U.S. Iraq war resister Robin Long, arrested and deported by the Harper government this summer after living in Canada, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison and a dishonourable discharge – a felony conviction that will last his whole life. His only "crime" is that he opposed the Iraq war and came to Canada.
Justice MacTavish claimed he would not suffer "irreparable harm" if deported. How is a military jail sentence and a felony conviction not irreparable harm?
No soldier should face jail for opposing the illegal and immoral war in Iraq. And Stephen Harper must be held to account for deporting Robin Long when he knew full well the persecution and punishment he faced in Bush's America.
David Fox, Toronto

Since it is now clear that deporting war resisters to the U.S. does indeed produce irreparable harm, the Harper government must enact the motion passed in Parliament to stop the deportations and let the war resisters stay.
Jesse McLaren, Toronto

The above are two letters to the Toronto Star under the heading "Irreparable harm, indeed." US war resister Robin Long was court-martialed in Colorado Friday and Karen Linne, Fort Carson Public Affairs Office, explained Friday afternoon that he was sentenced to 15 months behind bars, reduced in rank (to E1) and given a dishonorable discharge. Robin was held at the Criminal Justice Center in El Paso Country while awaiting the court-martial and he will receive credit for the time he has served ("about 40 days"). The War Resisters Support Campaign notes:

ROBIN LONG SENTENCED TO 15 MONTHS –
SHAME ON THE HARPER GOVERNMENT

We have just learned that Robin Long was sentenced today, August 22, to 15 months in prison at a military penitentiary. He also received a dishonourable discharge which will follow him the rest of his life. It is a felony conviction. Robin was deported from Canada when federal Justice Anne McTavish ruled that he had not proven that he faced irreparable harm if returned to the U.S. Sadly, today his sentence proves how flawed that decision was. It shows all too clearly what U.S. Iraq war resisters face if they are forcibly returned to the U.S. by our government. Shame on Stephen Harper for allowing this courageous and peaceful young man to be jailed. Stop the deportations. Let the War Resisters stay. Implement the motion passed on June 3rd in the House of Commons.

Emergency picket to protest Robin Long's sentencing:
Monday, August 25
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
360 University Avenue (Across from the US consulate)
Toronto

August 13th, US war resister Jeremy Hinzman was informed he needed to depart Canada by September 23rd or be deported. Military.com reruns an article from the Fayetteville Observer from which we'll note this section:


On Thursday, Hinzman's wife, Nga Nguyen, said he plans to appeal the decision. The couple are asking the Canadian federal courts to delay the deportation.
Randall Hinds, who is 60 and lives in Fayetteville, said he was surprised by Canada's decision to deport Hinzman.
"Historically, they gave deserters asylum during the Vietnam War," Hinds said. "What they should have done is extradited him directly to the U.S. Because he's being deported, he's still free."

Also noting Hinzman is Karen Spears Zacharias's "Every war has two losers" (Fayetteville Observer):

I've been thinking a lot about these men lately -- Conroy, O’Brien and Stafford -- as I read the reports about U.S. Army deserter Jeremy Hinzman. The South Dakota native joined the Army in 2001, and was deployed in 2002 to Afghanistan. He had, by then, converted to a pacifist faith. So Hinzman was given a non-combat role while his application for conscientious objector status was processed. Later, when the 82nd Airborne Division, Hinzman's unit, received orders to Iraq, Hinzman took his wife and son and headed for the border. He did not want to do a tour in Iraq.
Canada recently denied Hinzman's request for objector status and told the soldier he had to go back home, and let the military courts decide his fate.
Conroy's right. If anybody has earned the right to protest war, it's the men and women who have served there. But, by law, the ones with the most at stake are the ones with the least amount of say about the wars they wage on our behalf.
The irony of that was not lost on the Poet of the West.
"Those who champion democracy, but also make a fetish of never accepting anything they don't agree with -- what advantage do they see in democracy?" Stafford asked.
Good question. One we all ought to consider more thoughtfully.
There was a time when I would have derided Hinzman for his actions. I might have even questioned his patriotism.
Not any more though.

War Resisters Support Campaign is planning actions to show support for Hinzman and other war resisters in Canada:

Emergency picket to protest Robin Long's sentencing:
Monday, August 25
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
360 University Avenue (Across from the US consulate)
Toronto

ALL OUT SEPTEMBER 13…

September 13th is a pan-Canadian Day of Action to support U.S. Iraq war resisters and to demand that the Harper government immediately stop the deportations. Actions, demonstrations, and pickets will take place in cities and towns all across Canada. Click here to see a list of actions and to download materials.

If your city is not listed, consider organizing a local action for September 13th. Whether it is petitioning in your local farmer's market, picketing a Conservative MP's office or rallying at a federal building, we need to go all out to stop the deportation of resisters like Jeremy Hinzman and Corey Glass!

… and on September 14th, organize local screenings of Breaking Ranks

Canada's Prime Minister is about to deport Jeremy Hinzman, American Conscientious Objector to the Iraq War, as well as his wife Nga and two children by September 23rd. Jeremy is featured in Michelle Mason's documentary BREAKING RANKS.

• USE THE FILM: Check your local library or borrow a copy of BREAKING RANKS featuring Jeremy Hinzman, from the National Film Board Of Canada (contact Jane Gutteridge at j.gutteridge@nfb.ca) and host a day of action and/or living room screening. Check www.nfb.ca for upcoming screenings of Breaking Ranks in Toronto this September, and in your community.

