Saturday, April 04, 2009

The US military announces another death

Today the US military announced: "AL ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq -- A Multi National Force -- West Marine died as the result of a non-combat related incident in Al Anbar Province April 3. The Marine’s name is being withheld pending next-of-kin notification and release by the Department of Defense. The incident is under investigation." The announcement brings the total number of US service members killed in Iraq to 4265.

There was an announced death yesterday as well. Pity the so-called paper of record fancies itself Women's Wear Daily today. In the real world, Khalid al-Ansary, Tim Cocks and Charles Dick (Reuters) report,


Iraqi forces have arrested two Sunni Arab neighbourhood guards, a security spokesman said on Saturday, after a string of other arrests in Baghdad that raised tensions.
U.S.-backed Sunni Arab fighters who switched sides to fight al Qaeda in late 2006 have been key to reducing violence in the capital and elsewhere, but many have been dismayed by the past week's arrests and attacks on guards accused of criminal acts.
Baghdad security spokesman Qassim al-Moussawi said the two were detained in the capital's southern Dora district four days ago. He did not say why.
Last Saturday, Iraqi forces seized Adil al-Mashhadani, head of a patrol unit in central Baghdad's Fadhil neighbourhood, sparking clashes with his supporters that killed three people. Moussawi said 32 others were detained in Fadhil, 11 of them already released, with the others staying in for questioning.

Meanwhile, staying with "Awakenings" but turning to PRESS CAUGHT WITH THEIR PANTS DOWN AGAIN news . . .

A number of e-mail drive-bys (including from one paper, not the New York Times) have come in insisting that the US isn't paying for the "Awakenings" and that it's only a few hundred that weren't already under control of al-Maliki's government. A number of the e-mails from non-reporters cite a really bad AFP article as proof that it was only a "few hundred."

Oh, you poor, pathetic fools. Grow the hell up and quit e-mailing me your damn garbage. Reality, every word here was correct. Reality, anyone saying otherwise didn't know what the hell they were talking about.

From M-NF's press release on the Thursday turnover of the last "Awakenings" [entitled "Final SoI transfer in Northern Iraq (Tikrit)"] which was issued today:


Coalition forces turned over complete authority of the Sons of Iraq program in Salah ad-Din province to the Government of Iraq in the final SoI transfer in Multi-National Division-North at Forward Operating Base Dagger, April 2.
Iraqi government officials, provincial government leaders, sheikhs and military members from the 4th Iraqi Army and 25th Infantry Division celebrated the formal transfer of control with a signing ceremony in a palace on the banks of the Tigris River. More than 10,000 men in Salah ad-Din registered with the Sons of Iraq program and are scheduled to receive their first paycheck from the Iraqi government in May.

A "few hundred"? "More than 10,000." al-Maliki's been paying them and not the US? They are now "scheduled to receive their first paycheck from the Iraqi government in May." Now the way I read "their first paycheck from the Iraqi government," that means their first-ever pay check from the Iraqi government. It seems pretty clear to me.

But then, it always clear to me because I actually checked my information and didn't grab a half-sentence in a press report, run with it and make it into a paragraph, into a full-blown story. M-NF has been laughing at the press and the way they've covered the "Awakenings" (in terms of payment and who had been turned over and who wasn't). Doesn't anyone call and check? That was my question. No. And I laughed with friends in M-NF at certain reporters (including one who wrote an e-mail so filthy he should get some sort of Henry Miller award).

I'm sorry your press and education systems failed you but that was never my problem. We stand by what went up here and would continue to stand by it even if the press release hadn't been issued.

With the exception of two Kaye Whitley defenders (actually, Kaye's friends hold the record for filthiest e-mails -- what a point of pride for Kaye), this week has seen non-stop e-mails insisting that the "Awakenings" were all handed over in March except for a "few hundred" and that the US hasn't paid any "Awakenings" in months.

I don't read the bulk of the e-mails. A huge number of people help out and it's not worth their time to put up with that nonsense.

In other, know reality news: Alsumaria is reporting that a cache of weapons has been found . . . yeah, Fadhil. No, all the weapons weren't discovered and taken in the house-to-house search. They also note Moqtada al-Sadr has issued an order for a "Million Men March" in Baghdad April 9th. Also from Alsumaria:

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki announced that defunct Baath Party and Al Qaeda have infiltrated Sahwas stressing at the same time that these forces which have contributed to ascertaining security by fighting extremists will not be abandoned. Al Maliki added that Al Fadhel incidents do not concern Sahwas but an organized armed party. "This is a message sent to the people taking the same path as organized criminals", he said.

Violence reported today includeds . . . .

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing which wounded seven people and a Baquba bombing which one person.

Shootings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Friday night home invasion in Tikrit which resulted in one death (the police officer, it was his home).

From from ETAN:

