Friday, August 31, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces more deaths, disease outbreaks in northern Iraq, Bully Boy shows contempt for Congress (again), Texas gears up for a big protest Saturday and more.

Starting with war resistance. Tampa Bay's WMNF (88.5) interviewed Aidan Delgado.

Aidan Delgado: First of all I wouldn't encourage just anyone to become a Conscientious Objector because if you don't know it already CO status is the most difficult way to get out of the army. Mine took 18 months and it was a hard 18 months. So if someone's just looking to leave the military, CO status is not the way to do it and you should only do it if you feel absolute moral conviction that you can't participate. And the other thing I would stress is to go online and look up CO packets that have been successful. Go and read through a couple of entire packets that show what it takes to become a successful CO. And don't ever be intimidated by the army and don't let them tell you the regulations. You have to go and read the regulations on CO yourself. Look at some of the successful packets to get an impression of how wide the field is and how you can go about it.

Aidan Delgado also tells his story in The Sutras Of Abu Ghraib: Notes From A Conscientious Objector In Iraq which came out this month. The advice he offered on the radio is advice he followed. That includes the packets and that includes not allowing the military to tell you what you really believe as they attempted to with him.

Aidan Delgado: When I wrote The Sutras Of Abu Ghraib: Notes From A Conscientious Objector In Iraq in my mind I was reacting against a lot of the war literature that was out there -- books like Black Hawk Down and The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell and a lot of the older war novels -- in that I think too much of the war novels are really a kind of hero worship in disguise and they tell the stories of violent actions and real physical bravery and daring. And I think that's great and I think that story needs to be told; however, I think there's a huge gap and I don't think we should read only one kind of war story. And I'm proud to say my war story is not about violence although there is violence in it. And it's not about war exploits although those are in it too. It's kind of about the moral side of war and the moral journey and the development which I think is something that will resonate with a lot more readers. I'm not interested really in having a, you know, heroic soldier flag waving gently in the background. And I'm not really trying to entertain people or satisfy their ghoulish curiosity about war. I really want people to think about the other side, the personal side, that hasn't been reflected in all these gory, violent war memoirs . So my idea was to create a different kind of war novel that talks about the shades of grey not the uncompromising black and white, good and evil, to talk about all the moral quandries and decisions you have to make as a soldier.

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko,Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.

Saturday Iraq Veterans Against the War will be in Texas. Texans For Peace are staging an American People's Poll on Iraq in Fort Worth, Texas featuring many speakers including IVAW's Adam Kokesh, Leonard Shelton and Hart Viges as well as Diane Wilson, Tina Richards, Ann Wright and many others. Click here for the press release. There is not a fee to attend, the event is Saturday, in Fort Worth, Texas which is also where the Republican Straw Poll will be "taking place in General Worth Square". People will begin arriving at nine in the morning, the speeches will begin at 1:30. There will be music and entertainment. Though the event is free, people can donate and Texans For Peace is encouraging everyone planning to attend to print up tickets online. The tickets will be used for a number count of those attending. No one will be turned away because they didn't have access to a computer to print up the ticket.

The event is sponsored and Endorsed by Texans for Peace, Dallas Peace Center, IVAW, Veterans for Peace, Crawford Peace House, Military Families Speak Out, Gold Star Families for Peace, CODEPINK - Dallas Chapter, Peace Action Texas, Peace and Justice - Arlington, Vietnam Veterans Against the War and more.

Throughout the day (nine to five, this is a Saturday) there will be canvassing and straw polls, the pre-rally entertainment starts at one p.m. and the peace rally begins at 1:30 and lasts until 3:30. Fort Worth is a city in Texas, part of the Dallas and Fort Worth region known there as "DFW." Suburbs, towns and cities in the area include Denton, Plano, Arlington, Irvining, Bach Springs, Desoto, Duncanville, Lewisville, Addison, Grand Prairie and a host of others. There is a point. Texans for Peace notes that you can catch the Trinity Railway Express to Fort Worth and that at 12:30 pm volunteers will be helping transport people to the rally.Community member Diana and her family took part in the April 2006 immigrants rally in downtown Dallas that had at least a half million participants making it the largest protest in Dallas' history. She noted the traffic issue when she shared her experiences from that rally. Today, she explained over the phone that the easiest thing for people to the north, east or south of Fort Worth wanting to attend Saturday's events but unsure of how to get there is to utilize the Trinity train. She suggests grabbing a Dart Express Train and taking it to Union Station (in downtown Dallas). You can pick up the TRE there. ("It's the big, brown -- same brown as UPS uses --train that runs right next to the two light rails," says Diana.) ADDED: Dallas and Billie both note that there is also a solid white train. Billie: "Brown or white, they are real trains that look like trains, not the light rail." Texans for Peace notes that the TRE (Trinity Railway Express) runs from eight in the morning until eleven at night on Saturdays. September will kick off many actions across the country calling for an end to the illegal war and this Saturday, Texas kicks off the action in Fort Worth.

September is a month of actions and protests and it kicks off tomorrow in Fort Worth Texas.
Jeff Gibbs will apparently not be in Fort Worth or DC. Gibbs (CounterPunch) explains, "I am tired of protests: they don't stop wars. Not protests that are mostly sign waving and hooking up with friends and strangers and feeling the solidarity and then going back to work or school on Monday. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result." Gibbs' feelings on this are quite common. If those are your feelings then figure out what actions do speak to you. If something's not speaking to you or working for you, find something that is. The movement doesn't need to grow stagnant. Gibbs is calling for work-stoppage and other actions (all solid actions). Iraq Moratorium is proposing new actions as well.

And in Iraq . . . Yesterday's snapshot noted:

While Iraq's Foreign Minister critiques the British decision to withdraw, David Miliband, UK Foreign Secretary, has his own (and presumably the British government's take). Thomas Harding (Telegraph of London) reports that Miliband has indicated what others think (including the US) really isn't the issue declaring "we will always take British decision in the British national interest. Our decision about Basra are about the situation on the ground in Basra not the situation on the ground in Baghdad" (with Harding noting that was "in reference to America's zone of control").

Today Miliband joins with the UK's Minister of Defence Des Browne to pen a column for the Washington Post where they explain the British decision to withdraw from Basra: "We pledged to help Iraqis develop a functioning state, with armed forces, police and other institutions capable of delivering security for the people. We also promised that, when we had done that, we would promptly hand over full responsibility for security to the legitimate, elected Iraq authorities." Damien McElroy (Telegraph of London) notes that Basra Palace is the last British base within Basra and that "[t]he American military is known to harbour concerns over the security of the oilfields that are Iraq's only source of oil exports and its supply lines along the north-south highway". The British began the occupation of Basra April 6, 2003. That was over four years ago. As Great Britain's Socialist Worker notes, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has declared that there is no planned withdrawal (5,500 British forces are in Iraq, the Basra withdrawal is expected to allow for no more than 500 troops to leave Iraq) and that British army head Richard Dannatt has termed Iraq "a region perched precariously above a large proportion of the world's remaining supply of oil."

Meanwhile Patrick Cockburn (Independent of London) reports that 5,000 Iraqis in the northern part of the country have cholera. AFP reports that the the World Health Organization terms the outbreak a "major epidemic". Earlier this week, UNICEF announced they had "rushed emergency aid" in to "Suleimaniya and Kirkuk in northern Iraq" and that: "Serious problems with water quality and sewage treatment are being blamed for the outbreak. Local reports indicate that only 30 per cent of the population in Suleimaniya has an adequate water supply. Mains water is only available for two hours per day at the most in the main city quarters and suburbs. A water quality report from Suleimaniya from July showed the only 50 per cent of the water inside the city was chlorinated. Many people have been reduced to digging shallow wells outside their own homes." IRIN quotes Slaimaniyah General Hospital's Dr. Dirar Iyad stating, "We need urgent medical support as the disease is spreading. We didn't expect an outbreak in this area. There is a shortage of medicines to control the disease and the focal point [source of the disease] hasn't been identified yet . . . Five deaths have so far been reported here and in Kirkuk, and we believe more could occur over the next couple of days as victims are already in an advanced stage of the illness." Cockburn explains, "Most of Iraq outside Kurdistan is flat so water and sewage need to be pumped, but this has often become impossible due to a lack of electricity. The water in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is highly polluted and undrinkable." Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) notes that earlier (June) there was an outbreak in southern Iraq.

