Saturday, October 06, 2007

Susan Blake, NYT provides more State Dept cover, etc.

Today, the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier was killed and three others were wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated during combat operations in the southern region of the Iraqi capital Oct. 6."

In the past weeks, Iraq has been the location for attacks on officials -- both foreign and domestic ("domestic" refers to Iraqi officials -- the US is the "foreigner" in Iraq). Local and province heads get barely a headline in the US press but one story they did seriously (or 'seriously') cover this week was the assassination attempt on Poland's ambassador to Iraq, General Edward Pietrzyk. 'Seriously'? AP reports now that the claims that Pietrzyk suffered superficial wounds were a bit like the claims in Sleeper that the leader was fit and robust (only his nose was still around, for those who haven't seen the movie). AP reports the ambassador is now "kept in an artificial coma after suffering severe burns" and that his condition is "serious but stable." Rather different from the rash of reports insisting superficial wounds, all is fine, go on about your business -- which was the press gave over and over this week.

Yesterday's snapshot included the following:

Turning to the Iraqi puppet government Susan Cornwell (Reuters) reported: "Widespread corruption in Iraq stretches into the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, an Iraqi investigating judge told U.S. lawmakers on Thursday, and an American official said U.S. efforts to combat the problem are inadequate. Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, who was named by the United States in 2004 to head the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, said his agency estimated corruption had cost the Iraqi government up to $18 billion." Renee Schoof (McClatchy Newspapers) adds, "Enormous sums of oil revenues ended up in the hands of Sunni and Shiite militias, he said. Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, who is seeking U.S. asylum because of death threats against him, said that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his government prevented al-Radhi's U.S.-backed Commission on Public Integrity from taking action against top national officials."

Puppet of the occupation, Nouri al-Maliki, has weighed in. From Tina Susman's "Maliki denounces Iraq's top anti-corruption judge" (Los Angeles Times):

The prime minister's office today denounced testimony given in Washington by Iraq's top anti-corruption judge, who told U.S. lawmakers that the Iraqi government blocked his efforts to pursue corrupt officials.
In a statement, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki called Radhi Hamza Radhi's claims "false statements" aimed at tainting Maliki's reputation. The statement accused Radhi of a professional and ethical breach, saying he abandoned his job and left the country without Maliki's approval.
Maliki said Radhi had left Iraq after coming under suspicion for corrupt activities himself.

Also noted yesterday were reports [click here for Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) and here for AFP] of the civilian fatalities (24) and wounded (27) from a US air raid on Baquba. Today the US military announces: "Media have been reporting that the 25 individuals killed in an operation early Friday morning at a location near Baqubah were innocent civilians. This is not true." Whew, what a relief! They "were criminals" insists the US military and surely the elderly man and the women were active criminals and the children already demonstrating criminal inclinations that would only become more pronounced as the years passed. Thank goodness that every US missile fired and bomb dropped comes with a special honing device that allows it to determine criminality (I believe it's hard wired to the Supreme Court where Clarence Thomas -- when not viewing 'adult' videos -- makes the call) and only take out the guilty, the tried and convicted.

Dominick notes Ian Bell's "Iraq won’t be an ‘issue’ until we make it one" (Scotland's Sunday Herald):

Iraq has been going for a while, it's true. To the casual reader and viewer it seems to have been going on in much the same vein for a very long time. It is difficult, believe it or not, for even the best reporters to make this week's appalling death toll more arresting than the death toll last week.
Repetition - another bombing, another assassination, another solemn promise that things are improving - dulls audience interest. When it comes to a choice between real carnage recycled and the average TV soap, there is no contest. Politicians know it, too. When wars drag on, people switch off. Who still notices the British casualties in Iraq, or in Afghanistan, far less the dead natives?
Americans at least have the distraction of George W Bush in mid-surge. Thanks to their president and their own voting habits, they also have 140,000 of their fellow citizens at risk. Britain remains a minor player in this foul game. That does not explain why Iraq has moved to the inside pages and faded from screens. It does not explain why Brown has felt the need to tidy away this non-issue before the election in which, we are promised, it will play no part.
The prime minister went to Baghdad in the middle of the Tory conference last week, infuriating the opposition. Downing Street denied that it was a cheap electioneering stunt, even if the trip took the Ministry of Defence by surprise. Downing Street also had to attempt to clarify why Brown should be in Iraq, rather than in the Commons, to announce that 1000 troops will be "home by Christmas", especially since the planned withdrawal of 500 was old news, more especially since 200 squaddies had already been flown out. Or do I mean evacuated? Are we getting out of Iraq, finally, or are we not? If we are, should we thank Brown? If we are not, what comes next? If we are leaving, will the prime minister explain why we got into the thing in the first place, with his support? If we are staying, even in reduced numbers, does this mean that our Basra patch is insecure, semi-secure, or merely in need of watching?

Meanwhile, John M. Broder (New York Times) creates the impression that something is happening (even if he doesn't know what it is -- nod to Dylan) re: Blackwater insisiting the US State Department is addressing the crimes of the mercanary group by "its own personnel as monitors on all Blackwater security convoys in and around Baghdad" and by placing "video cameras in Blackwater armored vehicles to produce a record of all operations". Broder may not be an idiot, but he certainly writes like one. On the subject of "personnel monitors," he seems unaware that the incidents in question that happen during transportation are when Blackwater is transporting . . . State Dept employees. So they already are along for the ride. Regarding "video cameras," so what? All that means is the State Dept will have yet another recording (this time visual) that they'll refuse to share with Congress.

From CNN's "Iraqi corruption showdown brewing:"

The report comes alongside Rep. Henry Waxman's warning of a "confrontation" with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over how much Americans should be able to learn about corruption in Iraq.
In a sharply worded letter, Waxman demanded Rice turn over a long list of documents related to the contractor, Andrew Moonen.
"Serious questions now exist about whether the State Department may have withheld from the U.S. Defense Department facts about this Blackwater contractor's shooting of the Iraqi guard that should have prevented his hiring to work on another contract in support of the Iraq War," wrote Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
[. . .]
Waxman earlier accused Rice and the State Department of a cover-up of what he called "an epidemic of corruption" in Iraq in general.
He branded the State Department's anti-corruption efforts "dysfunctional, under-funded and a low priority."
Waxman further blasted the department for trying to keep secret details of corruption in Iraq, especially relating to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
"Corruption is increasing in Iraq, and the State Department can't keep us from knowing that -- can't censor that -- just because it might embarrass or hurt our relationship with [al-]Maliki," Waxman said at the House committee hearing.

The only thing of limited value (CNN does it better) Broder contributes is this bit:


The former guard, Andrew J. Moonen, is now living in Seattle after being dismissed from Blackwater and sent home from Iraq 36 hours after the shooting, with the approval and help of the State Department.
But within weeks of losing his job at Blackwater, Mr. Moonen was hired by a Defense Department contractor and sent to Kuwait to work on logistics related to the Iraq war, a spokesman for the company, Combat Support Associations, said today. Mr. Moonen worked for the company from February until August of this year, said the spokesman, Paul Gennaro.

If it wasn't the DoD, one wonders if it would even make it into today's paper? And if Broder wasn't so busy carrying water for the State Department and so awed over Blackwater CEO Erik Prince's hair and wardrobe, he might remember what Prince actually told the committee in Tuesday's hearing:

What Prince left out was that the employee didn't just leave. He was proud that the employee's security clearance was pulled. But he failed to show the public his pride over the fact that Blackwater hustled the employee out of Iraq before any serious questions could be asked. Prince -- noting he watches crime shows on TV -- begged off ruling whether it was murder, homicide or manslaughter but didn't quibble that, in fact, it was a crime. That being the case, why an employee who had committed a serious crime was being whisked out of Iraq is a question he should have been asked repeatedly.

For those who missed it, Prince stated to Congress that the mercenary (now identified as Mooney) had his security clearance pulled. So exactly how does someone without a security clearance end up working for the DoD? Broder quotes the attorney for Mooney stating that the record showed Mooney was in violation of operating a gun while drunk (nothing about the killing). That's really besides the point. If Prince wasn't lying (big if), then Mooney's security clearance was pulled. How did he, weeks later, end up employed by DoD? A report (as opposed to the lustful Broder) might try looking into that.