East Timorese Deserve Justice!
Statement by the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) on the Anniversary of the Liquiça Massacre
Contact: John M. Miller +1-718-596-7668; +1-917-690-4391
On the tenth anniversary of the massacre at the Catholic Church in Liquiça, ETAN urges the international community to finally respond to the demand for justice of the victims of this and other horrific crimes committed during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor (Timor-Leste). Those responsible for the many crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide committed during Indonesia's illegal occupation of East Timor between 1975 and 1999 must be held accountable. The victims of the Liquiça massacre and their families should not have to wait another decade for justice.
Calls for justice are not calls for revenge.
Only through credible trials and respect for the rule of law will victims find closure.
Only through real accountability will genuine friendship flourish between peoples of Indonesia and East Timor.
The brutal attack on those seeking refuge in Liquiça churchyard was part of the ongoing campaign to intimidate the East Timorese people into opposing independence and to create the illusion that any violence arose spontaneously among the East Timorese. At that time, the Liquiça killings were a clear statement that Indonesia's security forces had no intention of allowing an uncoerced vote. However, a month later, the UN, Indonesia and Portugal signed the May 5 agreement, which called for the Indonesian police to provide security for the coming UN-organized vote and for the Indonesian military to be left in place.
The events of 1999 and the preceding years of illegal occupation continue to affect the East Timorese, who continue to suffer from largely unhealed mass trauma. This is one of the underlying causes of the 2006 crisis in Dili. The failure to hold accountable those responsible for organizing and implementing the violence in Liquica and throughout the occupation has created a culture of impunity. Perpetrators believe they will not be held accountable for their crimes and victims often feel that they must take justice into their own hands. These attitudes contributed to the attacks on the President and Prime Minister early last year.
In Indonesia, impunity for past human rights crimes undermines the rule of law and democratic progress. Instead of facing trial, key figures in East Timor's oppression are running for prominent political offices. BackgroundOn April 6, 1999, hundreds of East Timorese and Indonesian militia, soldiers and police attacked several thousand internally displaced refugees taking shelter in the Catholic church in Liquica after slaughtering several civilians nearby the day before. According to a report commissioned by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [ http://etan.org/etanpdf/2006/CAVR/12-Annexe1-East-Timor-1999-GeoffreyRobinson.pdf ], the attack left up to 60 people dead, although the precise death toll is still unknown. The refugees had sought shelter in the churchyard after fleeing earlier militia attacks.
Eyewitness accounts and subsequent investigations showed that members of the notorious police unit BRIMOB played an active role in the attack as did the Besi Merah Putih militia (BMP, Iron Rod for the Red-and-White). Military units, including members of its special forces, Kopassus, were also involved.
According to the OHCHR report, "Although the attack was carried out mainly by BMP militiamen, eyewitnesses have testified that TNI (including Kopassus) and Brimob troops backed up the miltias and fired their weapons during the attack.""The systematic disposal of corpses... [t]ogether with the substantial evidence of TNI [Indonesian military] and Police involvement in the massacre itself, the presence of key officials at the scene of the crime, and the responsibility of those officials for creating and coordinating the BMP... makes it a virtual certainty that the Liquiça church massacre was planned by high-ranking TNI and civilian authorities," the report added.
The assault on the refugees did not end on April 6. Less than two weeks later, more than a dozen survivors and others were murdered on April 17 at the house of Mario Carrascalão in Dili, East Timor's capital.
These murders followed an officially-sponsored rally by militia. Those seeking to provide aid and comfort to survivors in Liquiça had their convoys attacked in subsequent months.All of the security officials tried in Indonesia's Ad Hoc Human Rights Court for their involvement in the massacre and other crimes were acquitted either at trial or on appeal, including police chief Timbul Silaen, regional military commander General Adam Damiri and East Timor military commander Tono Suratman.
In November 2001, the UN-funded Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) indicted nine Indonesian officers and 12 local militia for the massacre. The massacre was also cited in a wide-ranging indictment issued in 2003 by the UN-backed Serious Crimes process. It accused senior officials, including General Wiranto, former Indonesian defense minister, who is now a candidate for Indonesian president, of responsibility for crimes against humanity in East Timor in 1999.
All are currently residing in Indonesia. The Serious Crimes process in Dili convicted and jailed one militia member, who had been indicted separately of three murders, including one during the massacre. Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and brutally occupied the territory until October 1999, with backing from the United States and other powers. The United Nations never formally recognized Indonesia’s claim, and as many as 200,000 East Timorese were killed as a result of the Indonesian occupation. In 1999, Indonesia agreed to a UN-organized referendum on East Timor's political status.
After the referendum, in which East Timorese people voted overwhelmingly for independence, Indonesian security forces and the militia they controlled laid waste to the territory, displacing three-quarters of the population, murdering more than 1400 civilians, and destroying more than 75% of the buildings and infrastructure. Recently, the Timor-Leste NGO Forum urged the international community to "now implement the UN's repeated promises by allocating the necessary political, financial and legal resources to end impunity for these crimes against humanity."
In February, representatives of 60 organizations signed a letter to the UN Security Council urging concrete action to ensure justice and accountability for crimes committed during the Indonesian occupation. They decried "a double standard of justice, undermining the rule of law and respect for human rights in Timor-Leste, Indonesia and internationally." They wrote "A decade has passed since Indonesia's violent exit from Timor-Leste, and Indonesia has repeatedly demonstrated that it cannot or will not credibly try or extradite perpetrators of crimes connected with Indonesia's occupation of Timor-Leste."
ETAN was formed in 1991. The U.S.-based organization advocates for democracy, justice and human rights for Timor-Leste and Indonesia. ETAN opposed the nomination of Adm. (ret.) Dennis Blair, who as Pacific commander, delivered a message of 'business-as-usual' to General Wiranto in the immediate aftermath of the Liquiça massacre.
For additional background on the Liquiça massacre see ETAN's web site: http://www.etan.org.

The following community sites have updated since yesterday morning:


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FYI, Kat will have a review up here this weekend of Stevie Nicks' new album. It will probably go up Sunday morning but it may be Sunday evening. (She's written it in longhand -- and it's long -- on the flight back. It's completed and just needs typing.)


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Sometimes you just have to laugh

For instance, when you read the opening sentence of Karen DeYoung's "Congress Moves to Set Terms for Pakistan Aid" (Washington Post): "Just as it did with Iraq, Congress is moving toward imposing benchmarks that the Pakistani government must meet to qualify for billions of dollars of U.S. military assistance." What benchmarks did Congress ever enforce?

Not a damn one.

If they had, no funds would have gone to Iraq. This is the White House benchmarks from 2007 that DeYoung's referring to. They were not achieved in 2007 or 2008 and have, thus far, still not been achieved in 2009. Yet the money continues to pour into Iraq.

Benchmarks?

There's really no point in them if you impose them and then forget them. (And for easy graders who want to insist "Provincial elections!" -- only 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces held them so far. They were all supposed to hold them and Kirkuk was supposed to participate.)

The do-nothing Congress . . . did nothing. Over and over. Iraq disregarded the benchmarks and still got money. It disregards (present tense) the benchmarks and still gets money. It gets away with refusing, four months after ejecting their Speaker of Parliament, having anyone in charge and still they get money.

There is no accountability.

If you want to laugh some more, this time at 'reporting,' read this garbage by Kevin Sullivan (Washington Post) and, for reality, check out Laura King (Los Angeles Times). Reality goes beyond the fact that the ad Kev's all ga-ga on, the Turkish ad featuring a lookalike of Barack, actually mocks the US. Turns out the 'Barack' says of a Turkish bank (so reliable) , "If only our banks were like this one." Whore a little and they throw you in jail, whore a lot and they make you king as Bob Dylan might sing it. From King's article:

Obama's planned visit to Turkey beginning Sunday night, his first as president to a predominantly Muslim country, is being greeted with eagerness and excitement here -- but also with a trademark dose of prickly nationalism.
The stopover is viewed with pride as an affirmation of Turkey's importance as a bridge between East and West, a moderate and strategically positioned NATO ally with the ability to mediate with hard-line Muslim governments. For a partnership bruised by the perceived highhandedness of the Bush administration, particularly during the run-up to the Iraq war, the visit is also seen as a much-needed balm.
"Maybe Turkey needs the U.S., but no one should forget for a moment that the U.S. definitely needs us too," said Emrah Goksu, a 24-year-old student watching the crowds go by in Istanbul's Taksim Square.

If you want to see a populous nation turned into a group of extras who exist as a backdrop for the US, read Kevin's bad article.

The New York Times has nothing in the international news section on Iraq. We could go to town on what they want to call 'news' in the international section but that works into something Mike and I were already setting aside for Third.

ADDED: C.I. note: Correction, Rod Nordland "Ex-Blackwater Workers May Return to Iraq Jobs" ran on A4, it was under Gigantor's ugly photo. Elaine addressed the article Friday night. My apologies.

Wisam Mohammed and Khalid al-Ansary (Reuters) report that gays are being targeted in Baghdad, with four corpses discovered March 25th and 2 gay men were murdered Thursday "after clerics urged a crackdown".

Yesterday's snapshot included this:

Let's drop back to the US Defense Dept report [PDF format warning] entitled "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq March 2009" which we were discussing yesterday. The report went out of the way to lavish the provincial elections held in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces on January 31st. You had to go deep to find out 'irritating' facts such as only 51% of Iraqis voted (many -- largely Shia -- have lost faith in the process as a result of the ones elected in 2005 having done little; Sunnis boycotted the 2005 elections and had they done the same this year, the percentage would have been even lower). Deep in, it did note that "no party won the majority of votes in any province. As a result, most of the 14 prvoinces where elections were held will face a period of complex coalition-building before they can form governments."

