 |
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Wednesday,
August 13, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, Miss Iraq calls out the
sex trade, Jeremy Hinzman is told he's leaving, the US military
announces another death leading August's death toll so far to surpass
July's, and more. Yet
the arrival of Iraq War soldiers seeking refuge in Canada didn't sit
well with officials. Army Specialist Jeremy Hinzman's case was the
first to be adjudicated, after he became the first U.S. war resister
ever to apply for refugee status in Canada. The Immigriation and
Refugee Board denied his claim; appeals may drag on for years. While
his case is pending, Canada allows him to stay in the country and
provides him with a temporary work permit. The ruling from the Refugee
Protection Division of CIC insists Hinzman failed to mmake a case that
the Iraq War was illegal: "He has not shown that the U.S. has either as
a matter of deliberate policy or official indiffernce, required or
allowed its combatants to engage in widespread actions in violation of
humanitarian law." A veteran of the U.S.
action in Afghanistan, Hinzman took his wife and baby to Canada when he
received orders at Fort Bragg for a tour of duty in Iraq. "No matter
how much I wanted to, I could not convince myself that killing someone
was right," he said once he surfaced in Toronto. Hinzman had applied
to be discharged as a conscientious objector, requested noncombat
duties, and spent much of his time in Afghanistan performing kitchen
chores. His CO application was rejected after a hearing in
Afghanistan. Back in the States, when his orders for Iraq came,
Hinzman felt he had only two choices: disobey tem and risk prison, or
flee the country. Prison was not an
option. "I have already missed a large chunk of my young son's life
and I was willing to sacrifice any more lost time with him, especially
during his formative years," he said. Canada looked like a good bet,
given its policies toward deserters during the Vietnam War. Hinzman
expressed no regrets about his decision and is convince the Iraq War is
illegal.
"I object to the Iraqi war," he announced, "because it
is an act of aggression with no defensive basis. It has been supported
by pretenses that cannot withstand even elementary scrutiny. First,
before the U.S. dropped the first bomb, it was quite evident that Iraq
had no weapons of mass destruction. Second, the Bush administration
had the gall to exploit the American public's fear of terrorists by
making the absurd assertion that a secular Batthist government was
working with a fundamentalist terrorist group. There was nevery any
intelligence to substantiate this. Third, the notion that the U.S.
wants to export democracy to Iraq is laughable. Democracy is by the
people, not an appointed puppet theater." Peter
Laufer's book was published in 2006 and you might think the shelves
have filled up in the time since but you'd be wrong. A few war
resisters have movingly told their stories in book form and you have
Aimee Allison and David Solnit's wonderful Army Of None but that's really about all. Jeremy became a news topic in May 2004. May 26, 2004 was when CBS News noted,
"A U.S. soldier who deserted his Iraq-bound regiment and sought asylum
in Canada said the U.S. war in Iraq was illegal and he accused the
United States of committing war crimes. Pfc. Jeremy Hinzman, 25, is
believed to be the first U.S. soldier to apply for refugee status in
Canada after refusing combat duty in Iraq." In December of 2004, Jeremy told Scott Pelley (60 Minutes II, CBS),
"I was told in basic training that, if I'm given an illegal or immoral
order, it is my duty to disobey it." As to the myth of 'freedom' being
fought for in Iraq, Hinzman declared, "Whether a country lives under
freedom or tyranny or whatever else, that's the collective
responsibility of the people of that country." The day started with Michael Futch (Fayetteville Observer) reporting
that a decision was expected in Jeremy's status and that Fayetteville
Quaker House director Chuck Fager was at work make signs for a planned
demonstration supporting Hinzman -- "Shame, Canada, shame!" if the news
was bad or "Thanks Canada! Jeremy Hinzman: Soldier of Conscience" if
the news was good. Futch quotes Fager this afternoon explaining,
"This is a very disappointing decision. It puts Canada more fully in
complicity with an illegal and immoral war. Jeremy will probably end
up back here at Fort Bragg. That's usually what happens." Futch also
notes Hinzman and Nga added a daughter to their family in July, "Megan,
who has Canadian citizenship." U.S.
Iraq war resister Jeremy Hinzman was told today that his family's
application to stay in Canada has been rejected. Hinzman was told that
he does not qualify under Canada's Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA)
program following a review by a Citizenship and Immigration department
officer. Jeremy, his wife Nga Nguyen
and their son Liam were the first Iraq War resisters to come to Canada
to seek sanctuary. On July 21, their second child was born in
Toronto. If deported, they would be the first family sent to the U.S.
to face punishment. On July 15, the
Canadian government deported U.S. war resister Robin Long who is
currently awaiting court martial at Fort Carson, Colorado. Hinzman
served a tour in Afghanistan in a non-combat role after applying for
conscientious objector status. When his unit, the 82 Airborne
Division, was to be deployed to Iraq Hinzman and his family decided to
come to Canada. "I applied for
Conscientious Objector Status in the U.S. Army because I realized that
I cannot kill a fellow humna being. But my application was denied. I
knew that in Iraq I would be ordered to take part in combat operations,
or other actions that are against my principles," said Hinzman. "Nga
and I knew Canada had welcomed many Americans like us during the
Vietnam War, and we knew Canada had refused to join the invasion of
Iraq." "Sending Jeremy and his family
back to the U.S., where he would face harsh punishment, would be
cruel," said Lee Zaslofsky, coordinator of the War Resisters Support
Campaign. "It would fly in the face of the motion adopted by the House
of Commons on June 3, which called on the Harper government to stop all
deportation proceedings against these conscientious objectors." Recent
Federal Court of Canada decisions in the case of U.S. war resisters
Joshua Key and Corey Glass have indicated that the refugee process
which failed to grant protection to the Hinzman family may have been
seriously flawed. The War Resisters
Support Campaign is calling on the federal government and the Hon.
Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, to intervene to
prevent the Hinzman family from being sent to the U.S. to be punished. Nick Kyonka (Toronto Star) reports,
"Jeremy Hinzman, 29, had filed for a pre-removal risk assessment and
permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds with
Citizenship and Immigration Canada in January after several prior
failed attempts to gain refugee status. Today he was told that both of
those applications had been rejected and he must leave the country by
Sept. 23." Kyonka quotes Jeremy stating, "Obviously we're disappointed
but life goes on and we'll make the most of it wherever we end up." AP quotes
him stating, "I'm disappointed but I think that every soldier that has
refused to fight in Iraq has done a good thing and I'm not ashamed." Meagan Fitzpatrick (Canwest News Service) adds
that War Resisters Support Campaign's Michelle "Robidoux said Hinzman,
who lives in Toronto with his wife and two children, plans to take a
close look at the decisions before deciding how to proceed." The Canadian Press notes:
"Federal NDP Citizenship and Immigration Critic Olivia Chow, who put
foward the June [3rd Parliament] motion, called the decision [to expell
Jeremy] 'mean spirited.' She called on Citizenship and Immigration
Minister Diane Finley to hald the deporation of Hinzman and other
resisters immediately." Jeremy Hinzman and other war resisters in Canada need support and 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. Crispin Thorold (BBC News) notes
King Abdullah II of Jordan's brief ("symoblic") visit to Iraq on Monday
and notes an estimated 750,000 Iraqi refugees in Jordan and that "these
refugees have an uncertain status. They are referred to as guests, not
refugees and year-long residency permits are hard to obtain. The vast
majority were granted short stays in the country, which since 2005 have
become virtually impossible to renew. Without official paperwork the
refugees are not allowed to work." Meanwhile Suki Falconberg (Women's Space) reports
on Iraqi female refugees in Syrica "are being sold for sex. There is a
large sex trade in young Iraqi girls in the nighclubs of Damascus.
Fourteen-and fifteen-year-olds -- literally girls -- not even women
yet, and even children, are being sold" and quotes Myra Adel, Miss
Iraq, explaining why her pagaent days are done, "They have been great
to me but I will no longer be involved with the Pageant, due to the
fact that I really couldn't take it when I saw all those refugees in
Syria being mistreated . . . seing these people suffer made me ashamed.
. . . I don't deserve to live in a classy apartment while other women
are selling themselves. . . . What kind of sick demented human being
would want to have sex with a 10-year-old?" Falconberg notes: She
says that the "annual government budget in Iraq exceeds 70 billion US
dollars. Where is that money going? Power cuts are long, people get
electricity for only an hour or two a day...water is cut off as well."
She would like to see some of the money going to fund the Iraqi women
and girls in Syria who are so desperate they must sell themselves to
survive. Ms. Adel brings up a great question--to repeat it--where is
the money in Iraq going? Is US and Iraqi corruption, combined, so
overwhelming that a few are getting enormously rich and the majority of
Iraqis are suffering terrible hardships, and in the case of the subject
of this article, the women in prostitution, those hardships mean bodies
and lives that will be nightmares forever from this degradation. Where does the money go? Why is the puppet allowed to sit on so much money? He can spend it on weapons (and does). Today Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) covers
the efforts to build Iraq's air force and notes, "U.S. lawmakers
appropriated $8.5 billion to train and equip Iraq's security forces in
2007 and 2008. Of that sum, roughly $457 million went to the Iraqi air
force." So the US is tossing out more money to prop up the brutal
puppet regime they installed. And who is helping the Iraqi peole? Myra Adel places blame at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees as well. Meanwhile Bernd Debusmann (Reuters) reports
that the tiny US target of accepting 12,000 Iraqi refugees for 2008
will be met by September 30 (end of fiscal year) but "[t]he bad news is
that 12,000 people represent a tiny fraction of the vast exodus of
Iraqis driven from their homes by the violence and ethnic cleansing
unleashed by the 2003 U.S. invasion. Estimates of their number vary.
The widely used figure of 5 million is about one in five. To get that
into context: relative to the size of the population, it would equal
the forced displacement of almost 60 million Americans." This comes as
Zvi Bare'el (Haaretz) reports
that Europe is no longer welcoming Iraqi refugees, "At the end of July,
European countries decided to halt the processing of accepting new
refugees and to postpone until September discussions about those who
submitted their requests for refugee status. The decision does not
stem only from concern over the growth in the number of Iraqis in
Europe and an increase in the 'Muslim element' on the continent, but
primarily against the backdrop of Iraqi Preime Minister Nuri al-Mliki's
request to stop absorbing refugees. Al-Maliki explained to European
heads of state and interior ministers he met with that the situation in
Iraq has improved and Iraq needs its refugees in order to rebuild the
state." What the puppet of the occupation, Nouri, really means is that
the refugee crisis makes it so very hard to sell that "turned corner"
nonsense and launch another wave of Operation Happy Talk. In November,
he preyed on the helpless -- helpless due to his own actions and his
own inactions -- and tried (with the help of the US government) to
jump-start The Myth of the Great Return.
