Iraq snapshot

Friday, July 25, 2008.  Chaos and violence continue,  Congressional hearings, BonusGate and more.   Starting with war resistance.  "When we arrived Al Assad, this was April or the beginning of May 2003," declared Camilo Mejia, "and this is the very beginning of the occupation and this is when we were being told that we had to keep people on sleep deprivation, to psychological torture; the orders came from way up top.  Actually the people who were in charge of running these camps were ghost agents, you know, working for the US government.  And when the Abu Ghraib scandal came out they tried to tell the American public that, you know, this was an isolated event that had only began in November or December of 2003.  And that it was the result of a few people, you know, who one day woke up and, you know, they were evil, when -- in reality, you know from -- from my experience, I can tell you that this was actually something that was coming from the very top and that happened from the very beginning and that it was not isolated to Abu Ghraib but that was happening elsewhere in Iraq from the very beginning of the occupation."  Mejia was speaking on PBS two weekends ago and he continued, "Well in the military, we have what is called spooks.  And these are people who are highly trained in counterinsurgency.  They're highly trained in linguistics and interrogation and weapons systems and things like that.  And they don't wear name tags.  They don't wear Unit ID badges or anything like that.  They . . . [use] pseudonyms and you know they don't respond to anybody in uniform.  They -- they basically take their orders from -- from the very top.  And they're -- they're untraceable and -- and obviously, you know, they can conduct themselves with absolute impunity.  These were people who were giving the commands when we were there -- not our commanders, not the people who belonged to any unit, you know, but basically people with top secret clearance and, you know, who would never be held accountable for any of the things that happened."   The PBS program was Foreign Exchange with Daljit Dhaliwal  and Ava and I wrote about that appearance two weeks ago.  (And have heard the complaints re: streaming, transcripts, DVDs, et al and we will be noting that in Sunday's TV commentary. But anyone using that link will quickly realize that they can't watch online.) When we noted it previously, we focused on Camilo's rejection of the illegal war.  Camilo tell his story in Road to Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia and he is also the chair of  Iraq Veterans Against the War.  In terms of his place in the resistance of the Iraq War, he was the first Iraq War veteran to publicy oppose the illegal war.  As noted earlier this week, "The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), an international human rights organization based in Cambridge, Mass., will be hosting a series of training sessions and workshops at the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association to be held from Wednesday, June 24 to Sunday, June 29, at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida."  Mejia will be a speaker on June 25th as well as on June 28th.  More information can be found here."   Though Meija never went Canada during his resisting while in the military, he has been a very vocal supporter and has joined many in calling on the Canadian government to grant safe harbor to US war resisters in Canada.  To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca").  Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote.  Now they've started a new letter you can use online here.  The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here.  Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."   There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).   On Wednesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing entitled "VA's Response to the Needs of Returning Guard and Reserve Members" and the most interesting exchange took place at the end of the second panel in the last thirty minutes.  The second panel was made up of Dr. Joseph Scotti (West Virginia University), Col Bradley Livinsgton (Director of the Joint Staff, Joint Force Headquarters, Montana National Guard), Lt Col John Boyd (Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel Vermont Army National Guard), Sgt Roy Meredith (Team Leader Maryland Army National Guard) and Maj Cynthia Ramussen (RN, MSN, CANP Combat Stress Officer Sexual Assualt Response Coordinator 88th Regional Readiness Command).   Senator Jay Rockefeller:  My first question would appear to be hostile but it's not.  Why is it that everybody, but Dr. Scotti, had to say "I'm speaking personally not on behalf of the Reserve, the Guard or the Department of Defense?  I really want to know that.  Does that mean that they're afraid that you might tell the truth?  Does that mean that they are embarrassed by what you might say because their culture is "everything always works and it always works right"?  I'd like to know why you have to say that?   Col Bradley Livingston: Sir I might be able to address that because my testimony --   Sen Jay Rockefeller: You can't correct it because you said it --   Col Bradley Livingston: (Overlapping) Correct --   Sen Jay Rockefeller: you can explain it.   Col Bradley Livingston: Okay, I can explain it then. My testimony had not been vetted through DoD and so I --   Sen Jay Rockefeller: Well Isn't that a very good thing?   Col Bradley Livingston: Sir, . . . I was instructed that my testimony had to have that statement put on it, sir.   At "I was instucted," everyone burst into laughter including Livingston.   Sen Jay Rockefeller: You see, I can understand that I'm -- I've got so many questions, I don't even know where to begin.  I can understand that if you're from the Department of Transportation.  If you come back from the kind of experiences that you've all come back from your testimony, Major Rasmussen, probably was the best I've ever heard here and I've been on this committee for 24 years. I -- it just -- it just breeds a sense of suspicion.  Not at you but in them.  They got to be "right."  You didn't vet it with them. Therefore, you're dangerous. You're telling the truth, you're telling the truth like few people ever do before this committee.  One of the -- one of the problems in fact is that when -- when the VA and other people come before this committee we know that everything they've said has been vetted.  So there's no real reason for us to listen particularly careful to them because we know that it's not necessarily what they think.  You're telling us what you think.  And therefore, you're real.  You really help us. This is superb help to us just at the time that the whole care of veterans has become -- along with global warming -- one of the two top issues for the entire Congress because it's like we've suddenly rediscovered you.  Our own guilt, our own mistake, regardless of political party or anything else going back over many years.  And there are reasons for that but I won't go into them.   It annoys me that you have to say that because it implies that if you didn't, you'd get in trouble.  And that makes me angry.   We'll come back to the second panel but Les Blumenthal (McClatchy Newspapers) reported on the first panel when the committee learned that the VA "failed to send benefit packages to nearly 37,000 National Guard and Reserve members" who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars which had Senator Patty Murray pointing out, "While the VA has targeted outreach programs in place to help service members, we still miss far too many veterans who need help and aren't aware of the services and benefits they have earned."   You may remember Iraq Veterans Against the War Winter Soldier Investigation in March.  From the March 17th snapshot:   The panel on The Crisis in Veterans' Healthcare followed.  Adrienne Kinee spoke on that panel and a correction to Friday's snapshot: Kinne did not state that, "The best preventative healthcare . . . for our soldiers in uniform is to not use them to fight illegal wars"; she stated, "The best prevantative healthcare . . . for our soldiers in uniform is to not use them to fight illegal occupations in the first place." Kinne testified about serving in the military, discharging in 1998 and then enlisting again and discharging during the Iraq War.  The differences she saw were immense.  The first time she left the US military, she found a great deal of help and resources, people helped her with her paperwork, they advised her of her benefits and assisted her in a smoother transition to civilian life.  By contrast, when she discharged during the Iraq War, she was provided no help, no assistance and something as simple as having a physical would require that she live on a base for four to six more weeks before the military would discharge her.  There was no attempt made to explain the benefits available to veterans.    For any who missed Iraq Veterans Against the War  Winter Soldier Investigation -- which was broadcast live at IVAW's site, at War Comes Home, at KPFK, at the Pacifica Radio homepage and at KPFA -- you can find archives at IVAW, War Comes Home and -- via KPFA --  here for Friday, here for Saturday, here for Sunday. Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz anchored Pacifica's live coverage.    But the point is, Congress keeps getting the same song and dance and the first panel was indicative of that.  It's a problem Senator Murray has noted.  On Tuesday (link has text and video), she took to the Senate floor to address the issue of the suicide rates of troops and veterans:   Earlier this month, we lost a young man in my home state of Washington just hours after he sought care at the Spokane VA hospital.  He was the sixth veteran in that community to take his own life this year.  Now, the Spokane VA is investigating all six of those cases.  I have also spoken to Secretary Peake.  He has assured me that his team is also on the ground, taking a hard look to see what went wrong and what they can learn from the situation.  [. . .] More than five years later, we should have the resources to treat the psychological wounds of war as well as we do the physical ones.  But we don't.  It is the duty of the VA and of a grateful nation to be prepared to care for their unique wounds.  And in order to do that, we need strong leadership and attention to detail in Washington, D.C., Spokane, Washington, and everywhere in between.  At the end of the day, this isn't about bureaucracy or protecting turf, it's about saving lives.  We must make it a national priority to address this tragedy.   1-800-873-TALK is the VA's suicide prevention hotline, 24 hours.  That was Tuesday.  Back to Wednesday.  "The military is a culture of its own," Maj Cynthia Rasmussen explained in her opening testimony.  (Click here for prepared remarks but that's nothing like what she delivered in her stated opening remarks.)  Sen Rockefeller would single her out for praise and we'll note a portion of her opening testimony (again, it will not match up with the prepared remarks submitted prior to the hearing).     Maj Cynthia Rasmussen: Multiple competing tasks when a service member gets home cause confusion.  We don't know how to think that way.  We know how to be mission oriented.  We receive an op order it tells us who, what, when, where, why and how -- basically.  We don't get op orders when we get home five days after when we take the uniform off.  Owen Rice -- who is a Hennepin County sherrif deputy  in Hennepin County Jail has been to Iraq, Traumatic Brain Injury in Iraq -- says, "Ma'am it's like this: One person talks in the military and everyone else listens; when you get home: everyone talks, everyone listens and nobody hears."  What I hear from soldiers across the country -- service members across the country: "Ma'am, it's too chaotic here.  Please send me back where I know how to survive, I know how to function, I know how to do that." [. . .]  Emotions and anger.  In war, we control our emotions.  Obviously, you would not want your warrior having their emotions out in the open anywhere.  Plus we cannot accomplish a mission if we have different emotions going on.  We numb out. Anger is useful.  Anger is not only useful, anger is an awesome emotion.  We want anger, we like anger we encourage it.  Because it's the fight/flight response.  It makes your body, your mind and everything about you be the best that you can be and accomplish the mission you need to accomplish.  We encourage it, we live that way, we like to live that way.  But guess what?  When you take the uniform off, that anger that you've learned in practice and felt good about does not go away.  It looks like this: Not talking about your emotions and being angry in war is a strength.  It only leads to you can't talk about your emtions at home which is considered a weakness.  We look insensitive to others when we get home.  It's not that we're insensitive, it's that we have not practiced those emotions for a long time.  Emotions take practice.  We have a decreased ability to read other's emotions -- not because we don't care, not because we're cold hearted warriors, but because we haven't practiced that for a long time.    This can lead to increased irritability and defensiveness  because if you're spouse, you're mom, dad or someone accuses you of not caring anymore and not showing emotions.  We're not going to say, 'Oh, yes, you're right thank you.  Thank you.  I'm sorry I was unable to articulate that.'  We're going to say, 'What are you talking about?  That's not true.'  We're going to get defensive -- as all of us would if someone siad that to us.  It leads to increased alcohol and drug use to cover up our emotions.  You know why?  Not because we're warriors and we learned to do that. It is more socially acceptable in our society to go to the bar and have a few drinks or to sit home and slam down a case of beer with your friends or buddies then it is to raise your hand and say "I need help.  I need medication.  I need to talk to someone" -- not just in the military but across the board.  In our program we work with all branches of the service and many VA and civilian organizations across the country.  Despite this amazing comprehensive program, service members and families are still falling through the cracks.  I had the honor and opportunity to speak to 150 Purple Heart National Service Officers at their training in Phoenix a few months ago.  I received this note, handwritten, put it in my pocket and went back to my hotel room.  And it read: "Ma'am, for the last three years I've been treated for PTSD by doctors, nurses and others that have no clue over what is being a soldier and have this feeling inside," this is a quote by the way, "I can't thank you enough for coming today.  In the last two hours, you have done what nobody could have done: You make me feel normal again.  That is a feeling that I thought I would never feel again since I was discharged from the army.  Thank you and God bless."  This was an Operation Iraqi vet from Puerto Rico, approximately 24-years-old.  One final point I want to make.  Not all issues with service members are about PTSD.  