Cockburn also notes 4.2 million is the current number of Iraqi refugees "of whom two million have been displaced within Iraq." UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie vitied Iraq and Syria this week to meet with Iraqi refugees. The UN notes that Jolie visited a Damascus UNHCR center and visited the "small rented room shared by 13 people between the ages of eight months and 67 years" of one family who were registering with the center and also visited Iraq's Al Waleed camp "which houses 1,300 refugees . . . where there is no running water or electricty." ABC News (US) has photos of the visit. Pasadena Weekly notes the estimate is 1,200 for the number of Iraqi refugees she met with on Tuesday. Many external Iraqi refugees have gone to Syria or Jordan. Today, Juan Gonzalez (Democracy Now!) noted, "The Syrian government has announced it will soon prevent Iraqi refugees from crossing its border unless they have work visas. The new rules take effect on Sept. 10. Over 1.5 million Iraqi refugees have fled to Syria since the U.S. invasion. More than 30,000 Iraqi refugees continue to arrive in Syria each month." Peace Mom and candidate for the US Congress in California's eighth district Cindy Sheehan recently visited Iraqi refugees in Jordan. Great Britain's Socialist Worker reports, "Asked whether the occupying powers had taken steps to alleviate the suffering of refugees, she compared the tiny amounts spent to the billions given to the military. Cindy Sheehan said, 'This is a war crime. It is a crime to create so many refugees and then wash our hands of them'." Josie Clark (Independent of London) also noted the London press conference last week and that Sheehan was asking "the UK to help with the emergency aid operation and to consider taking more refugees from the area."

Refugees, disease outbreaks, how lucky the Iraqi people are to have been 'given' 'peace.' David S. Cloud (New York Times) reports today that an independent committee established by Congress and headed by Gen. James L. Jones will report that the Iraqi police force needs "remaking" due to "corrupt officers and Shiite militants suspected of complicity in sectarian killings". There's the Bully Boy's 'progress'. Rosa Brooks (Los Angeles Times) offers some strong truths regarding the need for US forces to withdraw and also observes, "The honest (though not very satisfying answer is that no one really knows what will happen in Iraq after the United States leaves. Interestingly, a poll in March found that a majority of Iraqis thought the security situation would improve immediately after a U.S. withdrawal. But things could also get worse -- and anyone who claims to have a crystal ball is lying. We long ago squandered any capacity to guarantee a happy ending for the Iraqis."

Meanwhile the US White House has launched an attack (again) on the legislative branch of the United States. Jonathan Weisman (Washington Post) reports that the US military brass distributes 'rap sheets' on visiting Congress members to "Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military of no particular rank" and, by these sheets, those encountering representatives of the US Congress know where they're friend or foe and treat accordingly. This is an assault on the legislative branch and an embarrassment to Congress. Weisman notes:

At one point, the three were trying to discuss the state of Iraqi security forces with Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, but the large, flat-panel television set facing the official proved to be a distraction. Rubaie was watching children's cartoons.When Moran asked him to turn it off, Rubaie protested with a laugh and said, "But this is my favorite television show," Moran recalled.

The disrespect shown to Congress, forget the particular members, is shameful. That these actions have been tolerated goes a long way to demonstrating just how Congress continues to stand up for itself repeatedly. The White House should be called to the carpet on this.

Margaret Kimberley (Black Agenda Report) examines the long relationship between Iraq and the US, ponders the candidates for president and notes, "Poor al-Maliki. He is just the latest to discover that in certain circumstances, being a friend of the United States is a terrible position indeed. Uneasy lies the head of America's allies. Just ask Saddam Hussein." As Kimberly notes, Nouri al-Maliki knew the odds going in (or should have). Meanwhile Nermeen Al-Mufti (Al-Ahram Weekly) summarizes the many failures of al-Maliki's government (including "seems unable to keepts its own ministers in the cabinet) and concludes, "Al-Maliki is facing domestic and international criticism over the failure of his government to achieve national reconciliation and pass certain laws --- principally the US-favoured oil law. So far, Al-Maliki has reacted angrily to criticism, pledging to stay on in office." Robert H. Reid (AP) reports that al-Maliki is now attempting to blame Sunnis for this week's viiolence in Karbala -- the violence that was Shia-on-Shia violence. Sami Moubayed (Asia Times) reports on the latest paranoid induced ravings of al-Maliki regarding Krabala: "Maliki also accused the culprits of having wanted to blow up the shrine of Imam al-Hussein and then ordered the arrest of Hamid Kannush, a member of the city's municipality who is a ranking member of the Sadrist bloc. Kannush was accused of conspiracy in the Karbala violence. Maliki was effectively saying: the Sadrists did it, although his office's official press release blamed 'the Saddamis'. Maliki's office, however, did not actually explain what had happened in Karbala. National Security Advisor Muwafaq al-Rabei, however, said that militants wanted to occupy the two holy shrines of Imam al-Husseini and Imam al-Abbas, 'and topple the Maliki government'."

Marshall Helmberger (Timberjay Newspapers) reminds, "And don't forget that Gen. Petraeus himself said the most critical progress in Iraq had to come on the political front. On that score, there’s little debate over the fact that the Iraqi government is in utter chaos. A large portion of Prime Minister al-Maliki's cabinet has quit, as have significant blocs within the Parliament. None of the benchmark legislation the White House called 'must-pass' six months ago has been approved. The political situation is so bad that some in Congress, from both parties, are now calling for al-Maliki's replacement and rumors are again afoot about a U.S.-supported coup that would put former interim Iraqi prime minister and CIA informant Ayad Alawi in charge in Baghdad. So much for promoting democracy. While President Bush hasn't yet signed on to the idea, it's clear even the White House is no longer oblivious to Iraq's political implosion."


In some of the violence today . . .

Bombings?

Reuters reports a Samarra car bombing that claimed the lives of 4 police officers (seven wounded). Late last night, Mary Orndoff (The Birmingham News) reported that a plane "carrying Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, and two other sentors" was en route to Baghdad when it was fired upon by three rockets. No person or plane was hurt.

Shootings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "Gunmen killed a barber man, Ghazwan Jawad, inside his shop in Al Nasr neighborhood. The deceased worked as a personal barber man to a colonel in Kirkuk police." Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) explains Ghazwan Jawad's murder is "the ninth slaying of a barber in the city this year by Islamic militants who oppose Western haircuts and grooming styles."

Corpses?

It's Friday. Reports trickle out of the day's violence on Saturday.

Today, the US military announced: "A Marine and a Soldier assigned to Multi National Force-West died Aug. 29 in separate in attacks while conducting combat operations in AlAnbar Province." The announcement brings ICCC's total for the number of US service members killed in Iraq so far this month to 80 with the total since the start of the illegal war to 3738.

A new book entitled Army of None, published by Seven Stories Press, available at Courage to Resist and many other places, is written by Aimee Allison and David Solnit. This is a practical, inspiring book on ways to resist. Watch for these events in the month of September [And clicking here will give you more info]:

Sep 14 at 4:00P Army of None Workshop - San Jose, CA @ Californians for Justice, San Jose, CA;Sep 14 at 7:30P Army of None Book Release/Signing - San Jose, CA @ Dowtown San Jose - Location TBA; Sep 15 at 12:00P Army of None Tour in Pittsburgh, PA; Sep 19 at 7:00P Army of None Tour in Cleveland, OH; Sep 20 at 6:00P Army of None Tour @ Kent, OH;Sep 23 at 6:00P Army of None Tour @ Milwaukee, WI; Sep 24 at 6:00P Army of None Tour in Milwaukee, WI @ Milwaukee, WI;Sep 25 at 7:00P Army of None Tour @ Madison, WI; Sep 26 at 6:00P Army of None Tour @ Madison, WI; Sep 27 at 6:30P Army of None Tour @ May Day Books, Minneapolis MN; Sep 28 at 10:00A Army of None Tour @ High Schools in Minneapolis, MN;Sep 28 at 7:30P Army of None Tour @ Lyndale United Church of Christ, Minneapolis MN; Sep 29 at 1:00P Army of None Tour @ Rondo Community Outreach Library - St. Paul, MN; Oct 12 at 7:00P Army of None Tour @ Bluestockings Bookstore - New York City; and Oct 17 at 7:00P Army of None Tour @ Sanctuary for Independent Media - Troy, NY

