Isaiah's latest The World Today Just Nuts "Barry and TOTUS." Barack Obama reads aloud from his teleprompter, "Yes, I'm wearing Michelle's clothes again. But I'm in mourning for Hukilau. Fortunately, my teleprompter and friend Ho'oponopono is still with us." Isaiah recommends Cedric's "White House maintains it was suicide" and Wally's "THIS JUST IN! DEATH SHOCKS WHITE HOUSE" (joint-post).

Isaiah archives his comics at The World Today Just Nuts.

the world today just nuts
barry and totus
barack obama
totus
the daily jot
cedrics big mix
the third estate sunday review
the common ills

The Kurds will vote on July 25 for a regional assembly and a president. They were also supposed to approve the new constitution, but a hurried intervention by the US vice president Joe Biden and warnings from Baghdad have persuaded Kurdish leaders to postpone that referendum.
Kurdish anxiety is understandable. From 2003 until recently they were at the height of their power. After their ally, the United States, overthrew Saddam Hussein, the political vacuum and the civil war that ensued gave Kurdistan unprecedented freedom and autonomy, turning it into a security and economic haven in a troubled country. But the Kurds were careful not to push their advantage too far: in a show of faith in Iraq’s future, one of their own, Jalal Talabani, even became the first non-Arab head of the Iraqi state. The Kurds now appear to feel that the goodwill they displayed when they were strong brought few benefits.

The above is from The National's "Iraq's divisixions put its security gains at risk" and despite so little interest in the Kurdish region from US outlets, that is where a great deal of the events that will shape Iraq's immediate future are currently occurring. Saturday, the region holds its provincial and presidential elections and does so without the New York Times doing the the three week advance build up that they gave for the other provincial elections January 31st (the KRG didn't take place in those provincial elections, nor did Kirkuk -- despite the way the press presented them, all of Iraq did not vote January 31st). And it's not just the New York Times, Panhandle Media (i.e. KPFA, Democracy Now!, etc.) were happy to pimp those elections in January and to pimp it as if meant their heart throb, the modern day Christ-child was really going to end the Iraq War. It was about spin, it wasn't about reality. These days they can't be bothered with Iraq for more than a few seconds. So you largely get silence in the US. Mehid Lebouachera (Kuwait Times) offers an analysis which opens with:

Kurdish demands to expand their autonomous region in northern Iraq to include the Kirkuk oil fields and other districts threaten to trigger armed conflict, diplomats and analysts warn. Six years after the US-led invasion in which Kurdish rebel groups were key allies, their decades-old claims to historically Kurdish-inhabited areas remain unresolved by the new Iraqi government in which they hold both the presidency and a deputy premiership.And opposition to the Kurdish demands remains as strong as ever, not only among the Sunni Arab minority that dominated Saddam Hussein's ousted regime but also among the Shiite majority community that leads the new government and among ethnic minorities such as the Turkmen. As time drags on, Kurdish leaders have voiced mounting frustration at the impasse in their talks with Baghdad, sparking an increasingly heated war of words with Arab politicians.

Nouri al-Maliki was installed by the US over three years ago. That's important. The 2005 Constitution, which went into effect in the final third of 2005 -- mere months before Nouri was installed -- promised an independent census of Kirkuk and a 2007 referendum. Nouri came to power and didn't get on that issue. Following the 2006 mid-term elections in the US, when both houses of Congress were handed over to Democrats (November, 2006), the White House, under pressure on the never-ending illegal war, began talking benchmarks for 'success.' The White House defined those benchmarks and Nouri signed off on them. The benchmarks included resolving the issue of Kirkuk. 2007. Two years later and still nothing.

Not only throughout the illegal war but also before it began, it was always known that Kirkuk was a divisive issue. (Hence the September 1998 White House meeting with Jalal Talabani, Kurd and current president of Iraq, and Masoud Barzani, Kurd and current president of the KRG; as well as the passage of in October 2002 of legislation by the Kurdish parliament preparing for the Iraq War.) Saddam Hussein ran Kurds out of the area and installed Arabs. The Kurds see Kirkuk as their land. The land is oil-rich and the Arabs aren't eager to hand it over to Kurdish control.

So despite the fact that Nouri came into office mere months after the Constitution went into effect (calling for resolution of the Kirkuk issue) and despite the fact that, in 2007, he signed off on benchmarks which included resolving the Kirkuk issue, he's done nothing. There has been no referendum, there hasn't even been a census.

Last summer lands the Kurds consider their own were nearly invaded by Iraqi forces in what some saw as an attempted take over and others saw as a 'crackdown' or assault similar to what Nouri staged on Basra in March of last year. It was a very tense situation and war could have erupted right then. Unlike the Shi'ite - Sunni conflict which was more ethnic cleansing due to the fact that the Sunnis are not in power and do not have the numbers that the Shi'ites, the KRG has its own army, has its own forces and the tensions do not cease, if these issues aren't resolved, it's not unlikely that real civil war will break out in Iraq. A real one. Not ethnic cleansing being 'prettied up' with the phrase 'civil war.' Not a bunch of powerless minorities being killed and run out of the country, but a full on war.

