Tuesday,
July 1, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, war resisters have greater
support in Canada than some may have thought as a new poll indicates,
tag sale on Iraqi oil continues, the Nader-Gonzalez campaign raises
over $10,000 yesterday, and more.
Starting with war
resistance. As Canada gears up for actions to demonstrate support for
US war resisters, a new poll is released. The Angus Reid Poll finds:
"A majority of Canadians would agree with the decision to let American
military deserters stay in Canada as permanent residents, a new Angus
Reid Strategies survey reveals. . . In the online survey of a
representative national sample, three-in-five Canadians (64%) say they
would agree to give these U.S. soldiers the opportunity to remain in
Canada as permanent residents. Quebec (70%) houses the highest
proportion of respondents who agree with the motion, while Alberta
(52%) has the fewest supporters. A gender breakdown reveals that while
both males and females would agree to let U.S. military deserters
remain in Canada, females are much more sympathetic (69% versus 57%)."
The findings come as Canada is on the verge of deporting the first US
Iraq War resister. May 21st was when Corey Glass was told he would be deported.
Corey Glass is an Iraq War veteran and a US war resister. He went to
Canada seeking asylum -- the kind of welcoming Canada provided to war
resisters ("draft dodgers" and "deserters") during Vietnam. After being
told he was being deported, he's been 'extended' through July 10th. June 3rd Canada's House of Commons voted (non-binding motion) in favor of Canada being a safe harbor for war resisters. Douglas Glynn (The Barrie Examiner) quotes
Corey stating, "The motion is not legally binding, though the majority
of Parliament voted for it. I realized innocent people were being
killed. I tried to quit the military while in Iraq," he said, "but my
commander told me I was just stressed out and needed some R and R (rest
and relaxation), because I was doing a job I was not trained to do. I
went home on leave and said I was not coming back." So that's where it
stands currently.
STOP THE DEPORTATION OF U.S. WAR RESISTER COREY GLASS
On July 2nd… CALL MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION DIANE FINLEY!
DetailsU.S.
Iraq War resister Corey Glass is still facing deportation on July 10th,
despite the Parliament of Canada having voted in favour of a motion to
let Corey and other U.S. war resisters stay.
The
federal government and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration must
respect the will of Parliament and implement the motion which calls on
the government to "immediately implement a program to allow
conscientious objectors and their immediate family members […] to apply
for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and … the
government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions
… against such individuals."
On July 2nd, the War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on all supporters to call Minister Diane Finley and ask her to: • STOP deportation proceedings against Corey Glass and all U.S. Iraq war resisters; and • IMPLEMENT the motion adopted by Canada's Parliament to allow U.S. Iraq war resisters to apply for permanent resident status.
Here are the numbers to call: Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley 613.996.4974
Join
a vigil and delegation to a Canadian consulate near you on Wednesday,
July 9th to support war resisters! On the eve of Corey Glass' possible
deportation, we will demand, "Dear Canada: Abide by the June 3rd
resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" More details and cities to be confirmed soon!
Washington DC - Time TBA - 501 Pennsylvania Ave NW (map). Sponsored by Veterans for Peace. Info: TBA San Francisco - Noon to 1pm - 580 California St (map). Sponsored by Courage to Resist. Info: 510-488-3559; courage(at)riseup.net Seattle - Time TBA - 1501 4th Ave (map). Sponsored by Project Safe Haven. Info: 206-499-1220; projectsafehaven(at)hotmail.com Dallas - Time TBA - 750 North St Paul St (map). Sponsored by North Texas for Justice and Peace. Info: 214-718-6362; hftomlinson(at)riseup.net New York City - Noon to 1pm - 1251 Avenue of the Americas (map). Sponsored by War Resisters' League. Info: 212-228-0450; wrl(at)warresisters.org Philadelphia - Time TBA - 1650 Market St (map). Sponsored by Payday Network. Info: 215-848-1120; payday(at)paydaynet.org Minneapolis - Time TBA - 701 Fourth Ave S (map). Info: TBA Los Angeles - Noon to 1pm - 550 South Hope St (map). Sponsored by Progressive Democrats LA. Info: pdlavote(at)aol.com Help
organize a vigil at one of these other Canadian Consulates: Atlanta,
Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Anchorage, Houston,
Raleigh, Phoenix, or San Diego. Please contact Courage to Resist at
510-488-3559. Veterans for Peace issued a joint call with Courage
to Resist and Project Safe Haven for July 9th vigils at Canadian
Consulates: "Dear Canada: Do Not Deport U.S. War Resisters!" Contact us
if you can help organize a vigil, or can otherwise get involved. Locations of the 22 Canadian Consulates in the United States. Recently
on June 3rd the Canadian Parliament passed an historic motion to
officially welcome war resisters! It now appears, however, that the
Conservative government may disregard the motion. Iraq combat
veteran turned courageous war resister, 25-year-old Sgt. Corey Glass of
the Indiana National Guard is still scheduled to be deported July 10th. We
will ask that the Canadian government respect the democratic decision
of Parliament, the demonstrated opinion of the Canadian citizenry, the
view of the United Nations, and millions of Americans by immediately
implementing the motion and cease deportation proceedings against Corey
Glass and other current and future war resisters. Join Courage to
Resist, Veterans for Peace, and Project Safe Haven at Canadian
Consulates across the United States (Washington DC, San Francisco, New
York City, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles confirmed--more to be
announced). We mailed and delivered over 10,000 of the original
letters to Canadian officials. Please sign the new letter, "Dear
Canada: Abide by resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" http://www.couragetoresist.org/canada
Canada's War Resisters Support Campaign will hold a "Rally to Stop the Deportation of Parkdale Resident Corey Glass"
July 3rd, begins at 7:00 p.m. (with doors opening at six p.m.) at the
May Robinson Building, 20 West Lodge, Toronto: "In 2002, Corey joined
the Indiana National Guard. He was told he would not have to fight on
foreign shores. But in 2005 he was sent to Iraq. What he saw there
caused him to become a conscientious objector and he came to Canada. On
May 21, 2008, he got his final order to leave Canada by July 10, 2008.
Then on June 3 Parliament passed a motion for all the war resisters to
stay in Canada. However the Harper government says it will ignore this
motion." They are also asking for a July 2nd call-in. Diane Finley is
the Immigration and Citizenship Minister and her phone numbers are
(613) 996-4974 and (519) 426-3400 -- they also provide her e-mail
addresses minister@cic.gc.ca ("minister" at "cic.gc.ca") and finled1@parl.gc.ca ("finled1" at "parl.gc.ca").
There
is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which
includes Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste,
Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano
Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal,
Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall,
Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve
Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha
Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister,
Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada,
Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen,
Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman,
Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck,
Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine,
Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey,
Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua
Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell,
Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake,
Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres,
Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and
Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada
have applied for asylum.
Turning to Iraq, where UPI notes the (five) attempted assassinations of (five) judges yesterday. You might think it was a big story. Not to the New York Times where Sabrina Tavernise and Andrew E. Kramer offer up seven sentences
on the assassination attempts -- seven sentences that begin in
paragraph 20 of a 25 paragraph story. The two conclude, "The attacks
seemed to be calculated to intimidate rather than to kill. It was not
clear who was responsible." More attention, to be fair, than PBS' The NewsHour gave it last night with Ray Suarez offering,
"In Iraq today, bombings in Baghdad targeted five judges; all escaped
unharmed." And for public television's NewsHour, that was that. The Gulf Daily News leads
with the assassination attempts, "Only one of the jurists was injured
in the attacks, which happened four days after senior judge Kamil Al
Showaili of the country's Higher Judicial Council was assassinated
while driving home in mostly Shi'ite east Baghdad. Police said it was
unclear whether Al Showaili's slaying was related to the latest
attacks." Of al-Showali, RTT notes
he was "[t]he President of the same court" and "one of Iraq's most
important judges, charged with handling criminal cases for eastern
Baghdad." Jordan's Al Bawaba explains
of the attacks "police believe may be part of a Shiite campaign to
force them to free jailed militants or reduce their sentences."
On the diplomatic front, Jordan Times reports
that Nayef Zeidan was sworn in yesterday as Jordan's ambassador to
Iraq. Previously, Zeidan was Jordan's ambassador in the United Arab
Emirates. Jordan's embassy in the Netherlands notes,
"The Jordian embassy in Baghdad has been run by a charge d'affaires for
three years and the Kingdom has not sent an ambassador, citing
'security concerns'." This follows King Abdullah II's public
statements in May -- as the US White House pressured Arab countries --
that Jordan would
wound send an official emissary to Iraq. The Jordan Times points out,
"Several Arab countries have linked sending back their ambassadors to
the restoration of security in Iraq. So far, Bahrain and the UAE have
decided to send back ambassadors to Baghdad after the security
situation improved following two 'successful' military campaigns
against Al Sadr militia and Al Qaeda." King Abdulla II, speaking with Lally Weymouth (Washington Post) last week,
offered, "I am actually optimistic for the first time on Iraq. I think
that Iraqi society is moving in the right direction. It's the first
time that I have felt that Iraqis have, as much as they can, bound
themselves together into a unity." From Jordan to another country that
shares a border with Iraq, Turkey. The Turkish Daily News reports,
"Turkey has proposed establishing a joint industrial zone with Iraq in
the border town of Ovakoy, a province in the country's southeastern
Anatolian region, State Minister Kursat Tuzmen told reporters
yesterday." Today's Zaman quotes
Tuzmen declaring, "We may establish a joint industrial zone at Ovakoy,
on the Turkish-Iraqi border. Both Turkey and Iraq could freely conduct
industrial and commercial activities there. We may concentrate on
energy production and sales at the planned industrial zone at first,
and later extend its scope to other fields." The comments are similar
to ones Tuzmen made Sunday while attending a business forum in
Baghdad's Green Zone. Last week, Tuzmen was also stating Turkey would
be increasing trade with Catalonia. Meanwhile Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports
that alcohol is being sold in Iraq ("retail only") and speak with
Yazidi Dawood and Christian Saif (who didn't want their full names
noted for publication) about their experiences selling alcohol
(previously Saif had a store fire bombed and nine of the thirteen
stores his family owned were taken over by "Islamist insurgents".).