Those refugees were not thrilled and eager to return to Iraq. They had
run out of money, they were bussed in and, upon arriving in Baghdad, a
number immediately were confronted with physical threats. Using the
same techniques as then, this week 250 Iraqis returned. al-Maliki
begged and whined to the Egyptian government that these pesky refugees
were just making him look so very, very bad. Couldn't they do Nouri a
solid? Help a puppet out? The refugees were near broke and that
combined with pressure from the Egyptian government created the
'returnees'. Possibly due to the strong work of Damien Cave and Cara
Buckley (New York Times) when the Myth of the Great Return was still
going on previously, the press was far less eager to hop on boogie
board and ride the latest wave of Operation Happy Talk. Equally true
is that NGOs continue to state that Iraq is not a safe region for
refugees to return to. Near Kirkuk today there's been an assassination attempt. Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports,
"The district commissioner of al Multaqa district abdul Kareem Ali
Nasif and three of his guards were wounded by a suicide car bomb that
targeted the convoy of Nasif while he was going to his office district
in al Multaqa district west of Kirkuk early morning." This continues a
long line of attacks on officials. It also continues a long line of
attacks on US collaborators. Aws Qusay (Reuters) reports
that "Abdul Karim al-Jubouri . . . also leads pro-U.S. security vonteer
forces in the area, was wounded along with three bodyguards." Most
recently, yesterday, Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reported
a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded three, a Diyala Province
assassination attempt on the Governor via a bomber who took his/her own
life apparently as well the lives of 3 civilians (seven people were
left wounded). Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) reports
that Monday's bomber was "a man dressed as a woman" and she quotes Raad
Tamimi (the governor) explaining that, "He tried to head towards us but
we were careful, because suicidal attackers are common in Diyala." Turning to some of today's reported violence . . . Bombings? Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports
a Baghdad roadside bombing claimed 1 life, a Nineveh car bombing
claimed 2 lives (seven people wounded), a Mosul bombing left two people
wounded, another Mosul bombing ("suicide bomb") claimed the life of the
bomber and the lives of 2 Iraqi service members (sixteen people were
wounded), a Diyala Province roadside bombing claimed the life of 1
woman and left two more wounded, and another Diyala Province bombing
claimed the lives of 2 Iraqi police officers ("national police"). Shootings?
Corpses? Today the US military announced:
"A Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldier and an Iraqi interpreter
were killed when the vehicle they were riding in was struck by an
improvised-explosive device in northwest Baghdad at approximately 10:10
a.m. Aug. 13." With that announced death, the month of August (not even
half over) has already passed the month of July for most US
fatalities. The monthly toll thus far is 14 with 4141 the number killed since the start of the illegal war. Non
Iraq related but also on the topic of immigration and refugees and the
way governments mistreat those most in need of help. Independent journalist David Bacon reports.
"Maria Rosala Mejia Mqarroquin and Anacleta Tajtaj, Guatemalan
immigrants, were arrested in an immigration raid at the agriprocessors
meatpacking plant in Postville on May 12. The raid was the largest
workplace raid in a single worksite in recent history. Both were
released to care of their children, but now have to wear ankle
bracelets to monitor their movments. They and 46 other women cannot
work or travel, and have been waiting for weeks for a hearing which
would result in their deporation. Most have husbands or brothers now
in Federal prison, forced to plead guilty to misusing a Social Security
number, as a result of the raid." David Bacon's latest book comes out
next month, Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press).
This
is Ralph Nader. The only time when tens of millions of Americans tune
in for a couple of hours and pay attention to politics is during the
prime time presidential debates. For our democracy to survive, prevail
and thrive, we must have an open debate about the challenges we face
and the solutions that we must apply. We really don't need
two-candidate debates that sound like canned interviews. We don't need
debaters prepped to look like a couple of game show contestants. We
don't need show business, we need serious debate.
A
2000 Zogby poll showed that nearly 52% of the people wanted other
candidates in the debates. In 2004, another Zogby poll showed 57% of
likely voters wanted the debates opened up. A July 2008 poll by Zogby
found that 44% of the public agreed that the American system is broken
and cannot be repaired by the traditional two party politics and
election. Another poll had 61% of the people saying both parties are
failing.
It's time
to open up the debates to third party candidates. I'm running for
president because our democracy has been the target of an accelerating
hostile corporate takeover. Control of our government by large
corporations results in huge corporate welfare payouts, mega-fraud by
military contractors, a pay or die system of health insurance,
continued man-made global climate change and a collapsing financial
system being propped up by the day on the backs of the American
taxpayer with no restrictions, guarantees or return on investment. This
and much more has happened with the craven complicity of both major
political parties and politicians in Washington.
Friends,
as things stand, the three debates run by the two parties through the
private Commission on Presidential Debates, a corporation, will exclude
critical discussion of the control of our democracy by large
corporations We need honest talk in this campaign. It's time to respect
the will of the American people, to expand their access to arguments
and facts that address issues central to their daily lives. It's time
for the American people to take control of the political system. We can
begin by opening up the presidential debates. I'm Ralph Nader.
Are you ready to rumble? If yes, make a contribution now to help fund our protest rallies in Denver (August 27) and Minneapolis (September 4). Thousands of Americans will be in Denver and Minneapolis to protest the pro-war corporate controlled Democrats and Republicans. Nader/Gonzalez
has rented arenas in both cities to rally Americans opposed to the Iraq
and Afghanistan wars and corporate control over all aspects of our
lives. And to lay down one simple demand - open the Presidential debates. As
Ralph put it the other day, if we are allowed into the debates - and
reach tens of millions of Americans with our message - it will be a
three-way race. Thanks to your help, we are on track to be on 45 states ballots by September 20 (Currently, we are on 31.) If we get into the debates, our six percent in the polls will jump to 15 percent or more. And the American people will sense a three-way race. Then everything is possible. But first, we have to pay for our up front costs in Denver and Minneapolis. And we need to raise $50,000 before August 20. To pay for sound, lights, office, arena, phone lines, staff, lodging, 100,000 handbills. We've
taken some of our best road-trippers and flown them into Denver to
promote the rally. We have also opened an office in downtown Denver.
(See today's Denver Post article here.) Our staff is lining everything up to make them memorable rallies. But we've got bills to pay now. Then watch your name go up in lights on our new super rallies widget. And see us move toward our goal of $50,000. Let's crank it up. And get it done. Thank you in advance. See you in Denver and Minneapolis. Onward to November |
Posted at 02:54 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
Between
phone calls Tuesday afternoon, Chuck Fager was at his computer creating
a couple of signs for a rally in support of Fort Bragg deserter Jeremy
Hinzman.Fager, who is
director of the Quaker House in Fayetteville, plans to be ready no
matter which decision is announced today on Hinzman's request for
permission to remain in Canada on humanitarian grounds. One unfinished
version of the sign read, "Shame, Canada, shame!" Another one
proclaimed, "Thanks Canada! Jeremy Hinzman: Soldier of Conscience."More
than four years ago, Hinzman -- a specialist in the 82nd Airborne
Division -- refused orders for Iraq and sought asylum in Canada. A
decision on his future, including the possibility of deportation back
to the United States where he would likely face charges of desertion in
a military court, is expected this morning.The above is from Michael Futch's " Deserter to learn his fate" ( Fayetteville Observer). Jeremy Hinzman,
his wife Nga Nguyen and their son Liam went to Canada in January 2004.
He became the first Iraq War resister to publicly go to Canada. He and Brandon Hughey
were the first war resisters to attempt to be granted safe harbor in
Canada. The Immigration and Refugee 'board' (it's one person deciding)
declined to grant status. Both then began appealing to the courts. In May of 2007, the Federal Court of Appeals sided with the board and the Federal court. In November 2007, Canada's Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal. Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts " Canada in Distress" is in response to that development (Hughey's on the left and Hinzman on the right.  So today Jeremy may hear some news. June 3rd Canada's House of Commons voted (non-binding motion) in favor of Canada being a safe harbor for war resisters. Despite that vote, Judge Anne Mactavish saw fit to extradite Robin Long in July and to call it 'deportation.' Turning to the US presidential race, below is independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader: This
is Ralph Nader. The only time when tens of millions of Americans tune
in for a couple of hours and pay attention to politics is during the
prime time presidential debates. For our democracy to survive, prevail
and thrive, we must have an open debate about the challenges we face
and the solutions that we must apply. We really don't need
two-candidate debates that sound like canned interviews. We don't need
debaters prepped to look like a couple of game show contestants. We
don't need show business, we need serious debate. A
2000 Zogby poll showed that nearly 52% of the people wanted other
candidates in the debates. In 2004, another Zogby poll showed 57% of
likely voters wanted the debates opened up. A July 2008 poll by Zogby
found that 44% of the public agreed that the American system is broken
and cannot be repaired by the traditional two party politics and
election. Another poll had 61% of the people saying both parties are
failing. It's time to open
up the debates to third party candidates. I'm running for president
because our democracy has been the target of an accelerating hostile
corporate takeover. Control of our government by large corporations
results in huge corporate welfare payouts, mega-fraud by military
contractors, a pay or die system of health insurance, continued
man-made global climate change and a collapsing financial system being
propped up by the day on the backs of the American taxpayer with no
restrictions, guarantees or return on investment. This and much more
has happened with the craven complicity of both major political parties
and politicians in Washington. Friends,
as things stand, the three debates run by the two parties through the
private Commission on Presidential Debates, a corporation, will exclude
critical discussion of the control of our democracy by large
corporations We need honest talk in this campaign. It's time to respect
the will of the American people, to expand their access to arguments
and facts that address issues central to their daily lives. It's time
for the American people to take control of the political system. We can
begin by opening up the presidential debates. I'm Ralph Nader.Team Nader announced yesterday that Ralph would be making audio messages regularly. The above is yesterday's and can be heard here.
When possible, we'll note the text of the audio messages in full here.
Should we get backed up on other topics, it'll be carried over to Third. Hilda will include the text of all recorded messages the previous week in Tuesday's Hilda's Mix each week. Billie is very excited about the super rallies and notes the following from Team Nader on them. First, Denver: Nader Super Rally Set for Denver News Advisory, Event Announcement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
(Washington) Chris Driscoll, 202-360-3273, chris@votenader.org;
(Denver) Jenny Przekwas, 303-718-4477, jenny@votenader.org
NADER SUPER RALLY SET FOR DENVER
WHAT: "Open the Debates" Nader/Gonzalez Super Rally
WHEN: 7 p.m., Wednesday, August 27
WHERE: Magness Arena, University of Denver
2199 South University Blvd. Denver, CO 80208
(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org
Donation: $10 in advance; $12 at the door
At
7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 27, during the Democratic National
Convention, the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign will be holding a Super Rally
for 5,000-7,000 people at the University of Denver Magness Arena. (Check out our new Nader/Gonzalez video promoting our rallies here.)
A
second super rally is planned for Minneapolis on September 4th at the
Orchestra Hall during the week of the Republican National Convention.
The rallies will be a call to action for opening the presidential debates.
During
his 2000 campaign, Ralph Nader drew sellout crowds to super rallies in
arenas from Portland's Memorial Coliseum to Madison Square Garden.
After
the election, the PBS NewsHour's Mark Shields called the Nader Super
Rallies "the most exciting political development of the campaign year."
"My apology to Ralph Nader for not demanding that he be included in the debates," Shields said.
In
2004, the Democratic Party - along with its Republican allies -
smothered the Nader campaign with phony lawsuits in a coordinated
campaign of petition sabotage.
The campaign had a tough time keeping its head above water.
Just
last month, legislative leaders responsible for illegal use of tax
money to keep Nader off of the ballot in Pennsylvania in 2004 were
indicted by a grand jury in Harrisburg.
