fashioned land dispute.' Yeah, I'm a moron. But at least I'm well groomed." Isaiah archives his comics at The World Today Just Nuts.




the world today just nuts
comic
chris hill
the pig-pen ambassador
the common ills

UNDER the cover of darkness and warfare, five US soldiers broke into an Iraqi home to rape a young girl, murder her family and set the house alight to cover their crime.
The alleged ringleader - a soldier discharged for a "personality disorder'' before the slaying was discovered - faces the death penalty in a trial set to begin with jury selection Monday. Four other soldiers have already been sentenced in the March 2006 atrocity and the details which emerged during their court martials are chilling. The plan was allegedly devised over whiskey and a game of cards at a traffic check point in Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad.
Specialist Steven Green told his friends he "wanted to go to a house and kill some Iraqis,'' said Specialist James Barker, who received a life sentence for his role in the crime.
The soldiers changed into black silk underwear and masks so they would look like insurgents and headed for the house of a 14-year-old girl they had seen walking through the village. They had decided the girl would make an easy target for their plan to "have sex with an Iraqi female'' because her father was the only man in the house, said Sergeant Paul Cortez, who also received a life sentence. Cortez testified that he raped Abeer Kassem Hamza al-Janabi while Barker pinned the sobbing girl to the floor. The men switched positions and then heard about four or five shots from a bedroom where Green had taken the girl's father, mother and six-year-old sister, Cortez said.
Green shot the girl when he was finished raping her and the soldiers set the home on fire by tossing a lighter onto a Kerosene-soaked blanket covering her naked body, the other soldiers said.

The above is from AFP's "US soldier faces death for murder and raping Iraqi girl" and Olive noted it. We last noted Steven D. Green in the April 1st snapshot. Jury selection begins for his trial tomorrow in Kentucky. We'd noted that he'd removed his motion claiming the prospective jury pool would under-represent African-Americans and e-mails came in asking about Green's race. My apologies, I assumed every one knew he was White. Green, through attorneys, has maintained he's innocent in the pass. When the trial begins, his attorneys may, however, argue innocent by reason of insanity based on remarks and motions that have been entered. Green was out of the US military when the events were revealed which is why he is being tried in the federal court. The others participating in the conspiracy faced military courts. Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi is often rendered nameless in the press (always by the New York Times -- which really needs to issue an apology and correction for one article ahead of the Article 32 hearing in August 2006). Abeer remains, however, one of the few victims of War Crimes whose name is known. Many, many more are unknown. In fact, there's a military court hearing a case right now where the attorney (what a proud moment) for the defense has argued, among other things, that the fact that the dead man (Iraqi) has no known name mitigates the 'incident.' It matters when victims are named and it matters when they're not. When they're given names, they are people that the world can relate to. When their rendered nameless, they are faceless, they are unknowns. The decision by the New York Times not to name Abeer wasn't an accidental one. It was as intentional as that ridiculous article they published ahead of the August 2006 Article 32 hearing which was nothing but propaganda for the defense -- the defense which has since either all confessed or been convicted. Not a proud for the paper of record, not a proud moment for the US military, not a proud for the US government, not a proud for those of us who are US citizens.

They're just there to try and make the people free,
But the way that they're doing it, it don't seem like that to me.
Just more blood-letting and misery and tears
That this poor country's known for the last twenty years,
And the war drags on.
-- words and lyrics by Mick Softly (available on Donovan's Fairytale)

Last Sunday, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 4261 and tonight? 4266. Today the US military announced: "TIKRIT, Iraq – A U.S. Coalition forces Soldier died as a result of operations in Diyala province, Iraq, April 5. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin and release by the Department of Defense." For those paying attention, that's three deaths announced in three days. Sort of a slap upside the face to all the 'reporters' writing their 'deaths have trended down' stories on April 1st and April 2nd. They know who they are and, thing is, so do we.



Turning to some of the violence reported today . . .

Bombings?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 police officer killed in Samarra by either "a thermal charge or an armour-penetraing grenade" (four more were wounded), a Falluja roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 police officer and left another wounded, a second Falluja roadside bombing resulted in one police officer being injured, a Kirkuk roadside bombing which wounded seven people, a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 "small boy" and left his mother wounded, one al Jazair (Ninevah Province) grenade attack which injured one Iraqi soldier and one Mailyah (Ninevah Province) grenade attack which injured another Iraqi soldier. Reuters notes two Baghdad home bombings which claimed the life of 1 man and left two women injured -- one home was of a Sahwa leader and "It was not clear if the target was the 'Sahwa' leader's house."


Shootings?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Dr. Yasir Khdaiyir ("well known surgeon") was assassinated Saturday night in Baghdad, the Ministry of the Interior's Brig Gen Ahmed Kathum Breesem was shot dead in Baghdad tonight, a Sahwa ("Awakening") was shot dead in Baquba (in the latest of continual attacks on Sahwa) and 1 Peshmerga (Kurdish security forces) was shot dead in Kirkuk City, 1 person shot dead in Mosul.

Corpses?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 corpse was discovered in Mosul "late Saturday" ("body covered with evidence of torture").

Yesterday morning's second entry. Two things, I put a correction in the post. I'd missed
Rod Nordland "Ex-Blackwater Workers May Return to Iraq Jobs" in Saturday's paper (Elaine addressed the article Friday night). That was my mistake, my apologies. (Including to Rod Nordland.) Second, the same entry included this: "Wisam Mohammed and Khalid al-Ansary (Reuters) report that gays are being targeted in Baghdad, with four corpses discovered March 25th and 2 gay men were murdered Thursday 'after clerics urged a crackdown'." The attacks on the LGBT community has actually gotten some press. Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reports the two were first "disowned" (by their homophobic and hateful families) and "The shootings came after a tribal meeting was held and the members decided to go after the victims." Tawfeeq reports the other were also disowned (and gives the date of their deaths as March 26th) and
states a cafe in Sadr City was torched when it was said to be an LGBT hangout in Baghdad. Billie points out that the Dallas Morning News wrote a brief on the topic. UPI summarizes Tawfeeq's report. AFP reports that the two corpses discovered Thursday "had pieces of paper attached on which was written the word 'Pervert" and that the two men were aged sixteen and eighteen and had also had "their arms and legs broken". In addition, AFP reports another man presumed to be gay was found on Friday -- which would bring the toll to seven -- and this follows Sheikh Jassem al-Muatairi's 'inspiring' sermon denouncing "new private practices by some men who dress like women, who are effeminate. I call on families to prevent their children from following such a lifestyle." And I call on the heavens to rebuke Sheiky asshole who is clearly in the midst of his own sexual denial leading him to launch attacks on others and encourage their murders. Hate preachers should be locked away -- they're the real indecency.

