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Monday, July 20, 2009
Monday,
July 20, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, waves of violence claim the
lives of at least 6 Iraqi police officers, the refugee crisis
continues, tensions between the KRG and the centeral government in
Baghdad mount, and more. Starting with Iraqi refugees. Today the International Committee of the Red Cross explains
they "issued travel documents to 96 Palestinian refugees from Al-Waleed
Camp (Anbar Governorate) to enable them to travel to Europe and the
United States, where they will be resettled with the help of the office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the
International ORganization for Migration." Last week, Miriam Jordan (Wall St. Journal) reports
that the US has agreed to take in 1,350 Palestinian refugees from Iraq
--from among the over 3,000 refugees stuck in the 'camps' between Iraq
and Syria. Jordan quoted University of California Hastings College of
Law's professor George Bisharat stating, "These particular Palestinians
are a fallout from the Iraq War. The Obama administration had to take
some responsibility for the consequneces of the invasion." Patrik Jonsson (Christian Science Monitor -- link has text and video) had earlier reported that the refugees would "be resetteled in the US". However, Stephen Kaufman, writing at and for the US government at America.gov,
doesn't say these refugees have been accepted, he states (on July 13th)
that they "are being considered" for admittance to the US and sites the
US State Dept as the source for that: "A State Department spokesman
told America.gov July 13 that the resettlement process for the group
actually began in 2008, and so far 24 Palestinians from Iraq have
arrived in the United States." While the
refugees need to be offered asylum in the US, what sort of life awaits
them? Not a good one if most reports are any indication. Fields Moseley (Utah's KUTV) reports
on Raida Jarjes and Taofiq Rasheed, husband and wife Iraqi refugees
living in Utah after being granted asylum following many years of
waiting in Syria. In Iraq, she was a journalist, he was an attorney
but here in the US they are among "50 refugee families [who] might be
in the homeless shelter next month." Moseley explains, "The Rasheeds
are foreign professionals without jobs, a common story among Iraqi
refugees. They were delivered to this apartment complex and told a job
should be their first priority. They received $920 each from the state
department and a couple hundred bucks follows each week. But it won't
last." The State Coordinator for Refguee Resettlement, Gerald Brwon,
tells Moseley, "We are not able to find people jobs at the rate we have
to if they have to pay rent." Saundra Amrhein (St. Petersburg Times) reports
on Hayder Abudlwahab and his family (Iman, his wife, and their two
sons) who escaped Iraq, made it to Syria and finally were accepted into
the US, settling in Tampa in August 2008. They left Iraq after
Hayder was injured in a bombing and "awoke on a pile of bodies in a
Baghdad morgue. [. . .] Paralyzed, blinded, unable to scream, Hayder
lay in a jumble of bodies. Knobby bones poked him from underneath, a
still-warm arm lay across his side. The smell of rot was
overwhelming." Now they live in Tampa trying very hard to make ends
meet and just to make rent each month. Earlier this month, Aamer Madhani (USA Today) explained there
was a 3.1% increase this year in "no-shows" for Iraqi refugees granted
asylum to the US who do not take make the "U.S. government-paid flights
out of Iraq" and that "the reluctance is a reflection of the
difficulties faced by thousands of Iraqis who have arrived in the U.S.
since 2006." Not all Iraqi refugees are struggling to those extremes. Maureen Sieh (Syracuse Post-Standard) noted,
In the last year, 130 Iraqi refugees have been settled in Syracuse by
refugee programs run by Catholic Charities and Interfaith Works Center
for New Americans." Most charity programs have dried up in the US due
to the economy and/or disinterest. Mosques and churches are among the
few that remain. What of the US government's obligation? Last week
the Boston Globe offered the editorial What are they doing for refugees? In it's most recent [PDF format warning] report on Iraq,
the US State Dept notes that "as many as 2 million Iraqi refugees" are
being housed by "regional governments," an estimated 2.8 million are
currently displaced within Iraq and then they offer a dollar figure . .
. for Fiscal Year 2008. FY2008 ended months before Barack Obama was
sworn in. Fiscal Year 2009, the current year, is nearly over. It ends
at the end of September. March 20, 2009, much was made of the
announcement of pledges by the US in excess of $141 million which was
added to the stingy sum of $9 million that had already been
'committed.' Have those pledges been honored, has the money -- $90
million to UNHCR, $15.5 million to UNICEF, for example -- been paid
out? Were the pledges honored? Yvonne Abraham (Boston Globe) pointed out
another area of concern yesterday, "The federal government desperately
needs Arabic speakers, particularly ones who know the Middle East.
Hundreds of the Iraqis who worked with US forces are now here, and
desperately need jobs. Yet nobody seems to have come up with a way to
match our needs with theirs. Kirk Johnson, whose List Project brings
Iraqis who helped American forces to the United States, said only a few
have found work as government translators here. The rest are shut out
because the security hurdles are too high, or because they're not
citizens." The
consequences of the upstream damming of Iraq's rivers, when compounded
with a general trend towards the reduction in rainfall entering the two
river basins, is having a severe impact on the Iraqi breadbasket's
ability to feed its population. The World Food Programme estimates that
some 930,000 people are currently food-insecure in Iraq, with a further
6.4 million at risk of becoming food-insecure in the event of the
failure of the Public Distribution System (PDS). Resettlement of
internally displaced refugees and the potential return of the millions
of Iraqis from Jordan and Syria all have the potential to place a
further burden on this fragile system. Adam L Silverman, who worked as
a social science adviser for the US army human terrain teams in 2008, noted that lack of river discharge
leads to "ongoing soil erosion that leads to further desertification
and increased heat and dust storms, which has a measurable negative
impact on the quality of life of the Iraqis". Reuters reported that the sandstorms
that delayed Biden's trip led to several deaths and "hundreds of Iraqis
seeking medical help after one of the worst sandstorms in living memory
stretched beyond a week, choking throats, clogging eyes and afflicting
asthma sufferers in particular". "The Iraqi refugee crisis is far from over and recent violence is creating further displacement," notes Refugees International,
"Iraqi women will resist returning home, even if conditions improve in
Iraq, if there is no focus on securing their rights as women and
assuring their personal security and their families' well being."
Refugees International's latest report is [PDF format warning] entitled
" IRAQI REFUGEES: WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND SECURITY CRITICAL TO RETURNS."
It finds that not only are large scale returns not coming in the
immediate future but that "[n]ot one woman interviewed by RI indicated
her intention to return. Some women said they won't return because
they are members of targeted minority groups, or because of injuries
they suffered. . . . Some fear rising conservatism would restrict their
ability to participate in civic and professional life. . . . Others
feared they were at risk of so called 'honor killings' by family
members because they refused marriages, had divorced, or were accused
of prostitution." The field report found reoprts of forced marriages
in Syria and the KRG. In Syria, "an Iraqi women working as a singer in
a restaurant . . . was attacked by three men and raped. When she
reported the crime to the police and asked for assistance, she was
arrested, detained for six days, and threatened with deportation for
working illegally. UNHCR finally obtained her release, but her
assailants were never arrested." The report notes: In
northern Iraq, the KRG has taken some welcome steps to respond to the
disturbingly high levels of reported gender-based violence (GBV),
particularly so-called "honor killings," burnings and other attacks on
women, often disguised as accidents or suicides. Recent higher GBV
statistics in KRG may indicate a greater willingness to report such
crimes, but further visible government support for women's rights is
sorely need throughout Iraq. The KRG,
unlike the Government of Iraq, has supsended laws providing for
"mitigating circumstances" to reduce the punishments for so-called
"honor" crimes and has increased the penalties. Its Prime Minster set
up a Cabinet-level Committee on Violence against Women and set up and
staffed in each KRG governorate a "Directorate to Follw up Violence
against Women." The offices conduct outreach and public education and
investigate cases to turn over to the prosecutor. To protect women at
risk of serious violence, the KRG and nongovernmental organizations
operate small residential shelters. However, staff has little training
or experience on security, confidentiality, or the counseling skills
needed to assist clients. RI learned of recent incidents of women
being trafficked from shelters. The
KRG could enhance these institutions' effectiveness and credibility by
appointing experienced women to senior leadership posts in the Cabinet
Committee and the Directorates, by regulating the shelters, and by
ensuring shelter staff receive training and oversight. Donors should
provide technical assistance through deploying specialist in
investigations, witness protection, counseling, and helping to create
standard operating procedures for temporary shelters. Donors should
increase support to local NGOs experienced in GBV prevention and
response services. Help is also needed in ensuring the wider
distribution of public education materials in both Kurdish and Arabic,
since higher levels of domestic violence are reported in the displaced
population, which has not benefitted from any government outreach. Moving to the Kurdistan region of Iraq. July 25th, they hold their provincial elections as well as elect a president. Nada Bakri (Washington Post) notes
the region is "simultaneously considered the most democratic in Iraq
and not all that democratic. Two main parties -- [KRG President
Masoud] 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." Pakistan's The National observes
that a vote was also supposed to be held "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. . . .