In US political news, Matthew Rothschild (The Progressive) reports that US House Rep John Conyers has declared that impeachment may be off Nancy Pelosi's table (more room for the centerpiece made of the spines that once were in Democratic leaders) but it's not off his table and Pelosi "cannot prvent me from introducing an impeachment resolution." Remember that for two reasons. First, Conyers have caved and backtracked on this issue before. Second, those enablers rushing to rescue Conyers a few weeks back kept insisting that Conyers had no real power. He's said otherwise. Rothschild wonders, "So what's his hesitation now? And when is a more appropriate time than now, after all the crimes Bush and Cheney have already committed?" Also wondering about the refusal to move foward on the part of Democrats is Jimmy Breslin (New York Daily News via Common Dreams):

There had been the sound of many feet on a Brooklyn street at the first funeral, of firefighter Joseph Graffa-gnino, and at the second funeral, of firefighter Robert Beddia, a fire engine sounded in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. In my office about an hour later, slips of paper came silently out of a machine, the slips coming from the Department of Defense and carrying the names and ages of the 14 soldiers who were killed in Iraq when their helicopter crashed. Four were under 21 and nine 25 or under. Of course the first thought was how the city at this time could handle such calamity if the 14 dead were New York firefighters or police officers. This gives a good view of the catastrophe that happens in Iraq, day after day. But as the soldiers die at a time of national Alzheimer's, there was virtually no reaction to the 14. When anybody you elect tries to end the war, Bush blocks all intentions with a veto or threats of a veto that prevent it. And his Supreme Court is ready to validate whatever he does, this court with its five Catholic justices, and a chief who falls on his face a couple of times that we know of. Our politicians despair that there can be no way to override Bush and save our young and everybody of any age in Iraq. Of course there is. By all the energy and dignified disgust of a nation that needs it to keep any semblance of greatness, there is an extraordinary need for an impeachment of this president and his vice president.You start an impeachment with an investigator who starts to develop a case. That's what got Nixon out. He had the most expensive, elaborate defense in the world, and when they were pressed his assistants folded and Nixon quit. I wonder whether Bush and his people can do any better when pressed.

Breslin was one of the few voices this time last year noting the silence on Iraq as media elected to travelogue over the summer and allowed Iraq to fall off the media radar. The late Molly Ivins also called out the nonsense. Sadly, others cannot be added to the list. As he did last summer, Breslin is refusing to allow his voice to be wasted.


iraq
democracy now
juan gonzalez
margaret kimberley
iraq veterans against the war
army of none
aimeee allison
david solnit
jimmy breslin
matthew rothschild
mcclatchy newspapers
the los angeles times
tina susman
rosa brooks
the washington post
karen deyoung

Today, the US military announced: "A Marine and a Soldier assigned to Multi National Force-West died Aug. 29 in separate in attacks while conducting combat operations in AlAnbar Province." The announcement brings ICCC's total for the number of US service members killed in Iraq so far this month to 79 with the total since the start of the illegal war to 3737.

Standing in a small room in the Iraqi home they'd raided an hour earlier, a dozen soldiers from the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division were trading jokes when 1st Sgt. Troy Moore, Company A's senior enlisted man, shouted out.
"We're bringing democracy to Iraq," he called, with obvious sarcasm, as a reporter entered the room. Then Moore began loudly humming the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Within seconds the rest of the troops had joined in, filling the small, barren home in the middle of Iraq with the patriotic chorus of a Civil War-era ballad.
U.S. officials say that security has improved since the Sledgehammer Brigade, as the 3rd Brigade is called, arrived five months ago as part of the 30,000-strong buildup of additional U.S. troops to Iraq and took control of an area 30 miles southeast of Baghdad. The brigade, with 3,800 soldiers, has eight times the number of troops that were in the area before.
Although the soldiers who since spring have walked and ridden through this volatile area mixed with Sunni and Shiite Muslims have seen some signs of progress, they still face the daily threat of roadside bombs, an unreliable Iraqi police force, the limitations of depending on Iraqis for tips and the ever-elusive enemy.
"Even though we've out-stayed our welcome, in the big picture of whether we've helped or not, I know we have," said Sgt. Christofer Kitto, a 23-year-old sniper from Altamont, N.Y. "But now it's just in a state of quagmire. The U.S. time here has come and gone."
On this night, the troops had been ferried by helicopter to a rural enclave abutting the Tigris River. Their mission: Uproot a suspected nest of Sunni insurgents.
But the soldiers found only a small cache of weapons outside one of the 13 houses they searched. They detained one man who identified himself with a name that didn't match his government-issued ID, earning him a noisy, expletive-laden interrogation that was easily overheard in the next room.
"Keep your head down! Keep your (expletive) head down!" the interrogator yelled in English as an interpreter translated. "Why are you speaking if you're lying? You better think about what you're saying before you talk to me, son. I've got a real short temper tonight!"

The above is from Chris Collins' "South of Baghdad, U.S. ttroops find fatigue, frustration" (McClatchy Newspapers). The 'cache of weapons' is most likely the guns Iraqis are allowed to have for self-defense. The scene described above has been repeated over and over since 2003. There is no progress, only more of the same. There will be no progress while the US remains in Iraq.

Martha notes Karen DeYoung's "Pentagon Challenges GAO's Report on Iraq" (Washington Post):

The Pentagon has disputed parts of a progress report on Iraq drafted by the Government Accountability Office, and asked that some of the assessment's failing grades on key political and security benchmarks be changed before the final report is made public next week, a Defense spokesman said yesterday.

This is a follow up to DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks' "Report Finds Little Progress On Iraq Goals" report yesterday and justifies the concern of the person providing the draft copy that the US administration would attempt to water down the report.

Where will you be tomorrow? Iraq Veterans Against the War will be in Texas on Saturday. Texans For Peace are staging an American People's Poll on Iraq in Fort Worth, Texas featuring many speakers including IVAW's Adam Kokesh, Leonard Shelton and Hart Viges as well as Diane Wilson, Tina Richards, Ann Wright and many others. Click here for the press release. There is not a fee to attend, the event is Saturday, in Fort Worth, Texas which is also where the Republican Straw Poll will be "taking place in General Worth Square". People will begin arriving at nine in the morning, the speeches will begin at 1:30. There will be music and entertainment. Though the event is free, people can donate and Texans For Peace is encouraging everyone planning to attend to print up tickets online. The tickets will be used for a number count of those attending. No one will be turned away because they didn't have access to a computer to print up the ticket. This has the potential to be a very big event but that will depend upon people being aware of the rally so get the word out. If you don't think you know anyone in Texas, be sure to mention it throughout the day (even outside of Texas) and someone may tell you, "My uncle/aunt/college friend . . . is against the illegal war and they live in Texas. I wonder if they know about it? Let me call/e-mail them."


On most PBS stations tonight NOW with David Brancaccio begins airing (check local listings) and the focus for tonight is:


When Tom Siebel, a billionaire software developer and part time Montana resident, learned the devastating effect methamphetamine addiction was having on the big sky state, he decided to use his successful marketing techniques - and 20 million dollars from his own wallet - to "un-sell" the deadly and highly addictive drug. It's called the Montana Meth Project. On Friday, August 31 (check your local listings), NOW's David Brancaccio talks with the venture philanthropist about blitzing the state with stark and shocking ad campaigns designed to drag meth use out of the shadows and get into the faces of kids. The results are promising, and his idea is spreading around the country.
Also on the show, another "Enterprising Idea": a business model focusing on ethnic foods that's creating local jobs for Boston's inner city.To complement this week's show the NOW website at www.pbs.org/now will offer access to the Montana Meth ad campaigns, statistics on methamphetamine use, and an exclusive interview with the Partnership for a Drug Free America CEO on what it takes to fight meth addiction.
**Note that on September 14, we'll be airing a one-hour NOW special, which follows up -- in Iraq -- on the soldiers we profiled deploying from Fort Stewart in our January 19 show "Back to the Front": http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/303/ **

Already today in Iraq, Reuters reports a barber was shot dead in Kirkuk, a Samarra car bombing claimed the lives of 4 police officer and "an employee of the customs office" was shot dead in Hawija.