We need to deal with the combat stress, the operational stress, those things I just talked to that are normal habits for all service members.  When I spoke to the Purple Heart receipiants, a WWII vet raised his hand and started sobbing and said, "Where were you when I came home?"  I had a Korean wife say to me last weekend, Battle Creek VA, if you had been around 40 years ago I would not be divorced from my husband  who is a Korean vet because now I understand why we had all the problems we had.  This isn't PTSD.  This is a warrior taking his uniform off and trying to come home.  We have operational stress, we have grief issues, we have lost a year or more in whatever life it was we thought we were going to have.  We have depression, we have anger issues, we have PTSD, we have all king of issues.  Please, please, please stop just calling it PTSD, I want to be called a combat vet coming home with some issues.  Thank you.      Wednesday's snapshot covered Tuesday's House Armed Services Committee's Military Personnel Subcommittee hearing. Dana Milbank (Washington Post) covered it in depth (and was noted in that day's snapshot) Talk Radio News Service provided a summary of the main points and that was it from the press.  Today the New York Times makes that hearing their lead editorial (A18), entitled "Wounded Warriors, Empty Promises" and describes it as "the latest low moment for Army brass".  From the editorial:   Under skepitcal questioning during a hearing in February, Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the Army surgeon general, told the subcomittee that "for all intents and pruposes, we are entirely staffed at the point we need to be staffed." He also said: "The Army's unwavering commitment and a key element of our warrior ethos is that we never leave a soldier behind on the battlefield -- or lost in a bureaucracy."   That was thousands of wounded, neglected soldiers ago.  There are now about 12,500 soldiers assigned to the warrior transition units -- more than twice as many as a year ago.  The number is expected to reach 20,000 by this time next year.   The nation's responsibility to care for the wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan will extend for decades.  After Tuesday's hearing, we are left pondering the simple questions asked at the outset by Representative Susan Davis, the California Democrat who is chairwoman of the military personnel subcommittee: Why did the Army fail to adequately staff its warrior transition units?  Why did it fail to predict the surge in demand?  And why did take visits from a Congressional subcommittee to prod the Army into recognizing and promising -- yet again -- to fix the problem?     Still on Congress and veterans, Edward Colimore (Philadelphia Inquirer) reported on a Congressional bill 'addressing' stop-loss. Stop-loss is the (illegal) policy by which Bully Boy has extended service members' length of service. The service contract has been completed but instead of moving towards discharge, Bully Boy is claiming a national emergency and extending service. If the Iraq War has caused a "national emergency" for the United States, you certainly can't tell it by the tiny trickle of reporting on the Iraq War. So Congress has decided to 'address' it. By writing a law making clear how unlawful the policy is? No, by tossing out a few dollars at the problem -- "an additional $1,500 a month of extnded duty . . . retroactive to October 2001". If this is step-one, it's needed. It's past due. But if this is the 'fix,' it's not repairing anything.  IVAW's Kristopher Goldsmith favors ending the illegal stop-loss and tells Colimore, "Instead of being a civilian again and starting my life, I was doing the polar opposite: putting on a unifoorm and returning to Iraq.  I had come back with pretty severe PTSD and depression and was having panic attacks."   It's Friday.  And Gidget's finishing up the World Salvation Tour so the press can't be bothered too much with Iraq.  In the limited reports from Iraq . . .   Bombings?   Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing that left three police officers injured.   Shootings?   Reuters notes that 1 Iraqi soldier was shot dead in Mosul.   Corpses?   Reuters notes that 1 corpse was discovered in Baghdad.   Turning to US presidential politics and starting with Gidget the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party.  But don't tell his staff that.  Apparently, selecting his shade of lip gloss tires them out.  Which is why the Telegraph of London's Toby Harnden (at RealClearPolitics) explains that Jim Steinberg got huffy with the press and started talking about how when he worked for another president (Bill Clinton), he never had to go on record with the press -- only to have the press remind Steinberg that Barack was not president.  He's not even the nominee.  But don't confuse them.  Susan Rice -- lunatic and War Hawk -- was defending Barack Does Berlin and insisting he wasn't be political, "When the President of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally."  Causing a reporter to shoot back, "But he is not President of the United States."  It's all so confusing for the Cult.  He's not even the nominee yet.  Cedric and Wally weighed in on Ms. Minelli's Cabaret last night.   Ralph Nader is a presidential candidate, not a 'presumptive' one, an actual candidate for president.  Stealing from Marcia yesterday, "Ruth (Ruth's Report) has been covering it, Kat [Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills) ] has been covering it, Elaine (Like Maria Said Paz) has been covering it, Rebecca (Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude ) has been covering it. C.I. (The Common Ills) has covered it over and over and Third Estate Sunday Review has covered it."  She had noted Mike in the previous paragraphs but he's covered BonusGate as well.  BonusGate, where at least 50 Democrats conspired to keep Ralph Nader off the state's ballot in the 2004 eleciton.  John L. Micek (The Morning Call) explains that Pennsylvania's AG Tom Corbett was "armed with a 74-page grand jury presentation two weeks ago, alleged that Democratic House employees worked to challenge the 51,273 signatures Nader and running mate Peter Camejo had gathered for access to the 2004 presidential ballot. A dozen former and current House Democratic lawmakers and employees face theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest charges, partly for their alleged role in derailing Nader's campaign."  Nader held a news conference on the issue yesterday.  Charles Thompson (The Patriot-News) reports "Nader wants relief from an $81,102 penalty for legal costs following court battles over his presidential nomination petition in 2004.  He said he will file a challenge with the state Supreme Court.  Nader said those damages should be dropped in light of criminal charges brought this month" and quotes Nader stating, "This was one of the most fraudulent and deceitful exercises ever perpetrated on Pennsylvania voters."  Amy Worden (Philadelphia Inquirer) quotes him stating, "According to the grand jury, millions of dollars in taxpayer funds, resources and state employees were illegally used for political campaign purposes -- including to remove the Nader-Camejo ticket from the ballot."  Alex Roarty (Politicker) reported yesterday, ""House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D-Greene County), law firms and the country's 'corrupt' two-party system -- each were warned Wednesday by Ralph Nader that the ongoing 'Bonusgate' investigations will reveal their rampant political corruption."  Surprisingly, "Democracy" "Now" can't be bothered with this story.  While addressing all of that, Nader's still running a presidential campaign and Nader and Matt Gonzalez are on the move all weekend.  From Team Nader:   We need gas money. Why? Starting today, Ralph Nader is on the road again. This time campaigning through the South and then out West. Over the next two weeks, Ralph will be in South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Utah and up and down California. His VP, Matt Gonazalez, will be joining Ralph on the campaign trail starting in Texas. Check out the schedule below. If you are in the neighborhood, come on out to hear and meet Ralph and Matt. With both Obama and McCain saber rattling over Iran, the Nader/Gonzalez message of peace through justice is now more important than ever. If your friends or relatives in the neighborhood, give them a shout and let them know. But right now, we need gas money to fuel Ralph's South and West Coast Tour. We've rented a car. Gas prices are high. And Ralph is on the move. So, please donate whatever you can now to fill up our tank. You can give up to $4,600. But $500, $100, $50 - whatever you can donate is what we need. Help us fill 'er up. So we can get 'er done. Onward. The Nader Team Ralph Nader's Tour of the South and West Friday July 25, 2008 5:30 p.m. Athens, Georgia Nader for President 2008 Rally University of Georgia, Georgia Center- "Masters Hall" 1127 South Lumpkin St. Athens, GA 30602 Contribution- $10/ $5 student (404) 446-7093 or events@votenader.org Friday July 25, 2008 8 p.m. Atlanta, Georgia Evening with Ralph Suggested Contribution $100 min RSVP (202) 471-5833 Saturday July 26, 2008, 6 p.m. Jackson, Mississippi Book Signing/ Speech Lemuria Bookstore 202 Banner Hall- I-55 North Jackson, MS 39206 (601) 842-6769 or events@votenader.org Saturday July 26, 2008 8:00 p.m. Jackson, Mississippi Evening with Ralph Nader RSVP (202) 471-5833 Suggested Contribution $50 Sunday July 27, 2008 2:00 p.m. Houston, Texas Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez Hilton University of Houston 4800 Calhoun Suite 207, Houston, TX77204 Contribution- $10/$5 student (202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org Sunday July 27, 2008 7:30 p.m. Austin, Texas Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez Trinity United Methodist Church 600 East 50th St. Austin, TX 78751 Contribution $10/$5 student (202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org Thursday July 31, 2008 7:30pm Salt Lake City, Utah Nader for President 2008 Rally w/ Rocky Anderson Libby Gardner Concert Hall 1375 E President Circle, Salt Lake UT Contribution-$10/ $5 students (801) 916-6307 or ashley@votenader.rog Saturday, August 2, 2008, 8:00 p.m. Davis, California Nader for President 2008 Speech Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez Varsity Theater 616 Second Street Davis, CA 95616 Contribution: $10/ $5 students (202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org Sunday August 3, 1:30 p.m. Sebastopol, California Nader for President Speech Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez Sebastopol Community Center 390 Morris St., Sebastopol, California 95472 Contribution: $10/ $5 students (202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org August 3, 2008, 4:30pm Healdsburg, California Nader for President Speech Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez Copperfield's books 104 Matheson St., Healdsburg, California 95448 Contribution: $10/ $5 students (202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org August 3, 7:30 p.m. Kentfield, California Nader for President 2008 Speech in Marin Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez College of Marin- Olney Hall 835 College Ave., Kentfield, California Contribution: $10/ $5 students More Info: (415) 897-6989 or events@votenader.org PS: We invite your comments to the blog.   NOW on PBS (begins airing tonight in most markets) sits down with John Edwards to discuss the troubles facing families across the country, some struggle to make it in single parent homes, for example. Bill Moyers Journal explores torture (among other topics) and Jane Mayer is a guest. BMJ's Michael Winship files an editorial on torture, "The Company We Keep:"   The administration remains in denial. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft told the House Judiciary Committee, "I don't know of any acts of torture that have been committed by individuals in developing information," he said. "So I would not certainly make an assumption. I would attribute the absence of an attack [since 9/11] at least in part, because there have been specific attacks that have been disrupted, to the excellent work and the dedication and commitment of people whose lives are dedicated to defending the country. Interrogators have used enhanced interrogation techniques but they haven't used torture." Grim hairsplitting. This week, as the result of a Freedom of Information Act suit, the ACLU received a heavily redacted copy of an infamous August 2, 2002 memo, signed by then-head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel Jay Bybee and written with his subordinate, the equally infamous John Yoo. "An individual must have the specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering," it reads. "… The absence of specific intent negates the charge of torture… We have further found that if a defendant acts with the good faith belief that his actions will not cause such suffering, he has not acted with specific intent."  Jameel Jaffer, head of the ACLU's national security project told Spencer Ackerman of The Washington Independent, "Imagine that in an ordinary criminal prosecution a bank robber tortures a bank manager to get the combination to a vault. He argues that the torture was not to inflict pain, but to get the combination. Every torturer has a reason other than to cause pain. If you're going to let people off the hook for an intention other than to cause pain, you're not going to be able to prosecute anyone for torture."  Deborah Pearlstein, a constitutional scholar and human rights lawyer who has spent time at Guantanamo monitoring conditions there, testified to Congress that, "As of 2006, there had been more than 330 cases in which U.S. military and civilian personnel have, incredibly, alleged to have abused or killed detainees. This figure is based almost entirely on the U.S. government's own documentation. These cases involved more than 600 U.S. personnel and more than 460 detainees held at U.S. facilities throughout Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay. They included some l00-plus detainees who died in U.S. custody, including 34 whose deaths the Defense Department reports as homicides. At least eight of these detainees were, by any definition of the term, tortured to death."   More is online at Bill Moyers Journal where you can watch, listen or read (transcripts) and BMJ never forgets to serve all communities and remembers public television's key word is "public."  On Washington Week, Gwen and the Gas Bags jaw over the non-news. Helene Cooper (New York Times) is the only one qualified to address the international scene so expect a lot of snorts, bromides and tidbits from the rest.      iraq camilo mejia iraq veterans against the war aaron glantz kpfa aimee allison david solnit daniel barlow les blumenthal amy worden washington week pbs bill moyer journal jane mayer now on pbs helene cooper dana milbank the washington post like maria said paz kats korner sex and politics and screeds and attitude trinas kitchen the daily jot cedrics big mix mikey likes it ruths report sickofitradlz