And these are the people the US government put in charge, these thugs and fundamentalists. That is in part why you had the "brain drain" to begin with -- educated people fleeing Iraq after the thugs were put in positions of power. Before the US invasion, Baghdad, Mosul and Basra were all said to have active LGBT communities. After? They had to go into hiding. Why was that? Because the people the US put in charge were worse than Saddam Hussein. They attacked the rights of the LGBT and they destroyed the rights of women. Iraq was the most advanced of the MidEast countries when it came to women. There were many women doctors, police officers, government workers, you name it. Women had rights. The US undid that and undid it because they thought getting in bed with Shi'ite fundamentalists thugs would mean thse thugs would 'whip' the Iraqi population into obedience and the US and other nations could quickly take part in the tag sale on Iraqi assets. People are suffering for the US government's greed. People are dying because of it.

Easing into the topic of the "Daughters of Iraq." These are women paid 20% less than their male counterparts -- although whether anyone gets paid or not these days is a matter of immense confusion. But when both were on the US payrolls and both were doing the exact same job, the US government thought it was okay to further the attacks on Iraqi women by paying them 20% less than Iraqi males for doing the exact same jobs. And then people want to wonder how Iraq became more sexist and more hostile to women's rights? Patterned behavior. Again, women were police officers in Iraq prior to the US-led and started illegal war. And now? Aseel Kami (Reuters) reports:

In her old Baghdad house, policewoman Bushra Kadhem serves breakfast to her children, finishes her tea and readies herself for a day manning checkpoints in one of the world's most dangerous cities.
Kadhem, 43, became one of Iraq's first policewomen in 2005, joining when an insurgency raged and militants made a point of targeting recruits in the fledgling security forces. Being at the wrong checkpoint at the wrong time meant death.
Now, with violence falling across Iraq, Kadhem says she faces a more persistent challenge: persuading a conservative husband and society at large to accept her choice of career.
"We have to change the perception of women which says they should stay at home or only do certain kinds of work," she said. "At the beginning female policewomen were seen as a very odd phenomenon, but I hope society can progress beyond this."

We started with the report of War Crimes and we begin winding down with this from Corinne Reilly's "U.S. soldier charged in contractor's slaying in Iraq" (McClatchy Newspapers):

A U.S. soldier has been charged with murdering a foreign contractor at an American base in Taji, Iraq, the military said Sunday.
Pfc. Carl T. Stovall III, a 25-year-old soldier from Kennesaw, Ga., is accused of shooting the foreign laborer on March 26, the military said in a written statement. Military prosecutors handed down the murder charge Saturday.
Stovall's unit has been in Iraq less than a month, said a military spokesman, Master Sgt. Nicholas Conner. He declined to provide any more details about the shooting.

Kat's "Kat's Korner: When you build your house . . ." went up earlier today and Isaiah's latest comic goes up after this. He's addressing Chris Hill who's been nominated to be the US Ambassador to Iraq. Hill is completely unqualified for the position. Thursday, I planned to write about that but we went with something else for the Thursday night post. To be clear, I am not saying Hill won't get the position. He will. But while James Carville and others think 2010's Dem wins will come by a 'strategy' of demonizing Alaka's governor Sarah Palin, the Republican are preparing their own strategy. I'd argue it's a smarter one because Sarah Palin's is one governor and we already heard through 2008 how 'small' and 'unimportant' Alaska was so the Democratic Party's efforts to demonize Sarah Palin again are going to look very small and petty. By contrast, what the GOP has decided is to raise questions about Chris Brown. That's what happened in his hearing. The GOP senators were offering carefully worded questions, delivered very carefully. Why was that?

That doesn't happen in most hearings. No one comes off rehearsed (mainly because few have the time to be). So what was going on there? Turns out, they were preparing for clips that they can air if Iraq goes straight to hell between now and the 2010 elections. Chris Hill is unqualified and has no MidEast experience. Iraq is among the most important diplomatic posts at this point due to the perception that violence is down (and some say gone -- it's not gone, it hasn't even ceased).

It is a good guess that Iraq will yet again slap the Operation Happy Talkers in the face and this time the GOP's the one prepared to benefit from such an event. They're going to attack if that happens (I think it will happen) and they're not MoveOn. Meaning? They're not attacking Ray Odierno. They're going to point to Chris Hill. They're going to point to his ambassadorship. They also know that the 2007 benchmarks were never met. Three years later and they're not met. The GOP line of attack is going to be: "Hill had the progress that Peteraues and Crocker built and created and he wasted it. He is completely unqualified and we raised these issues when he appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee." (I don't know Sam Brownback and I have been told his objection is very real to Hill's appointment. I'm not stating or inferring he participated in political theater. I am saying that those Republicans on the committee did.)

I think Hill's going to be confirmed. I believe he's unqualified for the post and, based on Iraq events since the start of the illegal war, Iraq will be the same quagmire where nothing is accomplished. The GOP's going to hang that on Hill. The Dems think they can turn Palin into the 2010 issue and that makes no sense at all. I've been told that it's the same as when the Republicans go after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And they went after her before she was Speaker. But the difference is that Pelosi was on the national stage as a member of Congress. Palin's a governor, it's a different level and she's got no huge impact on the national stage from her position. It would be as if Bully Boy Bush had decided to attack Governor Jennifer Granholm. It makes no sense. And since the attacks on Palin never end, you're begging to create a backlash of sympathy for Palin and you're also risking looking incredibly petty by making a governor the focus of all your scorn. It's ploy based on sexism and maybe it'll work but far more likely will be the GOP betting on Iraq.