As noted yesterday, the TSC (technical service contracts) -- which were no-bid contracts -- are on hold. Sudarsan Raghavan and Steven Mufson (Washington Post) report
Iraq's plan, announced by the country's Minister of Oil Hussain
al-Shahristani, to up "production by about 60 percent, or approximately
1.5 million barrels a day" via opening eight fields (six oil, two
natural gas) up to foreign partners and the bidders are "35 companies
-- including firms from the United States, Britain, France, Russia,
China and India". The New Zeland Herald estimates
this move "could lead to the biggest foreign stake in Iraq since the
industry was nationalised more than 30 years ago" while also noting
"concerns that a dominat role for Western firms could feed perceptions
that US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein to grab the country's natural
resources." Doug Smith and Said Rifai (Los Angeles Times) explain,
"The bidding will proceed even though parliament has not yet ratified a
national oil law to regulate foreign contracts" and note that the
announcement took place during a "testy news conference" when the
Ministor of Oil "renewed his criticism of the Kurdish regional
government for signing deals with foreign companies that offer them a
share of oil they extract." Gina Chon and Russell Gold (Wall St. Journal) add
that Shahrastani called the "20 separate oild eals, with companies
including Hunt Oil," to be "a clear violation of the rules." Sam Dagher (Christian Science Monitor) observes,
"Major oil firms have been positioning themselves for years to gain
access to Iraq's vast oil reserves, which are estimated at 115 billion
barrels -- the world's second largest after Saudi Arabia." Janet McBride (Reuters) wonders,
"Are U.S. and British firms obvious choices as partners because of
their expertise? After all before the U.S.-led invasion Iraq often
preferrred Russian firms. Or are U.S. and British firms repeating the
benefit of their government's policies?"
Turning to some of today's violence . . .
Bombings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports
a Baghdad car bombing that left five people wounded, a Diyala Province
roadside bombing that wounded "one policeman, three children and four
men" and aother Diyala Province roadside bombing that claimed the lives
of 3 brothers and left their father wounded a Nineveh Province truck
bombing that claimed the life of 1 person (plus the bomber) and left
twenty-five people wounded and, dropping back to Monday, a Diyala
Province car bombing that claimed 4 lives and left nine people
wounded." Reuters notes
a Mosul roadside bombing that claimed the life of 1 police officer and
a Sulaiman Pek bombing apparently attempting to assassinate "the mayor
of the town of Sulaiman Pek" that resulted in the death of 1 bodyguard.
Shootings?
Reuters notes Iraqi soldiers shot dead 2 people in Baghdad.
Hugh Eakin (New York Times) reports
one of the more alarming incidents of violence Iraqi documents from
Saddam Hussein's rule that are considered historic, important for
humanitarian and historical purposes and document human rights abuses
are not in Iraq. They are now in the United States and under the
control of the right-wing Hoover Institution. An Iraqi exile (Kanan
Makiya) 'claimed' themwhen he returned to Iraq after the start of the
illegal war. He set up the Iraq Memory Foundation. The files, which
were never Kanan Makiya's to claim, were being held in the Green Zone
until Makiya decided to take them out in 2006. Whether he had
permission is unclear but what is clear is that the Iraqi government
wants those documents back and most outside 'experts' believe the
papers should be housed in the Iraq National Library and Archive.
Meanwhile James Glanz (New York Times) reports
that at least 13 Americans have died in Iraq from electrocution caused
by the shoddy work done by KBR which knew of the problems but did not
fix them. Meanwhile, Adam Kokesh (Revolutionay Patriot) posts
an e-mail from a service member stationed at Camp Falluja in Iraq
revealing that "our sister units berthing area caught fire and burned
to the ground. It spread so fast and with 120 temps here today, there
was no way they could contain the fire in time. These Marines lost
everything that they had, all of their military issued gear as well as
personal gear."; while another explains that the loss is made harder
due to the fact that the PX is a problem and includes this quote, "Yeah
it is very hard to get stuff here, the shipments have really slowed
down. We pretty much resort to people back in the states sending us
shaving cream and s**t like that, or wait until someone goes to BIAP
and they bring it back in bulk. You can't even buy skivee shirts and
what not. It blows."
Turning to the US race for president. Alexander Mooney (CNN) reports
on the latest CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll which finds Ralph
Nader with 6% of the vote, Bob Barr with 3% (Adam Kokesh is supporting Bob Barr),
John McCain with 43% and Barack Obama with 46% -- the poll does not
include Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party's presumed nominee. PBS' NewsHour has today added profiles of presidential candidates Ralph Nader and Bob Barr.
"We do need a more fundamental strategy here on giant corporate power," Ralph Nader declared in October of last year at the DC Green Festival.
That is the central political issue of our time. It's corporate power
and the takeover of our government and the spread of commercial values
into every nook and cranny of our culture including the
commercialization of childhood, the commercialization of universities,
the commercialization of almost everything these large companies touch.
. . . The other day there was a report saying that TORT lawyers were
having trouble suing nursing home chains for severe mistreatment of
elderly people and neglect. And the reason why is because these
nursing home chains are owned by tiers of corporations -- some of them
offshore. And the most immediate tier have very few assets so they
can't be responsible for paying the verdicts. And so the TORT lawyers
say, 'Well we just can't handle it.' And so more and more people can
be mistreated or neglected in these nursing homes with impunity."
Ralph Nader's running mate is Matt Gonzalez and the Nader-Gonzalez ticket is on the ballot in Illinois and The Hartford Courant notes:
"Campaign volunteer Peter Ellmer was able to solicit several pledges on
Sunday from people who are willing to collect signatures to get Nader
on the Connecticut ballot." Nader is working to be on the ballot and Team Nader notes that Monday saw $12,761.69 donated to the Nader-Gonzalez campaign. We'll close with Nader in a moment, but first, the Dems. Paul Bedard (US News & World Reports) notes that Barack's campaign is still suffering problems from Wesley Clark's remarks [see yesterday's snapshot or Deilah Boyd's (A Scriveners Lament) post here]
and now also from Barack's efforts to distance himself from Clark and
includes these observations by Suzi Parker, "Obama can kiss Arkansas
goodbye. A lot of Dems are mad that Obama threw Clark under the bus
and denounced his comments about McCain. If anything, they think the
Obama should have just let the comments lie. A lot of Dems I am
talking to are Clintonites but also supported Clark in 2004 [when he
ran for president]. Also hearing from Clark supporters who were in the
draft movement that the Obama folks must have forgotten Clark has a
massive database of supporters that has only gotten bigger since 2004
because Clark has been out campaigning for Dems since then." Susan (Random Thoughts from Reno) blogs,
"Now convince me, Obama supporters, your candidate is something other
than a ringer for the GOP. This guy is NOT, repeat NOT, a Democrat.
Now he wants to expand 'faight-based' programs . . . Yeah, give these
outfits federal money and allow them to discriminate. That's REAL
progress." Also noting the new support for 'faith-based' programs is Vasleftt (Corrente) who terms it
part of "Obama's bottomless pit of capitulation" and withdraws the
previous endorsement of Barack. This is on the heels of his cave-in on
illegal spying, his broken promise over public financing and, as Klaus Marre (The Hill) points out,
Barack's 'big speech' yesterday was a slap-down to MoveOn. If there is
a spine in there, presumably, it is collapsible. Finally, Team Nader notes:
We're having a party!
A Nader/Gonzalez House Party!
And we're inviting you to be one of 100 Nader/Gonzalez supporters to host a House Party on Saturday night July 26, 2008. Sign up now.
With the help of modern technology, you can have Ralph Nader right there with you in your living room.
If you choose to be one of the 100 to host a house party, we will send you a remarkable documentary DVD about Ralph Nader - An Unreasonable Man and the Awake from Your Slumber DVD starring Ralph Nader and Patti Smith - both autographed by Ralph Nader.
Plus, we'll throw in a special collector's edition Nader/Gonzalez button.
The purpose of the National Nader/Gonzalez House Party Day?
Raise $100,000 to help put Nader/Gonzalez on at least 45 state ballots.
To
reach our goal, we are asking that each house party host bring together
20 or more friends, family, and other party goers to donate $50 each. But
you can organize your house party any way you want. If you want to
bring together 40 people at $25 a pop, that's great. Or four people at
$250 a pop, that's good too.
He'll
be available that night - either by phone or through the wonders of the
Internet - to talk with you and answer your questions.
So, if you want to host a house party - click here. Our house party staff will answer any and all questions you may have.
If you can't host a house party, please donate now
to help fund our ballot access drive - remember, you can give
Nader/Gonzalez up to the legal limit of $4,600. And if you choose, your
name will appear on our home page!
While
McCain and Obama continue to flip-flop toward November, Ralph Nader
remains steadfast - standing firm on a platform to shift the power away
from the corporations and back to the people.
On Sunday, Ralph told ABC's George Stephanapolous that we intend to get on at least 45 states.
In
Canada, US war resisters need to be granted safe harbor status. That's
true of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey whose cases the Canadian
Supreme Court refused to hear in November, that's true of Robin Long
who was nearly deported last year. That's true of all war resisters but
especially Corey Glass. May 21st was when Corey Glass was told he would be deported.
Corey Glass is an Iraq War veteran and a US war resister. He went to
Canada seeking asylum -- the kind of welcoming Canada provided to war
resisters ("draft dodgers" and "deserters") during Vietnam. After being
told he was being deported, he's been 'extended' through July 10th.
STOP THE DEPORTATION OF U.S. WAR RESISTER COREY GLASS
On July 2nd… CALL MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION DIANE FINLEY!
Details
U.S.
Iraq War resister Corey Glass is still facing deportation on July 10th,
despite the Parliament of Canada having voted in favour of a motion to
let Corey and other U.S. war resisters stay.
The
federal government and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration must
respect the will of Parliament and implement the motion which calls on
the government to "immediately implement a program to allow
conscientious objectors and their immediate family members […] to apply
for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and … the
government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions
… against such individuals."