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Nader Releases Letter to Conyers on Impeachment Hearing

News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Driscoll, 202-360-3273, chris@votenader.org

NADER RELEASES LETTER TO CONYERS ON IMPEACHMENT HEARING

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2008----Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader today sent the following letter to U.S. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers on the hearings about presidential misconduct scheduled for Friday, July 25.

July 23, 2008

Chairman John Conyers
House Judiciary Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Conyers:

For years I have been urging you to initiate a resolution of impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for chronic, repeated violations of our Constitution and the many "high crimes and misdemeanors" they commit day after day. These two men are the worst recidivist impeachable occupiers of the Presidency and Vice Presidency in American history.

Since assuming power over both Houses, the Democratic leadership declared impeachment to be "off the table."

During our 2004 Nader/Camejo independent campaign for the Presidency, we invited the American people to sign on in support of our demand for the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Many thousands of citizens signed.

We have had several conversations and two meetings where impeachment was discussed. On March 24, 2008, I wrote you a letter describing the various options open to you as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (see enclosed.)

A few days ago, it was reported that your Committee will hold hearings this Friday July 25, 2008 on Congressman Dennis Kucinich's article of impeachment referred to your jurisdiction.

You have invited four members of the House to testify including, of course, Congressman Kucinich and several observers of the subject, including the inestimable former mayor of Salt Lake City Rocky Anderson, Bruce Fein and John Dean. The Libertarian candidate for President, Bob Barr is also on the witness list, but I am not.

This is not the first time that I have been excluded from testifying on subjects both of us have been concerned about and have discussed. Remember your invitation to testify at your unofficial public hearing right after the 2004 elections regarding "irregularities" in Ohio? Within two days, your chief of staff, Perry Applebaum, persuaded you to disinvite me.

Applebaum has been a problem with my appearing before a Committee Chairman whom I have known, admired and worked with for nearly forty years. He has performed his exclusionary behavior on other occasions. It is time to make this public and to ascertain why he prevails again and again with his superior either not to invite or to deny requests to testify regarding subjects well within my knowledge, experience, and forthrightness.



Sincerely,

Ralph Nader
P.O. Box 34103
Washington, D.C. 20043

For more information on the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign, see: VoteNader.org

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Friday July 25th, 12pm

Lunch w/ Ralph Nader

Columbia, SC

RSVP (202) 471-5833

Suggested Contribution $50

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Friday July 25th, 5:30pm

Nader for President 2008 Rally

Athens, GA

University of Georgia, Georgia Center- "Masters Hall"

1127 South Lumpkin St. Athens, GA 30602

Contribution- $10/ $5 student

(404) 446-7093 or events@votenader.org

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Friday July 25th, 8pm

Evening with Ralph

Atlanta, GA

Suggested Contribution $100 min

RSVP (202) 471-5833

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Sat. July 26th, 6pm

Book Signing/ Speech

Jackson, MS

Lemuria Bookstore

202 Banner Hall- I-55 North Jackson, MS 39206

(601) 842-6769 or events@votenader.org

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Sat. July 26th, 8:00pm

Evening with Ralph Nader

Jackson, MS

RSVP (202) 471-5833

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Sun. July 27th, 2pm

Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez

Houston, TX

Hilton University of Houston

4800 Calhoun Suite 207, Houston, TX77204

Contribution- $10/$5 student

(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org

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Sun. July 27th, 7:30pm

Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez

Austin, TX

Trinity United Methodist Church

600 East 50th St. Austin, TX 78751

Contribution $10/$5 student

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Iraq

Kamal was just 16 when gunmen snatched him off the streets of Baghdad, stuffed him in the trunk of a car and whisked him away to a house. But the real terror was about to begin.
The men realized he was gay, Kamal said, when he took his shirt off and they saw that his chest was shaved.
"They told me to take off my clothes to rape me or they would kill me immediately. This moment was the worst moment in my life," he said, weeping as he spoke of the 2005 ordeal.
"I was watching them taking off their clothes, preparing to rape me. I did not know what to do, so I started shouting loudly, 'Please do not do that! I will ask my family to give you whatever you want.'"

The above is from Frederik Pleitgen, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Wayne Drash's "Gays in Iraq terrorized by threats, rape, murder" (CNN) and, if you look really hard, you can find a few things that are news and are about Iraq. If you look really, really hard.