Such a war might give Shi'ites and Sunnis something to bond over and maybe that's why the issue's not really dealt with? But equally true is that the pershmerga is a real force, not a rag-tag one, not an inexperienced one. Nouri's force is infamous for desertion in the midst of battle. That happened during the assault on Basra. The assault on Basra required US forces backing Nouri up. Would they back up Nouri in a war on the KRG?

That's doubtful. In fact, were that to happen, you could see some of the largest global protests since the start of the illegal war because, while the Kurds haven't stressed this, they are among the world's most displaced people and they have historical events on their side. They do not have to 'play' a wronged people, historically and globally the Kurds are a wronged people. Even within Turkey, which has long had conflict with its Kurdish population (to put it mildly), you might see leaders encourage such sentiment with the hopes that, due to Turkey bordering Iraq, many of the Kurdish fighters in Turkey would depart from Turkey and move into Iraq to take up arms.

A conflict between the centeral government and the KRG will not find global support for the US puppet. That's reality and it's about damn time the White House grasped that.

For those who find it all so confusing, a 2008 State Dept [PDF format warning] report noted that there were an estimated 20 to 25 million Kurds world wide and that, "To varying degrees, Kurds have been persecuted in their countries." That's putting it mildly.

That is not to say X needs to be given or Y needs to be handed over. That is saying it's past time that the benchmarks and the Iraqi Constitution were followed. It's past time the issues were resolved. And if the US can't use its influence to see that an independent census is taken, that's one more reason (among the millions) for US forces to immediately come home. US forces do not need to be on the ground in Iraq if a civil war breaks out. As Joe Biden observered in April of 2007, being on the ground then would put them in the position of defending a government (Nouri's) that's neither legitimate nor popular and force them to take sides in a civil war.

Jamal al-Badrani (Reuters) reports that, as nothing is done regarding disputed territories, Kurds in Nineveh Province have issued statements threatening to secede.

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

Last Sunday, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 4322 and tonight? 4327. Today the US military announced: "AL ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq – A Multi National Force – West Marine was killed in a combat-related incident as a result of enemy action here July 19. The Marine’s name is being withheld pending next-of-kin notification and release through the U.S. Department of Defense official website at http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/."

In other reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing (Abu Ghraib) claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left three more injured, a Baghdad sticky bomb claimed the life of Sahwa leader Mahmoud Abdullah and left a bystander injured and a Baghdad bombing left nine people injured. KUNA reports a grendade attack on police in Mosul which claimed the life of 1 and left two more injured.

Shootings?

KUNA reports 2 police officers were shot dead today in Mosul. Reuters drops back to Saturday to note 1 handicapped male was shot dead in Mosul and 1 supsect was shot dead in Mosul by US and Iraqi forces.

Corpses?

KUNA reports a "beheaded" corpse (male) was discovered in Mosul.

A little after 2:30 this afternoon (EST), the US State Dept's spokesperson Robert Wood released the following statement on the helicopter crash in Iraq Friday:

The Department of State is deeply saddened by the deaths of two employees of Xe Consulting during a helicopter crash in Iraq on July 17 and extends our heartfelt sympathies to their families. Our thoughts are also with the two men who were injured in this incident and their families. These men played an important role in assisting the Department in protecting American diplomats and missions in Iraq.
The Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security is coordinating with appropriate U.S. and Iraqi officials regarding an investigation into the cause of the crash.

Gabriel Gatehouse (BBC News) reports that tensions are increasing between the Iraqi military and the US military over what the role of the US is in Iraq. File it under: One more reason all US troops need to be out of Iraq NOW.

Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reports Nouri, who has been making disparging remarks about US service members lately, intends to visit Arlington Cementary while visiting the White House. Reportedly he plans to pay his 'respects' -- non-existant ones to judge by his recent remarks. She quotes Nouri al-Maliki's boy-toy Sami Askari declaring, ""The Democrats were in opposition to George Bush so they tended not to see his positive points, only to concentrate on the negative ones. So I think the prime minister needs to say this: That as a people, we are not ignoring what others did for us. Every Iraqi who goes to Washington needs to make clear that the war was not a failure." Save the fantasy talk for Nouri, Askari. Nouri made quite clear to Barack last summer what he thought of Bully Boy Bush. The idea that after running Bush down (no problem with that here), Nouri's now going to counsel Barack on the 'good' in George W.'s efforts is laughable. What's not being reported are rumors that Biden has scheduled a high-level meeting with Nouri and former Ba'athists for this visit. Those are rumors. When Biden visited Iraq, Nouri remainded non-committal to the idea and indicated he would weigh a meet up with Ba'athists and Arab neighbors. Shortly after Biden departed Iraq, Nouri began issuing fiery statements indicating otherwise.