Now, in 2008, Nader is
back, and on track to be on the ballot in 45 states -- the campaign was
on only 34 in 2004 -- and the Nader/Gonzalez ticket is at 6 percent in
the latest CNN poll.
These rallies will be part of a massive
outpouring of protest in Denver and Minneapolis against the two
corporate controlled parties and their policies of perpetual militarism
and war.
Nader/Gonzalez is aiming to bust open the presidential debates.
As
Mr. Nader says, if tens of millions of Americans can hear the
Nader/Gonzalez message through the Presidential debates, it will be a
three way race.
For more information on the Nader/Gonzalez campaign, visit: votenader.org.
-End-
ShareThisShareThis Now Minneapolis: Nader Super Rally Set for Minneapolis News Advisory, Event Announcement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
(Washington) Chris Driscoll, 202-360-3273, chris@votenader.org;
(Minneapolis) Danene Provencher, 952-994-3085, danene@votenader.org
NADER SUPER RALLY SET FOR MINNEAPOLIS
WHAT: "Open the Debates" Nader/Gonzalez Super Rally
WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 4
WHERE: Orchestra Hall
1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403
(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org
Donation: $10 in advance; $12 at the door
At
7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 4, during the Republican National
Convention, the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign will be holding a Super Rally
in Minneapolis at the Orchestra Hall. (Check out our new Nader/Gonzalez video promoting our rallies here.)
The rally will be a call to action for opening the presidential debates.
During
his 2000 campaign, Ralph Nader drew sellout crowds to super rallies in
arenas from Portland's Memorial Coliseum to Madison Square Garden.
After
the election, the PBS NewsHour's Mark Shields called the Nader Super
Rallies "the most exciting political development of the campaign year."
"My apology to Ralph Nader for not demanding that he be included in the debates," Shields said.
In
2004, the Democratic Party - along with its Republican allies -
smothered the Nader campaign with phony lawsuits in a coordinated
campaign of petition sabotage.
The campaign had a tough time keeping its head above water.
Just
last month, legislative leaders responsible for illegal use of tax
money to keep Nader off of the ballot in Pennsylvania in 2004 were
indicted by a grand jury in Harrisburg.
Now, in 2008, Nader is
back, and on track to be on the ballot in 45 states -- the campaign was
on only 34 in 2004 -- and the Nader/Gonzalez ticket is at 6 percent in
the latest CNN poll.
This rally will be part of a massive
outpouring of protest in Denver and Minneapolis against the two
corporate controlled parties and their policies of perpetual militarism
and war.
Nader/Gonzalez is aiming to bust open the presidential debates.
As
Mr. Nader says, if tens of millions of Americans can hear the
Nader/Gonzalez message through the Presidential debates, it will be a
three way race.
For more information on the Nader/Gonzalez campaign, visit: votenader.org.
-End-
ShareThisShareThis Semi-related points. Yesterday's snapshot
notes an NPR link and a drive-by loathes the audio and writes to tell
me off. Did I quote from the audio? No. Did I even hear the report? No.
And it's not all about your pampered little ass. In fact, you're not a
community member so your nonsense doesn't mean a thing to me. This
community is diverse. That includes physically challenged persons. I
have stated over and over that we offer audio and video links to things
whenever possible. We have a number of couples (and not just older
ones) where one partner is blind or has sight issues. An audio (or
video) link can be enjoyed by both of them at the same time. That's the
sole reason they are included. Drive-by: While it's great that your
life has worked out so wonderfully that you have no issues, it's rather
sad that you're luck hasn't made you more aware that not everyone has
everything you so quickly take for granted. That is why we will offer
text of Nader's audio messages when possible as well. Not everyone can
enjoy streaming (due to computer and/or hearing issues). Ralph Nader is
supposed to be on Talk on the Nation today. That's from a friend at NPR but I see nothing at the website on that. Hopefully, he will be on. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraq jeremy hinzman michael futchbrandon hugheythe world today just nuts talk of the nation npr
Posted at 11:21 am by thecommonills
Permalink
Male bomber dressed as woman
Tina Susman's " Iraq suicide bomber a man in woman's garb" ( Los Angeles Times)
covers the assassination attempt (using a bomber) on Diyala Province
governor Raad Tamimi and notes that the bomber was "a man dressed as a
woman" which begs the question of does the New York Times do
corrections on stories they run? A8, the New York Times runs "Female Suicide Bomber Kills 2 in Iraqi Province." The author? Associated Press.
Not only is the article wrong, it's not even by anyone working for the
paper. They spend how much money for the Baghdad operation and they're
running AP articles to cover Iraq? Well they ran it, will they correct it? From Susman's article: Tamimi, the governor, said the bomber was walking on the sidewalk but headed into the street as the convoy neared."He
tried to head toward us but we were careful, because suicidal attackers
are common in Diyala," Tamimi said, adding that everyone had believed
the bomber to be a woman because he was wearing a long, flowing
traditional abaya.The
military warned months back that Al Qaeda in Iraq was finding it harder
to recruit men and had turned to women to stage suicide attacks. At
least 28 women have carried them out this year, according to U.S. Army
figures, compared with seven last year.Initial
reports identified Tuesday's bomber as a woman, but the military said
it had determined the attacker to be a man dressed as a woman.Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) covers the efforts to build Iraq's air force and notes,
"U.S. lawmakers appropriated $8.5 billion to train and equip Iraq's
security forces in 2007 and 2008. Of that sum, roughly $457 million
went to the Iraqi air force." Turning to the US presidential race, Oliver notes this from Team Nader: Daily Audio Message from Ralph We are launching a new feature on votenader.org. It's a daily audio message from Ralph Nader. Anyone
who has traveled with Ralph marvels at his encyclopedic knowledge of
the workings, failings, and potential of our democracy, from the
marketplace to the workplace to liaisons between corporations and
government to the courageous stands politicians used to take once in a
while. From now until Election Day, five days a week, we will feature new, short audio recordings from Ralph. It starts with a message on opening the debates. You can download the podcast, or listen at your computer. Unlike
the corporate candidates who stick to a narrow message until their
handlers allow them to take a half-step, Ralph expresses himself freely
on issues that affect you each day. So, listen in. It'll be like traveling the road with Ralph. Tell your friends about it. And look for future recordings from Matt Gonzalez as well. Thanks for checking in. Onward to November. The Nader Team
PS: We invite your comments to the blog. ShareThisShareThisShareThisThe e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraq the los angeles times tina susman the washington post ernesto londono
Posted at 11:19 am by thecommonills
Permalink
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tuesday,
August 12, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the refugee crisis
continues (though we're supposed to forget), the US military announces
another death, and more. Starting with war resistance. Rich Droste is a US war resister in Canada. Law is Cool interviewed Droste for their podcast Friday. Rich Droste: My name is Richard Drew Droste, the second. I'm age 22. I've lived in Canada since March 7th Rich
Droste: It's a long, long. long journey and a long and winding and road
that led me to Canada. I joined the army at the age of 17 for many
reasons -- mostly to escape the lifestyle I was living, the promise of
education, the pursuit of something more grand than what I was living.
I was homeless at the time, living in my car for the previous two
years, still trying to get my own education and just maintain a working
lifestyle. They provided me with so many benefits of what I now know
is half-truths obviously but didn't at the time. And at the age of 17,
I was able to make that one decision to give my life for the country
that I barely knew anything about but you're not old to make any other
adult decision in the US at that age, right? So I joined as a combat
engineer time at this time, believing that there was this huge
terrorist threat on our nation, believing that America could not wrong
type mentality, you know, I followed CNN and Fox 'News' pretty much for
my whole life and, you know, if you don't look for an outside source
you're not going to find it. And if you're happy in your bubble why
burst it, right? So the further I get into the military I become more
educated with what's really going on all across the world and not just
in Iraq or just Afghanistan but also the human trafficking and
prostitution rings around military institutions across the world. The
fact that we're standing up for human rights and freedom to me and
seeing these things happen in Korea while I was stationed there was my
first big question against the military and I basically got told to
shut and try not to fix anything that your pay grade can't handle, you
know. They say they don't support it if you ask them and they'll be
quoted saying they don't support it but during the day there's
regulations and only US soldiers and citizens can go inside these clubs
and these bars that contain all this human trafficking and
prostitution. All of their money for those rings are coming from
soldiers' pockets. It shows that there may not be verbal support but
there's definitely financial support, right? And that was my first big
problem. Around my second year in the military I became a
Conscientious Objector the war in Iraq because of the illegalities, the
unhumane activities that are happening there. The just unusual
behavior -- the way we treat men, the way we treat women. Law is Cool: What does it mean to be a Conscientious Objector for those of us who don't know? Rich
Droste: Within the military, there's a system so if you want to be a
non-combatant, this is supposed to be a legal thing. You can file this
Conscientious Objector packet which states that you are against the
dualities of the war that the efforts working for and then you can work
as a noncombatant inside the US military such as a cook, a medic, an
X-ray technician, whatever it may be, there's numerous jobs and there
supposed to supply you with that. Well around a year after I filled
out that paperwork, it was mysteriously lost. And I was told this with
a wink from the person I was asking. So it just goes to show they
weren't trying to put that much effort into helping me with this
Conscientious Objector packet. Around my third year, six month, which
meant I only had about six months left on my original contract, I found
out I was getting stop-lossed and sent to Iraq. By this time I had
already stated I was an objector and I would have no part in this war,
if anything I would like to end this war -- you know what I mean --
I'm not going to fight in it. And they said you go to this war, you go
jail, your only other option is to re-enlist , signing on a new
contract, and get a non-combatant job, right? So those are my
options. I decide through friends and people that were looking out for
me honestly that had no role over what happens to me they advised me to
re-enlist for a different job and I did. I thought it was a smart thing
to do. So I re-enlist to be a computer networker, well a systems
operator analyst, it's all computer networking, IP configuration,
connecting servers, routers and such. Law is Cool: What was your reason for choosing that kind of a job? Rich
Droste: It was -- it was mostly just maintaining networks for
the generals and superiors that are going over there anyway. Which I
didn't know when I signed up for the job. The reason I signed up for
the job was because I thought it was a communication job. So I could
communicate. Law is Cool: But you probably wouldn't be in the front lines with something like that? Rich
Droste: Absolutely. And by my understanding, I wouldn't be
participating in any combatant side of the military. Well my last week
of training, I'm about to graduate this new course, and I find out that
I'm going to 4th RTB which stands for Ranger Training Battalion. So
not only am I training combatants, I'm training elite combatants to go
fight in this war and I told them I wouldn't have any part of it. So
there I got to try to fill out another Conscientious Objector packet.