The Kurds now appear to feel that the goodwill they displayed when they
were strong brought few benefits." All weekend the tensions between
the KRG and the centeral government in Baghdad continued to increase. Mehid Lebouachera (Kuwait Times) explained
the roots of the tensions as follows: "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
ethnice minorities such as Turkemn. 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." Lebouachera explains the tensions
over unresolved borders. There are a number of disputed territories
but let's zoom in on oil-rich Kirkuk. 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. But that doesn't seem to be a concern to the US installed government. Jamal al-Badrani (Reuters) reports
that, as nothing is done regarding disputed territories, Kurds in
Nineveh Province have issued statements threatening to secede but
that's apparently not cause for concern either. And all the statements
being made by KRG officials? Apparently not a concern either. AFP reports
that Massud Barzani, president of the KRG, stated yesterday, "We are
committed to the application of Article 140 (of the Iraqi constitution)
and we rpomise that we will absolutely not compromise on this issue or
on the rights of the people of Kurdistan." Article 140 requires an
independent census in Kirkuk and a referendum to take place no later
than . . . December 2007. This is not a minor detail nor is it something once touched on and then forgotten. Saturday, the KRG's Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani gave a speech and it included the following:In
formulating policy for our government, we have always been committed to
the Iraqi Constitution and protection of the interests of the Kurdistan
Region and all of Iraq.
As you are all aware, recent tensions have
occasionally surfaced with the federal, central government over pending
issues.
It is clear that, as long as those issues
remain unresolved; this will threaten the stability that we all aspire
to achieve in Iraq.
I would like to address this
matter openly. What we in the Kurdistan Regional Government want to
achieve is to resolve these issues peacefully and in accordance with
the terms and conditions enshrined in the Iraqi Constitution, for which
80% of Iraqis voted.
We have always been ready in the past,
and we are ready and willing now to sit at the negotiating table with
the federal government and talk with those who possess the will to
solve these issues.
Sometimes we in the
Kurdistan Region are accused of being too firm and insistent in our
demands. But I would like Iraqis and the whole world to be aware of two
things:
First, our insistence on the commitment to the
Constitution and its guarantees for freedom and democracy emerge
directly from our history.
We in the
Kurdistan Region have suffered greatly as the result of agreements
which were unfulfilled and promises which were ignored.
In
order for us to live in peace and stability, we want our rights to be
protected. This will take place as a result of permanent agreements by
which all concerned will abide, in accordance with Constitutional
principles. We don't have any hidden agenda in Iraq.
Second, for
those who say that we cannot negotiate seriously, there are tangible
examples of how the KRG has participated seriously in negotiations that
have led to historic results. Therefore, we can engage in a similar
manner with Baghdad in this regard.
We want to be a reliable and cooperative partner with the federal government. Our vision of security,
stability and prosperity for the Kurdistan Region requires a peaceful
and cooperative relationship and coordination with all of Iraq and with
Baghdad and we will continue with this policy in the Kurdistan
Region.
All that we ask for is to have a
relationship within the framework of the Constitution, which is the
highest law of the land and the greatest guarantee to us that history
will not repeat itself. Our
message is clear. The Kurdistan Regional Government is ready and
hopeful that serious dialogue will resume with the federal government
to solve the issues according to Constitutional principles and within a
federal, democratic Iraq.
Our insistence on resolving the issues are
with the aim of guaranteeing a bright future for our people and the
prevention of any repetition of our tragic history. Meanwhile, do-nothing Nouri is headed to the US. 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. Nouri's personal press representative Mike Tharp of McClatchy Newspapers and Nouri's Ass raves like he's audtioning for Pat Newcomb: The Movie, insisting
-- in a non-journalistic manner -- that Nouri is "the popular leader of
an American ally, the prime minister of an increasingly
independent-minded country". When Mike gets the taste of Nouri's ass
washed out of his mouth, someone inform him that Nouri's a thug and a
US installed puppet currently testing the length and tethering of his
leash. If Tharp's behavior seems shocking, you
must have missed this weekend when he made like Eric Carmen serenading
Nouri with "All By Myself" ("Don't wanna bee all by myself . . .") as he insisted
that the Iraqi forces, all by themselves, protected the pilgrims -- all
by themselves! Like the Nouri publicist he's become, he was gushing
about "their first big test" and how they "passed" "with flying
colors"! and all by themselves . . . He quoted Iraqi military
spokesmodel Qaasim Atta stating, "This is the first 100 percent Iraqi
security plan to protec the pilgrims. The forces are Iraqis, even the
helicopters above." Problem was Mohammed al Dulaimy already reported
that US helicopters -- two of them -- were hovering over Baghdad. So
Tharp buried that reality in the thirteenth paragraph of his eighteen
paragraph p.r. copy. From Thursday through Saturday, Tharp babbled, no
deaths and Iraqi security forces did it all by themselves! If you
leave out the two helicopters. And if you leave out what Muhanad Mohammed (Reuters) reported,
"Cameras on air balloons monitored the site, the surveillance provided
by the U.S. military at Iraq's request." Leave that out too in order
to sing "All By Myself." Leave out the fact that AP reported Saturday of the pilgrimage, "The event was a relative success, despite bombings that killed several people and injured dozens." Leave out that Alsumaria reported on Saturday'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."
But no deaths and Iraqi forces did it all by themselves. Think we're
going to need some louder voices on the chorus in order to drown out
realities such as the fact 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!" Here on planet earth, we gasp at the billions of Iraqi dollars Nouri sits on while people the starve. Aljazeera explains,
"Abject poverty across Iraq is fuelling an illegal trade in human
organs. Hundreds of people are believed to have sold kidneys and other
organs through dealers in the capital, Baghdad, over the last year. . .
. About 23 per cent of Iraqis live in poverty, meaning that they are
forced to survive on $2.2 a day or less, according to government
figures." Let's drop back to the July 14th snapshot: And the river dries up as Jenan Hussein (McClatchy Newspapers) reports
on the poverty, "Beggars have become as visible as blast walls and
checkpoints in Iraqi cities. Government ministries don't have reliable
statistics, partly because those who beg fear official crackdowns on
their only livelihood. It's a problem the government has yet to
tackle." This happens as the Oil Ministry brags
it has "acheived (59.1000) million barrels with (3.378) billion dollars
incomes with daily average of (4.400) barrels per day for May and the
raise was (686) million dollars. In comparison with April which
achieved (54.700) million barrels with (2.692) billion dollars incomes."We probably shouldn't begrudge Nouri having Mike Tharp as his p.r. agent -- clearly Nouri needs all the spin control he can get. Meanwhile Gabriel Gatehouse (BBC News) reports that tensions are escalating between the Iraqi military and the US military over their roles. Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) adds
that this revolves around the security agreements (primarily the treaty
masquerading as a SOFA), "The conflicting interpretations of the
security agrement, U.S. officials said, have led to numerous standoffs
on the ground, including cases in which Iraqi soldiers have prevented
American convoys from passing through checkpoints." Help us out, US
forces are still in Iraq why? It's not to protect Iraqi women, it's
not to protect Iraqi Christians, it's not to protect Iraq's LGBT
community, so why are they still there? To be sitting ducks? Thomas
E. Ricks ( Foreign Policy) offers two more examples of the unraveling of Iraq today -- here for first one, here for second. Friday a helicopter crashed in Iraq. CNN reported
it was an "Xe" (Blackwater) helicopter and that two employees died and
another two were wounded. Yesterday afternoon, the US State Dept
issued the following statement:
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.