On July 2nd, the War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on all supporters to call Minister Diane Finley and ask her to: • STOP deportation proceedings against Corey Glass and all U.S. Iraq war resisters; and • IMPLEMENT the motion adopted by Canada’s Parliament to allow U.S. Iraq war resisters to apply for permanent resident status.
Here are the numbers to call: Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley 613.996.4974
It
is more urgent than ever that we send a message to the Canadian
government that Canada needs to welcome US men and women who refuse to
participate in the illegal and immoral war in Iraq. There are three
actions you can take today to help support the war resisters.
Sign the petition in support of the war resisters;
Contact the federal government and make your views known; and
Petition Add
your name to the petition calling for the federal government to
implement a provision to allow war resisters to stay in Canada. Initial
signatories include June Callwood, David Suzuki, Maude Barlow, Shirley
Douglas, Naomi Klein, Ann-Marie MacDonald, and many others. Please download a copy of the petition, sign it, circulate it and return it to the campaign.
Write a letter to the editor Letters
to the editor are an important piece of the public debate on this
issue. The majority of Canadians opposed the war in Iraq and support
the provision of sanctuary for US soldiers. Send a copy of your letter
to the campaign to resisters@sympatico.ca.
Join
a vigil and delegation to a Canadian consulate near you on Wednesday,
July 9th to support war resisters! On the eve of Corey Glass' possible
deportation, we will demand, "Dear Canada: Abide by the June 3rd
resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" More details and cities to be confirmed soon!
Washington DC - Time TBA - 501 Pennsylvania Ave NW (map). Sponsored by Veterans for Peace. Info: TBA San Francisco - Noon to 1pm - 580 California St (map). Sponsored by Courage to Resist. Info: 510-488-3559; courage(at)riseup.net Seattle - Time TBA - 1501 4th Ave (map). Sponsored by Project Safe Haven. Info: 206-499-1220; projectsafehaven(at)hotmail.com Dallas - Time TBA - 750 North St Paul St (map). Sponsored by North Texas for Justice and Peace. Info: 214-718-6362; hftomlinson(at)riseup.net New York City - Noon to 1pm - 1251 Avenue of the Americas (map). Sponsored by War Resisters' League. Info: 212-228-0450; wrl(at)warresisters.org Philadelphia - Time TBA - 1650 Market St (map). Sponsored by Payday Network. Info: 215-848-1120; payday(at)paydaynet.org Minneapolis - Time TBA - 701 Fourth Ave S (map). Info: TBA Los Angeles - Noon to 1pm - 550 South Hope St (map). Sponsored by Progressive Democrats LA. Info: pdlavote(at)aol.com Help
organize a vigil at one of these other Canadian Consulates: Atlanta,
Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Anchorage, Houston,
Raleigh, Phoenix, or San Diego. Please contact Courage to Resist at
510-488-3559. Veterans for Peace issued a joint call with Courage to
Resist and Project Safe Haven for July 9th vigils at Canadian
Consulates: "Dear Canada: Do Not Deport U.S. War Resisters!" Contact us
if you can help organize a vigil, or can otherwise get involved. Locations of the 22 Canadian Consulates in the United States. Recently
on June 3rd the Canadian Parliament passed an historic motion to
officially welcome war resisters! It now appears, however, that the
Conservative government may disregard the motion. Iraq combat
veteran turned courageous war resister, 25-year-old Sgt. Corey Glass of
the Indiana National Guard is still scheduled to be deported July 10th. We
will ask that the Canadian government respect the democratic decision
of Parliament, the demonstrated opinion of the Canadian citizenry, the
view of the United Nations, and millions of Americans by immediately
implementing the motion and cease deportation proceedings against Corey
Glass and other current and future war resisters. Join Courage to
Resist, Veterans for Peace, and Project Safe Haven at Canadian
Consulates across the United States (Washington DC, San Francisco, New
York City, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles confirmed--more to be
announced). We mailed and delivered over 10,000 of the original
letters to Canadian officials. Please sign the new letter, "Dear
Canada: Abide by resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" http://www.couragetoresist.org/canada
Stacey wondered if we could note that the Nader-Gonzalez ticket has redesigned their issues page?
"I
think the two parties are hurting our country," said Nader of the
Democratic and Republican Parties, "and they need more competition. As
we see on our website VoteNader.org,
you will see the issues we have on the table are majoritarian issues:
single-payer health care, do something about the wasteful military
budget, labor law reform, consumer protection . . . living wage, etc. .
. . The problem is, George, there's too much political bigotry against
small parties and candidates. You see it in these huge ballot access
laws which we're trying to overcome now with our roadtrippers, very,
very costly. We're excluded from the debates. Why do we ration debates?
We ought to have staggered debates. You've got Wimbledon, the sixtieth
seed gets a chance, you've got the NCAA, the sixtieth team gets a
chance. You have a huge roll of wealth on it. We're appealing to the
people in this country. . . . We're appealing to the people in this
country who want more choices on the ballot and Nader-Gonzalez provides
those choices."
Illinois
marks the third state where Nader/Gonzalez will be on the ballot in
2008, but did not qualify in 2004. Arizona and Hawaii are the other
two. Presently, the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign has seven teams in seven
states collecting signatures for ballot access. Sunday, on ABC’s “This
Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Mr. Nader announced his campaign will
be on the ballot in 45 states. In 2004 the Democratic Party and
their allies initiated frivolous lawsuits aimed at keeping the
Nader/Camejo ticket off the ballots in 18 states, denying voters the
choice of an Independent candidacy for President and Vice President. In
2008 the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign is cautioning the Democratic Party not
to misuse the court system with baseless political challenges and to
honor the will of the people for more choices on the ballot.
Meanwhile The Hartford Courant's "Nadar Makes Campaign Stop"
notes: "Campaign volunteer Peter Ellmer was able to solicit several
pledges on Sunday from people who are willing to collect signatures to
get Nader on the Connecticut ballot."
After
19 paragraphs on the oil 'story' (as noted in yesterday's snapshot, the
no-bid contracts that were supposed to be signed yesterday are now on
hold but Iraq is stating that six fields will be opened) Tavernise and
Kramer include this:
A spate of
violence against judges escalated sharply on Monday. Bombs exploded in
front of the houses of four judges from the Court of Appeals in largely
Shiite eastern Baghdad, a spokesman for the court said. A
fifth judge discovered a bomb in his car as he was leaving the same
court Monday afternoon. An Interior Ministry spokesman said the bomb
exploded and the judge, Hassan Fuad, was wounded in the blast. The attacks seemed to be calculated to intimidate rather than to kill. It was not clear who was responsible. "This
is an attack to destroy the state itself," said Wail Abdul Latif, a
member of Parliament who worked as a judge for decades. "These judges
were far from sectarianism and politics."
And that's
that. 19 paragraphs on 'nothing has happened with the oil, but we are
watching closely,' four paragraphs on five assassination attempts and
then a final paragraph noting some other violence from yesterday. If
five judges were targeted in the US, do you honestly think it would not
be news?
James Glanz' "After Deaths, U.S. Inspects Electric Work Done in Iraq"
runs on A10 along with Tavernise and Kramer's article. It can be summed
up as: at least 13 Americans have died in Iraq from shoddy work done by
contractor KBR which knew of the problem but did not fix it.
Which brings us to Michael Kamber's nonsense that starts on the front page "Wounded Iraqi Forces Say They've Been Abandoned."
Before you grab the tissues, who are these 'forces'? Sometimes Kamber's
writing about Iraqi police officers. Sometimes he's writing about Iraqi
soldiers. Sometimes he's writing about militias -- thugs. It should be
noted he's never writing about Iraqi civilians -- you know, the people
trapped in the illegal war. Turns out Nouri al-Maliki -- who sits on
millions -- won't apparently offer decent benefits to his hired thugs
after they're wounded. Boo hoo. Then you get a story of a police
officer and that should really bother you because the New York Times
never takes a victim's word for it. But there's a police officer saying
he was injured (verifiable) and that, while in the hospital, he was
fired (maybe verifiable) with the excuse that he'd been in a fight when
he was 16-years-old and therefore shouldn't have passed the background
check. That last part is not verified and it would be nice if the paper
would grant that same approach (believe everything) to all victims. But
they don't. It's curious that they would here. The article's a mess.
Its focus morphs throughout.
At one point it's dropping back to
2004, but the bulk of it is during al-Maliki's tenure (since April
2006). That's al-Maliki's problem. It's the same problem that has so
many Iraqi civilians struggling, it's the same problem that has the
Iraqi military under-armed. He's stockpiling, sitting on huge sums of
monies (millions) and he needs to address the issue. (The thugs of the
"Awakening" Council are paid with US tax dollars so the White House
would be over some sort of worker injury program.) The article's
offensive from the start with the approach that we hear about the
American wounded and dead -- we do? -- but what about the Iraqis! You
read on and you're not hearing about the Iraqis. You're hearing about
Iraqis who've decided to take part in the illegal war. And considering
the very real silence on US deaths and injuries (in Iraq) from the New York Times,
this is just offensive: "In the United States, the issue of war
injuries has revolved almost entirely around the care received by the
30,000 wounded American veterans." Oh, is the Times confusing itself with the Washington Post? The Times
doesn't believe it broke the Walter Reed Medical Center scandal, do
they? They haven't wrongly been sending checks to Dana Priest and Anne
Hull, have they? The New York Times has done damn little to cover the dead or the wounded in the five years and counting of this illegal war.
The strongest article runs on the front page . . . of the Times' arts section ("The Arts"), Hugh Eakin's "Iraqi Files In U.S.: Plunder or Rescue?"
which examines Iraqi documents from Saddam Hussein's rule that are
considered historic, important for humanitarian and historical purposes
and, yet, in the United States. In the United States and under the
control of the right-wing Hoover Institution. An Iraqi exile (Kanan
Makiya) 'claimed' themwhen he returned to Iraq after the start of the
illegal war. He set up the Iraq Memory Foundation. The files, which
were never Kanan Makiya's to claim, were being held in the Green Zone
until Makiya decided to take them out in 2006. Whether he had
permission is unclear but what is clear is that the Iraqi government
wants those documents back and most outside 'experts' believe the
papers should be housed in the Iraq National Library and Arachive.
