Saturday, January 17, 2009

Iraq and e-mails

It looks that our contractors didn't convince with the money they got from painting the pavements, the blast walls, the bridges and the tree trunks is not anymore useful to steal the money in an official way. The bright minds of our contractors created the newest way for wasting and stealing Iraq money. The newest way of financial corruption is


Is what? Read "The Newest Way of Corruption." It's a short piece at McClatchy's Inside Iraq written by an Iraqi correspondent explaining the obvious corruption going on in plain sight and the lack of reaction from those allegedly overseeing.

Dipping into the e-mails. Three drive-bys this morning whine that the Guardian of London is covering Iraq and it's not being noted! Miscovering Iraq and only a fool who hasn't been paying attention to the region could mistake the idiotic propaganda coming out of that New Labour Party organ for 'reporting.' The Guardian is onboard with Gordon Brown because they are a party organ. Brown wants more US troops in Afghanastan (he wants that desperately). That's what they are selling. They're also New Labour which makes them particularly fond of DLC-ers in the US. (Up through Feb. 2004, the Guardian reporting staff -- political -- was rooting for Joe Lieberman to get the Democratic Party nomination -- that gives you a sense of how 'liberal' they are.) I've seen the 'reports,' I've laughed at them. We're not interested in New Labour propaganda. (And it's actually the Guardian of Manchester but they think "of London" makes them sound upscale.) For those not grasping the DLC ties between Barack and Gordon, notice that Barack's web thugs are now in London helping New Labour. And tip to the three morons, learn to read a good-bye. As Roberta Flack sings "I know a good-bye when I see one" (Ashford & Simpon's "Uh-Uh-Oh-Oh, Look Out Here It Comes"). That's what that New Labour rag is promoting and, again, doing so because they want the US to join them in Gordon Brown's Afghanistan quagmire.

Gareth (a community member, not a drive-by) asked that we note this section of Deborah Haynes' "'Shoe man' Muntazer al-Zaidi looking well, says brother after jail visit" (Times of London):

"I told him that many people have held demonstrations demanding for your release. This raised his moral," the brother, 28, told The Times.
The journalist had been unaware of the international frenzy generated by his decision to lob his footwear at the outgoing President. The sight of Mr Bush ducking the flying shoes has become an iconic image of the war, spawning computer games and other spinoffs.
Explaining why he threw his shoes – seen as a deep insult in Arab culture -- Mr al-Zaidi told his brother: "What I did was because of my refusal and rejection of the occupation and the American policy in Iraq."

Charged with assault against a foreign head of state, he is still awaiting trial after an initial court date of December 31 was delayed.
"I wish to go back to my life, my friends and my family," he told his brother, a law student. "I did not commit a crime. I expressed my opinion and the opinion of all Iraqis."



Another e-mail after this. The following community sites have updated since yesterday morning:



Cedric's Big Mix
Joe Cannon tries to sleep it off
14 minutes ago

The Daily Jot
THIS JUST IN! JOE CANNON LIKES HIS BOOZE!
15 minutes ago

The Common Ills
Violence ahead of the elections
1 hour ago

Mikey Likes It!
Weekend
13 hours ago

Like Maria Said Paz
The New York Daily News rejected Caroline's article
13 hours ago

Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude
the assault on gaza continues
14 hours ago

SICKOFITRADLZ
Homophobia
14 hours ago

Thomas Friedman is a Great Man
Weekend
14 hours ago

Trina's Kitchen
Corn and Lima Beans in the Kitchen
14 hours ago

Ruth's Report
Fred Goldstien on jobs and the economy
14 hours ago

Oh Boy It Never Ends
Sweet Charity and Ricardo Montalban
14 hours ago

Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)
Friday at last
14 hours ago


Elaine's "The New York Daily News rejected Caroline's article" results in one of the many uninformed Caroline groupies e-mailing "Ooops, you were right." I haven't read Draper's book. I didn't need to. I was around in real time. But hopefully the e-mailer will now confront Gregg Mitchell on the hagiography he tried to pass off as journalism. It takes a lot of stupid to praise Caroline for writing an article that was reworked line by line, top to bottom, by Harriet Fier.

By the way, does anyone else find it strange that Gregg Mitchell -- so well-known as someone who will not remember to include women when making his praise-lists -- would finally find a woman 'writer' to praise (Caroline Kennedy) who, in fact, can't write? Makes you grasp how Camelot was really a bunch of little boys, late at night in their beds, hitting puberty and pleasuring themselves then spending the last forty years trying to sell their jerk off fantasies as reality.

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

iraq
deborah haynes
mcclatchy newspapers



thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends

Violence ahead of the elections


Image

Throw-A-Shoe at Bush! To Obama: No war!
Join Us. Shoes provided or BYOS! Prizes, Music & Fun!

  • Sat., Jan. 17, Noon - 3 pm, Justin Herman Plaza (Embarcadero BART), SF
  • Sun., Jan. 18, Noon - 3 pm, Justin Herman Plaza (Embarcadero BART), SF
  • Tues., Jan. 20, 7 am - Noon, United Nations Plaza (Civic Center BART), SF.
    Near the public Obama inauguration simulcast event at Civic Center Plaza

Iraqi Journalist Muntader al-Zaidi threw his shoes at Bush while saying, "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq." We symbolically join him as Bush leaves office. We also throw shoes for the widows, families, and US service men and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. We throw shoes for those who are hurting while billions are wasted for war instead of bailing out those of us lacking food, housing, healthcare, and education.

backWe take Obama seriously when on election night he said, "This victory alone is not the change we seek; it is only the chance for us to make that change." Will you join us in publicly committing that "we the people" will organize ourselves and take action to make those changes? We agree with Obama's statement, "I don't want to just end the war, but I want to end the mindset that got us into war in the first place."

Here are 5 key changes that will begin to do this.

1) ALL TROOPS HOME FROM IRAQ NOW!
Including "non-combat" troops, private contractors (i.e. Blackwater), and close all US military bases in Iraq.