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . . Bombings? Reuters reports
a Baghdad car bombing which left four people injured, a Mosul roadside
bombing which injured a police officer and a bystander, a Mosul bombing
which injured a police officer, a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed
the life of 1 Iraqi police officer, a Ramadi car bombing which claimed
the lives of 2 Iraqi police officers, left one injured as well as three
bystanders and a Baghdad roadside bombing which left nine people
injured. Mohammed al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad sticky bombing which injured Capt Humadi Othman (of Facilities Protection Services) and one other person. Shootings? Reuters reports
1 police officer shot dead in central Mosul, 1 police officer shot dead
in southwest Mosul, 1 police officer shot dead in east Mosul and 1
Iraqi soldier shot dead in southeast Mosul. Sunday 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/." The announcement brought to 4327 the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war. If
you're in the DC area I encourage you to join the Human Rights
Campaign, Human Rights Watch and the National LGBT Bar Association for
a unique event in Washington, D.C. to support lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender Iraqis who have fled their home
country. On
Friday, July 24, spokesmen for a group of twenty LGBT Iraqi refugees
undergoing their resettlement process will be in Washington, D.C. to
bring attention to their struggle and raise money to support LGBT Iraqi
refugees still in the Middle East. Since
the U.S. invasion, sectarian violence and fundamentalist religious
leaders have filled a power vacuum left by the war that has made life
for LGBT Iraqis increasingly unbearable. In recent months,
international media have reported that LGBT Iraqis face kidnapping,
torture, horrific sexual violence, death threats and
murder. Start your weekend off with a reception that may save lives. All proceeds from the fundraiser go to support Helem,
a Lebanese LGBT organization that has provided food, shelter and
clothing to LGBT Iraqi refugees currently undergoing their resettlement
process. What: Fundraiser to Support LGBT Iraqi Refugees
When: Friday, July 24, 2009
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Where: Human Rights Campaign Equality Center
1640 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20036,
(at the intersection of Rhode Island Avenue and 17th Street)
Cost: Please bring your checkbook or credit card and donate as you can. For questions or more information, please contact Eric Wingerter at iraqrefugeelgbt@gmail.com
Also in the US, Walter Cronkite passed away Friday at the age of 92. The former anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News was remembered today on CBS News' online web program Washington Unplugged. Sharing their memories and evaluations were CBS News' Bob Schieffer, who hosts the program, Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post
and Marvin Kalb who worked for CBS News and NBC News (and earned the
honor of making Tricky Dick's enemies list). CBS News honored Cronkite
last night in prime time with a special and you can find it online at CBS' website (text and video). At her website, under news videos,
Carly Simon has taped the following message (currently plays after
beauty tips for looking older -- a humorous video; good morning and
work on mixing her forthcoming album due out later this year): My
sister Joey [opera singer Joanna Simon] and Walter Cronkite were very
much in love and spent pretty much the last four years of his life
together. Joey took care of him night and day when he was sick. And
Walter loved her and she loved him and she will always love him -- as
we all will. He never said anything that wasn't absolutely real. He
was an impeccable human being and this message is for everybody who
loved him and will continue to. Peter Simon tells K.C. Myers (Cape Cod Times),
"They were an adorable couple. To see them together, it was so
moving. They were so in love with each other. Now she's going through
a terrible loss." Kate Nocera and Erin Durkin (New York Daily News) quote
Joanna Simon stating, "He loved to sail. Sometimes we would take day
sails. Other times, we would go to Nantucket or Newport. One time we
sailed up the coast of Maine. [. . . .] My entire life with Walter gave
me such great joy. Now, without him, I'm kind of at a loss as to what
to do with the rest of my life. I go through waves. Sometiimes I'm
okay. Sometimes I just want to turn the clock back." In 1962, with
the New York City Opera, Joanna Simon made her debut in The Marriage of Fiagaro.
It was the start of a highly accomplished and praised career. Walter
Cronkite is survived by his three children Chip Cronkite, Kathy
Cronkite and Nancy Cronkite and by his four grandchildren John
Macintosh Cronkite-Ikard, Peter Cronkite, William Maxwell
Cronkite-Ikard and Walter Cronkite IV.
Posted at 02:51 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
US military sitting ducks, 6 Iraqi police officers killed
The
tip was as alarming as it was unusual. A Sunni insurgent cell was
planning a mortar attack on a large U.S. base adjacent to Baghdad's
airport.
A credible informant told U.S. intelligence officials
Tuesday morning that several mortars launching from nearby Amiriyah, a
quiet neighborhood that had not been a staging ground for rocket or
mortar attacks since 2007, would rain down shells on the base that
night.
Over the next few days, Capt. Dustin Navarro and his Iraqi
army counterpart wrangled over the appropriate response. They met,
argued, sparred and compromised. In the end, two things became evident:
First, Iraqi and American commanders have markedly different notions of
what U.S. troops in Baghdad are entitled to do to protect themselves
under a security agreement that went into effect July 1 and that
sharply limits U.S. activity in Iraqi cities. The above is from Ernesto Londono's " U.S. Troops in Iraq Find Little Leeway" ( Washington Post)
which examines the US role as babysitters and sitting ducks, as targets
and and lightening rods. Read it and wonder how anyone can justify the
continuation of the US presence in Iraq? All US troops need to be out
of Iraq and out of Iraq right now. It may take a Somolia type incident
for that realization to really hit home. If such an incident takes
place, there will be little of the deference (wrongly) shown to the
current administration in the US. If that happens, Barack will have to
explain just what the hell is doing? It's something a real peace
movement would have forced him to explain months ago -- around the time
he dropped his "one brigade out a month" claim. We don't have a
peace movement in this country currently (maybe it can be rebuilt) just
like we don't have independent media. We do have Panhandle Media and, if you doubt that, catch the first half of Democracy Now! today where Queen of all Beggars Amy Goodman is joined by fellow street 'reporters' Robert Parry and Danny Schechter.
Listen to the whines and roll your eyes, listen to the self-pity and
laugh. Robert Parry, who utilized non-stop sexism throughout 2008,
insists, "We have to build something different." Yes, WE do. Something
without your sexist garbage. Something without your dated, fumbling
approach that is not worth supporting with time or money. What's your
excuse? You've always got an excuse. People aren't giving you enough
money! Whine, whine, whine. You've been around for over a decade and
what the hell have you accomplished online, what can you point to? How
pathetic. And no, we don't care if you go under. You have earned your
reputation as sexist supreme and we're not supporting you. Danny
Schechter. No one breaks my heart as much as Danny. He knows
sexism is wrong. He refused to call out in 2008. He had a million
different excuses for staying silent. At one point, he was maintaining
privately that Hillary made an issue out of being a woman so certain
'critiques' were okay but, at the same time, he was maintaining that
Hillary didn't call out the sexism and that's why others stayed silent.
It's funny how in both 'rationales,' the source of the attacks is
blamed. You get that, right? In the first one, it's her fault for
allegedly making an issue out of being a woman. (She didn't do that.
Others -- people on the left who loathed her -- did that throughout
2007 and it was repeated over and over and accepted as fact.) In the
second one, the silence on the sexist attacks are her fault as well
because she didn't do this or she didn't do that. She was attacked and it's all her fault? That's a new media we need to support? We need to support a new media that's nothing but a Democratic Party organ? Robert
Parry and Danny both spent this year being just that. (Danny's shown
more independence in the last few weeks.) An independent media should
not be taking sides in an election and it certainly should not be
rendering Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney's presidential runs
invisible. Every time Parry or Danny wrote of Obama's campaign (which
was basically every time they wrote), they should have also been
covering Ralph and Cynthia's. They didn't. Because covering
those campaigns required more work than thumbing through the New York
Times that day and keeping a half-eye on MSNBC. it required a little
work. And the ones who want money now, don't understand why people are
sick of it? An independent media is not an arm of the Democratic
Party. An independent media does not take partisan sides. It can be
left, absolutely. But left does not mean Democratic cheerleader. And
that's all our so-called 'alternative' media is today with very few
exceptions. Lastly, on Sunday nights, the hour 60 Minutes airs in? That's prime time. It's considered prime time, it has been considered prime time for decades. So if CBS shelved 60 Minutes
last night to air a tribute to Walter Cronkite (I have no idea when it
aired, I don't sit in front of the TV), they did present a prime time
special on Cronkite. As for the claim regarding the burial of
Cronkite's remarks on Vietnam, Ava and I caught Meet The Press Sunday morning.