In terms of the papers, you're best skipping all but the New York Times. Want a lot of fluff about 'glamor' that ignores why Miramax, et al are 'helping' Kuridstand? Rush to the Los Angeles Times and take a garbage bag.

Richard A. Oppel Jr.'s "8 Die in Iraq in Suicide Bombing, Apparently by Woman" (New York Times) covers the bombing in Baquba yesterday:

If the explosion proves to have been carried out by a female suicide bomber it will be at least the 16th time that a woman has donned a bomb and exploded herself in Diyala Province since last year.
Wearing billowy, black head-to-toe garments, the female bombers have been able to conceal powerful explosives and slip into crowded areas too heavily guarded for a male suicide bomber to ease through undetected. While men often undergo physical searches, Islamic rules do not allow male security officers to pat down women.
It was not immediately clear how many of Mr. Dulaimi's guards and militia fighters were among the victims in Baquba. The dead also included two police officers, and six police officers were among the wounded. A local council member was also killed, according to an Iraqi security official.

Alissa J. Rubin covers Iraqi collaborators with the US who are having immigration problems. We are not interested in that story. We will never be interested in that topic. If you are, there's a link. (And if you're confused, the widows, the children, the elderly, these huge, vast groups, have no advocates for them. The fact that the US military will advocate for the collaborators mean they have all the help they need.)

Returning to Oppel, he also contributes "State Department Inspector to Investigate Texas Oil Company’s Deal in Kurdistan" which explores the continued attempts to get infomation about the deal Hunt Oil made with the Kurdistan region -- bypassing and undercutting the central government in Baghdad -- while the US State Dept did . . . what? Nothing? ". . . earlier this month a Congressional committee released internal e-mail messages and documents from the State Department and Hunt Oil that suggested that State Department officials did not try to dissuade Hunt Oil from signing the deal with the Kurds." State Dept Inspector General (acting), Harold W. Geisel has announced an investigation.

Turning to US politics, "Why Workers World is endorsing Cynthia McKinney for president" (Workers World):

Workers World newspaper in the past has supported the candidates of Workers World Party running for national office in the U.S. presidential elections and who have put forward a revolutionary socialist program. This time we are taking the unusual step of endorsing the candidacy of Cynthia McKinney because these are unique times and this is a unique candidate.
McKinney, a courageous Black woman and former U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia, has become one of the most militant leaders and voices for the U.S. left, progressive and Black movements.
Because of her militancy in the struggle against the war, the struggle to impeach Bush, as well as her struggle to expose the government’s role in the displacement of survivors of Hurricane Katrina, she was branded too Black and too radical to walk the halls of Congress. She was pushed out, not once but twice, by the leadership of the Democratic Party. Last year, McKinney severed her ties to that party.
On July 12, McKinney and her running mate, activist Rosa Clemente, won the Green Party’s nomination to run for president and vice-president, respectively. The Green Party’s nomination will put McKinney on the ballot in about 20 states, which is no small thing in the U.S. where the ruling class has made it very hard for any electoral formation independent of, and even slightly to the left of, the two major ruling-class parties to get ballot status. The Green Party is not the reason why we are supporting McKinney.
McKinney’s "Power to the People Campaign" gets most of its program from the draft program of the still-in-formation Reconstruction Party. Activists in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, together with supporters nationwide, have been developing a Reconstruction Party as a mass political vehicle to fight for the reconstruction of the Gulf and justice for Katrina survivors.
The draft program of the Reconstruction Party is inspired by the program of the original Black Panther Party. The Reconstruction Party draft program calls for, among other things: self-determination for Black people, the relocation of displaced survivors of Katrina back to the Gulf, jobs, healthcare and housing, reparations for Black people, an end to racist terror and political repression, an end to the prison-industrial complex and an end to the war.
McKinney's campaign is laying the foundation for a radical coalition of Black, Latino, Asian and Indigenous activists, trade unionists, progressives and revolutionaries. This is important and timely.
We have no illusions regarding the difficulty that McKinney's campaign will face, because this presidential election is like none other before it.
The economic crisis and prospects for class struggle
Barack Obama is the first Black person to be the nominee of a ruling-class party, and he could be the first Black president of the U.S. Many are understandably excited about Obama's candidacy, especially Black people.
No matter how far Obama moves to the right, most likely Black people are going to come out in unprecedented numbers in November in the hopes of achieving something that very few thought possible a year ago. Apart from Black voters, many others will vote for Obama in November for reasons that are historically progressive. And some will not vote for Obama because of his name, because they think he's Muslim and because he's Black.
Race, or what some of us call the national question, is central to this year’s election.
But then there is the negative side to this contradictory development. Should Obama win the election (a prospect that shouldn't be considered certain), the U.S. imperialist ruling class will have a gifted Black politician to help them save their troubled empire. An Obama presidency as the face of an imperialist state will not change anything fundamental, but on the surface it will mark a change, a new situation.
The U.S. capitalist class desperately needs to try something new to help them with their overlapping crises of deepening economic turmoil and imperialist war. In the board rooms of Wall Street, some are, no doubt, hoping that someone like Obama can delay or derail an uprising against widespread depression-level social conditions, or at least be the scapegoat for the unbearable misery that the ruling class has in store for workers.
The Obama phenomenon is more than anything else a sign that the period of political reaction, which has held the working class back and weakened revolutionary movements, organizations and their revolutionary ideas, is coming to an end.
No matter who wins the election, the magnitude of the spiraling crisis of world imperialism, centered here in the U.S., is going to challenge all the forces who share an anti-imperialist, working-class-centered socialist orientation to put aside narrow views, sectarian habits and small differences that have festered during a long and demoralizing period of world reaction.
The material conditions for resurgence of the working class may sooner than later reach levels not seen in this country since the 1930s. In order for the working-class movement to grow politically and organizationally, it will take time, experience in the class struggle, and the assistance of conscious political forces who are dedicated to reviving the struggle.
What is required of all of us who consider ourselves among the dedicated? At a minimum it is a higher level of clarity, seriousness, confidence, solidarity and coalition building.
McKinney's campaign is Black-led, anti-imperialist, working-class-centered and has a multinational radical base with the potential of unlimited growth.
Of course, we believe that the struggle should not be confined to the electoral arena, especially as the capitalist ruling class completely dominates the electoral process. We must be in the streets fighting the war, fighting foreclosures and evictions, fighting in solidarity with immigrant workers, etc. However, Workers World believes that supporting the McKinney campaign is a step forward towards the path that the movement needs to take.
Articles copyright 1995-2008 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php

As noted in yesterday's snapshot:

Staying with women, Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente (McKinney is the Green party presidential nominee, Clemente is her running mate) are not the first women of color ticket in a US presidential race. Amy Goodman repeated that nonsense on Monday (and we called it out Monday -- and Jim did with the note he added to my morning entry) and has refused to correct it. As noted in the July 11th snapshot and many times since: " What About Our Daughters? explains that, if McKinney is the nominee, this is the third time two women of color would be on the ticket with the first being Lenora Fulani and Maria Elizabeth Munoz in 1992 (New Alliance Party) and Monica Moorehead and Gloria La Riva (Workers World Party) in 1996." Workers World Party confirmed to Martha this week that, yes, Moorehead and La Riva were women of color and also noted that the party's publication (Workers World) has endorsed a presidential candidate for this election: [. . .]

Thank you to Martha. Amy Goodman never issued a correction. She 'misses' a great deal such as efforts to attack democracy. Turning to BonusGate, where at least 50 Democrats conspired to keep Ralph Nader off the state's ballot in the 2004 eleciton. From John L. Micek's "Nader wants feds to investigate state Democrats" (The Morning Call):

Attorney General Tom Corbett, armed with a 74-page grand jury presentment two weeks ago, alleged that Democratic House employees worked to challenge the 51,273 signatures Nader and running mate Peter Camejo had gathered for access to the 2004 presidential ballot.
A dozen former and current House Democratic lawmakers and employees face theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest charges, partly for their alleged role in derailing Nader's campaign.
On Thursday, Nader's attorney, Oliver Hall of the Center for Competitive Democracy in Washington, D.C., took aim at House Majority Leader Bill
DeWeese's claims that he was unaware that his staff and his second-in-command, then-Democratic Whip Michael Veon, were engaged in allegedly illegal activity.
"Where was Bill DeWeese?" Hall asked. "He hasn't been indicted, but [former DeWeese chief of staff Michael] Manzo and Veon have. Attorney General Corbett has made clear that his investigation is ongoing, and we would urge him to focus on the role of Bill DeWeese. This needs to be clarified."

Charles Thompson's "BONUS SCANDAL: Nader hits deceit in '04 fight on petition" (The Patriot-News) continues the story:

Nader wants relief from an $81,102 penalty for legal costs following court battles over his presidential nomination petition in 2004. He said he will file a challenge with the state Supreme Court.
Nader said those damages should be dropped in light of criminal charges brought this month by Attorney General Tom Corbett against 12 people with ties to the state House Democratic caucus. Among allegations of illegal activities, Corbett said House Democratic staffers were deployed on state time in a successful effort to get Nader knocked off the ballot four years ago.
"This was one of the most fraudulent and deceitful exercises ever perpetrated on Pennsylvania voters," Nader said. He added that it was symptomatic of attempts to quash independent and small-party candidates across the nation.

