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Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Wednesday August 6, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, a war resistance anniversary approaches, 6 US service members have died in Iraq since Saturday, the Iraqi provincial elections seem unlikely this year, the puppet al-Maliki sits on millions and spends very little, and more.
Starting with war resistance. In June 2006, Ehren Watada became the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq. That decision followed much research on his part and the decision at the end of 2005 that he could not participate in an illegal war. For months prior to going public, Watada attempted to work with the US military which gave him every indication that they wanted to work with him on this issue. But no alternative was ever accepted. Instead he was repeatedly told that something would happen, some decision would be reached. His command was attempting to run out the clock because June 22, 2006 would be when he would deploy to Iraq and they thought if they strung him along he would have no choice but to deploy. Instead, Watada went public. Almost two years ago, his Article 32 hearing was held (August 17, 2006). The Article 32 hearing allowed Watada to call witnesses such as retired Army Col Ann Wright and former UN under-secretary Denis Halliday. Lt Col Mark Keith oversaw the Article 32 hearing. In February 2007, Judge Toilet (aka John Head) presided over the court-martial. Judge Toilet had his own idea of 'justice' which included refusing to allow Watada's defense to explain why he decided to refuse to deploy. He could admit (or not) that he refused to deploy, but Judge Toilet wouldn't allow his reasons to be explained to the military jury. Judge Toilet also refused to allow Watada's attorney to call various witnesses. It was 'justice' in name-only. Despite that, Watada's case was presented strongly. So strongly that, on the third day, when Watada was due to take the witness stand, Judge Toilet suddenly found fault with a stipulation that he himself had explained to the jury and that he himself had overseen. Judge Toilet 'suggested' the prosecution move for a mistrial and the prosecution did not immediately take the hint or grasp that Toilet was handing them a do-over. When they did grasp it, they made the motion and Judge Toilet ruled the court-martial a mistrial over defense objection. The Constitution prohibits double-jeopardy -- one of those pesky laws Judge Toilet never grasped. Toilet said the second court-martial would take place in March of 2007. It did not. It has not taken place. Last November US District Court Judge Benjamin Settle ruled that the Constitutional issue had to be resolved. It still hasn't been resolved.
In December 2006, Watada's service contract expired. The first court-martial took place despite that fact. All this time later, Watada remains in the service and reports for duty on base while he waits for the US military to figure out their next move. The military had their chance to court-martial him but when Judge Toilet realized Watada might walk, he threw the justice system out the window and declared a mistrial. As a result, the military really has no 'follow up' at this point. They need to release Watada from the army immediately. His service contract expired nearly two years ago and his Article 32 took place almost two years ago.
War resisters in Canada need support as well. To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
In Iraq, there is still no movement on provincial elections. Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, " After weeks of late-night negotiations and under intense U.S. pressure, Iraqi lawmakers failed to pass a much-debated provincial elections law Wednesday before adjourning for the month. The failure to pass the law, which would govern elections in provinces across the country, may push the elections into next year. If elections don't happen by the end of this year, it could be July before the balloting could be carried out, U.N. spokesman Said Arikat said." UPI reports that, citing Kurdish MP Fouad Massoum, there is the possibility of "a special session of Parliament sometime during the recess, which ends Sept. 9," to again try to address the issue of elections. Gina Chon (Wall St. Journal) notes the "days of intense negotiations and heavy pressure from the U.S., the United Nations and Britain" and how Kirkuk continued to be a stalling issue. Most reports do. Leila Fadel offers another theory among Iraqis, that those currently holding office aren't willing to risk losing office if new elections are called. Walter Ibrahim (Reuters) gets a non-official US response, quoting someone at the US embassy in Iraq who refused to be named but did declare, "The United States regrets that the Iraqi parliament today adjourned without finishing its work on a local elections law."
On the other big news of Iraq today, a new report finds that Nouri al-Maliki, puppet of the occupation, is refusing to spend the many millions on reconstruction still. White House press secretary Dana Perino declared, "It's interesting -- what I find interesting about this report, as well, is when you're looking at these two countries, Iraq and Afghanistan, seeing how vastly different Iraq is from Afghanistan in terms of the natural resources that they have. Afghanistan is a very poor country, one of the poorest in the world. Iraq will come back much faster, given that they had some semblance of infrastructure, as crumbling as it was, but something to work from. Afghanistan is being built from scratch. And so I thought that was something worth taking away." What's interesting is that someone tasked with speaking to the press on behalf of the White House appears to have only just realized the differences between Afghanistan and oil-rich Iraq. It does not speak well of Perino -- even as spin, it should produce laughter. Perino was speaking on board Air Force One as the Bully Boy traveled to Thailand and repeatedly referred reporters' questions to the US State Dept implying that she hadn't seen the latest report. Later, after Air Force One landed in Thailand, Bully Boy would hold a public event with Thailand's Prime Minister Samak but took no questions. Apparently, like Perino, he was unfamiliar with the report. Perino: "I saw the report -- I saw the reports about the report -- so I'd refer you back to the State Department, just to -- as they wake up this moring -- just to make sure that they've looked at it, because I don't know all the details." A rather shocking admission for someone tasked with being the public face of the White House. Plenty of egg on the face to go around because, in DC this afternoon, the State Dept's Gonzalo R. Gallegos (Acting Deputy Spokesperson) held the daily press briefing and was asked about Iraq . . . never. Not once. Macedonia, Mexico and many other topics. Gallegos didn't arrive with a prepared statement and tossed immediately to questions. Not one reporter asked about Iraq. How very sad and very telling.
If you're feeling a sense of deja vu, you may be thinking back to last Wednesday when the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstuction issued a report. Stuart Bowen Jr. issued a note to the report [ PDF format warning] explaining, "The United States has now appropriated more than $50 billion in taxpayer dollars for Iraq's reconstruction." The report notes its basis is "seven new audit products" between May 1st and June 30th of this year. You may be thinking of the silence that greeted that report as the press focused instead on the gossip and whispers that the White House was putting out declaring Bully Boy would speak Thursday morning and deliver a 'major' statement on Iraq that everyone just knew was going to be about the treaty between the White House and the puppet. The treaty, the White House had promised, would be wrapped up by July 31st. Bully Boy gave his statement, no word about a treaty. The dealine passed. And the government report on reconstruction was lost and forgotten.
For some context on the latest report, let's drop back to April when Gen David Petraeus and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker did their song and dance before the US Congress. From the April 8th snapshot, where US Senator Barbara Boxer is questioning Crocker:
She wanted to know about the training, all the training, that had gone on and then on again. "We've done a lot for the Iraqis just in terms of the numbers themselves," Boxer declared. "I'll tell you what concerns me and most of my constituents, you said -- many times -- the gains in Iraq are fragile and reversable. . . . So my constituents and I believe that" after all the deaths, all the money, "you have to wonder why the best that you can say is that the gains are fragile and reversable." Noting the lack of military success and Hagel's points, Boxer pointed out that nothing was being done diplomatically "and I listened carefully to Senator Hagel and Ambassador Crocker -- from the answer you gave him, I don't get the" feeling that the White House has given anything, it's still "the status quo. She then turned to the issue of monies and the militias, "You are asking us for millions more to pay off the militias and, by the way, I have an article here that says Maliki recently told a London paper that he was concerned about half of them" and wouldn't put them into the forces because he doubts their loyalty. She noted that $182 million a year was being paid, $18 million a month, to these "Awakening" Council members and "why don't you ask the Iraqis to pay the entire cost of that progam" because as Senator Lugar pointed out, "It could be an opportunity" for the Iraqi government "to turn it into something more long term." This is a point, she declared, that she intends to bring up when it's time to vote on the next spending supplamental. Crocker tried to split hairs.
Boxer: I asked you why they couldn't pay for it. . . . I don't want to argue a point. . . I'm just asking you why we would object to asking them to pay for that entire program giving all that we are giving them in blood and everything else?
Today Karen De Young (Washington Post) reports that the US Government Accountability Office has found that while "Iraq's oil income will more than double this year . . . Baghdad continues to spend only a small percentage of its own money on reconstruction and services while it banks billions in surplus funds" and that, "Between 2005 and 2007, only 10 percent of Iraq's expenditures went toward reconstruction, with just 1 percent spent on maintaining U.S. and Iraqi-funded investments in roads, water, electricity and weapons, according to a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office. Even when Baghdad has allocated larger sums, the report said, it has spent only a small portion of the budgeted money." Kevin Hall (McClatchy Newspapers) points out that the report "left little doubt that Iraq, which racked up $32.9 billion in oil earnings from January through June, can afford to pay more for its own reconstruction." Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers' Baghdad Observer) takes the topic from the abstract to the concrete: "Driving through Iraq you feel the neglect here. In Basra the city is rivers of sewage, destroyed buildings and bridges from war after war after war. Every day I pass by the same buildings destroyed years ago during the U.S. led invasion in my neighborhood in Baghdad. Every day they look exactly the same, a pile of rubble. The electricity problem seems to be getting worse; Iraqis have an average of about four hours of electricity a day. While there is talk of reconstruction, a bridge here, flowers planted there the people don't feel a change."
In her brief remarks on Air Force One, Dana Perino offered a laughable example of how the puppet al-Maliki is helping Iraqis declaring that, "One thing that's very important is how they are spending their money, which is distributing it evenly amongst the --- around the country, but amongst the different sects as well, so Shias, Sunnis, and Kurds. It's something that they're going to have to continue to work out. We want them to take on more of their own responsibilities just from a security standpoint, but also reconstruction.
Also, if you remember, Prime Minister Maliki went into Sadr City, Basra and Mosul, he offered immediate financial assistance to people who were living there under those terrible conditions." The assaults on the people in those areas? The turn-over-your-guns-and-I'll-toss-a-few-coins-your-way is 'relief'? In what world?
Reality came via Sunday's press conference in Baghdad: hospitals that hide bed shortages, lack of supplies and more via a paint job. And we saw that justified by the Deputy Minister of Health for Grants and Loans who declared, "It is good for their psychological health . . . it is good to take care of the appearance, to see the building a new, clean." Spoiled blood, lack of medicine, lack of beds, lack of prosthetics, etc. are just minor details, after all, what matters is the hospital slapped on a new coat of paint outside. Or that's what matters to the Ministry of Health. Reality comes via Dalia al-Achi and Carole Laleve's UNHCR report Sunday on how the UNHCR and Syrian Arab Red Crescent was aiding Iraqi refugees in Syria by distributing "school kits to Iraqi refugee children . . . distribution of uniforms, shoes and school materials . . . and is expected to outfit 30,000 children from Damascus and Rural Damascus before the start of the Syrian School year on Sept. 7. Last year, UNHCR's distribution reached 20,000 Iraqi children." And what's al-Maliki done besides sit on millions? Not a damn thing.
But there was Perino on Air Force One this morning delcaring, " It's really important that they figure out a way to quickly get that money to those people directly. I think they've made a lot of progress on that, but they needed to do more." al-Maliki's done nothing for the people. But he has managed to go on spending sprees for items he wants. From last Friday's snapshot:
It's been a busy week for the puppet -- a regular spending spree. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency started the week with the announcement that they "notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Armored Security Vehicles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $206 milliion." Wednesday included "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Light Armored Vehicles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $3 billion" and "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of technical assistance for construction of facilities and infrastructure as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $1.6 billiion" and "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Helicopters and related munitions as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $2.4 billion." Thursday brought this announcement, "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of M1A1 and Upgrade to M1A1M Abrams Tanks as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $2.16 billion."