2) HELP REBUILD IRAQ
Give reparations for the human and structural damages Iraq has suffered, and stop the corporate pillaging of Iraq so that their people can control their own lives and future.

3) NO ESCALATIONS, NO NEW WARS
* No escalation of war in Afghanistan; troops should be withdrawn.
* Stop attacks inside Pakistan. Don't attack Iran.
* Cut military aid to governments that violate human rights or international law, such as Israel in what Amnesty International calls an "unlawful attack on Gaza."
* Close Guantanamo and all secret prisons

4) FROM GLOBAL MILITARY INTERVENTION TO REAL SECURITY AT HOME
* Close all 800 foreign US military bases.
* Reduce military budget and troops; Stop wasting hundreds of billions needed for healthcare, housing, education, and green energy/jobs.

5) SUPPORT VETERANS
* Amnesty for all GI resisters who refuse illegal war.
* Full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and other supports for returning servicemen and women.

Co-sponsored by:
Direct Action to Stop the War - www.ActAgainstWar.net
Courage to Resist - www.CourageToResist.org



The sponsors are are Act Against War and Courage to Resist and we noted that yesterday and we're noting it again this morning. Today's action starts at noon.

Also today is Sam Dagher's "Gunmen Kill Iraqi Cleric Campaigning for Council" in the New York Times covering the assassination Friday of Haitham Kadhim al-Husani who was running in the provincial elections for the Dawa Party and was shot dead yesterday. Dagher notes: "Mr. Husaini was district commissioner in Jabala and was a prominent candidate for a seat on the council in Babil which is predominatley shiite, as part of Mr. Maliki's election coalition." He notes the December 31st assassination (see yesterday's snapshot) but appears unconcerned or unaware of other assassinations and assassination attempts this month (including this week). Too bad. It is a pattern and has been ongoing long before provincial elections were scheduled. CNN reports this morning that a Baghdad sticky bombing claimed the life of "the car's driver and a bystander". The bomb was apparently intended for "the head of al-Masour district council" who was not at the scene.

For those who missed Ban Ki-moon's warnings (repeated) or the United Nations' (repeated) warnings, they did not say, "As provincial elections approach, look for candidates to be killed!" It's not an Agatha Christie, Ten Little Indians type warning, despite what Dagher may think. The warnings issued stated that violence would most likely increase. Those who missed it in real time, can refer to the UN Secretary-General's report to the Security Council back in November:[PDF format warning] "Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraph 6 of resolution 1830 (2008)."

Also covering the assassination is Saad Sarhan's "Province Candidate Killed In Iraq" (Washington Post):

The gunmen ambushed Husseini's car in the afternoon, as it passed through Jbala, a mixed Sunni and Shiite town about 40 miles south of Baghdad in Babil province, said Capt. Muthanna Ahmed, a spokesman for the provincial police. The car was riddled with bullets, Ahmed said. His guards fired back, but the assailants escaped, he said.
Husseini, 48, head of the town council in nearby Mahawil, was a leading candidate on Maliki's list. The attack was the fourth attempt on his life, officials said. Two years ago, gunmen stormed his house, killing his father, two brothers and a niece.


Meanwhile, al-Maliki is attempting to pull a Bully Boy 2002 campaign trick. Amit R. Paley's "In Iraq's Provincial Elections, Main Issue Is Maliki Himself" (Washington Post) provides the details on how al-Maliki wants to make an election he's not running in a referendum on al-Maliki:

He is not on any ballot in the provincial elections scheduled for Jan. 31. But in agreeing to be the public image of the Coalition of the State of Law, a group of candidates running primarily on his record, Maliki has effectively turned the contest into a referendum on his rule.
The elections will be the most crucial test so far of Maliki's attempt to bolster the central government's authority -- and his own. If he succeeds in establishing a nationwide base of local politicians ready to support him and the idea of centralized government, Maliki will have cemented his three-year transformation from little-known lawmaker to the most powerful Iraqi statesman since Saddam Hussein.
Despite the history of his Dawa party as a Shiite political movement opposed to secular governments, Maliki and his State of Law coalition have avoided overt religious messages in favor of populist promises to improve security and basic services such as water and electricity.



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



courage to resist
act against war

sam dagher
the washington post
amit r. paley


Friday, January 16, 2009

Iraq snapshot

Friday, January 16, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces another death, the US government pays $350,000 over a veteran's sucicide (Jeff Lucey), assassination attempts pile up in Iraq, Barack makes it clear that he is declaring war on Social Security and more.
 
Today Gina Chon (Wall St. Journal's Baghdad Life) evaluates the changes in the Green Zone since the January 1st 'handover' to Iraqis:
 
The first thing I noticed when we reached the first checkpoint was that it was manned by Iraqi soldiers, not Americans.  The soldier was friendly and after checking our IDs, waved us on to the next checkpoint, which was also staffed by Iraqi soldiers.  But there were a few Americans standing behind them observing the Iraqi soldiers.  Still, the Americans did not approach us and left the work to the Iraqis.  I also noticed a new "welcome" sign that was in both English and Arabic, and near that was a billboard that listed in Arabic the principles of an Iraqi soldier, including being loyal to Iraq.  
Seeing the Iraqi soldiers made me think I would see them elsewhere in the Green Zone.  But the other checkpoints I passed through were the same as before, and manned by Peruvians who work for a security contractor.  Iraqi soldiers had not replaced them.  The U.S.-Iraq security agreement says the Americans can continue to assist Iraqis in security efforts after the Green Zone handover.  And it seemed that with the excpetion of the entry/exit areas of the Green Zone, the internal checkpoints were still the same.  
 