Green Party activist Kimberly Wilder notes Carl MacGowan's "Susan Blake, 54, Amityville singer, activist" (Newsday):

Susan Blake, a singer and activist considered by some the heart and soul of the Long Island peace and justice community, died Tuesday after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 54.
Blake, of Amityville, died at a friend's house in the Westchester County town of Goldens Bridge, said her sister, Nancy Jane Blake, of Peekskill.
For more than 30 years, Blake fought the Shoreham nuclear power plant and protested wars from Vietnam to Iraq through the Amityville activist group PeaceSmiths. Blake organized coffeehouse concerts and discussion forums on topics such as environmental issues and affordable housing.

At her site, Kimberly Wilder has a moving tribute entilted "Susan June Blake" (On The Wilder Side):

Updates: Info about upcoming memorial events.
Our dear friend Susan Blake passed away at 8pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2007. She was staying upstate at a friend’s house. When I called Monday, I spoke to Susan’s sister, Nancy Blake, who was there having dinner with her.
We will keep everyone updated on information about a memorial service. We have made a page for updates about events for Susan: here.
Susan Blake was the force behind PeaceSmiths, Inc. Susan was careful with words, and uncomfortable with titles. So, she always corrected me when I called her the director or leader of PeaceSmiths. I hope that her commitment will open the door to the whole PeaceSmiths community feeling empowered to keeping that work alive. Members of the PeaceSmiths board actually met with Susan on Monday, and they are planning on moving forward full steam ahead with their work for peace and justice.
The work of PeaceSmiths includes a hotline for activist events, a monthly forum, and the "PeaceSmiths monthly Topical A-Typical Folk Music, Poetry, and Whatever Coffeehouse", held in Amityville, at what songwriter Sonny Meadows dubbed "the last church on the left" in a song. (Susan loved that!) And, of course, the work of PeaceSmiths included Susan attending an impossible amount of demonstrations, cultural events, networking events, and workshops to support every good cause in the world.
Many of the causes Susan supported are listed on the fairly recent, bright, multi-colored PeaceSmiths banner that she hung at each coffeehouse. But, a smattering of causes Susan worked for would include: peace, anti-militarism, human rights, labor rights, the environment, anti-death penalty, ballot access (she included local politicians at candidate events, but also write-in candidates and third party candidates), immigration rights, women’s rights, LGBT rights, holistic medicine, vegetarianism, independent media, intellectual freedom, and dignity and justice for all. The PeaceSmiths banner proclaims: "We're Pro Humanity"

PeaceSmiths is a United for Peace & Justice member group so, hopefully, UPFJ will have something up next week remembering Blake. I don't know Blake and only learned of when Kimberly Wilder e-mailed. I'd prefer not to note deaths here due to my own health scare but last month we saw two deaths and we saw people rush out to note one and not really on the other. The death with less attention was the woman's death. So we will continue to note the passing of women who work for peace. On males, it will be case by case depending (honestly) on my mood at the time. When a friend passed and got a ton of coverage we largely avoided it until Dexy Filkins tried to pass himself off as the heir-apparent which was so blatantly laughable and offensive . . .

Kimberly Wilder is working hard on getting the word out about Susan Blake's passing. From what I've read this morning, Wilder shouldn't have to be working so hard. But the culture still notes the male over the female and still notes the 'warrior' over the peace maker. Ideally, the two links (Wilder's and Newsday's) will appear in Monday's snapshot. If not, they will be noted later in the week.

McClatchy Newspapers' Inside Iraq is a blog run by their Iraqi correspondents and one of the correspondents notes a personal passing in "Life and Death:"

Yesterday I got a phone call from a friend of mine that made me so upset. Hussam, our former stringer in southern Iraq, told me with torn up words that his mother died just few hours ago. I was so sad for hearing this bad news and I passed my sorrow through the phone praying to God to forgive her having her in paradise and giving Hussam and the rest of the family patience to endure this loss. The point is an ordinary one till now as death is our fate soon or later whether in Iraq or somewhere else.



Karla notes Margaret Kimberley's "Ahmadinejad Sane, Bush Crazy" (Freedom Rider, Black Agenda Report):

It would be the height of folly if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believed for one moment that George W. Bush will ever respect the people, the constitution or the laws of the United States. Bush wants to bug our phones, squander our money and enrich his friends at Halliburton. He will never do anything for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Bush has done everything he ever wanted to do and he has continued to be successful with the help of the party that should be opposing him.
George W. Bush twice cheated his way into the oval office. Ahmadinajad was democratically elected. Iran is not at war with any other nation. Bush has occupied Iraq four years ago and is responsible for the deaths of one million people. Despite the clear differences in behavior and morality, the United States Congress has overwhelmingly approved three separate resolutions that will be used to authorize the warlike nation, America, to attack the peaceful nation, Iran.
When both Ahmadinejad and Bush recently spoke at the United Nations, the horrifying truth of America's insanity and evil could not be denied. An alien from another world would have thought that Ahmadinejad was the very personification of human evil. New York newspapers competed with one another to see who could drum up more hatred of Ahmadinejad and twist his words into outright lies. Like the tawdry tabloids, nearly every presidential candidate competed for the right to be the most hateful and openly threaten the lives of the Iranian people.

And if you want to see truly scary people threatening the lives of others, check out PBS' Bill Moyers Journal. That may be repeat airing or to air in some PBS markets but for most (if not all), it aired Friday night. If you missed it, you can visit PBS' Bill Moyers Journal online and listen, watch or read. A group of Americans calling for the destruction of Iran in order to get to heaven (apparently their own lives have not been lived in a such a way -- according to their beliefs -- that they will see a peaceful afterlife without notching up mass kills). After the report, there's also a discussion on the subject.

And we'll note this from Christoper Torchia's "Kurds Tackle 'Honor Killings' of Women" (AP) but note the headline is 'calming' when the reality is little has still be done on the subject:

Honor killings, driven by the view that a family's honor is paramount, are an ancient tradition associated with Kurdish regions of Iraq, Iran and Turkey as well as tribal areas in Pakistan and some Arab societies.
While the rest of Iraq is preoccupied with the violence that has followed the U.S. invasion of 2003, the more peaceful Kurdish enclave of the country stands out in its attitude to honor killings. Here, officials who long ignored this explosive and deeply personal issue of family pride are seeking to curb the murders.
Civic activists welcome the regional government's condemnations of the custom and warnings of tough penalties, but say much more education and law enforcement is needed.
This year, the British government arranged for a delegation of Iraqi Kurds to travel to Pakistan to talk with officials there about their experience in combating the brutal tradition.
Some reports cite several hundred honor killings or related suicides a year in Iraqi Kurdistan, which has more than 4 million people. But there are no reliable statistics for a crime that is difficult to prove without effective law enforcement and the cooperation of tribal communities.

The following community sites have updated since yesterday morning:

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;
and Trina's Trina's Kitchen

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















pbs








Posted by at

Watada court-martial on hold

In a rare, last-minute move, U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle on Friday put Watada's Tuesday court-martial on hold. In the weeks ahead, Settle will decide whether this second trial should proceed, or be quashed as a violation of the officer's constitutional rights that protect against double jeopardy, or being tried twice for the same crime.
Watada's first trial unraveled in February when a military judge expressed misgivings over Watada's interpretation of a pretrial agreement. The judge, over objections by the defense, ruled a mistrial. Watada's attorneys argued that a second trial sought by Fort Lewis prosecutors would represent double jeopardy, and they unsuccessfully sought to persuade two military appeals courts to block the trial.
The defense attorneys turned to civilian courts this week. And the case was assigned to Settle, a longtime Shelton lawyer and President Bush appointee who assumed the judgeship this summer.
Settle appears to be taking a more favorable view of defense arguments. In the Friday ruling, he wrote that "the record indicates that petitioner's double-jeopardy claim is meritorious." He is expected to issue a final ruling in coming weeks.