And from Amy Worden's "Nader to ask Pa. court to reopen presidential nomination case" (Philadelphia Inquirer):

"According to the grand jury, millions of dollars in taxpayer funds, resources and state employees were illegally used for political campaign purposes - including to remove the Nader-Camejo ticket from the ballot," Nader said at a news conference here.
The Supreme Court in 2006 upheld a lower court order for Nader and his running mate, Peter Miguel Camejo, to pay the court costs.
In announcing the indictments of Rep. Sean Ramaley (D., Beaver), former House Minority Whip Mike Veon, and 10 former and current House Democratic staffers on July 10, Attorney General Tom Corbett described a "massive" effort by Democrats to oust Nader in order to help Democratic candidate John Kerry win Pennsylvania.
As many as 50 House staff members worked on a challenge to Nader's ballot petition, and more than half received state-funded bonuses, in part for their "Nader efforts," according to the grand jury report.
The grand jury report also cited Democratic efforts to bounce former Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli, who in 2006 challenged Democrat Bob Casey for a U.S. Senate seat, from the ballot. Last week, Romanelli asked the Supreme Court to reopen his ballot-access case on similar grounds.

Bonnie notes this from the Nader Team:

15 Dollars, 15 States, 15 Days

Posted by The Nader Team on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 10:28:00 AM

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Drop fifteen dollars now on Nader/Gonzalez.

Why?

We now enter the most difficult and challenging ballot access stretch of the campaign.

We need to get on fifteen more states in fifteen days.

Last month, we laid out an ambitious ballot access plan.

Thanks to you, we have met stages one and two on time and on schedule.

Now, on to stage three -- 15 more states, a total of 30 states, by August 10 -- on our way to 45 states by September 15.

And we need to raise $100,000 by August 10 to fuel that drive and push us over the $2 million mark for the campaign.

Why is it important to put Ralph Nader on the ballot -- and get him into the Presidential debates this fall?

For one, because Nader is the only candidate who would take the bombing of Iran "off the table."

As Obama made clear yesterday in Israel, he's keeping the military option against Iran "on the table."

As would McCain.

And if you doubt the seriousness of the situation, check out Israeli historian Benny Morris' recent Op-Ed in the New York Times in which he predicts that Israel will bomb Iran within four to seven months.

Cooler heads must prevail.

While McCain and Obama are fueling the Israeli drive to bomb Iran, even some of their own advisors are warning about the disastrous consequences of such a policy.

Yesterday, Brent Scowcroft told the Israelis to "calm down" and Obama advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski said the "all options on the table" talk was "counterproductive." Brzezinski said he would tell Israel "don't do it."

That's of course why we need the strong Nader/Gonzalez off the table voice in the debates.

And the chances improve as we continue to poll at or above five percent -- see yesterday's NBC/WSJ poll here.

This was the third major poll putting us at five percent and above. (Remember, John Anderson and Ross Perot both got into Presidential debates because they met the then threshold of five percent.)

So, please, we need 1,000 of you, our loyal supporters, to hit the button now and contribute $15 each to kick off our drive to get to 30 states.

How will your generous donations help us on the ground?

Think about the more than 50 young at heart, dedicated road trippers working 10 and 12 hours, day after day -- working through blazing hot summer afternoons, ducking under covered awnings during heavy thunderstorms, and bringing the Nader/Gonzalez message to thousands of voters state by state.

We need your $15 donation to help buy gas for their rental cars, feed them, and help pay for thousands of photo copies.

We need your $15 donation to help buy Greyhound bus tickets, Amtrak tickets and airplane tickets.

Of course, we're always looking for one or two angels willing to max out and cover the "filing fees" -- like the one in West Virginia that will cost us $2,500.

How badly and urgently do we need your help?

• Our New Hampshire crew needs to collect 4,000 signatures in 10 days -- that's 400 a day.
• In Maine, starting Saturday, our crew has 12 days to collect 5,000 signatures.
• Our people in Ralph's home state of Connecticut need to collect more than 700 signatures a day over the next 13 days.
• In South Dakota, we need 1,500 signatures 10 days.
• In Wyoming, we need 2,000 more signatures in 10 days.
• In Virginia, we need to collect 600 signatures a day over the next couple of weeks.
• In the Buckeye State, our Ohio crew needs to collect 11,000 signatures in the next couple of weeks -- 350 to 400 a day.

In short, our backs are up against the wall.

And the best way you can help get us on the ballot is to donate $15 now.

Help us lift off toward the debates in November.

Thank you for your generous support.

Together, we are shaking it up.

Onward

The Nader Team

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

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I Hate The War

Dear Late To The Party

Iraq snapshot

Thursday, July 24, 2008.  Chaos and violence continue, a 'milestone' is reached (and only CNN catches it), another reported suicide bombing in Diyala Province as a 'crackdown' approaches, Nancy Pelosi reveals she never really cared about ending the illegal war, and more.

Starting with war resistance.  Last week, US war resister Robin Long was extradited from Canada.  Nanthaniel Hoffman (Boise Weekly) reports, "Long was escorted back to his Army unit at Fort Carson, Colo., on July 18 and promptly went before a magistrate judge.  He faces charges of desertion, and is being held at the jail in Colorado Springs because there is no detention facility at Fort Carson, according to Army spokesperson Brandy Gill."  Hoffman also steers readers to Rachael Daigle's interview with Robin in 2006.  In that interview he spoke of many things including CO status, "I tried to get conscientious objector status but my first sergeant told me he couldn't find the forms to apply and he didn't feel like looking for them.  I didn't know about conscientious objector status until a month before I got orders and that was when I first tried to do it.  Shortly after that, I got orders so I never really got a chance to apply for it."  Again, Robin was extradited and became the first US war resister ejected from Canada during the Iraq War.  Others are attempting to be awarded safe harbor in Canada.  "A plea from Vietnam war resisters to let Iraq resisters stay in Canada" (Owen Sound Sun Times) is a letter where past war resisters show solidarity with today's war resisters:

If we help them stay, they will contribute their efforts to Canada as we did then and they will remember your kindness as we do now.  
Please contact your local MP, Prime Minister Harper, Immigration Minister Diane Finley and Public Security Minister Stockwell Day to add your voices to the many other Canadians who are saying "let war resisters stay."
Andrew Armitage, Leigh andrew@apropos.ca 
Tim Hill, Owen Sound thill@bmts.comDonald Holman, Traverston,
zetlin@bmts.comRobert Hope, Owen Sound   
bob@rbhope.caTerri Hope, Owen Sound      
terri@rbhope.caTony McQuail, Lucknow       
mcqufarm@hurontel. on.ca 
Elizabeth Zetlin, Traverston, zetlin@bmts.com

Kimberly Rivera is a US war resister and Iraq War veteran in Canada -- with her husband Mario and their two children (soon to be joined by a third).  Will DiNovi wrote about her in one of those 'online exclusives' at The Nation.  (Not an insult to DiNovi.)  Link goes to CBS News. 26-year-old Kimberly Rivera is from the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas.  After serving in Iraq, she returned home for a brief leave and tells DiNovi, "I was really messed up when I got back, with feelings I'd never had before.  Sometimes I just got angry, just completely explosive."  She and her husband originally headed east with no real plan on her part (Mario had already brought up Canada) before they ended up in Canada.

Kimberly and her family were unprepared for some of the hardships they experienced in Canada, but also for the support they received. The War Resisters campaign arranged housing for the Riveras with a family in a suburb of Toronto when they first arrived, and three months later helped them move into their own apartment.  
It took eight months for Kimberly and Mario's work permits to be processed, and during that time they relied on the assistance of the War Resisters campaign and made trips to the local food bank every Thursday. Now, as refugee claimants, they can work legally and receive healthcare benefits. After a part-time stint at a photo-shop, Kimberly is working five days a week at a bakery, putting in shifts from 2 until 10 in the morning. Mario does occasional computer assembly work and is searching for part-time jobs. Though money is tight, their schedules allow them to be with their 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter at all times.          
Kimberly's experience has also made her more engaged politically. She directly petitioned her Member of Parliament to stop the food bank her family had relied on from closing down, and now regularly attends the War Resisters campaign meetings and rallies.    
"I don't like the attention," she says, but "I do it because I feel like there's a story that needs to be told."   
Kimberly will have her pre-removal risk assessment hearing on July 23 and may face deportation as early as this fall. After learning this month that she is pregnant with her third child, her desire to stay in Canada is stronger than ever.       

At her own site, Kimberly often blogs about her experiences and shares her poetry.  In April, she began one post, "I guess the hardest thing for people to understand is the reason you joing the military is not the reason you leave it.  Not knowing the truth.  Your basic role as a sodlier being invalidated, finding out your job has no meaning.  No reason."  In a poem that fellow US war resister in Canada Patrick Hart should put to music, Kimberly explains:

I was fighting your kind for killing my kind.  

I was fighting to find weapons that could wipe out large populations of peace.  

I was fighting to free you from the bad men, that harmed you and your family.

I was fighting for your liberty.  

I was fighting for peace.  

I was fighting to keep my family safe from you and your family.  

But in reality I was fighting to destroy everything you know and love.   

The end of that poem is, "Canada I am here will you take the time and the heart to understand what I am now fight for, with words and not a gun." 

To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca").  Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote.  Now they've started a new letter you can use online here.  The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here.  Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."

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Meanwhile in the United States, Amy Clarke's "AWOL soldier arrested in Central" (Greenvile News) and WSPA's "AWOL soldier arrested in Upstate" explain 24-year-old Iraq War veteran Dustin Moore was arrested Sunday for being AWOL, that he suffers from PTSD and his mother states the military did not "provide the treatment he needed." Traffic stop? Informant. Unnamed informant by the press. Considering the pattern, that unnamed informant would be the US military.