Further proof that things remain the same comes as Iraq sees another assassination.  Yesterday's snapshot noted: "Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roasdie bombing that wounded two people, a second one that wounded four and a third one that targeted Ahmed Taieb Murad and claimed the life of Murad's bodyguard  Reuters identifies the Education Minister targeted in the Baghdad roadside bombing as Abd Thiab al-Ajili."  The Education Minister's name is also spelled Abed Theyab in some press coverage.  Mohammed Abbas and Matthew Jones (Reuters) report that provincial candidate Haythem al-Hasnowi (of the Dawa Party) was shot dead during an attack on his convoy outside of Baghdad.  Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that the attack took place in Ajrash and left four members of al-Hasnowi's security staff wounded.  Issa also notes that last night in Salahuddin Province, provincial election candidate "Hussein al Shatb survived an assassination attempt by gunmen".  This month began with the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Iraq Staffan de Mistura condemning the assassination of provincial candidate Mowaffaq al-Hamdani who was murdered in Mosul on the last day of 2008. Provincial elections are scheduled for January 31st in fourteen of Iraq's eighteen provinces.  The United Nations have been warning since November that the lead up to provincial elections would likely lead to an increase in violence.  November 10th, UN spokesperson Michele Montas handled the press briefing and noted Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had declared that the upcoming provinicial electiions increased the "potential for election-related violence and instability."
 
In other reported violence today . . .
 
Bombings?
 
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Mosul roadside bombing resulted in three Iraqi soldiers being wounded.  Reuters notes an Ishaqi roadside bombing claimed 3 lives and left five more people injured, a Kirkuk rocket attack that left one person wounded.
 
Shootings?
 
Reuters notes a Mosul home invasion that resulted in 1 woman being killed and two more members of the family being injured.
 
Corpses?
 
Reuters notes 1 corpse discovered Thursday in Mosul and 1 discovered in Mussayab while three were discovered in Kirkuk.
 
Also today the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division -- Baghdad Soldier died of wounds at approximately 3 p.m. Jan. 16 following an improvised-explosive device attack on his patrol in Baghdad.  The Soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kind and official release by the Department of Defense."  The announcement brings the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4227 with 6 for the month thus far.
 
That count does not include those who return and take their own lives.  Iraq War veteran Jeffrey Michael Lucey took his life June 22, 2004 after he was repeatedly failed by the VA system despite the fact that he was suicidal and that his family pleaded with VA staff to treat him.  Fred Contrada (The Republican) offers a look at some of Jeffery's time in Iraq and after:
 
 
At one point, Lucey came upon the body of an Iraqi boy who had been shot to death in the street. A tiny, blood-stained American flag was clutched in the dead boy's hand. Lucey took the flag and carried it with him for the rest of his life.
Lucey began drinking a lot after returning home later that year, his family said. At Christmas time he confessed to his sister that he had been ordered to shoot two captured Iraqi soldiers at point blank range. Lucey, who had kept the men's identification tags, threw them on the bed and shouted, "Your brother is a murderer!"    
The U.S. Marine Corps said it has found no evidence that Lucey's story is true.
Kevin Lucey said records show his son told someone at the VA that he was contemplating suicide, but the Luceys were not informed of this. 
On June 21, 2004, less than a month after he was released from the VA, Jeffrey Lucey asked his father if he could curl up in his lap. Kevin Lucey cradled his son that night. When he returned home from work the next day, he found Jeffrey hanging from a self-made noose in the basement. Lucey was buried with the flag he had taken from the Iraqi boy. 
Kevin Lucey said news of the settlement stirred a lot of emotions within the family.
"It's like losing Jeff all over again," he said.
 
The settlment?  Jonathan Saltzman (Boston Globe) reports the US government insists that they are not to blame but they will be paying the Lucey's $350,000.  As a general rule -- ask Asian-Americans interned during WWII -- the US government not only refuses to admit responsibility, they refuse to offer restitutions.  Those who no longer believe in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause will find it difficult to believe the kindness of Uncle Sam resulted in the $350,000 payment.   The Luceys are members of Military Families Speak Out and that organization has released the following (PDF format warning) statement:

US GOVERNMENT AGREES TO PAY $350,000  
TO PARENTS OF US MARINE IN SUICIDE CASE 
CASE WAS THE FIRST TO BE FILED SINCE THE IRAQ WAR BEGAN
Government Admits that Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey's Suicide Was A "Tragedy"
for Veterans Administration  
SPRINGFIELD, MA -- The United States Government has agreed to pay $350,000 to the parents of a United States Marine who committed suicide in 2004 after returning home from combat duty in the Iraq war.  
Within months after returning home from Iraq in June 2003, Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey began to show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by his experience in the war. On June 22, 2004,  
Jeffrey hung himself in the basement of his parents' home, two weeks after the Northampton Veterans Medical Center in Leeds, Massachusetts, turned him away. Jeffrey, who had received an honorable discharge from the US Marine Corps, was 23 years old at the time of his death. In July 2007, his parents, Kevin and Joyce Lucey filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the United States in federal court in Springfield, Massachusetts -- the first such suit to be filed since the
beginning of the war in Iraq. 
On January 6, 2009, the US Justice Department issued a letter to the Luceys' attorney, Cristobal Bonifaz, which admitted "that Jeffrey's suicide while under VA [Veterans Administration] care was a tragedy for the VA and the individual care providers." The letter formally offered $350,000 to settle the case. Bonifaz today notified the federal court that his clients have accepted this offer.  
"The US Government killed my son," said Kevin Lucey. "It sent him into an illegal and reckless war and then, when he returned home, it denied him the basic health care he needed. We hope that this case serves as a wake-up call to the nation that our government must be held accountable for the suffering it has caused thousands of US military families." 
Joyce Lucey added "When Jeffrey went to Iraq, we didn't realize that the bullets and bombs there didn't present the only threat to our son's safety. Our own government's apathy and indifference are just as great a threat to our troops and veterans. Until the Veterans Administration takes the psychological wounds of war seriously, the epidemic of military suicides will continue to grow." 
"Jeffrey Lucey carried to his death the American flag he found in the hands of a dead Iraqi child," said Bonifaz. "Jeffrey never recovered from the horrors he witnessed in Iraq. When his post-traumatic stress disorder signs became critical, he was turned away at the door of the US Veterans Administration. Jeffrey Lucey would have lived but for the illegal war in Iraq and the callous and irresponsible treatment handed to him by the US agency charged with providing him health care when he had returned home."  
After their son's death in 2004, Kevin and Joyce Lucey joined Military Families Speak Out, a national organization of military families opposed to the war in Iraq. "Jeffrey's story is a story of too many military families in this country," said Joyce Lucey. "We will continue to speak out to demand that our government immediately end this war, bring our troops home now, and provide all the necessary medical care they deserve when they return."  
"And to those military families who have similarly suffered because of the negligence of the US Veterans Administration," added Kevin Lucey, "we hope this case serves as an example that the government can and must be held accountable in a court of law."  
Kevin and Joyce Lucey and Cristobal Bonifaz are available for interview.
Copies of the letter from the U.S. Justice Department outlining the settlement in this case are available by request from Military Families Speak Out.  
Military Families Speak Out is an organization of 4,000 military families opposed to the war in Iraq, with loved ones who are serving or have served in the U.S. military since fall, 2002.
 