Staying on the topic of violence . . .
Bombings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that left two police officers wounded, a Baghdad bombing ("targeting . . . one of the Iraqi security companies") left four people injured, a Ninevah car bombing that killed the driver, 1 civilian, 1 Iraqi service member and left nine other people wounded and a Basra roadside bombing that wounded one civilian. Reuters notes a Mosul car bombing that claimed 3 lives (plus driver of the car) and left fourteen injured.
Shootings?
Corpses?
Last Thursday morning, the Bully Boy held court at the White House and said nothing. The press corps acted as though something had been said. "This has been a month of encouraging news from Iraq," he spun and the press took their marching orders. They're still following those 'turned corner' marching orders despite the fact that there is no treaty, despite the fact that there will most likely be no October provincial elections, despite the fact that al-Maliki is spending next to nothing on reconstruction and despite the fact that violence is again up in Iraq. Much was made all last week of "Only 13 US soldiers dead in Iraq for the month of July!" As if 'only 13' dead from an illegal war was something to go wild over.
All six US service members have died since Saturday morning. Somehow that hasn't resulted in the 'coverage' that 13 for the month of July resulted in coverage last week.
Turning to the US presidential race. Ron Jacobs (Dissident Voice) notes just how much it is costing the peace movement (and how willing 'leaders' are to table objection to the illegal war):
Just look at the major national antiwar organization United For Peace and Justice (UFPJ) and their public stance regarding the desire of organizers of the protests at the upcoming Democratic convention to stage a large antiwar march at the convention. According to a recent press release from some organizers of the march, Leslie Cagan of UFPJ told some Denver organizers, "We don't think it makes sense to plan for a mass march that might not end up being all that mass!" In other words, UFPJ is refusing to help build support for the march.
There can only be one reason for UFPJ's stance. That reason is UFPJ's allegiance to the Democratic Party. This allegiance is not an allegiance found among the grassroots of UFPJ but at the top. It involves a political misunderstanding of the Democrats' role in maintaining the US empire and a fear of losing funding from elements of UFPJ that are tied to the Democratic Party. Ignoring the fact that it is the Democratic Congress that has kept the Empire's wars going, UFPJ continues to call the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan "Bush's Wars." Besides the attempts to silence the antiwar voice in the streets, there are also ongoing attempts by Democratic Party manipulators to keep antiwar language out of the Party's platform. This is in spite of a statement signed by the progressive wing of the party demanding that the language be included. If 2004 is any indication, there will be no antiwar language in the 2008 Democratic Party platform.
We saw this happen in 2004 and the peace movement was in disarray until the summer of 2005 (Cindy Sheehan resparked the movement). That cannot happen again but it is happening as too many see their 'peace' role as "cheerleader for Barack." Presumed Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama continues to run the most embarrassing campaign in recent memory. Today's big news is that another campaign staffer (volunteer!) has been outed. Perry Bacon Jr. (Washington Post) reports that the volunteer was Chicago's own Mazen Asbahi who held the title of "Muslim outreach coordinator" until the Wall St. Journal did the job the campaign should have and found ties to Jamal Said and the North American Islamic Trust. True or false doesn't matter and will not be known for some time. In a campaign perception matters. The Obama campaign has already telegraphed that they see Asbahi as someone to wash their hands of and it's one more sign of how inept that campaign is that they didn't do the vetting that a paper did. Though Asbahi will most likely be found to have no links or ties to terrorists and be nothing but a dedicated volunteer who believed in a candidate and wanted to work for the candidate's election, the campaign continues to demonstrate just how unskilled and unknowledgable they are. This is the campaign that drummed up over a week's worth of mock outrage over a satirical cover of The New Yorker which lampooned the notion that, among other things, some may see Barack as a terrorist. If they put half that energy into vetting their staff, they wouldn't be in the news on this today. Asbahi joined the campaign July 25th, after the mock outrage. The campaign damn well took offense at satire but apparently lacked the intelligence to do the basic vetting of any high-profile spot. Asbahi joined the campaign with a high-minded/self-serving statement and now leaves the campaign with a cloud over himself and one over the campaign. He does so with the usual nonsense statement about how his departure is "to avoid distracting from Barack Obama's message of change" but the real message the campaign has again sent is that they do not know how to run a campaign including the most basic procedure of vetting anyone in a profile role.
Nader/Gonzalez Campaign and the Iowa Peace and Freedom Party Wednesday Will Submit more than Double the Required Signatures for Ballot Qualification
Supporters of Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader and the Iowa Peace and Freedom Party will submit petitions to place Mr. Nader and running-mate Matt Gonzalez on the November 2008 election ballot, Thursday, Aug. 7, to the Iowa Secretary of State's Office. Mr. Nader will be on the ballot as the Iowa Peace and Freedom Party nominee, and if he gains more than 2 percent of the vote in the state, the party will become a ballot-qualified political group.
Iowa will be the 26th state in which the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign has filed for a ballot line since the celebrated consumer advocate announced his intent to run during a February 24 appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." To qualify to appear on Iowa's ballot, state law requires submission of the signatures of 1,500 registered voters.
The Nader/Gonzalez campaign will submit more than 3,000 signatures.
Scott Knight, the Nader/Gonzalez Iowa State coordinator, will be joined by Iowa supporters of Nader/Gonzalez 2008 and the Peace and Freedom Party at 9:30 a.m. for a news conference at Capitol West Steps, West Mall area, Capitol Building, Des Moines, IA.
Iowans have been hit recently with massive floods and with the greed of large corporations, like Whirlpool Corp., which in July filed a federal lawsuit aiming to slash the medical benefits of thousands of retired Maytag workers after having bought out that company. The Nader/Gonzalez Campaign offers solutions instead of excuses. Mr. Nader would rein in corporate greed, waste and abuse and respond to natural emergencies with preventative public investments and rapid response to those disasters. As president, Mr. Nader would rebuild the Mid-West instead of tearing down the Mid-East.
WHO: Iowa Supporters of Nader/Gonzalez 2008 Campaign and the Peace and Freedom Party
WHAT: News Conference and turn-in of nominating petitions
WHEN: Thursday, Aug 7, 2008, 9:30 a.m.
WHERE: Capitol West Steps, West Mall area, Capitol Building, Des Moines, IA
About Ralph Nader
Celebrated attorney, author, and consumer advocate Ralph Nader has been named by Time Magazine one of the "100 Most Influential Americans in the 20th Century." For more than four decades he has exposed problems and organized millions of citizens into more than 100 public interest groups advocating solutions. He led the movement to establish the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and enact the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and countless other pieces of important consumer legislation. Because of Ralph Nader we drive safer cars, eat healthier food, breathe better air, drink cleaner water, and work in safer environments. Nader graduated from Princeton University and received an LL.B from Harvard Law School.
About Matt Gonzalez
Matt Gonzalez was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2000 representing San Francisco's fifth council district. From 2003 to 2005, he served as Board of Supervisors President. A former public defender, Gonzalez is managing partner of Gonzalez & Leigh, a 7-attorney practice in San Francisco that represents individuals and organizations in mediation, arbitration, and administrative proceedings before state and federal regulatory bodies. Gonzalez graduated from Columbia University and received a JD from Stanford Law School.
About the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign
According to a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted from July 27-29, Ralph Nader is at 6 percent nationally, higher than his highest major poll numbers during the same time period in 2000 and approaching the 10 percent threshold required for eligibility to participate in "America's Presidential Debate in New Orleans," a Google-sponsored event scheduled for September 18. In the key swing state of Michigan -- whose voters were partially disenfranchised by the Democratic National Committee -- an EPIC-MRA poll found Nader at 8-10 percent.
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Posted at 05:41 pm by thecommonills
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6 US service members killed in Iraq since Saturday
The White House ordered the CIA to forge a hand-written letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein fabricating a visit by an al-Qa'eda operative two months before the September 11th attacks, according to a new book.
Ron Suskind claimed in "The Way of the World" that the letter was designed to portray a fictitious link between the dictator's regime and al'Qa'eda as a justification for the Iraq war.
Branding Mr Suskind's book "gutter journalism", the White House flatly denied as "absurd" any notion that it had ordered any forgery.
Suskind writes that the letter's author, Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, the former head of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had been in contact with the Bush administration and MI6 before the March 2003 invasion.
"The White House had concocted a fake letter from Habbush to Saddam, backdated to July 1, 2001," Suskind writes.
The above if from the Telegraph of London's " Letter linking Iraq and al-Qa'eda was forged by US spies says new book" and it is not just a US story. Gareth, Polly and Pru are among the British community members e-mailing to share their outrage over the Guardian of London's policy of carrying New Labour's water instead of reporting the news. The Guardian is not a news outlet, it is a club newsletter for New Labour. And Americans should be paying attention to this because Gordon Brown has gotten away with carrying out a hugely unpopular and illegal war as a result of enablers. Tony Blair made the call and England hope they would have "change" with Blair out. There's a lesson in there for the US and there's a lesson in the refusal of Democratic Party organs refusing to hold Barack accountable for any pledge he breaks. The Nation and Guardian have a little partnership and that goes a long way towards explaining why neither outlet is worth the paper it's printed on. Neither outlet defines their role as providing information. Both see their role as turning out the votes for their respective parties. It's not journalism, not even advocacy journalism. It's the worship and repeating of spin. While we're on the topic of those not doing their job, M-NF. ICCC reports the death toll for US service members so far this month has already reaced 6. Four of those died on Saturday. On Sunday, M-NF was announcing two. Here are the names of the dead: We've noted repeatedly for years that the Defense Department's job is only to release the names. Before the name is released, M-NF is supposed to have already made the announcement of a death. That is how it is supposed to work and for any who still can't grasp that, for some reason M-NF included the policy in a death announcement Monday: Multi-National Division – Baghdad is not the release authority for the names of U.S. service members who have died while serving in Iraq. The names of the servicemembers are announced through the U.S. Department of Defense Official Website at http://www.defenselink.mil/ . The announcements are made on the Website no earlier than 24 hours after notification of the service member’s primary next of kin.
They know the policy . . . they just don't follow it.
A lot of people not doing their jobs. That's the alleged 'alternative' press, that's M-NF and, as Ron Jacobs points out, that the peace 'movement.' From Ron Jacobs' " Jerry Garcia Meets Barack Obama" ( Dissident Voice): Just look at the major national antiwar organization United For Peace and Justice (UFPJ) and their public stance regarding the desire of organizers of the protests at the upcoming Democratic convention to stage a large antiwar march at the convention. According to a recent press release from some organizers of the march, Leslie Cagan of UFPJ told some Denver organizers, "We don't think it makes sense to plan for a mass march that might not end up being all that mass!" In other words, UFPJ is refusing to help build support for the march.