Coordinated screenings of Breaking Ranks on the eve of Parliament reconvening gives supporters the opportunity to organize letter writing parties afterwards, so that federal ministers' mailboxes are stuffed in the first days after MPs return to Ottawa.


The DNC is in Denver for their pageant and Seth Gitell's "Protesters Launch Ambitious Week of Convention Demonstrations" (New York Sun) notes the only real news coming out of it thus far:

Protesters trooped up and down the 16th Street pedestrian mall and around downtown landmarks, chanting: "If you support the troops, bring them home," "This should be a peace convention," and "We support war resisters." Members from a group called Iraq Veterans Against the War, dressed in desert fatigues and black shirts, shook their fists and shouted, "Bring our brothers home."

IVAW has a number of actions they are working on and we'll highlight one below:

Northwest GI Coffeehouse in the works

Turning to the US presidential race. Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate. Marci notes this from Team Nader:

Nader Flix

As a big part of the homestretch push to Election Day, we are starting a new media fund drive -- $100,000 in ten days -- by the end of the Republican convention.

We're cruising. You've helped get us on 37 state ballots thus far (more to come soon) and Nader/Gonzalez has been at 5% or above in several national polls. But the big bucks news media has responded with a deep freeze-out. So, it's up to us to break through and get our own message out.

Enter the Nader Media Fund.

We aren't tied down by narrow stylistic constraints. We don't worry about offending corporate America. We just need to get much busier creating, filming, editing, and distributing.

You can help us create high-impact media that will get the Nader/Gonzalez campaign message out there -- on television, radio, and the Web. Your contributions will fund radio ads, our creative campaigns will garner free television media (as our "puppet" debate did in 2004), and we will put high quality content in your hands for you to show to your friends and family.

Donate $100 to Nader/Gonzalez now and we will mail to you three 30-45 minute DVDs over the next month with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage hot out of the editing room -- "Nader Flix." First, the Denver Super Rally, then the Minneapolis Super Rally, then a special debate project that we are creating.

Our crew of professional filmmakers includes people from the pinnacle of the business. The photo here shows them in the middle of their drive from Los Angeles to Denver yesterday. They need tape and access to top-notch gear, lodging and transportation. They need your support.

Make our own media. It's what we've got to do. We need your help to make it happen.

Onward to November.

(The 3-DVDs for $100 offer is good until September 4, 2008, 11:59 p.m.).

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A suicide bomber rushed into a neighborhood celebration for a man who had just been released from detention Sunday night, detonating his explosives and killing at least 25 other people, police said.
Also Sunday, the military announced the arrest of a key Al Qaeda in Iraq figure believed to have planned the abduction of U.S. journalist Jill Carroll in 2006. In a statement, the military said Salim Abdallah Ashur Shujayri, also known as Abu Uthman, is a Baghdad leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq who oversaw some of the group's most heinous activities.
The suicide attack occurred about 18 miles west of Baghdad in the suburb of Abu Ghraib, a mainly Sunni Muslim area. It was one of several attacks that left about 40 people dead and underscored the threat still posed by insurgents despite improved security nationwide.

From Tina Susman and Saif Hameed's "Iraq suicide attack kills 25" while Amit R. Paley's "Suicide Blast Kills 25 At Celebration in Iraq" (Washington Post) reports that the gathering was for Sami Hanoush, the son of Adnan Hanoush -- an "Awakening" Council member, who had recently been released from Camp Bucca and that the assault, which was carried out by "a stranger in his late 20s," "was one of the deadliest attacks in recent months." Erica Goode and Stephen Farrell's "Bomb Shatters Party, Killing 25 Iraqis" (New York Times) notes the gather was "a large dinner" and that the stranger was "a man wearing a yellow dishdasha, or large robe" and quotes Abdullah Hamdan stating, "I just lost my brother, but I pray to God to save my son."

Meanwhile AFP reports the death toll from the bombing has risen to 30. Yasser Faisal (Reuters) reports that burials of the dead have already started and includes this, "At Toufash Kroush's home, where the bombing took place late on Sunday, pools of blood covered the floor. Flies swirled over mounds of rice and lamb, set out in the garden for the outdoor feast Toufash had arranged to celebrate the release of his son Sami from a U.S. prison camp."

Meanwhile Gulf Daily News reports Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani is stating he is not "seriously ill." The Scotsman quotes him stating, "Recently, untrue rumours have caused anxiety among believers inside and outside Iraq." BBC provides this perspective: "He rarely intervenes in politics but he has played a critical role in Iraq at key times since the fall of Saddam Hussein - notably when the constitution was being drafted and during the Shia uprising. His judgement is respected by both politicians and ordinary people alike in Iraq, correspondents say. He underwent heart surgery in London in 2004."

The Los Angeles Times' Saad Fakhrildeen gets a sit-down with al-Sistani and reports on it in "IRAQ: My meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani" (Babylon & Beyond):

Sistani sat on a mattress, dressed in his black robes and matching turban. He shook our hands and we wished him success. He beckoned us to sit with him. We sat on both his left and right. The room had about seven thin mattresses and one large rug. A small plastic bag held coins. The lights went out briefly and then a generator started up and emitted a steady roar. Sitting with him, I was so happy, I wanted to cry.
Sistani smiled and his voice sounded normal. The oldest reporter in our group asked the grand ayatollah about the rumors that he was sick. Sistani told us: "It was circulated recently some news about my health, which was not correct. It caused some anxiety to the believers in Iraq and the world. I advise journalists to deal with the news honestly."
He let us know how much he valued our profession and told us he was upset over how many reporters had been killed and harassed in Iraq. "I am proud of you and your work, your work is important in transferring the truth to the people," Sistani said. Listening to him, I felt such words from such a man meant journalists are important.