That's the last TV program I've watched and, on that broadcast, in
their tiny minute devoted to Cronkite, the Vietnam moment was noted. I
have no idea what other programs noted or didn't note but a program
that doesn't know what prime time is really isn't a program whose media
'critique' I put a great deal of trust in. To Saturday's entry, add this from Muhanad Mohammed (Reuters):
"Cameras on air balloons monitored the site, the surveillance provided
by the U.S. military at Iraq's request. " And thank you to a friend at
CNN for passing that along, I had missed it. Last week say 3 US
soldiers killed by mortars targeting a US base. Among the claims
surfacing since then is that the suspect is backed by Iran. Iran's Press TV counters: Political
insiders say reports that an Iranian-backed militant has been arrested
in Iraq are designed to divert attention from the US role in regional
violence.An Iraqi police
official told the Associated Press on Sunday that a member of an
Iranian-backed militia has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in
a terrorist attack that killed three US soldiers on Thursday,.An
informed source speaking on conditions of anonymity said Monday that
suchlike reports are circulated by US intelligence agencies and the
powerful remnants of the Ba'ath Party in a bid to portray Iran as the
enemy and influence Iraqi people against their better judgment. Violence continues in Iraq. Reuters reports
multiple shootings and two bombings: a Mosul roadside bombing which
claimed the life of 1 police officer, a Ramadi car bombing which
claimed the lives of 2 Iraqi police officers with a third injured and
three bystanders also wounded, 1 police officer shot dead in east
Mosul, 1 police officer shot dead in southwest Mosul and 1 off-duty
police officer shot dead in central Mosul. Six Iraqi police officers
killed in today's violence. Bonnie reminds that Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Barry and TOTUS" went up last night. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqthe washington posternesto londonodemocracy nowdanny schechterthe world today just nuts
Posted at 06:20 am by thecommonills
Permalink
Nouri on one side, the people of Iraq on the other
Abject poverty across Iraq is fuelling an illegal trade in human organs.Hundreds
of people are believed to have sold kidneys and other organs through
dealers in the capital, Baghdad, over the last year.[. . .]About
23 per cent of Iraqis live in poverty, meaning that they are forced to
survive on $2.2 a day or less, according to government figures.Unemployment
is also high, with at least 18 per cent of the population out of work,
UN and government reports suggest. Unofficial estimates have put the
figure as high as 30 per cent.The
organ brokers who arrange the deals between the desperately poor and
those desperate enough to pay to save the life of a loved one,
typically congregate around the hospitals. The above is from Aljazeera's " Poverty drives Iraq organ trade"
and file it under Operation Iraqi 'Freedom.' And file it under: "Nouri
for the people." As Nouri sits on those stacks and stacks of money, the
people under the puppet suffer. Dropping back to the July 14th snapshot: And the river dries up as Jenan Hussein (McClatchy Newspapers) reports
on the poverty, "Beggars have become as visible as blast walls and
checkpoints in Iraqi cities. Government ministries don't have reliable
statistics, partly because those who beg fear official crackdowns on
their only livelihood. It's a problem the government has yet to
tackle." This happens as the Oil Ministry brags
it has "acheived (59.1000) million barrels with (3.378) billion dollars
incomes with daily average of (4.400) barrels per day for May and the
raise was (686) million dollars. In comparison with April which
achieved (54.700) million barrels with (2.692) billion dollars incomes."Will
anyone have the courage to challenge Nouri during his DC visit? Or are
we all supposed to still pretend "poor Nouri"? He's been in office for
over three years. He's enriched himself. He's done very, very little
for the Iraqi people. Among the segments of Iraqis currently
suffering are the country's LGBT community. While Nouri looks the other
way, the LGBT community is targeted repeatedly. This includes targeting
and homophobia from Nouri's police force. And without a peep from
Nouri. (Not a peep from Barack Obama either.) The Lesbian and Gay Foundation (UK) announces a fundraiser for Iraq's LGBT commnity: Liverpool's Iraqi lesbian and gay society are hosting a charity fundraiser for LGBT Iraq.Amnesty International have reported that the situation in Iraq is "unclear". Homosexual
acts have been legal in Iraq since 2003. However, the Amnesty
International website reports that the current Government in Iraq has
issued a decree allowing Sharia laws (death penalty for homosexuals) to
be enforced. LGBT Iraqis are now targeted for persecution and execution. According to The New York Times; in 2005, Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued a religious decree that said gay men and lesbians should be “punished, in fact, killed… The people should be killed in the worst, most severe way of killing.” Iraqi LGBT Lifeline
estimates that, since December 2004, there have been as many as 600
homophobic murders of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people
or those perceived to be. In the past
four months alone as many as 65 bodies of those suspected of being
“homosexual” have turned up with notes attached to their bodies with
the word “pervert” written in Arabic. These figures do not include
those who have survived homophobically motivated kidnapping, involving
physical assault which often consists of sexual humiliation. The BBC have consistently reported on attacks targetting LGBT people in Iraq. In
April of this year the BBC reported on a campaign against gay men in
Iraq which activists say has claimed the lives of more than 60 since
December. Also in April Amnesty
International claimed that 25 boys and men were reported to have been
killed in Baghdad over a three week period because they were, or were
perceived to be, gay. Iraqi LGBT
began establishing a network of safe houses inside Iraq in March 2006.
As of today, they operate only one safe house, having been forced to
close three since the beginning of 2009 due to the expense of running
them. The members of their group
inside Iraq urgently need the funds to open at least five safe houses.
These funds will allow them to keep the safe houses running, thereby
providing safety, shelter, food and many other needs for LGBT people in
Iraq. For more information about Iraqi LGBT, click here. The Fundraiser - Chew Disco - is taking place in Liverpool on Friday 7 August. There will be a whole host of punk and post punk bands playing including Vile Vile Creatures, Ste McCabe and Husbands aswell as some riotous DJs. Chew Disco is taking place at Magnet, 45 Hardman Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 9AS. Doors open at 8pm till 4am (Ł4 adv / Ł5 Door (Ł4 NUS). For tickets, click here. Every
penny received will go directly to Iraqi LGBT (London) and their Safe
Houses Project which provides emergency shelter, human services and
protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Iraq. That's in August and in England. In the US later this month. This is Michael Cole's " DC Event: Help LGBT Iraqi Refugees" (HRC): If
you’re in the DC area I encourage you to join the Human Rights
Campaign, Human Rights Watch and the National LGBT Bar Association for
a unique event in Washington, D.C. to support lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender Iraqis who have fled their home country. On
Friday, July 24, spokesmen for a group of twenty LGBT Iraqi refugees
undergoing their resettlement process will be in Washington, D.C. to
bring attention to their struggle and raise money to support LGBT Iraqi
refugees still in the Middle East. Since
the U.S. invasion, sectarian violence and fundamentalist religious
leaders have filled a power vacuum left by the war that has made life
for LGBT Iraqis increasingly unbearable. In recent months,
international media have reported that LGBT Iraqis face kidnapping,
torture, horrific sexual violence, death threats and murder. Start your weekend off with a reception that may save lives. All proceeds from the fundraiser go to support Helem,
a Lebanese LGBT organization that has provided food, shelter and
clothing to LGBT Iraqi refugees currently undergoing their resettlement
process. What: Fundraiser to Support LGBT Iraqi Refugees
When: Friday, July 24, 2009
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Where: Human Rights Campaign Equality Center
1640 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20036,
(at the intersection of Rhode Island Avenue and 17th Street)
Cost: Please bring your checkbook or credit card and donate as you can. For questions or more information, please contact Eric Wingerter at iraqrefugeelgbt@gmail.com
Another targeted population in Iraq is the Christian community. From Asia News' "Bishop of Baghdad: 'Christians, do not be afraid', but the fear of a new exodus remains:"
The Iraq War continues. Sarah M. Rivette (Watertown Daily Times) reports,
"The 2nd Brigade is headed to eastern Baghdad in October. It is not
known where the 1st Brigade will be stationed yet, but those soldiers
will deploy in January. Both deployments are expected to be for 12
months."
The Kurdistan region's relation to the central government in Baghdad remains tense, in fact, tensions are climbing. AFP reports
that Massud Barzani, president of the KRG, stated yesterday, "We are
committed to the application of Article 140 (of the Iraqi constitution)
and we rpomise that we will absolutely not compromise on this issue or
on the rights of the people of Kurdistan." Article 140 requires an
independent census in Kirkuk and a referendum to take place no later
than . . . December 2007.
This is not a minor detail nor is it something once touched on and then forgotten. Saturday, the KRG's Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani gave a speech and it included the following:
In
formulating policy for our government, we have always been committed to
the Iraqi Constitution and protection of the interests of the Kurdistan
Region and all of Iraq.
As you are all aware, recent tensions have occasionally surfaced with the federal, central government over pending issues.
It
is clear that, as long as those issues remain unresolved; this will
threaten the stability that we all aspire to achieve in Iraq.
I
would like to address this matter openly. What we in the Kurdistan
Regional Government want to achieve is to resolve these issues
peacefully and in accordance with the terms and conditions enshrined in
the Iraqi Constitution, for which 80% of Iraqis voted.
We have
always been ready in the past, and we are ready and willing now to sit
at the negotiating table with the federal government and talk with
those who possess the will to solve these issues.
Sometimes we in
the Kurdistan Region are accused of being too firm and insistent in our
demands. But I would like Iraqis and the whole world to be aware of two
things:
First, our insistence on the commitment to the Constitution
and its guarantees for freedom and democracy emerge directly from our
history.
We in the Kurdistan Region have suffered greatly as the
result of agreements which were unfulfilled and promises which were
ignored.
In order for us to live in peace and stability, we want our
rights to be protected. This will take place as a result of permanent
agreements by which all concerned will abide, in accordance with
Constitutional principles. We don’t have any hidden agenda in Iraq.
Second,
for those who say that we cannot negotiate seriously, there are
tangible examples of how the KRG has participated seriously in
negotiations that have led to historic results. Therefore, we can
engage in a similar manner with Baghdad in this regard.
We want to
be a reliable and cooperative partner with the federal government. Our
vision of security, stability and prosperity for the Kurdistan Region
requires a peaceful and cooperative relationship and coordination with
all of Iraq and with Baghdad and we will continue with this policy in
the Kurdistan Region.
All that we ask for is to have a relationship
within the framework of the Constitution, which is the highest law of
the land and the greatest guarantee to us that history will not repeat
itself.
Our message is clear. The Kurdistan Regional Government is
ready and hopeful that serious dialogue will resume with the federal
government to solve the issues according to Constitutional principles
and within a federal, democratic Iraq.
Our insistence on resolving
the issues are with the aim of guaranteeing a bright future for our
people and the prevention of any repetition of our tragic history.
Bonnie reminds that Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Barry and TOTUS" went up last night.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqaljazeerathe lesbian and gay foundationsarah m. rivetteasia timesiraqthe world today just nuts
Posted at 06:17 am by thecommonills
Permalink
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Barry and Totus"
Posted at 11:40 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
And the war drags on . . .