The administration has no clue what a huge mistake they're making. The Republicans are not going to stick with Iraq forever. We've noted that here in 2007 and 2008. But by naming someone with no MidEast experience as ambassador to that country, the Democratic administration just gave the Republican Party their out on Iraq. It becomes, "We supported it. We supported the work Crocker and Petraeus did. And we stood firm and managed to get the violence down. And then President Obama appointed someone completely unqualified and all the progress vanished." That will be the argument and that will be how Republicans begin walking away from the Iraq War which is now Barack Obama's. And if the GOP plays this well, it takes the only card that Dems have had for the last few election cycles: That they're right on Iraq and the Republicans are wrong.

The smartest thing the administration could do is announce that Hill is withdrawing his name from consideration, find a Republican with MidEast experience and appoint him or her because that would make it harder for the GOP to use Iraq to score political points. But the current administration is neither that smart or that on the ball. (For those late to the party, Ava and I advocated with friends in the administration on behalf of several different women to be the US ambassador to Iraq. They went with Hill. I think he'll be confirmed. I'm not advocating on behalf of a Republican being placed in the position. I'm noting what the Republican strategy is and how the administration could prevent it from working. Also my judgment of Hill as unqualfied came after his appalling Senate performance and following speaking to several people who worked under and above him.)

New content at Third:

Truest statement of the week
Truest statement of the week II
A note to our readers
Editorial: Where it stands
TV: Skimming the Surface
Katha Pollitt, Bronze Booby Winner
The Katrina goes to . . .
From The (Male) Vault: Sexism rules at Pacifica
Roundtable
The non-fashion plate
No surprise
With or without a village, it takes an idiot . . ....
Don't Steal These Looks!
F**K YOU, MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD
ETAN
Highlights

Independent journalist David Bacon has a new article that we'll offer an excerpt of tomorrow (I'm too tired tonight) but you can read it here. Pru notes Matthew Cookson's "Protesters tell G20 leaders end the 'war on terror'" (Great Britain's Socialist Worker):

Some 5,000 people joined the anti-war demonstration in central London on Wednesday to call for troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, freedom for Palestine, and an end to nuclear weapons.
The march was organised by the Stop the War Coalition, CND, the British Muslim Initiative and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign as part of the protests in the run-up to this week's G20 summit in London.
Protesters gathered outside the US embassy in Grosvenor Square before marching to a rally in Trafalgar Square. There was anger at the continuing "war on terror", which Barack Obama is intensifying in Afghanistan, and at the economic crisis that is ripping through society.
Large delegations of students from places such as the University of Strathclyde and the University of East London (UEL) attended the demonstration.
Students at both these universities have occupied recently in solidarity with the people of Gaza, as part of the wave of occupations against Israel's assault on the Palestinians that swept campuses across Britain this year.
Students from UEL told Socialist Worker, "The world leaders are spending huge amounts of money on war that would be better spent on ending hunger and poverty around the world.
Campus
"Our university is closed today and tomorrow as the authorities are scared that we will occupy the library. There are police on campus. They didn't expect us to go into occupation over Gaza.
"But we are students not terrorists, and we have never shown any sign of violence. Since the occupation everyone seems to be really political on campus. We are taking up lots of different issues, such as fair trade. We are spreading awareness."
Amber Griffith-Monk and Ella Harrison-Hodge, school students from Walthamstow in north east London, joined the protest.
Amber and Ella told Socialist Worker, "With the G20 here, we want to make sure the world's leader listen to us. They are occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, and say they are getting out, but will they?
"They are not doing enough to stop the war. Barack Obama says he will try to stop it – and we are here to try to make sure he does."
Jeremy Corbyn, the left wing Labour MP, told the rally, "Free market capitalism has created enormous wealth for a minority and unbelievable poverty for the majority. This cannot go on.
"We are demanding that jobs are protected and workers are not thrown onto the scrapheap. We demand that the £25 billions spent on arms and war is spent on dealing with social problems here and around the world."
Miners
Arthur Scargill, the president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) who led the Miners' Strike of 1984-5, also spoke at the rally.
To great applause, he said, "The miners and the women's support groups all stand full square with the movement against war in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and against Israel's attacks on the Palestinians.
"We have the credit crunch and the government is giving billions to banks to give golden handshakes to bankers. I'd put them all in brass handcuffs and take them away.
"They should give the money to people to pay off their mortgages and debts. We need a change in the system. Capitalism has demonstrated its inability to deal with the issues at stake."
Dr Daud Abdullah from the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) addressed the protest. The government has recently witch-hunted him, demanding that the MCB remove from his elected position of deputy general secretary because of his support for the Palestinian people's struggle against Israel.
He said, "We want the world leaders to reaffirm their commitment to human rights before they leave London. We want an end to discrimination, racism, oppression, injustice and occupation. The people of the world want peace not war, food not guns, medicine not bombs – give it to us now."
Protests
Lindsey German, the convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, urged people to join the protests at the G20 summit tomorrow.
"We have put protest back at the centre of politics this week," she said. "We are told that the demonstrations are all about violence, but it is the police who repeatedly try to hype them up, put on their riot gear and make demonstrations as difficult as possible to go on.
"Politicians and the media describe us as 'troublemakers', but the real troublemakers will be at the Excel Centre tomorrow. They have bombed the people of Afghanistan and Iraq. Come to the Excel Centre tomorrow and help send our message to the G20 leaders."
The following should be read alongside this article: » G20 protesters converge outside Bank of England» Police tactics questioned after man dies during G20 protests» Marchers condemn police G20 tactics
Assemble 11am, Thursday 2 April, roundabout at end of Tidal Basin Road, E16 1AD. Nearest working tube/DLR: Canning Town.
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Kat: When you build your house, call me.



For a huge number of readers that just said it all. They're already adding lines like "Well I think I had met my match . . ." For those who are searching a more distant memory or just confused, it's "Sara." A huge top-ten hit for Fleetwood Mac in 1979, one that's never really left rock radio's playlists.



1979. Fleetwood Mac was America's biggest rock band and the country was geared up for the follow up to the mammoth seller Rumors (still the best selling studio album by a rock band). There was joy in some parts over the decision to release a double album -- two sides of vinyl. Wow, some thought, it would be like Rumors doubled. Or squared.



Square more like it. Lindsey Buckingham, the faltering and failing songwriter. Is he really as bad as he seems in retrospect? I think so. By 1979, he'd lost the sex appeal that some had seen. I never saw it and always pinned it off on his being onstage with the biggest band and being the guy holding the guitar. Guitar heroes, sort of an automated response, Pavlovian for many.