Starting tomorrow Act Against War and Courage to Resist are sponsoring actions
 
 

Throw-A-Shoe at Bush! To Obama: No war!
Join Us. Shoes provided or BYOS! Prizes, Music & Fun!

  • Sat., Jan. 17, Noon - 3 pm, Justin Herman Plaza (Embarcadero BART), SF  
  • Sun., Jan. 18, Noon - 3 pm, Justin Herman Plaza (Embarcadero BART), SF  
  • Tues., Jan. 20, 7 am - Noon, United Nations Plaza (Civic Center BART), SF. 
    Near the public Obama inauguration simulcast event at Civic Center Plaza  
Iraqi Journalist Muntader al-Zaidi threw his shoes at Bush while saying, "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq." We symbolically join him as Bush leaves office. We also throw shoes for the widows, families, and US service men and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. We throw shoes for those who are hurting while billions are wasted for war instead of bailing out those of us lacking food, housing, healthcare, and education.   
 
Here are 5 key changes that will begin to do this.
 
1) ALL TROOPS HOME FROM IRAQ NOW!   
Including "non-combat" troops, private contractors (i.e. Blackwater), and close all US military bases in Iraq.
 
2) HELP REBUILD IRAQ  
Give reparations for the human and structural damages Iraq has suffered, and stop the corporate pillaging of Iraq so that their people can control their own lives and future.
 
3) NO ESCALATIONS, NO NEW WARS  
* No escalation of war in Afghanistan; troops should be withdrawn.
* Stop attacks inside Pakistan. Don't attack Iran.
* Cut military aid to governments that violate human rights or international law, such as Israel in what Amnesty International calls an "unlawful attack on Gaza."
* Close Guantanamo and all secret prisons
 
4) FROM GLOBAL MILITARY INTERVENTION TO REAL SECURITY AT HOME 
* Close all 800 foreign US military bases.
* Reduce military budget and troops; Stop wasting hundreds of billions needed for healthcare, housing, education, and green energy/jobs.
 
5) SUPPORT VETERANS             
* Amnesty for all GI resisters who refuse illegal war.
* Full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and other supports for returning servicemen and women.
 
 
(I don't think they're clickable above, so I'm putting the links in -- and Courage to Resist is also on our permalinks to the left). Those actions begin tomorrow.

Muntader al-Zaidi is the Iraqi journalist who threw both of his shoes, one after the other, at the Bully Boy of the United States while declaring, "This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is the farewell kiss, you dog" and "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq." And that was December 14. Over a month later and what's happened?

Timothy Williams (New York Times) reports that Muntader's family and attorneys aren't allowed to see him (the December 21st visit -- hailed in the press at the time as the first visit -- remains the only visit), do not know where he is held and do not know if or when Muntader will see justice but his family fears never and fears for his life. Attorney Dhiyaa al-Saadi explains that there is documentation of the torture Muntader has experienced while imprisoned ("two medical reports conducted by government physicians within a week of Mr. Zaidi's arrest described brusing that coverd the reporter's face and body, but was especially sever on his legs and arms; a missing tooth; a gash on the bridge of his nose; and what appeared to be a burn mark on his ear").

al-Maliki's legal adviser Fadhil Mohammed Jawad tells Williams (apparently for the laugh factor) that, "Judicially, Iraq is just and the law will handle this case with justice." Yeah, that is funny. (For a recent look at Iraqi 'justice,' see this article by Ned Parker.) The family is refused visitation and even the New York Times can't figure out where Muntader is being held despite High Judicial Council spokesperson Adbudl Satta al-Biriqday telling the paper that Muntader was at a specific prison "in the Green Zone, operated by the Baghdad Brigade, a military unit that answeres to the prime minister's office." Attempts to visit as al-Biriqday said was possible?

But during a recent visit to the complex, an Iraqi Army guard told a reporter who requested a visit to leave immediately. The guard also said it was "dangerous" to seek to meet Mr. Zaidi.
The soldier who did not identify himself, said he did not know whether Mr. Zaidi was being held there.
On Thursday, an e-mail message sent to Mr. Maliki requesting a visit with Mr. Zaidi received no reply.


Deborah Haynes (Times of London) reports that his brother, Mitham al-Zaidi, was finally allowed a two-hour visit today and that Muntader wants people "to pray at two mosques in Baghdad for the release and welfare of all prisoners in US detention."  His brother quotes Muntader stating, "What I did was because of my refusal and rejection of the occupation and the American policy in Iraq."
 