While Nouri gears up for his visit, Iraq's Foreign Minister has already made it to DC. Alsumaria quotes Hoshyar Zebari stating:

We are here to have talks with the Secretary of State on Iraq-U.S. relations that have been embedded in blood and sacrifice. After the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) agreement on the withdrawal of troops, the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraqi cities that was the first clear message and indicator that the United States is sincere in implementing its part of the bargain that we have reached. In fact, Iraq is moving forward with its recovery, both internally and regionally. We have expanded our relations with Arab countries, with our neighbors, with the rest of the world. And we are working now hard to get our country exiting chapter 7 regulations, something we need United States support and that of the permanent Security Council's, and I have a number of issues to discuss with the Secretary on where, how, how Iraq is progressing.



That visit took place Wednesday, July 15th, and Clinton's remarks delivered to the press were:

Well, today, I am welcoming Minister Zebari, foreign minister of Iraq, someone whom I have gotten to know, who I had a very excellent exchange of ideas with when I was in Iraq, and I'm looking forward to continuing that today. We are working closely together to support a stable, sovereign, and self-reliant Iraq. And we see so much progress occurring. We also want to work with Iraq to expand its relationships in the region, to ensure that its neighbors are once again working with and supporting Iraq's journey that is so important for the Iraqi people to the destination of a better future.
And I know that the foreign minister -- Prime Minister Maliki who was recently in Turkey, Minister Zebari, who just came from New York, are looking for the kind of support that comes not just from diplomats, but from business and investment people who see a real future as well in Iraq.
So we have a full plate. We're going to be discussing a broad range of issues and preparing for Prime Minister Maliki's visit in a week.

New content at Third:

Truest statement of the week
Truest statement of the week II
A note to our readers
Editorial: The lost land of Iraq
TV: Meet The Fockers
Issues effecting women veterans
Roundtable
Music roundtable
Meet the new Ramen
Theme of last week
Highlights


Isaiah's latest goes up after this. Pru notes this from Great Britain's Socialist Worker:

This article should be read after: » ‘Bring the troops home now’
British soldier interviewed: ‘I realised the Afghan war was wrong’

Lance Corporal Joe Glenton is 27 years old and has been in the army since 2004. For the last two years, after he was told that he would have to return to Afghanistan, Joe has been absent without leave and on the run. He spoke to Yuri Prasad about his experiences
‘In 2006 my regiment was posted to Afghanistan for seven months. And if I had to describe my feelings about the tour in one word, I would say “confused”.
We were never really told what was going on, and the whole campaign seemed to be suffering from “mission creep” – the goals just seemed to be changing all the time.
Around the time that we arrived in Afghanistan the fighting with the Taliban revived and it got pretty rough. I was based at Kandahar airport and although we weren’t on the front line, the base was attacked frequently.
My regiment was there to support Three Para with all their logistical needs. We were told that the British army was there to keep the peace. But we actually ran out of artillery shells because they were calling it forwards to the front lines in such large quantities.
There was so much shelling there were periods when we would work solidly for 20 or 30 hours at a time.
There was an undercurrent of fear as well. I was fighting alongside people that ranged from just 18 years old to guys in the their mid-40s. We were hit by mortars and rockets.
Luckily, I never had to see one of my colleagues injured but the constant shelling does have an effect on people. A lot of guys, especially the younger ones, really struggled to cope.
Politicians
Afghan people were attacking us, even though our politicians said we were going in to help them. It came as a real shock. We kept asking ourselves, why are they doing this? That’s when I became aware that there was something seriously wrong with the war.
Initially we were told that we were in Afghanistan to put an end to the opium crop. Then we were told that it was to rebuild infrastructure. Then it was about bringing democracy – but none of this really seems to have happened.
Maybe there was an initial plan, but it kind of snowballed. By the end of my tour it was attrition and war fighting.
That had a massive impact on the Afghan civilian population who were put in a lot of danger. There’s no way you can fight a war without ordinary people getting caught up in it.
When I got back from my tour of Afghanistan I was quite shaken by the whole experience. But there’s a definite feeling running through the army that they just expect you to get on with it no matter what’s happened to you.
While I was still struggling to come to terms with my experiences in Afghanistan and adjusting to returning home, I was promoted and posted to another regiment. And from that point on things started to go very wrong.
I was singled out by a senior officer who started bullying me – and there is very little support for someone in the army who finds themselves in that position. I tried to go through the army’s formal procedure but it didn’t resolve the problem.
I realised at this point that I could no longer trust my chain of command. I felt like a victim of the “old boys’ club”.
Around the same time I was told that my regiment wanted to deploy me to Afghanistan again – even though this is against the harmony guidelines which stipulate a minimum time between tours of duty.
I’d only been back in Britain for about six or seven months.
At that point I decided that to protect myself my only course of action was to go absent. I was having some kind of a breakdown and I got away as far as I could to Asia, where I knew I could live cheaply for a couple of months.
My initial plan was to stay there for a while then come back to Britain and prepare to be courts martialed and kicked out of the army – but I just couldn’t deal with it.
So I pushed on to Australia, stayed there for two years on a working visa and met my now wife. Together we decided that I should come back and deal with things.
Fast track
I’ve handed myself into the army, and I’m now on a fast track courts martial. As far as the army is concerned I’m guilty and it doesn’t matter what I’ve been through.
They’ve just upped the charge against me from absent without leave to desertion. In the worst case scenario I face two years in a civilian jail.
Meanwhile, the politicians who send us to Afghanistan don’t even seem prepared to spend the money that’s needed to keep us safe.
Looking at the way the war has developed, I don’t think Britain is doing any good there and I think our troops should come out.
All we’re doing now is stacking up casualties. The Afghan people will probably go with whoever is winning, and right now we’re not.’
The following should be read alongside this article: » ‘Bring the troops home now’» Quagmire deepens for Britain in Afghanistan» Afghan war brings political fallout
If you would like to send a message to Joe, email letters@socialistworker.co.uk and we will forward it to him
© Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original.
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The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