Christine McVie was part of Fleetwood Mac as well. Some idiots, like Danny Goldberg, forget that. They take, for example, her amazing pop confection "Don't Stop" and insist (wrongly and deceitfully) that Lindsey wrote it. He didn't. It's all Christine. But he sings on it, so he must have written it!



Right there you have all the answers as to how Warner Bros ended up with the turkey that was Tusk. Christine McVie could write wonderful melodies and lyrics and there's not a rock band (especially not a British one) that she couldn't have held her own in during the rock era. By contrast, if Lindsey showed up with any of his 'songs' at a Beatles session, you get the feeling even Ringo Starr would have snickered.



Throughout the seventies, Lindsey attempted to crib from the Mamas and the Papas and the Beach Boys. He'd steal a phrase here, a line there and try to make it his own -- mainly by taking something brilliant and making it banal. Which is how you end up with, for example, "Monday Morning" and "Go Your Own Way" (think "Monday, Monday" and "Go Where You Wanna' Go"). He couldn't compete with Christine. 1975's self-titled Mac album (the first with Stevie and Lindsey) and 1977's Rumors found Christine grabbing attention with "Say You Love Me," "Sugar Daddy," "You Make Loving Fun" and "Don't Stop."



Christine was already in the band when Nicks and Buckingham joined. She was the band's keyboardist, a songwriter and a vocalist. She wrote her songs by herself. She was married to John McVie. Lindsey couldn't claim any credit for her success.



Stevie? She and Lindsey were involved back then. She was a songwriter and a singer, brought into the band, she's often said, as part of a package deal because the band wanted Lindsey. And while Christine was already an established part of the rock group, Stevie was a newbie like Lindsey and his lesser, right? He was the big bad boy on guitar, right?



Well, no. Because Stevie was like no other. The songs she wrote, the ones Lindsey frequently dismissed, the ones he'd end the decade dismissing and mocking on stage, were the ones that brought the fans to their feet. "Dreams" (the band's only number one hit), "Landslide," "Gold Dust Woman" and "Rhiannon." Songs for the rock canon.



But, hey, Lindsey wrote some good ones too, right? Like "Crystal" and "I Don't Want To Know."

Nope, Stevie wrote those. Lindsey sang on them. And that's how it was in seventies rock and roll and how little pigs like Danny Goldberg still see it: If a man sang on a song he must have written in. By this way of thinking, Lindsey was letting Stevie and Christine bask in his alleged manliness. Reality was the gals were carrying his ass and he knew it.



Which is how you get Tusk. There's one disc worth of material worth listening to: All Stevie and Christine. Eleven tracks and you've got an album that would have performed on the charts for months. But there are twenty tracks.



Christine and Stevie were the songwriters, the proven ones, the ones who could point to repeated chart success. Going into the recording of Tusk, each could point to having written (all by themselves) multiple top ten hits. Lindsey, by contrast, had managed only one top ten hit. ("Go Your Own Way," one of four top ten hits from Rumors, squeaked up to number ten -- the lowest charting 'hit' from the album.) On pop radio or rock radio, his songs got the least spins. So it's past time the question was asked: How did the least successful songwriter of a group with three songwriters end up with nine tracks?



Combined, Stevie and Christine, the group's hitmakers, got eleven. Christine got six songs on the album, Stevie got five. And songwriting failure Lindsey got nine.



In what world did that make sense?



In the cock and roll world of the seventies.



Since he couldn't write a hit, Lindsey decided to take his weirdness and market it as intentional. Which is why photos from this period (including inside the double album) show him with dark circles under his eyes and his curly locks ironed and cut into some sort of homage to Edith Piaf. He thought it passed for punk and the coming new wave. But then, he thought his songs did too. And if the hair didn't have you laughing, the songs would.



"Counting on my fingers, counting on my toes . . ." Trite and with no where to go, Lindsey slapped "The Ledge" on top of the ditty that sounded like it has been 'written' in thirty seconds and called it a song. Needless to say, it did not work itself into rotation. "Not That Funny Is It" was another of his musical disasters on Tusk and, no, it really wasn't. But it was funny to watch the male rock critics lavish him with praise and declare these non-punk songs were punk (by way of Walt Disney?) and that Lindsey was reshaping rock. "Tusk" did hit. Mainly because Lindsey's weird voice doesn't sing on it and also because of the outstanding work of USC's Trojan Marching Band.



The wounded ego of a barely talented male is part of the story of Fleetwood Mac and of rock criticism of that era. What should have resulted in a loud critical slap upside Buckingham's head instead became a revisionary tale of him as the force behind the scenes, the real power. Which is how, after the disaster of Tusk, he'd be able to call the shots on the disaster that was Mirage. Seven of the twelve songs worked. Wanna guess who wrote those? Stevie and Christine. And the hits from the album? Stevie and Christine. Five songs written by the non-songwriter Lindsey while hitmaker Christine only got four songs on the album and hitmaker Stevie only got three songs on the album. As usual, he sang on a Christine song ("Hold Me") and, as usual, a lot of people pretended he wrote or co-wrote it.



Between Tusk and Mirage, Stevie finally went solo. It had been a longtime building and for years before and after (and even today), she spoke of how she just had too many songs and Fleetwood Mac would only allow her to have X number on each project. So she had this huge stockpile of songs, screaming to be released.



If the details above didn't make it clear for you, examining the solo careers of the three singers from Mac will. Stevie got multiple hits off her albums, Christine racked up two charting hits off her self-titled 1984 album and Lindsey? "Trouble" (number nine) and "Go Insane" (number twenty-three). Both 'quirky' and from a solo recording career that spanned six albums -- six poorly selling albums. The press created 'brain' of the band wasn't any more successful on his own than he was pretending to front the group. (Mick Fleetwood was awfully kind to Lindsey's ego all those years he let Lindsey pretend.)



But Stevie went after a solo career and actually had one. Multiple tours, multiple hits, multiple albums, Grammy nominations. Even a three disc boxed set charting her solo career (Enchanted), as well as two greatest hits collection (Time Space and Crystal Visions). The one thing she's never had was a live album.