It's denied because I don't meet the quote-unquote "criteria." I ask
them what the criteria is, they can't give me an answer. Then I go to
mental health and explain my reasoning behind all this. They try to
put me on sleeping aids and anti-depressants saying I'll get over it, I
just need rest, and to lighten up. And I was told to "suck it up and
drive on." And that was their cure-all answer for that. And then I
went to a chaplain which is a preacher, a priest, and he finds your
religious denomination. At this time, I was still very much agnostic
which is I believe in a higher power but I think there's too much out
there for the human mind to comprehend really. And I'm talking to him
and he tried to explain to me that God justified this war and wouldn't
harm us or call us sinners for our wrong doings to the Iraqi people --
civilian and terrorist alike because humans are humans, regardless of
their decisions, right? And uh, so that's what he tried to convince
me. I talked to him numerous occasions and I couldn't get anything out
of him or any help. After I went up and down the chain of command and
tried to get this non-combatant job and after so much so much
dedication I actually went AWOL four days after my original ETS date
-- so I fulfilled my original contract and I came to Canada. Rich
Droste: There we go, yeah. That's a great question and that's
something I wish more potential resisters would know is when I was
going through this I was looking for other instances where soldiers
experienced similar grounds, same thing that happened to me, because I
knew it was happening all across the military . So I looked up
online. What better source, right? So I find there's all these
soldiers and there's so many thousands living in the States and there
was anywhere from 200 to 500 living in Canada. I found that there was
about 50 that applied for refugee status in Canada. And the things that
they were doing, the political aspects, the education . . . I didn't
come here to hide. I came here very well knowing that I could be
deported and sentenced in the United States for my 'wrong doing' and
that's -- I'm fine with that. I accept that. I came here to educate
the people. I came here to open people's views and even if they don't
understand it, even if they disagree, at least they're not ignorant to
the matter. 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. King Abudllah II of Jordan made an unnannounced visit to Baghdad yesterday. Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) observes,
"The visit is the latest in a eries of moves by Arab states that Iraqi
and U.S. officials say could improve security and counter the influence
of Shiite-led Iran, a player here in economic, diplomatic and security
matters." Lelia Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) reports,
"Iraq had planned to give the monarch a state welcome but instead the
king arrived and left with no fanfare. The announcement of his visit
came as he boarded a plane to leave Iraq." AP notes
that "U.S. officials had been urging King Abdullah to visit Iraq to
bolster ties between the two countries as part of Washington's campaign
to shore up support for the Iraqi government as a counterweight to
Iranian influence." Deutsche Welle points out,
"Jordan hosts about 500,000 Iraqi refugees who have fled violence in
their war-torn country, and Amman has estimated the costs of sheltering
them so far at more than 1.3 billion euros ($2 billion)." Dominique Soquel (WeNews) reports
on the Iraqi refugees in Syria where "women [are] barely eking out a
living from low-income jobs, international aid and sex work. Women
such as Mohamed Ali, whose husbands are dead, missing or disabled, were
hit hardest." Soquel provides the stories of a number of women such as
"Sajida Baha Al Deen, . . . from Mansour, Baghdad, and has been in
Damascus for 16 months. She turned to sex work to provide for herself
and her two children. 'What matters is that I am still standing on my
feet,' she said after a short storm of tears came and went. 'Something
in your sould gets numb.' One year after her husband's death, Shiite
militias sprayed her hairdressing salon with bullets and looted the
remains. In September 2006, at 2 a.m., 12 masked men barged through her
bedroom door threatening to end her life and that of her two
Sunni-named Boys, Bakar, now age 9, and Omar, age 10, because her
husband was an American collaborating traitor." The twelve men gang
raped her, forced to sign over her home and car to one of them and
finally departed her home. The Iraq War has resulted in an estimated
4 million refugees (internally and externally displaced). Yesterday it
was time for a big press to-do over 250 Iraqi refugees 'returning' from Egypt. Reality was provided today by IRIN: " At
the airport, some of the returnees said they were returning because
their savings had run out; others said they had been ill-treated and
had no rights in the host countries." Last Friday, Refugees International issued a statement which included: Refugees
and IDPs know from their contact with friends and family that it is not
safe to go home. Violence is still widespread, and basic services such
as access to healthcare, clean water or adequate shelter are
unavailable in many parts of the country. As the situation in Iraq
evolves, it is essential the US Government, the Government of Iraq and
other countries in the region do not encourage returns to Iraq until
conditions are met for a voluntary, safe and sustainable return
process. A rushed premature return process would have disastrous
consequences both for the displaced and for the stability of Iraq. And what is anyone returning to? Earlier this week, Lara Logan (CBS Evening News) reported
on the realities for autistic children in Iraq: No medical care
providers. Logan notes, "Incredibly, the only doctor who did treat it,
who founded a medical center in the name of his own autistic son, has
fled the country. He left behind some social workers who try their
best to help, but even they haven't been paid in four months." Rahna
Abdul is the only parent for her son Alli and she has no doctors she
can turn to and what happens to him if something happens to her? Rahna
Abdul: Who will take care of him if I die for example? Maybe I go in
the street and there is a bomb in my way, and I'll die. Lara Logan: Especially now? Rahna Abdul: Especially in these situations, so who would take care of him? In his situation who would take care of him?" Turning to some of today's reported violence . . . Bombings? Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports
a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded three, a Diyala Province
assassination attempt on the Governor via a bomber who took his/her own
life apparently as well the lives of 3 civilians (seven people were
left wounded). The Governor was unscathed and, Reuters notes, a curfew is in place until tomorrow morning. Shootings? Corpses? Today, the US military announced:
"A Multi-National Force - West Marine was killed when his unit was
attacked by an enemy force in Anbar Province Aug. 10." The death was
in Tirkrit and two more marines were wounded. That means 12 US service
members have died in Iraq so far this month. ( ICCC says eleven but hasn't noted this death yet.) Reuters notes 4,139 US service members have died in Iraq since the start of the illegal war (one more than ICCC's current count). Turning to the US presidential race. To The Contrary's Bonnie Erbe (writing at US News & World Reports) notes
that of the Democratic Party's proposed platform that people are saying
"the Clinton camp is quite happy with the platform's including of
language to the effect that Clinton placed 18 million 'cracks' in the
glass ceiling (an allusion to her winning 18 million votes during the
primaries)" and notes JustSayNoDeal's
Diane Mantouvalos believes Barack still can't close the deal "because a
large chunk of Clinton's 18 million supporters are upset that the Obama
campaign has not been more gracious toward Senator Clinton and has done
little to reach out to her former supporters." And possibly it also
has something to do with what Erbe notes today, "More evidence of a candidate faux pas. 'O-Force One' as CBS' Allison O'Keefe describes
Obama's campaign plane, contains a luxurious section for the candidate
more reminiscent of an airborne corporate executive suite than a
presidential candidate who has to appeal to working class American
voters." It probably doesn't help that Barack's on yet another
vacation -- his third since March -- and that has the Limp Noodle Women
Haters ready to scream for Cokie Roberts' head. On ABC's This Week Sunday, Roberts noted ( here for video)
that Barack's still "tied in the polls" and yet he's on a "vacation in
Hawaii" which "does not make any sense whatsoever." Limp Noodles think
they're offering 'analysis' with non-pith such as "She knows Hawaii's a
state!" They really are pathetic. Roberts is noting that candidates
don't campaign in Hawaii. (And Barack's not campaigning there.) No
presidential nominee of one of the two primaries has since Richard
Nixon (in the run he lost to JFK). [Ralph Nader campaigned there last
month.] That's not new and it's not news but the Limp Noodles work
real hard to act like Cokie's said something crazy. Hawaii is seen as
a Democratic state. It's not a place where the party thinks their
presidential nominee needs to campaign (and Barack is not campaigning
there). Residents in Hawaii feel differently (as they should). But
Cokie's pointing out that, "He should be in Myrtle Beach and, you know,
if he's going to take a vacation at this time. And I just think this
is not the time to do that." Where is Myrtle Beach? South Carolina.
Now why might Cokie make that statement? Hmmm. American Research Group's polling
found Barack to have a 5% lead in South Carolina (plus/minus 4%) in
June which is not a lead. In July? They found McCain to be at 47% to
Barack's 45%. McCain had increased by 3% in their polling while Barack
had dropped by 4% and undecided had increased by 1%. That's one of the
better polls for Barack (of reputable pollsters, don't include the hack
Zogby). Rasmussen Reports' June poll found McCain at 48% and Barack at
39% in South Carolina. Public Policy Polls survey last month
found McCain at 45% and Barack at 39%. Now why might Cokie Roberts have
said Barack -- if he was going to vacation -- would be better off in
Myrtle Beach? You can dispute her conclusions, you just can't pretend
you have no idea why she 'went there' unless you're really eager to
show how uninformed you are. It really is amazing when you grasp how
damn few women are even invited into the conversation in print or on TV
but how, week after damn week, the little Limp Noodles manage to savage
women. They do it over and over. King Limp Noodle probably exhausted
himself today since he rips into Cokie, Maureen Dowd (as always) and
Emily Bazelon. For those needing audio, Roberts also discussed the race on NPR.
We've called out Cokie before here and will do so again. That's not
the issue. The issue is the Limp Noodles who have to rip apart a woman
in order to get it up. Buy Viagra, you dirty, old men. No man ever
faces the same type of wrath from the Limp Noodles as does every
woman. We've noted that before and they are again eager to play Bash the Bitch again. It's getting real damn old. Nothing
wrong with holding a woman accountable -- and 'tone' doesn't matter as
long as it's applied in the same way (zeal) towards both men and
women. Watch as we go after a woman right now. Her name is Holley Simmons and she graduated college in 2007 and is now, for all intents and purposes, NPR's acting ombudsperson.
Shocking as that alone is, let's add that she has no journalism degree
that, until being hired as an intern by NPR, had no journalism
experience. Yet now she 'handles' listeners complaints in e-mails and
at blog posts at the ombudsperson's website. Consider it fraud.