You need to remember that, that there was no majority and that DoD said a "complex coalition-building" effort will take place. With that in mind, Anthony Shadid's "In Iraq, Political Ambiguity" (Washington Post):

One belonged to Karim Hussein, known as Abu Maarouf, who holds sway in the outskirts of Baghdad, the kind of place where a skittish soldier can be seen carrying an assault rifle in each hand. The Shiite-led government, he said, is out to destroy the Awakening, the name for Sunni fighters and former insurgents who joined hands with the U.S. military. "Not only the government, but the American forces, too," he declared.
The other view belonged to Ahmed Abu Risha, brother of the slain founder of the Awakening. That same government, he said, was absolutely right to crack down on the fighters in Baghdad and arrest their leader. "No one is above the law," Abu Risha said.
Politics in Iraq have long been facilely described as a competition among Sunni Arab, Shiite Arab and Kurd. Divisions have long beset each community. But as Hussein and Abu Risha's views suggest, at no time since the fall of President Saddam Hussein six years ago have politics been so fluid and old assumptions so discredited, with traditional alliances crumbling and new ones emerging in the wake of January's provincial elections. Iraq's politicians are trying to forge the grand coalition that can deliver victory in national elections by January.

For some strange reasons, Shadid also includes the following -- and does so as a rah-rah: "In a visit unimaginable a year ago, Iraq's Sunni vice president visited a hospital this week in the Sadr City section of Baghdad that is the stronghold of Sadr's militia." Golly, Tone, does the man have a name? Why, yes, he does, Tariq al-Hashimi -- a detail left out of the report. Now when the US press regularly ignores candidates who actually ran in the provincial elections to focus on al-Maliki, that's bad. When a vice president of Iraq is mentioned without being named, we're into some troubling xenophobia. But, more to the point, want to rah-rah, Tone? To do so, you have to leave out those prickly little things the rest of us call facts, right?

Right. Yes, Tarqi al-Hashimi visited Sadr City, a hospital there, last week. Wednesday in fact. And, if you can put down the pom-poms, Tone, how about telling us what happened during that visit? Oh, right, an attempt on al-Hashimi's life via a rocket attack. Guess that doesn't make for the ez-breezy Cover Girl type concealer, eh?



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Friday, April 03, 2009

Iraq snapshot

Friday, April 3, 2009.  Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces another death, an earlier death announced this week is surrounded with mystery, the US military air bombs "Awakenings," Iraqi refugees garner some attention, and more.
 
Starting with the topic of Iraq refugees, Fahed Khamas has been expelled.  Alsumaria reports Switzerland expelled him yesterday and notes "he used to work as an Iraqi interpreter with the US military in Baghdad" and he stated elements in Iraq had made threats on his life.  Meanwhile Assyrian International News Agency reports, "The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees has called a protest on 16-17 April in Geneva about the plight of Iraqi refugees. It says: The situation of the Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, Iran and Europe is a tragedy. Many thousands of Iraqi refugees have resorted to begging, prostitution, selling their internal organs to avoid destitution."  At the center-right Brookings Institution, Roberta Cohen contributes a lengthy article on Iraqi refugees (here for HTML intro, here for PFD format article in full) entitled "Iraq's Displaced: Where to Turn?" Cohen opens by sketching out how refugees were an Iraq 'industry' when Saddam Hussein was in power but the US war on Iraq "far from resolving the problem, however, made it worse. It catapulted the country into a near civil war between Shi'a, who had largely been excluded by Saddam Hussein's regime, and Sunnis who until then had dominated the government."  Combining external refugees (2.7 million) with internal ones (2 million), Cohen notes that "4.7 million people out of a total population of 27 million -- remained displaced."  While their numbers have increased, the sympathy for them throughout the world appears to have decreased and Cohen postulates that this is due to the fact that their displacement (due to the Iraq War) is "seen as a problem largely of the United States' making and one that the United States should therefore 'fix'." It's felt, she continues, that the US and the oil-rich government in Iraq should be footing the bill for host countries such as Jordan and Syria. "Even though Iraq's budget surplus from oil revenues is projected to be $79 billion by the end of 2008," Cohen writes, "the Shi'a-dominated government of Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has delivered only minimal amounts of funding to neighboring states for the refugees.  Some believe it is because many of the refugees are Sunni and Christian or because the refugees humiliated the government by departing. Still others argue that support for the refugees will discourage their returning home.  Nor has the government been forthcoming with support for its internally displaced population, again dampening other countries' willingness to contribute." The post-9/11 world is noted by Cohen.  Tuesday Senator Bob Casey Jr. chaired a Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee hearing on "The Return and Resettlement of Displaced Iraqis" and one of the witnesses appearing before the subcommittee was Ellen Laipson of the Henry L. Stimson Center who noted that the 'security' measures post-9/11 were harming Iraqi refugees.  Cohen notes the "intense screening" refugees have to go through from the US Department of Homeland Security and that the number of Iraqi refugees the US accepted while Saddam Hussein was Iraq's president was much greater than the number the US has currently accepted.  Cohen notes the stereotypes of Iraqi refugees which include that, struggling for cash, they "could easily fall prey to militant groups" and how those stereotypes harm their attempts at garnering asylum.  These stereotypes are re-enforced (I'm saying this, Cohen touches on it but doesn't state it -- see page 314) when those attempting to help refugees make the case that, if you don't, there will be "security consequences."  Cohen quotes Brookings' Elizabeth Ferris arguing that if aid is not provided "there is a very real danger that political actors will seek to fill the gap."  Cohen notes that the bulk of Iraqi refugees are not the perpetrators of violence but refugees because they have been targeted with violence.
 
Cohen notes countries neighboring Iraq already had taken in Palestinian refugees and there were concerns re: large influxes of refugees as to cohesive societies.  Palestinian refugees from Iraq suffer, Cohen argues, because neighboring countries already which might take them in already have a large Palestinian refugee population with Jordan listed as having 70%.
 
The claims that these refugees are 'temporary' and will soon be returning is explored by Cohen who notes the small number of returnees to Iraq and cites the UNHCR for explaining that those who did return did so "because their resources or visas ran out in Syria and Jordan."  Cohen notes the 'guest'-like status of refugees in Syria and Jordan where they do not "have a clear legal status".  Neither Syria nor Jordan signed onto 1951's Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees so they do not recognize this agreement popularly known as the "Refugee Convention" which requires rights such as the right to work.  The agreement also recognizes the rights of refugee children to education and Syria does have free access but the bulk of Iraqi children are not enrolled.  Jordan officially allows all Iraqi children to attend public schools; however, 1/5 of the Iraqi refugee children is the number enrolled.  In both countries, they also have more medical needs than are being met. Not noted in the report is that having 'guest' status means a number of refugee children may not be enrolled for the reason that the parents are attempting to stay off the grid -- especially important in Syria where you are required to leave every six months and re-enter the country.  Staying off the grid allows them to avoid that.  (PDF format warning, click here for Bassem Mroue's AP article on this six month policy at Refugees International.)  Cohen notes how the economies in Syria and Jordan (mirroring the economices worldwide) have begun to slide and there is a growing hostility to the refugees in both countries where they are [unfairly] blamed for the economy.  She notes that the UNHCR maintains their request that neither Syria or Jordan forcibly deport any Iraqi refugees.
 