iraq
and the war drags on
donovan
the national
mehdilebouachera
the kuwait times
gabriel gathehouse
bbc news
the los angeles times
liz sly
iraq
mcclatchy newspapers
laith hammoudi
the socialist worker
the third estate sunday review
the world today just nuts

The press hopes you do. They hope you love a good yarn so much that you're not going to ask any questions, utilize common sense or, heaven forbid, think for yourselves.

Which explains the latest wave of Operation Happy Talk. Iraqi forces, all by themselves, secured Iraq and Iraqis today. Mike Tharp (McClatchy Newspapers) is blabbering away faster than Rona Barrett declaring a psychic is running ABC. It's "their first big test," Tharp gueshes, and they "passed" -- not only did they pass, they did so "with flying colors"! and he's not done yet. Please. He quotes Maj Gen Qaasim Atta -- don't you love it when even the publicity hacks are given military titles? -- declaring, "This is the first 100 percent Iraqi security plan to protect the pilgrims. THe forces are all Iraqis, even the helicopters above."

Oh, Tharp, if you want to play idiot, do so, but don't insult the rest of us. At his own outlet, Mohammed al Dulaimy already reported that US helicopters -- two of them -- were hovering over Baghdad. Well, ignore the two in Baghdad -- and pretend other US helicopters haven't been flying all over Iraq -- and you can swallow the spin, you can splash in the latest wave of Operation Happy Talk. Why, it's practically purple fingers! It's 2005 all over again!

Reality is that Baghdad's rarely the point of attack. Reality is that the US forces, stepping away from Iraq cities, have been doing more work along the route of the pilgrims. Baghdad's the destination. But the pilgrims don't fly in to Baghad International, step onto the tarmac and rush to the shrine. That's not how it works. But if you're stupid enough, if you're as stupid as the press hopes you are, you will be grinning and swearing, "Mission accomplished!"

Yes, with a little help from the press, you too can be as stupid as George W. Bush.

And they hope you're as intellectually non-curious as George. That would allow you stop long before paragraph thirteen of Tharp's eighteen paragraph article where he sneaks in "two US choppers also provided surveillance on Thursday." Blink and you know you missed it, lose your love when you say the word "mine."

The crackdown isn't explored. The crackdown includes curfews and a ban on traffic and that's mentioned (at the end, of course) and we get someone presented as something of a smart ass complaining but apparently actually interviewing pilgrims wasn't on the agenda. Apparently, taking dictation from the Iraqi spokesmodels was so much more important.

We're focusing on Tharp but Timothy Williams has a piece of garbage that'll run in tomorrow's New York Times and you can pick off any liar at basically any outlet.

In fairness to the press, it should be noted that this spin passed as reports should be part of a process wherein the coming days would explore what really happened. That still wouldn't justify relying solely on government spokesmodels, nor would it justify presenting unchecked spin as fact. But it doesn't matter because this won't be reported on. This won't be followed up on. And the point was always to get that splash of Operation Happy Talk headlines into the news cycle and never explore it. They never went back and addressed the problems in the January 31st elections, let alone in the 2005. It's all hype and hot air.

And they can't even get their hype right. Tharp insists no pilgrims died from Thursday to today. Really? That would be a first in Iraq or anywhere. If people injured by bombings, if every single one of them. Tharps insists 48 people were wounded since Thursday) was injured in a bombing and not one later died on the way to the hospital or in the hospital. If that happened to three days worth of bombing victims, it would certainly be a first. AP reports, "The event was a relative success, despite bombings that killed several people and injured dozens."

It's really something to watch as over 130,000 US forces are stripped of any credit because the press wants to paint Iraq as 'ready.' The press seems a little bit like a female singer who's sleeping with her guitarist and, therefore, eager to inflate his credit and build him up. So she goes around insisting he's really, really talented and really the brains behind every recording and no one would listen if he wasn't there. Reality, he's just the guitarist.

In the real world, the assualt on the Sahwa ("Awakenings," "Sons Of Iraq") continues. BBC reports that Naeem Saleh al-Halbusi was injured in a bombing near Falluja attack targeting the Sahwa leader and wounding him and killing his son and two bodyguards. AP covers that bombing and notes one outside Falluja which claimed the lives of 2 children and left eight more injured.
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) notes a Baghdad roadside bombing which injured two police officers and a Mosul roadside bombing which injured two Iraqi soldiers. Reuters notes a Ramadi roadside bombing which injured one Iraqi soldier and a Mosul roadside bombing which injured one Iraqi police officer. Dropping back to yesterday, the US military reports 1 "Iraq local national was killed and another was injured during an accident involving a US military vehicle" in Basra.