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 tearsThat 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 weekTruest statement of the week IIA note to our readersEditorial: The lost land of IraqTV: Meet The FockersIssues effecting women veteransRoundtableMusic roundtableMeet the new RamenTheme of last weekHighlightsIsaiah'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 falloutIf you would like to send a message to Joe, email letters@socialistworker.co.uk and we will forward it to him
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» comment on article » email article » printable versionThe e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqand the war drags ondonovanthe nationalmehdilebouacherathe kuwait timesgabriel gathehousebbc newsthe los angeles timesliz slyiraqmcclatchy newspaperslaith hammoudithe socialist workerthe third estate sunday reviewthe world today just nuts
Posted at 11:33 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
Saturday, July 18, 2009
 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=64266For 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.netYeah, 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. iraqmcclatchy newspapersmohammed al dulaimythe washington postnada bakricnn
Posted at 08:01 pm by thecommonills
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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 MixMICHELLE HAS PLANS FOR HEALTH CARE1 hour ago The Daily JotTHIS JUST IN! MICHELLE TO RESCUE HEALTH CARE!1 hour ago Mikey Likes It!Mike's back Monday20 hours ago Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)Ann starts a site, Cronkite passes away, and . . .21 hours ago Ann's Mega DubIraq21 hours ago Thomas Friedman is a Great ManAnalyzing the circus22 hours ago Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitudegordo's got more problems22 hours ago SICKOFITRADLZLie Face Melissa Harris Lacewell22 hours ago Trina's KitchenFries in the Kitchen22 hours ago Ruth's ReportWhat do you mean 'us,' Missy Comley Beattie?22 hours ago Oh Boy It Never EndsMelissa Harris Lacewell is an idiot22 hours ago Like Maria Said Paz'Poor' Sharon Smith22 hours ago The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqmcclatchy newspapersmike tharphank longsherwood rossanns mega dublike maria said pazkats kornersex and politics and screeds and attitudethomas friedman is a great mantrinas kitchenthe daily jotcedrics big mixmikey likes itruths reportsickofitradlzoh boy it never ends
Posted at 07:59 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
Friday, July 17, 2009
Friday,
July 17, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces
multiple deaths, at least 40 pilgrims are wounded in Baghdad bombings,
US war resister Robin Long speaks, increasing tensions between the
north and the central government, and more. 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. Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reports,
"Shortly after the attack, the Iraqi army gave the U.S. military
permission to carry out aerial searches northwest of the airport, the
area from where the rockets are thought to have been launched, U.S
officials said. Troops chased a car to a house, which they searched. A
joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol raided another home. Three Iraqi men were
briefly detained, the military said." Violence rocked Iraq as usual today but a lot of it targeted pilgrims. Mohammed al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) explains
the pilgrimage "is expected to fill the streets of Baghdad on Saturday
in the first major security challenge for Iraqi military forces" with
"a limited curfew" being imposed and "thousands of additional Iraqi
soldiers and police officers . . . on the streets". 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." Muhanad Mohammed (Reuters) observes, "Despite intensive security, some bombers made it through." Turning to the reported violence today . . . Bombings? Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports
a Baghdad roadside bombing which wounded thirteen pilgrims, a Baghdad
roadside bombing which wounded eight pilgrims, a Baghdad roadside
bombing which wounded five pilgrims, another Baghdad roadside bombing
which injured five pilgirms, a Baghdad roadside bombing which injured
three pilgrims, a Baghdad roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1
pilgrim and wounded six more, a Baghdad roadside bombing which injured
two men, a Falluja roadside bombing which injured nine males who were
playing football and a roadside bombing attack on the home of police
chief Abdulsalam Khawarm in Anbar Province resulting in the deaths of
two of his children and leaving eight more people injured. Reuters notes
1 dead in the Falluja bombing on the football players, a Mosul roadside
bombing left two Iraqi soldiers injured and a Shirqat sticky bombing
injured one police officer. Shootings? Reuters notes 1 person wounded in a Kirkuk shooting today and, dropping back to yesterday, one wounded in a Kirkuk shooting as well. Today on the second hour of NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, Diane and the Wall St. Journal's Youchi Dreazen, the Washington Post's David Ignatius and Foreign Policy's Moises Naim discussed Iraq. Diane
Rehm: Alright and let's turn now to Iraq and the latest on violence
there, David? You had three American soldiers killed Thursday after
insurgents fired mortar rounds into a US base in southern Iraq. You've
also got problems with the Kurds. You've got lots of issues still
going on even as the US is planning its pull-out. David
Ignatius: This was a week, Diane, that reminded us of the underlying
fragility of Iraq. We've gotten in the habit of not paying much
attention to it. Our troops are pulling back from the cities under the
timetable we agreed to with the Iraqis. And-and, these last weeks we
saw in these-these bombings and the political conflicts just how easily
Iraq could spin back into a very chaotic situation. Take the bombings
that happened on Wednesday. By my count, there were about eleven
people killed, something like fifty or sixty wounded. But what was
striking was that one of the bombs was in Ramadi -- in the Sunni
heartland, the area we thought had been stabilized by our
counter-insurgency work. Another bomb was in Sadr City. Another was
right in the heart of Baghdad, in Sadhun Street. Those latter two were
really going after Shi'ites, the first, in Ramadi, was going after
Sunnis. More of these bombings are going to again make Iraqis
frightened that they can't be secure without militias and then you're
back in the sectarian killing game and you're going to start finding
fifty bodies -- dead bodies -- every morning in the morgue. Diane
Rehm: At twenty-seven [after] the hour you're listening to The Diane
Rehm Show. And what's going on with the Kurds, Youchi? Youchi
Dreazen: In many ways, this is the most dangerous aspect of Iraq right
now. You've had recently [June 28th] a standoff between Kurdish
fighters and Iraqi national army fighters. Last year there was an
incident that did not get much attention here in which US drones that
were monitoring a similar standoff saw columns of armed Iraqi army
soldiers and columns of Kurdish peshmerga racing towards each other.
By the account of everyone who was watching it, bruising for a fight,
and they stood down only amidst much mediation by US embassy and
military -- as was the case here where there was US mediation. And
what you have is this very thorny issue about what will be the
boundaries between Kurdistan, what will be the boundaries between
Arab-Iraq? How will they divide oil? How will they divide Kirkuk?
These issues have been kicked down the road again and again and again.
And now they're at the end of the road. They have to at some point be
resolved. I think what you've seen is, when the US invaded, there was
a status quo that existed under Saddam that was toppled, there was a
Sunni-led status quo. Then there was a new status quo that was not
sustainable where you had fighting between Sunni and Shia Arabs and the
Kurds were kind of left off to their own devices in the north. Now you
have a new status quo where the Shia-Sunni tensions are much reduced --
the Arab tensions -- and now their focusing much more again on the
Arab-Kurdish tensions that were there under Saddam decades ago. Moises
Naim: And the Kurdish prime minister yesterday said that the Kurdish
autonomous region was closer to going to war with the central
government than ever before, since 2003, since the US invasion. And
that points, as Youchi said, to the tensions about the divisions --
federalism, they're trying to find out what is the divisions of
authority, power between a centralized government and a regional
government. And this is a region that is quite different in its
governance, in its function, in its economy, in its politics, than the
rest of the country. Diane
Rehm: And the United States population is certainly concerned as is the
Iraqi that what if the violence continues to uptick, gets worse? Do
troops reinvigorate, US troops? What do you do? David
Ignatius: Well for the administration, I think there's a recognition
that, as we reduce our military presence there, it is inevitable that
violence will increase. That's accepted. And it's just a price of our
getting out. The Iraqis want us out, we want to get out. So some
increase in violence, it's understood, will happen. And the question
is: Will the Iraqi forces be strong enough to contain it within
acceptable levels? And what's-what's-what's your choke point? If
you're President Obama and you're seeing ten people die a day, well,
what do you say? Suppose it gets up to fifty, what do you - what do
you do then? And that's -- it's-it's grisly. But that's the kind of
decision I fear that the-the Obama administration going to have to make
about Iraq over the coming year. Moises
Naim: It's very hard to imagine that there's a political environment in
the United States that will support a massive increase of troops -- of
US troops -- in Iraq. The-the line their will be crossed if Iran
becomes very influential country in Iraq. If Iranian influence there
which it hasn't seemed to be the case but that will be then the-the
political base for it. [. . .] Diane Rehm: To Charlie in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Good morning, you're on the air. Charlie:
Good morning. I'd like to go back to the MidEast a little bit in terms
of I think that Iraq is a lost cause. I think Sadr, Ayatollah Sadr's
militia has only stood down under orders from Iran and under
realization that the US military would destroy Sadr City. They will
res -- they will resurge and they will take over the south and if --
have this very informal reunion with Iran. The Sunnis were bought off
with US money and viagra pills for their ancient sheiks -- and that's
the truth, not a joke. And the Kurds, our most loyal allies, are the
largest tribe, as far as I know, on earth without a homeland. And I'm
afraid that they -- especially with the oil money -- do not intend to
be left behind this time. I think also I'd like one more comment, on
the Gaza situation again. [. . .] What
about Gaza? This isn't the Gaza snapshot. And by bringing that up,
Gaza, it's what everyone quickly glommed on after David's initial
remarks on Iraq. David Ignatius: Well,
I think the -- it's too early for me at least to say that Iraq is a
lost cause. One interesting fact about Iraq is that our greatest
potential problem -- which is Iranian influence, Iranian support for
extremist militias, like Moqtada Sadr who the caller was referring to,
Iran politically is imploding. That threat, the ability of Iran to
destabilize Iraq, is, I think, somewhat reduced, I want to say
signifianctly reduced -- becuase of the chaose following the election.