Cohen documents the US government's refusal to take responsibility for the Iraqi refugee crisis such as the State Dept's Ellen Sauerbrey telling Congress in 2007 that the situation was a "'very top priority' for the United States, but [she] expressed little urgency about expediting refugee resettlement.  As former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton explained it, sectarian violence, not American actions, created the refugee problem so it was therefore not the United States' responsibility" and Cohen quotes Bolton's pompous comments, "Our obligation . . . was to give them new institutions and provide security.  We have fulfilled that obligation.  I don't think we have an obligation to compensate for the hardships of war."  Bolton -- and this is me, not Cohen -- should have been required to explain how the "sectarian violence" he credits for creating the refugee crisis came about because the US seeded and grew it.  Back to Cohen.  She notes fiscal year 2006 saw the US admit a paltry 202 Iraqi refugees, while in 2007 the figure rose to the still tiny 1,608.  Cohen doesn't note it but neither of those figures met the target goal the administration had itself set for admittance of Iraqi refugees.  Fiscaly year 2008 saw 12,000 Iraqi refuees admitted. While the US does grant refugee status to those admitted and Syria and Jordan do not, note the difference in numbers with Jordan and Syria both having over 750,000 each by the most conservative estimate (that's me, not Cohen).  Cohen notes that Syria and Jordan are said to need $2.6 billion in aid for their refugees but that the US in 2008 was offering a meager $95.4 million. [Me, under Barack, it should be noted, that figure is the meager $150 million and that's for the Iraqi refugee crisis period -- not just for Syria and Jordan -- neither of whom will directly receive any funds from the US.].  Cohen contrasts that meager $95.4 million with the $70 billion the Congress granted for the US military effort in Iraq for fiscal year 2008.  Cohen notes that al-Malikis government gave $25 billion to neighboring states towards the costs of sheltering Iraqi refugees.  (That is a shameful figure.) She tosses out that the Bully Boy Bush administration might have been less than eager to help Iraqi refugees due to the fact that doing so might be seen as admission of the failures of the Iraq War to create "peace and stability in Iraq" and she notes Barack Obama, campaigning for president, promised an increase to $2 billion in aid for the Iraqi refugees.  (In the words of Diana Ross, "I'm still waiting . . . I'm waiting . . . Ooooh, still waiting . . . Oh, I'm a fool . . . to keep waiting . . . for you . . .")
 
Cohen then turns to the issue of the internally displaced and notes "radical Sunni and Shi'a militias who drove the 2006-07 sectarian violence were tired to political parties, police and army units.  The Ministry of the Interior is still widely reported to be infiltrated by Shi'a militias, which assaulted and expelled people from their homes, sometimes in police uniforms.  In such a political environment, it is not surprising that the government has failed to exhibit the will, resources or skills to deal with the needs of the displaced.  In the Ministry of Displacement and Migration, it is not unusual to find staff that sees the displaced only from the perspective of their own ethnic or religious group." Cohen observes that when displaced, Sunnis and Shi'ites tend to relocate to an area where their sect is dominant while Iraqi Christians flee "to parts of Ninewah province and Kurds to the northern Kurdish areas." A large percentage (40%) state they do not intend to return to their homes. As with external refugees, Iraq's internal refugees "face extreme hardship, many with urgent needs for shelter, food, medicine, clean water, employment and basic security."  Cohen observes, "Thus far, the national government has not demonstrated that it has the skills, resources, or political will to take care of its displaced population or provide the security, access to basic services, and livelihoods needed for the return of large numbers to their homes."  Cohen notes that while the government provides no assistance "radical sectarian Sunni and Shi'a groups" rush to fill the void. Robert Cohen offers several proposals for helping both the external and internal refugees and you can read her report for that (and we may or may not note them next week).
 
Sahar S. Gabriel is an Iraqi media worker for the New York Times who was granted refugee status in the US.  She (at the paper's Baghdad Bureau) reports on her initial impressions of the US:
 
After spending 21 hours waiting in airports and 13 hours in flying I arrived at the windy city of Detroit, Michigan.           
It is raining, always a good sign to me. My sister and I put on our gloves and jackets as we get off the plane. While I follow the baggage claim sign, I keep repeating to myself: "Don't panic, but you've made it." I am now on the other side of this war. The less violent side.            
 
Iraqi refugees in the US have found how quickly initial benefits dry up and how few the opportunities often are -- to the point that some refugees are considering returning for economic reasons only.  And think how sad that is, refugees to the US think they'd have better economic chances in Iraq.  (As noted before, those refugees who want to should be offered jobs at various US bases where they could provide cultural training to those due to ship out to Iraq for the first time -- and to those who've been to Iraq as well.)  If the paper were smart, it would set up a fund for Sahar and any other Iraqi media worker who came to the US because, without them, the paper's coverage of Iraq would not have been as strong as it was and a large number of readers grasp that and would contribute to a fund.  But let's turn to the violent side.
 
New news in the continued attacks on Sahwa (e.g. "Awakenings," "Sons of Iraq," etc.).  This morning Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) broke the news that US "aircraft opened fire Thursday night on Sons of Iraq members who were allegedly spotted placing a roadside bomb north of Baghdad".  Mohammed Abbas, Khalid al-Ansary and Dominic Evans (Reuters) add, "The incident could further heighten tensions with the Sunni forces, who number some 90,000 and whom the U.S. military had backed to steer Iraq's Sunni Arabs away from an anti-U.S. insurgency.  The arrest of Adil al-Mashhadani, a Baghdad Sunni Arab force leader, last week started clashes between his supporters and Shi'ite led government forces." UPI reports, "A U.S. military official said an air weapons team spotted four men placing a roadside bomb near Taji 'near a critical road juncture' in a rural area close to a U.S. military base, and where several attacks were carried out in recent months."  Ernesto Londono calls the bombing "the latest sign of the fraying allegiance between the paramilitary groups and the U.S. military." Amazingly, this is how this weekend starts -- amazing after last weekend's violence. Last weekend's violence was kicked off by the arrest of Adel Mashhadani and the slowly revealed of arrest of Raad Ali. Though Mashhadani remains imprisoned, Raad Ali has just been released. Ned Parker and Saif Hameed (Los Angeles Times) report Raad Ali was released by a judge (who dismissed the charges) Wendesday and quotes him stating, "They've accused me many times.  I went to court and they listened to me and said I am clean. If anyone wants to talk about me, every time they have a charge against me, I have shown that I am clean." He also states he was imprisoned in a "secret" location and that the US military had no idea where he was.  Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) observes that Raad Ali "returned home to a rain of celebratory shooting by neighbors and supporters.  He told McClatchy that he'd been charged with seven crimes, including kidnapping a man who'd already accused someone else of the crime, planting roadside bombs, displacing Shiite families and killing two police officers, one of whom had been his own follower.  He said that all of the charges were bogus."  Deborah Haynes (Times of London) quotes an unnamed Sahwa leader in Diayla Province explaining "that the Government did not trust the Awakening movement because it was made up of Sunni arabs.  'We fought al-Qaeda, so how could it be that my guys are terrorists?' said the man, who goes by the nickname of Abu Iraq (father of Iraq). 'I do not trust my Government'."  Haynes notes al-Maliki's pledge to take on responsibility for Sahwa from the US and that only 5% have been provided with jobs (al-Maliki pledged 20%) and that Thursday saw the transfer of the last thousands of Sahwa to al-Maliki's government.  For "Abu Iraq," he has seen half of the 1,000 of the men working under him "laid off without the prospect of further employment and there was no sign that the 530 still with jobs would be accepted into the security forces soon."  Haynes notes the Baghdad located Abu Safar "said a quarter of his force was on strike because of the lack of wages" (the Iraqi government has not been making their payments).  But one Sahwa isn't worried.  Hamza Hednawi (AP) reports the Abu Risha 'clan' is positively glowing and Shakey Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha is thrilled to be in bed with Nouri al-Maliki -- wet spot or not -- and that "he and al-Maliki arleady have discussed joining up in the government that will emerge from parliamentary elections expected late this year." Really?  First off, as Dahr Jamail explained back in February, Shakey is in the "construction business" -- Iraqi mafia -- and a real thug. Second of all, imagine that, Shakey Risha being thrilled with al-Maliki.  Now why would that be?  Let's drop back to the US Defense Dept report [PDF format warning] entitled  "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq March 2009" which we were discussing yesterday. The report went out of the way to lavish the provincial elections held in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces on January 31st.  You had to go deep to find out 'irritating' facts such as only 51% of Iraqis voted (many -- largely Shia -- have lost faith in the process as a result of the ones elected in 2005 having done little; Sunnis boycotted the 2005 elections and had they done the same this year, the percentage would have been even lower).  Deep in, it did note that "no party won the majority of votes in any province.  As a result, most of the 14 prvoinces where elections were held will face a period of complex coalition-building before they can form governments."  It also included the laughable assertion that "parties pledged to accept the outcome of the democratic vote."  Did they?  Which brings us back to Shakey Risha.  Did he make that pledge?  Well damned if he didn't abandon it lickety-split.  From the Feburary 4th snapshot:
 