There can only be one reason for UFPJ's stance. That reason is UFPJ's allegiance to the Democratic Party. This allegiance is not an allegiance found among the grassroots of UFPJ but at the top. It involves a political misunderstanding of the Democrats' role in maintaining the US empire and a fear of losing funding from elements of UFPJ that are tied to the Democratic Party. Ignoring the fact that it is the Democratic Congress that has kept the Empire's wars going, UFPJ continues to call the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan "Bush’s Wars." Besides the attempts to silence the antiwar voice in the streets, there are also ongoing attempts by Democratic Party manipulators to keep antiwar language out of the Party's platform. This is in spite of a statement signed by the progressive wing of the party demanding that the language be included. If 2004 is any indication, there will be no antiwar language in the 2008 Democratic Party platform.
Margo notes this from Team Nader -- and this is from yesterday so there's only 1 day left in the contest (it ends at midnight tonight):
Only Two Days Left in Contest
Only two days left in our Win Dinner with Ralph E-mail Contest.
Many thousands of you have signed on.
And a select few of you are competing for the grand prize of a dinner with Ralph.
This morning, Ramy Mousa from Baton Rouge, Louisiana tops the leader board with 263 friends that have joined our network.
But many more thousands of you haven't even played.
So, we'd like you to try it.
You bring us the e-mails of your friends, neighbors and countrymen.
We feed them up-to-the minute breaking news about the two corporate candidates - Obama and McCain - and the growing challenge by Nader and Gonzalez.
Nader/Gonzalez is an unconventional campaign, in many ways.
One, there is no national convention.
We're running as independents.
Two, we have a broad range of support.
Take Iggy Pup here, for example.
We asked Iggy.
Iggy, who ya going vote for?
Iggy, being on our e-mail list, knew that Nader/Gonzalez would shift the power from the corporations back into the hands of the people.
Check out Iggy's answer in this just released Nader/Gonzalez video.
But it's not enough for Iggy to be plugged in.
Or for you to be plugged in.
We have to spread the word far and wide.
And one way to do it is to build our network of supporters.
Just bring us five new e-mails, and you can be part of a special invite-only conference phone call with Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez.
But you have to get going.
The contest ends the day after tomorrow - Thursday August 7 - at 11:59 PM on the West coast.
There are other great prizes.
But most importantly, you'll be helping us spread the word.
About the candidacy that will stand up to the two corporate parties in November.
So, help us out - find five people right now that will join our network of supporters.
Click here to get started.
If you are already in the game, thank you.
You can track your ranking on our leader board.
Find more friends and family and colleagues, and watch yourself move on up.
We'll be announcing the winners in a week or so.
Thank you for joining.
Together, we are making a difference.
Onward.
The Nader Team
PS: We invite your comments to the blog.
Your contribution could be doubled. Public campaign financing may match your contribution total up to $250.
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Posted at 05:39 pm by thecommonills
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Iraq's oil income will more than double this year, even as Baghdad continues to spend only a small percentage of its own money on reconstruction and services while it banks billions in surplus funds, according to projections by U.S. government auditors.
Between 2005 and 2007, only 10 percent of Iraq's expenditures went toward reconstruction, with just 1 percent spent on maintaining U.S. and Iraqi-funded investments in roads, water, electricity and weapons, according to a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office. Even when Baghdad has allocated larger sums, the report said, it has spent only a small portion of the budgeted money.
Those trends, which the report said have continued during the first half of this year, are likely to fuel further congressional discontent over ongoing U.S. payments to rebuild Iraq. "It is inexcusable for U.S. taxpayers to continue to foot the bill for projects the Iraqis are fully capable of funding themselves," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said in a statement yesterday.
In its report on efforts to stabilize and reconstruct Iraq, the Government Accountability Office steered clear of the politics of who pays for what. But it left little doubt that Iraq, which racked up $32.9 billion in oil earnings from January through June, can afford to pay more for its own reconstruction.
The GAO estimates that Iraq will earn $67 billion to $79 billion in oil sales this year, twice the average annual amount of revenue that it generated from oil sales from 2005 through 2007.
Driving through Iraq you feel the neglect here. In Basra the city is rivers of sewage, destroyed buildings and bridges from war after war after war.
Every day I pass by the same buildings destroyed years ago during the U.S. led invasion in my neighborhood in Baghdad. Every day they look exactly the same, a pile of rubble. The electricity problem seems to be getting worse; Iraqis have an average of about four hours of electricity a day. While there is talk of reconstruction, a bridge here, flowers planted there the people don't feel a change.
Or how about, as revealed in the press conference Sunday, hospitals that hide bed shortages, lack of supplies and more via a paint job. And we saw that justified by the Deputy Minister of Health for Grants and Loans who declared, "It is good for their psychological health . . . it is good to take care of the appearance, to see the building a new, clean." Spoiled blood, lack of medicine, lack of beds, lack of prosthetics, etc. are just minor details, after all, what matters is the hospital slapped on a new coat of paint outside. Or that's what matters to the Ministry of Health. It's been a busy week for the puppet -- a regular spending spree. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency started the week with the announcement that they "notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Armored Security Vehicles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $206 milliion." Wednesday included "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Light Armored Vehicles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $3 billion" and "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of technical assistance for construction of facilities and infrastructure as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $1.6 billiion" and "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Helicopters and related munitions as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $2.4 billion." Thursday brought this announcement, "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of M1A1 and Upgrade to M1A1M Abrams Tanks as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $2.16 billion."
Posted at 05:35 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
Iraq's oil income will more than double this year, even as Baghdad continues to spend only a small percentage of its own money on reconstruction and services while it banks billions in surplus funds, according to projections by U.S. government auditors.
Between 2005 and 2007, only 10 percent of Iraq's expenditures went toward reconstruction, with just 1 percent spent on maintaining U.S. and Iraqi-funded investments in roads, water, electricity and weapons, according to a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office. Even when Baghdad has allocated larger sums, the report said, it has spent only a small portion of the budgeted money.
Those trends, which the report said have continued during the first half of this year, are likely to fuel further congressional discontent over ongoing U.S. payments to rebuild Iraq. "It is inexcusable for U.S. taxpayers to continue to foot the bill for projects the Iraqis are fully capable of funding themselves," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said in a statement yesterday.
In its report on efforts to stabilize and reconstruct Iraq, the Government Accountability Office steered clear of the politics of who pays for what. But it left little doubt that Iraq, which racked up $32.9 billion in oil earnings from January through June, can afford to pay more for its own reconstruction.
The GAO estimates that Iraq will earn $67 billion to $79 billion in oil sales this year, twice the average annual amount of revenue that it generated from oil sales from 2005 through 2007.
Driving through Iraq you feel the neglect here. In Basra the city is rivers of sewage, destroyed buildings and bridges from war after war after war.
Every day I pass by the same buildings destroyed years ago during the U.S. led invasion in my neighborhood in Baghdad. Every day they look exactly the same, a pile of rubble. The electricity problem seems to be getting worse; Iraqis have an average of about four hours of electricity a day. While there is talk of reconstruction, a bridge here, flowers planted there the people don't feel a change.
Or how about, as revealed in the press conference Sunday, hospitals that hide bed shortages, lack of supplies and more via a paint job. And we saw that justified by the Deputy Minister of Health for Grants and Loans who declared, "It is good for their psychological health . . . it is good to take care of the appearance, to see the building a new, clean." Spoiled blood, lack of medicine, lack of beds, lack of prosthetics, etc. are just minor details, after all, what matters is the hospital slapped on a new coat of paint outside. Or that's what matters to the Ministry of Health. It's been a busy week for the puppet -- a regular spending spree. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency started the week with the announcement that they "notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Armored Security Vehicles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $206 milliion." Wednesday included "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Light Armored Vehicles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $3 billion" and "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of technical assistance for construction of facilities and infrastructure as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $1.6 billiion" and "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Helicopters and related munitions as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $2.4 billion." Thursday brought this announcement, "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of M1A1 and Upgrade to M1A1M Abrams Tanks as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $2.16 billion."
Posted at 05:35 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Tuesday, August
5, 2008. Chaos and violence continue in Iraq, the stalemate in
Parliament continues, Turkey continues to be worried, the Guardian
of London continues to reveal that a political party's newsletter (New
Labour) doesn't make for journalism, news of Robin Long, Ralph Nader
and -- gasp -- the Undead Speaks -- meaning we should all keep a close
eye on Yorba Linda. James
Branum: What's happening in Robin's case, Robin Long was an American
soldier. And when he was recruited to join the US military, his
recruiter and him were talking and Robin told the recruiter, said, "I'm
okay with being in the army but I don't want to go to Iraq. I don't
believe in it." Recruiter said, "Don't worry about it. You won't have
to go to Iraq. I can make sure you won't. In fact, you'll be
stationed at Fort Knox here in Kentucky. So Robin thought, "Okay, I
can live with that." So he did that, he joined. Turned out the
recruiter was honest about one point. Yes, he was stationed at Fort
Knox [. . .] however he was told very quickly, "Yes, you're going to
Iraq and you're going to be sent to Fort Carson, trained to go to Iraq
and then, after that, you're going to be sent there." So Robin, what
he ended up doing was, he ended up going to Canada and there's a lot
there that I can't go into about his story but to make a real long
story short it was an issue of conscience at the end of the day. He
had to do what he felt was right. He couldn't do something that he
felt wasn't right. And he couldn't go. That's what it comes down to.
So when he got to Canada, he was living his life. He applied for
aslyum status so he could stay there. And he was working. And as an
asylum seeker, he was able to get a work permit and what-not. He also
had a son while he was there who's now about two-years-old. And he had
his life very well established. He did a lot of different jobs. All
kinds of different stuff. For awhile, he was a fruit picker. He
worked in different orchards. In fact, that's kind of what got him
into trouble cause when he was working as a fruit picker, he was a
seasonal migrant worker, you know? And so he was, for awhile, out in
British Columbia. And he was previously in Ontario and there was a
misunderstanding [. . .] from Canadian immigration about where he was
supposed to check in to. And Robin thought he had checked in like he
was supposed to. The immigration authorities say he didn't. There's a
misunderstanding there. But to make a really long story short, even
though Robin was fighting this in the Canadian courts, the Canadian
officials pulled a sneaky manuever -- basically, they were able to
fast-track him through deportation within four days so that he or his
lawyer did not have time to respond appropriately in the Canadian
system. And so he was trapped and he was sent to the US. And
what happened was he was held in jail for a few days in Canada and then
he was handed over to US officials at the border. And actually, the
Canadian officials even told the US officials, "Here's your deserter."
Handed him off. And so from there, the immigration officials
transferred him to a local jail and he was held in two different local
jails for awhile before the military came and picked him up and
transferred him to Fort Carson, Colorado. And at that point, at 11:30
at night, they had a hearing to decide whether he would remain in what
is called pre-trial confinement. Because in the military, you don't
get bail. Basically, you either are released before your trial or
you wait in pre-trial confinement. So
they had a hearing late at night. Robin was put into jail. And since
that point, he has been held here in Colarado Springs in the Criminal
Justice Center in El Paso County -- basically just a regular old county
jail with all kinds of people, dangerous criminals many of them, and
it's a difficult place to be. But Robin's in good spirits and we're
now dealing with the consequences of his action in the military courts
here. Robin Long was extradited.