Completely unqualified to get a job as a reporter, she now 'explains'
NPR's journalistic decisions (as she sees them) to listeners. An
English lit major with a sociology minor and no journalsim training. She 'explained' (justified) NPR's sorry record of covering candidates this year. NPR
is failing and having some untrained idiot excuse their failures
doesn't make it look any better. In her laughable blog post, she
writes about being told that as the candidates make news, they will be
covered. Barack's on vacation. His campaign got two stories on
Morning Edition today (one on how he'd like to win Virginia -- I'm sure
any presidential candidate would like to win Virginia -- I'm not sure
how that ever qualifies as news?). Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader are being shut out of the coverage on what is supposed to be National Public Radio. (We'll get to Pacifica, hold on.) At Minnesota's MPR, Tom Scheck manages to post on a Ron Paul event and on Ralph Nader's September 4th super rally in Minneapolis. Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is planning super rallies. Foon Rhee (Boston Globe) notes the August 27th one in Denver and Nader's call for the opening of the debates. Sam Youngman (The Hill) also saw the super rallies as news. As did Jesse A. Hamilton (Hartford Courant). Ralph is scheduled to be a guest on NPR's Talk of the Nation
tomorrow (which will broadcast live from the Newseum in DC). But Nader
was in Canada last night and that's not news to NPR and the super
rallies aren't news and . . . Go down the list. NPR decides what it
wants to emphasize and calls it news. Barr, McKinney and Nader are
being shut out. At a pretty much Democratic geared website, Jeralyn (TalkLeft) noted Ralph's trip to Canada and the comments included some surprisingly supportive remarks. You should also check out Elaine
later tonight. If she decides to respond to the ridiculous e-mail from
a 'journalist,' it should make for interesting reading. But Queen
Norman Approximately. Yeah, he was lying again. Yeah, it was
embarrassing. For now, Ava
and I will note, Norm was spraying the drapes today and he's never been
housebroken, somebody get him to the vet already. We'll tackle that
garbage Sunday. If you suffered through Queen Norman today and need some reality, check out Katiebird's post (The Confluence). Ralph
Nader: The only time when tens of millions of Americans tune in for a
couple of hours and pay attention to politics is during the prime time
presidential debates. For our democracy to survive, prevail and
thrive, we must have an open debate about the challenges we face and
the solutions that we must apply. We really don't need two-candidate
debates that sound like canned interviews. We don't need debates
prepped to look like a couple of game show contestants. We don't need
show business, we need serious debate. We are launching a new feature on votenader.org. It's a daily audio message from Ralph Nader. Anyone
who has traveled with Ralph marvels at his encyclopedic knowledge of
the workings, failings, and potential of our democracy, from the
marketplace to the workplace to liaisons between corporations and
government to the courageous stands politicians used to take once in a
while. From now until Election Day, five days a week, we will feature new, short audio recordings from Ralph. It starts with a message on opening the debates. You can download the podcast, or listen at your computer. Unlike
the corporate candidates who stick to a narrow message until their
handlers allow them to take a half-step, Ralph expresses himself freely
on issues that affect you each day. It'll be like traveling the road with Ralph. Tell your friends about it. And look for future recordings from Matt Gonzalez as well. Thanks for checking in. Onward to November. |
Posted at 03:31 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
James Risen's " Use of Iraq Contractors Costs Billions, Report Says" in today's New York Times covers what's expected in the upcoming report from the Congressional Budget Office:
"that one out of every five dollars spent on the war in Iraq has gone
to contractors for the United States military and other government
agencies, in a war zone where employees of private contractors now
outnumber American troops." On the issue of money spent, CBS and AP note Dana Hedgpeth and Sarah Cohen (Washington Post) report on the US Commander's Emergency Response Program: The
field manual laying out the guidelines for the program is called "Money
as a Weapon System," pointing up the effectiveness of cold hard cash in
winning over the hearts and minds of Iraqi civilians.The largest sum of CERP money, $596.8 million, was spent on water and sanitation projects, the Post
reported. Three other categories each received more than $300 million:
electricity; protective measures, such as fencing and guards; and
transportation and roads.But
the Army also spent lesser sums on smaller acts of largesse, including
$48,000 for children's shoes; $50,000 for 625 sheep; $100,000 for
dolls; and $500,000 for action figures designed to look like Iraqi
security forces, the Post reported.The CBS Evening News aired a report by Lara Logan entitled " No Help For Autistic Children In Baghdad: Alli Abdul Suffers From Autism, But Can't Get Treatment In War-Torn Region" and text from the link and then the video: The
problem for autistic children in Iraq, Logan reports, is that almost
nothing is known about this condition. Incredibly, the only doctor who
did treat it, who founded a medical center in the name of his own
autistic son, has fled the country. He left behind some social workers
who try their best to help, but even they haven't been paid in four
months. Rahna had to stop taking Alli there because the center is
located in one of the most dangerous parts of Baghdad. And without the
doctor it wasn't helping.
Posted at 10:31 am by thecommonills
Permalink
Iraq's
drive to forge ties with Sunni-led Arab neighbors, who it says have
shunned its Shiite Muslim leadership, got a boost Monday when Jordan's
King Abdullah II became the first leader of an Arab nation to visit
since the fall of Saddam Hussein.The
visit is the latest in a series of moves by Arab states that Iraqi and
U.S. officials say could improve security and counter the influence of
Shiite-led Iran, a player here in economic, diplomatic and security
matters.The circumstances
of the visit were in stark contrast to those surrounding a trip here in
March by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Abdullah's visit was
not announced in advance, there were no public appearances, and he
stayed just a few hours. Ahmadinejad's arrival was trumpeted well in
advance. He received a red-carpet welcome, made several public
appearances and was in Iraq for two days.The above is the opening of Tina Susman's " Jordan's King Abdullah II visits Iraq" ( Los Angeles Times). The visit was news but lots of luck finding coverage of it. The New York Times files nothing from Iraq and turns the front page over to the text equivalent of The Dating Game.
First up, Evan Bayh! If Bayh's not selected to be the Democratic vice
presidential nominee, everyone should remember that -- in their rush to
predict the news -- the New York Times
elected to ignore actual news of an ongoing illegal war because it was
more important that they tease out a rumor and get the Barack campaign
on the front page. Leila Fadel covers the visit in " Jordan's King Abdullah makes first visit to post-Saddam Iraq" ( McClatchy Newspapers) and below is the last section of her report: Jordan
now joins other Arab nations who've named ambassadors to Iraq. But no
Arab nation has reopened an embassy in the county. Egypt was the final
Arab nation to close its diplomatic mission in 2005, when the Egyptian
envoy was kidnapped and killed.Abdullah's visit was announced weeks ago
and a date was set, but the king's visit was postponed because of
security concerns. Iraq had planned to give the monarch a state welcome
but instead the king arrived and left with no fanfare. The announcement
of his visit came as he boarded a plane to leave Iraq. Abdullah's
security detail requested the secretive nature of the visit, Zebari
said.The Sunni monarch's visit was in stark contrast to the visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier this year.Ahmadinejad
announced his visit and was welcomed on a red carpet, did a series of
news conferences and drove through Baghdad to visit a revered Shiite
shrine. He then boasted about the visit by poking fun at President
Bush, who arrives in Iraq unannounced and informs the world of his trip
upon his departure.AP notes
that "U.S. officials had been urging King Abdullah to visit Iraq to
bolster ties between the two countries as part of Washington's campaign
to shore up support for the Iraqi government as a counterweight to
Iranian influence." Deutsche Welle points out,
"Jordan hosts about 500,000 Iraqi refugees who have fled violence in
their war-torn country, and Amman has estimated the costs of sheltering
them so far at more than 1.3 billion euros ($2 billion)." In political news, Iraq War vetergan (and IVAW member) Jason Wallace continues his race for the US Congress. From Jo Ann Hustis' " Green's Wallace limiting spending, sticking to issues" ( Morris Daily Herald): Green Party congressional candidate Jason Wallace is running a unique campaign this fall that caps his expenditures at $10,000."Nobody
is getting paid," he said of what he defines as a true grassroots drive
in the 11th Congressional District. "We're all volunteers, including
all the staff and myself as the candidate."In
lieu of conducting fund-raising activities in his 10K08 campaign,
Wallace is going to people throughout the district for in-kind
contributions."That way,
they don't have to worry about spending a lot of money," he said. "Also
with the economy, we're concerned average citizens aren't going to want
to pay to a political campaign."They
don't necessarily have the budgets to donate to politicians. We're
aware of that. We're more focused on people just giving us their time
rather than money."Turning to the US presidential race, Ned highlights this from Team Nader: Nader Super Rallies Set for Denver, Minneapolis Well, you did it. Two weeks ago, we asked you for $100,000 to get us on the ballots in 30 states. You came through with flying colors - over $120,000 - with half of that - $60,000 - coming in the last four days. Thank you to everyone who helped make that happen. In return, we did it. Nader/Gonzalez is now done with our ballot access effort in 30 states, on our way to 45 states by September 15. This is all good news. And now add this: I
just got in the office - took the red eye from Denver - where I spent
the weekend laying the groundwork for a Nader/Gonzalez Super Rally. On
Wednesday, August 27, right during the heart of the Democratic National
Convention, we will be holding a Super Rally for 5,000-7,000 people at
the University of Denver Magness Arena. (Check out our new Nader/Gonzalez video promoting our rallies here.) And
we'll be hosting a second super rally in Minneapolis on September 4th
at the Orchestra Hall during the week of the Republican National
Convention. Why? To protest the corporate control over our political system and to call for opening the presidential debates. During
his 2000 campaign, Ralph Nader drew sellout crowds to super rallies in
arenas from Portland's Memorial Coliseum to Madison Square Garden. After
the election, the NewsHour's Mark Shields called the Nader Super
Rallies "the most exciting political development of the campaign year."
"My apology to Ralph Nader for not demanding that he be included in the debates," Shields said. In
2004, the Democratic Party - along with its Republican allies -
smothered the Nader campaign with phony lawsuits in a coordinated
campaign of petition sabotage. We had a tough time keeping our heads above water. Just
last month, legislative leaders responsible for illegal use of tax
money to keep us off of the ballot in Pennsylvania in 2004 were
indicted by a grand jury in Harrisburg. Now, in
2008, Nader is back, and - thanks to you - on track to be on the ballot
in 45 states - we were on only 34 in 2004 - and the Nader/Gonzalez
ticket is at six percent in the latest CNN poll. Now, we need your help for another breakthrough. We are launching a campaign to Open the Debates. In
its first phase, the super rallies will rise again in Denver and
Minneapolis during the Democratic and Republican conventions. We
call all of our supporters to action from every corner of the United
States: come to our first rally in Denver on Wednesday, August 27, 2008. Plan to make the trip to Denver - or Minneapolis - or both. These
rallies will be part of an massive outpouring of protest in Denver and
Minneapolis against the two corporate controlled parties and their
policies of perpetual militarism and war. We'll be filling in the details on the two rallies in the days to come. But for now, we need you to spread the word. Nader/Gonzalez is aiming to bust open the presidential debates. As Ralph says, if tens of millions of Americans can hear the Nader/Gonzalez message through the Presidential debates, it will be a three way race. Send this e-mail message to your address book. Tell friends and family. The super rallies are back. Time to get on board. Onward to November Jason Kafoury
National Campaign Coordinator ShareThisShareThisShareThis The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqthe los angeles timestina susman leila fadel mcclatchy newspapers jason wallace jo ann hustis
Posted at 10:30 am by thecommonills
Permalink
Monday, August 11, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the US death toll in Iraq continues to mount, Petraeus needs to lay off the strong stuff, King Abdullah II visits Iraq, and more.
Starting with war resistance. The August 1st snapshot critiqued the dumb ass Rondi Adamson (the same morning's " Rondi Adamson Lies" did so in greater detail). Yesterday the National Lawyers Guild's James Branum takes on Rondi (and today Ithica Journal re-prints Rondi's crap). Branum, who is defending Robin Long and has defended many others resisters (and co-chairs, with Kathleen Gilberd, NLG's Military Law Task Force), makes many strong points but leaves out the most important one: During Vietnam, Canada welcome "deserters." It wasn't just "draft dodgers," Canada also welcomes "deserters." Canada did not have a draft, Canada's position was not based on a draft. Deserters were not asked, "Did you enlist or were you drafted?" It wasn't an issue. The issue was the illegal war. When Rondi shows her ignorance, it's important to call her out on that basic fact. War resisters in Canada today have been undermined repeatedly by 'voices' that refuse to acknowledge the vast number of deserters that Canada accepted during Vietnam. But not noting that very real reality, today's war resisters (and their supporters) have to make the case: "Well, during Vietnam, you welcomed draft dodgers, so you should expand that today to welcome us." The real argument is: "During Vietnam, Canada welcomed deserters and they should today since this is another illegal war the Canadian government has refused to officially sanction." With the first argument, war resisters are placed in a position of weakness where they beg for something more. In the second argument, war resisters are not asking for 'special treatment' or anything different; they're merely asking Canada to do what it did before. That is reality. Rondi is a foreigner to reality. But that's a point everyone else needs to make. That Rondi either didn't know reality or thought she could lie about it goes to the failure to stick to the facts: Canada accepted draft dodgers and deserters during Vietnam.