Lloyd asks that we again note this from Team Nader:

Nader Team Arrives in Denver

Dear Senator Obama:

The Nader Team just arrived in Denver for the DNC.

We wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so we paid a visit to Invesco Field, the site of your upcoming speech.

Ironically, it was easier for us to get in there than it was to get in one of your debates.

Here we are protesting that fact.

As you can see from this photo, we managed to inflate a huge liberty bell at Invesco Field.

You know, liberty: the freedom to speak and debate.

A liberty that third party candidates are routinely denied by the mainstream press and mainstream candidates.

We want to change that.

So we are issuing a challenge to the Commission on Presidential Debates -- liberate debates from corporate control and end the anti-democratic exclusion of third party candidates.

And we are issuing a challenge to you.

You are the candidate of hope and change.

Consequently, we hope you will change your mind and make good on your offer to debate anytime, anywhere.

Participate in the Google debates in New Orleans on September 18th and urge them to include third parties.

John McCain said he'd do it.

How about you?

Do it for hope.

Do it for change.

Give people a real choice this election.

Onward to November!

Ashley Sanders
The Nader Team

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Isaiah's latest The World Today Just Nuts "Change You Can Believe In." Senator Joe Biden holds a diaper and says, "It's not all glamor." Barack waits on the changing table and insists, "Get the baby wipes, Biden! Tushy needs cleaning!"

the world today just nuts
barack obama
comic
comic
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the common ills

Swiping from Third, Friday US war resister Robin Long was court-martialed in Colorado. Karen Linne, Fort Carson Public Affairs Office, explained Friday afternoon that he was sentenced to 15 months behind bars, reduced in rank (to E1) and given a dishonorable discharge. Robin was held at the Criminal Justice Center in El Paso Country while awaiting the court-martial and he will receive credit for the time he has served ("about 40 days"). Jupiter Kalambakal (AHN) reports, "During the trial, Long, 25, of Boise, Idaho, said he fled when his unit was deployed to Iraq because he felt it was an illegal war, according to CBC. Prosecutors, on the other hand, said he abandoned his duty and his country." Tom Roeder (Colorado Springs Gazette via Albany Times Union) notes that Col. Debra Boudreau presided as the judge, that the prosecution called no witnesses and that the prosecution "showed a six-minute video of Long, sporting dreadlocks and a beard, telling a Canadian news reporter 'I think I was lied to by my president'." That's the October 2007 CBC interview Robin gave. The use of the video indicates Robin's civilian attorney James Branum was correct when he told Nick Kyonka (Toronto Star) immediately before the court-martial, "I think they want to prosecute him for free-speech issues without actually charging him." The New Haven Register runs a McClatchy Newspapers-Tribune Services article entitled "Deserter sentenced to prison" which notes that Boudreau wanted to give Long an even longer sentence but was prevented from doing that as a result of the plea bargain Branum negotiated and reports this on the defense:

Among the defense witnesses was celebrated anti-war activist Ann Wright, a retired Army officer and former State Department official who has racked up more than 10 arrests with her outspoken protests, including some outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.
She said the war was against the law, arguing that justified Long’s fleeing to Canada.
In most court-martial sentencing hearings, defendants try to show that they’re good soldiers and lean heavily on character to mitigate their actions. Typical witnesses include family members and fellow troops.
The lone character witness called to speak for Long was Peter Haney with the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission. He had met the soldier three times while Long was awaiting trial in the El Paso County, Colo., lockup.
"I've observed Mr. Long in situations that would be trying to just about anyone," Haney said. "He seemed to me to be extremely poised and lucid."
[. . .]
In his testimony, Long talked about his life in Canada and attacked the war in Iraq.
"I feel the war on terror is a war on peace," Long testified, saying he planned to eventually move back to Canada where he has a girlfriend and a son born while he was on the run form the Army.
In Nelson, British Columbia, Long said he perfected his organic gardening skills and converted his Volkswagen to run on recycled cooking oil.
Long told the judge he wanted to serve little or no jail time, but would take a bad conduct discharge as punishment.
He wrapped up his time on the stand by telling the judge, "Peace, love and light."
Long's civilian attorney, James Branam, closed his part of the sentencing hearing by comparing Long to Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr.
"The morality of what he did should lessen the punishment," Branam told the judge.

Yesterday morning's entry included a story that mispelled James Branum's name. I provided a link in Branum's name but didn't note it because I wasn't sure it was mispelled. To be clear, Jim Branum's last name is spelled "Branum." AP reports on Robin here. Over 48 people were reported killed over the weekend.

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

Last Sunday, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war hit the 4,143 was the number. And tonight? 4146. Just Foreign Policy's counter estimates the number of Iraqis killed since the start of the illegal war to be 1,252,595 . . . the same number they were using last Sunday and the Sunday before. Apparently, despite reported violence, JFP doesn't belive any Iraqi's have died in over two weeks.


Turning to some of the reported violence and starting with Saturday.