He was not deported. If that wasn't obvious before, it should be from
the description above. Judge Anne Mctavish needs to be held
accountable for her actions. The extradition process in Canada would
have immediately opened up other avenues of appeal for Robin. That's
why she didn't want to call it "extradition." Calling it "deportation"
allowed her to act with NO OVERSIGHT. It wasn't deportation and --
repeating again -- as the father of a young Canadian child, the
immigration laws in Canada are very clear about Robin's rights to stay
in the country. It would be politically beneficial to the New
Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and Bloc Quebecois to call for
Parliament to hold an investigation into how Haper's government and
Mctavish allowed Long to be extradited while telling the people of
Canada he was being deported. I
would like to thank Mr. Moore for his letter of July 18 in response to
my earlier letter on conscientious objectors. Although I disagree with
Moore's opinion on the legality of the Iraq war, I truly welcome honest
public debate on important matters such as this one.
The
unsanctioned invasion of Iraq occurred March 18, 2003, a full seven
months before the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1511 to ensure
the "restoration of stability and security" in response to the chaos
caused by the invasion. The resolution does not and could not provide
retroactive exoneration. The fact remains, Stephen Harper would have
committed Canada to this illegal war if he were Prime Minister at the
time.
As for Afghanistan, I would much prefer that Canada was
there with our original intention of peace-keeping and reconstruction.
However, our troops deserve our full support in this new, combative
role, which is sanctioned by the UN.
The point of my letter was
that the Conservative government must respect the motion on
conscientious objectors passed by Parliament. Harper himself said the
government has a moral responsibility to respect such motions. This
motion is based on an issue of fundamental human rights, and it is
downright callous to ignore it.
According to an Angus Reid poll
conducted June 6 and 7, 2008, after Parliament passed the motion
calling on the government to make a provision to allow war resisters to
stay in Canada and to cease all deportation and removal proceedings,
two-thirds of Canadians want Canada to grant permanent residence status
to U. S. Iraq war resisters.
The Harper Conservatives are afraid
of raising the ire of their ideological cousins in the Republican
administration but, ignoring the democratic will of Parliament and the
views of the large majority of Canadians will only raise the fury of
Canadian voters who want a more progressive government that reflects
Canadian values.
Steve Clarke, Federal Liberal candidate for Simcoe North There
is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which
includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei
Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste,
Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano
Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal,
Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn,
Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross
Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique,
Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez,
Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada,
Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen,
Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman,
Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck,
Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine,
Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey,
Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua
Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell,
Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake,
Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres,
Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and
Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada
have applied for asylum. Yesterday
at the US State Dept, Gonzalo R. Gallegos (the department's "acting
deputy" spokesperson) declared, "My understanding -- that the Iraiq
parliament did not convene on Sunday. However, it has not yet recessed
and lawmakers remain ready to reconvene once a new bill is ready for
them to consider. The Iraqi political leaders are continuing to
discuss the elections law. Ambassador Crocker and [US] Embassy
officials continue to encourage Iraqis to work towards compromise and
consensus, and to develop an elections law that will allow for
provincial elections this year." Provincial elections. Long
postponed. Long said to take place in 2008. Said for most of the year
to take place in October. Fell apart last month as the Kirkuk issue
split Parliament and led the Kurdish bloc to walk out. Campbell Robertson (New York Times) notes
the United Nations is yet again proposing that the issue of oil-rich
Kirkuk be tabled. As Robertson appears to explain it, not only would
the issue of whether Kirkuk remained with the central government or
split off into the Kurdish region be tabled, also tabled would be
Kirkuk participating in provincial elections. Conspiracy! That's what
AFP reports
the Kurdish region's president, Massud Barzani, has called some efforts
and quotes him stating, "After the long talks we held it was clear for
us that what happened on July 22 was a big conspiracy and very
dangerous for the democratic and constitutional process of Iraq, in
particular against the Kurds." From the July 22nd snapshot: Waleed Ibrahim (Reuters) reports
today on "a walkout by Kurdish lawmakers over how to deal with the
disputed oil city of Kirkuk" with regards to the supposedly upcoming
provincial elections and quotes Khalid al-Attiya (Deputy Parliamentary
Speaker) stating, "We cannot have a vote with an absence of a whole
faction. The vote is useless. It will be rejected by the
represenatives of this bloc and by the presidency council." CNN notes
the makeup of the presidency council: Jalal Talabani (President, Kurd),
Tariq al-Hsahimi (Vice President, Sunni) and Adel Abdul Mahdi (Vice
President, Shi'ite) and adds, "Many observers believe Talabani would
stand with his Kurdish compatriots and vote against the measure,
bringing it back to square one." Kurdish MP Mahmoud Othman is quoted by AP stating,
"The draft of the provinical elections law will be referred to the
presidential council, which will definitely not approve it. So the
elections will be postponed until next year." If
the president of the Kurdish region is upset, you can take that to mean
the issue is far from resolved. So it should come as no surprise that
today's meeting resulted in nothing. The Iraqi Parliament closed
session for the summer last Wednesday (yes, they did Campbell
Roberston). They scheduled one special session for Sunday. At that
session, nothing was accomplished. Nothing was accomplished yesterday
and nothing was accomplished today. Hurriyet notes
of Sunday: "A vote had been planned for Sunday but it was scrapped when
lawmakers failed to agree on how the elections would affect Kirkuk,
which minority Kurds want to make part of their semi-autonomous
northern region. Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader
Devlet Bahceli called on the country's ruling Justice and Development
Party (AKP) in a written statement to warn Iraqi Kurdish groups in
Kirkuk more openly and take the necessary measures in order to protect
Turkmen's rights. Turkey, who has historical ties with Kirkuk, has
been monitoring the situation very closely and calls on all parties to
reach consensus for a solution." At the US State Dept yesterday,
Gallegos was asked about Recep Erdogan (Turkey's Prime Minister)
speaking to Jalal Talabani (Iraq's President) to express concern over
Kirkuk being annexed into the Kurdish region and Gallegos responded, "I
think we said something about that last week, I believe. And our
position is that we believe that this -- now is not the time to be
making such a decision. We believe that the parties need to leave
themselves open to all appropriate or -- all options in order to come
to an understanding so that they can proceed with provincial elections
this fall." Strange wasn't it? How the United
Nations pitched to Iraq just what the US favored? As Hurriyet noted,
"Iraqi political leaders reached a tentative compromise on Monday" and
were due to debate it again today. UPI explains,
"The Iraqi Parliament adjourned its Tuesday session without reaching an
agreement on provisions in the election law regarding the status of the
city of Kirkuk. Shahied al-Jaberi with the Shiite United Iraqi
Alliance said lawmakers opted to postpone the issue until the Wednesday
session because lawmakers could not agree on the Kirkuk issue, Voices
of Iraq reported." They also note Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, Parliamentary
Speaker, even arranged for the time alloted for debate to be extended
but that resulted in nothing as well. Iran's Press TV reveals that, should the measure pass, "Elections in Kirkuk would also be postponed until no later than December 2009." BBC reports that "a Turkmen representative, said a delay [in Kirkuk voting] was unacceptable." China's Xinhua quotes
Parliament's Deputy Speaker Khalid al-Attiyah, "The parliament session
to approve the provincial election law has been delayed until
tomorrow." Ned Parker Said Riifai (Los Angeles Times) point out,
"The deadlock also prevented a vote by parliament on a $21-billion
supplemental budget. The crisis has marked the first time that
elements of one of the most prominent Shiite Muslim parties, the
Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, have broken with the Kurds, their
traditional allies." *
British intelligence (specifically M16) was informed that Iraq had no
WMD in January 2003, that then Prime Minister Tony Blair was informed
of that and that Poodle Blair passed it on to Bully Boy. *That
the CIA was ordered by the White House to create a forgery "from the
head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Huseein" in order to falsely tie
Iraq to 9-11. Bill Plante (CBS News -- link has text and video) reports:
"The book alleges that Habbush, Saddam's intelligence chief, was in CIA
protective custody after the 2003 invasion, that the White House
ordered CIA officials to have [Tahir Jalil] Habbush [al-Tikriti] write
and backdate the letter, and paid him $5 million. The author quotes two
former CIA officials who claim to have seen a draft of the letter on
White House stationery." Interestingly (but not surprisingly) the Guardian of London is AVOIDING this story. That's only a surprise for anyone that confuses that RAT-TRAP with actual journalism. The Guardian sold the illegal war in England. When the Times of London exposed the Downing Street Memos, the Guardian refused to cover it. The Guardian is
the DLC party organ in England. It is not journalism, it is not a
newspaper. You have MPs in England saying that there needs to be an
investigation and you have . . . silence from the Guardian. Never confuse that outlet with journalism. Ali al-Mashhadani is a real journalist practicing real journalism. As noted in the July 31st snapshot, he is being imprisoned by the US military with no charges against him. The Committee to Protect Journalists has released a statement: U.S.
military authorities should present charges against a Reuters cameraman
detained since last Tuesday, or they should release him immediately,
the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. [. . .] A
spokeswoman for the Multi-National Forces-Iraq told CPJ that
al-Mashhadani was detained because he posed a security risk and that
his case would be reviewed within a seven-day period that began on July
29. "This is the third
time U.S. forces have detained Ali al-Mashhadani without charge," said
CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "The military has never
substantiated any wrongdoing by him. The authorities must make evidence
against him public or release him immediately." Turning to some of today's reported violence . . . Bombings? Shootings? Corpses? Turning to the Undead -- it's got to be the only reason he's still around. Aging boy-toy Hank Kissinger shows up in the Khaleej Times to dish
-- and with nary a starlet around. Kissinger who sold and re-sold an
earlier illegal war sometimes makes sense -- sometimes that's insane
sense, sometimes . . . Today he declares of withdrawals from Iraq, " Under
the fixed withdrawal scheme, combat troops are to be withdrawn, but
sufficient forces are to remain to protect the American Embassy, fight
a resumption of Al Qaeda and contribute to the defence against outside
intervention. But such tasks require combat, not support forces, and
the foreseeable controversy about the elusive distinction will distract
from the overall diplomatic goal." Yes, he has noted the
problem. Those are combat troops whether you call them "combat" or
something else. Where he's wrong is when he claims that there's no
need for a fixed withdrawal. (Mass killings are and have always been
Viagra for Hank.) But that's the reality of Barack's plan that
supposed 'peace' 'leaders' don't want to face. It's not withdrawal.
It was never withdrawal. Maybe with Kissinger pointing it out, it will
finally register. In other news of presumed Democratic presidential
nominee and presumed narcissist Barack Obama, US News & World Reports offers an exhuastive round-up of the reaction to his latest cave A widely-distributed AP
story also says Obama's proposal "includes two significant reversals of
positions he has taken in the past," noting that "as recently as last
month" he "argued against tapping into the petroleum reserve," while USA Today reports Obama's proposals include "two reversals of positions he has taken in the past." A widely-syndicated McClatchy
pieces is titled, "In Another Switch, Obama Calls For Tapping U.S. Oil
Reserve," and says "Obama's revised position on a key energy issue was
his second shift in three days." Likewise, the New York Times titles its piece, "Obama, In Shift, Urges Tapping Oil From U.S. Reserve."