Branum notes The Christian Science Monitor (which ran the oh-so-bad column August 1st) has refused to publish any of the many letters of complaint they've received. We'll emphasize the section on Robin Long ( extradited from Canada) since Branum is his attorney:
First, Robin was promised by his recruiter that he would never see combat in Iraq. Robin was a fool for believing his recruiter, but I would say that it is understandable that he would believe his recruiter and understand that his recruiter is an agent of the US military and is tellilng the truth. And in basic contract law (outside of the military context), such statements could very well be interpreted as part of the contract itself, even if those statements aren't in writing.
Second, a basic tenant of contract law is that a contract isn't binding if it forces a party to engage in an immoral, unethical or illegal action. I would argue (as would Robin and millions of other people) that the Iraq war is all three of those things, and as such an enlistment contract should be invalid if it purports to force a party to participate in such a war. (of course, the enlistment "contract" isn't really a "contract," but that's another discussion. It would be fairer to say that it is an agreement to voluntarily become a slave of the state.)
Third, Robin Long left his unit and went to Canada in large part due to his conscience. Throughout history, we as a people (and I'm speaking of all North Americans and really all people of the world), have respected the idea that sometimes one must break the law if it conflicts with conscience. Dr. King, Gandhi, Thoreau, Jesus Christ, they all lived out this ideal. Contemporaries of the civilly disobedient often attack the character of those who refuse to submit to unjust laws, but the history books paint a different story.
And let's also remember that the US and other nations have long argued in favor of the Nuremberg principles, namely that obedience to the law of the state is no excuse for actions that defy international law. Surely you would agree that a deserter from the Nazi Army during WWII would be taking a righteous act? How is it different for Robin Long?
Branum's response also notes Darrell Anderson, Joshua Key and others. There are multiple sentences in it that could qualify for a "Truest" at Third this Sundy. It's a strong piece.
By mail: Make checks out to "Courage to Resist / IHC" and note "Robin Long" in the memo field. Mail to:
Courage to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave #41
Oakland CA 94610
Courage to Resist is committed to covering Robin's legal and related defense expenses. Thank you for helping make that possible.
Also: You are also welcome to contribute directly to Robin's legal expenses via his civilian lawyer James Branum. Visit girightslawyer.com, select "Pay Online via PayPal" (lower left), and in the comments field note "Robin Long". Note that this type of donation is not tax-deductible.
2. Send letters of support to Robin
Robin Long, CJC
2739 East Las Vegas
Colorado Springs, CO 80906
Robin's pre-trial confinement has been outsourced by Fort Carson military authorities to the local county jail.
Robin is allowed to receive hand-written or typed letters only. Do NOT include postage stamps, drawings, stickers, copied photos or print articles. Robin cannot receive packages of any type (with the book exception as described below).
3. Send Robin a money order for commissary items
Anything Robin gets (postage stamps, toothbrush, shirts, paper, snacks, supplements, etc.) must be ordered through the commissary. Each inmate has an account to which friends may make deposits. To do so, a money order in U.S. funds must be sent to the address above made out to "Robin Long, EPSO". The sender's name must be written on the money order.
4. Send Robin a book
Robin is allowed to receive books which are ordered online and sent directly to him at the county jail from Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. These two companies know the procedure to follow for delivering books for inmates.
War resisters in Canada also need support and 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.
Georgian troops are leaving Iraq due to violence in their own country. Yesterday Deborah Haynes (Times of London) reported on US Gen David Petraeus' declaration that the US is providing transportation for the Georgian soldiers -- an estimated 2,000 were stationed in Iraq. People in the US need to pay attention. If you're not getting it, Yochi J. Dreazen (Wall St. Journal) reports, "The U.S. began flying Georgian troops out of Iraq on American military aircraft Sunday, and U.S. officials expect to have all of the Georgians home by midweek 'so that they can support requirements there during the current security situation,' according to Col. Steve Boylan, a military spokesman. Dreazen goes on to note that this "was the third-largest foreign force in Iraq" and that the departure, quoting Boylan, was "unexpected." Wednesday is mid-week. The reporters both say the US began transporting troops out of Iraq on Sunday. And today, Pentagon spokesperson Bryan Whitman announced that the transportation of those 2,000 troops will be completed today. That's basically 2,000 troops out of Iraq at the drop of a hat (in one day!) with no pre-planning and War Hawks in the US want you to believe that (a) a withdrawal cannot really be planned (changes on the ground!) and that it would take 16 months just to remove US "combat troops." Lies. Bill Richardson (while he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination) called those lies out. At the drop of a hat, unplanned, the US can -- while still fighting in Iraq -- transport 2,000 soldiers to the former Soviet Union but we're supposed to believe that a planned withdrawal could happen no sooner than 16 months (and then only the so-called "combat troops"). I believe life on the ground just told on them. At the very least, it called Barack, et al, "Liar." (And don't bring up 'equipment.' Most equipment isn't worth bringing back and any equipment brought back should be signed off on by a high ranking general swearing that the US military will not need to replace it for at least 5 years -- otherwise there's no point in it being brought.)
In an interview with Haynes that the Times of London published today, Petraeus declares of Iraq, "In the economic arena, all of a sudden you are seeing private investment . . . you see the electricity grid is literally all up for the first time in about three years . . . and oild production is up by some 400,000 barrels I think in the last six months as well in part because of electricit, which then means there is more fuel for the electricity." He is stoned, right? Good to know the military brass can still get the best weed; however, when he comes down from his high, someone might want to correct him on the electricity and, on the private investment, they can just wave today's front page of the New York Times at him while he satisifies his munchies. There he'll find Campbell Robertson's report on the faltering private sector in Iraq detailing Iraq's increased their government payrolls from 1.2 million in 2005 to 2.3 million today and how MPs explain they vote raises to garner . . . votes while some worry that should these people go off the payroll (there's even a 2 year payoff if you leave the government for the private sector -- 2 years of paydays from the government), they might quickly become part of the resistance. (Of course, al-Maliki's payroll is heavy with thugs and he has a problem with the US training Sunni thugs -- the "Awakening" Councils --- who might fight his own Shi'ite thugs.) Stoner Petraeus gets off some real howlers in the interview with Haynes. We may come back to it later in the week and explain where even he knows he's lying.
For now we'll move on to Saturday when Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) reported on the new practice of rounding Iraqi women and imprisoning them becuase the might be "future bombers? Maybe. Maybe not." Three women (out of 22) were released last Thursday. Of course the Iraqi police really can't round up "suicide bombers" because (unless they fail) their monicker indicates that they are no longer around. What's going on? The implementation of the policy Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) reported on July 5th that Iraqi MP Sajar Qaduri tried to sell as 'freedom' and 'liberating.' The policy is actually profiling. Round up all the women who lost sons, husbands, fathers, cousins, boyfriends -- bascially your average Iraqi woman -- and imprison them but call the prisons "shelters" to pretty is all up. The sickness isn't the small number of female self-bombers (some of whom may not be bombing by choice), the sickness is the illegal war and continued occupation. Resistance is a normal response and, in a zone of violence, responding with violence is not surprising and not uncommon to the human condition. As noted July 5th: "A condition that's developed from the sickness of the Iraq War will be 'treated,' if Qaduir gets her way, by divorcing it from the very cause and treating the women's response as abnormal when what happened to their husbands was the abnormal thing. Instead, Qaduir's accepting as 'normal' the illegal war, the occupation that goes along with it and all the violence involved. The only 'abnormal' thing to her is that some women might respond in violence. Imagine what she would have recommended for American woman participating in the Revolutionary War."
The non-successful escalation ('surge') has ended and with nothing to show. Violence didn't vanish. And none of the benchmarks were reached, now were they? That was what Bully Boy claimed the 'surge' was supposed to accomplish. Analysts say there will be no provincial elections (a benchmark! designated by the White House) in October as long promised and that it might not be possible for them to be held this year. The Iraqi Parliament ended their regular session and then ended their special session. They are now on vacation (as is the US Congress). Leila Fadel (Baghdad Observer) reports that the "last controversial session before their summer break was attended by just over half of the legislatures. And those that stuck it out didn't pass the provincial elections law after a bitter dispute over the oil rich city of Kirkuk." But Fadel reveals the new Parliament building was still unveiled to a few spectators -- a tiny group "so small at the televised ceremony that the camera zoomed in on one section of the seating to give the illusion of a full crowd" -- and puppet of the occupation, Nouri al-Maliki, showed up to give a speeh but stopped before he completed it because, as he noted, "I can't talk for a very long time because it's very hot. I hope they put in the air conditioning soon." The building, constructed immediately outside the Green Zone, is nothing but a shell. Shell? The shell game that Iraqi forces are taking over or will take over. Anna Badkhen (Salon) reports, "The United States has spent four years and more than $20 billion on training and building Iraqi security forces; American instructors say the Iraqis are now mostly able to fight insurgents and sectarian militias on their own." But Iraqi forces feel different such as SWAT team member in training Haidar whose response is, "No! We are not going to be ready to do it without the Americans!"
Sunday the New York Times took the day off from Iraq. Today Campbell Robertson and Suadad Al-Salhy showed up to inform that one US service member died yesterday. Anyone getting their news only from the print edition of the New York Times would have no idea that 11 US service members have already been announced dead this month. Late Friday an announcement was made by M-NF: "Two Multi-National Force – West Marines died as the result of a non-combat related incident near Karmah Aug 7. The Marines names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense." Saturday yesterday they announced: "One U.S. Soldier was killed and two others wounded after an improvised explosive device struck their patrol in Baghdad at approximately 9:30 p.m. Aug. 8." Sunday the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier and four Iraqi citizens were killed, and others wounded during a complex attack in the Tarmiyah district, north of Baghdad at approximately 2 p.m. Aug. 10. After an initial improvised explosive device detonated, an MND-B team was sent to investigate. Shortly after the team's arrival, a suicide vest attack occurred and was followed by small-arms fire. The attacks also wounded two U.S. Soldiers, 15 local nationals, three Iraqi Policemen and three Sons of Iraq members." When 13 US service members died for the entire month of July it was news for days -- as the press launched another wave of Operation Happy Talk. It's August 11th, the death toll for the month thus far is 11. At what point is the press going to convey that or are we all still supposed to pretend the 'surge' worked?
Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) observes of yesterday, "Sunday's attacks showed the challenges still facing American forces in Iraq, who number about 140,000, and the Iraqi security forces who ultimately will have the task of protecting the country." Yes, violence is on the rise (and it never stopped) in Iraq with at least 35 reported deaths over the weekend by last night. Sunday alone, Baghdad saw one bombing after another. Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reported a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded two Iraqi civilians and two Iraqi soldiers, another Baghdad roadside bombing that claimed 2 lives and left ten wounded, a third Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded three Iraqi military members, another Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded two security contractors, a Baghdad car bombing that claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier (five more wounded), another Baghdad roadside bombing that claimed 3 lives and left ten wounded and a Baghdad bomber who killed themselves and claimed the lives of 10 people with twenty more wounded -- all on Sunday.