Until last Tuesday. The Soundstage Sessions is Stevie's first live album (with 'sweetening' added after the live performance -- added in a Nashville studio). It's an interesting mix especially when you grasp that live albums are stand-ins for greatest hits. Joni Mitchell, for years, refused all offers of greatest hits. She knew that once you had your best of, the stores stocked that and cut back on your catalogue. Avoiding a greatest hits meant any real music store had to stock her Court & Spark, yes, but also her Blue, Ladies of the Canyon, Hejira and one or two others. You couldn't sell what the stores didn't stock and keeping, for example, Blue on the shelves, through multiple formats, for decades allowed that rock classic to finally hit the one million mark. But even Joni had to make a concession of some sort to her label and it was the live album Miles of Aisles from 1974, a live recording collecting all the favorites ("Both Sides Now," "Woodstock," "You Turn Me On I'm A Radio," "Big Yellow Taxi," etc.) and two new tracks. The format, especially the inclusion of new tracks, would be followed by many others over the year. For example, Fleetwood Mac's monster selling live album, The Dance (1997), would follow that format as would their previous live album, Fleetwood Mac Live (1980). And as that became the format, there wasn't a great deal of difference between live albums and greatest hits except for the applause and whistles.



So Stevie's just released The Soundstage Sessions and it would be easy to assume that it would just be her recording a sampling of her forty or so tracks that have gone on to become hits. Maybe she'd divide it up by album, offer up two or three to a solo album?



This being Stevie Nicks, she, of course, went another way.



And, as is usually the case for her, it works.



She does two covers, Dave Matthews Band "Crash Into Me" and Bonnie Raitt's "Circle Dance."

At Third, we already weighed in on "Crash Into Me" and what an amazing cover it is. "Circle Dance" was a big surprise for me and it seemed vaguely familiar. I started thinking maybe it was on Buckingham Nicks (the album Lindsey and Stevie recorded in 1973). But that wasn't it. It finally hit me it was a track off Raitt's Longing In Their Hearts (1994) -- an album so strong that the track was really buried on it. Vanessa Carlton duets with Stevie on this song and the vocals mesh perfectly. They mesh so well that I wasn't even paying attention to the lyrics being sung the first few listens and just enjoying the notes.



So you've got two covers, what else? Stevie picks through her solo songbook as well as the songs she penned for the Mac. And the choices really aren't obvious.



"How Still My Love" is a great song from her first solo album (Belladonna, 1981); however, it wasn't one of the four hits singles and isn't an obvious choice. (Of non single tracks from that album, the title track and "Outside The Rain" are popular Nicks' concert staples -- the latter often merged with "Dreams.")



My favorite Stevie solo album is Wild Heart (1983) and it fairs best in terms of the songs here. "Stand Back," the huge hit, is the live album opener and it's probably one of 1983's sturdiest songs. While many other hits from that year can be mucked with (and have but I'll be kind and not name names), "Stand Back" can be done pretty much anyway and still stands up. It's sort of the "Louie Louie" of its decade. And a foot stomping opener. "No one looked, I walked by . . ." Even what sounds like the electronic equivalent of a car backfiring (drum machine?) before the second verse can't harm the song. "If Anyone Falls In Love" was another hit from Wild Heart and here I think Stevie's strongly improved on the original. She's added a bit of a range to expand the original vocal and she's also got some brighter shading that really works. In the second verse, she's just as likely to speak the lines as sing them but, check out the first verse. The live version also honors the wonderful interplay with the backing vocals so evident in the original although there's less call and response on the bridge which quickly becomes a Stevie solo. "Beauty and the Beast" is the song that closes Wild Heart and is the closer proper for the new live album.



"Fall From Grace" and "Sorcerer," two tracks from Trouble in Shangri-La (2001), make the album and "Sorcerer" wasn't one I really cared for prior to the live versions. The studio arrangement of this song always struck me as too fussy and reserved. Here, with what I'm assuming is some amazing work by rock guitarist god Waddy Wachtel, the song really comes alive.



You may be wondering which of the above tracks is my favorite? I haven't gotten to my favorite. C.I. has sworn by "Sara" as the best for over two months and I have been so curious to hear it and so sure that it wouldn't be. I remember a live version from Stevie's solo tour in the early eighties that used to get played constantly on rock radio. It wasn't piano based, it was guitar based, and it had higher tones in it. For years, that was the best version of "Sara." Then Mick Fleetwood did some dates with her on her 1986 Rock A Little tour and I heard a version of "Sara" that had my bawling my eyes out in the second row. This version has those high tones in the guitar work and a degree of the reflective nature of the vocals Stevie laid down when I saw her live in 1986. It sort of blends those and the version most of us know best. And it's not only an amazing song, it really underscores how Stevie is never finished with any song. Her songs touch so many of us and possibly that's because they're still alive.



One of my sisters has two nine-year-old girls. I called her Thursday to check on a few things and also to tell her about "Sara." It's one of her favorite songs and not just because she's also named "Sara." I didn't have to tell her too much. She'd gotten the CD at Best Buy. She told me, "strangest thing," when "Sara" comes on, her girls rush to the center of the living room and start twirling around the room. Doesn't the song have that effect on most of us? I can remember a horrible break up (he went back to his ex-wife) in March 1980 that left me unable or unwilling to get out of bed for the bulk of the day. Done with my pity party around 10:30 that night, too late to go out, I put on "Sara," blasted it and danced and twirled around the room. "Drownin' in the sea of love," indeed. "Where everyone would love to drown."



(We covered "Landslide" at Third, as well, so for thoughts on that track, click here.)



And that's pretty much the album . . . if you buy it. Well, if you buy it at Stevie's website, with the DVD concert, you can get various extras (including an autographed lithograph). If you buy it at Amazon as a download, you can get "Enchanted" as a bonus track. If you buy it at iTunes, you can get "Gold Dust Woman" and "Edge of Seventeen" as bonus tracks.



So, Kat, what are those three tracks like?



Well, what I'll tell you since you asked (nod to Judy Collins) is iTunes remains the crap-fest of downloads. I downloaded the album from Amazon with no problems as is generally the case. To get the two extra tracks, I also downloaded it from iTunes Tuesday. And?