However, the Wall Street Journal
reports that Obama aides defended the move, saying Obama "had met with
economic advisers and business leaders in Washington last week, and
they had advised him to call for tapping the government reserve." The New York Daily News
adds, "Team Obama cast the proposal as a 'refinement,' rather than a
flip-flop, on Obama's previous opposition to tapping the 770-million
barrel reserve."In an editorial, the San Francisco Chronicle says that Sen. Obama's "energy policy is offering more flip flops than a Lake Tahoe souvenir stand." The New York Post
editorializes, "One more week, one more Barack Obama reversal on a key
issue. Actually, make that two reversals. ... So much for principles." Turning to independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader. As Ruth pointed out yesterday, " AP reports today that Mr. Nader's campaign will turn in signatures tomorrow to qualify for South Dakota's ballot. Lebanon Daily News reports
that Mr. Nader should be on Pennsylvania's ballot because the campaign
has collected 24,666 signatures (the deadline is Friday). Jesse A. Hamilton (Hartford Courant) reports
that the Nader-Gonzalez ticket picked up the nomination of California's
Peace and Freedom Party ('carrying with it an automatic slot on the
California election ballot') and contains this statement from the Nader
campaign, 'There can no longer be any justification -- if there ever
was -- for Ralph Nader not being included in every national poll'." Foon Rhee (Boston Globe) noted the Nader campaign's plans for the week includes garnering "the November ballots of seven states". Tim Carpenter (Capitol-Journal) reports that "Kansas is the 22nd state in which Nader's forces filed papers since his campaign began in February." Richard Winger (Ballot Access News) reports Nader is now on the ballot in Michigan. AP notes the campaign plans to file for the ballot today in South Dakota. Meanwhile John Geluardi (San Francisco Weekly) covers
the College of Marin campaign stop Sunday by Nader and running
mate Matt Gonzalez with Gonzalez asking the large crowd assembled, "How
is he [Barack] going to 'change' the culture of Washington if he can't
stand up to those corporations?" Nader's remarks included, "We now
grow up corporate. When you start looking at ads when you're two,
three, four years old, pretty soon the world is Madison Avenue. Then
in college it's computer skills, computer skill, computer skills. What
about civic skills? Young people think they live in a Democracy
because they can vote for American Idol." Only two days left in our Win Dinner with Ralph E-mail Contest. Many thousands of you have signed on. And a select few of you are competing for the grand prize of a dinner with Ralph. This morning, Ramy Mousa from Baton Rouge, Louisiana tops the leader board with 263 friends that have joined our network. But many more thousands of you haven't even played. So, we'd like you to try it. You bring us the e-mails of your friends, neighbors and countrymen. We
feed them up-to-the minute breaking news about the two corporate
candidates - Obama and McCain - and the growing challenge by Nader and
Gonzalez. Nader/Gonzalez is an unconventional campaign, in many ways. One, there is no national convention. We're running as independents. Two, we have a broad range of support. Take Iggy Pup here, for example. We asked Iggy. Iggy, who ya going vote for? Iggy,
being on our e-mail list, knew that Nader/Gonzalez would shift the
power from the corporations back into the hands of the people. Check out Iggy's answer in this just released Nader/Gonzalez video. But it's not enough for Iggy to be plugged in. Or for you to be plugged in. We have to spread the word far and wide. And one way to do it is to build our network of supporters. Just
bring us five new e-mails, and you can be part of a special invite-only
conference phone call with Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez.
But you have to get going. The contest ends the day after tomorrow - Thursday August 7 - at 11:59 PM on the West coast. But most importantly, you'll be helping us spread the word. About the candidacy that will stand up to the two corporate parties in November. So, help us out - find five people right now that will join our network of supporters. Click here to get started. If you are already in the game, thank you. Find more friends and family and colleagues, and watch yourself move on up. We'll be announcing the winners in a week or so. Thank you for joining. Together, we are making a difference. Onward. |
Posted at 03:05 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
We're going to start with Ali al-Mashhadani. Dropping back to the July 31st snapshot: Meanwhile, AP reports that journalist Ali al-Mashhadani is being held by the US military at Camp Cropper. al-Mashhadani works for Reuters, BBC and NPR. Dean Yates (Reuters) reports
that (as usual) no charges have been brought against Ali and quotes
David Schlesinger (Reuters Editor-in-Chief) explaining, "Any
accusations against a journalist should be aired publicly and dealt
with fairly and swiftly, with the journalist having the right to
counsel and present a defense." The Committee to Protect Journalists has released a statement: U.S.
military authorities should present charges against a Reuters cameraman
detained since last Tuesday, or they should release him immediately,
the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.[. . .]A
spokeswoman for the Multi-National Forces-Iraq told CPJ that
al-Mashhadani was detained because he posed a security risk and that
his case would be reviewed within a seven-day period that began on July
29."This is the third time
U.S. forces have detained Ali al-Mashhadani without charge," said CPJ
Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "The military has never substantiated
any wrongdoing by him. The authorities must make evidence against him
public or release him immediately."Reuters violence wrap up this morning includes
violence today and yesterday: Sheikh Ibrahim al-Karbouli ("Awakening"
Council leader) was killed last night in a home invasion in Baghdad, 1
Baghdad roadside bombing today left six people wounded, 3 people were
shot dead in Kirkuk by "Awakening" Council members, 1 corpse was found
in Mosul (today) and a child's corpse was found in Mosul yesterday
while 2 corpses were fished out a river ("handcuffed") and a third was
"near the river." Moving over to the US presidential race, and we'll start with a reminder, Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts " Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels" went up Sunday and notes yet another cave from St. Barack.  US News and World Reports' " CAMPAIGN NEWS" focuses on some of the media reactions to Barack's latest cave: A widely-distributed AP
story also says Obama's proposal "includes two significant reversals of
positions he has taken in the past," noting that "as recently as last
month" he "argued against tapping into the petroleum reserve," while USA Today reports Obama's proposals include "two reversals of positions he has taken in the past." A widely-syndicated McClatchy
pieces is titled, "In Another Switch, Obama Calls For Tapping U.S. Oil
Reserve," and says "Obama's revised position on a key energy issue was
his second shift in three days." Likewise, the New York Times titles its piece, "Obama, In Shift, Urges Tapping Oil From U.S. Reserve."
However, the Wall Street Journal
reports that Obama aides defended the move, saying Obama "had met with
economic advisers and business leaders in Washington last week, and
they had advised him to call for tapping the government reserve." The New York Daily News
adds, "Team Obama cast the proposal as a 'refinement,' rather than a
flip-flop, on Obama's previous opposition to tapping the 770-million
barrel reserve."
In an editorial, the San Francisco Chronicle says that Sen. Obama's "energy policy is offering more flip flops than a Lake Tahoe souvenir stand." The New York Post
editorializes, "One more week, one more Barack Obama reversal on a key
issue. Actually, make that two reversals. ... So much for principles."
Free Speech Radio News
had an audio report on the issue (don't go by their text which makes
the story seem much weaker than it actually was). Turning to
independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, Tim Carpenter (Capitol-Journal) reports on Nader's filing to be on the ballot in Kansas:
Kansas is the 22nd state in which Nader's forces filed papers since his campaign began in February.
"Today's
turn-in takes the campaign one step closer to reaching its goal," said
Matthew Bruenig, a University of Oklahoma student who helped coordinate
the signature drive.
To
qualify for Kansas' ballot, state law mandates signatures from 5,000
registered voters. About 10,050 signatures were submitted to the Kansas
secretary of state's office, said David Peyton, a Milwaukee high school
teacher and Nader volunteer.
John Geluardi (San Francisco Weekly) covers the Nader and running mate Matt Gonzalez' campaign stop Sunday night:
At
a Sunday night campaign rally at the College of Marin, Gonzalez warmed
up the crowd of 200, which included actor Sean Penn, by bashing Barrack Obama's voting record
on the re-authorization of the Patriot Act, immunity for
telecommunications companies that spy on American citizens and class
action reform that has made it harder for workers to bring wage-an-hour
suits against mega companies like Wal-Mart.
Gonzalez
challenged Obama's vote to turn over public lands to multinational
mining companies who make millions while paying next to nothing for
mineral rights. "How is he going to 'change' the culture of Washington
if he can’t stand up to these corporations," Gonzalez says taking a jab
at Obama's campaign theme.
Nader
took the podium to a standing applause and broadened out the attack to
include the entire Democratic Party, media pundits and, of course,
corporations. He took aim at pervasive corporate influence that is
spread through advertising and the American education system.
"We
now grow up corporate. When you start looking at ads when you're two,
three, four years old, pretty soon the world is Madison Avenue," Nader
says. "Then in college it's computer skills, computer skill, computer
skills. What about civic skills? Young people think they live in a
Democracy because they can vote for American Idol."
Richard Winger (Ballot Access News) reports Nader is now on the ballot in Michigan. AP notes the campaign plans to file for the ballot today in South Dakota. And the Nader campaign notes Alaska ballot access is sought today:
Nader/Gonzalez Campaign To Submit More Than 5,000 Signatures To Secure Alaska Ballot Line News Advisory FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: (Washington) Chris Driscoll, 202,360,3273, chris@votenader.org
(Alaska) Sam Dunham, Alaska Campaign Chair, 907-720-6446
NADER/GONZALEZ CAMPAIGN TO SUBMIT MORE THAN 5,000 SIGNATURES TO SECURE ALASKA BALLOT LINE WHO: Alaska Supporters of Ralph Nader
WHAT: Turn in of ballot petitions
WHEN: 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, August 5
WHERE:
Alaska Division of Elections, 2525 Gambell St. Suite 100, Anchorage, AK
99503 (across from the Fireweed Theater). A news conference will follow
the petition turn-in.
Alaskan supporters of Independent
Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader will turn in more than 5,000
petition signatures to the Division of Elections Tuesday. The required
number of signatures is 3,128.
In 2000 the celebrated consumer
advocate won three precincts in Alaska (Haines, Girdwood, and
Talkeetna) and earned over 10 percent the vote. In this historic and
pivotal election, Alaskans can now vote for a candidate who continues
to fight against the special interest groups and multi-national
corporations.
Mr. Nader is at 6 percent in the latest CNN poll.
There can no longer be any justification -- if there ever was -- for
Mr. Nader not being included in every national poll. For more information, visit: VoteNader.org -End- ShareThisShareThis Lewis notes this from Team Nader:
Biggest Ballot Week for Nader/Gonzalez  This is a biggest ballot access week of the campaign to date for Nader/Gonzalez.
With the addition of California on Saturday, we're currently at 23
states with seven to go to meet our goal of 30 states by the end of the
week -- on our way to 45 states by September 20. This is what we need today: We need more roadtrippers to collect signatures to put Nader/Gonzalez on the ballot. Optimum
profile for a Roadtripper for Ralph -- energetic, youthful spirit,
personable, fun loving, adventure seeking, democracy warrior. If
you can commit a week or more to get Ralph on the ballot in the
Mountain West, the South, the Midwest, and the East Coast, contact mark@votenader.org.