Iraqi
Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said the government would seek to
tap Western technology and capital to increase Iraqi oil production by
about 60 percent, or approximately 1.5 million barrels a day, swelling
Iraqi oil revenue and potentially easing tight petroleum markets where
prices have doubled in the past year. Shahristani
said 35 companies -- including firms from the United States, Britain,
France, Russia, China and India -- had been selected to bid on
long-term contracts to provide services, equipment, training and advice
on the country's biggest oil fields, which have suffered from age,
technological neglect and mismanagement during years of war and
economic sanctions.
The video is among the videos at the campaign's video page. It is also from the documentary An Unreasonable Man (I'm not sure if it's bonus footage or actually part of the documentary) directed by Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan.
Monday,
June 30, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, attempts to assassinate
five Iraqi judges take place, four Abu Ghraib prisoners sue, and more.
Starting with war resistance. Henry Aubin's "Canada is wrong not to give asylum to U.S. war resisters" (Montreal Gazette) ran earlier this month. Today The Montreal Gazette notes
the column was very popular with readers explaining "most writers
supported Aubin's contention that welcoming U.S. war resisters would be
the right thing to do" and quotes Nadia Alexan writing that "if there
was ever a case made against an unjust immoral, manufactured war, the
agression against Iraq should take the cake."
Join
a vigil and delegation to a Canadian consulate near you on Wednesday,
July 9th to support war resisters! On the eve of Corey Glass' possible
deportation, we will demand, "Dear Canada: Abide by the June 3rd
resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" More details and cities to be confirmed soon!
Washington DC - Time TBA - 501 Pennsylvania Ave NW (map). Sponsored by Veterans for Peace. Info: TBA San Francisco - Noon to 1pm - 580 California St (map). Sponsored by Courage to Resist. Info: 510-488-3559; courage(at)riseup.net Seattle - Time TBA - 1501 4th Ave (map). Sponsored by Project Safe Haven. Info: 206-499-1220; projectsafehaven(at)hotmail.com Dallas - Time TBA - 750 North St Paul St (map). Sponsored by North Texas for Justice and Peace. Info: 214-718-6362; hftomlinson(at)riseup.net New York City - Noon to 1pm - 1251 Avenue of the Americas (map). Sponsored by War Resisters' League. Info: 212-228-0450; wrl(at)warresisters.org Philadelphia - Time TBA - 1650 Market St (map). Sponsored by Payday Network. Info: 215-848-1120; payday(at)paydaynet.org Minneapolis - Time TBA - 701 Fourth Ave S (map). Info: TBA Los Angeles - Noon to 1pm - 550 South Hope St (map). Sponsored by Progressive Democrats LA. Info: pdlavote(at)aol.com Help
organize a vigil at one of these other Canadian Consulates: Atlanta,
Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Anchorage, Houston,
Raleigh, Phoenix, or San Diego. Please contact Courage to Resist at
510-488-3559. Veterans for Peace issued a joint call with Courage
to Resist and Project Safe Haven for July 9th vigils at Canadian
Consulates: "Dear Canada: Do Not Deport U.S. War Resisters!" Contact us
if you can help organize a vigil, or can otherwise get involved. Locations of the 22 Canadian Consulates in the United States. Recently
on June 3rd the Canadian Parliament passed an historic motion to
officially welcome war resisters! It now appears, however, that the
Conservative government may disregard the motion. Iraq combat
veteran turned courageous war resister, 25-year-old Sgt. Corey Glass of
the Indiana National Guard is still scheduled to be deported July 10th. We
will ask that the Canadian government respect the democratic decision
of Parliament, the demonstrated opinion of the Canadian citizenry, the
view of the United Nations, and millions of Americans by immediately
implementing the motion and cease deportation proceedings against Corey
Glass and other current and future war resisters. Join Courage to
Resist, Veterans for Peace, and Project Safe Haven at Canadian
Consulates across the United States (Washington DC, San Francisco, New
York City, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles confirmed--more to be
announced). We mailed and delivered over 10,000 of the original
letters to Canadian officials. Please sign the new letter, "Dear
Canada: Abide by resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" http://www.couragetoresist.org/canada
Canada's War Resisters Support Campaign will hold a "Rally to Stop the Deportation of Parkdale Resident Corey Glass"
July 3rd, begins at 7:00 p.m. (with doors opening at six p.m.) at the
May Robinson Building, 20 West Lodge, Toronto: "In 2002, Corey joined
the Indiana National Guard. He was told he would not have to fight on
foreign shores. But in 2005 he was sent to Iraq. What he saw there
caused him to become a conscientious objector and he came to Canada. On
May 21, 2008, he got his final order to leave Canada by July 10, 2008.
Then on June 3 Parliament passed a motion for all the war resisters to
stay in Canada. However the Harper government says it will ignore this
motion." They are also asking for a July 2nd call-in. Diane Finley is
the Immigration and Citizenship Minister and her phone numbers are
(613) 996-4974 and (519) 426-3400 -- they also provide her e-mail
addresses minister@cic.gc.ca ("minister" at "cic.gc.ca") and finled1@parl.gc.ca ("finled1" at "parl.gc.ca").
There
is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which
includes Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste,
Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano
Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal,
Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall,
Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve
Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha
Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister,
Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada,
Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen,
Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman,
Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck,
Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine,
Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey,
Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua
Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell,
Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake,
Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres,
Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and
Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada
have applied for asylum.
Over the weekend, Joseph G. Cote filed "Marine is arrested, turned over" (Nashua Telegraph)
which addressed the arrest of Marine Lance Cpl Jose Flores in Hudson,
New Hampshire." Citing Police Capt Donald Breault, Cote reported that
"[a] Marine representative had contacted Hudson police and asked them
to arrest Flores because he was deemed a deserter". Saturday AP's nonsense brief was filed and Sunday AP filed more nonsense.
Read the original article by Cote (which the first AP brief credits)
and then the AP stories which maintain Flores was arrested at a traffic
stop when there's not only no mention of that, what Cote reports is
that the marines contacted the local police and told the police to pick
up Flores. It does matter. When the military has told the police to go
to a parents' home in Colorado and search, when the military was
calling police stations up and down California to alert them to Kyle
Snyder, when 'traffic stops' turn out to be searching homes (one war
resister picked up at a 'traffic stop') was actually picked up at his
brother's home and discovered during the search. The military wants to
lie and pretend all they do is enter a name in a data base after thirty
days. The reality is an entire unit is patrolling the web looking for
tidbits, checking out MySpace pages, phoning in tips to local police.
It's time for the lying to stop and the AP has now made the same
mistake two days in a row. At this point, it is no longer a mistake, it
is a lie.
Turning to Iraq. Nothing to note. Didn't
you hear? The 'surge' worked. What's that? It didn't? It was nothing
but whack-a-mole on a larger scale? Well someone forgot to tell Nation
editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel who declared the 'surge' a
"success" yesterday on ABC's This Week.
In the real world (your visa is revoked, Katrina), the targeting of
officials only increases in Iraq with today seeing an apparent record
number of assassination attempts on judges in Baghdad. Laith Hammoudi
(McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing "targeting the house
of judge Suliaman Abdallah," " a Baghdad bombing "targeting judge Ali
Hameed al Allaq," a Baghdad bombing apparently targeting "Judge Ghanim
Abdallah al Shimmari, his wife and his daughter" (all three were
wounded), a Baghdad car bombing targeting Judge Hasan Fouad and a
Baghdad bombing that targeted Judge Alaa al Timimi. Other than al
Shimmari, no judge was noted to be injured in the bombing. Five
bombings today in Baghdad targeting judges. Friday, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) was reporting on Judge Kamal al-Showaili being shot-dead while "driving home" in Baghdad. Today Tawfeeq notes,
"Hundreds of members of the Mehdi Army militia have been imprisoned in
recent months in the wake of an Iraqi-led military crackdown to stamp
out Shiite militants and establish authority in Shiite-dominated areas
of Iraq." Reuters quotes
High Judicial Council spokesperson Abdul Satar Birqadr declaring,
"These attacks were organised. ALl happened on the same day, in the
same way and the same part of Baghdad." (Reuters also states that the
only person injured in the bombings was wounded except for "[t]he wife
of Ali al-Alaq.") Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reported
last week that, since the start of the illegal war (March, 2003), "40
judges have been assassinated" according to the High Judiciary Council.
Before we go into other news emerging today, let's drop back to the weekend. Hannah Allem (McClatchy Newspapers) reported
Saturday on a Friday US raid in Karbala that resulted in at least one
civilian death, a relative of Nouri al-Maliki's. Allem continued
covering the story over the weekend. She noted,
"Outrage over the mysterious operation has spread to the highest levels
of the Iraqi government, which is demanding an explanation for how such
a raid occured in a province ostensibly under full Iraq command." And,
citing Iraqi sources, noted the raid was conducted by US special forces
and that this put the treaty (passed off as a Status of Forces
Agreement) in jeopardy. Allam and Qassim Zein reported
that the man's name was Ali Abdulhussein al-Maliki and he "was killed
at his guard post outside the villa belonging to Maliki's sister" and
the brother of the late al-Maliki, Abdulhussein al-Maliki, told
McClatchy US helicopters arrived before dawn and "about 50 American
ground troops in camoflage then stormed into Janaja". The death of
al-Maliki's relative follows last week's other known civilian deaths: 3 bank employees shot dead by US forces while returning to work and 4 members of a family killed in a US air bombing. Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) reports
that the central government in Baghdad issued a "statement [which]
demanded that the [US] soldiers be held accountable in Iraq." Doug Smith (Los Angeles Times) reports that
the rumbles in Baghdad are that al-Maliki will announce "[t]he
appointmen tof a judge to hear evidence against U.S. soldiers" and
quotes Iraqi MP Haider Abadi (from al-Maliki's Dawa Party) stating,
"It's not acceptable, Iraqis getting killed without even knowing if it
is the result of a tragic incident or this is negligence on the part of
the U.S. military."