The assault on Diyala Province is supposedly to begin August 1st. Nicholas Spangler's "Iraqi army prepares assault in Diyala as election law vetoed" (McClatchy Newspapers)

Some members of the Sunni Awakening, tribesmen paid by the United States to fight al Qaida Iraq, are fleeing. "They think the security plan will target them after the insurgents," Mulla Sh'hab Alsafi, leader of one local Awakening group, told McClatchy.
Diyala, home to Kurds, Arab Sunni and Shiites, is one of the most ethnically and religiously mixed provinces in Iraq. Rich in agriculture, it's likely to be hotly contested in the upcoming provincial elections, along with the northern provinces of Ninevah, Salahuddin and Kirkuk.
Those elections, which had been scheduled for October, could return control of some of the northern provinces to Sunni Arabs, who boycotted the last round, held in 2005.
But the October date was thrown into doubt after Kurdish lawmakers walked out of the Iraqi parliament on Tuesday. At issue was power sharing in Kurdish-dominated Kirkuk, which sits on some of the largest oilfields in the country. The bill passed in their absence would reduce Kurdish representation on the provincial council and transfer security authority for the region from the Kurdish troops already there to Iraqi Army troops from outside the region.

As noted yesterday, Jalal Talabani, president of Iraq, is stating the bill is dead. Today
Amit R. Paley's "Iraqi President Vows Veto of Election Bill" (Washington Post) examines some aspects of it:

The dispute over the measure centered on the status of Kirkuk, an oil-rich provincial capital in northern Iraq that Kurdish leaders believe should come under the authority of their semiautonomous regional government. Most of the Iraqi political parties had already agreed that elections on the status of Kirkuk would be delayed indefinitely -- the clash was over how the city should be governed in the interim.
The legislation approved by parliament would divide control of the Tamim provincial council among Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens; currently the Kurds control the balance of power on the council as well as the governorship. The bill also calls for Kirkuk to be controlled by troops from central and southern Iraq, instead of the Kurdish pesh merga forces that now patrol the city. When the speaker of parliament called for a secret ballot to vote on those parts of the legislation, the Kurds walked out of the session.

And Savrina Tavernise and Riyadh Muhammed offer "Iraqi Measure on Provincial Voting Is Vetoed" (New York Times) which covers the same topic but also includes this:

Capt. Mahmoud al-Bayati, a police officer in Kirkuk, said that Arkan al-Naiemi, the son of the editor in chief of the weekly newspaper Sound of Villages, was accidentally shot dead by American soldiers on Wednesday, when he failed to stop his car after a convoy of Humvees pulled out in front of him. A request for comment e-mailed to the United States military went unanswered.

Ideally, that section and another report earlier this week get noted in today's snapshot.

Betty notes Jim Galloway's "Something for those turned off by the conservatism of Barack Obama" (Atlanta Journal-Constipation):

Insider: You're not going to be on the ballot in Georgia.
Nader: No. Georgia's one of the worst obstructive states in the country, as some litigation in Georgia has tried to point out from time to time.
Insider: If you're not going to be on the ballot, what's the purpose of the Athens meeting?
Nader: The write-in. It is a fund-raiser, actually. There are actually only two states that say write-ins are not counted at all. That's Oklahoma and Oregon.
We'll get a write-in in Georgia, and it's important to go into a state and point out how undemocratic it is for independent and third-party candidates rights. It's comparable to a Jim Crow law, it's so obstructive…..
So it's a very difficult state, and we’re not the only candidacy that’s pointed that out.
[. . .]
I've talked to thousands of Obama supporters, obviously, going around the country. Almost none of them associate any major policy initiative with him in Congress. And as a state senator, he even voted to cap pain and suffering damages of medical malpractice victims to $250,000. That's pretty inexcusable.
He's weak on the civil justice system, which is the principle way defrauded and wrongfully injured people challenge corporate power….
He's never met a weapons system he didn’t like. He's not challenged the military-industrial complex at all. And he gets a huge amount of money -- more than [Republican John] McCain has got -- from corporate interests and corporate attorneys....
For him, nuclear power is still on the table -- which is very insensitive, given that some of his major backers are nuclear power executives in Chicago.

Note, AJC is Betty's local paper and we don't ever note it unless she finds something. We never note the faux-gressive Cynthia there who has launched a non-stop, never ending war on Cynthia McKinney. We do not note that paper as a general rule. When there's an exception to that rule, it will come because Betty asks for it. (Or her father.) Staying on the topic of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, we'll note this from Team Nader:

Nader Releases Letter to Conyers on Impeachment Hearing

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 12:00:00 AM

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News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Driscoll, 202-360-3273, chris@votenader.org

NADER RELEASES LETTER TO CONYERS ON IMPEACHMENT HEARING

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2008----Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader today sent the following letter to U.S. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers on the hearings about presidential misconduct scheduled for Friday, July 25.

July 23, 2008

Chairman John Conyers
House Judiciary Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Conyers:

For years I have been urging you to initiate a resolution of impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for chronic, repeated violations of our Constitution and the many "high crimes and misdemeanors" they commit day after day. These two men are the worst recidivist impeachable occupiers of the Presidency and Vice Presidency in American history.

Since assuming power over both Houses, the Democratic leadership declared impeachment to be "off the table."

During our 2004 Nader/Camejo independent campaign for the Presidency, we invited the American people to sign on in support of our demand for the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Many thousands of citizens signed.

We have had several conversations and two meetings where impeachment was discussed. On March 24, 2008, I wrote you a letter describing the various options open to you as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (see enclosed.)

A few days ago, it was reported that your Committee will hold hearings this Friday July 25, 2008 on Congressman Dennis Kucinich's article of impeachment referred to your jurisdiction.

You have invited four members of the House to testify including, of course, Congressman Kucinich and several observers of the subject, including the inestimable former mayor of Salt Lake City Rocky Anderson, Bruce Fein and John Dean. The Libertarian candidate for President, Bob Barr is also on the witness list, but I am not.

This is not the first time that I have been excluded from testifying on subjects both of us have been concerned about and have discussed. Remember your invitation to testify at your unofficial public hearing right after the 2004 elections regarding "irregularities" in Ohio? Within two days, your chief of staff, Perry Applebaum, persuaded you to disinvite me.

Applebaum has been a problem with my appearing before a Committee Chairman whom I have known, admired and worked with for nearly forty years. He has performed his exclusionary behavior on other occasions. It is time to make this public and to ascertain why he prevails again and again with his superior either not to invite or to deny requests to testify regarding subjects well within my knowledge, experience, and forthrightness.



Sincerely,

Ralph Nader
P.O. Box 34103
Washington, D.C. 20043

For more information on the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign, see: VoteNader.org

-End-

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jim galloway

The lies of the sock puppets

"Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee -- which is my committee -- a bill to call for divestment from Iran as a way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don't obtain a nuclear weapon," Obama said.
Why that's wrong: Obama is not a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

To be clear, Iraqi forces aren't ready. The US staying won't make them ready. But it's another lie (Iraqi forces are getting better!) that helps prolong the illegal war. Back to the US race for president.

The York Daily Record reports that Ralph Nader will be addressing BonusGate at 2:00 p.m. today "in the Capitol rotunda". This is about Democrats in Pennsylvania conspiring in 2004 to keep Nader off the ballot. If you're new to BonusGate, ask yourself why. Click here for the Pennsylvania Attorney General's press release. And ask why there's been no coverage of it from our leading 'alternative' media outlets? (Because they are Panhandle Media.) But Amy Goodman can make time for a sexist getting in bed with MoveOn and "Color of Change" -- the latter reveals the color is always: HATE WOMEN. Where are the 'feminist' 'leaders'? In the tank for Barack. Which is why you won't hear about it this week. (We're covering it at Third Sunday. Wally and Cedric already addressed it.) Remember, there are no standards. They disappeared at a tag-sale masquerading as a Barack fundraiser. On BonusGate, this is from Terry Madonna and Michael Young's "State Legislature reels from bonus scandal" (GoErie.com):

It has all the elements of a sensational fiction thriller -- an allusive title, "Bonus Gate," cold cash in the form of illicit bonuses handed out to both witting and unwitting accomplices, titillating sexual encounters, dirt surreptitiously uncovered and used on political enemies, and all mixed well with a cast of unlikely characters and comedic hijinks worthy of Hollywood's finest.
Are we describing the latest crime novel published just in time for summer reading on hot, crowded beaches? Alas, no! Hot reading this may be, but fictional it is not. It is all too real. And the real world crime alleged at its core has so far led to the indictments of 12 Pennsylvania House Democratic representatives and staffers.

Eddie notes Alan Bernstein's "Nader brings campaign to Houston on Sunday" (Houston Chronicle):

Nader was unable to duplicate the feat this year, meaning he can glean Texas votes on Nov. 4 only as a write-in contender.
Regardless, he is scheduled to conduct a rally at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Hilton University of Houston hotel on the UH main campus.
He alleged that the two major political parties in Texas set the relatively early ballot petition deadline for May to eliminate competition.
"If it was in the marketplace, they would be both indicted and convicted under the anti-trust laws," he said.

Another problem in Texas (as members in that state have pointed out) is that Nader's petition was for a general election -- the general election in November. But a Texas law states that if you voted in a Texas primary (they held their primaries in March), you can't sign a petition for a general election canadidate.

Nader will also be in Utah. Cathy McKitrick's "Rocky to open for Ralph Nader at U. of U." (Salt Lake Tribune) notes that Nation cover boy Rocky Anderson (Anderson was on the cover of the first issue of the weekly in 2007) will introduce Nader:

The longtime attorney, watchdog and consumer advocate brings his "People Fighting Back" campaign to the Beehive State July 31, with former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson providing opening remarks.
"Ralph's a great friend, and I think he's done so much good for ordinary American people for decades," Anderson said. "I admire him immensely."
Third-party candidates help drive dialogue on issues that major party candidates often dodge, Anderson added.