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing that claimed 4 lives (fifteen wounded), a Baghdad roadside bombing claimed 3 lives (and wounded five) while another Baghdad roadside bombing left two more people wounded, a Baghdad bomber blew his/herself up and claimed 21 other lives (thirty-two wounded), a Diyala Province roadsidbe boming that claimed 3 lives (five more wounded), another Diyala Province bombing that claimed the lives of 4 Iraqi soldiers (either more wounded), a Nineveh car bombing claimed the life of the person in the exploding car and the lives of 3 police officers and 1 civilian and a Mosul bombing that claimed 2 lives. Dropping back to Saturday's violence Erica Goode (New York Times) notes a Kirkuk "suicide bombing" that claimed the lives of 5 people (plus the bomber) and left seven injured in an apparent attack on "Awakening" Council member Abdul Kareem Ahmed al-Obaydi (who was among the dead). Staying with Saturday, McClatchy's Hussein Kadhim reported a Baghdad mortar attack that wounded three soldiers, a Baquba roadside bombing wounded two people and a Mansouriya roadside bombing claimed 1 life.

Shootings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an armed clash that left 1 civilian and 1 police officer shot dead and four more people wounded in Baquba. Saturday McClatchy's Hussein Kadhim reported 1 person was shot dead in Arbil and (on Friday) a Basra attack on Sheik Haider Ismail that left him wounded (shot three times).

Corpses?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 corpse discovered in Baghdad. Saturday McClatchy's Hussein Kadhim reported 1 corpse was discovered in Baghdad.

In the Sunday New York Times, Sabrina Tavernise tackles The Myth of the Great Return in "Fear Keeps Iraqis Out of Their Baghdad Homes" which reveals: "Out of the more than 151,000 families who had fled their houses in Baghdad, just 7,112 had returned to them by mid-July according to the Iraqi Ministry of Migration." Tavernise points out:

The reasons for the hesitation are complex, based on dangers both real and imagined. In most cases, Iraqis say they feel safe with their neighbors but are not sure about other residents. Some are afraid of the new guards on their blocks. In rarer cases, they cannot face neighbors who they suspect helped in killings.

Also in today's paper, Erica Goode's "Gunmen Kill A Top Official In Baghdad" runs on A10 (where Tavernise continues from the front page). Goode is covering the Saturday assassination of Deputy Minister Kamal Shyaa Abdullah ("high-ranking official in the Ministry of Culture") while he was headed home (his driver was also killed in the attack).

New content at The Third Estate Sunday Review:

Truest statement of the Week
Truest statement of the week
A note to our readers
Editorial: Support War Resisters
TV: Cyborgs or gasbags, which is worse?
Denver Super Rally: Putting the issues on the table
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (1949 - 2008)
vanden Heuvel doesn't do corrections
Barack's Running Bud
Barack, the little s**t
Highlights

Turning to the US presidential race, Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate, his running mate is Matt Gonzalez. Sonya notes this from Team Nader:

Nader Team Arrives in Denver
Posted by The Nader Team on Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 05:55:00 PM
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Dear Senator Obama:
The Nader Team just arrived in Denver for the DNC.
We wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so we paid a visit to Invesco Field, the site of your upcoming speech.
Ironically, it was easier for us to get in there than it was to get in one of your debates.
Here we are protesting that fact.
As you can see from this photo, we managed to inflate a huge liberty bell at Invesco Field.
You know, liberty: the freedom to speak and debate.
A liberty that third party candidates are routinely denied by the mainstream press and mainstream candidates.
We want to change that.
So we are issuing a challenge to the Commission on Presidential Debates -- liberate debates from corporate control and end the anti-democratic exclusion of third party candidates.
And we are issuing a challenge to you.
You are the candidate of hope and change.
Consequently, we hope you will change your mind and make good on your offer to debate anytime, anywhere.
Participate in the Google debates in New Orleans on September 18th and urge them to include third parties.
John McCain said he'd do it.
How about you?
Do it for hope.
Do it for change.
Give people a real choice this election.
Onward to November!
Ashley Sanders
The Nader Team
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Okay, Isaiah's latest goes up right after this. Pru notes ("This article should be read after: » Imperialism’s unstable world order") Alex Callinicos' "David Miliband is playing a dangerous game" (Great Britain's Socialist Worker):