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

the washington post
karen deyoung
thomas e. ricksmcclatchy newspapers

In this morning's New York Times, David S. Cloud's "Panel Will Urge Broad Overhaul of Iraqi Police" demonstrates just how little progress the puppet government has made. A report to Congress "will recommend remaking the 26,000-member national police force to purge it of corrupt officers and Shiite militiants suspected of complicity in sectarian killings" and Cloud cites an official who worked on the report summing it up as "we should start over". US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates sends out his flack (Geoff Morrell) who tells cloud that retraining is the answer and "said that Pentagon officials believed that such an effort could succeed in removing sectarianism from the ranks without requiring a complete overhaul of the Iraqi force."

The illegal war hits the five year mark in March. And that's the sunny view of where things stand (sunny side up is how the Times serves up war). Retraining is the laugable 'answer' proposed by the Defense Dept.

How much longer does this illegal war go on? How many more 'retraining's take place? And how stupid do you have to be to think 'retraining' addresses the problems?

From the article:

American commanders on the ground in Shiite-controlled areas of Baghdad say that the local police actively subvert efforts to loosen the grip of militias, and in some cases, attack Americans directly. One commander in northwest Baghdad said most bomb attacks against American patrols in the area this spring occurred close to police checkpoints.

But the Defense Dept. says the 'answer' is retraining.

No corner ever got turned in the illegal war. Waves of Operation Happy Talk flow in and out repeatedly, but the reality is there no progress, there has never been any progress. There can't be any progress. The illegal war was built on lies. That can never be made 'noble'. (Or, for that matter, 'legal'.)

The waves of Operation Happy Talk is the topic of Lloyd's highlight, Jonathan Weisman's "Lawmakers Describe 'Being Slimed in the Green Zone'" (Washington Post):

Brief, choreographed and carefully controlled, the codels (short for congressional delegations) often have showed only what the Pentagon and the Bush administration have wanted the lawmakers to see. At one point, as Moran, Tauscher and Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.) were heading to lunch in the fortified Green Zone, an American urgently tried to get their attention, apparently to voice concerns about the war effort, the participants said. Security whisked the man away before he could make his point.
Tauscher called it "the Green Zone fog."
"Spin City," Moran grumbled. "The Iraqis and the Americans were all singing from the same song sheet, and it was deliberately manipulated."
But even such tight control could not always filter out the bizarre world inside the barricades. At one point, the three were trying to discuss the state of Iraqi security forces with Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, but the large, flat-panel television set facing the official proved to be a distraction. Rubaie was watching children's cartoons.
When Moran asked him to turn it off, Rubaie protested with a laugh and said, "But this is my favorite television show," Moran recalled.

But Weisman reveals that's not the concern. The scripted visits don't rankle the Congress members. They're upset that information sheets (with questionable information) are distributed about them prior to their visits to "Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military of no particular rank" by the US military brass.

Now while the sheets no doubt determine whether an Iraqi, for instance, that's supposed to speak with them turns off cartoons and gives them some attention, the reality is Ellen Taushcer being upset that her August vote was not noted is really missing the point. It's not about what they said about one person. The issue is that it was done at all and that the way Congress members were treated resulted from those sheets. The military brass, at the behest of the administration to be sure, has decided for Americans which Congress members will get accorded the 'respect' of being sincerely lied to and which ones will get blown off. It's not about Taushcer. It's about the way the Congress is being treated on the orders of the administration. It's one more sign of how the current administration ignores that there are three branches of the federal government. It should be offensive to all -- Republicans and Democrats in Congress (as well as the independents) and all Americans.

That's disgusting. Last night we noted that a plane bound for Baghdad carrying various lawmakers was reported to have 3 rockets launched at it. What Congress gets in Iraq is nothing but a dog and pony show that they'd be smarter to avoid in the first place. But they do risk their own lives going to Iraq (they also risk the lives of the US military that has to travel around with them). So that sheets are passed around ahead of their visit to indicate how much respect they are granted or not is disgusting.

And Mowaffak al-Rubaie needs to be fired. It's shameful that the story is only told when a few are taking an assault on Congress as just an assault on each of them as individuals. The National Security Adviser of Iraq was visited by Congress members and he made it a point to convey that he was more interested in watching a cartoon than in speaking to them.

That's offensive. And it's really offensive that we only learn of it now. This is al-Maliki's choice and this is how he conducts himself. Whether this was disrespect he'd show anyone coming into office or not isn't known but certainly the continued chaos and violence indicates he may spend a great deal of time blowing off issues to sit around watching cartoons.

The illegal war should never have started, US forces need to withdraw and Congress needs to cut off funding. Congress has continued to fund the illegal war and al-Maliki is fond of issuing cries that the US must stay (to prop up his own unpopular ass) so when members of the US Congress (who have the power of the purse) visit and his hand picked National Security Advisor blows them off to watch a cartoon, that's telling you a great deal. It should be telling Congress (regardless of their party) a great deal as well.

In another article in the Times, Damien Cave gets tacked with a laughable headline: "Shi'ites Tale: How Gulf With Sunnis Widened." Of course the paper's avoided addressing what came before, what the US started. And Cave's happy to go 'historical' as long as that means the pinata that is Saddam Hussein. So you hear about Hussein's very real abuses but you don't hear about the US encouragement of the conflict, the US encouragement of dividing the nation into Sunni and Shia (other sects exist but that was the question the US repeatedly asked to speed conflict along, "Are you Shia or Sunni?"). Cave presents Shatha al-Musawi's 'turning point' of realization with no context. al-Musawi realized the conflict when a Sunni she was friends with failed to share her joy about the capture of Saddam Hussein. The capture, for many at the time and for more since, demonstrated the US would remain in Iraq. There would be no 'handover' in the immediate future. A number feared the US controlled show trial would be all that it was and encourage the barbaric nature of the illegal war would seep over into what was said to be the newly created 'justice'. It did just that. Many see it as an attempt to put Hussein to death before he could talk too much. Which is why some Iraqi victims were rightly outraged that before he stood trial for the crimes against them, he was executed. It wasn't Iraqi justice, it wasn't justice at all. Victims who had longed for the day when Hussein would be held accountable for the crimes against them and their families saw with their own eyes that the puppet government existed to extract what the US wanted, not justice for Iraqis.

What is in the article is instructive to a degree. But the refusal of the paper to address the issue of the US role in the Sunni and Shia split and the US role in continuing to feed the hostilities is shameful. Or, for that matter, the US installing of and support for Saddam Hussein all those years and the willingness to ignore the crimes while they were ongoing.

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

the new york times
the washington post
 

Want to end the illegal war? Subscribing to a magazine's not going to do it. Candle light vigils aren't going to do anything. Wishing really hard is not going to end the illegal war. Getting active will. September is a month of action. If it doesn't include anything that you're able or willing to take part in, create your own thing. If there's nothing in your area . . .

Five community members are going from Oklahoma to Texas to be in Fort Worth for the rally Saturday. That may or may not be possible for all members who don't have an activity in their own area. But if you don't have an activity in your area or you don't have one that you can support, create your own. Make your voices heard.

In the public account, there's an e-mail from Joseph who writes, "Why the push on the Texas thing? I'm not understanding. You can quote me." Texas is not where Bully Boy was born. But many believe that. Texas gets a really bad rap. There are a huge number of people in Texas working to end the illegal war. When this community started, Texas was a huge chunk of the community. It still is.

In 2004, Google or use the archives, it's in November 2004, we did a series on the myth of the "Red States." Texas members can tell you the reality of their state. They can tell you that Bill Clinton, in 1992, went all over their state campaigning. They can tell you if they wanted to shell out big bucks, they could meet Teresa Heinz Kerry in Dallas. (THK also spoke in small areas of Texas near the end of the campaign.) John Kerry? He didn't go to Dallas. Now Dallas is not just a big city in Texas, it is in the top ten cities nationwide. Bill Clinton and Al Gore (and Hillary and Tipper) went on a bus tour around the country including Texas. Howard Dean spoke in Dallas.
Now Dallas provided a huge number of votes for the Democratic Party in 2004. So if you're thinking, "Well, that was seen as a safe area so no need to campaign there," you might want to explain why the far less populated Austin got John Kerry in person. Less votes, less people, but there he was.