The US military announced today:

DIYALA, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces delivered rice, flour, sugar and oil to citizens in Baqubah with the help of U.S. Forces. Video scenes include workers unloading five trucks of goods, and citizens lining up and receiving the products.DVIDSHUB.net has a one-minute package about the event as well as edited B-Roll and Interviews.
Direct link to the package: http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=video/video_show.php&id=64265Direct link to interviews: http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=video/video_show.php&id=64267Direct link to B-Roll: http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=video/video_show.php&id=64266
For access to the video, contact the Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System by calling 1-877-DVIDS-247 or visit the Web site at www.DVIDSHUB.net

Yeah, that's right. Iraqi security forces couldn't even go into Baquba on their own. They came bearing gifts but still needed to be accompanied by US forces. But keep believeing the latest waves of Operation Happy Talk, the beautiful lie where Iraqi forces, all by themselves, ensured no pilgrim died.

The thing about waves of Operation Happy Talk? They always crash into reality. Alsumaria reports of today's pilgrimage: "One citizen was killed and tens pilgrims were wounded as they were heading to Imam Moussa Al Kazem shrine (AS) due to roadside bomb explosions in Zaafaraniya, New Baghdad, Al Saydiya and Al Dora region." So even the fact-free hype falls apart upon examination. And Mike Tharp, Timothy Williams and assorted others? As Gladys once sang, "Now your head's little lower and you walk a little slower and you don't seem so proud." (Ashford & Simpson's "Didn't You Know You'd Have To Cry Sometime?")

Photo credit is: "Staff Sgt. Alan Cable, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, (left), and 1st Lt. Adnan Ganim, 55th Iraqi Army Brigade, shake hands before returning to work at Joint Security Station Zubaida, south of Baghdad, July 15. Photo by Sgt. Mary Phillips, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team."


In exactly seven days, the KRG holds elections. You don't hear a lot about that, do you? Compare it to the January 31st provincial elections which the KRG sat out (this is their provincial and presidential elections comined). Nada Bakri (Washington Post) reports from Sulaymaniyah on one candidate, Hallo Rasch:

Rasch is running as an independent against the incumbent, Massoud Barzani, who was elected president of Iraqi Kurdistan in 2005. The pragmatic and cautious Barzani has been at the center of Kurdish politics -- in the region, in the rest of Iraq and in the broader Kurdish homeland -- since succeeding his father, a legendary guerrilla leader, as head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party more than 30 years ago.
Rasch's uphill candidacy is playing out in a region simultaneously considered the most democratic in Iraq and not all that democratic. Two main parties -- Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, headed by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani -- have for years exercised a stranglehold on the region, dividing between them politics, patronage, investments and business deals.

As noted last night, a helicopter crashed in Iraq. CNN reports it was an "Xe" (Blackwater) helicopter and that two employees died and another two were wounded.

In other news, NPR's gone to the dogs.

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


iraq
mcclatchy newspapers
mohammed al dulaimy
the washington post
nada bakri
cnn

First up, community business. Ann's started her own site, Ann's Mega Dub. She came up with the title to nod to her husband's site (and he helped some on the title). I did add it to the links last night but I'd already finished filling in for Elaine when Ann called and said she was going to start it. Ann filled in for Ruth for the month of June and just finished filling in for Mike last night.

Yesterday the US military announced 3 deaths. Today the Dept of Defense released the following:

The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died July16 in Basra of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit using indirect fire.

Killed were:

Spc. Daniel P. Drevnick, 22, of Woodbury, Minn.;

Spc. James D. Wertish, 20, of Olivia, Minn.; and

Spc. Carlos E. Wilcox IV, 27, of Cottage Grove, Minn.

All three soldiers were assigned to the 34th Military Police Company, 34th Infantry Division, Minnesota Army National Guard, Stillwater, Minn.

For more information on these soldiers, media may contact the Minnesota Army National Guard Public Affairs Office at 651-282-4410.

Hank Long (Woodbury Bulletin) quotes Minnesota National Guard Adjudant General Larry Shellito declaring, "We mourn the loss of these three soldiers; they were truly part of our National Guard family. We will never forget the dedication, loyalty and bravery shown by these soldiers for the United States of America and the state of Minnesota. I ask that you keep these soldiers, their families and loved ones in your thoughts and prayers now and forever."
City Basra police chief Maj Gen Adil Daham, AP states that a supect has been arrested in the attack.