 Ned Parker, Caesar Ahmed and Saif Hameed (Los Angeles Times) quote Sheik Ahmed Buzaigh abu Risha vowing, "If the percentage is true, then we will transfer our entity from a political to a military one, to fight the Islamic Party and the commission."  If the Iraqi Islamic Party is declared the winner in Anbar, the "Awakenings" say they will begin a slaughter.  And instead of being called out, they're getting catered to.  [. . .] Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) observes how "quickly" the officials go into motion for the ones making threats in Anbar, "The Independent High Electoral Commission sent a committee from Baghdad Wednesday to recount ballot boxes from some polling stations in the province after tribal leaders accused the Iraqi Islamic Party, IIP, which currently controls the provincial council, of rigging the vote.  The accusations of vote rigging came from an especially important source, Ahmed Abu Risha, the head of the province's Awakening Council, which is widely credited with bringing calm to Anbar."  Oh, yes, that voice of peace Sheik Risha.  And what did LAT quote him saying? "If the percentage is true, then we will transfer our entity from a political to a military one, to fight the Islamic Party and the commission." [. . .] And Monte Morin and Caesar Ahmed (Los Angeles Times) quote the menacing Sheik Risha promsing, "There will be very harsh consequences if this false election stands.  We won't let them form a government."
 
 
Turning to Anbar Province.  As noted yesterday, Sheik Ahmed Buzaigh abu Risha has been threatening violence over the possibility that the Iraqi Islamic Party might have done better in the polls than his own party.  Mu Xuequan (Xinhua) observes, "In Anbar province, in western Iraq, tension between rival Sunni parties have been running high after leaders of the Awakening Council groups, or Sahwa militant groups who fought al-Qaida militants in their areas, accused the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), headed by Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, of committing fraud to win majority of the 29-seat provincial council. IIP vehemently denied the accusation."  Sam Dagher (New York Times) reports "al-Maliki sent a deputy, Rafie al-Issawi, a Sunni who is an Anbar native" to speak with Shik Risha and that the meeting was also attended by the Iraqi military.  He threatens violence -- he continues to threaten violence -- and he gets his way. All the people who peacefully demonstrated against not being permitted to vote? They're ignored. But it's rush down to make nice with Sheik Risha when, if it was anyone else, the US military would be rushing down to arrest him. And al-Maliki can't stand Risha. The fact that the sheik is being catered to indicates just how little control al-Maliki still has.   

Dahger speaks with another tribe leader from the area, Sheik Ali al-Hatem, who has (like many in Anbar) frequently been in conflict with Sheik Risha (al-Hatem has also had issues with the Iraqi Islamic Party)who notes that each tribe put up their own candidates so you had slates competing against each other as well as competing against IIP. He states that Risha is "sowing rifts among the tribes" and that the violence could become "intratribal": "Ahmed is playing with fire. We will confront him if he acts this way and divides the tribes." al-Hatem doesn't call on al-Maliki to reign in Risha, he calls on the US military to do so. (If that happens, it may take place during today's meet-up in Anbar.)  Sudarsan Raghavan (Washington Post) reports the US Marines are back in "Ramadi in observation roles, patrolling areas from which they had largely withdrawn."  Again, Risha stamps his feet and threatens violence and gets his way. All the people turned away from the polls and refused the right to vote? All Faraj al-Haidari has to offer them is this 'pithy' little comment, "It's not our fault that some people couldn't vote because they are lazy, because they didn't bother to ask where they should vote." Again, they should have ditched the peaceful protest and run around threatening violence -- that's the only way al-Haidari would have listened. Sheik Risha works the commission the way he wants to.
 
Now what had Shakey Risha so upset was the fact that he lost big.  He knew it, the pollsters knew it.  And instead of telling him "tough cookies," he got catered too.  The mafia don threatened violence and Iraqis and Americans rushed to soothe him.  Many believe the election was tossed to him in the 'counting' as a result of his tantrum.  The fact that he and al-Maliki will be building so many alliances begs the question of what was offered during those February talks that, honestly, should have resulted in Shakey Risha's ass being hauled off to jail? 
 
International Christian Concern notes that on the first two days of this month, "four Iraqi Christians were killed [in] Baghdad and Kirkuk." Sabah Aziz Suliamn was murdered in Kirkuk and the Baghdad killings, taking place on April 2nd, were of Nimrud Khuder Moshi, Glawiz Nissan and Hanaa Issaq.  The organization's president, Julian Taimoorzy, states, "The killing of four innocent people within the last two days has put renewed fear in our hearts.  What is important to keep these continuous atrocities in the media and on the policy makers' radars.  What we need is a more safe and secure Iraq for all of Iraq, especially for the Christians who have faced ethno-religious cleansing." And they quote Jonathan Racho, ICC's Regional Manager for Africa and the Middle East, declaring, "The suffering of Iraqi Christians has been beyond description and is not yet over.  More than ever, the Iraqi Christians need our prayer and support.  The latest martyrdom of our brothers should serve to awaken churches in the Western countries to come to the aid of their Iraqi brothers and sisters.  We call upon Iraqi officials and the allied forces in Iraq to avert further attacks against Iraqi Christians.  It is simply unacceptable to watch the extinction of the Christian community from Iraq."  Sabah is the Iraqi Christian Betty was noting last night who was beheaded.  Betty also noted Daniel Graeber (UPI) reporting on the fears of Iraq's Christian community quoting Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk Louis Sako declaring, "Under Saddam's regime, we had security but no freedom.  Today we have freedom, but the problem is security." The Archbishop also pointed out the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians who have fled Iraq.  On Iraqi refugees, an Iraqi correspondent for BBC News shares this popular joke in Iraq, "A Jordanian finds a magic lamp.  A genie appears and asks him what is his heart's desire.  'Send all these Iraqi refugees back across the border,' the man says. 'Why?' asks the genie. 'Whatever have we done to you?'"
 
Laith Hammoudi and Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) report a Bgahdad roadside bombing which wounded four people, a Baghdad mortar attack which left four children wounded, a Baghdad sticky bombing which claimed the life of 1 "official of the oil products directorate" and left his wife and their child injured, and another Baghdad sticky bombing which left Lt Gen Hussein Breisamn injured.
 
 
Today the US military announced: "JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq -- A 3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) Soldier died as a result of non-combat related causes Apr. 3.  The Soldier's name is being withheld pending next of kin notification and release by the Department of Defense."  The announcement brings to 4262 the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war.
 