Laura Flanders has pointed out the nation is purple and she is exactly right.

Texas gets a very bad reputation and the reality of Texas elections, as any member can tell you, is that the Democrats do not compete. They do not show up, they do not fund the Democratic Party headquarters (in fact, in 2004, some counties learned there were no longer party headquarters in their counties).

We've gone over this before. Use Google, use the archives. Texas is where the month of activism is kicking off. It's a big event in Fort Worth on Saturday. Iraq Veterans Against the War will be at Texans For Peace's American People's Poll on Iraq in Fort Worth, Texas as will people like Diane Wilson, Tina Richards and Ann Wright. It can be a huge turnout but for that to happen, people need to be aware of it.

In March, we did a speaking tour in Texas. Dona scheduled it in advance and did a wonderful job of that. However, she had to toss out that schedule once we got there because there were always opportunities to pick up additional engagements. There is no denying that this could be a huge crowd. But the issue is awareness.

The event is not getting a lot of publicity. It's building because of word of mouth. So (a) because of the event and (b) because of where it is, we will push that event. There were other things that I'd planned to note this week elsewhere. They're falling by the wayside and that's a decision I made. March wasn't the first time I visited Texas and I know there is a huge hunger for an event like this. So we will note it here to do our part to get the word out.

Click here for the press release on the event. You can print up tickets online. The tickets are free. There is no charge to attend. The tickets are just to help them have an accurate count of how large the crowd is. Another visitor e-mailed to say that if tickets are wanted then I shouldn't say that tickets aren't required. Not everyone has a computer (or a printer) and, more importantly, what will most likely happen is people will bump into friends along the way. You might stop for something at a 7-11 or a Wal-Greens on your way and bump into someone. You say, "Me? I'm on my way to Fort Worth for the big rally." If the person says, "What rally?" and, after you explain, wants to tag along, they are welcome to tag along. You don't have to find a Kinkos or public library to print up a ticket on your way to the event. Ideally, people with computers and printers will print up additional tickets to use if they bump into people on their way. But no one's going to say, "Oh, I'm sorry, you didn't bring a ticket, you can't participate." That's the point I've been making.

The event is sponsored and Endorsed by Texans for Peace, Dallas Peace Center, IVAW, Veterans for Peace, Crawford Peace House, Military Families Speak Out, Gold Star Families for Peace, CODEPINK - Dallas Chapter, Peace Action Texas, Peace and Justice - Arlington, Vietnam Veterans Against the War and more and all are working their butts off to get the word out. I'm very serious about the fact that if you have friends or family in Texas, you should give them a heads up (e-mail or call) to let them know about Saturday's rally in Fort Worth. The news media's really not covering it right now. Fort Worth is part of the D-FW area. (Some say "DFW" -- I usually put in a hyphen due to the airport.) That is a huge, huge area. It has suburbs, surrounding towns and big cities. East Texas community members are going. They're driving from East Texas to DFW on hours long drives. Every member that's e-mailed on that has said they weren't even aware of the event. So it's really important to get the word out and it's really important that if you're driving from Lindale or Tyler and you stop somewhere along the way and bump into a friend who hears about the rally from you that you don't say, "Oh, yeah, you should be there. But you have to print out a ticket and I don't have any extra." So, to repeat, no one will be turned away. If you're going and you're able to print out extra tickets, do so. Diana's printing up extras in case anyone needs some at the train station. (TRE in Dallas will take you to Fort Worth. Diana and others note you can pick that up at Union Station in downtown Dallas. You can pick it up elsewhere as well but no one's noted that and I don't know anything about the trains.)

If you're against the illegal war, this is a place you can make your voice heard. The larger the turnout, the louder the voices. Silence isn't going to end the illegal war. E-activism isn't going to end to end the illegal war.


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

Last Thursday, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 3724. Tonight? 3735 with 77 for the month. Just Foreign Policy's current total for the number of Iraqis killed since the start of the illegal war stands at 1,028,360, up from 1,018,263 last week.

And Lucy highlights Mary Orndoff (The Birmingham News) reporting that a plane "carrying Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, and two other sentors" was en route to Baghdad when it was fired upon by three rockets. No person or plane was hurt. But remember the days when flacks for the US military could still get away with claiming that the techonology for attacks on helicopters and planes really didn't exist in Iraq? They could make that claim (and did) without fear of questioning. Those were the days of 'hard landings' as opposed to 'crash landings' or 'crashes.'

In the public account, a visitor notes something he wishes we would note but assumes we won't because it calls out Peter Galbrath's support for the partitionng of Iraq. Galbrath was highlighted Friday with an analysis of the current situation in Iraq and again yesterday. His partition plan was not endorsed and was rejected some time ago. Joe Biden also supports partitioning and it's been noted we don't support his push for that either. We've noted Chris Floyd before and there's no problem with noting him now. This is from "Liberals, Bush Unite in Ethnic Cleansing of Iraq" (Information Clearing House):

While Bush pursues ethnic cleansing by stealth in Iraq -- or rather, pursues it quite openly, but just doesn't call it ethnic cleansing -- the Democrats and their outriders, the "liberal hawks" (or "humanitarian interventionists" or "Wilsonian idealists" or whatever tag they're wearing these days) are championing the policy in the public sphere. The idea of a three-way split of Iraq between Sunnis, Shias and Kurds has long been mooted in some quarters -- Joe Biden and "liberal" intellectuals like Leslie Gelb and Peter Galbraith were early enthusiasts -- and it is now gaining force within the foreign policy "clerisy" that Glenn Greenwald and Arthur Silber have been dissecting in recent days. Firedoglake points us to the incisive commentaries of Reidar Visser, "an actual expert on the regional aspects of Iraq and its history," who has lately been debunking the deeply ignorant and murderously arrogant "partition" proposals of Galbraith and others.Visser takes aim at one of the most hideous of these proposals: "The Case for Soft Partition in Iraq," by respected "scholars" Michael O'Hanlon (see A Tiny Revolution for more on this fine mind of our time) and Edward Joseph. When I first read of these gentlemen's work, I thought it must surely be a parody, a take-off on the deadly serious, genocidal fantasies of Philip Atkinson, who, on a website hardwired to the rightwing power grid of Frank Gaffney, James Woolsey and Dick Cheney, called for Bush to nuke Iraq, repopulate it with Americans and declare himself President-for-Life. The O-Hanlon-Joseph piece for the highly respectable Brookings Institution partakes of that same kind of murderous fantasy.

I've removed the link to Glen Greenwald because he's in awe of Samantha Power and she's at the heart of the problem. The "Foreign Policy" crowd includes her. Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn have both recently noted the Modern Day Carrie Nation with Chomsky noting that she criticizes foreign governments but not the US for their violence and Zinn noting that she draws a wall between deaths that are by the US and by others (Zinn notes that air bombing an area with civilians is not as 'noble' as Sammy thinks it is). She is a War Hawk. Greenwald

If Iraq's going to be partitioned, that would be a decision Iraqis (not a puppet government during occupation) would have to reach. It is not for the US or any foreign power to decide 'what to do with Iraq?'. This isn't a development that homes will be built in and then inhabited, Iraq is inhabited. Iraqis exist and they will determine what it best for them or not.

The three-split shouldn't be imposed upon Iraq. It's also demonstrating huge ignorance (or a disrespect for minorities) because Iraq is not just Kurds, Shias and Sunnis. Behind the push for partition, for many, is the continued endorsement of the Kurds that the US has practiced for some time. (Though not during the 80s, of course.) The three groups are the majority groups, they are not the only groups. Other groups include: Armenians, Baha'is, Chald-Assyrians, Fali Kurds, Jews, Mandaens, Palestinians, Shabaks, Turkomans and Yazidis. Where will they go if the US divides Iraq into three regions?

The decision the US government has to make is to withdraw from Iraq. Decisions about Iraq itself belong to the people of Iraq.