And I think you can generalize that to potential Iranian clients all
ove. Political parties in Iraq that are supported by Iran must be
worrying, "Holy smokes our paymaster are in trouble." As
noted in Diane's discussion, things are very tense between the central
government in Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government. Anthony Shadid (Washington Post) reports,
"In separate interviews, Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and the
region's president, Massoud Barzani, described a stalemate in attempts
to resolve long-standing disputes with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki's emboldened government. Had it not been for the presence of
the U.S. military in northern Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani said, fighting
might have started in the most volatile regions." Quil Lawrence (NPR's All Things Considered) reported
this afternoon on the tensions quoting Barzani, "Whoever wants to get
ahead in Iraqi politics does so by criticizing the Kurds." On
territorial disputes and what may have been an attempt by al-Maliki's
government to enroach on Kurdish territories June 28th, Lawrence quotes
Barzani stating, "Our problem is that we do not believe there is any
political will in Baghdad to solve this problem." Gordon Duff (Salem-News) addresses the June 28th confrontation and offers his opinions: News
stories reporting on this conflict conveniently omit Kurdish history.
Our NATO partner, Turkey, that refused to allow US troops access to
Northern Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom, has long been an enemy of
our Kurdish allies. If Turkey had joined with the US, the military
disaster that led to years of conflict might have been averted.
Instead, the US depended on Kurdish armies to defeat Saddam in Northern
Iraq. Reports of Kurdish
incursions in and around Kirkuk fail to mention that the Arabs in the
region are remnants of Saddam's occupation forces, not residents. The
efforts by the Baghdad government to continue control of this Kurdish
region is driven by need to control the regions oil revenues and
continue to fuel Iraq's massive corruption. Elizabeth
Dickinson: With [US Vice President Joe] Biden as the U.S. envoy for
reconciliation in Iraq, what priorities should he be pushing for?
Jay
Garner: No. 1, a referendum on disputed lands, because I don't think
you can ever have a stable Iraq as long as you have an unstable
Arab-Kurdish border. No. 2, a resolution on the oil law because it's a
thorn in everybody's side. No. 3, continue to exert whatever leverage
we have on the Iraqi government to get these things done.
Anything
that happens here, whether it is Kurds versus Arabs or Shiite versus
Sunni -- and those are huge flash points -- is not an Iraqi problem;
it's a regional problem. It's huge. It's much greater than Iraq,
because if it's Shiite-Sunni you are going to have Iranians on the side
of the Shiites and you are going to have the Gulf region on the side of
the Sunnis. If it's Arab-Kurdish, you are going to have an ethnic war,
and lives will be gone and other countries will get involved because
they are going to want to shape how it comes out.
I don't think
the [U.S.] administration wants to pull out in 2011, run for the
presidency in 2012, and have this whole damned thing blow up on them,
you know? So it is good that [U.S. President Barack Obama has]
appointed Biden; it's good that he's made a special envoy; and it's
good that Biden is drilling in on this. Biden is a guy that has studied
a long time. He is more thoughtful about this than the other people,
and I think that's a good first step. But you've got to have some
leverage to execute that. So whatever leverage we have left, we need to
make sure that those flash points are solved before we leave. Garner mentioned the oil law (aka the theft of Iraqi law) and Nouri's sending messages on that today. Missy Ryan (Reuters) reports
that the Oil Ministry's spokesperson Asim Jihad declared today of talk
that unions might stop the British Petroleum and China National
Petroleum Corporation oil deal (jointly, they were awarded a contract
from the puppet government in the oil auction -- that was the only
awarded contract from that auction), "The government will protect the
companies." 'At all costs' was left implied. Yesterday's snapshot noted the House Veterans Affairs Disability and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee's joint-hearing with the Subcomittee on Health. Kat covered the hearing last night and noted the discussion on rape victims. That was the first panel, Service Women's Action Network's Anuradha Bhagwati, Wounded Warrior Project's Dawn Halfaker and National Association of State Women Veterans Coordinators, Inc and the Texas Veterans Commission's Delilah Washburn. Grace After Fire's
Kayla Williams raised an issue during questioning about suicide rates.
Asked of the number of females, she explained she didn't know that
number and then explained that the military is only tracking the
suicides for those on active duty and not the number of suicides among
veterans. (Or, at least only releasing the data for those on active
duty.) Something to keep in mind as 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." Turning to war resistance, last week Robin Long was released from the brig. Today he spoke on KPFA's The Morning Show "Not for a second do I regret or wish I'd done something different." Philip Malderi: You're listening to The Morning Show on KPFA,
I'm Philip Malderi. I'm joined in the studio by Robin Long. Robin was
in the US army. He enlisted shortly after the Iraq War got under way
in June of '03. He was guaranteed by his recruiter that he wouldn't be
sent to Iraq but of course those promises were not exactly fulfilled.
In 2005, realizing he had made a mistake, he went to Canada and decided
to resist serving in Iraq. Canada ultimately sent him back and he went
to a navy brig down in San Diego to serve a year in prison. And now
he's out. He joins me in the studio. Robin Long, welcome to KPFA. Robin Long: Good morning. Philip Malderi: Uh, again why did you decide to join in the first place? Why don't we start there. Robin
Long: You said initially I'd joined in June. I'd actually signed up
for the delayed entry program in about February. You know, I'd always
grown up thinking I want to join the army and, you know, a lot of
people in my family are in the military and I just thought it was
something I would do my whole life and so I signed up for the delayed
entry program. And shortly after we went and invaded Iraq. And at the
time I actually thought, you know, this is the right thing to be doing,
you know there's connections with al Q-al Qaeda and there's weapons of
mass destruction there but by the time June came when I was actually, I
was getting ready to go to basic training in October, but around June,
I was talking to my recruiter and said, "Hey, I have-have some moral
qualms with what's going on over there." And he, uh, at that time, he
assured me that I wouldn't go to Iraq, I'd be sent to a nondeployable
post and -- Philip Malderi: And you believed it. Robin
Long: Oh, yeah, I believed it. They-they kept true to their word. I
was stationed at Fort Knox for two years but speaking out while I was
there, saying stuff, that's when they decided to give me orders to go
to Iraq -- the only person in my unit. I don't know if it was
punishment or what it was but they, uh, they ended up sending me to a
unit that was already in Iraq . Philip Malderi: They pulled you out of your unit in Kentucky and only you and sent you to a unit that was already in Iraq? Robin Long: I was -- Philip Malderi: But was going to send you actually? Robin
Long: Yeah, they were - they were going to send me. They were sending
me to Fort Carson, Colorado to join up with Second Brigade, Second
Infantry and they were already in Iraq at the time so I was just
supposed to report there and meet up with them in Iraq. They'd already
been there for like four months. Philip Malderi: So what did you decide to do? Robin
Long: Well I told them when they told me where I was going that, "No,
I'm not going to go there. You know, if you're going to give me these
orders, I'm going to - I'm going to refuse them. I'm not going to show
up at Fort Carson." They said, "Yeah, you are. You're going to show
up." Eventually, you know when the time came to hop on the plane, I-I
didn't, I didn't get on the plane to go to Fort Carson and it took me
about two months to actually decide to go up to Canada. I lived
underground in a friend's basement for-for a good two months. Philip Malderi: So what happened in Canada? Was there a system of support for war resisters? Robin
Long: I initially went up there by myself. I didn't now anyone. I was
up there for six months before I even found a group called the War
Resisters Support Campaign. There based out of Toronto but they have
chapters in cities all across Canada and they help with financial
needs, finding you a place to stay. They raise money to-to pay for
lawyers and stuff up there so there's like a legal avenue people are
trying to do up there by applying for political refugee status and they
just kind of help out with everything with that. So. Philip Malderi: So where did you settle down? Robin
Long: Initially, I settled down in a little town called Marathon,
Ontario on the most northern tip of Lake Superior. You don't know cold
until you've lived there, negative forty for months at a time. Philip Malderi: (Laughing) This was -- this was your punishment. Robin Long: Yeah, you know, nice in summer time but the winter? It's definitely cold. Philip
Malderi: Uh, now, during the Vietnam war, those that can remember it,
people who resisted going to Vietnam and went to Canada, the Canadian
government of that time protected them and did not send them back to
the States to be prosecuted. What changed? What happened this time? Robin
Long: Well, the -- the Canadian people and the majority even of
Parliament still want the war resisters, actually all conscientious
objectors from any war to be able to stay in Canada. Parliament voted
-- has voted twice in the last two years to allow war resisters and
their families to stay. But the Conservative government that is in
charge -- you know, that Parliament votes on laws and everything, but
the government that's in charge has to actually implement the laws.
They're just ignoring the votes. And they're ignoring their
constituents and what most people want. [C.I. note: No law has been passed. We'll go over that point at the end of the transcript.]
