Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Darrell Anderson's back in the US, where's independent media?


Almost two years after deserting the Army, Darrell Anderson plans to turn himself in to authorities at Fort Knox on Tuesday.
Anderson, of Lexington, could face a court martial and as long as five years in prison.
But after living in exile in Canada, far from his family and with only limited access to health care to treat his nightmares, Anderson, 24, decided to return to the United States and face the consequences, said his mother, Anita Anderson.
"Being in limbo, never knowing what was going to happen to him," took its toll, she said. Darrell, she said, told her "two years in jail would be better than 20 years of this."
Darrell Anderson would not speak with The Courier-Journal, but his mother and people who know him did.

The above is from Katya Cengel's "Army deserter, war critic to turn himself in, 2 years of 'being in limbo' took toll" (Lousiville's The Courier-Journal). And if you click here, you can find a longer version on Cengel's article. Did you read about Anderson?

Probably not. Probably you heard lectures on terms, you heard about who had the 'power' in Bully Boy's marriage, you heard about Woody's book, you heard about everything but Darrell Anderson. From the longer version of Cengel's article:

"He let down his unit, he let down the United States Army and his country," said the 71-year-old Lexington veteran. "I don't think we care for him very much."
Fennerty doesn't think Anderson's outspokenness will hurt him. "I think a lot of times being outspoken gives you more protection than remaining silent," Fennerty said.
Anita Anderson, for one, does not plan to quiet down anytime soon, as speaking out against the Iraq war has become an obsession for her. She said for generations, her family has served in the military, and for generations, they have come back from wars distraught. Her current husband's father barely left the house after returning from Vietnam, she said.
"We're trying to break the cycle," she said. Darrell, "didn't want to suppress everything and wake up 20 years from now in a drunken stupor."

Yeah, the War Hawks will always weigh in. It's the supposed people against the war that keep letting everyone down. They're the ones who don't weigh in. Now maybe a once a year, they'll do their "I'm against the war" statement and then they'll play the rest of the year. That's not cutting it.

The step-father's father? He died around age fifty. He was a Vietnam vet. Once a week, they'd visit him bringing a case of Pepsi and he'd drink it, smoke pot and just sit around in a haze. Not because the man was "lazy" or "awful" but because he suffered from the war he fought in and he came back to a country that didn't care. Not a unique story, not one that's true only of those who returned from Vietnam. True of all wars. Tell a rah-rah story, and the nation loves you. Have a problem, no one wants to hear.

We don't hide behind the military here, or the flag, or religion. But it certainly is amazing that a multitude of 'brave' voices who'd turn democracy over to whatever they think might 'save' the country at any second couldn't find the time to note Darrell Anderson. Well, not really amazing. More disgusting than amazing. And probably not all that surprising.

Like Rebecca (see her "left media shows no interest in darrell anderson's story"), I'm not talking about bloggers. I'm talking about the paid crew. Where the hell are they? Darrell Anderson returned on Saturday and those who opine, they've filed pieces since then. They've filed a lot of pieces. Mainly telling you what Woody's book "proves." (All it proves is that even lapdogs have to make rent and pay the grocer.) Possibly, if they can tear themselves away from advancing the biggest publicity blitz long enough, they might be able to write about something that really matters?

It's getting real old, this need to cover everything but the movement against the war. And it begs the question we've been asking since at least last spring: Do the War Hawks want this war more than those supposedly against the war want to end it?

That's what it feels like when we read our paid left voices (again, I'm not talking about bloggers) who would rather write about anything but a topic that actually needs the attention.

You can read Elaine's "Darrell Anderson, Iraq, Foley and Woodward" for more on what the official left media did yesterday instead of covering Darrell Anderson and if the coverage doesn't pick it up, look for this topic to be noted at The Third Estate Sunday Review.

What is noted (in the mainstream)? Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Qais Mizher's
"Iraqi Leader Unveils New Security Plan Amid Rising Violence" (New York Times) treats Nouri al-Malikie's "security plan" with about all the weight it deserves. (Translation, they dispense with it quickly.) Now he has a security plan? Now? The puppet of the occupation goes through the motions and tries to think of something that encourage the US to allow him to remain in power. From the article:

News of the plan came amid brazen sectarian abductions and killings in the past two days that have enraged Sunni legislators, some of whom accused Shiite lawmakers of focusing their efforts against Sunni militants while ignoring -- and even empowering -- Shiite militiamen.
In addition, the past few days have been one of the deadliest stretches for coalition forces in months, as the military reported the deaths of 10 more American and British servicemen since Saturday. At least 13 troops have been killed in the past three days.
The 10 newly reported deaths included five marines killed in Anbar Province, three of them in enemy attacks, one in a vehicle accident Sunday and one in an attack Saturday. Three soldiers were killed in Baghdad on Monday by small-arms fire, and another died Sunday after his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb. A British soldier was also reportedly killed in Basra on Sunday.
In Baghdad, increasingly bold abductions have continued to underscore the degree to which many areas of the capital are not under the government's control. Shortly after noon on Monday, men wearing police uniforms and riding in eight pickup trucks resembling those used by Interior Ministry forces blocked off a street near a technical college in eastern Baghdad and abducted 14 men working at an electronics store, according to the Iraqi police. The kidnappers' trucks did not have license plates, but otherwise the men appeared to possess all of the gear and dress of official security forces, the police said.

Martha notes Amit R. Paley's "Next Year, Anywhere But in Grim Baghdad" (Washington Post) which takes a look at life on the ground for members of the Jewish community in the nation's capital:

Today, barely a dozen members of the 2,600-year-old Jewish community in Baghdad remain to observe Yom Kippur. Most are afraid to gather for holidays, and besides, they figure, how can one rejoice in a place like this?
Emad Levy sat alone in his home on Monday night picking at a dessert-as-dinner, with vicious sectarian killings serving as the background music to the holiday. He had just finished chanting the hopeful lines at the end of the Yom Kippur service, he recalled in a phone interview.
"May we be sealed," he sang plaintively in his bedroom, "for a good year in the book of life."
Levy knows his prayers for peace will not be fulfilled in Iraq. Although the bloodshed plunging this country into a civil war has mainly claimed the lives of Sunni Arabs and Shiite Muslims, no group is more terrified -- or a more vulnerable target -- than the tiny Jewish community.
The capital's only remaining synagogue, a pink and yellow building with no identifying marks, has been boarded up since it was denounced more than three years ago as "the place of the Zionists." Most Jews barely leave their homes at all for fear of being kidnapped or executed. And even Levy will not directly mention Israel on the telephone, just because he never knows who might be eavesdropping.

Note the last six minutes of Democracy Now! today offers Darrell Anderson in an interview with Amy Goodman. We will be noting that in the snapshot.

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










Posted by at