Odds and ends. (I'm participating in the roundtable for the gina & krista round-robin right now and this probably hops around, sorry.) Politcs Attitude is Rebecca's backup site. High schoolers (and middle schoolers) have always been a huge segment of her readers and there's a problem with three school systems now blocking her site due to the title. The backup site is up now. The title should allow it to be accessed. PBS' NOW with David Brancaccio begins airing on most PBS stations tomorrow (check local listings for times and dates):


When Tom Siebel, a billionaire software developer and part time Montana resident, learned the devastating effect methamphetamine addiction was having on the big sky state, he decided to use his successful marketing techniques - and 20 million dollars from his own wallet - to "un-sell" the deadly and highly addictive drug. It's called the Montana Meth Project. On Friday, August 31 (check your local listings), NOW's David Brancaccio talks with the venture philanthropist about blitzing the state with stark and shocking ad campaigns designed to drag meth use out of the shadows and get into the faces of kids. The results are promising, and his idea is spreading around the country.
Also on the show, another "Enterprising Idea": a business model focusing on ethnic foods that's creating local jobs for Boston's inner city.
To complement this week's show the NOW website at www.pbs.org/now will offer access to the Montana Meth ad campaigns, statistics on methamphetamine use, and an exclusive interview with the Partnership for a Drug Free America CEO on what it takes to fight meth addiction.
**Note that on September 14, we'll be airing a one-hour NOW special, which follows up -- in Iraq -- on the soldiers we profiled deploying from Fort Stewart in our January 19 show "Back to the Front": http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/303/ **

Katha Pollitt and Katrina vanden Heuvel . . . "showed their ass" is how we used to put it. I am aware of the e-mails and have read many of them. I can't get into that tonight. There's too much to do and the Labor Day piece is coming. Ideally, I'd like to wait on that topic until after Labor Day. If that's not possible, that's fine. Gina and Krista were kind enough to make that their polling question for tomorrow's gina & krista round-robin but you need to vote early if you want it addressed before Labor Day. The bad news is that David Corn has a very strong article that should be up or going up. If Common Dreams or someone else reposts it (or if it goes up at his own site), we'll note it that way but until the nonsense of Pollitt and vanden Heuvel is addressed, we won't note The Nation.

Briefly (and I mean brief), there's really no reason for vanden Heuvel to respond to the letter. The response comes off insincere and is full of distortions. In fact, we'll leave at that here and work it into the Labor Day piece because her nonsense really goes to the heart of the Labor Day piece. (Which will go up at all community sites on Labor Day.) Pollitt?

Wow. Cindy Sheehan really touched a nerve when she pointed out Pollitt hadn't gone to the Middle East, didn't she? Not really a surprise when Pollitt's image took a beating when she displayed her xenophobia recently. It's amazing that Pollitt's so touchy after she refuted a right-winger (on the letters' page not all that long ago) by ridiculing the woman's book sales. Pollitt started the nonsense with Sheehan and now wants to play injured party. Cindy Sheehan wrote honestly and truthfully. Pollitt (and vanden Heuvel) treated Sheehan in a patronizing manner (for Pollitt it goes back to her first piece on Sheehan -- which arrived this month, all the time Sheehan was so 'valuable' to the peace movement according to Pollitt, Pollitt had no interest in writing about her). Pollitt probably shouldn't write about political races that she knows nothing about and that she won't be voting in. That was her first mistake. She's in NYC, she has no business writing about a San Francisco race she knows nothing about. She doesn't live in the area, she's really not welcome in large portions by feminists after her xenophobia. (She may or may not be aware of how she has angered feminists over that nonsense.) She then followed xenophobia by telling a woman (Sheehan) that she shouldn't run, by being patronizing about Sheehan's chances of winning. Sheehan hasn't even started campaigning. Pollitt doesn't know the voters, there's no polling. Pollitt's doing that useless writing that has become the hallmark of her career.

An illegal war has lasted over four years and Pollitt has avoided it. She avoided Abeer, she avoided all of it. She has wasted her voice with silly-ninny columns that weren't worth the paper they were printed on. No one needs her yearly "Most Needy Causes" (which have not even mentioned Iraq) or her scolding at the start of the year to "BE HONEST" about Iraq. She didn't write about Iraq. She doesn't know the first thing about what's going on. She's a useless, chatty, fuzzy headed columnist who muddles feminism and goes running to the pop-cultural well every chance she gets to make the most shallow 'observations'. She's totally useless and she's made herself that. She should be embarrassed. (vanden Heuvel should be ashamed of herself and I'm biting my tongue on that.)

So the point is, two useless people weighed in on something and they don't care about Iraq, they don't try to end the illegal war. They waste everyone's time and they did again this week.

They are the reason the illegal war drags on. It's really amazing to grasp that Cindy Sheehan has now been the subject of three pieces by Katha Pollitt this month. Prior to this month? Never a focus. In fact, unless I'm remembering wrong, Pollitt's commentary in full on Cindy Sheehan previously consists of "Cindy Sheehan put a family face on the antiwar movement." That's page ten, January 2006, I can't remember the week, sorry. It's where she's writing that dippy column that she had to e-mail friends on to find topics to write about. Prior to Sheehan deciding to run, that, I believe, is the full extent of Pollitt's 'commentary' on Sheehan.

So instead of being offended that two posers want to now speak for the peace movement, grasp that no one listens to them anyway (no one who's serious about ending the illegal war) and it's a testimony to the power of Cindy Sheehan that Pollitt's now three times felt the need to pull out the darts and aim them at Cindy Sheehan in one month. How pathetic is that anyway?

It's pretty pathetic. Katha Pathetic. But this is the woman who made the 2004 election night all about getting huffy that her first name was mispronounced by Janeane Garofalo. Yes, Katha Pathetic, that was the most important issue on election night 2004 . . . in your mind.

If that can stand as addressing the two until after the Labor Day piece runs, that's great. If not, make your voice heard in the latest poll tomorrow and I will make time to address it.

But get the word out on Saturday's rally in Fort Worth. This isn't a DC rally where people all come in, then leave. This is a rally that can plant seeds and is an action that will lead to further action.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. And if the above is not enough because you're thinking of certain topics, please note that some topics are reserved for the Labor Day piece and I really do not want to go into those ahead of time. So if I do address it again before Labor Day and you think, "You've missed the biggest points," wait until Labor Day before getting upset because the biggest points to you may be the ones included in that. After The Nation was passed an e-mail on the last one and tried to do a last minute end run, we're avoiding discussing the topics ahead of time. (And only Elaine and I know one aspect of the piece right now.) The July 4th piece, if you missed it, was:

"Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you must have a penis"
"Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis"
"Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis"
"Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis"
"Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis"
"Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis"
"Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis"
"Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis"
"Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis"
"Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis"

iraq
and the war drags on
donovan
chris floyd

In a sign that top commanders are divided over what course to pursue in Iraq, the Pentagon said Wednesday that it won't make a single, unified recommendation to President Bush during next month's strategy assessment, but instead will allow top commanders to make individual presentations.
"Consensus is not the goal of the process," Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters. "If there are differences, the president will hear them."
Military analysts called the move unusual for an institution that ordinarily does not air its differences in public, especially while its troops are deployed in combat.
"The professional military guys are going to the non-professional military guys and saying 'Resolve this,'" said Jeffrey White, a military analyst for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "That's what it sounds like."
White said it suggests that the military commanders want to be able to distance themselves from Iraq strategy by making it clear that whatever course is followed is the president's decision, not what commanders agreed on.

The above is from Nancy A. Youssef's "Pentagon won't make surge recommendation to Bush" (McClatchy Newspapers). While the military won't make recommendations, an evaluation is being made elsewhere. Martha notes Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks' "Report Finds Little Progress On Iraq Goals" (Washington Post):

Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report. The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration.
The strikingly negative GAO draft, which will be delivered to Congress in final form on Tuesday, comes as the White House prepares to deliver its own new benchmark report in the second week of September, along with congressional testimony from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. They are expected to describe significant security improvements and offer at least some promise for political reconciliation in Iraq.

Though not the Pentagon Papers, the report is important and, if you read futher, you'll find out how the Post got ahold of it (DeYoung and Ricks have been covering this upcoming report for some time now) -- it was passed to the paper by a second party. The person using the 'courier'
fears that the report will be watered down (or classified) before it is official released ("as some officials have said happened with security judgments in this month's National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq").