The above is from Hal Bernton's "Federal judge tells military to halt Watada court-martial" (Seattle Times). Tomas Alex Tizon's "Iraq war objector's retrial delayed" (Los Angeles Times) offers more on Ehren Watada's court-martial being placed on hold :

Watada's supporters said the move by U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle signaled the possibility that he might cancel the military trial altogether, ending a legal battle that began 16 months ago.
"If we win the next part, we win," said Watada lawyer James Lobsenz, referring to Settle's forthcoming decision on whether Watada legally can be tried twice on the same charges.
[. . .]
Settle's four-page order Friday acknowledged it was unusual for a civilian court to intervene in a military trial. Government attorneys have argued the federal court does not have jurisdiction. "As a general rule," Settle wrote, "federal civilian courts should not entertain such petitions until all available remedies within the military court system have been exhausted."
Settle concluded Watada had exhausted his military options. Settle made it clear that he wasn't ruling on the double- jeopardy question but was seeking more time to reflect on the matter.
The stay will be in effect until at least Oct. 26.

And this is from Mike Barber's "Federal judge delays Watada trial: Lawyers call a 2nd court-martial double jeopardy" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer):

Settle was careful to point out that "the issues raised by the petition for habeas corpus bear no relation to the charges or defenses in the petitioner's (Watada's) court-martial proceedings." Settle was a military lawyer in the Army in the 1970s and was recently appointed to the federal bench by President Bush.
Quoting case law, Settle wrote, "The irreparable harm suffered by being put to a trial a second time in violation of the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment stems not just from being subjected to double punishment but also from undergoing a second trial proceeding."
Because the case is being heard in federal court, the U.S. Attorney's Office now is arguing the government position with a military lawyer's help.
[. . .]
The mistrial was declared over Watada's objections and after a panel of military officers acting as a jury had heard evidence but not begun deliberations.

The Christian Science Monitor's Dean Paton pens a column for the Seattle-Post Intelligencer that's all "on the one hand, on the other" which really isn't the point of a column since a columnist is supposed to have a point of view. From it, will note the following:

Some would say, of course, that America is a sovereign nation over which international laws should hold no sway. Yet as Richard Falk, likely this nation's leading expert on international laws of warfare, points out, Article 6, Section II of the Constitution says any international law to which the United States becomes a signatory immediately becomes U.S. law as well. Because the U.S. signed the United Nations Charter, which prohibits aggressive war, it is automatically against the laws of the United States to wage such a war.
On that point Watada wanted to base his case. Precisely what Head, the Army judge, refused to let happen.
Falk, now Distinguished Professor of Global Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, was modest enough to point out that at least four other scholars in the country should be counted among America's leading thinkers on the international laws of warfare, and he offered their collective opinion of Watada's central assertion:
"All five of us were in agreement that the war in Iraq is illegal," he said. "And so if Lt. Watada is upholding the Constitution, and he reasonably believes that the war is illegal, then it certainly would seem plausible for him to refuse to participate." (Lest anyone think this quintet of experts is a squad of knee-jerk, one-note liberals, Falk said all five also agreed that the war in Afghanistan indeed met the criteria for a "legal war," even if some isolated actions might have later violated the laws of peace and warfare.)

In news of other war resister, Canadian radio is reporting that the mayor of Nelson -- where Robin Long was arrested this week and where Kyle Snyder was arrested in February -- is openly bragging that the final report on an investigation into the police department and police chief Dan Maluta's illegal arrest of Synder is not only complete, but he's had it for a week and hasn't bothered to read it. Repeating: The mayor, John Dooley, charged with oversight has had the report on the investigation and does not see the point in 'rushing' to read it. He brags that he has carried it around in his briefcase "all week" -- which does explain how the Nelson police, under Maluta, have been able to conduct themselves as they have.

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




Posted by at

Friday, October 05, 2007

Iraq snapshot

Friday, Ocotber 5, 2007.  Chaos and violence continue in Iraq, the US military announces more deaths, Ehren Watada's court-martial is still set to start next Tuesday, the bait and kill teams get a white wash, and more.
 
Starting with war resistance.  In June 2006, Ehren Watada became the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to the Iraq War.  As Aaron Glantz (The War Comes Home) notes Ehren Watada's second court-martial is scheduled to begin this coming Tuesday.  And if it takes place and the prosecution is trailing, Judge Toilet (aka John Head) can call another "do over." Glantz reported on the first court-martial each day of the court-martial (as well as on the Sunday rally of support that preceded the court-martial) and you can click here for some of that audio.  Truthout also covered the court-martial daily and they announce: "Truthout will be covering the court-martial from Fort Lewis, Washington, beginning Monday."  Their coverage last time provided both video and text reports. Mike Barber (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) reports on yesterday's events, "U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle on Thursday afternoon heard arguments from Watada's lawyers and a lawyer from the U.S. Attorney's Office about whether he has jurisdiction in the case.
Settle held the hearing after Watada's defense attorneys, Jim Lobsenz and Ken Kagen, sought an emergency halt to next Tuesday's court-martial. They said they were compelled to go to federal court after receiving no word from the military justice system's highest appellate court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, concerning Watada's challenge to his court-martial."  AP reports that a decision by Settle may come down today; however, Michael Gilbert (Washington's The News Tribune) reports, "A federal judge indicated he won't likely decide whether to halt Lt. Ehren Watada's second court-martial until Tuesday morning, when the proceeding is scheduled to begin in an Army courtroom at Fort Lewis."  Meanwhile, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorializes "Watada Court-Martial: Let him go:"However the defense appeals turn out, we think there is a case for letting Watada leave the Army without further ado. That could be taken as a statement of higher-level confidence, a choice to focus on the larger military mission that President Bush and Gen. David Petraeus insist is making new progress. At a minimum, many of those who oppose the Iraq war would welcome the leniency for someone they view as a person of conscience."
 
In Canada this week, war resister Robin Long was arrested this week.  Charlie Smith (Vancouver's Straight) reports that when twenty-year-old war resister Brad McCall attempted
to enter Canada on September 19, 2007, he was arrested "and driven to a jail in Surrey" with McCall telling him, "I don't know what kind of police officer he was.  He put me in handcuffs in front of all these people that were watching that were trying to get into Canada also" and McCall aksed the Canadian Border Services Agency, "I told them, 'Why are you playing the part of the hound dog for the U.S. army?' They didn't know what to say.  They just started stuttering and mumbling."  Brad McCall did make it into Canada and is staying with Colleen Fuller in Vancouver.  As is very common in stories of war resisters going to Canada "over the Internet".  McCall also speaks of hearing about atrocities/war crimes in Iraq as participants bragged about the actions.  Robin Long also cited that in his interview for CBC Television.  McCall explains he was interested in CO status but when he raised the issued with "his commander and sergeants," the dismissed it which has happened repeatedly with many war resisters.  Aiden Delgado and Camilo Mejia are among those who can share their struggles to receive CO status -- Delgado was one of the few to be successful in his attempt.  Robert Zabala has the distinction of being awarded CO status by the US civilian court system.  Agustin Aguayo attempted the process both within the US military and within the civilian court system.
 