British politicians love playing Winston Churchill. Tory leader David Cameron was at it last week when he flew to Georgia. According to the Guardian, Georgia's president Mikheil Saakashvili invited him after he compared the situation there to "the appeasement of Hitler".
But in fact the famous conflict between Churchill and his great rival and predecessor Neville Chamberlain in the late 1930s was over whom to appease. Britain was confronted by two rising imperialist powers, Germany and the US.
Since it couldn't take both of them on, the British ruling class had to choose which one to appease and which, if necessary, to fight. Distrusting the US, Chamberlain chose to appease Hitler -- thus earning the scorn of posterity.
But in order to defeat Germany, Churchill had to throw himself at the mercy of the US. His grovelling towards the US president Franklin Roosevelt has been repeated by every subsequent British prime minister.
True to form, foreign secretary David Miliband appeared on the Today programme on Wednesday of last week to denounce Russia's "blatant aggression" against Georgia. "The sight of Russian tanks rolling into parts of a sovereign country on its neighbouring borders will have brought a chill down the spine of many people," he declared.
Actually the sight of US and British tanks rolling into Iraq in March 2003 sent a chill down the spines of hundreds, if not thousands of millions of people. Listening to Miliband, I wondered whether he was being consciously hypocritical in ignoring such an obvious comparison.
My guess is that he probably wasn't. The leaders of the Western powers genuinely believe they are the "international community" and are entitled to make up the rules as they go along. Consistency is for other weaker states that must obey their commands.
George Bush displayed the same attitude when he said last Saturday that the Russian-controlled enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia were "part of Georgia" and that they "lie within [Georgia's] internationally recognised borders". He added, "Georgia's borders should command the same respect as every other nation's."
Breakaway
But why aren't Serbia’s borders entitled to "the same respect"? The US and the main European powers have supported the breakaway of Kosovo from Serbia, even though this hasn’t been sanctioned by the United Nations security council.
Nevertheless in the present crisis, the European Union (EU) as a whole has been far less bullish in backing the US against Russia. At the Nato summit in Bucharest last April, France and Germany vetoed Bush's demand that Ukraine and Georgia be admitted to the alliance.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, brokered last week's truce between Russia and Georgia. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, flew to meet Dimitri Medvedev, the Russian president. Germany has been relatively muted in its criticisms of Russia and has stated its opposition to US talk of expelling Russia from the G8.
Of course, this attitude is connected with German and French awareness that the EU depends on natural gas imported through Russia.
While it is cynical, the stance of France and Germany is at least rational. By contrast, the debate here in Britain is dominated by a race to see who can be toughest on Russia. Gordon Brown has ordered Miliband off to Georgia in Cameron’s wake. Meanwhile the Tory leader demands that "Russia must pay a price" and that Nato offers Georgia "a clear pathway to membership".
Miliband, Cameron and company should answer a simple question. Would they be willing to go to war with Russia to defend Georgia's "internationally recognised borders"? If Georgia was a Nato member it would be entitled to expect this.
Bush has shown that even he isn't prepared to go this far. As the Washington Post bluntly put it, the US "has neither the wherewithal nor the willingness to enter into a military conflict with Russia on its territorial border". But the support Saakashvili has been getting may encourage him into more adventures. Georgia’s Western backers are playing a dangerous game.
The following should be read alongside this article: » Imperialism’s unstable world order» Nato moves east (map)» The US and Russia: the limits of a superpower» A Georgian tragedy» Polish activists: 'We've had Moscow, we don't want Washington'» It's not Czechoslovakia 1968
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Mr. Long's civilian lawyer, James M. Branum, said after the hearing that he would appeal the sentence.
"I felt he doesn't deserve a day in prison," Mr. Branum said. "Any jail time is unjust."
Mr. Branum added that "he may have committed an illegal action, but morally he was right, and it meant a lot for him to say that to the Army."
Karen Linne, a Fort Carson spokeswoman, said the Army had no comment.

The above is from Dan Frosch's "Soldier Who Deserted to Canada Draws 15-Month Term" in today's New York Times (A16) and it's a good size brief but Karen had no comment? Really? She was a regular chatterbox. Maybe she just didn't want to talk to the New York Times? (Karen Linne is the Karen mentioned in yesterday's snapshot.) As Karen informed yesterday, Robin was sentenced to 15 months with credit for time served since being extradited to the US ("about 40 days"), busted in rank down to E1 and given a dishonorable discharge.

Robin is a US war resister who went to Canada instead of serving in the illegal war. In Canada, he made a life for himself, attempted to find work and became a father. If he made a mistake, it was in ending up in the region where the US dictates the shot. (The same region that took orders from the US to arrest US war resister Kyle Snyder on his wedding day. Snyder was released, he'd broken no Canadian laws and never should have been arrested.) Harassed by the police there, the hostile Stephen Harper government was able to put forward the argument that his being a day laborer meant he was somehow 'out of touch' with immigration authorities. This allowed the 'risk' analysis to take place and they tried to hide behind it when they decided to jail him prior to Judge Anne Mactavish's finding last month.

Robin was attempting to win safe harbor status in Canada. Mactavish lied and declared him a "flight risk" which allowed her to imprison him. If you think an immigrant to your country is a flight risk, if you think they may leave the country, you don't imprison them. You hope they'll leave before government monies are used to determine whether they should be allowed to stay or not. But it was always about extraditing Robin and Mactavish was working with the US government -- something Canadian citizens outraged by.

She knew extradition was a different process, she knew that if she ordered extradition (and not deportation), her actions would be reviewed by higher bodies before anything took place. Extradition is a legal process which requires many steps.

Mactavish skipped those steps by lying and saying she was deporting. Robin was not deported. Robin was imprisoned and when Mactavish entered her ruling, he was not freed. If Robin was being deported, he would be taken to the border or an airport (or bus depot for that matter) to ensure that he left the country. That is deportation.

What happened was extradition. He was imprisoned. After the ruling was made public, he was still imprisoned. He was kept from his peers and the press and he was physically taken to the border by Canadian authorities who did not expell him, they released him into the custody of American authorities under the arrangement that had already (and illegally) taken place. Robin wasn't deported, he was extradited. It's not a minor point.

Had Mactavish called it what it was, Robin would still be in Canada right now. Extradition requires review (and is beyond the power Mactavish held). Extradition, if presented openly to the Canadian people, would have led to a huge outrage. Even if a decision had been reached to extradite Robin it would not have been reached for some time.

She lied and called her deporation. Mactavish's 'ruling' doesn't just need to be reviewed by the people, it needs to be legally reviewed as does whether or not she's fit to sit on the bench. This isn't a minor point and it's especially important because Mactavish will be ruling on other war resisters in Canada.