Meanwhile Mike Tharp explores the dwindling farming in Iraq in "Once World's bread basket, Iraq now a farming basket case" (McClatchy Newspapers) and we'll note this section:

Just ask Naji Habeeb, 85. His family has been growing rice in this village 135 miles southeast of Baghdad for generations. Thin green shoots stick out of the flat paddies, shin-deep in brown water.
The Iraqi government, he claims, still owes him half of what he's due from last year's crop. He turned it in months ago and still hasn't been paid. "Shall I suck my fingers and eat like a baby?" he shouted. "The Ministry (of Agriculture) will never know my family is hungry!"
Habeeb's family members have farmed the 538-square-foot plot next to a branch of the Euphrates River the same way for centuries. Except today they till with tractors, run water pumps with gasoline and spread artificial fertilizer. They plant seedlings by hand in June and July, irrigate and keep bugs and disease away in the summer heat, harvest by hand in October.

Some may not remember this, maybe they didn't screeching e-mails from the spokespeople a paper quoted, but the US military, years ago, was pimping the "We are teaching Iraqis how to farm! They will have date farms! They will have . . ." They have nothing and the point back then made here was that your problems were irrigation and pollution, that the irrigation and the rivers needed to be addressed. We didn't touch on the issue of damns, my mistake. But the military talking point was that Iraq would be a breadbasket again and it would be thanks to the US military and blah, blah, blah. To the one who wrote repeatedly (because apparently that's what you do when you serve in the spin wing of the military), I'm still not eating my words. How 'bout you?

What's going on currently was all completely predictable and we noted what was happening and what would happen. This isn't the worst of it, this isn't the bottom. And it's amazing that approximately three years ago the US military lied big time and the New York Times was happy to run with it. They didn't do journalism, journalism would have been questioning those laughable assertions. And all this time later, they still avoid returning to that article, they still avoid going after that spin that they swallowed and repeated -- repeated and presented as fact when it never was.

We'll note this from Sherwood Ross' "BUSH, CHENEY, TOLD LAWYERS TO GIVE THEM CRIMINAL ADVICE" (Veterans Today):

Torture instigators George Bush and Dick Cheney should not be allowed to evade prosecution on grounds they acted in good faith on their lawyers’ advice because they told their lawyers what advice to give. "Could Al Capone or ‘Lucky’ Luciana receive immunity for acting in accordance with the advice of counsel when they told counsel what to advise?" asks Lawrence Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover.
"(Vice-President) Cheney and (President) Bush knew that they were ordering violations of law," Velvel points out. "The fact that they were doing so, and were well aware they were doing so, was one of the reasons why they, like a significant number of CIA officials who knew the same, demanded that lawyers produce legal cover for them in the form of Office of Legal Counsel memos authored by the likes of (John) Yoo and (Steven) Bradbury."
Lower level CIA and military personnel that did not read the supposedly exculpatory memos, Velvel said, also cannot claim reliance on legal counsel because "they had to know that torture was forbidden no matter what some lawyers said. You could not grow up in America and not know this" any more than a person could claim murder was lawful because some lawyer told him so, Velvel writes.
"People who grew up in America cannot realistically claim that they thought it was lawful to beat people mercilessly, to smash their heads against walls, to kill about one hundred of them apparently, to hang them from ceiling hooks, to make them freeze, to deny them sleep for weeks on end, and so forth," Velvel writes in an essay in his new book "America 2008" from Doukathsan Press.


The following community sites have updated since yesterday morning:



Cedric's Big Mix
MICHELLE HAS PLANS FOR HEALTH CARE
1 hour ago

The Daily Jot
THIS JUST IN! MICHELLE TO RESCUE HEALTH CARE!
1 hour ago

Mikey Likes It!
Mike's back Monday
20 hours ago

Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)
Ann starts a site, Cronkite passes away, and . . .
21 hours ago

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This morning the US military announced: "BAGHDAD -- Three Multi-National Division-South Soldiers were killed when Contingency Operating Base Basra was attacked by indirect fire at approximately 9:15 p.m. on July 16. The names of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The incident is under investigation." The announcement brings the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4326.

In other reported violence today, AFP notes a Falluja bombing which has claimed the lives of 2 children and left six people injured. The bombing took place at the home of Lt Col Abdel Salam Khawam in the latest of the continued attacks on Iraqi police. Reuters notes a Baghdad roadside bombing which injured four pilgrims, a second Baghdad roadside bombing which claimed the lives of 2 people and left twelve more injured (apparently pilgrims), a Shirqat sticky bombing targeting police which left one police officer injured, 1 person shot wounded in a Kirkuk shooting and, dropping back to yesterday, one person wounded in a Kirkuk shooting.

The pilgrims are the topic of Mohammed al Dulaimy's "Shiite pilgrimage poses major challenge for Iraqi military" (McClatchy Newspapers):

Authorities have imposed a limited curfew in Baghdad, and thousands of additional Iraqi soldiers and police officers are on the streets for the annual commemoration of a revered Shiite holy man who died in the eighth century.
A brigade from the Iraqi Federal Police -- previously known as the Iraqi National Police -- set up checkpoints at which men, women and children were searched Thursday, and Iraqi army helicopters flew low over the crowds.
Two American helicopters also hovered overhead; in the past, Iraqis had asked that only U.S. helicopters protect their missions.