If iTunes was my first stop or only stop, I'd be pissed as hell. I got error messages on "Circle Dance" and "Fall From Grace" and if there's a way to reload them (without paying), I'm not figuring out how. I've got the tracks via the Amazon download, so I'm fine. But that's the sort of problems that community members repeatedly have with iTunes and why Amazon is the download choice community wide.



So with that little bit of consumer reporting, let's turn to the tracks.



"Enchanted" (also from Wild Heart) is a powerful closer to the Amazon download and is really something. I didn't expect to feel the same about the iTunes bonuses. But I was surprised. "Edge of Seventeen" is so strong that I would actually argue it, and not "Stand Back," should have been the opener for the live album. An over twelve minute track might have seemed too much, however. Back in the day, we would have grooved on it endlessly but we live in the age of short attention spans. ("Land of snap decision, land of short attention span," Joni Mitchell, "Dog Eat Dog.") And "Gold Dust Woman"?





Amazing. You have to imagine the background vocalists repeating, "Running in the shadows." And over that you need to hear Stevie ripping into:



Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, you don't feel me now

You don't feel me

Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, you should see me now

You should see me

Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, you can't save me now

You can't save me.



But you can buy the concert. And you should. As a CD, DVD or download, it's an amazing testament to one of rock's greatest and most unique artists. And what men refuse to correct, history sometimes does. Which is why Stevie is the rock legend coming out of Fleetwood Mac, the one surviving, the one standing. The Soundstage Sessions captures all the reasons why that's the case.


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Today the US military announced: "AL ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq -- A Multi National Force -- West Marine died as the result of a non-combat related incident in Al Anbar Province April 3. The Marine’s name is being withheld pending next-of-kin notification and release by the Department of Defense. The incident is under investigation." The announcement brings the total number of US service members killed in Iraq to 4265.

There was an announced death yesterday as well. Pity the so-called paper of record fancies itself Women's Wear Daily today. In the real world, Khalid al-Ansary, Tim Cocks and Charles Dick (Reuters) report,


Iraqi forces have arrested two Sunni Arab neighbourhood guards, a security spokesman said on Saturday, after a string of other arrests in Baghdad that raised tensions.
U.S.-backed Sunni Arab fighters who switched sides to fight al Qaeda in late 2006 have been key to reducing violence in the capital and elsewhere, but many have been dismayed by the past week's arrests and attacks on guards accused of criminal acts.
Baghdad security spokesman Qassim al-Moussawi said the two were detained in the capital's southern Dora district four days ago. He did not say why.
Last Saturday, Iraqi forces seized Adil al-Mashhadani, head of a patrol unit in central Baghdad's Fadhil neighbourhood, sparking clashes with his supporters that killed three people. Moussawi said 32 others were detained in Fadhil, 11 of them already released, with the others staying in for questioning.

Meanwhile, staying with "Awakenings" but turning to PRESS CAUGHT WITH THEIR PANTS DOWN AGAIN news . . .

A number of e-mail drive-bys (including from one paper, not the New York Times) have come in insisting that the US isn't paying for the "Awakenings" and that it's only a few hundred that weren't already under control of al-Maliki's government. A number of the e-mails from non-reporters cite a really bad AFP article as proof that it was only a "few hundred."

Oh, you poor, pathetic fools. Grow the hell up and quit e-mailing me your damn garbage. Reality, every word here was correct. Reality, anyone saying otherwise didn't know what the hell they were talking about.

From M-NF's press release on the Thursday turnover of the last "Awakenings" [entitled "Final SoI transfer in Northern Iraq (Tikrit)"] which was issued today:


Coalition forces turned over complete authority of the Sons of Iraq program in Salah ad-Din province to the Government of Iraq in the final SoI transfer in Multi-National Division-North at Forward Operating Base Dagger, April 2.
Iraqi government officials, provincial government leaders, sheikhs and military members from the 4th Iraqi Army and 25th Infantry Division celebrated the formal transfer of control with a signing ceremony in a palace on the banks of the Tigris River. More than 10,000 men in Salah ad-Din registered with the Sons of Iraq program and are scheduled to receive their first paycheck from the Iraqi government in May.

A "few hundred"? "More than 10,000." al-Maliki's been paying them and not the US? They are now "scheduled to receive their first paycheck from the Iraqi government in May." Now the way I read "their first paycheck from the Iraqi government," that means their first-ever pay check from the Iraqi government. It seems pretty clear to me.

But then, it always clear to me because I actually checked my information and didn't grab a half-sentence in a press report, run with it and make it into a paragraph, into a full-blown story. M-NF has been laughing at the press and the way they've covered the "Awakenings" (in terms of payment and who had been turned over and who wasn't). Doesn't anyone call and check? That was my question. No. And I laughed with friends in M-NF at certain reporters (including one who wrote an e-mail so filthy he should get some sort of Henry Miller award).

I'm sorry your press and education systems failed you but that was never my problem. We stand by what went up here and would continue to stand by it even if the press release hadn't been issued.

With the exception of two Kaye Whitley defenders (actually, Kaye's friends hold the record for filthiest e-mails -- what a point of pride for Kaye), this week has seen non-stop e-mails insisting that the "Awakenings" were all handed over in March except for a "few hundred" and that the US hasn't paid any "Awakenings" in months.

I don't read the bulk of the e-mails. A huge number of people help out and it's not worth their time to put up with that nonsense.

In other, know reality news: Alsumaria is reporting that a cache of weapons has been found . . . yeah, Fadhil. No, all the weapons weren't discovered and taken in the house-to-house search. They also note Moqtada al-Sadr has issued an order for a "Million Men March" in Baghdad April 9th. Also from Alsumaria:

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki announced that defunct Baath Party and Al Qaeda have infiltrated Sahwas stressing at the same time that these forces which have contributed to ascertaining security by fighting extremists will not be abandoned. Al Maliki added that Al Fadhel incidents do not concern Sahwas but an organized armed party. "This is a message sent to the people taking the same path as organized criminals", he said.

Violence reported today includeds . . . .

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing which wounded seven people and a Baquba bombing which one person.

Shootings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Friday night home invasion in Tikrit which resulted in one death (the police officer, it was his home).