So the military doesn't want to endorse the escalation and the independent report for Congress, at least in draft form, is very specific about the failures. Remember that Bully Boy intends to follow Ryan Crocker (US Ambassador to Iraq) and Gen. David Petraeus' reports (modified by the White House with possible 'reports' from the Departments of State and Defense as well) to argue for the escalation to continue and for a further $50 billion of funding for the illegal war.



Remember that today's a release party for Army of None, published by Seven Stories Press, available at Courage to Resist and many other places, written by Aimee Allison and David Solnit. Today there will be a release celebration for the event at Club Oasis (135 12th St., btwen. Madison and Oak Sts., Oakland 6 blocks E. of Broadway/12th St. -- click here for East Bay express' map of Club Oasis' location). The event is free and open to all. The authors will be there, Jeff Paterson will have a slide show, there will be a puppet show, poets, snakcs, a dj . . . The event starts at 6:30 pm. More information can be found [Warning: MySpace page] by clicking here.

Aug 29, at 12:00P, Aimee and David on KPFA Radio! @ KPFA Radio 94.1; Aug 30, at 6:00P Army of None Book Release Party & Tour Kick-Off @ Oasis Restaurant & Bar - Oakland, CA; Sep 14 at 4:00P Army of None Workshop - San Jose, CA @ Californians for Justice, San Jose, CA; Sep 14 at 7:30P Army of None Book Release/Signing - San Jose, CA @ Dowtown San Jose - Location TBA; Sep 15 at 12:00P Army of None Tour in Pittsburgh, PA; Sep 19 at 7:00P Army of None Tour in Cleveland, OH; Sep 20 at 6:00P Army of None Tour @ Kent, OH;Sep 23 at 6:00P Army of None Tour @ Milwaukee, WI;Sep 24 at 6:00P Army of None Tour in Milwaukee, WI @ Milwaukee, WI; Sep 25 at 7:00P Army of None Tour @ Madison, WI; Sep 26 at 6:00P Army of None Tour @ Madison, WI;Sep 27 at 6:30P Army of None Tour @ May Day Books, Minneapolis MN; Sep 28 at 10:00A Army of None Tour @ High Schools in Minneapolis, MN; Sep 28 at 7:30P Army of None Tour @ Lyndale United Church of Christ, Minneapolis MN; Sep 29 at 1:00P Army of None Tour @ Rondo Community Outreach Library - St. Paul, MN; Oct 12 at 7:00P Army of None Tour @ Bluestockings Bookstore - New York City; and Oct 17 at 7:00P Army of None Tour @ Sanctuary for Independent Media - Troy, NY


Iraq Veterans Against the War will be in Texas on Saturday. Members in the area are very excited about that and the event. Texans For Peace are staging an American People's Poll on Iraq in Fort Worth, Texas featuring many speakers including IVAW's Adam Kokesh, Leonard Shelton and Hart Viges as well as Diane Wilson, Tina Richards, Ann Wright and many others. Click here for the press release. There is not a fee to attend, the event is Saturday, in Fort Worth, Texas which is also where the Republican Straw Poll will be "taking place in General Worth Square". People will begin arriving at nine in the morning, the speeches will begin at 1:30. There will be music and entertainment. Though the event is free, people can donate and Texans For Peace is encouraging everyone planning to attend to print up tickets online. The tickets will be used for a number count of those attending. No one will be turned away because they didn't have access to a computer to print up the ticket.

Texas community members are getting the word out and if you are outside Texas but have friends and/or family in Texas, tell them about the event as well. E-mail or pick up the phone to pass on news about the rally. The event's theme is "Bring the troops home now and take care of them."

September is going to be a month of actions across the country and Texas kicks off the actions Saturday, September 1st, in Fort Worth.

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


iraq veterans against the war
army of none
aimeee allison
david solnit
mcclatchy newspapers
the washington post
 

Today the US military announced: "One Task Force Lightning Soldier was killed by an explosion near his vehicle while conducting combat operations in Diyala province, August 29." ICCC's total for the number of US service members announced dead this month is 76 so far with 3734 being the number since the start of the illegal war.

In this morning's New York Times, we'll note this and this from Stephen Farrell's "Sadr Suspends His Milita's Military Operations:"

The radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr said Wednesday that he was suspending for six months his Mahdi Army militia's operations, including attacks on American troops, only hours after his fighters waged running street battles with Iraqi government forces for control of Karbala, one of Iraq's holiest cities.

The article's an equivalent of those Little Golden Reader children books from years ago. Instead we'll note the following from an article Martha, Lloyd and Jenny all e-mailed about this morning. From Joshua Partlow and Saad Sarhan's "Sadr Orders 'Freeze' on Militia Actions" (Washington Post):

Some officials interpreted the statement to mean Sadr had called off attacks on U.S. soldiers as well as Iraqi opponents, but a source close to Sadr said some fighting would continue in the name of "self-defense."
"This does not cover all military activities because there are violations being done by the occupation forces every now and then and we expect that these violations will continue in the future, and in these cases the Mahdi Army members will defend themselves," said the source, who spoke from Sadr's headquarters in the southern city of Najaf. "This decision was made in effect to calm things down, especially in Karbala."
[. . .]
By official accounts, the fighting pitted government security forces against unidentified gunmen. But many people in Karbala described it as a battle between the two main Shiite militias vying for power in southern Iraq, the Mahdi Army and the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.

Does the call/order/suspension mean anything? Unlikely. As Ewen MacAskill (Guardian of Lodon) notes in "Mahdi army calls six-month truce after fighting leaves 50 dead:"

The Iraqi militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, called a six-month truce yesterday after fighting with a rival Shia Muslim group in the holy city of Kerbala left more than 50 dead.
A spokesman for the Mahdi army claimed they would lay down their weapons for six months and, during this time, would attack neither other Shia groups nor the US army.
Mr Sadr, who has thousands of armed men at his command, has called truces before but these have been short-lived.

On the issue of weapons, US manufactured weapons have long glutted the black market in Iraq.
The article to pay attention to in this morning's New York Times is David S. Cloud and Eric Schmitt's "U.S. Weapons, Given to Iraqis, Move to Turkey:"

Weapons that were originally given to Iraqi security forces by the American military have been recovered over the past year by the authorities in Turkey after being used in violent crimes in that country, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
The discovery that serial numbers on pistols and other weapons recovered in Turkey matched those distributed to Iraqi police units has prompted growing concern by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates that controls on weapons being provided to Iraqis are inadequate. It was also a factor in the decision to dispatch the department’s inspector general to Iraq next week to investigate the problem, the officials said.

The most likely route would be via the Kurds in the north but the reporters tell you the Pentagon says that's unlikely. Since the weapons have serial numbers and since there was supposed to have been some minumum tracking being used prior to Petraeus' friends getting involved in weapon suply, it shouldn't be too difficult to determine where they first passed from the US to Iraq. But if it did get passed on via the Kurds, and it may not have, don't look for any revelations to come out on that since the US has long held them on a higher (and less accountable) plane.

No word on whether Turkey will place or threaten to place the US on a terrorist list and begin screaming (as the Bully Boy and US military does with Iran), "These weapons demonstrate US government involvement!"

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


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stephen farrell
the washington post

More than 4,000 people, largely from the Northeast, came to this resort town of the filthy rich to ruin George W. Bush’s summer vacation.
The local antiwar group, the Kennebunk Peace Department, organized the march and rally, which featured Cindy Sheehan, war resister Eli Israel, Iraqi solidarity activist Dahlia Wasfi, and Gold Star Families members Carlos and Melida Arredondo, together with representatives of antiwar organizations from across the region.
Following the rally, protesters marched through the town of Kennebunkport past enormous vacation homes and luxury resorts to the Bush family compound.
By far the largest displays of support were reserved for Eli Israel and other members of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Israel, while stationed in Camp Victory in Baghdad two months ago, told his commanding officers that he would refuse to fight.
Israel told the crowd that he had been unable to "reconcile up here [pointing to his head] with what cannot be reconciled in here [pointing to his heart]." He added that as more soldiers come to see the lies behind the war, "the troops will remove themselves from the president’s mission."
Though Bush reportedly changed his vacation plans and left town in advance of the protest, the loud, spirited march also passed by the summer mansion of Riley Bechtel, CEO of the Bechtel Corporation--who was met with chants of "Halliburton and Bechtel, take your war and go to hell."