 
Turning to US politics, President-elect Barack Obama met with the Washington Post editorial board yesterday.  Here for Michael D Shear's text article, here for the sixty-one minute audio.  Warning for those listening to the audio, Barack's speaking abilities have not magically improved.  Sample: "Uh, obivoulsy military service is uh something we uh honor as a country [. . .] That's going to be something that we uh uh  . . ."  And four minutes, for those wondering, he takes his first swipe at African-American fathers.  Yes, it's Barack singing all his well known tunes. And mixing in a few new ones such as, "It's not something I've said publicly . . . but spending money wisely is not easy."  Mostly, the interivew will be remembered as the one where Barack declared War on Social Security.  Barack's replied to questions and made vague statements.  But, his Love Cult insists, that's just the Nice Guy Barry trying to make nice and get along.  He doesn't want to say, "Stupid crooks, Social Security is not going to be chipped away!"  Well, actually he does want to say that and he did say that.
 
We're dropping back to Sunday's This Week with George Stephanopoulos (ABC -- video and text):
 
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me press you on this, at the end of the day, are you really talking about over the course of your presidency some kind of a grand bargain? That you have tax reform, health care reform, entitlement reform, including Social Security and Medicare where everybody in the country is going to have to sacrifice something, accept change for the greater good?
OBAMA: Yes. 
STEPHANOPOULOS: And when will that get done?  
OBAMA: Well, the -- right now I'm focused on a pretty heavy lift, which is making sure that we get that reinvestment and recovery package in place. But what you describe is exactly what we're going to have to do.
What we have to do is to take a look at our structural deficit, how are we paying for government, what are we getting for it, and how do we make the system more efficient?
STEPHANOPOULOS: And eventually sacrifice from everyone.  
OBAMA: Everybody is going to have to give. Everybody is going to have to have some skin in the game.
 
Barack was asked about it above.  With the Washington Post, he brought it up on his own -- and referenced George Steph's "grand bargain" -- so hopefully even his Love Cult can start to see a few realities.  He begins talking about his big "Fiscal Responsibility Summit" that will be held in February and include a motley crew that will "talk about waste."  He then seques into Social Security during this response (at approximately 16:14) and states the following:
 
We're also going to have a discussion about entitlements and how we get a grasp on those.  Uh and uh, you know, like i think everybody here is familiar enough with the budget problems to  know that as bad as these deficits that we're running up over the next --  that have already been run up -- have been and despite the cost of both TARP and the stimulus, the real problem in our long term deficit actually has to do with our entitlement obligation and the fact that historically uh if our revenues ranged between 18 and 20% of GDP they're now at 16. It's just not sustainable so we're going to have to uh craft  a uh what George Stephanopoulos called a grand bargain and I-I try not to use the word grand in anything that I say but uh but we're going to have to shape a baragain.  This, by the way, is where there are going to be some very difficult choices and issues of sacrifices and responsibilty and  duty are going to come in because what we have done is kick this can down the road.  We're now at the end of the road and uh we are not in a position to kick it any further.
 
Those are right-wing talking points and only the most historically ignorant of Barack's Love Cult will fail to grasp the declaration of war. 
 
 
Social Security is a program which ahs been traditionally run.  It looks like a retirement fund, and it is not exactly.  What it really is is a government program with a dedicated tax.  We take the payroll tax and it's used to pay benefits to retirees.  And 20-plus years ago, the commission led by Alan Greenspan said, you know, we are going to have this problem as the baby boomers reach retirement age.  We will have a higher ratio of retirees to workers, and we better get ready for it.  Social Security, the payroll tax was increased.  There were some other things, a small rise in the retirement age set in motion.  So that Social Security would run a surplus, which would be used to accumulate a trust fund, and this would tithe us over, some ways into the aging of the population.  And that on its own accounting is working just fine.  I mean, one of the things that we need to know is that the estimates of the day at which the trust fund runs out, just keep on receding further into the future, because the program is doing so well at running surpluses.  So, ten years ago, -people said it was going to run out in 2029.  Now the official estimate is 2042.  Realistically, it's probably going to go well into the second half of the century.  Now how does this become a crisis?  Well it becomes a crisis by changing the rules.  By saying, oh, well, actually that surplus that we're running because of the tax increase that was designed to prolong the life of Social Security, that's not real.  Because it's invested in government bonds which are perfectly good asset, for anybody else, but not for the Social Security administration. 
 
Barack's remarks to the Post's editorial board go beyond troubling.  There's no need to decipher them.  He brought it up on his own (he also refused to answer questions on the topic -- though he was happy to later say Sponge Bob was his favorite TV cartoon).  His words, transcribed with all the "uh"s he is so famous for.  It's very clear what he's pushing.  And that's why it's on the audio recording that few will listen to and not in the write-up that made the paper (the bits of half-sentences in the write-up are from his dancing around the direct questions on the topic, not from when he spoke at length about it without any prompting).
 
We're going to stay with the Post interview for a bit more because it's Barack speaking.  When his attack on Social Security began this month (he's attacked it many times before) there was a lot of garbage about how he was being distorted and those weren't his words and "My lover would never say that about me!"  It's him speaking on the audio recording.  His words, his voice.   So let's turn to Guantanamo.  Michael Ratner and Jules Lobel wrote a piece for The Nation last month on Guantamo and how it needed to be closed but that wasn't the end of it:
 
But what of others whom the Bush administration asserts cannot be released? And what will be the fate of any new detainees under the Obama administration? These questions should be answered as they have been for 200 years in this country: if there is sufficient evidence, charge them with crimes and have trials in federal courts; if not, release them. Not much will have been accomplished if Guantanamo is shuttered while the practices that underlie it continue. Yet this is being suggested by some who may have Obama's ear. They argue that holding some terror suspects without trial or charges is necessary. A National Security Court composed of specially appointed judges without juries, using watered-down, minimal due process, would make the decisions.
 