In terms of deportation, by Canada's own laws and guidelines, Robin was iffy to be deported. He is the father of a young Canadian citizen (less than two years old). Mactavish's decision splits up a family which goes against every policy for determining status in Canada.

In terms of what she actually did, a judge who extradites and tries to conceal it under a phoney claim of "deportation" does not deserve to sit on the bench. If she truly believed in extradition, she should have pursued it through the appropriate channels. She knew it was "iffy" and wouldn't take place quickly, so she decided to set extradition in motion while LYING and calling it "deportation."

As a judge, she knows the difference between extradition and deportation. As a judge, she abused her powers and she was fraudulent with the Canadian people. She needs to step down. Charges need to be filed against her because she will be the sitting judge in other hearings regardless. She has demonstrated that Canadian law does not matter to her, serving the United States matters to Anne Mactavish. Charges need to be filed and any war resister case she's assigned needs to result in defandant's attorneys requesting that the case be reassigned.

When Mactavish elected to ignore Canadian law on immigration (Robin being the father of a young Canadian child) that was bad enough. But she had perpetrated fraud on the Canadian people by extraditing someone and insisting it was deportation. Canadians have a right to believe that their justices work for Canada. Mactavish has made it clear that she will bend, break and ignore Canadian law to be of service to the United States.

The Globe and Mail demonstrates how little they care about their country (which is one reason Canada moves more and more to a totalitarian state) by refusing to file their own story and instead running with an AP article. From that article:

He joined the U.S. Army in July, 2003, believing at the time that his country was justified in going to war in Iraq.
His perspective changed after hearing that weapons of mass destruction had not been found in Iraq and that Iraqi detainees had been abused.
Concluding that the abuse was systemic, Pte. Long decided that he would not participate or be complicit in what he believed were war crimes.
In September, 2006, he applied to be accepted in Canada as a refugee, claiming that the U.S. was involved in an illegal war.

Nick Kyonka (Toronto Star) actually files a report, from "Iraq war resister sentenced to 15 months:"

The sentence was the longest any convicted army deserter had received since the beginning of the 2003 Iraq war, said retired U.S. Army Col. Ann Wright, a former diplomat who resigned from her post out of protest at the war's outset.
Wright testified against the legality of the Iraq war on Long's behalf.
Of the thousands of soldiers sentenced for desertion or going AWOL – and the estimated two dozen tried for protesting the war – only former army sergeant Kevin Benderman received an equal sentence in 2005.
About two-dozen anti-war supporters gathered around the courthouse at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colo., yesterday afternoon as a military judge handed down Long's sentence.
Though initially sentenced to 30 months in prison, that time was reduced to the 15-month maximum military prosecutors had agreed on when arranging a plea deal last week.
Long, 25, came to Canada in 2005 to flee a scheduled deployment to Iraq. While here, he was briefly engaged to an Ontario woman -- with whom he had a child last year -- before he moved to British Columbia, supporters have said.

Erin Miller files a report for KBS Radio. ABC's KRDO files "Soldier Sentenced For Desertion" (link has text and video):

"He's doing okay," said James Branam, the civilian defense attorney hired by peace activists supporting Long. "He felt good that he got to speak his mind about why he did what he did. He knows that he did the legally wrong thing, but the morally right thing."
Long's lawyer says he reached an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to desertion with intent to remain away permanently, a lesser charge than desertion with intent to shirk hazardous duty. The judge initially sentenced Long to 30 months, but an earlier plea agreement gave him the lesser sentence.
Long's suporters felt the sentence is too harsh. "He's a young man who is a very good man," said retired Col. Mary Ann Wright, a former Army diplomat. "He's got principles, honor and courage. Four or five months is pretty common among all the ones who have gone AWOL and been public about it."
Sgt. Matthis Chiroux of New York can relate to Long. Chiroux also refused a deployment, but says the Army decided against court-martialing him--partly because he testified about war objections before Congress and had support from some lawmakers. "Robin Long, to me, is a hero. I'm going to be writing him lots of letters."

From Team Nader:

Next Wednesday, Denver is going to be rockin.
Thousands will be gathered at the University of Denver Magness arena to protest the corporate lockdown on the Presidential debates.
Sean Penn, Val Kilmer, Cindy Sheehan, Tom Morello, Jello Biafra and others will join Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez.
Demanding an end to the corporate control over the Presidential debates.
So, if there is any chance you can get to Denver Wednesday, you can make a donation to reserve your ticket here.
If you can't get to Denver, no problem.
Free Speech TV will be streaming the event live on the Internet. (Wednesday, August 27, 7 p.m. Mountain time, 9 p.m. Eastern.)
Just click here to watch.
Also, the Free Speech TV will be broadcasting the event live on Dish Network Channel 9415.
And many local public access channels will be carrying the Free Speech TV feed.
(If your public access channel doesn't carry it, call them and ask them to do so. Click here for a list of public access channels.)
Anyway, it's going to be an historic event -- protesting the corporate control over our politics -- in the midst of the corporate Democratic spectacle.
So, join us in Denver if you can.
If not, invite your friends over, and dial up the live Internet feed -- or watch on television via satellite or on your public access channel.
Onward to November.