Another who attempted CO status is Kevin Benderman.  Monica Benderman, Kevin's wife, addressed Congress in May of 2006 noting, "My husband violated no regulations.  His command violated many.  The command's flagrant disregard for military regulations and laws of humanity sent my husband to jail as a prisoner of conscience.  Times have changed -- and so has conscientious objection.  What has not changed is the Constitution, the oath our volunteer soldiers take to defend it, and every American citizen's right to freedom of choice.  This conscientious objection goes beyond religious teaching.  It is not dramatic.  There is no epiphany.  There is reality.  Death is final, whether it is your own or you cause the death of another.  No amount of field training can make up for the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of a real battlefield, and no amount of threats, intimidation, and abuse from a command can change a soldier's mind when the cold, hard truth of an immoral, unethical justification for war is couple with real-life sensations."  Monica, and not Kevin, addressed Congress because Kevin was still serving the sentence on the kangaroo court hearing he was subjected to when he attempted to be granted CO status by following every detail by the book with no margin for error. But the US military brass doesn't like to issue CO status and they were willing to manuever and lie in their attempts at retribution towards Kevin Benderman.  The laughable charge of "desertion" (which has no basis in reality) was shot down (he was acquitted of that ludicrous charge) but the brass was successful with other charges (trumped up charges) and that goes to how they control the court-martials, how they refuse to allow evidence to be entered and arguments to be made in an arrangement that's already stacked against the individual.  (For instance, in Ehren Watada's trial, Judge Toilet was known to report to his superiors who, presumably, gave him orders throughout the February court-martial.  In a civilian court, a judge reporting to a 'superior' and taking advice from one would be grounds for an aquittal.)  Kevin and Monica Benderman fought the brass and continued fighting when others might have given up.  Letters from Fort Lewis Brig: A Matter of Conscience is the new book, out this week from The Lyons Press (US $24.95), in which they tell his story.  Letters from Fort Lewis Brig: A Matter of Conscience  is also the fourth book by a war resister of the Iraq War to be published this year.  The other three are Aidan Delgado's  The Sutras Of Abu Ghraib: Notes From A Conscientious Objector In Iraq, Camilo Mejia's Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia and Joshua Key's The Deserter's Tale.  Early on as the brass was targeting her husband, Monica Benderman visited bookstores attempting to learn more about CO status and similar topics and she couldn't find anything.  The four books rectify that and join Peter Laufer's
compelling  Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq which covers the stories of variety of war resisters and was released in 2006.  In an ideal world, bookstores across the country would stock all five and no Monica Benderman, in search of information, would ever be greeted with "We don't carry anything like that."  Kevin and Monica Benderman have done their part to make sure it doesn't happen.  Again, Letters from Fort Lewis Brig by Kevin Benderman with Monica Benderman was released this week, is available at bookstores and online and it'll be the focus of a book discussion at The Third Estate Sunday Review this weekend.
 
 
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.


Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.
 
Canada's in the news not only for the arrest of war resisters these days but also for their oil deal.  In a curious press release that proclaims "THIS PRESS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO THE UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICE OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES" at the top, Canada's Heritage Oil Corporation declares (to "Business Editors") that they are "pleased to announce that it has executed a Production Sharing Contract with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over Miran Block in the south-west of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and that Heritage will be operating as a 50/50 partner with the KRG to create a 20,000 barrel per day oil refinery in the vincinity of the license area. . . .  Heritage will join the existing and increasing presence of international oil exploration, development and production companies operating in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. . . . Heritage will commence geological work immediately, having established its local office in Erbil in 2005, and aims to commence a high-impact exploration drilling program in 2008."  Last month a deadly clash took place on Lake Albert between "Congolese troops and the Ugandan army" which Heritage Oil has denied any part in despite media reports.  Andy Rowell (Oil Change) notes that the Kurdish government has "announced four new oil exploration deals with international energy companies.  The news is likely to upset the central government in Baghdad and the US."  In addition, this week Canada refused entry to  CODEPINK's Media Benjamin and retired US State Dept and army colonel Ann Wright.  Today, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) interviewed Wright:
 
AMY GOODMAN: So, Ann, you were turned back at the border. You go back to Washington, D.C. You meet with Canadian officials at the embassy. What did they tell you?
ANN WRIGHT: Well, they told us that any time that the FBI puts people on this NCIC list, they just accept it at face value, that they don't really investigate things. And we kept saying, "Well, you ought to, because a lot of these things appear to be going onto this list because of political intimidation," because, indeed, the list itself for the database says that people like foreign fugitives, people on the ten most-wanted list or 100 most-wanted list, people that are part of violent gangs and terrorist organizations, are supposed to go on that NCIC list. It didn't seem like that we were a part of -- we haven't done anything to be on the list.  And since this thing is just now -- we are the first ones that we know of that have been formally stopped from going into Canada. In fact, it happened to me in August, when I went up to Canada to participate in the Security and Prosperity Partnership. I had to buy my way in, $200 for a three-day temporary resident permit. "If I'm so dangerous, why would they even give me that permit?" I asked the immigration officer in the Canadian embassy.
 
 
Turning to the Iraqi puppet government Susan Cornwell (Reuters) reported: "Widespread corruption in Iraq stretches into the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, an Iraqi investigating judge told U.S. lawmakers on Thursday, and an American official said U.S. efforts to combat the problem are inadequate.  Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, who was named by the United States in 2004 to head the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, said his agency estimated corruption had cost the Iraqi government up to $18 billion."  Renee Schoof (McClatchy Newspapers) adds, "Enormous sums of oil revenues ended up in the hands of Sunni and Shiite militias, he said.  Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, who is seeking U.S. asylum because of death threats against him, said that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his government prevented al-Radhi's U.S.-backed Commission on Public Integrity from taking action against top national officials."
 
Turning to the topic of violence, AP notes that the mercenary corporation Blackwater USA has a new p.r. flack -- Burson-Marsteller -- and that, "The State Department, which pays Blackwater hundreds of millions of dollars to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq, has stringent rules barring the private security contractor from discussing with the media the details of its work, according to those familiar with the arrangement."  While Sudarsan Raghavan, Joshua Partlow and Karen DeYoung (Washington Post) explain the latest reports on the September 16th slaughter Blackwater conducted in Baghdad, "U.S. military reports from the scene of the Sept. 16 shooting incident involving the security firm Blackwater USA indicate that its guards opened fire without provocation and used excessive force against Iraqi civilians, according to a senior U.S. military official. The reports came to light as an Interior Ministry official and five eyewitnesses described a second deadly shooting minutes after the incident in Nisoor Square. The same Blackwater security guards, after driving about 150 yards away from the square, fired into a crush of cars, killing one person and injuring two, the Iraqi official said. The U.S. military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the shooting incident in Nisoor Square, in which hospital records say at least 14 people were killed and 18 were wounded."

 
Staying on violence . . .
 
"Shams survived, but is now blind.  She is one of hundreds who were injured, but survived this attack.  More than 200 others died.  This is her story," so begins Alive in Baghdad's video report this week entitled "Car Bomb Survivors, No Longer Statistics" which focuses on the aftermath of the November 23rd bombing for the year-old Shams whose mother died shielding her from the blast and whose brother Ghaith was left with shrapnel.  Her father, Hesham Fadhel Karim, explains his wife, Shams, and Ghaith and Taif (two sons) were in their car in Sadr City when three bombs went off, "My baby girl Shams was injured and lost her two eyes, her mother was killed and my older son Ghaith was injured by shrapnel in his back. . . . Shams face was injured because she was beside her mother who was burning.  As for my wife, the fireman came to extinguish her and I carried her to the ambulance which brought her to the hospital.  We took her out of the ambulance into the hospital.  I was trying to extinguish her but I could not, because she burnt my hands, legs, and shoulder.  At last, she died.  As for Shams, I didn't know which hospital she was in. I searched for her in every hospital in Sadr City but I couldn't find her because she was carried to the Adnan Khairallah Martyr hospital."  The search for Shams was made more difficult by the night time curfews forbidding travel.  After finding her, her family attempted to get treatment for her in Jordan and Iran but were told there was nothing that could be done about her eyes.  Shams' grandfather declares, "In fact, I appeal to this world and the humanitarian world to care for the children of Iraq because there are millions of children who are without eyes, deformed or having their arms or legs amputated."
 
In some of today's reported violence . . .
 
Bombings?
 
Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) reports, "Up to twenty-four Iraqi civilians are reportedly dead following a U.S. air strike near the city of Baquba.  Another twenty-seven people were wounded.  The toll is said to include women and children.  Witnesses say at least four homes were leveled in the attack.  Some of the victims were killed after rushing out of their homes to help those hurt in the initial bombing."  AFP reports, "Witnesses said US helicopters attacked Jayzani, northwest of the mainly Shiite town of Al-Khalis, at around 2:00 am (2300 GMT), destroying at least four houses.  An AFP photographer saw at least four trucks, each carrying several bodies from Jayzani, being driven through Baghdad to the Shiite holy city of Najaf for burial.  One of the dead was clearly an elderly man" and AFP quotes Ahmed Mohammed saying, "There are 24 bodies on the ground in the village and 25 others wounded in Al-Khalis hospital."  Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a bombing today "near Latifiyah Bridge" outside Babil left three people injured while a Tuz Khurmatu bombing left three wounded.  Reuters notes that a Laitifya roadside bombing left three people injured.
 