So they're just acting like this vote never even happened. So it's
really just the Conservatives, a Bush-supporting Conservative
government led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that's changed. Philip Malderi: And how did they capture you? Robin
Long: The RNC, the Mounties, came to where I was staying and said I had
a nation-wide immigration warrant, picked me up and I didn't get hand
cuffed or anything, they just put me in the cop car, brought me to the
Nelson city cell. I was staying in Nelson, British Columbia at the
time. And took about seven days and I was handed over to the US
authorities in Blaine, Washington. Philip Malderi: And then the Army prosecuted you? Robin
Long: Yeah, they, about forty days later, they prosecuted me for
desertion with intent to remain away permanently which, uh, has a
maximum sentence of three years but, uh, I -- there was no refuting
it. I-I had deserted. It's all paper work so to get a lesser
sentence, I pled guilty to it and only received fifteen months. The
judge -- because there's a pretrial agreement -- the judge what she
actually does is she gives you a sentence and whichever's less, what
your pretrial or what she gives you, is what you get. So she gave me
thirty months and a dishonorable discharge but the pretrial gave me
fifteen. Philip Malderi: So where did you serve this time? Robin Long: I served it down in San Diego. To
be clear, Parliament didn't pass a law. Both votes were non-binding.
That's why Stephen Harper can ignore them. Harper, the Prime Minister
of Canada, would be forced -- as would any future Prime Minister -- to
follow the two motions passed already if either had been legislation
and not a non-binding motion. Why the political parties haven't pushed
for a real vote on real legislation may be due to the Senate or higher
up. The only one passing anything -- another reason it couldn't be a
law -- is the House. Both times that the non-binding motion was
brought before a body, it was brought before the House. Canada
has a bi-cameral Parliament with an upper and lower house. The Senate
is the upper house and it has never voted on it. In practice, usually
the Senate goes along with what the House does becuase the House is
directly elected by the Canadian people. The Senate is staffed, not
elected. They are rubber stamped by the Governor General of Canada . .
. on the say so of . . . the Prime Minister. Meaning, Stephen Harper's
recommended people since he was in power. Once recommended, they serve
until they retire (with a mandatory retirement age) or die while in
office. The bulk of the Senate shouldn't be Harper supporters or even
Conservative Party supporters because the last decades -- as far back
as the sixties have seen the Liberal Party the primary party in power.
So where's the problem in the Senate? Noel
Kinsella. Who is he? He's the Speaker of the Senate. How does
someone become the Speaker? In the House, they're elected. In the
Senate, they're appointed. In his position, he could refuse to allow a
vote or do any number of things. But it's also true that you've got
barriers above him. Say the Senate went along with the House (either
out of tradition or conviction), you don't have a law yet. It has to
be signed off on. The first who could sign
it into law would be Michaelle Jean. She's Queen Elizabeth II's
representative. Her posts is Governor General of Canada and the queen
appoints her. If a bill passed both houses, Michaelle Jean could allow
it to become a law, nix it or leave the issue up to the Queen. Nixing
it -- no reason needs to be given -- means no law. Passing it onto the
Queen who can say yea or nay. (The Queen also has two years after the
Governor General to decide, no, it's not a law. It would be a law
throughout that time but the Queen can reverse it.) So if we follow
all of that, the ultimate reason why the House does non-binding
measures may be due to the fact that they grasp the pressure from the
Bush administration and now the Obama administration (which makes their
opinions known through an acting ambassador, Terry Breese, because
they've not filled the post of Ambassador to Canada) on Canadian
officials would also be conveyed to the Queen of England who, having
refused to stop the illegal war in 2003 (she could have), wouldn't
allow this to become law. While the British are largely out of Iraq
(approximately 400 British troops remain), they are still in
Afghanistan and have had war resisters. Queen Elizabeth II is not
about to go along with that (or give Canadian troops an argument for
not serving in Afghansitan). Repeating because England has kept their
monarchy (Canada didn't "keep it" -- they remain endentured to England
because they never had a revolution which is why Queen Elizabeth is
their head of state), Queen Elizabeth could have prevented England from
entering the Iraq War. She didn't. It's another reason why you have
rumbles of doing away with the monarchy in England. But
Canada has no real independence. If England declares war, Canada has
as well, whether they delcare it themselves or not. Which means that
while Canada chose not to send soldiers to Iraq, as part of England,
they officially are in support of that war. (That illegal war.) And
that's the difference that Philip Malderi was asking about: England
didn't take part in a war on Vietnam. Not the Indochina War or the
later American conflict. That's one reason why Canada could take the
stand they did during Vietnam. Also true, a strong prime minister,
like Pierre Trudeau, could take that stand right now. The Queen is
head of state but Harper is head of government and, in a face off on a
popular issue, the Queen might go along. Harper being Harper, such a
face off isnt likely to take place. The above
is a very complicated process and one that's very different from the US
-- which fought a war to have their independence from England and
fought the 1812 war when Canada was being a proxy for England. What's
not complicated is that the Iraq War is not ending. There are over
130,000 US troops in Iraq presently. So it was amazing, on allegedly
left radio, Philip Malderi tried to declare that the Iraq War was
winding down. Well, as a colleague of his on campus said during 2008, " Phil's no longer just drinking the Kool-Aid, he's drinking the urine."
We wished that Phil could have been in Harlem Tuesday night so Carl Dix
could have set him straight on the Iraq War (Dix was in a dialogue
with Cornel West at Aaron Davis Hall). But Robin Long was present and
tried to walk Philip through, "What's going on in Iraq, they say all
combat troops are leaving but, if you look at it, they're just changing
the name. They're being called the same thing they were being called
in Vietnam. They're being called 'advisers' now. And we have 30
permanent bases in Iraq. Just because they're not being called combat
troops, there's still a lot of people there." 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
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
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
60 Minutes, Sunday, July 19, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Posted at 03:35 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
3 US soldiers killed in Iraq
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
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
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
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. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqmcclatchy newspapersmohammed al dulaimythe washington postanthony shadidalsumariarachelle marshall60 minutescbs news
Posted at 06:19 am by thecommonills
Permalink
The fault lines between the KRG and the central government
Iraq's
autonomous Kurdish region and the Iraqi government are closer to war
than at any time since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the Kurdish prime
minister said Thursday, in a bleak measure of the tension that has
risen along what U.S. officials consider the country's most combustible
fault line. In separate
interviews, Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and the region's
president, Massoud Barzani, described a stalemate in attempts to
resolve long-standing disputes with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki's emboldened government. Had it not been for the presence of
the U.S. military in northern Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani said, fighting
might have started in the most volatile regions. The above is from Anthony Shadid's " Kurdish Leaders Warn Of Strains With Maliki: Military Conflict a Possibility, One Says" ( Washington Post). It's the must-read article on Iraq this morning and you have to wonder where the New York Times is? You
have to wonder or you have to stop caring and we're probably moving
away from the paper for three reasons. First, in reporting last week, they offered a very bad dispatch featuring all the US talking points and nothing resembling journalism. And that was their 'big' piece. Jay Garner called it out in a letter to the paper.
That didn't lead them to refile and go in depth. They just ignored it.
The way they're ignoring the KRG's upcoming elections. I'm
getting sick of the paper and all the money they waste on Iraq. Forget
that they can't find the 'energy' to file an Iraq article every day
(which their budget should demand), they can't even keep a blog up and
running. That's ridiculous. They are ridiculous. Three, I'm
looking at e-mails (two from visitors, four from community members) and
wondering, "What the hell is going on with the paper now?" They flipped
their outsourcing for subscription services back near the end of 2006,
I believe. And they've had non-stop problems. Their latest problem?