Meanwhile Alsumaria reports, "While thousands of pilgrims have poured in to Al Kazimiya to mark Imam Kazem Anniversary (AS), citizens are complaining about closing main roads which is usually caused by religious occasion." On religion, Anthony Shadid's "A Shiite Schism On Clerical Rule: Iraqis See Their Concept Gain on Iran's" (Washington Post) explores the changes made by the US backed and installed 'leadership' in Iraq:

But three decades after the Iranian revolution brought to power one notion of clerical rule -- and six years after the fall of Saddam Hussein helped enshrine another version of religious authority here -- the relationship between religion and the state in Iraq, clerics here say, seems more enduring than the alternative in neighboring Iran.
"It's true," said Ghaith Shubar, a cleric who runs a foundation in Najaf aligned with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq's most powerful cleric. "The spiritual guidance of the people in Iraq has become stronger than the guidance offered under the system in Iran. The marjaiya" -- the term used to describe the authority of the most senior ayatollahs -- "has more influence in Iraq, spiritual and otherwise, than it does in Iran."

While al-Maliki's clique self-congratulates, Rachelle Marshall (Media Monitors Network) reminds:

Al-Maliki has steadfastly refused to honor America’s commitment to the thousands of Sunni fighters whose willingness to join the American side two years ago was responsible for a dramatic decline in violence. The Sunni Awakening Councils provided soldiers who fought with the Americans against al-Qaeda and in return were paid by the American army. They also were promised they would be given government jobs and allowed to join regular Iraqi security forces.
Instead of meeting these commitments, the Iraqi government began arresting senior Awakening Council leaders, claiming they are still insurgents, and demanding that members of the Councils be disarmed. Awakening Council members are also being attacked by Islamic militants whom they turned against when they joined the Americans. The security situation in general has deteriorated, with many Iraqis claiming the Iraqi forces are too inept to provide security.

Turning to TV notes. Tony Blair's appearance at The Hague may be delayed for a bit; however, the War Criminal can be found this week on your TV screen via NOW on PBS:

Once one of the most dangerous and violent cities in the West Bank, Jenin was the scene of frequent battles between the Israeli military and Palestinian fighters, and the hometown of more than two dozen suicide bombers.
Today, however, there's been a huge turnaround. Jenin is now the center of an international effort to build a safe and economically prosperous Palestinian state from the ground up. On Jenin's streets today, there's a brand new professional security force loyal to the Palestinian Authority and funded in part by the United States. But can the modest success in Jenin be replicated throughout the West Bank, or will the effort collapse under the intense political pressure from all sides?
This week, NOW talks directly with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the international community's envoy to the region and an architect of the plan. We also speak with a former commander of the infamous Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in Jenin about his decision to stop using violent tactics, and to residents of Jenin about their daily struggles and their hopes for the future.
To Blair, the Jenin experiment can be pivotal in finally bringing peace to the Middle East. He tells NOW, "This is the single most important issue for creating a more stable and secure world."

A war criminal, an architect of the illegal war on Iraq, wants to tell the world what our "single most important issue" is and expects to be trusted? Tony Blair belongs behind bars, not on your TV screen. On PBS' Washington Week, Gwen sits around the table with USA Today's Joan Biskupic, the New York Times' Mark Mazzetti (aka The Little Asset Who Could), and Time magazine's Karen Tumulty and Hedda Hopper Lives!' Jeanne Cummings who will continue her efforts to be seen as the tabloids' new Jeane Dixon. Bonnie Erbe sits down with Bay Buchanan, Avis Jones-DeWeever, Tara Setmayer and Amy Siskind on PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings, all three PBS shows begin airing tonight on many PBS stations. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:

Gun Rush
Americans are snapping up guns and ammunition at an increasingly higher rate despite the economic downturn. But as Lesley Stahl reports, the economic downturn, as well as the election of Barack Obama, may be the reason for the run on guns. | Watch Video

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Poisoned
The African lion, already down as much as 85 percent in numbers from just 20 years ago, is now in danger of becoming extinct because people are poisoning them with a cheap American pesticide to protect their cattle herds. Bob Simon reports. | Watch Video

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Steve Wynn
The casino mogul most responsible for taking Las Vegas to new heights of gaming and glitter talks to Charlie Rose about his spectacular success and the eye disease that's slowly robbing him of his ability to see the fruits of his labor. | Watch Video

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60 Minutes, Sunday, July 19, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Turning to public radio. On NPR's The Diane Rehm Show this morning (begins airing on most NPR stations and streaming online at 10:00 am EST), Diane's panel for the first hour (focusing on domestic issues) is composed of The New Republic's Michael Crowley, the ever present Jeanne Cummings and CBS and Slate's John Dickerson. For the second hour, the international hour, the panel is composed of the Wall St. Journal's Youchi Dreazen, the Washington Post's David Ignatius and Foreign Policy's Moises Naim.