From from ETAN:

East Timorese Deserve Justice!
Statement by the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) on the Anniversary of the Liquiça Massacre
Contact: John M. Miller +1-718-596-7668; +1-917-690-4391
On the tenth anniversary of the massacre at the Catholic Church in Liquiça, ETAN urges the international community to finally respond to the demand for justice of the victims of this and other horrific crimes committed during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor (Timor-Leste). Those responsible for the many crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide committed during Indonesia's illegal occupation of East Timor between 1975 and 1999 must be held accountable. The victims of the Liquiça massacre and their families should not have to wait another decade for justice.
Calls for justice are not calls for revenge.
Only through credible trials and respect for the rule of law will victims find closure.
Only through real accountability will genuine friendship flourish between peoples of Indonesia and East Timor.
The brutal attack on those seeking refuge in Liquiça churchyard was part of the ongoing campaign to intimidate the East Timorese people into opposing independence and to create the illusion that any violence arose spontaneously among the East Timorese. At that time, the Liquiça killings were a clear statement that Indonesia's security forces had no intention of allowing an uncoerced vote. However, a month later, the UN, Indonesia and Portugal signed the May 5 agreement, which called for the Indonesian police to provide security for the coming UN-organized vote and for the Indonesian military to be left in place.
The events of 1999 and the preceding years of illegal occupation continue to affect the East Timorese, who continue to suffer from largely unhealed mass trauma. This is one of the underlying causes of the 2006 crisis in Dili. The failure to hold accountable those responsible for organizing and implementing the violence in Liquica and throughout the occupation has created a culture of impunity. Perpetrators believe they will not be held accountable for their crimes and victims often feel that they must take justice into their own hands. These attitudes contributed to the attacks on the President and Prime Minister early last year.
In Indonesia, impunity for past human rights crimes undermines the rule of law and democratic progress. Instead of facing trial, key figures in East Timor's oppression are running for prominent political offices. BackgroundOn April 6, 1999, hundreds of East Timorese and Indonesian militia, soldiers and police attacked several thousand internally displaced refugees taking shelter in the Catholic church in Liquica after slaughtering several civilians nearby the day before. According to a report commissioned by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [ http://etan.org/etanpdf/2006/CAVR/12-Annexe1-East-Timor-1999-GeoffreyRobinson.pdf ], the attack left up to 60 people dead, although the precise death toll is still unknown. The refugees had sought shelter in the churchyard after fleeing earlier militia attacks.
Eyewitness accounts and subsequent investigations showed that members of the notorious police unit BRIMOB played an active role in the attack as did the Besi Merah Putih militia (BMP, Iron Rod for the Red-and-White). Military units, including members of its special forces, Kopassus, were also involved.
According to the OHCHR report, "Although the attack was carried out mainly by BMP militiamen, eyewitnesses have testified that TNI (including Kopassus) and Brimob troops backed up the miltias and fired their weapons during the attack.""The systematic disposal of corpses... [t]ogether with the substantial evidence of TNI [Indonesian military] and Police involvement in the massacre itself, the presence of key officials at the scene of the crime, and the responsibility of those officials for creating and coordinating the BMP... makes it a virtual certainty that the Liquiça church massacre was planned by high-ranking TNI and civilian authorities," the report added.
The assault on the refugees did not end on April 6. Less than two weeks later, more than a dozen survivors and others were murdered on April 17 at the house of Mario Carrascalão in Dili, East Timor's capital.
These murders followed an officially-sponsored rally by militia. Those seeking to provide aid and comfort to survivors in Liquiça had their convoys attacked in subsequent months.All of the security officials tried in Indonesia's Ad Hoc Human Rights Court for their involvement in the massacre and other crimes were acquitted either at trial or on appeal, including police chief Timbul Silaen, regional military commander General Adam Damiri and East Timor military commander Tono Suratman.
In November 2001, the UN-funded Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) indicted nine Indonesian officers and 12 local militia for the massacre. The massacre was also cited in a wide-ranging indictment issued in 2003 by the UN-backed Serious Crimes process. It accused senior officials, including General Wiranto, former Indonesian defense minister, who is now a candidate for Indonesian president, of responsibility for crimes against humanity in East Timor in 1999.
All are currently residing in Indonesia. The Serious Crimes process in Dili convicted and jailed one militia member, who had been indicted separately of three murders, including one during the massacre. Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and brutally occupied the territory until October 1999, with backing from the United States and other powers. The United Nations never formally recognized Indonesia’s claim, and as many as 200,000 East Timorese were killed as a result of the Indonesian occupation. In 1999, Indonesia agreed to a UN-organized referendum on East Timor's political status.
After the referendum, in which East Timorese people voted overwhelmingly for independence, Indonesian security forces and the militia they controlled laid waste to the territory, displacing three-quarters of the population, murdering more than 1400 civilians, and destroying more than 75% of the buildings and infrastructure. Recently, the Timor-Leste NGO Forum urged the international community to "now implement the UN's repeated promises by allocating the necessary political, financial and legal resources to end impunity for these crimes against humanity."
In February, representatives of 60 organizations signed a letter to the UN Security Council urging concrete action to ensure justice and accountability for crimes committed during the Indonesian occupation. They decried "a double standard of justice, undermining the rule of law and respect for human rights in Timor-Leste, Indonesia and internationally." They wrote "A decade has passed since Indonesia's violent exit from Timor-Leste, and Indonesia has repeatedly demonstrated that it cannot or will not credibly try or extradite perpetrators of crimes connected with Indonesia's occupation of Timor-Leste."
ETAN was formed in 1991. The U.S.-based organization advocates for democracy, justice and human rights for Timor-Leste and Indonesia. ETAN opposed the nomination of Adm. (ret.) Dennis Blair, who as Pacific commander, delivered a message of 'business-as-usual' to General Wiranto in the immediate aftermath of the Liquiça massacre.
For additional background on the Liquiça massacre see ETAN's web site: http://www.etan.org.