This week, we'll be turning in signatures in Maryland, Kansas, South
Dakota, Alaska, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Iowa -- to put us at 30
by the end of the week. We're halfway to our goal of $100,000 by August 10 to fund this 30 state drive. So, please, donate now whatever you can afford $20, $50, $100 -- let's get it done this week. Finally, two more installments to the Obama Flip Flop Watch: Number one: On
May 4, Obama told Tim Russert on Meet the Press that he was willing to
debate with "any of my opponents about what this country means, what
makes it great." But on Saturday, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe backed off, saying that Obama would debate only Senator McCain and only in the three rigged debates sponsored by the two parties and paid for by major corporations. Number two: Prior to last week, Obama said he was opposed to offshore oil drilling. Last week, he said he was okay with it. As
we move toward November, and as Obama reveals himself to be the
corporate candidate that he is, a significant portion of the American
electorate will demand an alternative. That's why it is so important to put Nader/Gonzalez on the ballot in as many states as possible. And that is the important ground work we are completing now. Come September, we will be in a position to demand open debates. And
present the American people with a viable candidacy that will shift the
power from the corporations back into the hands of the American people.
If we meet our goal. So, please, donate now, whatever you can. And help push us toward our goal of $100,000 by the end of the week. Together, we will make a difference. Onward to November. The Nader Team ShareThisShareThis
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraq u.s. news & world reports tim carpenter john geluardi richard winger free speech radio newsthe world today just nuts
Posted at 07:11 am by thecommonills
Permalink
Two
U.S. soldiers died in a roadside bombing in eastern Baghdad on Monday,
and Iraq's government once more failed to hold a vote on a crucial law
that would allow provincial elections this year.The
bomb struck the U.S. troops' vehicle at 9:30 a.m., and left another
soldier wounded, the military said in a statement. The deaths raised
U.S. military fatalities in the Iraq war since March 2003 to 4,131,
according to the independent website icasualties.org.The above is from Ned Parker and Said Rifai's " Roadside bomb kills 2 U.S. soldiers in Baghdad" ( Los Angeles Times) two who do their job. Sudarsan Raghavan's " Two U.S. Soldiers Killed in Baghdad Bombings" ( Washington Post)
demonstrates he showed up as well: "Roadside bombs killed two American
soldiers and wounded a third Monday as their patrol drove through
eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said." The New York Times? After offering nothing on Iraq Sunday and Monday offer . . . not a whole lot. Campbell Robertson's " Proposal May End Stalemate on Iraqi Provincial Elections"
is hopefully a heavily edited because it's hard to believe something so
confused and confusing didn't have interference from somewhere in the
chain. First, the story needs a dateline. At times it appears it was
filed early Tuesday morning (Tuesday morning in Iraq). That would also
explain how Robertson could argue that the day reporting was on was "a
third day of intense negotiations" over provincial elections. The whole
thing's so butchered it's not worth reading. Because the paper is back
to selling the illegal war (you didn't notice?) there's nothing about
the deaths of US soldiers on Monday (that's five since Saturday according to ICCC)
and there's nothing about any of the violence that's been ongoing in
Iraq. It's just a bunch of garbage that you can't sort through even if
you cut it apart, treated it like a jigsaw puzzle and tried to make
something of it. (It is really hard to believe Robertson is responsible
for that. This has all the marks of a butchering from higher up the
chain.) So the UN has made a proposal ("late Monday night") which is
Kirkuk bee tabled. Wow. That's a new thought. Oh, wait, it isn't. But
it's thought that might (or might not) allow provincial elections to
take place. Parker and Ritai (clearly reporting on Monday)
inform, "Iraq's parliament did not meet for a second straight day as a
stalemate continued over legislation that would permit provincial
elections this year, which U.S. officials think could help cement
recent security gains in Iraq." If you bother to read the New York Times
article, you'll assume Robertson was butchered from outside Iraq.
Parker and Ritai can be wrong (anyone can) but on something as basic as
that, they generally know their facts. The New York Times
article appears edited and rewritten by someone who either didn't know
the facts or didn't care. And NPR is saying right now that Massud
Barzani (president of the Kurdish region) is insisting the UN proposal
is "a conspiracy." Ironically, while the main section continues the 2008 approach of selling the illegal war, an article on the revival of Hair
contains more honesty about Iraq than you'll likely see on Iraq in the
paper until 2009. (Please note, the columnists are worthless and have
made themselves so smart people will write off the entire main section
of the paper.) So read Patricia Cohen's " 'Hair' Revival: A Time Warp for Tears and Fun" and skip the rest of the paper (including the guest column by the Brookings crazies). Nolanda highlights this from Team Nader: News Flash: Nader/Gonzalez on the Ballot in California  Drop a two dollar bill on a winner. That would be Nader/Gonzalez. Why?
We're celebrating again. Just now - on Saturday, August 2, today, at 5:10 p.m. PST. In Sacramento, California. The statewide convention of the Peace and Freedom Party chose Ralph Nader to be its candidate for President. And Matt Gonzalez to be its candidate for Vice President. Nader/Gonzalez is on the ballot in California. Thank you Peace and Freedom delegates. With California, we're now on 21 state ballots. On our way to 30 states by August 10. And 45 states by September 20. The Peace and Freedom ballot line ensures that the Nader/Gonzalez campaign will be a national one. Securing
the California ballot line is a huge victory for Nader/Gonzalez and
will give millions of Californians the opportunity to vote for a
candidacy that will shift the power from the corporations back into the
hands of the people. (In 2000, 418,707 Californians voted for
Nader/LaDuke--representing nearly 15 percent of our national vote total
that year.)  Blocked
out by the mainstream media, we've still polled five percent and above
in four separate polls this year - including the most recent CNN poll
this week putting Nader at six percent. Again, thank you Peace and Freedom delegates. Together, we will make a difference. Onward to November. The Nader Team P.S. Remember, only one day left on the Chris Hedges three book offer. For a donation of $200
or more to Nader/Gonzalez by Sunday August 3 at midnight, we'll ship to
you three anti-war books by former New York Times reporter and current
Nader supporter Chris Hedges - Collateral Damage, What Every Person
Should Know About War, and War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning. ShareThisShareThis The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraq the washington post sudarsan raghavan said rifai the los angeles times ned parker campbell robertson the new york times patricia cohen
Posted at 07:09 am by thecommonills
Permalink
Monday, August 04, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, provincial elections do not appear likely in October, the US military announces multiple deaths, a Sunday Baghdad press conference reveals several Iraqi medical crisis, Nader gets on the ballot in California and more.
Starting with war resistance. 26-year-old Darrell Anderson, of Lexinton, Kenutcky, is an Iraq War veteran -- and a decorated one with a Purple Heart. Serving in the Iraq War drove hom that it was an illegal war, he decided to self-checkout. He went to Canada. He married in Canada. He went through the process of attempting to receive refugee status as so many have. Then he decided to return to the US and turn himself in at Fort Knox. He stated that his work opposing the illegal war was a way to "make up for things I did in Iraq; I feel I made up for the sins I committed in this war." Due to the fact that the process largely followed what had been outlined ahead of time, other war resisters in Canada were considering it until Kyle Snyder attempted to return shortly after and found out he was yet again lied to. After being discharged, Anderson has continued to speak out and is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. (He was present to show support for Lt. Ehren Watada in the court-martial that wasn't. Watada, all this time later, has still not been released from the service even though his service contract expired in December 2006, two months prior to his court-martial.) Anita Anderson, his mother, has also remained active and, most recently, was giving support to Helen Burmeister, mother of US war resister James Burmeister who exposed the kill-teams in Iraq. As noted in the Julsy 17th snapshot, Darrell Anderson continues speaking up and supporting other war resisers: Chris Kenning (Courier-Journal) reported on Helen Burmeister's efforts and spoke with US war resister Darrell Anderson who also went to Canada. Anderson returned September 30, 2006 to turn himself in October 3rd. Like Burmeister, he suffers from PTSD and he also lost his benefits. He told Kenning, "It wasn't the easy choice, it was the hard choice. I lost my GI Bill, my veteran's benefits . . . but I did what's right, and I've still got my pride."
Anderson has gone through it all and continues to give and share with other war resisters. The illegal war hasn't ended and Darrell hasn't stopped fighting it. His story would not have ended in 2006 even if he had decided to pretend the illegal war wasn't taking place. He was already a part of history -- a high point of history -- and he's taken his experiences and his knowledge to share with others in the need. On Saturday Freeople noted a speech he gave last year:
I joined in '03," 'cause I was broke, I needed money, but I was a young American kid, I wanted to fight in a war. I joined up. [A] month out of training I arrived in Baghdad, Iraq, January '04. Saddam's been captured. And I get there and the guys I'm serving with have been there for six months already; they were there in '03. And I go, "Well, you know what, I think it's come out that, you know, these people had nothing to do with 9/11, there was no Iraqi on those planes. We can see around here there's no Al Qaida, there's no terrorist syndicates in Baghdad, or Iraq. Saddam had stamped 'em out." And I asked my buddies, "Well, you know, we're here to find 'weapons of mass destruction'." And they laughed at me. And I said, "Well, you know, we're here to 'help the people.'" And they laughed at me. And I said, "What's our mission? What's our goal?"...They're like, "All we're trying to do is make it home alive..." [. . .] In April, they told us, "In a crowded area, if one person shoots at you, kill everybody." [. . .] They [members of the crowd of people] are letting them [the person or persons firing at the U.S. military] attack you. They're no longer innocent if they're there at the time of the crime . . .
War resisters are doing their part to end the illegal war and war resisters in Canada need your help. To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Sunday in Baghdad a press conference took place on the state of health care in Iraq. Iraqis participating were Dr. Essan Namiq (Deputy Minister of Health for Grants and Loans) and Dr. Kahmees al-Sa'ad (Administrative Deputy Minister of Health). For some reason, a medical press conference required the participation of two American generals. We learned that, unlike the United States, Iraq has some form of universal health care (Dr. Essame: "Frankly, Ministry of Health has a heavy weight on the budget of the state for offering free treatment inside Iraq, for sending the patients outside Iraq. Very heavy budget that's affecting the budget of the state. There is no neighboring countries, or all over the world any country . . . there is not country like us that offers free treatment." ). Diyala Province has a shortage of medications (Dr. Essam: ". . . yeah, maybe we are facing a shortage") and there is a serious issue with the limited medications in Baghdad being smuggled out of the medical environments onto the black market (Dr. Essam stated that "we expect to see such problems" and "hope" that a plan to address the problem will emerge at some point by "the end of 2008 to 2009"). In addition there have been problems with "spoiled blood" -- which Maj Gen Mohammed al-Askari (press spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense) intentionally avoided in his response. This was pinned on the people coming into Iraq. Though Iraq's borders are porous, Dr. Essam put forward the laughable claim that anyone crossing the border into Iraq is "going to be tested. This is especially in HIV. The . . . once the passport has been stamped, the person is being tested." Not only did al-Askari avoid that specific issue, he grabbed that question that was tossed to Dr. Essam. July ended and the press gave rah-rah coverage in their end of the month reports when the reality is that the medical conditions in Iraq are a nightmare. For example, Dr. Essam admitted that they did not have the necessary prosthetics for patients who have limbs amputated. Shortages of medication, shortages of prosthetics, shortage of beds and, yes, shortage of medical staff. Dr. Essam floated the laughable claim that "many" Iraqi doctors were about to return to the country -- any day now! -- and when pressed on it, put foward the dubious claim that "more than 80% of the Iraqi doctors, and even in the deterioration of the security situation, they were here in Iraq and working. It is a fact." No, it is not. They were among the first to flee, long before there was a refugee crisis. It was part of the 'brain drain' that first hit Iraq. The number fleeing only increased when they became kidnapping targets and were also targeted with violence. Any doctors that do return will neither be housed in the Green Zone, according to Dr. Essam, nor provided with government protection because, he explained, 2008 is not like 2007. It was revealed that nurses were selling medications and Dr. Essam wanted to remind everyone that "it is not within their job description." Asked about the huge increase in cancer rates in Basra and Najaf since the start of the illegal war, Dr. Essam claimed that was true "all over the world, the number of people afflicted with cancer is increasing." The issue of improving the hosptials (beyond exterior work) was raised (and it was noted that Shahad Adnan Hospital has over 13 floors and only two elevators as well as a bed shortage). Dr. Essam responded that, "It is good for their psychological health . . . it is good to take care of the appearance, to see the building a new, clean." Though that's of no comfort to someone climbing over 13 floors of stairs or doing without a hospital bed, Dr. Essan wanted the reporters to know, "We ourselves face problems with elevators." CBS and AP offer an embarrassing (mis)report but they may be the only outlet that covered the press conference. To read their (mis)report is to grasp that the talking point about "doctors returning!" can be teased into several paragraphs with nothing to back it up and that all the very real and serious problems (brought up by reporters at the press conference) can easily be ignored.