And here's the latest from Team Nader:

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Yes, indeed.

You read that right.

You can win the grand prize -- a dinner with our main man -- Ralph Nader (at a mutually agreed time and place.)

How?

We're looking to build our e-mail list, to expand our grassroots support, and to spread the bedrock Nader/Gonzalez campaign message -- shift the power from the corporate controlled political parties back into the hands of the people.

So, we're having a contest.

The person who brings in the most e-mail sign-ups by August 7 at midnight to votenader.org wins.

Open to legal U.S. residents, 18 years or older at time of entry.

You invite your friends, family, neighbors and anyone else to sign up for Nader/Gonzalez updates.

The person who brings us the most e-mails wins the grand prize -- dinner with Ralph Nader.

(Check out our privacy policy here.)

During the course of the contest, you can keep track of how you are doing on our "Win Dinner With Ralph E-mail Contest Leaderboard."

It's sort of like kicking back on a Sunday afternoon and watching the PGA leaderboard.

Except that this isn't golf.

It's democracy.

And even if you don't grab the grand prize, there are a whole bunch of other prizes too.

Second prize is dinner with Ralph's VP running mate Matt Gonzalez (also at a mutually agreed time and place.)

Third prize is an invitation to our election night party in Washington, D.C.

Then the next seventeen people get an autographed copy of Unsafe at Any Speed and an autographed copy of the DVD An Unreasonable Man

Everyone who brings in at least 25 email sign-ups will receive a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

Are you ready to play?

You are?

Okay.

Get out your address book.

Start your e-mail engine.

And let 'er rip.

Click here to get started.

Remember, you can keep track of who's winning on our leaderboard.

(For the complete set of rules, click here.)

May the person who brings in the most e-mails to votenader.org win.

Onward

Sally Soriano,
Campaign Manager
Nader for President 2008

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

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alan bernstein

Iraq snapshot

 Wednesday, July 23, 2008.  Chaos and violence continue, Talabani says "NO!" to elections this year, the US Congress stages a feel-good session for the US army, and more.

Starting with war resistance.  In June 2006, Lt Ehren Watada became the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to the illegal war.  Since Judge Benjamin Settle ruled last November that the US military could not attempt a second (kanagroo) court-martial of Watada while the double-jeopardy issue remains, he has been in limbo.  In a grab-bag column about a number of topics, Christina Clark (Nebraksa's Gateway) mentions Watada while discussing how the Iraq War is illegal: "Bush did not receive permission from the United Nations to invade Iraq.  In September 2004, then-U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan stated that the war was 'not in conformity with the U.N. Charter, from our point of view and from the Charter point of view, it was illegal.' A number of military personnel, most notably 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, have refused to serve in the war because they consider it 'illegal' and have been court marshaled as a result."  As Rebecca noted of Watada last Friday, "the contract expired in 2006. it's time for the military to release him.  instead they keep him in the military and he has to report for duty on the base every day."

Meanwhile Chris Vanderveen (9 News Denver) reports that the War Resisters Support Campaign's Lee Zaslofsky has gone to Colorado to show his support for US war resister Robin Long who was extradited from Canada last Tuesday and states of Robin being expelled, "(Canadians) are very distressed by this.  This is going against the tradition we have in our country."  Meanwhile Angela Giles (The Chronicle Herald) argues for war resisters' right to remain in Canada and notes, "They have a higher obligation to international law than their 'duty' to just follow orders. . . . We now know soldiers are systematically ordered to violate international humanitarian law in Iraq -- from torture to intentionally targeting civilians -- and there are more revelations of war crimes emerging every day. . . .  The U.S. soldiers seeking refuge in Canada signed up to defend their country, not to commit war crimes."

To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca").  Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote.  Now they've started a new letter you can use online here.  The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here.  Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."

"The purpose of today's hearing," US House Rep Susan Davis said yesterday as she brought to order the House Armed Services Committee's Military Personnel Subcommittee, "is to take a hard look at the current state of the Army Medical Action Plan This will be the third hearing this subcomitt has held on the Army Medical Action Plan --  the army's response to the revelations at Walter Reed Army Medical Center last year, since it was issued in June 2007.  When the Army Medical Action Plan  execution order was issued last summer, the military personnel subcomittee believed that the army had finally demonstrated a full understanding and acceptance of the organizational and systemic short comings that had led to the scandalous conditions at Walter Reed.  We felt that the Army Medical Action Plan was a comprehensive and ambitious blue print to tackle these issues head on. After years of frustration many on the subcomittee believed that the army was finally ready to take the necessary steps to solve these problems.  However, from our very first briefing on the Army Medical Action Plan, we had two significant concerns.  The first was that the army would be unable to initially dedicate and then maintain over the long haul the level of resources required by the Army Medical Action Plan.  Specifically, we were worried that the army would be unable to assign adequate numbers of personnel  to the Warrior Transition Units.  Why? Because the core of the Warrior Transition Units were to be the same soldiers that make up the backbone of our brigade combat teams: mid-grade, non-commissioned officers.  And these soldiers were already in short supply.  The second concern was that army commanders would overwhelm the Warrior Tranistion Units by sending them all of their soldiers with medical issues rather than just those with complex injuries or conditions that required comprehensive case management.  In truth, we do not feel that this was necessarily a bad thing especially if it helped units deploy at full strength while injured or ill soldiers had the opportunity to fully recover  Of course, this would only work if Warrior Transition Units were properly resourced to take care of these soldiers.  From June 2007 through  February 2008, the members and staff of this subcommittee made numerous visits to Warrior Transition Units throughout the army.  The overall trend we observed was positive.  The Army Medical Action Plan was clearly providing better support for recovering soldiers than the previous medical holdover system.   One wounded warrior commented, 'Thank God for the Warrior Transition Unit.  Things are so much better than they were before.'  That was good to hear but despite the positive trends we were frustrated at the slow progress of implementing the AMAP.  We felt that things should have and could have been moving faster.  We also felt that there was a discconnect between how quickly the army leadership believed things were happening and what the facts on the ground seemed to indicate.  Again, despite the challenges, we felt things were moving in an overall, positive direction.  However our concerns about Warrior Transition Unit staffing levels and the potential  of line units, quote, 'dumping ' soldier on the Warrior Transition Unit continued.  We asked General [Eric] Schoomaker about this repeatedly during our hearing in February to get an update on the AMAP In response to a question asked by Mr. [John] McHugh, the army surgeon-general declared, 'For all intents and purposes we are entirely staffed at the point we need to be staffed.'  As the facts at Fort Hood demonstrate that is clearly not the case now. Gentlemen, the Army Medical Action Plan was designed by the army.  It is your plan.  The army senior leadership has publicly trumpeted your commitment to wounded soldiers at every opportunity -- and we believe that that is true.  But the Secretary of Defense agrees -- as Dr. [Robert] Gates has made clear -- apart from the war itself, this department and I have no higher priority." . Over the course of this hearing we will review the following topics.  Resources.  Why has the army failed to properly resource the Warriror Transition Units population growth.  Why did the army fail to predict the growth in the WT population.  We were assured by the army in Feb. that you had the processes and reviews in place to stay on top of the population and clearly that's not the case today.  Priority.  Is the Army Medical Action Plan truly the army's number two priority?  Our visits do not leave us with that impression. And creativity.  From the outset the Army Medical Action Plan has been sold as a bold roadmap to overhaul outdated, inefficient and deteremental policies and procedures. . . . And oversight.  Finally and perhaps most importantly why did it take oversight visits from the subcommittee to identify and spure the army to fix these issues and what will take to ensure that the army follows its own plan and lives up to its own promises it  Gentlemen, aside from telling us that you will will harder to implement it -- and we do believe that, we know that you are working very hard  at this -- what concrete steps are being taken to ensure better follow through?"

Rep John McHugh (ranking Republican) noted "there continues to be serious shortfalls.  Shortfalls that our staff did identify and I know the army continues to try to deal with.  Serious questions.  That of resources.  A mechanism that anticipates the population growth that we have seen -- an explosion" that it is only reasonable to expect will continue.  Davis and McHugh were speaking to the army's Lt Gen Michael D. Rochelle, Lt Gen Robert Wilson, Maj Gen David A. Rubenstein and Brig Gen Gary H. Cheek.  PDF format warning, you can click here for the brass' prepared statement.

Dana Milbank (Washington Post) describes the scene: "The generals were nervous.Lt. Gen. Robert Wilson moved his index finger across the page as he read his statement with a halting delivery.  Maj. Gen. David Rubenstein, holding a discolored washcloth under the witness table to dry his perspiration, accidentally dropped the cloth and felt for it with his shoe. The anxiety, even for men with two or three stars on each shoulder, was to be expected.  They had come before a House Armed Services subcommittee to explain why, 16 months and at least eight fact-finding investigations after the Walter Reed scandal, the Army still hadn't fixed the health-care system for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Milbank rightly notes that the witnesses played contrite.  True.  They also played suck up. Shortly after stating the obvious ("Make no mistake about it, our army is stretched"), Rochelle would declare, "It is clear to us that this committee foresaw that better than we did."  Why was that?  No need to explore that.  No need to worry because Rochelle insists, "But our heart was in the right place and remains in the right place."  Were these adults testifying before Congress?  And did this tender-hearted brass miss all of Davis and McHugh's many statements that bordered on the way an adult would speak to a very young child -- stressing repeatedly that the action, not the people, were bad; that the action, not the people, was at fault.  It was a bit puzzling to hear Davis and McHugh hit those points repeatedly at the start of the hearings but, a half-hour in, as McHugh had to again reassure the toddlers with stripes and bars on their shoulders, you were left with the impression that anything more age appropriate would have left the generals sucking their thumbs, curled up in a fetal position and sobbing on the House floor.