Hammoudi also reported on a Sunday Diyala Province car bombing that claimed the life of the driver as well as 3 civilians (twenty more wounded). Diyala Province -- home of the for-show 'offensive' that's supposed to convince Americans that a corner has been turned. That the Iraqi military is on the rise and kicking butts and taking names . . . of no one. Hard to find any 'insurgents' when you announce your impending action weeks in advance. So it's really no surprise that AP's Bushra Juhi reports today that Nouri is saying the for-show operation in Diyala Province is taking a one-week vacation "to give insurgents time to surrender". Nicholas Spangler (McClatchy Newspapers) adds that the "limited amnesty" is being hailed by Abudl Kareem Khalaf, Interior Ministry flack, as "a very clear message to the insurgents that there will be no other chance." Presuming 'insurgents' were ever in Diyala in large numbers to begin with, this is, what, their third such warning? First came the warning telling them when the action would start, then came the warning when they were on the ground in Diyala and telling people to turn themselves in and, now, it's "Turn yourself in. We'll stop everything for one week, turn yourself in." If you were an insurgent, you'd probably have figured out the whole thing is playing like a close-out sale and that a better offer is probably 'just around the corner' (as the White House might put it).
The treaties remain the source of endless speculation (Strategic Framework Agreement: SFA; Status of Forces Agreement: SOFA). The White House promised they would be nailed down by July 31st. Didn't happen. The UN mandate (covering only the occupation and not retroactively giving permission for the illegal war) can be extended. It expires at the end of the year. Let's wait for some real news about any treaty. Here's actual news, Jordan's King Abdullah II was in Iraq. Waleed Ibrahim and Peter Graff (Reuters) report Abdullah is "the first leader to visit Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003". Deborah Haynes (Times of London) notes the "trip was shrouded in secrecy because of security concerns and revealed only when he had headed home." Qassim Abdul-Zahra (AP) explains, "Ties between the two neighboring countries had been strained since the fall of Saddam because of Jordanian fears that Iraq's Shiite-led government was too friendly with Shiite-dominated Iran. Jordanian officials have been concerned about Iranian influence in Iraq and the loss of discounted oil, which Saddam once provided."
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that left two people wounded, a Baghdad car bombing that claimed the life of the driver (the bomb was stuck to the car with adhesive), another Baghdad roadside bombing with no known casualties, a Baghdad rocket attack that wounded three people, another Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded eight people, a Diyala Province roadside bombing that claimed the lives of 5 women with three males wounded, a Basra roadside bombing that wounded two police officers and a Baquba bombing where the bomber blew herself up and claimed the life of 1 police officer with seventeen people injured. Reuters notes a Mosul car bombing that left two people wounded.
Corpses?
Turning to the US presidential race, Harper's John R. MacArthur (at The Providence Journal) explains, " Obama spends so much time courting the rich that I'm not surprised that James Webb has removed himself from consideration for vice president. Webb is the most articulate Senate critic of America's class divide. 'The most important -- and unfortunately the least debated -- issue in politics today is our drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th Century," he wrote two years ago. Webb understands that class stratification is aggravated not only by tax and trade policy but also by public schools that serve increasingly as holding pens for students who can't afford better private or parochial education. Attendance at an elite private school or university, as Obama well knows (and his Ph.D. mother appreciated), is one of the greatest aids to upward mobility in America today, as well as the best guarantee, along with a low inheritance tax, that people of means will maintain their children in the economic status they've become accustomed to." And are you surprised? Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is in Canada. Ralph will be speaking at seven p.m at the Design Exchange on 234 Bay Street in Toronto -- admission is free but donations are welcome and An Unreasonable Man will be shown.
Well, you did it.
Two weeks ago, we asked you for $100,000 to get us on the ballots in 30 states.
You came through with flying colors - over $120,000 - with half of that - $60,000 - coming in the last four days.
Thank you to everyone who helped make that happen.
In return, we did it.
Nader/Gonzalez is now done with our ballot access effort in 30 states, on our way to 45 states by September 15.
This is all good news.
And now add this:
I just got in the office - took the red eye from Denver - where I spent the weekend laying the groundwork for a Nader/Gonzalez Super Rally.
And we'll be hosting a second super rally in Minneapolis on September 4th at the Orchestra Hall during the week of the Republican National Convention.
Why?
To protest the corporate control over our political system and to call for opening the presidential debates.
During his 2000 campaign, Ralph Nader drew sellout crowds to super rallies in arenas from Portland's Memorial Coliseum to Madison Square Garden.
After the election, the NewsHour's Mark Shields called the Nader Super Rallies "the most exciting political development of the campaign year."
"My apology to Ralph Nader for not demanding that he be included in the debates," Shields said.
In 2004, the Democratic Party - along with its Republican allies - smothered the Nader campaign with phony lawsuits in a coordinated campaign of petition sabotage.
We had a tough time keeping our heads above water.
Just last month, legislative leaders responsible for illegal use of tax money to keep us off of the ballot in Pennsylvania in 2004 were indicted by a grand jury in Harrisburg.
Now, in 2008, Nader is back, and - thanks to you - on track to be on the ballot in 45 states - we were on only 34 in 2004 - and the Nader/Gonzalez ticket is at six percent in the latest CNN poll.
Now, we need your help for another breakthrough.
We are launching a campaign to Open the Debates.
In its first phase, the super rallies will rise again in Denver and Minneapolis during the Democratic and Republican conventions.
We call all of our supporters to action from every corner of the United States: come to our first rally in Denver on Wednesday, August 27, 2008.
Plan to make the trip to Denver - or Minneapolis - or both.
These rallies will be part of an massive outpouring of protest in Denver and Minneapolis against the two corporate controlled parties and their policies of perpetual militarism and war.
We'll be filling in the details on the two rallies in the days to come.
But for now, we need you to spread the word.
Nader/Gonzalez is aiming to bust open the presidential debates.
As Ralph says, if tens of millions of Americans can hear the Nader/Gonzalez message through the
Presidential debates, it will be a three way race.
Send this e-mail message to your address book.
Tell friends and family.
The super rallies are back.
Time to get on board.
Onward to November
|
Posted at 06:07 pm by thecommonills
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But the Iraqis say the idea of securing Iraq without American assistance remains terrifying to them."No!" exclaimed Haidar, a 29-year-old SWAT trainee who has been a police officer since 2004, with an expression of shock on his face. "We are not going to be ready to do it without the Americans!"The United States has spent four years and more than $20 billion on training and building Iraqi security forces; American instructors say the Iraqis are now mostly able to fight insurgents and sectarian militias on their own. Iraq says it has more than half a million people in its security forces (although the special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction for the U.S. Defense Department has questioned the numbers, saying that many of those have been wounded, been killed or gone AWOL). They wear uniforms and body armor, move in organized formations, almost always carry their weapons correctly and, for the most part, act professionally during missions. But despite such a vote of confidence from the Americans, and despite Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's repeated assurances that Iraq is ready to provide its own security, members of Iraqi security forces say they are still years away from being able to defend their country and its citizens without direct American support.The above is from Anna Badkhen's " Meet Iraq's new SWAT team" ( Salon) and we'll team it with more reality, this from Leila Fadel's " Small Victories" ( Baghdad Observer, McClatchy Newspapers): Parliament adjourned this month and by Sunday most Iraqi parliament members had flitted off to London or Paris or the province they represent.A lot of them didn't even wait until parliament ended. Their last controversial session before their summer break was attended by just over half of the legislators. And those that stuck it out didn't pass the provincial elections law after a bitter dispute over the oil rich city of Kirkuk.So while most parliament members were unavailable the government chose to open the new parliament building housed outside the heavily fortified Green Zone. The audience was so small at the televised ceremony that the camera zoomed in on one section of the seating to give the illusion of a full crowd.If you're able, continue reading because there's a guest-star about to show up. As you read it, wonder why Fadel's able to regularly produce these stories but other outlets aren't? Yochi J. Dreazen's " Georgian Troops Begin Exiting Iraq
To Fight Russians, Leaving Gap" ( Wall St. Journal) reports: The U.S. began flying Georgian troops out of Iraq on American military aircraft Sunday, and U.S. officials expect to have all of the Georgians home by midweek "so that they can support requirements there during the current security situation," according to Col. Steve Boylan, a military spokesman.Col. Boylan acknowledged that the Georgians' departures were "unexpected" but said U.S. officials "are accommodating the changes."Still, replacing the Georgians will be difficult. The 2,000-strong Georgian contingent was the third-largest foreign force in Iraq, and Georgia, unlike most of the other coalition countries, allowed its forces to carry out dangerous missions near the Iraqi-Iranian border.Amazingly, when some countries have internal issues, they can leave Iraq. The US? (You know the answer.) Remember that independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is in Canada today: 
Ralph Nader to speak on Monday August 11, on the trading floor of old Toronto Stock Exchange building.
Please circulate and post widely.
Event also features partial screening of the biographical documentary, An Unreasonable Man.
Now at over 5 percent in national polls, Nader is on his third run for President of the United States.
Find out why he runs and what's at stake for Canada this election.
Ralph Nader is the only major candidate for President of the United States standing up to implement Canadian-style universal healthcare, a Dion-style Carbon Tax, and ending the war in Iraq with a full 6-month withdrawal. Over ten million Americans say they will vote for him, and another 20 million say they would if they thought he had a chance of winning. He's on track to be on the ballot in 45 states, and has a shot at getting in the Google Presidential Debates to be held in New Orleans this September. Come see him this Monday August 11 at the Design Exchange in Downtown Toronto.
Event Program:
- Screening of a portion of An Unreasonable Man, the acclaimed documentary on Ralph Nader
- Ralph Nader Remarks on the US Presidential Election: What's at stake for Canada?
- Q and A with Ralph Nader
Where: Design Exchange, 234 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario M5K 1B2.
Time: 7:00 to 9:30 pm
Ticket Price: Free, donations appreciated, RSVP to ensure seating.