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In sometimes-graphic testimony in a Houston federal courtroom Wednesday, Naval Criminal Investivative Service agent Kelly Barcino described how Breda's alleged victim said Breda forced himself on her. After helping move her into new quarters, Breda tried to kiss the woman, exposed his penis, and pushed the alleged victim onto the bed, according to Barcino's testimony.
"KBR immediately reported the allegations of assault against Mr. Breda to the NCIS and cooperated fully with their investigation," said KBR spokeswoman Heather Browne in an emailed statement Wednesday. "KBR in no way condones or tolerates unethical or illegal behavior. The safety and security of our employees, subcontractors and customers is our top priority."
Thursday morning, Breda's attorney Roderick White said that "it wouldn't be appropriate for me right now to comment on the specific facts of the case."
Present at Wednesday's hearing was Jamie Leigh Jones, a former KBR employee who alleged in 2007 she had been a victim of a gang rape while working in Baghdad. No charges were ever brought in her case, although a 20/20 investigation of her story brought worldwide attention to the plight of sexually assaulted U.S. workers in war zones.
"I wanted to be here and I just can't believe it is finally happening that one of us does get justice," she said outside the hearing.

The above is from Gina Sunseri and Justin Rood's "Sexual Assault Charges for Former Iraq Contractor" (ABC News) and good for Jamie Leigh Jones for continuing her efforts and good for the reporters for noting her but it's not her and the most recent victim. In fact, 20/20's own aired investigation spoke to more than that. But it's a sign of how little it matters that it still receives so little attention. People will gas bag all day tomorrow about video of an accident in 2004 and what ever other 'important' topic. They'll lose themselves (repeatedly) in the most inconsequential gossip and rumors and all around the world falls apart and women and men are sexually abused but no one wants to face that either -- didn't the big 'news' story of this month teach us that as well?

Veterans testified today before a House Veterans Affairs subcomittee and MST (Military Sexual Trauma) was among the topics. How much attention will that hearing get? Those who followed it learned that some rape victims seeking VA treatment for their assault are forced to report to mental institutions for their therapy. They're victims of sexual assault but they're having to go to a mental ward or institution for therapy? How does that happen? Tuesday in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing we learned that the VA has gynecologist tables facing the door, feet first facing the door, and that in at least once instance, the door opened out into the waiting room.

How does that happen? How do either of those things happen?

Because we don't care that much about sexual assault in this country. We certainly don't care enough to be outraged.

And, let's get really honest, as a country we don't care about the troops. I'm not saying the troops should be your first concern or shouldn't. I am saying that a lot of people spent a lot of time acting like the troops were heroes and their best friends and put a flag here and a yellow ribbon there.

But in both hearings this week, the ones testifying were veterans.

And they weren't just disrespected because they were women, they were also disrespected because they were veterans. I'm not referring to Congress disrespecting them. I'm referring to what passes for the 'news.' Now let's think of the morning 'news' programs. On broadcast TV. They had plenty of time to devote non-stop to a dead entertainer day after day, week after week this month. And they found time to speak to trash Levi whatever, the man who doesn't support his child and is a homophobe who posed shirtless for a men's magazine out this month while the text told you that Levi would beat up any gay man he encountered or any man he suspected was gay. Oh, the passion! I guess those 'straight' readers of men's fashion magazines (surely only straight guys read men's fashion magazines, right?) are supposed to drool over the topless photo of Levi and jerk off to the thought of him beating them? The network 'news' is happy to do that. It's how you get a known homophobe, a person who brags about it, a person who is unemployed and apparently can't hold down a job, a person who is a Deadbeat Dad, a person who does nothing but trash the family raising his child, a person who brags about how he doesn't believe in birth control -- that's how you get such a person on TV as an 'expert.' On network 'news' as an expert.

That crap you get. Coverage of veterans? Forget it. They'd rather sniff the panties and boxers then take the time needed to actually do a report. They'd rather find some non-news topic that's already proven to be popular and tease it and tease it until they climax and the ratings fall. There was the OJ circus in the 90s and seems like it's always a circus. (And we do realize that Levi's nothing but a CW version of Kato Kaelin: The Early Years, right?) It's rarely ever news however.

The Los Angeles Times reports: "About 37% of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have mental health problems, a nearly 50% increase from the last time the prevalence was calculated, according to a new study published today analyzing national Department of Veterans Affairs data. The study, which examined the records of about 289,000 veterans who sought care at the VA between 2002 and 2008, also found higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression." You know what? If the trashy people of TV news and can stop stroking and fingering themselves for a few seconds, they may find time for that tomorrow. More than likely, they'll have some more non-news to provide you with.

More trash and some will eat it up. A lot will turn it off and possibly assume there are no big stories in the world today because if there were the TV trash wouldn't be repeatedly allowed to waste your time. Their own time? Hey, fish got to swim and pigs got to wallow. So the TV trash has to wallow in this cesspool. But we don't. And we don't have the time to waste on that garbage.


It's over, I'm done writing songs about love
There's a war going on
So I'm holding my gun with a strap and a glove
And I'm writing a song about war
And it goes
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Oh oh oh oh
-- "I Hate The War" (written by Greg Goldberg, on The Ballet's Mattachine!)

Last Thursday, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 4322. Tonight? 4323. In tomorrow's


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