Shootings?
 
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Sheikh Yasir Al Yasiri was shot dead yesterday and Sheikh Khalid was shot dead last night, both in Basra, both were professors at "Al Sadr religious university".
 
Corpses?
 
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 4 corpses discovered in Baghdad and 2 corpses were discovered in Kifil.
 
Today the US military announced: "Two Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers were killed and two others were wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated during operations in the southeastern region of the Iraqi capital Oct. 5."  And the US military announced: "One Multi-National Corps - Iraq Soldier was killed and three were wounded in Salah Ad Din province today when an improvised explosive device was detonated near their vehicle."  ICCC's total number killed in the illegal war since it started (March 2003) stands at 3813 and Reuters stands at 3812.
 
Turning to news of white wash, Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) 'investigates' the bait and kill teams of US snipers in Iraq by . . . reading court transcripts.  Work that will no doubt to elevate him to the level of Maury Povich or at least Ted Baxter.  Parker writes: "Interviews and court transcripts portray a 13-man sniper unit that felt under pressure to produce a high body count, a Vietnam-era measure that the Pentagon officially has disavowed in this war. They describe a sniper unit whose margins of right and wrong were blurred: by Hensley, if you believe Army prosecutors; by the Army, if you believe the accused."  Wow, shock and dull, shock and dull.  In June of this year, James Burmeister went public with the news of the kill teams.  All Things Media Big and Small ignored it in this country.  Last week, a court-martial forced them to cover it with limited hangout.  Now it's time for the white wash and Parker shows up in flip flops, a half-shirt and Daisy Dukes, scrub brush in hand.
 
Meanwhile, James Foley (Medill Reports) quotes Kelly Dougherty (IVAW) declaring, "People say it's an all-volunteer army, but the truth is many people's contracts have been extended, some involuntarily extended.  That's not only against an all-volunteer military, but putting the same people in a combat zone again and again . . .  We get a lot of calls (asking) 'What should I do?  Should I go back.'"  Tim Dickinson (Rolling Stone) highlights two articles -- First, Philip Dine (St. Louis Dipatch) reveals that "Thousands of U.S. soldiers in Iraq -- as many as 10 a day -- are being discharged by the military for mental health reasons. But the Pentagon isn't blaming the war. It says the soldiers had 'pre-existing' conditions that disqualify them for treatment by the government." This is an effort to deny treatment for service members suffering from PTSD by claiming that the PTSD is actually a prior condition.  Dikinson then notes a report on the number of service members who are deployed "for only 729 days. . .  exactly one day short of the 730 days needed to guarantee thousands of dollars a year for college."
 
Today on the second hour of NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, Rehm's roundtable guests were McClatchy Newspapers' Warren P. Strobel, the Washington Post's Keith Richburg and UPI's Martin Walker.
 
Diane Rehm: Let's talk about what's happening in Iraq with Iraq buying $100 million worth of weapons from China.
 
Martin Walker: Well you go to the best.  I mean if you want, if you want the kind of material you need to supress people and maintain an authoritarian state where do you go?  China.  The point that the US wasn't able to supply the weaponry required and the Chinese are able to supply cheap knock-offs of AK-47s.
 
Diane Rehm: But haven't the Iraqis had terrible trouble keeping track of  weapons to begin with?
 
Martin Walker: The place is awash in weapons but don't forget it also took place as we've got this new report about corruption in Iraq and about the way in which corruption is being covered up and protected by al-Maliki's government and I would be amazed if some of that money for the Chinese weaponry doesn't matter to leak out some way or another.
 
Diane Rehm: At twenty-seven before the hour, you are listening to The Diane Rehm Show. Do you want to add to that, Keith? 
 
Keith Richburg: Just to add, it's ironic that these weapons are supposedly going to be going to the Iraqi police which is the one unit that all US investigators going in there have said is the most corrupt, the most inept and basically should be abolished and reconstituted from scratch.  Here's Talibani saying, "Actually we need weapons to arm this force."
 
Diane Rehm: Warren?
 
Warren P. Strobel: Yeah, absolutely.  There was a hearing in Congress this week that highlighted the issue of corruption and a report, the State Department's own report, shows that virtually every ministry has just massive corruption problems.  It's hard to believe that lots of the weapons won't end up in the street.  It's hard to believe there won't be huge kickbacks, as Martin said, for the weapon sale.
 
 
 
A caller brought up Seymour Hersh's report that the administration is planning to start a war with Iran. 
 
Diane Rehm: Didn't Sy Hersh also go on to say that many in the administration know we don't have the resources to go into Iran, Warren?
 
Warren P. Strobel: Which is true, we don't in any serious way.  Diane, if I had a dollar for every tip I got, or every e-mail I got, or every caller I got that the administration was about to launch another war on Iran, I'd be a rich man.  I think we have to be very careful here.  Some people in the administration, close to it, say "yes," some say "no."  Cheney is said to be pushing this -- I'm not so sure.  I think it's a debate that's going to go on right till the very the end of administration. 
 
[. . .]
 
Keith: I would just add, well, two things.  First, I agree that the resources, the troops aren't there for an invasion.  If you're talking about some kind of an airstrike, I would just say the most dangerous period I think you can be in is when you've got a lameduck president with nothing to lose, facing a military catastrophe in Iraq at the moment.  And secondly, I find this demonization of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a new Hitler and a new dictator a bit curious because within Iran he's not a dictator.  They're all kinds of other institutions that are keeping him relatively constrained including the various ayatollahs who actually run the country. He's not a dictator and also he's not incredibly and also he's not incredibly popular as well.
 
[. . .]
 
Martin Walker: There's another factor which tends to get forgotten here, which is that Iran has bought -- and had delivered last year -- from the Russians a state of art anti-aircraft missile system called the S300 which is probably better than the Patriot.  Now that's now installed.  It's being made operational.  Even before that, I was told by a former head of the  Air Force that the US Air Force would need a US air strike would need something like three days to suppress the anti-aircraft to be able to go in and hit the targets.  What's going to happen on Capitol Hill in those three days on that kind of suppression of the anti-aircraft system?  He would be impeached.
 
Keith: Just to add one quick thought there as well, I think one reason you can see the echo chamber of hostility towards Iran building is because
 
Diane Rehm: Could or would the US go to war against Iran without total Congressional support?
 
Keith: Well it depends on "What is war?" Are a series of air strikes war?
 
Diane Rehm: A series of air strikes.
 
Keith: Well I think some might argue that he needs Congressional approval, I think others might say that's within his perogative as commander-in-chief to do that.  I think within Congress you're going to see a lot more, it's a Democratic Congress first of all, and you're already hearing a lot more people saying, "Wait a minute.  North Korea has already exploded a nuclear bomb, Iran is still ten years away, why are they the greater threat?"   
 
Martin Walker:  Well it depends.  I think one could certainly see and envisage some kind of provocations taking place or perhaps being concoted and engineered under which there's an exchange of fire on the border, US marines get arrested in the way that those British navel personnel were so you can see something being whipped up along those lines.  But I was at, I was at an event, a social event recently with two former National Security Advisors and one of them said, "These guys ain't nuts."  And the other one replied, "Yes, but they aren't sane either." 
 