Meanwhile, on the heels of the news that David H. Sharrett II was not shot to death by 'insurgents' in January of 2008, a new mysterious death makes the news. Yesterday the Defense Dept identified a March 31st death in Iraq: "The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lance Cpl. Nelson M. Lantigua, 20, of Miami, Fla., died March 31 as a result of a non-hostile incident in Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 10 Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. The incident is currently under investigation." Sharrie Williams (CBS4) reports Nelson will be buried in the Dominican Republic and quotes his cousin Milagros Santos stating, "He didn't deserve this."  Robert Samuels and Luisa Yanez (Miami Herald) spoke with the family who state Nelson died from an apparent shooting and was discovered in his bed this week with "less than a week" left in his tour of Iraq. He'd spoken to an uncle, Francisco Santos, on the phone in the last few days and to his grandmother. The reporters quote Santos stating of Nelson's wife Rossana, "She's so upset she can't even speak." Marine Times notes that Nelson was 20-years-old and "An English-language media outlet in the Dominican Republic, saying Lantigua was born near Santiago, reported Wednesday that 'companions' found him facedown in bed around 2:30 a.m., having suffered a single gunshot wound to the head. His aunt, Arelis Torres, told Dominican Today that she didn't have any additional details about Lantigua's death, saying only that he was married shortly before his unit deployed and that he likely will be buried locally."  Jose Pagliery and Robert Samuels (Miami Herald) note Nelson was "born in the Dominican Republic, joined the Marines on Oct. 29, 2007" and while in Iraq for the last six months had "received the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal."
 
Turning to legal news, Rick Rogers (San Diego Union-Tribune) reports on Sgt Ryan Weemer's murder trial where he's represented by War Hawk Paul Hackett and notes 'pride of the Marines' Hackett is arguing 'no one saw my client shoot the man dead!' but yesterday saw Paul Prichard, Chief Warrant Officer who "ran prisoner operations" during the assault on Falljua, explain on the witness stand that prisoners were taken to an area "in a train station north of the city," not killed.  Tony Perry (Los Angeles Times) states, "Although Weemer confessed to killing the Iraqi in two tape-recorded interviews in 2006, the prosecution is hampered by lack of forensic evidence and lack of a name for the alleged victim." Apparently, kill an unnamed Iraq and be presented with a get-out-of-jail free card.  'Pride of the Marines' Hackett is attempting the same cowardly behavior of  Jose Luis Nazario who is refusing to testify which, Perry points out, is what Weemer did during Nazario's trial for the same crimes and allowed Nazario to walk.  At that time, Hackett wanted a deal for Weemer and bragged/bullied, "Granting Ryan immunity and ordering him to testify would be the only way . . . (to prosecute Nazario) because to my knowledge, there is not physical evidence that supports the prosecution's case." Play-Marines like Paul Hackett fail to grasp what a disgrace they are when they refuse to follow the judicial process.  They fail to grasp what chickens and cowards they appear to be and how little respect for the US Constitution they appear to have.  Hackett won't defend his client's actions because there is no defense for them.  So instead, he'll try to -- as with Nazario -- win by cheating.  What a proud, proud moment for Paul Hackett. 
 
Maybe next he can defend rapists in the ranks as well?  Oh wait they and the killers of American family members don't get charged very often, do they? Ann Jones (Znet) covered "Death on the Home Front" this week:
 
In April 2000, after three soldiers stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, murdered their wives and CBS TV's "60 Minutes" broke a story on those deaths, the Pentagon established a task force on domestic violence. After three years of careful work, the task force reported its findings and recommendations to Congress on March 20, 2003, the day the United States invaded Iraq. Members of the House Armed Services Committee kept rushing from the hearing room, where testimony on the report was underway, to see how the brand new war was coming along.

What the task force discovered was that soldiers rarely faced any consequences for beating or raping their wives. (Girlfriends didn't even count.) In fact, soldiers were regularly sheltered on military bases from civilian orders of protection and criminal arrest warrants. The military, in short, did a much better job of protecting servicemen from punishment than protecting their wives from harm.

Years later the military seems as much in denial as ever. It has, for instance, established "anger management" classes, long known to be useless when it comes to men who assault their wives. Batterers already manage their anger very well -- and very selectively -- to intimidate wives and girlfriends; rarely do they take it out on a senior officer or other figure of authority. It's the punch line to an old joke: the angry man goes home to kick his dog, or more likely, his wife.

Anger may fire the shot, but misogyny determines the target. A sense of male superiority, and the habitual disrespect for women that goes with it, make many men feel entitled to control the lesser lives of women -- and dogs. Even Hollywood gets the connection: in Paul Haggis's stark film on the consequences of the Iraq War, In the Valley of Elah, a returned vet drowns the family dog in the bathtub -- a rehearsal for drowning his wife.

The military does evaluate the mental health of soldiers. Three times it evaluated the mental health of Robert H. Marko (the Fort Carson infantryman who raped and murdered a girl), and each time declared him fit for combat, even though his record noted his belief that, on his twenty-first birthday, he would be transformed into the "Black Raptor," half-man, half-dinosaur.

In February 2008, after the ninth homicide at Fort Carson, the Army launched an inquiry there too. The general in charge said investigators were "looking for a trend, something that happened through [the murderers'] life cycle that might have contributed to this." A former captain and Army prosecutor at Fort Carson asked, "Where is this aggression coming from?... Was it something in Iraq?"
The topic of sexual assault in the military will be explored by Cindy Sheehan on her internet radio program The Soapbox this week with her guests Sara Rich (sexual assault activist, peace activist and mother of Suzanne Swift) and retired Army Col and retired State Dept diplomat Ann Wright. Turning to TV programming notes, NOW on PBS begins airing tonight on most PBS stations (check local listings and true of all PBS programs noted here) and tonight's stories include:


"Coming Home?" & "Paradise Lost, Revisited"
Has the Army been denying care to its neediest soldiers?
Thousands of U.S. troops are getting discharged out of the army. Many suffer from post traumatic stress disorders and brain injuries, and haven't been getting the care they need. The Army's been claiming these discharged soldiers had pre-existing mental illnesses. But health advocates say these are wrongful discharges, a way for the army to get rid of "problem" soldiers quickly, without giving them the treatment to which they're entitled.
NOW covered this issue last summer, and this week we revisit the army's controversial position and follow up with affected soldiers we met.
As a result of the media attention from our report and others, the Department of Defense revised its criteria for diagnosing pre-existing conditions and, now, fewer soldiers are receiving the diagnosis, making more of them eligible for care.
This is an update to the NOW investigation: Fighting the Army
 
They also cover how global warming is effecting Kiribati.  On Washington Week, Gwen sits around the table with David Wessel (Wall St. Journal), Martha Raddatz (ABC News), Pete Williams (NBC News) and John Harwood (New York Times and CNBC). Topics include the economy, Russia, China and Iran, GM and the case of former US senator Ted Stevens. And lastly on PBS, To The Contrary finds Bonnie Erbe addressing the week's topics with: "U.S. News & World Report's Dr. Bernadine Healy; The Global Summit of Women President Irene Natividad; The National Council of Negro Women's Dr. Avis Jones-Weever; and Conservative Commentator Tara Setmayer." All three PBS programs will offer their programs in podcasts. In addition, streaming will be up tonight for NOW with the others adding the streaming option on Monday. Washington Week and To The Contrary will post transcripts early next week, ideally by Monday afternoon. Turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:
 