On the theft of Iraqi oil, Andrew E. Kramer (New York Times) reported today
that the US State Department took part in the awarding of no-bid
contracts to Big Oil despite previous claims that the Iraqis had made
the decision with help from Big Oil that the US paried them with (click here for Kramer's June 19th report).
Kramer notes that "any perception of American meddling in Iraq's oil
policies threaten to inflame opinion against the United States,
particularly in Arab nations that are skeptical of American intentions
in Iraq, which has the third-largest oil reserves in the world." Andy Rowell (Price of Oil) quotes
Greg Muttitt stating that "the contracts start to look very strange.
For a start, the deals are with the wrong companies. The companies
which usually carry out TSCs [technical service contracts] are
specialist providers, like Schlumberger, Sapem or Baker Hughes. They
are often hired in for geological, construction or drilling expertise,
or to install a piece of technology. In no other country are the likes
of BP or ExxonMobil carrying out such TSCs."
Though the contracts were supposed to be signed today, AFP reports
that they haven't been and that "Iraq is still negotiating with Shell,
BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron and Total" as well as Small Oil and quotes
Hussein al-Shahristani, the country's Oil Mister, declaring, "We did
not finalise any agreement with them because they refused to offer
consultancy based on fees as they wanted a share of the oil." This as CBS and AP report that the price of a barrel of oil hit $143 today.
In other news Daren Butler (Reuters) reports
that four Iraqis have announced they "are suing U.S. military
contractors CACI International Inc, CACI Premier Techonology and L-3
Services Inc (formerly Titan Corp) as well as three people who they
say tortured them while they were detained in Abu Ghraib prison." The Center for Constitutional Rights (Katherine
Gallagher), Burke O'Neil LLC (Susan L. Burke and William F. Gould) and
Akeel & Valentine (Shereef Akeel) are representing the four who are:
•
Mohammed Abdwaihed Towfek Al-Taee, a 39-year-old taxi driver who was
detained and horrifically abused for nine months before his May 2004
release. He later learned that he likely was the victim of a customer
who presumably turned him over in exchange for American money for
intelligence "tips."
• Wissam Abdullateef Sa'eed Al-Quraishi,
a 37-year-old married father of three, who was hung on a pole for seven
days at the infamous Abu Ghraib "hard site" and subjected to beatings,
forced nudity, electrical shocks, humiliating treatment, mock
executions and other forms of torture during his incarceration at the
prison.
• Sa'adoon Ali Hameed Al-Ogaidi, a 36-year-old Arabic
teacher and shopkeeper and father of four, who was held for a year,
caged, brutally abused at the prison "hard site," stripped and kept
naked, and was a "ghost" detainee hidden for a time from the
International Committee of the Red Cross.
• Suhail Najim
Abdullah Al-Shimari, a farmer who was held for more than four years,
including at the prison "hard site," was caged, threatened with dogs,
and subjected to beatings and electrical shocks, and threatened with
death and being sent to a "far away" place.
The three people being sued are contractors for the companies: Adel Nakhla, Timothy Dugan and Daniel E. Johnson.
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports
a Mosul car bombing that claimed 1 life and left thirteen people
wounded and a Baghdad car bombing that involved "an unidentified"
corpse.
Moving
to US politics. "It's political bigotry," independent presidential
candidate Ralph Nader explained to George Stephanopoulos ABC's This Week
yesterday when asked about (unfounded) anger at him for his 2000 run
being taken out against organizations he is no longer a part of. "Why
are all these people who agree with us on the issues behaving this way?
Because they believe that the two parties own the voters in this
country and you go for the least-worst party. And if you go for that
least worst-party, you don't make demands on that least-worst party,
your votes are going to be taken for granted and the corporate
interests are going to pull both parties in their direction. They can't
seem to figure that out. The Nation magazine for example and The Progressive
magazine have all these recommendations and reforms and they're hostile
or indifferent to the Nader-Gonzalez campaign which is the only one
that comes up 6%, 4% sometimes 8 and 10% in Michigan in the polls is
pushing their vergy agenda. They have no breaking point, George.
There's no moral imperative. They will forever put the ring in their
nose and provide the tether for the least worst Democrat." We'll
address Nader's appearance later in the section on the presidential
race; however, let's focus on the bigotry first. In the roundtable,
George would declare Katrina vanden Heuvel's "name was invoked in the
last" segment" (George invoked it, Ralph never mentioned her by name).
Katrina declared, "First of all let me say that Ralph Nader, great
citizen number one, but his great crusade against corporate power and
for consumer rights has come from outside the electoral system. The
Nation in 2004, again 2008 again said 'Ralph, don't run.' But the key
thing, and I think Ralph understand this, and he mentioned another
name, Bill Fletcher, Barack Obama is running for president, he is not
running for the messiah. I'm shocked that he's moving to the center.
I'm shocked. But we don't whine." If we did, we might whine, "Who
told her to wear that ugly eye shadow?" Should we stay with this issue
because Katrina didn't. She was asked about Nader's critique and she
instead bragged that the magazine she is editor and publisher of ran a
"Ralph, Don't Run" campaign in 2004 and again in 2008. That's
something to be proud of? If she can tear herself away from whatever
Russian bodice ripper she's currently thumbing through for a second,
could Katrina refer to the Constitution and examine Article II? Could
she try explaining how Ralph's criticism of her magazine and The
Progressive was wrong? It wasn't wrong. Barack's caved on illegal
spying and caved on public financing so far this month. Where's the
feet to the fire? If The Nation will not support third-parties, will
they even bother to hold Barack's feet to the fire? No. Nader's
criticism was that he's shut out by 'independent' media (The Nation and
The Progressive) whose stated beliefs and opinions are the ones his
campaign is built on while they go with the least-worst choice from the
Democratic Party. He is correct. Katrina refused to have that
discussion. Not only is he correct on that, it's equally true that
having decided to go with the least-worst of the two major parties,
they betray their own beliefs. You saw it in all of Katrina's excuses
(usually prefaced with "I'm not apologizing for" him as she went on to
do just that). There was no attempt to hold him accountable. But
Katrina doesn't dislike all third parties, she revealed. "The one who
I think is going to gain real traction in this country," she said
grinning like a demented fool, "is Bob Barr." So Bob Barr, whom
Katrina sees as not 'winning' votes but 'stripping them away' from
McCain is her kind of third party candidate. For Katrina, the 'good'
third party is the one who does 'damage' to the candidate she
dislikes. That's really more frightening than her pride over The
Nation's undemocratic "Don't Run!" nonsense.
Turning to the US race for president. The so-called 'unity' campaign keeps floundering. Yesterday on CBS' Face The Nation (link has text and video), Barack
Obama surrogate Wesley Clark was vouching for Barack's "good judgment"
and other ridiculous things that Clark can see with some sort of
decoder ring apparently. While the recordless Barack got a tongue bath
from Clark, fur balls seems to be coughed up as Clark turned his fire
on US Senator John McCain (the presumed GOP presidential nominee).
While claiming "I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war,"
mere minutes later, 'honor' turned to 'trashing' as Clark declared,
"Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is
a qualification to be president." CNN reports that McCain surrogate Rick Davis appeared on the cable network's American Morning
today and declared, "Sending Wesley Clark out as a surrogate for your
campaign and attacking John McCain and his war record and his military
experience and his service is, I think, just the lowest form of
politics." In the ongoing, illegal Iraq War, Byron W. Fouty, Alex R. Jimenez and Ahmed Quasai al-Taeli are classified by the Defense Department as "Missing or Captured." Rick Klein (ABC News) instructs,
"Please, find me a single Democrat who thinks it's good politics to
call into question the military credentials of a man who spent
five-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war." Brian Montopoli (CBS News) reports
the McCain camp assembled the following for a Monday morning conference
call with the press: "Sen. John Warner, POWs Col. Bud Day and Lt. Col.
Orson Swindle, McCain foreign policy advisor Bud McFarland, and Carl
Smith a retired Navy pilot who served with McCain". Indpendent
presidential candidate Ralph Nader was among the guests on ABC's This Week. The appearance preceded a Connecticut fundraiser which the AP reports raised $2000. AP also reported last week that 5% of Hillary Clinton supporters were now supporting Nader in the general election.
"If
you really want to cover everybody in health insurance and save
hundreds of lives and . . . hundreds of thousands of
illnesses," Nader declared to Stephanopoulos, "you would go for
single-payer which the majority of American people want and the
majority of doctors want. . . . The HMOS are opposed to single-payer,
the big health insurance compaines are opposed to single-payer. If you
want to give a hundred million Americans a break in terms of their
livelihood and wages, you would go for labor law reform. You'd repeal
Taft-Hartley and give them the opportunity -- low-income workers -- to
organize and collectively bargain. . . . If you want more jobs in the
innercity, you know, public works, schools, clinics, libraries, sewage
treatment systems, you've got to reduce the bloated, wasteful military
budget, George."
"I think the two parties are hurting
our country," said Nader of the Democratic and Republican Parties, "and
they need more competition. As we see on our website VoteNader.org,
you will see the issues we have on the table are majoritarian issues:
single-payer health care, do something about the wasteful military
budget, labor law reform, consumer protection . . . living wage, etc. .
. . The problem is, George, there's too much political bigotry against
small parties and candidates. You see it in these huge ballot access
laws which we're trying to overcome now with our roadtrippers, very,
very costly. We're excluded from the debates. Why do we ration debates?
We ought to have staggered debates. You've got Wimbledon, the sixtieth
seed gets a chance, you've got the NCAA, the sixtieth team gets a
chance. You have a huge roll of wealth on it. We're appealing to the
people in this country. . . . We're appealing to the people in this
country who want more choices on the ballot and Nader-Gonzalez provides
those choices." Team Nader states:
We need $10 from you to get Nader/Gonzalez on ten state ballots in ten days.
So, if you haven't donated to Nader/Gonzalez yet, now is the time - please give ten dollars now.