Which works as a transition to PBS' Bill Moyers Journal (Friday in most markets, check local listings -- and it's a listen, watch and read online after the episode airs) when Moyers explores the group Christians United for Israel and also speaks to Rabbi Michael Lerner and Dr. Timothy Weber on the topic of? Should the US strike Iran. A YouTube preview is up and, at the program's website, essays on the topic will be posted as well. Again, the hour long show begins airing on most PBS markets on Friday (check local listings -- and at the website, you can also locate the airtime for your local PBS station). Also Friday on most PBS markets, NOW with David Brancaccio airs their latest half hour installment and this week interview Michael Apted about his owngoing documentary where he tracks a group of British people every seven years, energy conversation will be addressed with a report on Decorah, Iowa and Ken Burns will be interviewed about his latest documentary The War. On October 12th, NOW with David Brancaccio will air a one hour program, "Child Brides: Stolen Lives" documenting "the heartbreaking global phenomenon of forced child marriage, and the hope behind breaking the cycle of poverty and despair it causes." They've created an e-Card you can send to friends and family or to yourself to provide a heads up to the broadcast (and there is no cost to send the e-Card). Last (and one time only) we're tossing a link to the Democratic magazine American Prospect.  Due to the fact that it has David Bacon's "Mexican Miners' Strike for Life".  Excerpt:
 
In a well-run mine, huge vacuum cleaners suck dust from the buildings covering the crushers, mills and conveyer belts.  The Cananea miners call these vacuums colectores, or dust collectors.  Outside the hulking buildings of the concentrator complex, those collection tanks and their network of foot-wide pipes are five stories tall.  But many of the tanks have rusty holes in their sides the size of a bathroom window.  And the pipes, which should lead into the work areas inside, just end in midair.  None of the dust collectors, according to the miners' union, have functioned since the company shut them down in 1999.   
So for the past eight years, the dust that should have been sucked up by the collectors has ended up instead in the miners' lungs.  That is the most serious reason why the miners are out on strike.  But there are other dangers.  Many machines have no guards, making it easy to lose fingers or worse.  Electrical panels have no covers.  Holes are open in the floor with no guardrails.  Catwalks many stories about the floor are slippery with dust and often grease, and are crisscrossed by cables and hoses.  Not long ago, one worker tripped and fell five stories to his death onto a water pump below.
 
The community is a left community, it is diverse and American Prospect is geared towards Democrats.  That's their right and we don't spend time knocking them for it.  We're covering mainstream media and independent media and we really aren't able to note things from Democratic Party magazines because we do have Greens and other political party members.  Bacon's written an important article -- that was the first and last exception for American Progress. (Short of them hiring Bacon to blog or to be a regular contributor.  He's a labor beat reporter and there are so few of them that such a move would probably alter the above and members would be fine with it.) 
 

Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.
Posted by at

Other Items

Don't miss the showing of a new film, "Breaking Ranks," about AWOL GI's in Canada on November 14, 2007, 7-9 pm, Curtis Hall, Sierra 2, 2791 24th Street, Sacramento. Gerry Condon, a war resister advocate, will lead a discussion afterwards.
For Immediate Release: October 2, 2007
Contact: Jan Fleming (916) 944-3191
WAR RESISTER ADVOCATE WILL VISIT SACRAMENTO ON NOVEMBER 14TH
Will Show New Film About AWOL GI's in Canada
During the last four years, more than 20,000 U.S. military personnel have gone AWOL. A couple hundred GI's headed to Canada rather than deploy to the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq. Gerry Condon knows what these young men and women are going through. In 1969, he deserted from the U.S. Army after refusing orders to Vietnam. For six years, Condon lived in Canada and Sweden, where he organized for amnesty for all war resisters.
Now, as Director of Project Safe Haven, Gerry Condon travels throughout the U.S. and Canada to drum up support for a new generation of war resisters. On November 14, Condon will visit Sacramento, where he will show a new film about U.S. war resisters in Canada and speak out on their behalf. His visit is sponsored by Central American Action Committee and Sacramento Peace Action.
"It's deja vu all over again," says Condon. "It's really tragic that our nation has been dragged into another unjust, unnecessary and unwinnable war. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed for no good reason.
"This war is also illegal," says Condon. "It violates the Nuremberg Principles, the Geneva Conventions on War, the UN Charter, and U.S law. President Bush and his entire war cabinet should be impeached and tried for war crimes. Unfortunately, this is not likely to happen. But those who refuse to be part of this illegal war should definitely not be punished.
"War resisters are obeying international law and following their own consciences," says Condon. "They need and deserve our support."
During the Vietnam War, as many as 100,000 U.S. citizens immigrated to Canada. Pierre Trudeau, Canada's prime minister at the time, welcomed the war resisters, saying, "Canada should be a haven from militarism." But Canada's immigration laws are much tighter now.
So U.S. soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen are seeking to remain in Canada as political refugees. The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to make a landmark ruling in November.
"Iraq War resisters are getting a lot of love and support from the Canadian people," says Condon. "Now it's time for people in the U.S. to step up to the plate."
BREAKING RANKS is a one hour film that tells the stories of four young AWOL soldiers who are seeking sanctuary in Canada. This poignant new film was co-produced by the National Film Board of Canada and has been nominated for many awards.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 7-9 p.m.
Curtis Hall, Sierra 2
2791 24th Street, Sacramento
Gerry Condon will lead a discussion afterwards. The event is free. Donations will be accepted for Project Safe Haven and war resisters in Canada.
For more information, or to arrange a media interview, please contact: Jan Fleming (916) 944-3191

That's Dan Bacher's "War Resister Advocate Will Show New Film about AWOL GI's in Canada on Nov. 14" (Bay Area Indymedia). That's a PR release so it's noted in full. Breaking Ranks is an amazing documentary -- directed by Michelle Mason. Zach noted the above and, as the event gets closer, we'll note it again if someone will e-mail a reminder.

Last night we noted Susan Cornwell (Reuters) reporting that:


Widespread corruption in Iraq stretches into the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, an Iraqi investigating judge told U.S. lawmakers on Thursday, and an American official said U.S. efforts to combat the problem are inadequate.
Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, who was named by the United States in 2004 to head the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, said his agency estimated corruption had cost the Iraqi government up to $18 billion.


This morning, Amanda notes Renee Schoof's "Iraqi judge tells of government corruption" (McClatchy Newspapers' Kansas City Star):

Iraq’s top corruption fighter told a congressional panel Thursday that rising corruption cost Iraq $18 billion over the past three years.
Enormous sums of oil revenues ended up in the hands of Sunni and Shiite militias, he said.
Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, who is seeking U.S. asylum because of death threats against him, said that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his government prevented al-Radhi’s U.S.-backed Commission on Public Integrity from taking action against top national officials.

Heads up on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal (this Friday in most markets, check local listings -- and it's a listen, watch and read online after the episode airs) when Moyers explores the group Christians United for Israel and also speaks to Rabbi Michael Lerner and Dr. Timothy Weber on the topic of? Should the US strike Iran. A YouTube preview is up and, at the program's website, essays on the topic will be posted as well. Again, the hour long show begins airing on most PBS markets on Friday (check local listings -- and at the website, you can also locate the airtime for your local PBS station). Also Friday on most PBS markets, NOW with David Brancaccio airs their latest half hour installment and this week interview Michael Apted about his owngoing documentary where he tracks a group of British people every seven years, energy conversation will be addressed with a report on Decorah, Iowa and Ken Burns will be interviewed about his latest documentary The War. On October 12th, NOW with David Brancaccio will air a one hour program, "Child Brides: Stolen Lives" documenting "the heartbreaking global phenomenon of forced child marriage, and the hope behind breaking the cycle of poverty and despair it causes." They've created an e-Card you can send to friends and family or to yourself to provide a heads up to the broadcast (and there is no cost to send the e-Card).

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






pbs
Posted by at

Targeting officials, Blackwater

A police chief, a government official and a tribal leader who allied with American forces were killed in separate attacks across Iraq on Thursday.

That's from Alissa J. Rubin's "Iraqi Allies of U.S. Forces Are Killed in Three Attacks" in this morning's New York Times. In the Los Angeles Times, Tina Susman's "Iraqi mayor, four guards die in blast" offers this:


The mayor of Iskandariya, Abbas Hamza Khafaji, and four of his bodyguards were killed in the blast about 9:30 a.m., Babil provincial police said. The city is 25 miles south of Baghdad.
The attack came a day after three roadside bombs placed near the Polish Embassy in Baghdad exploded as the ambassador's convoy passed, injuring him slightly and killing one of his bodyguards. In August, two provincial governors were killed in separate roadside bombing attacks.
Both the slain governors were members of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the country's leading Shiite religious political group. Khafaji also was loyal to the council, which is involved in a power struggle in the south with a group led by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr.