The Feel-Good Headlines are Barack will close Guantanamo.  The issue of the innocent -- you are innocent in the American judicial system until you have been found guilty in a court of law -- was briefly addressed by Barack in his interview with the paper's editorial board yesterday.  He rushed to insist, "I will close Guantanamo and that's the bottom line."  No, it's not as he immediately made clear, "The trick is what do we do with dangerous individuals who are detained whose evidence is fouled up . . . ?  And there are no quick, easy solutions to that."  Yes, there are.  You're guilty or you're innocent and that's determined by a jury in a criminal case.  If the evidence is not there to warrant a conviction, then you're not guilty.  That's how it works in the United States.  Do the guilty sometimes escape punishment as a result?  Absolutely.  But the alternative is a people controlled by the state.  That's what guilty until proven innocent is.  In a criminal case, the prosecution is the government.  A government that does not have to first prove guilt can use prosecution as a way to do away with dissidents and political opponents.  Trumped up charges can have someone imprisoned for years or even put to death.  The people rule in the United States and American justice is built around that principle.  Everyone accused of any crime is innocent in a court of law unless and until they are proven guilty.  Ava and I long ago noted that Barack didn't grasp the Constitution (wrongly inferring that Loving v. Virginia involved a lawsuit against a church).  Nothing he said to the editorial board yesterday indicated a strong grasp of the US Constitution.  He spoke of the possibility of creating a new body.  And maybe that new body was just to continue to imprison the current inmates or maybe it was for his planned imprisonments. 
 
While we're noting Michael Ratner (president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, co-host of Law & Disorder with Dalia Hashad, Heidi Boghosian and Michael Smith) we'll note Ratner As Media Critic (I'm laughing because it's not a role often associated with him but the excerpt will indicate it's one he should tackle more often):
 
The December's Harper's Cover promises a lot: Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are behind bars.  Prominently displayed under the prisoners is the title of Scott Horton's article "Justice After Bush, Prosecuting an Outlaw Administration."  I was excited.  I thought I was about to read the case for prosecuting high level administration officials for the torture program. 
Alas, it was not to be.  Prosecutions are given only lip service while the bulk of the article argues for a truth commission/commission of inquiry.  A commission will not do what is necessary to end torture now and in the future: make it clear, just as we do in cases with the most minor offenses, that actions have consequences.  A failure to initiate a criminal investigation of the torture program will only encourage future law breaking by sending a message of impunity.  The message that we need to send is that the torture conspirators will be held accountable.  That is the only way to fulfill Obama's promise: "I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture.  And I'm going to make sure that we don't torture."
What is surprising in Horton's article is the disconnect between the first half which is one of the strongest pieces I have read about the lawlessness of the Bush adminstration and the latter half where he sets up a complex and unworkable commission.  The articles opening paragraphs scream out the necessity for prosecutions.  Horton states that no other administration has been "so systematically or brazenly lawless;" that torture is the crime that "calls most clearly calls for prosecution;" and that it is the "most likely to be successfully prosecuted."  In one of his most important observations Horton states that the administration "waged war against the law itself," and that the ruler claimed that it "was the law."  This recognition is critical.  It means that no matter how many executive orders and new prohibitions on torture are enacted, a future administration can reassert Bush's claim that the President is above the law. The prohibitions will be for naught as will the conclusions of a commission.  This is a key reason why the deterrence that results from prosecutions is necessary.  Never again should we have an executive who claims to be above the law."
 
 
 
Public broadcasting notes. Starting with public radio, WBAI on Sunday and Monday:
 

 
Also on PBS (and it begins airing tonight in most markets) is Washington Week which finds Gwen gas bagging with the National Journal's Jim Barnes, Washington Post's Shailagh Murray, New York Times' David Sanger and Slate's John Dickerson.  Watch Gwen pretend to listen while fuming that she wasn't picked to be the host of Meet The Press.  Study Gwen's face while her interior monologue screams, "Yeah, I've now dropped to one woman guest a week, pretty soon I'll drop to zero.  No one ever calls me out.  Mainly because no one notices me.  How do I have four guests each week and repeatedly book only one woman!  No one is noticing! Why doesn't anyone love me?  Why!!!!!"  Bill Moyers Journal also airs on PBS (tonight in most markets) and the latest includes Bill responding to the Gaza slaughter and you can review the discussion Moyers had with the Anti-Defamation League's Abe Foxman.  At the show's blog, Micahel Winship offers an essay proclaiming it's "Time to Move On."  Some are less sure about forgiving and forgetting, Michael:

    As Barack Obama prepares to be sworn in, I recall an old National Lampoon record album -- record albums, remember those? -- from the final weeks of the Watergate scandal that comically suggested that President Richard Nixon be given a "swearing OUT" ceremony. There followed a series of blistering curses and calumnies directed at the soon-to-be departed and disgraced chief executive, delivered by someone impersonating the Reverend Billy Graham.    
    You have to wonder if amidst all the fanfare and hoopla Barack Obama isn't quietly swearing a bit beneath his breath as he beholds what his about-to-be-predecessor has left for him. Hercules mucking out the Stygian stables is as nothing to the heaps of bungle and botch confronting the next commander-in-chief.
        
 
As Winship continues his essay, many will be reminded of the joke by those who do not believe in reincarnation: Why do people who say they've had past lives always claim to have been someone famous?  As Winship piles it on thick about Barack and tosses out this president and that president, you quickly note there's no John Tyler, no William Henry Harrison, no Chester Arthur, in fact as Winship raises and raises the stakes, you start to worry he'll get a nasty hope-cut on his typing finger.
 
And on broadcast TV (CBS) Sunday, no 60 Minutes:

60 Minutes is pre-empted Sunday, Jan. 18, by CBS Sports coverage of the American Football Conference Championship game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens.

60 Minutes Update
Osama bin Laden
An audiotape of Osama bin Laden, his first since May 2008, appeared on an Islamic militant Web site Wednesday. Last October, the officer who led the Army's Delta Force mission to kill bin Laden revealed to Scott Pelley what happened in the weeks following 9/11 in Tora Bora, Afghanistan. | Video
 
 
 

US government denies guilt but pays $350,000

The US government has agreed to pay $350,000 to settle a federal claim by a Belchertown family who blamed Northampton VA Medical Center for the suicide of their son, an Iraq war veteran who hanged himself after he allegedly was denied mental healthcare.
A lawyer from the office of US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said in a letter filed yesterday at US District Court in Springfield that the June 2004 suicide of Jeffrey Lucey, a 23-year-old Marine, "while under VA care was a tragedy for the VA and the individual care providers."