To RSVP, email toronto@votenader.org or call Rashi Khilnani at 647 286 0396 for more details. Please circulate and post widely. And Melissa notes this Nader campaign video calling for the debates to be open (as they should be, and how sad that candidates to have for that in a democracy). Eddie e-mails to note that Nader and running mate Matt Gonzalez have other events coming up:
- August 26th, 1:30pm
- Nader for President 2008 Rally
- Albuquerque, NM
- University of New Mexico, Ballroom C (student union)
- Contribution: $10/$5 student
- More info: (505)982-3928 or events@votenader.org
- Map it
- August 26th, 5:30pm
- Nader for President 2008 Rally
- Santa Fe, NM
- University of Santa Fe
- Contribution: $10/$5 student
- More Info: (505)473-6537 or events@votenader.org
- Map it
- August 27th, 7pm
- "Open the Debates" Rally at the DNC
- Denver, CO
- Magness Arena, University of Colorado- Denver
- (202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org
- Map it
- Sept. 4th, 4:30pm
- Private Conversation w/ Ralph Nader
- Minneapolis, MN
- RSVP: (202) 471-5833
- events@votenader.org
- Map it
- Sept. 4th, 7:30pm
- "Open the Debates" Rally at the RNC
- Minneapolis, MN
- (202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org
- Map it
- Sept. 5th, 1pm
- Nader for President 2008 Rally
- Eau Claire, WI
- University of Wisconsin, Council Fire Room- University Center
- 105 Garfield Ave
- Contribution: $10/$5 student
- (715) 703-0353 or events@votenader.org
- Map it
- Sept. 5th, 7pm
- Nader for President 2008 Rally
- Madison, WI
- Orpheum Theatre
- 216 State St. Madison, WI 53703
- Contribution: $10/$5 student
- (608) 215-1342 or events@votenader.org
- Map it
- Sept. 6th, 12pm
- Nader for President 2008 Rally
- Milwaukee, WI
- Cardinal Stritch University, Nancy Kendall Theater
- 6801 N. Yates Road, Milwaukee, WI 53217
- Contribution:$10/$5 student
- (608) 345-5452 or events@votenader.org
- Map it
- Sept. 6th, 7:30pm
- Nader for President 2008 Rally
- Chicago, IL
- Location:TBA
- Contribution:$10/$5 student
- (202)471-5833 or events@votenader.org
- Map it
- Sept. 7th, 1:30pm
- Nader for President 2008 Rally
- Lansing, MI
- Michigan State, Kellogg Center (Big Ten room A)
- 55 South Harrison Rd. East lansing, MI 48824
- Contribution: $10/$5 student
- (202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org
- Map it
- Sept. 7th, 7:30pm
- Nader for President 2008 Rally
- Detroit, MI
- Location:TBA
- Contribution: $10/$5 student
- Map it
- Sept. 8th, 12pm
- Nader for President 2008 Rally
- Cincinnati, OH
- Location:TBA
- Map it
- Sept. 8th, 7:30pm
- Nader for President 2008 Rally
- Columbus, OH
- Location:TBA
- Map it
Peter Jackson (AP) notes BonusGate, the Pennsylvania scandal involving many things including Democrats conspiring to keep people off the ballot in 2004:
In announcing the first arrests from an ongoing corruption probe, state Attorney General Tom Corbett described a conspiracy in which leaders of the House Democratic caucus allegedly enlisted large numbers of publicly paid subordinates to participate in petition inspections that blocked independent and third-party candidates considered threats to major Democratic candidates in 2004 and 2006.
That allegation--one of many that led to last month's arrests of 12 people connected to the caucus--angered supporters of consumer advocate Ralph Nader, an independent presidential candidate who was forced off the 2004 ballot, and Carl Romanelli, a Green Party candidate who was denied a spot on the U.S. Senate ballot two years later.
Citing the alleged misconduct, lawyers for Nader and Romanelli have filed motions in state courts seeking the withdrawal of orders requiring each of the campaigns to pay more than $80,000 in legal expenses from the 2004 and 2006 ballot challenges. The Detroit Free Press offers a historical look at independent and third-party runs for president. And Karen notes this from Gilles d'Aymery's " The Gray Lady's Muzzle" ( Swans Commentary): On July 29, 2008, The New York Times published on its Web site a column, "The Power of the Protest Vote," written by Andrew Kohut, the president of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, in which he contended that "third or fourth party presidential candidates [could] garner enough votes in November to make a difference in some of the hotly contested swing states." Kohut went on to analyze the defection of Hillary Clinton's supporters and the "liberals" who think that Obama has moved too much to the center, and the conservatives who are unhappy with McCain and take a serious look at Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate. He did not miss the opportunity to associate Ralph Nader with the spoiler syndrome; and he ended asserting the "protest" vote could be a decisive factor on the November electoral results. Comments surged. The New York Times staff kept the commenting flow as they saw fit. My comment did not make the cut.Ironically, following the usual dicing of Nader-the-Spoiler, which meme is so prevalent in the antechambers of the corporate media and the more obscure progressive outfits, Kohut inserted a small graphic of a series of Pew polls indicating the level of enthusiasm for the respective candidates in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008, to prove that Senator McCain had a serious enthusiasm gap in comparison to Senator Obama. But that small graphic, which I cannot reproduce without risking the lightning thunders of the paper's counsels, had the merit to show that in 2000, 46% of Democrats expressed enthusiasm for Al Gore, and only 40% had strong enthusiasm for him. I am surprised that no one has yet accused Nader of being responsible for the absence of Democratic support for Gore (over 200,000 registered Florida Democrats voted for Mr. Bush in 2000), or for causing about 100 million potential voters to go fishing on election day. As Gelett Burgess once quipped, "To appreciate nonsense requires a serious interest in life."Kohut's column generated a lively debate -- over 180 comments -- ranging from Clinton's supporters refusing to vote for Obama to people adamantly defending their right to vote for a third-party or independent candidate (like the two I cited at the top), and of course, the partisans of the trite line, "not voting for Obama is voting for McCain, imbeciles."
Carolyn of MakeThemAccountable probes The Mansion That Rezko Bought in " More Than Just A Boneheaded Mistake:" Simply put, the allocation of purchase price between the Obamas' lot and the lot next door, which were both owned by the same couple and had long been sold together, makes no sense unless the amount paid for the lot adjoining the Obamas', by the wife of now convicted political fixer Tony Rezko, was specifically meant as a favor to the Obamas, so that they could afford their mansion. If so, the difference between what Ms. Rezko paid for the side lot and what it was actually worth would be construed by the IRS as income to the Obamas. After looking at the Obamas' tax return for 2005, my source was able to say that in his opinion they did not declare any such income, and therefore did not pay taxes on it.And reminder, Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts " Vacationing Barack" went up Sunday night. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
Posted at 06:05 pm by thecommonills
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On the front page of the New York Times, Campbell Robertson's " Iraq Government Rolls Soar As the Private Sector Falters." Iraq's increased their government payrolls from 1.2 million in 2005 to 2.3 million today and . . . And? Isn't the whole talking point of the puppet's office that they do not have a strong enough bureaucracy? (And trained.) Is it a story? Probably. Is it front page news? Not as written. But considering that Sunday was yet another day the New York Times couldn't even find Iraq, maybe we shouldn't complain? Inside the paper, A8, Robertson teams with Suadad Al-Salhy for " Attacks Across Iraq Ill 13, Including a U.S. Soldier." Seems much more appropriate as front page news, doesn't it? But 13? Look at the numbers from last night -- just McClatchy and Reuters and mainly McClatchy -- and you've got over 25 deaths (that includes 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad). On the plus side, at least the paper is finally reporting deaths of US service members. Anyone getting their news only from the print edition of the New York Times would have no idea that 11 US service members have already been announced dead this month. In the Los Angeles Times, Tina Susman's " U.S. soldier, 17 Iraqis killed in suicide blast" offers "Sunday's attacks showed the challenges still facing American forces in Iraq, who number about 140,000, and the Iraqi security forces who ultimately will have the task of protecting the country." and notes this: Iraqi police said the dead included three Iraqi soldiers, eight civilians, and six Awakening members, along with two U.S. soldiers, but the U.S. military said in a statement that one American was killed and two were wounded. There was no explanation for the discrepancy.ITV (like the second Times article) talks about what might be in a treaty between the White House and the puppet of the occupation in " Iraq seeks US withdrawal timeline:" Iraq has said the US must provide a "very clear timeline" to withdraw its troops from the country.Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said it is required as part of an agreement to allow US troops to stay beyond this year.US President George W Bush has long resisted setting a firm schedule for pulling troops out of Iraq.Last month, however, the White House began speaking of a general "time horizon" and "aspirational goals" to withdraw.If the treaties (Strategic Framework Agreement: SFA; Status of Forces Agreement: SOFA) don't come be (July 31st was the self-imposed deadline of the White House), the UN mandate (covering only the occupation and not retroactively giving permission for the illegal war) can be extended. It expires at the end of the year. AP's Bushra Juhi reports that Nouri is saying the for-show operation in Diyala Province is taking a one-week vacation "to give insurgents time to surrender". Kyle notes this from Team Nader:
Ralph's Weekend Audio Message
Click here for Ralph's Saturday audio message.
This is Ralph Nader.
I'm very proud of the millions of Americans who are standing with me and my running mate Matt Gonzalez in this momentous election year.
To the scores of signature gatherers around the country who have beared bad weather -- thank you.
To those of you who have written letters to your local newspapers and defended our candidacy to friends and neighbors -- thank you too.
To the thousands of you who have fueled the Nader/Gonzalez campaign with your generous donations -- our gratitude.
We have polled over five percent in a number of national polls -- most recently six percent in the CNN poll last week.
Nader/Gonzalez is projected to be on the ballot in 45 states come election day.
I was at a breakfast meeting with reporters this week in Washington, D.C.
And a reporter asked me if I thought Nader/Gonzalez had a chance to win.
Well, I said, if we get into the debates, before tens of millions of voters, it would be a three way race.
But before we get into the debates, we have to get on the ballots.
And as you know, we're in the stretch run of our ballot drive.
We're very close to hitting our target of $100,000 by tomorrow night.
We're closing in.
So, help push us over the top.
After this weekend, we move from the primary to the general election period.
That means that this is the last weekend where your online contributions will be matched by the federal government.
More specifically, every dollar you give online this weekend, up to $250, will be matched or doubled by the government.
After this weekend, no match for online contributions.
Help push us over the top on our current ballot access fundraising drive.
Go to votenader.org and hit the contribute button.
You can give to your heart's content---up to $4,600 that is---that's the legal limit.
You will be fueling a campaign that will shift the power in specific ways from the giant corporations back into the hands of the American people---whether as voters, consumers or taxpayers.
Thank you again for your support and your considered dedication.
Onward to November.
ShareThisShareThis
And below is the audio of the message.
And on the race for president, Alain Jean-Robert (AFP) reports:
A leading conservative voice and champion of individual liberties, Barr, a former Republican, broke with the Bush administration after the Patriot Act was introduced in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
Barr will appear on the ballots in at least 34 states, some of which, such as northern Ohio and western Nevada, are seen as key swing states this year.
In Georgia, where polls give McCain only a seven-point advantage over Obama, Barr's presence could significantly muddy the vote.
Barr himself faces competition from another former Republican, Chuck Baldwin, who is running as a candidate for the Constitution Party, which has an election manifesto very similar to the Libertarian's. Baldwin is standing in at least 24 states.
Nader, 74, is making his fifth tilt at the White House, this time as an independent and will be running in at least 29 states, including key battleground Michigan.
Nader, who is of Lebanese origin, could win significant support among the large Arab-American community in the northern state, and according to some polls, could even take some 25 per cent of their vote.
"You have in Ralph Nader's candidacy a genuine Arab-American who has a lot of notoriety and publicity. It would be detrimental to Obama's candidacy," said Morley Winograd, former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party.
The Green Party has chosen as its candidate African-American former Democratic congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who will be on the ballot in 24 states.
Her presence could handicap Obama by slicing into his support among women and pacifists against the Iraq war.
"Obama cannot take the peace vote for granted. There are peace candidates running from across the political spectrum," said Kevin Zeese, executive director of Voters for Peace. There are others mentioned, we focused on on Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader -- and Nader is the one the community is supporting. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqthe new york times campbell robertson suadad al-salhythe los angeles timestina susman
Posted at 05:59 pm by thecommonills
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Sunday, August 10, 2008
Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Vacationing Barack"
Posted at 11:50 pm by thecommonills
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peter laufer
aimee allison
lara logan
the cbs evening news
bonnie erbe
anna badkhen
yochi j. dreazen
deborah haynes
gilles d'aymery