From health to homeless, a number of Iraqis are squatters. This situation was encouraged/endorsed by the US government with the White House wanting to privatize everything and willing to endorse state buildings being taken over by squatters. In addition, the Iraqi refugee situation (internal and external) has led to squatting. Today Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) reports on this issue and zooms in Ghania Jassim whose family became squatters after the start of the illegal war and rents soared so they ended up "in the former Iraqi air force headquarters. The family set up a makeshift home in the former Iraqi air force headquarters. There were no government services, sewage ran through the streets and the children's toys were scraps of metal, rubble and garbage. Times seemed grim, but now Jassim looks back on those days as carefree. About four years ago, bandits stopped her husband and demanded his car, his most valuable possession. He refused, and he paid with his life." She is now the sole support for her family and makes her living off the black market -- makes her living as in: barely survives. New troubles have emerged because she and her family were "ordered" to leave. The family now goes house to house between family and friends and Ghania "and her five children sleep in a different place almost every night." Ghania and the many others see no improvement in their lives . . . and Nouri al-Maliki sits on millions. Day after day.
Staying with the political front, Iraq's Parliament ended their session Wednesday. They are now on summer break. Sunday they scheduled a special session that was to address provincial elections which were supposed to take place in October. The always postponed provincial elections ended up postponed yet again when a vote was pushed through (the Kurdish bloc walked out) that brought issues regarding oil-rich Kirkuk into the mix. The bill passed; however, it was shot down by the presidential council (made up of Iraq's president and two vice-presidents). Leila Fadel and Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) report that the special session resulted in no actions: Despite intense U.S. pressure, Iraqi legislators Sunday failed to reach an agreement to solve an increasingly bitter dispute over the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk. . . . The parliament's inability to resolve the dispute over the city mirrors Iraqi political leaders' inability to make progress on other fronts, including constitutional amendments and the passage of a law governing the distribution of the country's oil revenues, despite the recent improvements in security." Sudarsan Raghavan and Qais Mizher (Washington Post) note the special session was "to vote for the second time on the elections bill, which must be approved before elections can be held in the country's 18 provinces. But the session never convened, because Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen lawmakers were unable to reach an agreement on Kirkuk, where their respective ethnic groups are locked in a struggle for land and resources." They also note that Bully Boy of the US got on the phone yesterday to Mahmoud al-Mashhadani (Speaker of Parliament) and Adel Abdul Mahdi (one of Iraq's two vice-presidents). Ned Parker and Caesar Ahmed (Los Angeles Times) point out, "U.S. officials believe the elections, initially scheduled for October, are necessary for Iraq's long-term stability. Sunni Arabs, formerly the country's elite, boycotted the last such elections, in January 2005, leading to the creation of provincial councils dominated by Shiite Muslims and Kurds. The absence of Sunni Muslims from local government helped strengthen the Sunni-led insurgency across central and northern Iraq. . . . The stalemate emphasized the fissurges and entrenched positions among Arabs, Turkmens and Kurds in northern Iraq, which often threatens to spill over into violence." Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) notes a Baghdad roadside bombing claimed 2 lives and left fifteen wounded, another Baghdad roadside bombing left two police officers wounded, a Mosual car bombing that left four police officers wounded and a Mosul bombing that was "targeting the convoy of Khisro Koran, the deputy of Mosul governor" which claimed the life of 1 bodyguard and left six more injured. Reuters notes one Baghdad car bombing claimed 10 lives ("including three policemen") and left thirty-eight injured while another claimed 4 lives and left six more wounded while a Baghdad minibus bombing claimed 1 life and left seven injured, a Hilla bombing that claimed 1 life and left two people (family members of the deceased) injured.
Shooting?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) notes an armed clash in Nineveh Province that left 2 people dead. Reuters notes 1 person shot dead in Hawija, 1 attorney was shot dead outside of Hillar and, dropping back to Sunday, 1 police officer was shot dead in Iskandariya, while 1 civilian was shot dead in Iskandariya in a separate incident which also left his wife injured..
Corpses?
Sunday the US military announced: "A Coalition force Soldier was killed and one was injured a result of a vehicle accident southwest of Baghdad Aug. 2. The injured Soldier was transported to a nearby combat support hospital in Baghdad." And they made this announcement: "A Coalition force Soldier died in the vicinity of Forward Operating Base Grizzly as a result of a non-battle death incident August 2. Two Soldiers were also injured as a result of the non-battle death incident." Today the US military announced: "Two U.S. Soldiers were killed and another wounded after an improvised explosive device struck their patrol in eastern Baghdad at approximately 9:30 a.m. Aug. 4."
Turning to the US presidential race. Barack Obama, presumed Democratic presidential nominee, has caved again. Now he likes off-shore drilling and sings the joys of compromise. His latest cave made it a busy day for Amy Goodman who returned to her duties as Chief Cover-Up Artist For Barack. Remember she only plays like she's a journalist. Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate and he is now on the California ballot. Sharat G. Lin (Bay Area Indymedia) reports he won the Peace and Freedom Party's nomination on Saturday by "a majority of the delegate votes on the first ballot in a four-way contest . . . Nader and Gonzalez promised at the convention to use their national campaign to boost the Peace and Freedom Party in qualifying for ballots in many other states. Nader is already said to be polling the support of 6 per cent of the nationwide electorate." Peter Hecht (The Sacramento Bee) reports that the nomination took place "in a packed, sweaty room at the Hawthorn Suites" and that Nader's speech included criticism of the "Democrats and Republicans alike for condoning sustained war, abusing workers and neglecting families. . . . He prevailed after firing up the crowd with an indictment of the Democratic and Republican parties for supporting 'a state of perpetual war.' He vowed to fight for a workers' bill of rights and stand up against 'systems of cruel and brutal globalization'." John Lyon's " Nader Campaign Submits Signatures For Ballot Spot" (Arkansas' Times Record) reports that 2,000 signatures were turned into the Arkansas Secretary of State's office Friday which should get Ralph Nader's name on the ballot and quotes the Nader Team's "regional coordinator for the South," David Peyton declaring, "The people of Arkansas were exceptionally willing to participate in the Democratic process and welcomed our petitioners into their communities from Little Rock to Fayetteville."
This is a biggest ballot access week of the campaign to date for Nader/Gonzalez.
With the addition of California on Saturday, we're currently at 23 states with seven to go to meet our goal of 30 states by the end of the week -- on our way to 45 states by September 20.
This is what we need today:
We need more roadtrippers to collect signatures to put Nader/Gonzalez on the ballot.
Optimum profile for a Roadtripper for Ralph -- energetic, youthful spirit, personable, fun loving, adventure seeking, democracy warrior.
If you can commit a week or more to get Ralph on the ballot in the Mountain West, the South, the Midwest, and the East Coast, contact mark@votenader.org.
This week, we'll be turning in signatures in Maryland, Kansas, South Dakota, Alaska, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Iowa -- to put us at 30 by the end of the week.
We're halfway to our goal of $100,000 by August 10 to fund this 30 state drive.
So, please, donate now whatever you can afford $20, $50, $100 -- let's get it done this week.
Finally, two more installments to the Obama Flip Flop Watch:
Number one:
On May 4, Obama told Tim Russert on Meet the Press that he was willing to debate with "any of my opponents about what this country means, what makes it great."
But on Saturday, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe backed off, saying that Obama would debate only Senator McCain and only in the three rigged debates sponsored by the two parties and paid for by major corporations.
Number two:
Prior to last week, Obama said he was opposed to offshore oil drilling.
Last week, he said he was okay with it.
As we move toward November, and as Obama reveals himself to be the corporate candidate that he is, a significant portion of the American electorate will demand an alternative.
That's why it is so important to put Nader/Gonzalez on the ballot in as many states as possible.
And that is the important ground work we are completing now.
Come September, we will be in a position to demand open debates.
And present the American people with a viable candidacy that will shift the power from the corporations back into the hands of the American people.
If we meet our goal.
And help push us toward our goal of $100,000 by the end of the week.
Together, we will make a difference.
Onward to November.
|
Posted at 04:33 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
Nader campaigns in Las Vegas this morning
In
Victoria, Harper will be welcomed at the Legislature by protesters. The
Harper government has perpetuated or introduced misguided practices, or
actions that violate human rights, that destroy the environment, that
deny social justice and that contribute to war and conflict.Ninety-five
Articles of Condemnation of the Harper government might be passed on to
Harper and figuratively nailed to the Langevin Block of the House of
Commons.The above is from Joan Russow's " Harper in Victoria: Served with Ninety-five Articles of Condemnation" ( Peace, Earth & Justice News) and Harper is Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada and among the ninety-five Articles of Condemnation is this one: (6)
Canada, under the Conservative government, has refused to respect and
act on the majority vote in parliament. For example, on May 8, 2007 two
thirds of Parliament endorsed the majority report from the Standing
Committee on Citizenship and Immigration; this report supported the
request by war resisters to remain in Canada. The Conservative
government will not respect the majority vote in Parliament.This morning independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader will campaign in Nevada: Nader to Campaign in Nevada, Mon. Aug. 4 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: (Washington) Chris Driscoll, 202-360-3273, chris@votenader.org(Las Vegas, Nev.) Tony Booker, 702-810-5314, tbooker@votenader.org NADER TO CAMPAIGN IN NEVADA, MON., AUG. 4
Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader will campaign in Las Vegas Monday, hosting a news conference at 11:45 a.m.
in The Centennial Room at McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant,
The Row at Hughes Center, 335 Hughes Center Drive, Las Vegas, Nev.
89169 (off Flamingo).