The above is from Jonathan Saltzman's "Family settles with US in Marine suicide" (Boston Globe). Jeffrey Lucey's parents are Joyce and Kevin Lucey. The Lucey's have been noted here many times (most recently in Monday's snapshot) and Trina called this morning because she thought Fred Contrada's "U.S. to pay family of Belchertown Marine who committed suicide $350,000" (The Republican) explains some of what Jeffrey Lucey experienced in Iraq:


As the family tells the story, Jeffrey Lucey was eager to join the military after the World Trade Center bombings in 2001. He shipped out to Iraq as a truck driver but was sent into battle in the town of Nasiriyah in 2003.
At one point, Lucey came upon the body of an Iraqi boy who had been shot to death in the street. A tiny, blood-stained American flag was clutched in the dead boy's hand. Lucey took the flag and carried it with him for the rest of his life.
Lucey began drinking a lot after returning home later that year, his family said. At Christmas time he confessed to his sister that he had been ordered to shoot two captured Iraqi soldiers at point blank range. Lucey, who had kept the men's identification tags, threw them on the bed and shouted, "Your brother is a murderer!"
The U.S. Marine Corps said it has found no evidence that Lucey's story is true.
Kevin Lucey said records show his son told someone at the VA that he was contemplating suicide, but the Luceys were not informed of this.
On June 21, 2004, less than a month after he was released from the VA, Jeffrey Lucey asked his father if he could curl up in his lap. Kevin Lucey cradled his son that night. When he returned home from work the next day, he found Jeffrey hanging from a self-made noose in the basement. Lucey was buried with the flag he had taken from the Iraqi boy.
Kevin Lucey said news of the settlement stirred a lot of emotions within the family.
"It's like losing Jeff all over again," he said.

Kevin and Joyce Lucey have spoken about their son's mistreatment by the VA to Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! many times. This is Joyce Lucey from a July 31, 2007 broadcast:


Jeffrey went to Kuwait in the beginning of February of 2003, into Iraq with the initial invasion in March. He returned home to us in July of 2003. And at the beginning, we really saw -- we didn't notice any major difference, although his girlfriend said he was distant when they went away for the weekend to Cape Cod, and he told a friend that he had seen enough sand to last him a lifetime, so he really didn't want to go on the beach. We found out during the fall that he was vomiting on a daily basis. We encouraged him to go to the doctor on that. And they went more for a physical reason, rather than a psychological, and now, looking back, it might have been the PTSD starting. And then he progressed onto Christmas Eve, where he threw the dog tags at his sister and called himself a murderer. From there to nightmares, which I heard him yelling out, and to which he said he was fine, that he was just having a dream that he was caught in an alleyway and they were coming after him. And then Jeffrey went back to college. He had been in college since September, after his return, went back to college in January and was fine until March, when they have their college break. And at that point, he got very depressed, drinking, and couldn't go back to school, even though he didn't actually tell me that. But he would go and come home early and say class had ended early or the professor didn't show up. So I didn't really know he wasn't attending classes, but he was having panic attacks, and when he finally did say something, he said he just couldn't stay in class. And he was also having a startled response, if somebody would slam a door. So he went to our primary care physician at that point and was put on Prozac and Ativan to see if it could keep him in class. And it just continued on from there, the inability to sleep, the lack of appetite, the social seclusion.


And also from that broadcast, we'll note this section:

KEVIN LUCEY: Well, I think that the primary reason is that what happened to Jeff should never have happened. Jeff was so afraid to go to the VA, because he was afraid that the military would find out. And it's that stigma issue. And so, therefore, we called anonymously, and we described the symptoms, and they told us that that's classic PTSD and get him in as soon as possible. And what happened was, Jeff finally did agree to go in, but he delayed it until May 28th, on Friday. And when I was bringing Jeff to them, I really did think that we were bringing him to the arms of the angels, because they were going to save him. They were going to deal with Jeff's problems. And it took us about six hours to get him committed. They tried to talk him into going in voluntarily, but Jeff refused to. So Jeff was finally committed, and he tried to leave the building, but the nursing staff and the police had to go after him. But they brought him back in. He was there for about three-and-a-half days. He was discharged on June 1st. And what we discovered -- and this was about a year afterwards -- that there was a psychiatrist that saw him upon the admission, and then there was the psychiatrist who saw him at the discharge, but no psychiatrist saw him at all during those two times.

AMY GOODMAN: You mean, during the entire time he was committed, he was not seen by a psychiatrist, except for being admitted and for being released?

KEVIN LUCEY: Correct.

JOYCE LUCEY: And it was two different psychiatrists, so there really was no continuity in the care.



The Luceys are members of Military Families Speak Out and that organization has released the following (PDF format warning) statement:

US GOVERNMENT AGREES TO PAY $350,000
TO PARENTS OF US MARINE IN SUICIDE CASE
CASE WAS THE FIRST TO BE FILED SINCE THE IRAQ WAR BEGAN
Government Admits that Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey's Suicide Was A "Tragedy"
for Veterans Administration
SPRINGFIELD, MA -- The United States Government has agreed to pay $350,000 to the parents of a United States Marine who committed suicide in 2004 after returning home from combat duty in the Iraq war.
Within months after returning home from Iraq in June 2003, Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey began to show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by his experience in the war. On June 22, 2004,
Jeffrey hung himself in the basement of his parents’ home, two weeks after the Northampton Veterans Medical Center in Leeds, Massachusetts, turned him away. Jeffrey, who had received an honorable discharge from the US Marine Corps, was 23 years old at the time of his death. In July 2007, his parents, Kevin and Joyce Lucey filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the United States in federal court in Springfield, Massachusetts -- the first such suit to be filed since the
beginning of the war in Iraq.
On January 6, 2009, the US Justice Department issued a letter to the Luceys' attorney, Cristobal Bonifaz, which admitted "that Jeffrey’s suicide while under VA [Veterans Administration] care was a tragedy for the VA and the individual care providers." The letter formally offered $350,000 to settle the case. Bonifaz today notified the federal court that his clients have accepted this offer.
"The US Government killed my son," said Kevin Lucey. "It sent him into an illegal and reckless war and then, when he returned home, it denied him the basic health care he needed. We hope that this case serves as a wake-up call to the nation that our government must be held accountable for the suffering it has caused thousands of US military families."
Joyce Lucey added "When Jeffrey went to Iraq, we didn't realize that the bullets and bombs there didn't present the only threat to our son's safety. Our own government's apathy and indifference are just as great a threat to our troops and veterans. Until the Veterans Administration takes the psychological wounds of war seriously, the epidemic of military suicides will continue to grow."
"Jeffrey Lucey carried to his death the American flag he found in the hands of a dead Iraqi child," said Bonifaz. "Jeffrey never recovered from the horrors he witnessed in Iraq. When his post-traumatic stress disorder signs became critical, he was turned away at the door of the US Veterans Administration. Jeffrey Lucey would have lived but for the illegal war in Iraq and the callous and irresponsible treatment handed to him by the US agency charged with providing him health care when he had returned home."
After their son's death in 2004, Kevin and Joyce Lucey joined Military Families Speak Out, a national organization of military families opposed to the war in Iraq. "Jeffrey's story is a story of too many military families in this country," said Joyce Lucey. "We will continue to speak out to demand that our government immediately end this war, bring our troops home now, and provide all the necessary medical care they deserve when they return."
"And to those military families who have similarly suffered because of the negligence of the US Veterans Administration," added Kevin Lucey, "we hope this case serves as an example that the government can and must be held accountable in a court of law."
Kevin and Joyce Lucey and Cristobal Bonifaz are available for interview.
Copies of the letter from the U.S. Justice Department outlining the settlement in this case are available by request from Military Families Speak Out.
Military Families Speak Out is an organization of 4,000 military families opposed to the war in Iraq, with loved ones who are serving or have served in the U.S. military since fall, 2002.





Public broadcasting notes. Starting with public radio, WBAI on Sunday and Monday:

Sunday, January 18, 11am-noon

THE NEXT HOUR

Poet Hugh Seidman hosts this hour with fellow poets Harvey Shapiro,
Lawrence Joseph and D. Nurkse.


Monday, January 19, 2-3pm

CAT RADIO CAFE

Continuing WBAI's all-day annual Martin Luther King Day celebration
and fundraiser. Hosted by Janet Coleman and David Dozer.

Broadcasting at WBAI/NY 99.5 FM
Streaming live at WBAI
Archived at Cat Radio Cafe



NOW on PBS examines "the green energy dream" in the latest installment which begins broadcasting on many PBS stations tonight (check local listings for date and time in your area):

Will the green energy dream come to fruition? This week NOW explores obstacles to the promise of renewables--energy generated from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, and rain.

As America looks to dramatically increase its use of renewable energy, an inconvenient reality stands in the way: the need to upgrade the country's antiquated electricity grid. Part of that overhaul involves the construction of gigantic and expensive long-distance transmission lines to carry clean energy from remote sites to population centers.

NOW travels to California, which has the most ambitious clean energy plan in the nation. But the state's efforts face stiff opposition from property owners and conservationists who prefer renewable energy from "local sources," such as photovoltaic rooftop solar panels.

Complicating the matter are claims that the transmission lines are not actually carrying renewable energy at all, but represent a thinly-disguised strategy to stick to old energy practices.

The green energy dream: Why it may not happen.

And on broadcast TV (CBS) Sunday, no 60 Minutes:

60 Minutes is pre-empted Sunday, Jan. 18, by CBS Sports coverage of the American Football Conference Championship game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens.

60 Minutes Update
Osama bin Laden
An audiotape of Osama bin Laden, his first since May 2008, appeared on an Islamic militant Web site Wednesday. Last October, the officer who led the Army’s Delta Force mission to kill bin Laden revealed to Scott Pelley what happened in the weeks following 9/11 in Tora Bora, Afghanistan. | Video
This Week In Review
01/12/92: Colin Powell
Seventeen years ago this week, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell spoke to Ed Bradley about growing up in the Bronx, being a career soldier, and breaking racial barriers. | Video
01/07/96: Yo-Yo Ma
Cello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma told Morley Safer, 13 years ago this week, that it is his passion for music which keeps him motivated to perform. | Video
01/06/08: President Musharraf
One year ago this week, then President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, told Lara Logan that he had no responsibility for the assassination of his chief rival Benazir Bhutto. | Video
01/06/08: Roger Clemens
Just weeks after telling Mike Wallace he had never used illegal performance enhancing drugs, Roger Clemens repeated his denial under oath in a Congressional committee hearing last year. Now, reports indicate that prosecutors have convened a grand jury to determine whether Clemens committed perjury with his testimony. Watch Roger Clemens with Mike Wallace. | Video

The following community sites have updated since yesterday morning:
As for the racist, we covered his crap last night in this entry. And on last night's entry, thank you to Joy. ICCC was down last night and I thought it was down for a few minutes and planned to check again. I did a few times and then forgot and also forgot about updating the number for US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war. That number is 4226 and I have fixed it. Thank you to Joy for catching my mistake and e-mailing.

Lawrence notes Mickey Z's "Obama Nation Upholds US Terror" (Information Clearing House) which is a brief article and one difficult to excerpt (he's going historical and you really can't pull from that without leaving people confused) so we'll note his closing, "The exalted Pope of Hope is merely shilling old Kool-Aid in shiny new recyclable bottles. Until we act, we remain accomplices to his global and domestic crimes." Lastly, Keesha notes a video at World Can't Wait where Cynthia McKinney addresses the assault on Gaza. (Keesha sent the link as follows. She says she's not sure that works but that's how they have links set up. If it doesn't work, e-mail and we'll note it tomomrrow morning.)



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