So that's two who have noted it but it is surprising how little attention it's getting when that's been one of the most notable trends in the last weeks -- the increased targeting of officials.

Turning to the topic of the mercenaries at Blackwater, Martha notes Sudarsan Raghavan, Joshua Partlow and Karen DeYoung's "Blackwater Faulted In Military Reports From Shooting Scene" (Washington Post):

U.S. military reports from the scene of the Sept. 16 shooting incident involving the security firm Blackwater USA indicate that its guards opened fire without provocation and used excessive force against Iraqi civilians, according to a senior U.S. military official.
The reports came to light as an Interior Ministry official and five eyewitnesses described a second deadly shooting minutes after the incident in Nisoor Square. The same Blackwater security guards, after driving about 150 yards away from the square, fired into a crush of cars, killing one person and injuring two, the Iraqi official said.
The U.S. military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault in the shooting incident in Nisoor Square, in which hospital records say at least 14 people were killed and 18 were wounded.

Not the upbeat report we heard last week but that two page summary allegedly coming from State Department employees at the US embassy in Iraq was actually outsourced to Blackwater to pen. On the public relations wars Blackwater and the State Department seem to believe will blot out reality, AP notes:

Public relations giant Burson-Marsteller has vast experience steering companies through tough times. But there's a limit to how much it can help Blackwater USA, a new client that's been battered by negative publicity.
The State Department, which pays Blackwater hundreds of millions of dollars to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq, has stringent rules barring the private security contractor from discussing with the media the details of its work, according to those familiar with the arrangement.

The State Department's 'closeness' with Blackwater remains a closed subject (as anyone who followed the Congressional hearing this week grasped) so it's probably a good thing that the FBI and not the State Department is now over the investigation into Blackwater.

In bigger liar of the day news, Susan notes "Obama says critics 'unfair' on war stance" (Nashua Telegraph):

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said it's either "misinformed or unfair'' to claim he downplayed opposition to the war in Iraq following his 2004 election to the U.S. Senate until he began exploring a run for the White House.
"I think the critics are either misinformed or unfair to say I was silent or I understated my opposition to the war in Iraq,'' Obama told The Telegraph during a telephone interview.
"My initial belief was to work to establish an orderly exit from Iraq and my entire Senate career was consistent with that, unlike some of my opponents who had to significantly reverse their own positions.''

Peddle that elsewhere, Obama. Elaine and I attended a 2004 fundraiser for Obama's Senate run. We both went in thinking we'd donate, thrilled to be able to support a Senate run of someone against the illegal war. To our stunned faces, Obama explained that he wasn't for withdrawal. He was against the illegal war, sure, but now that it had started, we couldn't withdraw. He made that statement to our faces, we both remember it, we immediately left the fundraiser, we did not donate and he made similar statements publicly in 2004 and they were reported in real time. The GOP has only mildly noted one time of that but they do have other examples at the ready should he win the nomination. If you think John Kerry was made to look like a flip-flopper, what they'll do to Obama will be even more intense. Reality may be uncomfortable for him but his continuing to obscure the truth is harmful to the Democratic Party and harmful to his own campaign. He needs to get honest because if he ends up the Democratic nominee (or v.p. nominee), the GOP will make sure the entire country knows about Obama's evolving (regressive) stance and it will be too late to explain to Americans who have seen him get up on stage repeatedly this year crowing, "I was against the war before it started!"

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






Posted by at

Thursday, October 04, 2007

And the war drags on . . .

The Bonhoeffer Moment of nonviolent civil resistance and disobedience to the world war being waged by the United States is clearly at hand. As Congress considers an additional $190 billion to fund the Iraq--Afghanistan war through September 2008 and as the threats of war against Iran become increasingly loud, it is time for us to learn lessons from the German resistance to Hitler, to the Nazi regime and to the war waged by the German nation-state. We must engage in the Long Resistance to this current world war, using every nonviolent means to bring about its end.
I was set to be tried on October 2 for an act of nonviolent civil resistance at the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command. The judge dismissed the charge the day of the trial. Following is the closing statement I prepared for the jury trial in Waukegan, Illinois.
Our Bonhoeffer Moment:
In 1942, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran theologian engaged in resistance work to bring about an end to the Nazi regime, penned the following lines in his letter "After Ten Years". He was in prison and under investigation when he wrote:
"We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretence; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical. Are we still of any use? What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straightforward men. Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough, and our honesty with ourselves remorseless enough, for us to find our way back to simplicity and straightforwardness?"
Silence.
Silence is golden.
Silence is Death.
Silence in the face of our country waging a world war is complicity in the war; is complicity in the deaths of thousands of U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens; is complicity in a crime against humanity.
I chose to break the silence at the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command (MEPCOM) on July 5, 2006. I choose to break the silence today.

The above is from Jeff Leys' "Our Bonhoeffer Moment" (CounterPunch) and Mia noted it. War resistance isn't something minor or something that only three or four are taking part in. It is a big deal and it is news even if some don't treat it as such. Robin Long should have been a big story this week. Friday comes and goes shortly. Who's bothered to cover Robin Long? Or for that matter, the other war resister arrested (last month) who has just gone public? Yes, there is another one. Someone splash a little cold water on The Nation, the color just drained from its face.


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

Last Thursday, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 3801. Tonight? 3809. Today the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier was killed during a small arms fire attack while conducting combat operations in a southern section of the Iraqi capital Oct. 4." Just Foreign Policy's total for the number of Iraqis killed since the start of the illegal war stood at 1,068,035. Tonight? 1,080,903.

Meanwhile Susan Cornwell (Reuters) reports:

Widespread corruption in Iraq stretches into the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, an Iraqi investigating judge told U.S. lawmakers on Thursday, and an American official said U.S. efforts to combat the problem are inadequate.
Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, who was named by the United States in 2004 to head the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, said his agency estimated corruption had cost the Iraqi government up to $18 billion.

Returning to the topic of war resistance. Ehren Watada is scheduled to face a second court-martial next Tuesday -- despite the Constitution's explictly forbidding double-jeopardy. Mike Barber's "Federal judge weighs jurisdiction in Watada case" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) reveals the latest developments on the appeal:

U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle on Thursday afternoon heard arguments from Watada's lawyers and a lawyer from the U.S. Attorney's Office about whether he has jurisdiction in the case.
Settle held the hearing after Watada's defense attorneys, Jim Lobsenz and Ken Kagen, sought an emergency halt to next Tuesday's court-martial. They said they were compelled to go to federal court after receiving no word from the military justice system's highest appellate court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, concerning Watada's challenge to his court-martial.

And the Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorializes "Watada Court-Martial: Let him go:"

However the defense appeals turn out, we think there is a case for letting Watada leave the Army without further ado. That could be taken as a statement of higher-level confidence, a choice to focus on the larger military mission that President Bush and Gen. David Petraeus insist is making new progress. At a minimum, many of those who oppose the Iraq war would welcome the leniency for someone they view as a person of conscience.