Our goal - $40,000 by July 6.
We
have more than fifty young, energetic roadtrippers busting it on the
ground all around the country for Nader/Gonzalez - the only candidacy
that will shift the power from the corporations back to the people.
(If
you think Obama is that guy, think again. Obama is moving in the other
direction - running away from the people into the arms of the
corporations. Check out Obama's most recent flip-flop
on giving immunity to telecom corporations under the government
surveillance and wiretapping bill. And then watch Ralph Nader say no to
wiretapping here.)
In Illinois we've collected and turned in more than twice the signatures we need.
In Arizona, we've collected and turned in more than three times the signatures we need.
In Nevada, we will turn in more than twice the signatures we need.
By
July 6, with your help, we'll be penciled in for ten states - Arizona,
Colorado, Illinois, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico,
Tennessee, and Utah.
And we're targeting 40 states by the end of the summer.
There is a reason the corporate Democrats and corporate Republicans are concerned about Nader/Gonzalez.
We're at six percent in the most recent CNN poll.
And we plan to be on 45 state ballots come November (up from 34 in 2004.)
But most writers supported Aubin's contention that welcoming U.S. war resisters would be the right thing to do. "Indeed,"
Nadia Alexan wrote, "if there was ever a case made against an unjust,
immoral, manufactured war, the aggression against Iraq should take the
cake." Dolores Sandoval was
particularly angry at what she saw as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's
heartlessness. "Obviously," she wrote. " the high suicide rate and
psychological impairment levels of soldiers forced to serve over and
over again in Iraq are meaningless to Harper."
Join
a vigil and delegation to a Canadian consulate near you on Wednesday,
July 9th to support war resisters! On the eve of Corey Glass' possible
deportation, we will demand, "Dear Canada: Abide by the June 3rd
resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" More details and cities to be confirmed soon!
Washington DC - Time TBA - 501 Pennsylvania Ave NW (map). Sponsored by Veterans for Peace. Info: TBA San Francisco - Noon to 1pm - 580 California St (map). Sponsored by Courage to Resist. Info: 510-488-3559; courage(at)riseup.net Seattle - Time TBA - 1501 4th Ave (map). Sponsored by Project Safe Haven. Info: 206-499-1220; projectsafehaven(at)hotmail.com Dallas - Time TBA - 750 North St Paul St (map). Sponsored by North Texas for Justice and Peace. Info: 214-718-6362; hftomlinson(at)riseup.net New York City - Noon to 1pm - 1251 Avenue of the Americas (map). Sponsored by War Resisters' League. Info: 212-228-0450; wrl(at)warresisters.org Philadelphia - Time TBA - 1650 Market St (map). Sponsored by Payday Network. Info: 215-848-1120; payday(at)paydaynet.org Minneapolis - Time TBA - 701 Fourth Ave S (map). Info: TBA Los Angeles - Noon to 1pm - 550 South Hope St (map). Sponsored by Progressive Democrats LA. Info: pdlavote(at)aol.com Help
organize a vigil at one of these other Canadian Consulates: Atlanta,
Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Anchorage, Houston,
Raleigh, Phoenix, or San Diego. Please contact Courage to Resist at
510-488-3559. Veterans for Peace issued a joint call with Courage to
Resist and Project Safe Haven for July 9th vigils at Canadian
Consulates: "Dear Canada: Do Not Deport U.S. War Resisters!" Contact us
if you can help organize a vigil, or can otherwise get involved. Locations of the 22 Canadian Consulates in the United States. Recently
on June 3rd the Canadian Parliament passed an historic motion to
officially welcome war resisters! It now appears, however, that the
Conservative government may disregard the motion. Iraq combat
veteran turned courageous war resister, 25-year-old Sgt. Corey Glass of
the Indiana National Guard is still scheduled to be deported July 10th. We
will ask that the Canadian government respect the democratic decision
of Parliament, the demonstrated opinion of the Canadian citizenry, the
view of the United Nations, and millions of Americans by immediately
implementing the motion and cease deportation proceedings against Corey
Glass and other current and future war resisters. Join Courage to
Resist, Veterans for Peace, and Project Safe Haven at Canadian
Consulates across the United States (Washington DC, San Francisco, New
York City, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles confirmed--more to be
announced). We mailed and delivered over 10,000 of the original
letters to Canadian officials. Please sign the new letter, "Dear
Canada: Abide by resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" http://www.couragetoresist.org/canada
NEW
YORK - June 25 - What is lacking in today's peace movement? How can
grassroots organizers turn popular antiwar sentiment into broad-based
action? What strategies and tactics should be employed, and how should
the antiwar movement relate to the elections? The
War Resisters League recently conducted a Listening Process, asking 90
grassroots organizers from across the county to address these and other
questions and to reflect on the state of the antiwar movement in the
United States. The new 40-page special issue of WIN magazine features
their reflections and insights. Interviewees
include organizers and activists from diverse organizations - from
local efforts like Coalition Against Militarism in Our Schools in
southern California; to constituency-based organizations like U.S.
Labor Against the War, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and September
Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows; to national coalitions like
United for Peace and Justice. Some interviewees work primarily on peace
and antiwar issues, while others focus mainly on gender justice, labor,
racial justice, the environment, or community issues. The
interviews explore constraints that the movement faces, as well as
openings; how to build a more multiracial, cross-class and broad-based
movement; the relevancy of nonviolence; the role of soldiers, veterans
and military families; and many other questions. For more information or to read the report, visit http://warresisters.org/listeningprocess
Interviews available Review copies available Summary articles available
The
United States' oldest secular pacifist organization, the War Resisters
League works to end all war and to remove the root causes of war. WRL
challenges military recruitment, actively supports GI resistance,
challenges war profiteers, offers organizing tools to local groups, and
much more.
We noted the report in Thursday's "Iraq snapshot" and Ty included it "Mailbag" yesterday. Excerpts of sections of the report are available online:
Posted by The Nader Team on Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 11:26:00 PM
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And we plan to be on 45 state ballots come November (up from 34 in 2004.)
In today's New York Times, Andrew E. Kramer returns to the topic of the Iraqi oil in the front page story "U.S. Advised Iraqi Ministry On Oil Deals" which reveals that in addition to Big Oil representatives that the US government paired up with Iraqis as 'advisors' (click here for Kramer's June 19th report)the US State Department was also involved in the deals -- also as 'advisors':
In
their role as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, American government
lawyers and private-sector consultants provided template contracts and
detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts, advisers and a senior
State Department official said. [. . .] But
any perception of American meddling in Iraq's oil policies threatens to
inflame opinion against the United States, particularly in Arab nations
that are skeptical of American intentions in Iraq, which has the
third-largest oil reserves in the world.
The Center for
Strategic and International Studies' Frederick D. Barton is quoted
stating, "And we undermine our own veracity by citing issues like
sovereignty, when we have our hands right in the middle of it."
Another leading critic of the Iraqi oil industry Greg Muttitt,
from Platform in London, says that “even the most vehement opponents of
oil privatisation do not object to such “technical service contracts” (TSCs):
they are a normal model of business, where a company acts as
contractor, providing a service to its client, a government or national
oil company, for an agreed price.”
But
peel beneath the surface, he argues “and the contracts start to look
very strange. For a start, the deals are with the wrong companies. The
companies which usually carry out TSCs are specialist service providers, like Schlumberger, Saipem
or Baker Hughes. They are often hired in for geological, construction
or drilling expertise, or to install a piece of technology.”
An
Iraqi government statement demanded that the soldiers be held
accountable in Iraq. The issue is particularly delicate now because the
two countries are negotiating a long-term security agreement and among
the chief points of disagreement are whether the American military will
be free to conduct operations and detain suspects and whether if its
soldiers kill civilians, they will have immunity from Iraqi law. Currently
soldiers can only be tried under American military law. However, there
have been many shootings of Iraqi civilians by American soldiers and
contractors, prompting Iraqi politicians to demand that they have a
right to prosecute soldiers and contractors in their courts.
"We
are afraid now of signing the long-term pact between Iraq and America
because of such unjustified violations by the troops. Handing over
security in provinces doesn't mean anything to the American troops,"
said Mohamed Hussein al Musawi, a senior Najaf-based member of the
prime minister's Dawa Party. "We condemn these barbaric actions not
only when they target a relative of Maliki's, but when any Iraqi is
targeted in the same way." Outrage
over the mysterious operation has spread to the highest levels of the
Iraqi government, which is demanding an explanation for how such a raid
occurred in a province ostensibly under full Iraqi command. "This
is a Special Forces operation, an antiterrorism unit that operates
almost independently so there's been no coordination with the local
forces on the ground," said a high-ranking member of the Iraqi
government who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the extreme
sensitivity of the issue. "That's why it's so important to have a
Status of Forces Agreement to regulate this relationship. As long as
it's vague and open, these incidents will continue to happen."
One
is that the raid occurred within Karbala province, one of nine
provinces ostensibly under full Iraqi control. The U.S. military handed
over Karbala security in October 2007; Iraqi authorities say the raid
was conducted without their knowledge or coordination. The
second is that the man described by the military as "a local security
guard" was actually a cousin of Maliki's and served as the personal
bodyguard of Maliki's sister, relatives and Iraqi officials said. Ali
Abdulhussein al Maliki was killed at his guard post outside the villa
belonging to Maliki's sister, said the guard's brother, Ahmed
Abdulhussein al Maliki. The
brother -- referred to here without his tribal name to avoid confusion
with the prime minister -- was reluctant to speak about the incident,
but allowed a few minutes for a visiting journalist in part because
tribal custom deems it shameful to turn away a guest. Dressed in a
dark-brown suit, he was presiding over the mourning ceremony and had
long lines of sheikhs in flowing robes and traditional headdresses
waiting for him. Abdulhussein,
who was not present during the raid, said his brother and three other
bodyguards were at the home of Maliki's sister, their cousin, in a
guard station attached to the main, two-story villa. Before dawn
Friday, Abdulhussein said, the guards heard U.S. helicopters in the
area. Abdulhussein said about 50 American ground troops in camouflage
then stormed into Janaja. He said he still has no idea why they came to
the Maliki home. "(The
troops) raided this room, the guard room, and detained the guards,
including Ali, who'd memorized a few English words and tried to tell
them, 'I'm police. I'm a Maliki guard,'" Abdulhussein said. "They tied
the hands of the three guards and took Ali to the room. Ten minutes
later, they heard gunfire. The American forces killed Ali."