Closing The Clinic
The economic crisis is affecting society's most vulnerable as a county hospital is forced by budget cuts to close an outpatient cancer clinic. Scott Pelley reports.
Torture In Iran
In his first U.S. television interview, Ahmad Batebi tells CNN's Anderson Cooper how he was tortured during his eight years in an Iranian prison and how he was finally able to escape.
Dolly
Dolly Parton, the oh-so-country music superstar with the city-slicker sense of show business talks to Morley Safer about her childhood, her career and the Broadway production of her film, "9 to 5." | Watch Video
60 Minutes, Sunday, April 5, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
 
The one and only Dolly Parton, Sunday on 60 Minutes. By the way, though the e-mail arrived in plenty of time to make this snapshot, I'm not interested in a sexist essay which refers to a woman with condescending remarks of "Baywatch."  I wouldn't have gone if I were Miss Universe (I'd never be Miss Universe -- at my age, nor would I have when I was younger) but disagreeing with her trip doesn't give you the right to insult her leering, sexist insults.  And considering the program and its long, long history of sexism, you should all be ashamed of yourselves. Naturally, that garbage is posted at Sexist Robert Parry's Consortium News.  And I'm not sure what's more frightening, that PBS funds paid for this vile sexism or that the idiots involved don't even know how to spell?  Miss Universe is not "Dyanna Mendoza."  Her name is Dayana Mendoza.  But hey, who needs basic facts when you're in a rush to flaunt what a sexist pig you are? While I won't note that garbage, I will gladly note Liz Smith (wowOwow) on Marlo Thomas leading the cast of Arthur Laurents new play "New Year's Eve" which plays from April 17th through May 10th at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  I know Marlo and am sure she'll be wonderful but the cast (which also includes Keith Carradine) features Natasha Gregson Wagner and I'll note the item for that reason (disclosure, I knew her mother -- a wonderful woman who is sorely missed).  I'm sure it will be amazing play with an amazing cast and I hope to see it.
 
Lastly, David Solnit, author with Aimee Allison of  Army Of None  (Allison co-hosts KPFA's The Morning Show with Philip Maldari), notes this event which takes place tonight and is sponsored by Courage to Resist, Bay Area Iraq Veterans Against the War & Unconventional Action in the Bay:

Friend and filmmaker Rick Rowley comes to town with three films just shot on the ground in Iraq-- in typical high energy in-your-face style. Rick is joined by local IVAW organizer Carl "Davey" Davison and cutting-edge movement analyst Antonia Juhasz to do some collective thinking-discussing about how we can take on Obama to make the world a better place. Hope you can join us!

Please Invite your friends:
Bay Area Premiere
from the makers of "Fourth World War" & "This is What Democracy Looks Like"
OBAMA'S IRAQ         
A Big Noise Film       
followed by a Public Discussion:          
How Do We End Occupation & Empire Under Obama?       

Carl Davison, organizer with Iraq Veterans Against the War, served in the Marines and the Army, and refused deployment to Iraq.      
Antonia Juhasz, analyst, activist, author of Tyrany of Oil; The World's Most Powerful Industry--and What We Must Do to Stop It          
Rick Rowley, Big Noise film maker recently returned for Iraq.           

Friday April 3, 7pm          
ATA THEATER         
992 Valencia Street (at 21st), SF            
Everyone welcome, $6 donation requested, not required.            

Obama's Iraq is an evening of short films never before seen in America. Shot on the other side of the blast shields in Iraq's walled cities, it covers a very different side of the war than is ever seen on American screens. It reports unembedded from war-torn Falluja, from the giant US prison at Umm Qasr, from the Mehdi Army stronghold inside Sadr City -- from the places where mainstream corporate channels can not or will not go. Obama's Iraq asks the questions -- what is occupation under Obama, and how can we end the war in Iraq and the empire behind it? After the film, a public discussion will begin to answer that question. Join us.         
 

Posted by at

How did Nelson Lantigua die?

Yesterday the Defense Dept identified a March 31st death in Iraq: "The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lance Cpl. Nelson M. Lantigua, 20, of Miami, Fla., died March 31 as a result of a non-hostile incident in Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 10 Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. The incident is currently under investigation." Sharrie Williams (CBS4) reports:

Members of his family in the Hammocks are grieving his death Thursday, saying they last spoke to him over the weekend.
"He didn't deserve this," cried a cousin, Milagros Santos of west Kendall, who said he was hoping to return home the second week of April.
She added that he was a native of the Dominican Republic, where his mother lives, and where his body will eventually be buried.

Robert Samuels and Luisa Yanez (Miami Herald) spoke with the family who state Nelson died from an apparent shooting and was discovered in his bed this week with "less than a week" left in his tour of Iraq. He'd spoken to an uncle, Francisco Santos, on the phone in the last few days and to his grandmother. The reporters quote Santos stating of Nelson's wife Rossana, "She's so upset she can't even speak." Marine Times notes that Nelson was 20-years-old and "An English-language media outlet in the Dominican Republic, saying Lantigua was born near Santiago, reported Wednesday that 'companions' found him facedown in bed around 2:30 a.m., having suffered a single gunshot wound to the head. His aunt, Arelis Torres, told Dominican Today that she didn't have any additional details about Lantigua's death, saying only that he was married shortly before his unit deployed and that he likely will be buried locally."

This comes on the heels of the news that David H. Sharrett II was not shot to death by 'insurgents' in January of 2008. In other shameful news, Rick Rogers' "Marine's self-defense claim disputed" (San Diego Union-Tribune) reports former marine Paul Hackett is resorting to 'no one saw my client shoot the man dead!' which is hardly an example of the 'corp values' Hackett's always espousing nor does it address Ryan Weemer's confession to having shot the Iraqi man dead (two confessions to that in fact, once while applying to a government job and once on tape). Rogers reports:

Since Marine Sgt. Ryan Weemer's murder trial started Tuesday at Camp Pendleton, his attorneys have described his shooting of an unarmed detainee as self-defense during a chaotic battle in Iraq.
Yesterday, the prosecution tried to undercut that assertion by introducing witnesses who said regulations clearly required Marines to bring captives to a designated holding area instead of killing them.
Chief Warrant Officer Paul Pritchard ran prisoner operations during the November 2004 offensive in Fallujah that included Weemer. He testified that the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment kept prisoners in a train station north of the city.

While Hackett plays ignore-the-confessions!, AFP reports "A US Marine charged with killing an unarmed Iraqi was found by fellow troops pointing his pistol at the man and standing over his body" according to Cory Carlisle's testimony. Confessions, discovered over the body holding a gun and 'proud Marine' Paul Hackett wants to resort to weasely tactics? Fine, be an attorney, but don't expect anyone to believe your yammering away about 'pride' and 'honor.'

In other news, Sandra Cole (WOWK13) reports:

Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV sent letters Thursday to Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Robert Gates and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki asking what actions the DoD and VA are taking to assist West Virginia National Guard soldiers who were potentially exposed to toxic levels of Sodium Dichromate in Basra, Iraq.