The following community sites have updated since yesterday morning:


The Common Ills
Sometimes you just have to laugh
11 minutes ago

Cedric's Big Mix
Barack wears f-me pumps
12 minutes ago

The Daily Jot
THIS JUST IN! FEM FATAL OR JUST FEMME?
12 minutes ago

Thomas Friedman is a Great Man
Friday
17 hours ago

Mikey Likes It!
World Can't Wait, Tony Blair and more
17 hours ago

Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude
etan, baby formula
17 hours ago

SICKOFITRADLZ
Devin C. Poche, death "under investigation"
17 hours ago

Trina's Kitchen
Corn-Rice Casserole in the Kitchen
17 hours ago

Ruth's Report
Iraq ambassador and veterans
17 hours ago

Oh Boy It Never Ends
Bells Are Ringing
17 hours ago

Like Maria Said Paz
Blackwater, Chris Hedges
17 hours ago

Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)
Who will be punished?
17 hours ago

FYI, Kat will have a review up here this weekend of Stevie Nicks' new album. It will probably go up Sunday morning but it may be Sunday evening. (She's written it in longhand -- and it's long -- on the flight back. It's completed and just needs typing.)


The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

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tim cocks
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like maria said paz
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For instance, when you read the opening sentence of Karen DeYoung's "Congress Moves to Set Terms for Pakistan Aid" (Washington Post): "Just as it did with Iraq, Congress is moving toward imposing benchmarks that the Pakistani government must meet to qualify for billions of dollars of U.S. military assistance." What benchmarks did Congress ever enforce?

Not a damn one.

If they had, no funds would have gone to Iraq. This is the White House benchmarks from 2007 that DeYoung's referring to. They were not achieved in 2007 or 2008 and have, thus far, still not been achieved in 2009. Yet the money continues to pour into Iraq.

Benchmarks?

There's really no point in them if you impose them and then forget them. (And for easy graders who want to insist "Provincial elections!" -- only 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces held them so far. They were all supposed to hold them and Kirkuk was supposed to participate.)

The do-nothing Congress . . . did nothing. Over and over. Iraq disregarded the benchmarks and still got money. It disregards (present tense) the benchmarks and still gets money. It gets away with refusing, four months after ejecting their Speaker of Parliament, having anyone in charge and still they get money.

There is no accountability.

If you want to laugh some more, this time at 'reporting,' read this garbage by Kevin Sullivan (Washington Post) and, for reality, check out Laura King (Los Angeles Times). Reality goes beyond the fact that the ad Kev's all ga-ga on, the Turkish ad featuring a lookalike of Barack, actually mocks the US. Turns out the 'Barack' says of a Turkish bank (so reliable) , "If only our banks were like this one." Whore a little and they throw you in jail, whore a lot and they make you king as Bob Dylan might sing it. From King's article:

Obama's planned visit to Turkey beginning Sunday night, his first as president to a predominantly Muslim country, is being greeted with eagerness and excitement here -- but also with a trademark dose of prickly nationalism.
The stopover is viewed with pride as an affirmation of Turkey's importance as a bridge between East and West, a moderate and strategically positioned NATO ally with the ability to mediate with hard-line Muslim governments. For a partnership bruised by the perceived highhandedness of the Bush administration, particularly during the run-up to the Iraq war, the visit is also seen as a much-needed balm.
"Maybe Turkey needs the U.S., but no one should forget for a moment that the U.S. definitely needs us too," said Emrah Goksu, a 24-year-old student watching the crowds go by in Istanbul's Taksim Square.

If you want to see a populous nation turned into a group of extras who exist as a backdrop for the US, read Kevin's bad article.

The New York Times has nothing in the international news section on Iraq. We could go to town on what they want to call 'news' in the international section but that works into something Mike and I were already setting aside for Third.

Wisam Mohammed and Khalid al-Ansary (Reuters) report that gays are being targeted in Baghdad, with four corpses discovered March 25th and 2 gay men were murdered Thursday "after clerics urged a crackdown".

Yesterday's snapshot included this:

Let's drop back to the US Defense Dept report [PDF format warning] entitled "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq March 2009" which we were discussing yesterday. The report went out of the way to lavish the provincial elections held in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces on January 31st. You had to go deep to find out 'irritating' facts such as only 51% of Iraqis voted (many -- largely Shia -- have lost faith in the process as a result of the ones elected in 2005 having done little; Sunnis boycotted the 2005 elections and had they done the same this year, the percentage would have been even lower). Deep in, it did note that "no party won the majority of votes in any province. As a result, most of the 14 prvoinces where elections were held will face a period of complex coalition-building before they can form governments."

You need to remember that, that there was no majority and that DoD said a "complex coalition-building" effort will take place. With that in mind, Anthony Shadid's "In Iraq, Political Ambiguity" (Washington Post):

One belonged to Karim Hussein, known as Abu Maarouf, who holds sway in the outskirts of Baghdad, the kind of place where a skittish soldier can be seen carrying an assault rifle in each hand. The Shiite-led government, he said, is out to destroy the Awakening, the name for Sunni fighters and former insurgents who joined hands with the U.S. military. "Not only the government, but the American forces, too," he declared.
The other view belonged to Ahmed Abu Risha, brother of the slain founder of the Awakening. That same government, he said, was absolutely right to crack down on the fighters in Baghdad and arrest their leader. "No one is above the law," Abu Risha said.
Politics in Iraq have long been facilely described as a competition among Sunni Arab, Shiite Arab and Kurd. Divisions have long beset each community. But as Hussein and Abu Risha's views suggest, at no time since the fall of President Saddam Hussein six years ago have politics been so fluid and old assumptions so discredited, with traditional alliances crumbling and new ones emerging in the wake of January's provincial elections. Iraq's politicians are trying to forge the grand coalition that can deliver victory in national elections by January.

For some strange reasons, Shadid also includes the following -- and does so as a rah-rah: "In a visit unimaginable a year ago, Iraq's Sunni vice president visited a hospital this week in the Sadr City section of Baghdad that is the stronghold of Sadr's militia." Golly, Tone, does the man have a name? Why, yes, he does, Tariq al-Hashimi -- a detail left out of the report. Now when the US press regularly ignores candidates who actually ran in the provincial elections to focus on al-Maliki, that's bad. When a vice president of Iraq is mentioned without being named, we're into some troubling xenophobia. But, more to the point, want to rah-rah, Tone? To do so, you have to leave out those prickly little things the rest of us call facts, right?

Right. Yes, Tarqi al-Hashimi visited Sadr City, a hospital there, last week. Wednesday in fact. And, if you can put down the pom-poms, Tone, how about telling us what happened during that visit? Oh, right, an attempt on al-Hashimi's life via a rocket attack. Guess that doesn't make for the ez-breezy Cover Girl type concealer, eh?



The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.


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