The
appointment of a judge to hear evidence against U.S. soldiers would
represent a significant encroachment on the rules laid down during the
U.S. occupation, which provide foreigners working in the country, both
military and civilian contractors, immunity from the Iraqi judicial
process. Abadi acknowledged
that the judge would have no authority to convict or sentence
Americans, but he said a forum is needed to provide Iraqis a sense of
justice. "It's not
acceptable, Iraqis getting killed without even knowing if it is the
result of a tragic incident or this is negligence on the part of the
U.S. military," he said.
Since
the war began in Iraq, more than 100 troops have been blinded and 247
others have lost sight in one eye. Only two other blind officers serve
in the active-duty Army: one a captain studying to be an instructor at
West Point, the other an instructor at the Combined Arms Center at Fort
Leavenworth, Kan.
In an AP brief that runs today (at Marine Corps Times), they again misstate the facts: "A Marine who was declared absent without leave has been picked up here after being stopped on a traffic warrant. Joseph G. Cote's "Marine is arrested, turned over" (Nashua Telegraph) is no longer credited (see yesterday's entry) but AP did not originate or report the story, they merely summarized the work Cotes did. Arrested at a traffic stop? No, that's not what Cotes reported. Along with the desertion charge, Cotes had an outstanding warrant for a traffic violation of some kind. That's where the traffic warrant comes up but Jose Flores was not picked up at a traffic stop. Citing police Capt. Donald Breault, Cotes reported, "A Marine representative had contacted Hudson police and asked them to arrest Flores because he was deemed a deserter". It does matter. When the military has told the police to go to a parents' home in Colorado and search, when the military was calling police stations up and down California to alert them to Kyle Snyder, when 'traffic stops' turn out to be searching homes (one war resister picked up at a 'traffic stop') was actually picked up at his brother's home and discovered during the search. The military wants to lie and pretend all they do is enter a name in a data base after thirty days. The reality is an entire unit is patrolling the web looking for tidbits, checking out MySpace pages, phoning in tips to local police. It's time for the lying to stop and the AP has now made the same mistake two days in a row. At this point, it is no longer a mistake, it is a lie.
Turning to war resisters in Canada (where the US military has also sicked the police on them -- Kyle Snyder and Josh Key being two examples). May 21st was when Corey Glass was told he would be deported. Corey Glass is an Iraq War veteran and a US war resister. He went to Canada seeking asylum -- the kind of welcoming Canada provided to war resisters ("draft dodgers" and "deserters") during Vietnam. After being told he was being deported, he's been 'extended' through July 10th. June 3rd Canada's House of Commons voted (non-binding motion) in favor of Canada being a safe harbor for war resisters. Douglas Glynn (The Barrie Examiner) quotes Corey stating, "The motion is not legally binding, though the majority of Parliament voted for it. I realized innocent people were being killed. I tried to quit the military while in Iraq," he said, "but my commander told me I was just stressed out and needed some R and R (rest and relaxation), because I was doing a job I was not trained to do. I went home on leave and said I was not coming back." So that's where it stands currently.
Here's what can be done. Canada's War Resisters Support Campaign will hold a "Rally to Stop the Deportation of Parkdale Resident Corey Glass" July 3rd, begins at 7:00 p.m. (with doors opening at six p.m.) at the May Robinson Building, 20 West Lodge, Toronto: "In 2002, Corey joined the Indiana National Guard. He was told he would not have to fight on foreign shores. But in 2005 he was sent to Iraq. What he saw there caused him to become a conscientious objector and he came to Canada. On May 21, 2008, he got his final order to leave Canada by July 10, 2008. Then on June 3 Parliament passed a motion for all the war resisters to stay in Canada. However the Harper government says it will ignore this motion." They are also asking for a July 2nd call-in. Diane Finley is the Immigration and Citizenship Minister and her phone numbers are (613) 996-4974 and (519) 426-3400 -- they also provide her e-mail addresses minister@cic.gc.ca ("minister" at "cic.gc.ca") and finled1@parl.gc.ca ("finled1" at "parl.gc.ca").
Community member Dallas forwarded the following e-mail:
Following is a brief history of the movement’s actions and those actions' results, a primer of sorts for the "Dear Canada, Let them stay" campaign: Recently on June 3rd the Canadian Parliament passed an historic motion to officially welcome war resisters! It now appears, however, that theConservative government may disregard the motion. Iraq combat veteran turned courageous war resister, 25-year-old Sgt. Corey Glass of the Indiana National Guard is still scheduled to be deported July 10th. We will ask that the Canadian government respect the democratic decision of Parliament, the demonstrated opinion of the Canadian citizenry, the view of the United Nations, and millions of Americans by immediately implementing the motion and cease deportation proceedings against Corey Glass and other current and future war resisters. Join Courage to Resist, Veterans for Peace, and Project Safe Haven at Canadian Consulates across the United States.We mailed and delivered over 10,000 of the original letters to Canadianofficials. Please sign the new letter, "Dear Canada: Abide by resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" http://www.couragetoresist.org/canada Address of the Canadian Consulate in Dallas: Consulate General of Canada 750 North St. Paul Street, Suite 1700 Dallas, TX 75201 Tel: (214) 922-9806 For more information: Courage to Resist http://www.couragetoresist.org 510-488-3559 (List of consulate vigils nationwide coming soon)
Use the links above for more information protests in Dallas, DC, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, LA and NYC. In addition, Courage to Resist would like to organize actions in Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Achorage, Houston, Raleigh, Phoenix and San Diego and, if you're able to help on that, they ask you to call 510-488-3559.
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 hit the 4,102 mark. And tonight? 4102. Just Foreign Policy's counter estimates that 1,225,898 (the same as last Sunday).
In some of today's reported violence (which didn't stop just because JFP's counter did) . . .
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Kirkuk roadside bombing that wounded seven people. Saturday McClatchy's Mohammed Al Dulaimy reported a Baghdad explosion (grenade) left two people wounded, a Salahuddin Province car bombing claimed the lives of 7 police officers, a Diyala Province mortar attack that claimed 3 lives ("a girl, her mother and aunt"), a "female sucide bomber" was shot dead in Al-Wijahiyah resulting in her bomb exploding and injuring another person
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Abdul Jabbar Mijhid ("head of Basra operation intelligence centre") was assassinated Saturday night and today three people were wounded at a farm by unknown assailants.
Meanwhile Hannah Allem (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that Friday's Karbala raid that claimed the life of a relative of Nouri al-Maliki was carried out by US Special forces and notes:
Outrage over the mysterious operation has spread to the highest levels of the Iraqi government, which is demanding an explanation for how such a raid occurred in a province ostensibly under full Iraqi command. "This is a Special Forces operation, an antiterrorism unit that operates almost independently so there's been no coordination with the local forces on the ground," said a high-ranking member of the Iraqi government who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the extreme sensitivity of the issue. "That's why it's so important to have a Status of Forces Agreement to regulate this relationship. As long as it's vague and open, these incidents will continue to happen."
Congress -- the Democratically controlled Congress elected in November 2006 to end the illegal war, given control of both houses of Congress -- did nothing (again) to end the illegal war. Pru notes Great Britain's Socialist Worker's "US Democrats back funds for endless war:"
Ruth (of Ruth's Report): Last Monday, Megan Tady carried the torch for the never-ending campaign in "Tell Congress to Save Public Broadcasting" (Free Press). Sadly, all last week Ms. Tady was undermined by public broadcasting to the point that many may feel there really is no point.
There was spin, there was shame and there was a violation.
I am going to start with the violation and it took place on WBAI. This is the law:
"Non-profit 501(c)(3) corporations may not endorse candidates. A staff member, whether management or non-management, may not endorse candidates on the air or on the station's website, or in any other way that appears to be a station endorsement. A guest may speak in favor of a candidate on the air." That is actually the law and a legal opinion forwarded to me.
Tuesday morning on the last hour of Wakeup Call Radio, at the very end of the hour, Bernard White, program director of WBAI who gives himself a lot of air time, brought on a musical group to sing what I will call "Obama" because if there was a title to their 'song,' I missed it. That was unneeded and unnecessary, but if you grimaced, you might have been able to make your way through it while wondering if they intended to do the same free advertising passed off as 'information' with the other candidates?
What you could not ignore, and what the law should not ignore, was what Mr. White elected to do after. In ominous tones, he spoke of the election and how it would send a message about the heart of America's character. Mr. White's 'logic' was that if Barack Obama were not elected president, America would be revealing something nasty. As program director, it is not really Mr. White's job to endorse candidates on air and, as the legal opinion demonstrates, it is also not legal. From his bad attempts at melodrama and the segment that proceeded it, I think the average listener understood what Mr. White was stating to be: "If Mr. Obama loses, America is racist."
Is that the game plan? To blackmail people into voting for Mr. Obama? To tell them that not doing so will reveal an ugly side to the nation's character?
Hate to break it to simple-minded Mr. White but the Iraq War reveals an ugly side to the nation's character every ongoing day. On a smaller scale, you can visit any city, town, suburb on any given day and find something that reveals the nation's character: the ugly sides and the good sides. That is because (a) the country is made up of individuals, not clones; (b) we are humans, primates, part of the evolutionary chain -- we are not a nation of angels; and (c) individually and collectively, we have no fixed response but veer from one degree to the other.
So those are my thoughts on the nation's character as a woman who has lived a long, long life. I would imagine that could be argued of all countries but I will confine my theorizing to the United States and leave it for citizens of other countries to offer their own.