They're not getting paid for the paper. Their contractor's computer
system had some sort of a glitch and they're sending out dun letters to
tell people they owe for the paper. They owe? These are people who have
their credit cards on file and they're supposed to be automatically
billed each month on their cards. As a vistor explains, "I don't have
over $170 in one lump sum to pay this month. They were supposed to be
billing me each month. I've subscribed since 2004 and never had this
problem. I come home and there's a letter telling me that I haven't
been paying and I now owe over $170. I called that non-customer service
number and, oopsie, yeah my credit card is on file. I'm told it's a
problem that they've had with a number of accounts." If you're a
subscriber to the paper, you may need to check and see if you've been
billed each month or not. And apparently, if you haven't been billed
each month, that's your fault and not the paper's. I'm not in the mood
for this garbage. Since they switched contractors, they have had
nothing but problems and there is no quality care at the paper, no
concern over how many subscribers they are losing due to their
contractors. I'm not in the mood for the paper right now. If there's an
article I feel warrants attention, we'll note it. Otherwise, I'm ticked
off because I don't have a lot of sympathy or admiration for
incompetents who destroy newspapers and that's what the New York Times is doing right now. (And
this doesn't effect me. My 'subscription' costs several times more than
the average subscription because I pay the local distributor that
excessive amount to ensure that I have the paper at my home by X each
morning. I could stop doing that since I'm never home anymore but I
won't. However, on the road each week now, I may be less and less
inclined to track down a copy of their paper each day. For those who it
does effect, you should be arguing loudly. That was their mistake and
they should be able to half the amount owed -- at the least -- and you
should also press for a six month pricing plan that they offer new
subscribers. That's the very least that should be done.) If you read the Times, you have no idea of the tensions emerging but you do have a concept of "bad Kurds!" which might make a few people feel better but doesn't really inform anyone. In addition to bad reporting, we get bad columns like Thomas Friedman's " Goodbye Iraq, and Good Luck" -- a real load of garbage from the smug trash collector Friedman. John Boonstra calls out the column in " Friedman: Occupation only makes Iraqis 'want' and 'need' U.S. help" ( UN Dispatch): I
just got around to reading Tom Friedman's column from the other day
about Kirkuk Iraq. It's odd in a number of ways, from his love of using
jokes to make a point, to his blithe assumption that the U.S. military
has "left a million acts of kindness" in the country, and his bizarre
contention that Iraq is "100 times more important" than Bosnia (what is
the point of a powder keg competition between the Middle East and the
Balkans, anyway?). But this is what struck me most from Friedman's
outlook: Senior
Iraqi officials are too proud to ask for our help and would probably
publicly resist it, but privately Iraqis will tell you that they want
it and need it. We are the only trusted player here — even by those who
hate us. They need a U.S. mediator so they can each go back to their
respective communities and say: "I never would have made these
concessions, but those terrible Americans made me do it."First,
I have a hard time believing that Thomas Friedman can reliably attest
to the private desires of most Iraqis (especially when he is writing
from Kirkuk, but makes no mention that Kurds, who form a substantial
part of Kirkuk's population, have a notably different outlook toward
Americans). Second, I have an even harder time believing that six-plus
years of military occupation has made Iraqis "want" and "need" more
American help (something tells me that simply observing the diversity
of American military personnel has not, as Friedman weakly argues, made
an impression on Iraq's own ethnic politics). January
31st, 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces held provincial elections. The Kurdish
region did not take place in those elections. Their elections take
place next week. The Economist offers " Change in the air?" (unsigned, but not billed as an editorial): AS
IRAQ'S Kurds prepare to vote on July 25th for a regional assembly and a
president, the buzzword is Goran, meaning change. It is also the name
of a new movement that is trying to defeat -- or at least to dent --
the two parties that came into their own when the Kurds won self-rule
in 1991, after the Americans and their allies chased Saddam Hussein out
of Kuwait in the south and then prevented him from beating up the Kurds
in the north. The elections promise to be the most hotly contested
during the Kurds’ current golden era of autonomy. As Change’s campaign
gathers pace, its name and logo, an orange candle on a dark-blue
background, is emblazoned on buses, taxis, T-shirts, baseball caps and
balloons. The movement is on a roll. Whether this translates into votes
in a society where patronage and clan loyalties still largely hold sway
is not yet clear.Change
says it wants to improve the lives of Kurds across the region. It
castigates the corruption and cronyism of the two main parties: the
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), long a fief of the Barzani clan in
the north and western parts of the region around Dohuk and Erbil; and
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), run by the Talabani clan in
Sulaymaniyah province to the east and in the disputed lands to the
south around Kirkuk. Having wasted millions, the New
York Times is now trying to make a profit via destruction of the Boston
Globe. As they attack those workers and attempt a tag sale on the
assets, the Boston Globe actually does more real work in journalism
than the Times could ever dream of. That includes this morning's
editorial " An obligation to refugees:" AS
AMERICAN TROOPS withdraw from Iraq, they leave behind a population of
refugees who are only part of a humanitarian crisis encompassing war
zones all around the world. The United States is the largest donor of
refugee relief, yet despite this effort and the United Nations refugee
program, temporary shelter and aid give little comfort to refugees who
are highly vulnerable to contagious disease and violence. As people
grow up and die in camps, the idea that only temporary shelter is
needed has become an idyllic fairy tale. The United States should
provide a haven for more refugees.Each
year the US government sets a number of refugees to resettle in the
United States for protection, and this year the ceiling was raised from
70,000 to 80,000. This increase acknowledges the scale of the crisis
but ignores the thousands of available spots that go unfilled each
year. Existing programs to select refugees cannot meet the cap, and few
refugees, who lack homes or clean water, could be expected to apply
without help. Meaningful offers of resettlement require expanding
support for programs that encourage eligible refugees to apply.On the subject of refugees, Miriam Jordan (Wall St. Journal) reports
that the US has agreed to take in 1,350 Palestinian refugees from Iraq
-- these are apparently among the over 3,000 refugees stuck in the
'camps' between Iraq and Syria. From Jordan's article: "These
particular Palestinians are a fallout from the Iraq War," said George
Bisharat, a professor at the University of California Hastings College
of Law, who specializes in Middle Eastern law. "The Obama
administration had to take some responsibility for the consequences of
the invasion."The news comes one week after International Middle East Media Center reported
on the death of Suad Abdul-Qader Al Hallaq who died in one of the
'camps,' Al Waleed -- one week before her death, Shihada Mohammad Abu
Hamad had died at the camp. Meanwhile International Organization for
Migration announces money received from the US government in " US$ 10 Million to Help Returning Iraqi Families Reintegrate:" Posted on Friday, 17-07-2009Iraq
- IOM has received US$10 million from the US Department of State Bureau
of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) to meet the most urgent
needs of Iraqi returnees.Working
with the Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM) and host
communities, IOM is assisting returnees and local residents without
jobs or underemployed by providing information and counseling; grants
for the purchase of tools, equipment or basic materials; and vocational
and/or business training, to create or expand small businesses or to
find employment.IOM is
working with returnees in Baghdad, Ninewa, Diyala, Babyl, Wassit and
Missan governorates. With the new funding from PRM, IOM will assist at
least 3,500 individuals in Baghdad, Babylon, Diyala and Ninewa, and
will expand the geographical coverage to other governorates, namely
Anbar, Basrah, Erbil and Sulaymania. IOM
monitors have identified some 52,000 post-2006 returnee families in
approximately 800 locations; with the majority returning to Baghdad,
and significant groups to Diyala and Anbar.Seventy-one
per cent of returnees interviewed by IOM said they had decided to
return to their places of origin because of improved security or a
combination of improved security and difficult conditions in their
place of displacement.Nationwide,
returnees have told IOM monitors that their immediate needs are food,
fuel, and non-food items (such as mattresses or cooking utensils),
along with healthcare and legal assistance. In the long term,
employment, shelter and property restitution are the major concerns for
returnee families."Individual
returnee families have widely differing needs. Many have come home to
destroyed, damaged, or looted property," explains Mike Pillinger, Chief
of the IOM Mission in Iraq.Thirty-nine
per cent of returnees interviewed by IOM reported finding their home in
poor or uninhabitable condition. Others have no job or a way to support
their families. In Baghdad, 64 per cent of heads of household
interviewed by IOM are unemployed; 61% in Diyala and 31% in Anbar. In
other cases health care services or obtaining missing documents are
priority issues.MoDM
and the Kurdish Regional Government's Directorate of Displacement and
Migration estimate that there are approximately 1.7 million post-2006
internally displaced Iraqis. There
are an estimated number 2.8 million internally displaced persons in
Iraq. Some 1.6 million of them were displaced after the bombing of the
Al-Askari mosque in Samarra in February 2006. More than 1.5 million
other Iraqis are living in neighbouring countries.IOM
has also received funding for this programme from the governments of
Japan, Germany and Australia's International Assistance Programme
(AusAID).Returnee
reports, along with IOM's regular reporting on displacement, including
governorate profiles, bi-weekly updates, tent camp updates, and yearly
and mid-year reviews, are available at http://www.iom-iraq.net/library.html#IDP.For more information please contact:Rex AlambanIOM AmmanTel: + 962-79-906-1779E-mail: ralamban@iom.int Hugh McMillan reports on one group of Iraqi refugees who have been admitted to the US in " Iraqi family safe in Gig Harbor" ( Peninsula Gateway): Hanaa
al Janabi knows what it's like to be forced to leave her homeland in
fear for her life while still grieving for a murdered husband and
father. She knows what it’s like to arrive in a different country, with
only the clothes on her back. There was a language barrier, and she
didn’t know how to provide for her children.With help of a Gig Harbor church, al Janabi and her family also know what it's like to be safe.Watching
the fall of Baghdad, Americans saw exploding bombs and Iraqis cheer as
the statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down. Few understand the impact
the violent period has had on a single Iraqi family, what it was like
for al Janabi as she fled with her children along a tortuously
difficult path through fear and frustration.Al
Janabi's Army officer husband, Khaled al Janabi, fell out of favor with
Saddam but escaped with his family to Jordan to obtain political
refugee status. As the United States prepared to invade Iraq, he
volunteered as a translator and cultural adviser to the U.S. Army.
During the invasion, he returned to Baghdad, embedded with the American
forces.There, while his wife was visiting him, he was recognized and killed on the street in front of her. The following community sites updated last night: The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqthe washington postanthony shadidthe economistjohn boonstrathe wall street journalmiriam jordanhugh mcmillanthe world today just nutslike maria said pazkats kornersex and politics and screeds and attitudethomas friedman is a great mantrinas kitchenthe daily jotcedrics big mixmikey likes itruths reportsickofitradlzoh boy it never ends
Posted at 06:15 am by thecommonills
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