War resister Robin Long was arrested this week. Kyle Snyder was arrested earlier this year (February) and the US military went into Canada to track down Joshua Key (they were unsuccesful) and thought the 'honorable' thing to do was to attempt to intimidate Winnie Ng while they lied and posed as Canadian police officers. Another war resister in Canada has come forward to reveal that he was arrested as well: Brad McCall. From Charlie Smith's "U.S. soldier refuses to kill" (Vancouver's Straight):

An American war resister has claimed that he was packed off to jail for two nights after he filed a refugee claim at the Canadian border last month. Brad McCall, a 20-year-old U.S. army private, told the Georgia Straight in an exclusive interview that he abandoned his army company in Colorado Springs because he didn't want to commit "war crimes" in Iraq. He said that when he arrived at the border on September 19, he was taken into custody and driven to a jail in Surrey.
"I don't know what kind of police officer he was," McCall said during an interview at the Georgia Straight office. "He put me in handcuffs in front of all these people that were watching that were trying to get into Canada also."
After he was released from jail, he returned to the border to pick up his car. At that point, he said, Canadian Border Services Agency officials asked him if he wanted to return to the U.S. "I told them, 'Why are you playing the part of the hound dog for the U.S. army?,'" he recalled. "They didn't know what to say. They just started stuttering and mumbling."
Faith St. John, a spokesperson for the Canadian Border Services Agency, told the Straight that federal privacy legislation prevents her from commenting on McCall's allegations. "I can't talk about specific cases if someone has applied for refugee status," she said.
McCall, who is originally from Alabama, said he is staying at the East Vancouver home of Colleen Fuller, a health-policy analyst, as he awaits the outcome of his refugee claim. He's one of the few U.S. army deserters who has settled in Vancouver and gone public with his outrage over the war in Iraq. "It's a gruesome war," he said. "I consider it to be this generation's Vietnam. There are barbaric acts committed on a daily basis over there."

The movement of resistance within the military continues to grow. It grows in the shadow of other important stories and, frankly, in the shadow of a lot of nonsense. How many will be ignored before All Things Media Big and Small takes the issue seriously? Covers it seriously?

An e-mail to the public account today refers to some entry up here without quoting it and they're questioning it. It's a point that's been raised here repeatedly so I have no idea what they saw today (we've made the point forever). The e-mail wonders if "we" shouldn't all just "get behind" veterans who speak out against the illegal war? I would have thought we were supportive but the e-mailer meant something different. We don't hide in this community. We don't couch our objections to an illegal war on others (regardless of whom they are) and we don't worship at the crotch of the military. Support means awareness, means getting the word out, means support. It does not mean silence. And in a democracy, we are all supposed to be equal. The e-mailer identified himself as a recovering fan of Baby Cries A Lot. Al Franken pushed the illegal war day after day on his crappy radio program -- arguing over and over that the US could not withdraw because . . . Insert blubber. Insert nonsense about his children (who are not in the military). Go to commercial break. The e-mailer finally gets that the illegal war needs to end and expresses his opinion that Baby Cries A Lot lied to him over and over, day after day. But his solution is to hide behind the military. In this instance, those who resist. (Baby Cries A Lot featured pro-war veterans on his show and when anyone didn't stick to the script, he'd cut them off. Not unlike his mirror image Bill O'Lielly.)

For approximately three years, Baby Cries A Lot hid behind the US military on the airwaves. That's not reality. That's not democracy. The e-mailer will hopefully continue to think about the subject's he's currently pondering. War resisters are important. But, unlike Baby Cries A Lot, we don't elevate one group here. For the illegal war to end, it's going to take as many voices as possible, it's going to require everyone. Playing a cheerleader on the sidelines is an easy out -- the sort Baby Cries A Lot took -- but it's abdicating each of our responsibilities. It is not up to war resisters or veterans who are now speaking to end the illegal war. It is the responsibilty of all of us. When we abdicate that responsibility by becoming cheerleaders -- as flattering as some might think that appears -- we disregard our own power and our own responsibilities.

The e-mailer was commenting on the divisions in the peace movement. Divisions can be good. They can draw clear lines. They can also provide more voices. Who speaks to you may not speak to your neighbor. A rainbow has divisions and it still 'works'. The peace movement is not in disarray. It's not collapsing. The divisions are raising issues (which need to be raised) and they are allowing space for voices that want something more than what's largely been done in the last four years. New groups are emerging to fill the gaps and to push the movement further.

I speak a great deal with students on campuses across the country. No divisions would mean they would opt out of the peace movement because most of the older tactics are not speaking to them. The candle light vigils are a joke to them. (I think those silent vigils are an embarrassment as well. Silence is rarely the answer.) Other tactics are as well. Divisions are a sign of growth. It's not growing pains -- it's a natural part of growth. I am tired and I don't feel like doing links. Any groups I mention in the following are linked to in the permalinks on the left. United for Peace and Justice does have their ear to the ground. They are aware of the rumbles. They're not going to start adapting because they already are adapting and have been for some time. Other groups may not be so fortunate. It's not 2004. And the timidity that passed for 'action' won't cut it with most people. That's people weary of the same gathering with the same speeches and the same action and the same location. Iraq Veterans Against the War has really enlived the movement. Leaving aside the peace groups, think of the veterans group that existed prior, the ones that got serious attention. There was no group like IVAW. There were a lot of groups that grumped a little, insisted the war was fought badly and needed to be fought better and 'smarter.' Those groups are useless. But they were hailed as groups against the war (by the Baby Cries A Lot) because they often said, "Vote Democratic!" IVAW is about ending the illegal war. The spirit and drive they have brought to the movement are strengths. SDS is something most campuses are curious about and you can see that curiousity and interest in the growth of SDS already. On the latter, students do feel shut out. They do feel they are 'bodies' to up the count at rallies but shut out of the decision making. So you will see more groups like SDS that will say, "We get a seat at the table if we're part of this coalition." That's not the 'ego' of a few individuals. That's the reality that they (and other groups) represent students and students have a big role to play in the movement.

Students have never been apathetic to the illegal war. That was a little myth that was retold and retold. Students were waiting (a significant number) for leadership. None was really provided. So they're providing their own now. But if you think about all the carping (false) about "Where are the students?" . . . Think about where were the students on stage, where were the students at the microphones? Students were always part of the peace movement but if a lot of desk jockeys couldn't grasp that, one reason might be because students weren't included in the leadership. If you open a club tomorrow and you only send out invites to people over forty, if your club gets a reputation for only catering to them, you really have no right to
complain that young people aren't flocking to your club. If students aren't given visibility, it sends a message.

There are a host of other issues and categories where the peace movement has not been reflective (on stage, in interviews) of the audiences they wanted to turn out. The divisions that are sprouting are attempts to address that. The divisions will only make the peace movement stronger, not weaker. The message will be stronger and more diverse and that's the only way to continue to reach people and to continue to expand on the number of people reached.

Hiding behind the military is an easy out. It says, "I'll cheerlead but you need to do all the work." That's not reality in a democracy. In a democracy, when an illegal war is ongong, it's the responsibilty of everyone to call it out and work towards ending it. When we reject an active role and stand on the sidelines we give up our own power and we put too much of a burden on others. Cindy Sheehan (click on Camp Casey on the left) was someone a lot of people hid behind (and distorted). That wasn't fair to her. Had other voices stepped forward, it would have been more difficult for the attacks on her (from the center and center-left) to be launched. They honestly thought they could get away with it. They thought she'd be rendered alone for calling out the inaction of the Democratic leadership. She does not stand alone. People who cast themselves in the role of cheerleaders for Cindy may have thought they were helping her but by refusing to use their own voices, they allowed her to become the bull eye when she strayed from the accepted script of "Democrats will save us!" The gas baggery on the election that refuses to call out War Hawks is just more rendering the people as spectators. Everyone needs to be using their own voice to call out the illegal war. It may be 'safer' to hide behind someone but that leaves them way out in front and easy to pick off by those who would gladly ditch calls to end the illegal war in order to cheer "Vote Democrats!" The polls consistently demonstrate that the American people are very displeased with the way Democrats have handled their majorities in both houses. Cindy Sheehan's critiques are not out of the norm. While we're used to hearing that nonsense from the mainstream, we're not used to supposed 'independent' outlets doing the same. Cindy's given a great deal to the movement and the big development over the summer was exposing some realities, being attacked and demonstrating it doesn't end you. She's not only still going, she's running for Congress. It's worthy of applause. But until we stop applauding from the sidelines and create our own paths, we make it very easy for the attacks to continue or for Tina Richards (Grassroots America) to be attacked next.

I'm glad the e-mailer realizes he was lied to by Baby Cries A Lot for years. But I hope he grasps his own power soon and doesn't turn it over in order to root from the sidelines. The movement needs as many voices as possible, raising as many issues about the illegal war as possible, taking action. That's how it will continue to grow and how the illegal war will finally come to an end.

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










Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)