McHugh had to again do that tap-dance before getting to his point.  Having again assured the brass that everyone at the table was a special and wanted general, McHugh slowly and carefully declared, "In many ways, this challenge isn't being met.  And I find the current circumstances unacceptable."  It seemed to linger in the air as the bragg fidgeted.  "You gentlemen agree with that?" McHugh asked.  Silent pause.  "Anybody disagree with that?"

he then asked.  Still no comment.  Realizing the guilty children had agreed ahead of time to all stick together, McHugh began noting the numbers.  6,000 WTs were in the program in June of 2007 and increased to 12,000 by June of the following year with current predictions that it will "grow to another 20,000".  McHugh wanted to know if the problem was the model, the problem with the personnel or the problem due to the 90-day review not being done?  Apparently feeling he had to answer, Rubenstein stated "I'll go first" and quickly began talking about . . . people who weren't hired.  McHugh (stating "I'm going to interrupt you") attempted to get the conversation back on track.  If hearing Rubenstein discuss how he meets neighbors while he mows his yard is back on track . . . Around that time, McHugh would tell Rubenstein, "I'm not hear to argue with you" and, approximately ten minutes later, "General Rubenstein, I don't mean to engage in a debate per se"  -- then why was the hearing held?  US Rep Niki Tsongas appeared to waste the least amount of time doling out affirmations to the generals and instead focused on the realities involving the increased number of WTs.  She rightly noted that the White House's escalation troops are returning and that "if we do eventually engage in a timetable for the redeployment of our soldiers so again you'll be bringing back larger soldiers at once and particularly where the issue is PTSD -- where you might not have to deal with it really until the soldiers do come home.  Can you envision what you would do in a situation where you simply become overwhelmed by the demand?" Rubenstein agreed to go first and then began talking about the need to "keep our arms around" the wounded.  If we can leave the happy place for a minute, Tsongas asked about preparation for the expected influx into the program.  She didn't ask about group hugs.  "Where we can't," he said finally getting near the question asked,  "and where we may not be able to meet the needs if the numbers are overwhelming, we fall to our civilian network providers."

US House Rep Niki Tsongas: And this is a plan you have in place so that it kicks in automatically or is it really reacting to any given moment?

Maj Gen David Rubenstein: It's -- it's a plan that's in execution as we speak today.  In October at Fort Hood we sent about 350 of our warriors downtown Killeen [. . .]  to receive health care.  Those same soldiers, six months later,  in April of this year had 19,000 appointments downtown so we already use the system

Lt Gen Michael D. Rochelle: May I add, ma'am, Madam Tsongas, the two things that you hinted in your question is being pro-active in looking at both the deployment of individual elements of army unit brigades and support elements and being pro-active for those that are redeploying as well.  That we have come to learn is - - is one  -is one of our misconnects -- disconnects at the -- at the senior levels of the army and we're going to do better at that.  We already have a very reliable -- very reliable -- metric.

The answer to Tsongas' question is "NO."  Tsongas was speaking of the troops that will be returning as the escalation continues to wind down so dropping back to last year or last April really doesn't address that.  She was also asking noting that there may be some limited withdrawal in 2009 and is the army preparing for that?  When Rubenstein is offering that last April Fort Hood (which is supposed to be served primarily by the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center) was already scheduling 19,000 appointments with civilian providers (via the TriCare contracts/outsourcing) the answer is "NO!" the army is not prepared for it and does not appear to be doing anything to prepare for it.  (Whining, as Rubenstein did elsewhere, that emergency room nurses in civilian settings can work to 12 hour shifts and get paid for forty hours allowing them to make more than they would working for the military is not "dealing with" or "anticipating" an influx.)  Various members of the committee spoke of visiting Fort Drum and their surprise or disappointment that so much was still wrong.  Rep Nancy Boyda spoke of a mother of a wounded soldier who was unable to get the help he needed and was in limbo ("literally dying to get in" to some sort of treament) and subcommittee chair Davis spoke of being told about the healing groups ("focused healing environment") in place and instead seeing people sitting around in frustration and boredom "not feeling that things were happening for them."  Davis asked "how you see that changing at all? That people are able to get the appointments they need?"  Rubenstein offered nonsense about how, military or civilian, no one ever gets what they need or the time they think they deserve in a medical visit.  In other words, it was a lot of garbage.  Near the end, Davis offered that the army might need more money and that they could meet again in September but Rochelle insisted he felt "September would be too soon."  Since the generals could point to nothing accomplished the idea that they're going to skip out on a September meeting is rather appalling.  Dana Milbank (Washington Post) observes, "Finding no argument, the lawmakers brought the hearing to a prompt close, but not before another round of mutal flattery."  Yes, it really was that pathetic. Two hours and ten minutes wasted with no answers given, no indications that the military actually is addressing the expected influx of wounded.  A lot of airy statements and back-patting.  In the 2004 presidential race, US Senator John Kerry (the Democratic presidential nominee) rightly noted these problems were coming.  He stated that the White House was underfunding and diverting resources.  His reward for that truth telling was to have FactCheck.org smack him down with one of their psuedo 'fact checks.'  Nearly four years later, there is still no indication that anything is being done unless the Washington Post shines a large flashlight on the problem.  The paper did that and brought public awareness and public outcry.  The US Congress seems unwilling and/or unable to follow up on that.  The hearing was an embarrassment.  The fact that Milbank and Talk Radio News Service appear to be the only ones who bothered to cover it is even more embarrassing.

In England Gordon Brown, Prime Minister, is in the news for making another statement.  Philip Webster, Deborah Haynes and Tim Reid (Times of London) reports that Brown is saying that 'most' British troops will be out of Iraq "in a year."  There are approximately 4,1000 of them -- that's actually the number of British troops and the number of contradictory statements Brown has made in his brief time as prime minister as to whether England would leave or stay in Iraq. Take the wait and see approach with Brown's statements which, like the weather, seem to change hourly.

Turning to the US presidential race.  MediaChannel -- for some unknown reason -- is pushing a stupid study by "Media Tenor."  "Media Tenor" is not a media watchdog, it's part of Democracy In Action -- yet another front group funded with blood money. Go to MediaChannel if you're interested in reading it.  (My comments are not about MediaChannel, they are about "Media Tenor").  It's an 'analysis' that is both factually 'free' and non-content based.  It's a 'study' in the way your eight-year-old brother or sister might write a book 'report.'  It's also insulting.  Barack Obama and John McCain are not candidates for president.  They are 'presumptive' candidates.   Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader are actual candidates and they're shut out of the 'analysis.'  It's superficial crap that wants credit for finger-pointing at . . .  super-ficial crap.  As Phoebe famously said on Friends, "Hello Monica, this is kettle, you're black."  Media Tenor's garbage doesn't need to be circulated, it needs to be put in the trash.  MediaChannel got a link, but no link to the trash of "Democracy" In Action or "Media Tenor" or all the other partisan outlets staffed with dimwits paid in blood money.  Shame on you all.  (If need be, Ava says we can revisit the garbage being offered by Media Tenor at Third in our TV commentary Sunday but, if we do, we'll be doing a 'greatest hits' and not offering anything on any program airing this week.)

Paul Street takes on the myth of Saint Barack here (Black Agenda Report).  Kenneth J. Theisen (World Can't Wait) calls out the War Hawk Barack here.  Sally Soriano of Team Nader notes:

Yes, indeed.

You read that right.

You can win the grand prize -- a dinner with our main man -- Ralph Nader (at a mutually agreed time and place.)

How?

We're looking to build our e-mail list, to expand our grassroots support, and to spread the bedrock Nader/Gonzalez campaign message -- shift the power from the corporate controlled political parties back into the hands of the people.

So, we're having a contest.

The person who brings in the most e-mail sign-ups by August 7 at midnight to votenader.org wins.

Open to legal U.S. residents, 18 years or older at time of entry.

You invite your friends, family, neighbors and anyone else to sign up for Nader/Gonzalez updates.

The person who brings us the most e-mails wins the grand prize -- dinner with Ralph Nader.

(Check out our privacy policy here.)

During the course of the contest, you can keep track of how you are doing on our "Win Dinner With Ralph E-mail Contest Leaderboard."

It's sort of like kicking back on a Sunday afternoon and watching the PGA leaderboard.

Except that this isn't golf.

It's democracy.

And even if you don't grab the grand prize, there are a whole bunch of other prizes too.

Second prize is dinner with Ralph's VP running mate Matt Gonzalez (also at a mutually agreed time and place.)

Third prize is an invitation to our election night party in Washington, D.C.

Then the next seventeen people get an autographed copy of Unsafe at Any Speed and an autographed copy of the DVD An Unreasonable Man

Everyone who brings in at least 25 email sign-ups will receive a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

Are you ready to play?

You are?

Okay.

Get out your address book.

Start your e-mail engine.

And let 'er rip.

Click here to get started.

Remember, you can keep track of who's winning on our leaderboard.

(For the complete set of rules, click here.)

May the person who brings in the most e-mails to votenader.org win.

 iraq
robin long
ehren watada
angela giles

the washington post

nancy a. youssef
mcclatchy newspapers
the los angeles times
ned parker
saif hameed
the new york times
alissa j. rubin