Since yesterday morning, the following community websites have updated:

Rebecca's Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude;
Cedric's Cedric's Big Mix;
Kat's Kat's Korner;
Betty's Thomas Friedman is a Great Man;
Mike's Mikey Likes It!;
Elaine's Like Maria Said Paz;
Wally's The Daily Jot;
Trina's Trina's Kitchen;
Ruth's Ruth's Report;
and Marcia's SICKOFITRADLZ

[Mike posting this for C.I. and adding a note, Wally and Cedric are posting this evening.]
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

iraq
nick kyonka
robin long
dan frosch
the new york times
krdo
like maria said paz
kats korner
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
trinas kitchen
the daily jot
cedrics big mix
mikey likes it
thomas friedman is a great man
ruths report
sickofitradlz

The Iraqi paramilitary unit that stormed a government complex in Iraq's Diyala province earlier this week usually is directed by the prime minister's office, but was acting without its orders in this case, the Iraqi government said Friday.
Abdul Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman who's serving as the interim commander of police in Diyala, described the emergency response unit as a counterterrorism force that's nominally under Interior oversight but with its own chain of command. The name of its leader and the size of its force are classified, he said.
A spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party challenged the assertion that the unit was acting without orders, days after a prominent member was arrested in one of the raids. "We believe that such a raid could not have taken place unless Mr. Maliki had at least prior knowledge of it," said Dr. Salim Abdullah al Juboori, referring to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.

The above is from Nicholas Spangler's "Diyala raid was rogue operation, Iraqi government says" (McClatchy Newspapers) and it's cute the way he avoids certain issues. For instance the fact that two US helicopters were part of the operation with eye witnesses reporting they were fired on by those helicopters. If it was a rogue operation, how did the US military come to be involved?

A question to keep in mind as you read Ned Parker's "Iraq seeks breakup of U.S.-funded Sunni fighters" (Los Angeles Times) which follows up on Richard A. Oppel Jr.'s "Iraq Takes Aim at Leaders Of U.S.-Tied Sunni Groups" from yesterday's New York Times:


Amid fears that the Sunnis' treatment could rekindle Iraq's insurgency, the Americans are caught between their wish to support the fighters and their stronger ties to Maliki's government, which has challenged the Sunni paramilitaries in recent months as it grows increasingly confident about its fledgling army.
"We want to have our cake and eat it too, support Maliki and the Sons of Iraq. . . . Maliki wants to make that as hard for us as possible. He wants us to choose him," said Stephen Biddle, a Council on Foreign Relations defense expert who has served as an advisor on strategy to Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq. "What it looks like we are getting is a Maliki government that won't behave itself and wants to crush the Sons of Iraq."
The chief U.S. military spokesman here denied Maliki was targeting the Sons of Iraq, or that the Americans were tilting toward the government at the expense of the Sunni fighters.
"Just last week, the prime minister gave his personal commitment to the program," Brig. Gen. David Perkins said. "They are well aware of the sacrifices the Sons of Iraq have made, that they were a critical element in bringing the security situation under control and that it is in their strategic advantage to assimilate them peacefully and orderly into Iraqi society."
Maliki has grown powerful after successful military operations in spring against Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr's militia in southern Iraq and Baghdad. His transformation has provided the Americans a partner they can work with as they look for a way to hand over the reins in Iraq, the long-term U.S. goal here.
A Western advisor to the Iraqi government said the U.S. military couldn't stop the Iraqi security forces now even if it wanted to -- they are larger in size and have their own chain of command.

Meanwhile Tina Susman and Caeser Ahmed file "Iraq cleric Muqtada Sadr critical of draft plan on U.S. troop withdrawal" on the reaction to whispers of the draft of a treaty:

At the weekly prayer service in Sadr's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City, chants of "No to the agreement!" rang out through loudspeakers positioned along the street. Worshipers responded with applause and repeated the chant as the service ended and people drifted away.
Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia have kept a low profile since fighting in the spring led the Iraqi military to move into militia strongholds. But though Sadr claims to have revamped his group into an exclusively cultural organization, his fiery anti-U.S. message can rev up supporters and could hurt Maliki's standing if Iraqis see the prime minister as kowtowing to American wishes.
At prayer services across the country, Sadrist preachers said any deal struck with the Americans was a blow to Iraq's sovereignty. In Sadr City, listeners agreed.
"Everyone is talking about how it will really serve the interests of the Americans, not the Iraqis," said Mohammed Fadim, whose well-stocked grocery store overlooks the wide avenue where worshipers knelt side by side in prayer. "Everyone knows the U.S. administration. Once they occupy a country, if they want to make an agreement to stay, 80% of the terms will fulfill their interests."


Sara notes David Lightman and Margaret Talev's "David Lightman and Margaret Talev" (McClatchy Newspapers):

Something about Barack Obama's manner bothers Margaret Cowan.
"There's something egotistical about him," the Sheridan, Colo., retiree said. "It's the way he struts around."
Many swing voters here and throughout the country consider the presumptive Democratic nominee distant, pompous, arrogant, even elitist.
"It's a big issue that he needs to address," said Eric Davis, a professor emeritus of political science at Middlebury College in Vermont.
Obama has Ivy League degrees from Columbia and Harvard universities. He's extraordinarily articulate and exudes self-confidence. Those credentials and qualities combine to strike some people as arrogant.
He counters by reminding voters that he was raised by a single mother of modest means and worked as a Chicago community organizer. Those aren't elitist roots.

Aarogance exists in all class strata. More importantly, the term used for Barack would be "social climber" -- a term that denotes someone from a lower strata. And the lies that attempt to pull the heart strings only undercut him all the more. Why does Barack never speak of his step-father? What's with this "single mother" claptrap he always offers? He had a step-father for years. Then he chose to live with his grandparents. It's someone expanding reality to make his 'struggle' seem more difficult -- the hallmark of a social climber. Equally true is that he was ineffective in his brief 'career' as a community organizer (by his own admission) and its at the point that he chucked it all and decided to go to Harvard.