In terms of an election, this fear mongering needs to stop. I do not care whether it comes from the right, the left, the center, what have you. An election is just an election. It is not a national referendum on the past or on the future. I am having a very difficult time thinking of a Democratic Party presidential nominee since Adlai Stevenson who ran a campaign based on issues. I am old enough to remember Tricky Dick's sweaty mug during his debate with J.F.K. and what a turning moment that was.
The campaigns, in my lifetime, have gotten more and more personality base and less and less about the actual issues. Even so, Mr. Obama's campaign takes the cake with his message of "Vote for me and feel good!" Mr. White revealed the dark side of that message Tuesday, "Don't vote for Barack and you are evil!"
The reality is that elections come and go and ceremonial leaders get installed. Change only comes from the people. The United States will still be the United States in December 2008, a month after the election, regardless of whether the president is Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Bob Barr, John McCain or Barack Obama.
There is a great deal of talk that the ever increasing pool of non-voters (eligible voters who choose not to vote) are disenchanted and the usual suspects are trotted out with politicians who do not keep their promises usually second to the catch-all "Watergate." But maybe it is time for the focus on the disenchantment to be expanded? When every election is treated as life or death, who needs it?
Seriously. I do have some Republican neighbors. A small number, true, but I do have them in my largely Jewish neighborhood. By Mr. White's 'logic', am I to do a victory dance on their lawns if Mr. Obama wins? Should Mr. McCain win, do I take to their yards with a bullhorn and picket signs? (Mr. White's 'logic' does not allow for anyone else to win -- strange for a program director of what is billed as 'free speech radio.')
If the number of people disenchanted with voting is growing, maybe it is time for people like Mr. White and, certainly, Katrina vanden Heuvel to take a hard look at their own actions as they up the rhetoric and sew division within the country?
It is an election. I have been to sports matches for my children and grandchildren that showed more civility than what the likes of Mr. White and Ms. vanden Heuvel regularly churn out.
And a point for the Obama campaign to consider: You cannot continue to use your echo chamber and not call it out on this. You are the 'uniter' and, when your surrogates turn an election into the end of the world if your Republican opponent should win, they are only creating further divisions in an already divided country. When you refuse to call it out, you go along with their message.
Throughout my lifetime, I have heard "He's a liar!" and "He's a crook!" said about every presidential nominee. (Had the D.N.C. followed the popular vote and made Senator Hillary Clinton the nominee, I am sure I would have heard "She's a liar!" and "She's a crook!" as well.) And back in 1972, believe me, we had a lot of verbal ammo for Tricky Dick. But this simplistic notion that an election is the be-all, end-all and that is a life threatening matter is a turn-off and a sign of the increased immaturity among the commentary set. Again, Mr. White and Ms. vanden Heuvel deserve to be noted far ahead of many others and someone needs to encourage them to tone it down. I have seen cases made for candidates and I have seen candidates ripped apart for many reasons. But this idea that an election is a cataclysmic event, a summer disaster movie, is going to leave people feeling even more cheated than when they left a showing of Armageddon.
On Thursday, KPFA originated what was billed as a national broadcast and I am sure it was carried by Pacifica stations and community stations around the country as well as being streamed online. I wish I could say that was a good thing.
Larry Benksy hosted which was probably was not a good idea after he hosted an 'analysis' of the Texas debate between Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton that featured a host of guests who had all endorsed Mr. Obama but that fact was something that Mr. Bensky and the guests felt the audience did not need to be informed of. Disclosure was needed. More importantly, a fair panel was needed. It was an audio version of the Salem Witch Trials.
Could Mr. Bensky oversee anything worse? Thursday, he demonstrated that he could at least try to. What do the women at KPFA, especially those in management, think of a multi-hour special that features men non-stop? The broadcast was a House Judiciary Committee hearing live with commentary from Mr. Bensky and guests. Women were better represented on the Congressional committee than they were on air and I wonder how KPFA reconciles that with their own mission statement? Or maybe they intend to hail it as a 'victory' for the country and pretend that there are just so many Congress women today that the House managed to out staff them? It was offensive and appeared (I bailed after three hours of the nonsense) to be like Mr. Bensky's embarrassing broadcast in Februrary where no one wondered if one woman offering 'analysis' paired with multiple men and a male host was in any way 'representative' or 'progressive.'
I have been where Ms. Tady of Free Press is before, but after just those two incidents, I have to wonder what is so wonderful or important about public broadcasting that means I should work to save it?
Friday brought the so-called FAIR's CounterSpin to a variety of stations across the nation. I caught the song-and-dance on WBAI Friday morning. A meandering look at recent press on the part of Janine Jackson had me snoozing. I have no idea what her point was and she seemed to be constructing her thoughts mid-sentence but I probably needed the quick nap so I will just say, "Thank you, Ms. Jackson."
What I did not need, what the country does not need, what public broadcasting does not need is lying. That Mr. Obama said he would utilize public financing were he the Democratic Party's presidential nominee is not in doubt, is not in question. He stated it. Offering a lengthy segment with a guest brought on to lie and utilize revisionary tactics helped inform no one and only further cheapened FAIR's image. The New York Times and The Washington Post get things wrong all the time. They do so deliberately and accidentally. Their history of doing so is very long. But you weaken your case when both outlets stuck to the facts but you allow your guest to lie and distort. Mr. Obama broke his pledge. He would do so again when it was time to address illegal spying on American citizens. He has also broken his promise on Iraq, telling CNN June 5th that nothing he has said is fixed in stone and he will decide what to do when he enters the White House. Mr. Obama has a serious problem and lies will not conceal that. Again, the entire segment was an embarrassment which further cheapened FAIR's image.
Ms. Tady wants us to enlist in saving public broadcasting. I have issued the cry before myself. I will not today but knowing how hard it can be to try to rally on an unpopular cause, I will close by noting Friday also saw Pacifica broadcast Executive Director Nicole Sawaya's report to the listeners. She only had an hour which was too bad. She did take phone calls and I did attempt to call in to ask exactly when any Pacifica station might grasp that there is an ongoing, illegal war that has lasted over five years and still does not have a single program whose focus is the Iraq War? I will assume many people were attempting to phone in on many topics. Ms. Sawaya came off open and serious. Hopefully, some of the issues raised will be addressed but, due to the current construct of the Pacifica 'network,' most likely they will not be. Still, for one hour, the Executive Director was on air, explaining her hopes and regrets and listening to feedback from listeners as well as provided some responses. If Pacifica provided a reason to yet again mount the effort to save public broadcasting last week, it was Ms. Sawaya's report.
Safely secluded in the New Mexico desert, a Vietnam War-era draft resister named Zeke lives a life of contented self-exile with his wife and teenage daughter. But when his long-unacknowledged younger brother arrives bearing a bequest for Zeke's daughter, the uncontrolled collision of past and present triggered by that bequest threatens to tear Zeke's world apart. Directed by Dr. Brian Haimbach, Stephen Kilduff's The Uncurled Hand is the winner of our 2007 New Play Festival, a year-long, nation-wide search for new works for the American stage. The festival receives hundreds of scripts throughout the year submitted by playwrights from around the country and abroad. Centre Stage is one of only two professional theaters in South Carolina that mount full productions of new play festival winners and the only theater in the Upstate to do so.
The above is the opening to Leah Thomas' "Past and present collide in world-premiere production of The Uncurled Hand at Centre Stage" (South Carolina's Greenville News). The play runs from July 10th through 19th and CentreStage.org will provide more information (such as ticket prices, purchasing tickets, times and directions). Meanwhile Joseph G. Cote's "Marine is arrested, turned over" (Nashua Telegraph) is much more interesting than some of the briefs popping up about it which generally just note that that Lance Cpl. Jose Flores was arrested and that he was AWOL from the marines. Take the AP's nonsense brief which claims he "has been picked up in Hudson, New Hampshire, after being stopped on a traffic warrant." Hmm. Sounds like Flores was picked up after being stopped while driving, doesn't it?
But that's not what Cotes reports (AP credits Cotes' paper, if not the reporter himself). Cotes does mention a traffic warrant. But that was outstanding. The article notes ("according to [police] Capt. Donald Breault"), "A Marine representative had contacted Hudson police and asked them to arrest Flores because he was deemed a deserter" and so the police did that. He wasn't stopped in traffic. More importantly, this yet again demonstrates that the US military has consistently LIED about "All we do is put their names in a computer. We don't have the time or energy to track them down." They go out of their way to do that. Whether it's tipping off Alameda police that Kyle Snyder is in the area of sending police to search parents' homes, they actively are pursuing people who self-check out. Cotes reports it, cites a police captain explaining how they got involved: contacted by the marines. Whether this is true or not (it's from a flack for the marines), this is how the process is described after the arrest "the Marines dispatch a Marine Corps Absentee Collection Center team to extradite him or her and return the Marine to his or her assigned unit."
Since yesterday morning, the following community websites have updated:
Outraged Iraqi officials demanded an investigation into an early morning U.S. military raid Friday near the birthplace of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, saying the operation violated the terms of the handover of Karbala province to Iraqi security forces. Karbala Gov. Oqeil al Khazaali said U.S. forces killed an unarmed civilian and arrested at least one person in the raid in the southern town of Janaja. The governor's brother, Hassanein al Khazaali, said late Friday that the Iraqi killed in the operation was a relative of the U.S.-backed prime minister.
The above is the opening of Hannah Allem's "Iraqi officials outraged by U.S. raid in prime minister's hometown" (McClatchy Newspapers) and quoting officials, such as Karbala's military commander Raed Shakir Jowdet, Allem reveals it was a US operation involving US helicopters and at least one US plane with US forces on the ground while the governor of the region (Oqeil al Khazaali) wants answers and points to "faulty intelligence" on the part of the Americans.
Big question, will it matter more -- that an Iraqi civilian was killed -- to the puppet of the occupation (Nouri al-Maliki) that the dead civilian is a relative?
iraq
corey glass
the new york times
sabrina tavernise
james risen
andrew e. kramer
hugh eakin
sudarsan raghavan
steven mufson
the washington post
doug smith
the los angeles times
abc
this week
michael kamber
andy rowell
qassim zein
the montreal gazette
the war resisters league