The above, noted by Melissa, is from Nick Chin and Hannah Morong's "Protest hits Bush vacation spot" (US The Socialist Worker). Eli Israel is the first US service member in Iraq to publicly refuse (while serving in Iraq) to fight in the illegal war.

From yesterday's snapshot:

Kokesh will be in Fort Worth, Texas on September 1st for American People's Poll on Iraq Texas Townhall. Texans for Peace explains that "Presidential candidates, members of Congress and the world media will be in Fort Worth attending the Texas Republican Straw Poll" which makes it the perfect time for thos in the area to register their opposition to the illegal war. Along with Kokesh, also speaking will be Diane Wilson, Tina Richards, Ann Wright, and IVAW's Leonard Shetlon and CO (and Rev.) Hart Viges. A full list can be found here. Throughout the day (nine to five, this is a Saturday) there will be canvassing and straw polls, the pre-rally entertainment starts at one p.m. and the peace rally begins at 1:30 and lasts until 3:30. Fort Worth is a city in Texas, part of the Dallas and Fort Worth region known there as "DFW." Suburbs, towns and cities in the area include Denton, Plano, Arlington, Irvining, Bach Springs, Desoto, Duncanville, Lewisville, Addison, Grand Prairie and a host of others. There is a point. Texans for Peace notes that you can catch the Trinity Railway Express to Fort Worth and that at 12:30 pm volunteers will be helping transport people to the rally.

That's this Saturday.

Turning to the New York Times where Stephen Farrell's "U.S. Troops Arrest Members of Iran Ministry in Baghdad" reports on the arrests of Iranians in Iraq:

An Iranian Energy Ministry delegation was arrested by American troops at a hotel in central Baghdad during an official visit to Iraq, the Iranian state news agency, IRNA, and hotel staff said Tuesday night.
American forces confirmed that a group of Iranians was detained after coalition forces searched them and their Iraqi escorts at a checkpoint, found unauthorized weapons in their vehicles and confiscated them.
The American statement did not mention the hotel, but it is near the checkpoint on the east bank of the Tigris where United States forces said the group was stopped and searched.
Staff at an Iraqi state-owned hotel called the Sheraton Ishtar said Wednesday that the delegation was detained while the members were eating dinner in the ground floor restaurant, where they had apparently proceeded from the nearby checkpoint.

B-b-but, the US military says it was a checkpoint! Apparently one located next to the dessert cart. Farrell also informs that handcuffing the six wasn't enough, they also were blindfolded.
Robin Stringer (Bloomberg News) reports the US military continues to maintain it happened at a checkpoint

The Iranians were with seven Iraqis when their four vehicles were stopped at a checkpoint near the capital's Sheraton Hotel yesterday, the U.S. military said today in an e-mailed statement. The military didn't say why the group was detained. An AK-47 rifle and two pistols were taken from the Iraqis, who were "serving as a protective detail,'' the military said.

So, as the story changes, the US military now says the weapons were on the Iraqis. Stringer notes the eight Iranians have now been released. The Washington Post cites AP to note "about 10" men were taken from the hotel allong with "luggage and at least one briefcase and a laptop computer bag".


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Today the US military announced: "One Multi-National Corps – Iraq Soldier died of wounds suffered during combat operations in the vicinity of Kirkuk Aug. 28." The announcement brings the ICCC total for the number of US service members killed in Iraq this month to 75 with 3733 being the total number killed in the illegal war since it started.


Yesterday Bully Boy tossed out some more lies in another embarrassing speech (this time in Reno). Lloyd notes this from Michael Abramowitz' "As Iraq Situation Varies, Bush Sticks With Encouraging Words" (Washington Post):

In his address Tuesday to thousands of Legionnaires attending their national convention, Bush seemed especially effusive in touting security gains from the additional 30,000 troops he sent to Baghdad in January -- even as he urged Congress once again to reserve judgment until it hears another assessment next month from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker.
"The momentum is now on our side," Bush said. "The surge is seizing the initiative from the enemy -- and handing it to the Iraqi people."

Another 'turned corner,' another wave of Operation Happy Talk. Already there have been more announced deaths of US service members than the same time last year (65 was the total for August 2006).

Each wave comes with more deaths and more financial costs. Thomas E. Ricks' "Bush Wants $50 Billion More for Iraq War" (Washington Post):

The request -- which would come on top of about $460 billion in the fiscal 2008 defense budget and $147 billion in a pending supplemental bill to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- is expected to be announced after congressional hearings scheduled for mid-September featuring the two top U.S. officials in Iraq. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker will assess the state of the war and the effect of the new strategy the U.S. military has pursued this year.

Today, Bully Boy has several photo-ops for the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. They include schools. Let's hope he doesn't get entranced by My Pet Goat again.

In news of other lying leaders, Lelia Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) interviews the puppet of the occupation from his office within the heavily fortified Green Zone. This is from Fadel's "An interview with Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki:"


FADEL: The Sadrists have compared your government to Saddam Hussein's government. Two American Democrats have called for your resignation, and behind the scenes, some say you act as an opposition leader rather than a leader of Iraq. The Kurds have told Western officials that if you don't deliver on promises at the summit they would try to get your resignation. How do you react to this as a leader of Iraq? Would you consider resigning?
MALIKI: In truth I did not come to this position from being a king or a prince but have reached here through a political process, democracy and national will. I did not come here by hereditary right, neither is there a hierarchy in Iraq today. This is the first part.

National will? The members of Parliament that backed him probably had no idea of how awful he'd be. He has been awful. He's been a series of repeated failures. This goes beyond the fact that he's a puppet whose strings are pulled. The US has had many of those over the years. al-Maliki has failed Iraq even in the capacity of heavily controlled puppet.

In addition to the transcript of the interview, Fadel also offers "Iraq's Maliki speaks on government, future" and we'll note this from it:

Despite Maliki's confidence, the scene at his office made it clear that his survival isn't being debated only in Washington. Maliki's security guards were closely watching a talk show on a wide screen Panasonic television in the lobby. The topic was whether Maliki is the only choice for Iraq, and political pundits were debating whether the prime minister should step down.
When Maliki entered, the guards turned down the volume, but kept the program on.

In the New York Times this morning, Stephen Farrell's "50 Die in Fight Between Shiite Groups in Karbala" notes the mass violence in Karbala:

A power struggle between rival Shiite groups erupted Tuesday during a religious festival in Karbala, as men with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades fought street battles amid crowds of pilgrims, killing 50 people and wounding 200, Iraqi officials said.
[. . .]
Tensions between the Mahdi Army and the Badr Organization have simmered for months. Both are vying for control of the overwhelmingly Shiite regions of central and southern Iraq. Two provincial governors belonging to the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council were assassinated in southern Iraq this month, although the Sadrists deny involvement.

Martha notes Megan Greenwell's "Riots at Iraqi Religious Festival Leave Dozens Dead" (Washington Post):

Many of the estimated 1 million pilgrims ignored prohibitions against carrying weapons. Muntadar al-Jabiri, a commander in the Mahdi Army, said the fighting started because other Shiites were allowed to bring guns into the city while Sadr's followers were not.
"Some of us were carrying pistols, but not all of us," Jabiri said of his 31-person group. "They were authorized pistols from Sadr's office and we had IDs to carry them. They do not respect us just because we are from the Sadr bloc."
In apparent retaliation for the sense of mistreatment in Karbala, Sadr supporters set fire to a Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council office in the Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiyah.

Reuters reports puppet al-Maliki has declared "The situation in Kerbala is under control after military reinforcements arrived and police and military special forces have spread throughout the city to purge those killers and criminals"; however, not everyone's reassured by the babbles of the puppet:

"Do we have a government? There is no Iraqi government, because pilgrims were killed in Kerbala between the two shrines," said Qassim Salman, one of thousands of fleeing pilgrims who reached Baghdad in buses.

Despite the puppet's claims, turn on your TV -- it appears the violence in Karbala is still going on but what are your own eyes compared to al-Maliki's statements?

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


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