I keep waiting for someone to make the obvious comparison: Iraq Levin's A Kiss Before Dying. If you don't have time for the book, its been filmed twice and the Matt Dillon vehicle should be easily found. Dillon's mother (Diane Ladd) is alive. But that's not good enough for Dillon who claims both parents are dead. Claims they died on a famous plane crash. Using his "orphan" status to argue for the woman he's tricking to be nicer to her father (so that he can get a job working for the man). In the article Jen Psaki, of the Obam campaign, makes the sort of statement that should have her pulled from making statements to the press. Explaining that they are going for smaller venues for Barack, she acknoweldges "we spent a little too much time doing the big rallies" and goes on to mention "Obama's fame." That's not really refuting the He's A Celebrity! charge. It only reinforces it. The reporters mention Greensboro, North Carolina and Barack's stop a market there "where he sample a biscuit, a peach and a zucchini muffin". Zucchini muffin? More importantly, arrogance reeked of that stop. You can turn to page A16 of Thursday's New York Times for the photo by Richard Perry of Barack looking arrogant as he holds half a slice of peach and chews the other half. It's not a wine tasting, Barack. You shove that tiny piece in your mouth (all of it) and you chew. No one's waiting for your ruling. He actually looked like Richard Nixon in the photo. Consider that a telling portent. LBJ is perceived as starting the war on Vietnam (it was JFK) and Nixon kept America there.

This week's photos didn't help Barack at all. Who but a celebrity sports nipple? Someone put the candidate in a t-shirt before he puts on one of his thin dress shirts because America really doesn't need to see a presidential candidate's nipples poking through day after day.

One day's round of photos? You allow that the campaign didn't realize how the thin material would photograph under glaring lights. Day after day? You realize the campaign's either ignorant or using Barack's nipples as a selling point. Nipples for President? Well maybe they can do a mock up poster of Barack starring in The Deep next? But remember Psaki says Barack's "fame" is not his "totality" -- and they wonder why the campaign can't connect with the bulk of working class voters?

We'll close with this from Bruce Dixon's "Hope Is For The Weak" (Black Agenda Report):

No less an historical authority than Oprah Winfrey herself has declared Obama's career to be "the fulfillment of Dr. King's Dream", as if the 20th century Freedom Movement was exclusively about overcoming prejudice without challenging America's empire overseas or her inequalities at home. As usual, Oprah has the establishment message dead-on. For more than forty years, the media have taught and sold an eviscerated history of the Freedom Movement which they have branded as "Dr. King's Dream." According to the authorities, "Dr. King's Dream" was about individual worth, about judging people by "the content of their character" and affording an equal opportunity for all to rise.
Even though Dr. King died supporting a black union in the midst of a militant citywide strike, the media-endorsed versions of his life, of the Freedom Movement, and of "the Dream" (probably trademarked) which the election of Barack Obama will supposedly "fulfill" are never about collective action, or democracy in workplaces. They never mention the right -- won and held by people in most other nations around the world -- to organize and strike without being fired or penalized. Despite Dr. King's prescient warnings that if we did not swiftly end the war in Vietnam and turn our energies to peace abroad and justice at home we would be marching against US wars here, there and everywhere, we will be told in Denver, on the 45th anniversary of "I Have A Dream" that his legacy is being satisfied by the elevation of a black candidate who celebrates empire, who endorses the so-called worldwide "war on terror", who has assured us he will not end the war in Iraq while he, co-signs the Bush threats to Iran and escalates the conflict in Afghanistan, perhaps extending it to nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Despite his African heritage, Obama shows no signs of ending, or even publicly acknowledging the fact that the US has furnished arms and military aid to more than 50 of 54 African nations, making it the most war-torn continent on earth. Thanks in large part to US policies, AK-47s are manufactured nowhere in Africa, but are cheaper there than anywhere else on earth.
From Team Nader:

Next Wednesday, Denver is going to be rockin.
Thousands will be gathered at the University of Denver Magness arena to protest the corporate lockdown on the Presidential debates.
Sean Penn, Val Kilmer, Cindy Sheehan, Tom Morello, Jello Biafra and others will join Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez.
Demanding an end to the corporate control over the Presidential debates.
So, if there is any chance you can get to Denver Wednesday, you can make a donation to reserve your ticket here.
If you can't get to Denver, no problem.
Free Speech TV will be streaming the event live on the Internet. (Wednesday, August 27, 7 p.m. Mountain time, 9 p.m. Eastern.)
Just click here to watch.
Also, the Free Speech TV will be broadcasting the event live on Dish Network Channel 9415.
And many local public access channels will be carrying the Free Speech TV feed.
(If your public access channel doesn't carry it, call them and ask them to do so. Click here for a list of public access channels.)
Anyway, it's going to be an historic event -- protesting the corporate control over our politics -- in the midst of the corporate Democratic spectacle.
So, join us in Denver if you can.
If not, invite your friends over, and dial up the live Internet feed -- or watch on television via satellite or on your public access channel.
Onward to November.



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

iraq
the new york times
richard a. oppel jr.
the los angeles times
ned parker
tina susman
caeser ahmed
bruce dixon
mcclatchy newspapers
nicholas spangler
david lightman
margaret talev