Mr. Nader will be joined by Nader/Gonzalez
2008 Campaign supporters in a celebration of the campaign's successful
drive for ballot status that culminated July 3 with the submission of
12,000 signatures to the Nevada Secretary of State, putting the
independent candidates on the Nevada ballot in the November
presidential election.
About Ralph Nader
Celebrated
attorney, author and consumer advocate Ralph Nader has been named by
Time Magazine one of the "100 Most Influential Americans in the 20th
Century". For more than four decades he has exposed problems and
organized millions of citizens into more than 100 public interest
groups advocating solutions. He led the movement to establish the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and
enact the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and countless other pieces of
important consumer legislation. Because of Ralph Nader we drive safer
cars, eat healthier food, breathe better air, drink cleaner water, and
work in safer environments. Nader graduated from Princeton University
and received an LL.B from the Harvard Law School.
About Matt Gonzalez
Matt
Gonzalez was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2000
representing San Francisco's fifth council district. From 2003 to 2005
he served as Board of Supervisors President. A former public defender,
Gonzalez is managing partner of Gonzalez & Leigh, a 7-attorney
practice in San Francisco that represents individuals and organizations
in mediation, arbitration, and administrative proceedings before state
and federal regulatory bodies. Gonzalez graduated from Columbia
University and received a JD from Stanford Law School.
About the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign
According
to a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted from July 27-29, Ralph
Nader is at 6 percent nationally, higher than his highest major poll
numbers during the same time period in 2000 and approaching the 10
percent threshold required for eligibility to participate in "America's
Presidential Debate in New Orleans", Google-sponsored event scheduled
for September 18. In the key swing state of Michigan -- whose voters
were partially disenfranchised by the Democratic National Committee --
an EPIC-MRA poll found Nader at 8-10 percent.
For more information on the Nader/Gonzalez campaign, visit: VoteNader.org. -End-
ShareThisShareThis
Olive notes Ralph Nader makes the news in her country, from " Presidential candidate Nader promotes single-payer health care plan" ( NewsMedical.Net) Presidential
candidate Ralph Nader (I) on Thursday criticized the U.S.'s two-party
political system, which he says has been beholden to corporate
interests that are preventing residents from accessing health care
through a universal health care system, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Nader, who is on the ballot in about 20 states, "heaped criticism on the health care industry," citing an Institute of Medicine
study that found that 18,000 U.S. residents die annually because they
are uninsured. Nader said, "Once we have a low expectation of the
political system and what it should deliver, (the corporation's) work
is done" (Gehrke, Salt Lake Tribune, 8/1).Nader
is on the California ballot. That is called -- pay attention Amy
Goodman and Aileen Alfandary -- NEWS. Barack's birthday? (Or presumed
birthday.) No. Sharat G. Lin's " Ralph Nader Wins Peace and Freedom Party Candidacy for President" ( Bay Area Indymedia) reports: The
Peace and Freedom Party nominated Ralph Nader as its presidential
candidate at the nominating convention of the State Central Committee
on Saturday. Nader won a majority of the delegate votes on the first
ballot in a four-way contest.The
nomination puts Nader and his vice presidential running mate, Matt
Gonzalez, on the ballot in California for the November 4, 2008 general
election. As the most populous state, a Nader-Gonzalez candidacy in
California gives a critical boost to the Nader-Gonzalez ticket
nationwide.Nader and
Gonzalez promised at the convention to use their national campaign to
boost the Peace and Freedom Party in qualifying for ballots in many
other states. Nader is already said to be polling the support of 6 per
cent of the nationwide electorate.Nader
won 46 out of 89 delegate votes cast, beating Gloria La Riva of the
Party for Socialism and Liberation with 27 votes, Brian Moore of the
Socialist Party with 10 votes, and Cynthia McKinney with 6 votes.
McKinney, a former 6-term Democratic congresswoman from Georgia, had
already won the presidential nomination of the Green Party.From Peter Hecht's " Ralph Nader wins spot on California's presidential ballot" ( The Sacramento Bee): But
in a packed, sweaty room at the Hawthorn Suites, Nader emerged as the
champion for "progressive" activists who rallied to send a message to
the two "corporate" parties, lambasting Democrats and Republicans alike
for condoning sustained war, abusing workers and neglecting families.The
Peace and Freedom Party is on the ballot only in California. But Nader
said getting the party's nomination – and a place as a candidate in the
nation's most populous state – provided a critical jump-start to his
bid to qualify for the ballot in as many as 45 states as an independent
or Peace and Freedom candidate.Nader,
who ran for president as an independent in 2004, won the Peace and
Freedom nomination over current Green Party candidate and former
Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney, La Riva and fellow socialist Brian
Moore.He prevailed after
firing up the crowd with an indictment of the Democratic and Republican
parties for supporting "a state of perpetual war." He vowed to fight
for a workers' bill of rights and stand up against "systems of cruel
and brutal globalization." He also pledged to end capital punishment,
joking, "with the exception of the corporate death penalty" for
companies taking advantage of citizens.Nader
faced a tough fight for the nomination from La Riva, a labor activist
and current presidential candidate of the Party for Socialism and
Liberation, who finished second in the balloting. Decrying the economic
woes of Americans, she declared that "capitalism is facing its greatest
crisis since the 1930s" and warned of "the dangers of new imperialist
wars."And John Lyon's " Nader Campaign Submits Signatures For Ballot Spot" (Arkansas' Times Record)
reports that 2,000 signatures were turned into the Arkansas Secretary
of State's office Friday which should get Ralph Nader's name on the
ballot: David Peyton, Nader's
regional coordinator for the South, said the campaign collected the
signatures over five days, using nonprofessional signature-gatherers
who were paid $1 per signature."The
people of Arkansas were exceptionally willing to participate in the
Democratic process and welcomed our petitioners into their communities
from Little Rock to Fayetteville," Peyton said.The
campaign plans to submit petitions in 45 states by mid-September,
Peyton said. Petitions already have been submitted in about 18 states,
he said.Nader will run as a write-in candidate in five states, Peyton said."With
each state ballot achieved, the campaign bolsters the argument for
inclusion within the presidential debates," Peyton said.All
the above is news. How nice for Barack that 'journalists' will think
the trivia that his birthday rolled around qualifies as a headline
while they CONTINUE TO IGNORE actual campaign news. They are not
"alternative." They are rejects who could not work in Real Media -- and
you're seeing the reasons why. Remember that Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts " Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels" went up Sunday. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraq joan russow peter hecht sharat g. lin john lyonthe world today just nuts
Posted at 06:28 am by thecommonills
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4 US soldiers announced since Saturday morning
It's
Monday -- also known as day two with no article filed from Iraq offered
by the New York Times. Rather amazing when you consider the Baghdad
bombings yesterday, the special session the Iraqi Parliament held, the
US military announcements of deaths and the health care issues
acknowledged in a Baghdad press conference staged by the US military.
From the opening of Sudarsan Raghavan and Qais Mizher's " Elections Bill in Iraq Stalls On Kirkuk" ( Washington Post): Iraqi
lawmakers on Sunday failed to settle a dispute over the oil-rich city
of Kirkuk and pass a provincial elections bill viewed as vital for
national reconciliation, despite intense pressure from the United
States and the United Nations.The
political stalemate came as a car exploded in a predominantly Sunni
neighborhood of northern Baghdad, killing 12 and wounding 22, according
to police. Later Sunday, a car bombing in front of a coffee shop in the
southern city of Hilla killed one person and injured 12, police said. Ned Parker and Caesar Ahmed's " Iraq lawmakers again fail to approve election law" ( Los Angeles Times) provides the backstory on the apparently (yet again) postponed provincial elections: U.S. officials believe the elections, initially scheduled for October, are necessary for Iraq's long-term stability.Sunni
Arabs, formerly the country's elite, boycotted the last such elections,
in January 2005, leading to the creation of provincial councils
dominated by Shiite Muslims and Kurds. The absence of Sunni Muslims
from local government helped strengthen the Sunni-led insurgency across
central and northern Iraq.A
similar dynamic played out in Iraq's Shiite south, where anti-Western
cleric Muqtada Sadr's populist Shiite movement skipped the 2005 vote
and then grew angry over its political rivals' dominance in the
southern provinces.The
stalemate emphasized the fissures and entrenched positions among Arabs,
Turkmens and Kurds in northern Iraq, which often threaten to spill over
into violence. Last week, a suicide bomber struck a Kurdish
demonstration in Kirkuk and sparked ethnic riots that along with the
bombing left 25 people dead.We noted Leila Fadel and Sahar Issa's " Battle over oil-rich city threatens to derail Iraqi elections" ( McClatchy Newspapers) on this topic yesterday. Let's move to the US deaths. ICCC's count is off. There were two deaths we noted last night (and linked to the US military's announcement). AP reports:
"The U.S. military also said two American soldiers were killed in
non-combat incidents Saturday — one southwest of Baghdad and another
north of the capital. A total of three soldiers were injured in the two
incidents, the U.S. said." And AP reports
this morning that 2 more are dead from a Baghdad roadside bombing
(which tooks places today) with a third injured. That would be four
announced deaths so far this month and ICCC says three. One Sunday death resulted in two press releases from MN-F so that may be where the confusion stems from. From last night's entry, this is the death they don't seem to be counting currently: The number should be 4129 because ICC does not currently include this announcement
(and show one death for the month of the August): "A Coalition force
Soldier died in the vicinity of Forward Operating Base Grizzly as a
result of a non-battle death incident August 2. Two Soldiers were also
injured as a result of the non-battle death incident. "From Team Nader, Jill notes this: News Flash: Nader/Gonzalez on the Ballot in California Drop a two dollar bill on a winner. That would be Nader/Gonzalez. Why?
We're celebrating again. Just now - on Saturday, August 2, today, at 5:10 p.m. PST. In Sacramento, California. The statewide convention of the Peace and Freedom Party chose Ralph Nader to be its candidate for President. And Matt Gonzalez to be its candidate for Vice President. Nader/Gonzalez is on the ballot in California. Thank you Peace and Freedom delegates. With California, we're now on 21 state ballots. On our way to 30 states by August 10. And 45 states by September 20. The Peace and Freedom ballot line ensures that the Nader/Gonzalez campaign will be a national one. Securing
the California ballot line is a huge victory for Nader/Gonzalez and
will give millions of Californians the opportunity to vote for a
candidacy that will shift the power from the corporations back into the
hands of the people. (In 2000, 418,707 Californians voted for
Nader/LaDuke--representing nearly 15 percent of our national vote total
that year.) Blocked
out by the mainstream media, we've still polled five percent and above
in four separate polls this year - including the most recent CNN poll
this week putting Nader at six percent. Again, thank you Peace and Freedom delegates. Together, we will make a difference. Onward to November. The Nader Team P.S. Remember, only one day left on the Chris Hedges three book offer. For a donation of $200
or more to Nader/Gonzalez by Sunday August 3 at midnight, we'll ship to
you three anti-war books by former New York Times reporter and current
Nader supporter Chris Hedges - Collateral Damage, What Every Person
Should Know About War, and War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning. ShareThisShareThis The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqthe washington postsudarsan raghavan qais mizherthe los angeles times caesar ahmedned parkermcclatchy newspapersleila fadelsahar issa
Posted at 06:27 am by thecommonills
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