Tuesday's snapshot covered the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee Bob Casey Jr. chaired.
Wednesday afternoon, Sheri Fink (Pro-Publica) covered the hearing. She's really the only other one (other than the bad article by AP). I say that to explain I do not support Brookings, it is not a left organization. I see it as not just center, but center-right. But the refugee crisis is not being covered and I noted awhile back that we'd have to be less picky in terms of including some we'd otherwise ignore (due to the lack of Iraq coverage). All that is to explain an e-mail to the public account asked that we note this from Roberta Cohen's "Iraq's Displaced: Where to Turn?" (Brookings):

Refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) are hardly a new phenomenon for Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein’s long and brutal rule, forced displacement was a deliberate state policy. Expulsions were used as a tool to subdue recalcitrant populations and punish political opponents. The main victims were the Kurds -- Iraq's largest minority which staged repeated rebellions -- and the Shi’a majority, many of whose members opposed the regime, including hundreds of thousands of Marsh Arabs. Saddam Hussein also expelled more than 100,000 Kurds as well as members of the smaller Turkmen and Assyrian (Christian) minorities from the oil rich Kirkuk region in an effort to 'Arabize' the area. In all, close to one million people were internally displaced in Iraq when the United States invaded in 2003.[1] Another one to two million Iraqis lived abroad fearing persecution should they return. In fact, Iraq was one of the largest refugee-producing countries in the world prior to the US entry on the scene.[2]

The US invasion and the toppling of Saddam Hussein, far from resolving the problem however, made it worse. It catapulted the country into a near civil war between Shi'a, who had largely been excluded by Saddam Hussein's regime, and Sunnis who until then had dominated the government. Intense and bloody sectarian violence, combined with coalition military action, fighting among Shi'a militias and between the government and the Mahdi army as well as generalized violence and criminality caused massive uprooting. In 2007, some 60,000 Iraqis were reported to be fleeing their homes each month. New displacement diminished sharply in 2008 as overall security improved in Iraq. But together with those who had been displaced earlier, some fifteen to twenty percent of the Iraqi population -- or 4.7 million people out of a total of 27 million -- remained displaced. Of this total, 2.7 million (10 percent of Iraq’s population) are inside the country while some 2 million are abroad, mostly in neighboring countries.[3]

Today's displaced Iraqis are not viewed as sympathetically around the world as those persecuted and uprooted by Saddam Hussein.[4] One reason is that they are seen as a problem largely of America’s making and one that America should therefore 'fix.' The US' failure to establish security in the country after its invasion or prepare effectively for the country's reconstruction is considered a major reason for the chaos and violence that caused the mass displacement. Many donor governments as a result have been reluctant to fully share the burden of Iraq's displaced, believing the United States should foot most of the bill together with the government of Iraq, which over the past year has been able to accumulate considerable oil wealth. Nor have they been overly forthcoming in resettling Iraqi refugees or in offering funds to the governments of Jordan and Syria which house most of the refugees.[5]

That's from the introduction to Cohen's article. Meanwhile Assyrian International News Agency reports, "The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees has called a protest on 16-17 April in Geneva about the plight of Iraqi refugees. It says: The situation of the Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, Iran and Europe is a tragedy. Many thousands of Iraqi refugees have resorted to begging, prostitution, selling their internal organs to avoid destitution."

Meanwhile, New York Times' Sahar S. Gabriel writes in "Arriving In America - The Other Side Of This War" (New York Times' Baghdad Bureau) about her own refugee journey:

After spending 21 hours waiting in airports and 13 hours in flying I arrived at the windy city of Detroit, Michigan.
It is raining, always a good sign to me. My sister and I put on our gloves and jackets as we get off the plane. While I follow the baggage claim sign, I keep repeating to myself: "Don't panic, but you've made it." I am now on the other side of this war. The less violent side.

And for anyone wondering, the print edition of today's New York Times contained nothing filed in Iraq. Turning to programming notes and starting with PBS. Check local listings for the first three programs but they begin airing tonight on most PBS stations across the country. First up, NOW on PBS:


"Coming Home?" & "Paradise Lost, Revisited"
Has the Army been denying care to its neediest soldiers?
Thousands of U.S. troops are getting discharged out of the army. Many suffer from post traumatic stress disorders and brain injuries, and haven't been getting the care they need. The Army's been claiming these discharged soldiers had pre-existing mental illnesses. But health advocates say these are wrongful discharges, a way for the army to get rid of "problem" soldiers quickly, without giving them the treatment to which they're entitled.
NOW covered this issue last summer, and this week we revisit the army's controversial position and follow up with affected soldiers we met.
As a result of the media attention from our report and others, the Department of Defense revised its criteria for diagnosing pre-existing conditions and, now, fewer soldiers are receiving the diagnosis, making more of them eligible for care.
This is an update to the NOW investigation: Fighting the Army

Also This Week: Paradise Lost, Revisited
A president's desperate attempt to save his country, as the ground literally disappears under his feet.
This week we update how the distant Pacific nation of Kiribati is dealing with the reality that both their land and culture could disappear from the Earth due to global warming. Kiribati President Anote Tong is now considering purchasing land abroad to save his people.
He says his pleas for international support have largely fallen on deaf ears. Experts predict millions of people will become climate change refugees in the years to come.
This is an update to the show Paradise Lost

On Washington Week, Gwen sits around the table with David Wessel (Wall St. Journal), Martha Raddatz (ABC News), Pete Williams (NBC News) and John Harwood (New York Times and CNBC). Topics include the economy, Russia, China and Iran, GM and the case of former US senator Ted Stevens. And lastly on PBS, To The Contrary finds Bonnie Erbe addressing the week's topics with: "U.S. News & World Report's Dr. Bernadine Healy; The Global Summit of Women President Irene Natividad; The National Council of Negro Women's Dr. Avis Jones-Weever; and Conservative Commentator Tara Setmayer." All three PBS programs will offer their programs in podcasts. In addition, streaming will be up tonight for NOW with the others adding the streaming option on Monday. Washington Week and To The Contrary will post transcripts early next week, ideally by Monday afternoon. Turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:

Closing The Clinic
The economic crisis is affecting society's most vulnerable as a county hospital is forced by budget cuts to close an outpatient cancer clinic. Scott Pelley reports.
Torture In Iran
In his first U.S. television interview, Ahmad Batebi tells CNN's Anderson Cooper how he was tortured during his eight years in an Iranian prison and how he was finally able to escape.
Dolly
Dolly Parton, the oh-so-country music superstar with the city-slicker sense of show business talks to Morley Safer about her childhood, her career and the Broadway production of her film, "9 to 5." | Watch Video
60 Minutes, Sunday, April 5, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

The one and only Dolly Parton, Sunday on 60 Minutes. And on internet radio, Cindy Sheehan's The Soapbox features Sara Rich (sexual assault activist, peace activist and mother of Suzanne Swift) and retired Army Col and retired State Dept diplomat Ann Wright addressing many topics including sexual assault in the military.

On public radio? First a note, if I'm noting NPR's coming attractions it's because a friend at NPR has asked for it and it's one of three friends most of the time. This one is requested by a very good friend or I wouldn't be noting this because I loathe the woman about to be noted and, like many including the Lizard Queen, think the woman on NPR today is a liar who has some culpability in the death and/or cover up of the death of Jim Morrison. So if you'd like to listen to a possible killer or accomplice who managed to skate free or just a woman who's claimed far more credit than she ever earned:


Live Friday: Marianne Faithfull, The Felice Brothers In Concert

Listen Online At Noon ET

Marianne Faithfull 300
courtesy of the artist

Marianne Faithfull.

The Felice Brothers 200
courtesy of the artist

The Felice Brothers.

WXPN, April 2, 2009 - Throughout Marianne Faithfull's 40-year career, change has been the only constant. She's collaborated with an impressively diverse and famous assortment of artists — Beck, Rufus Wainwright, Keith Richards, Tom Waits and countless others — and trafficked in genres ranging from folk to jazz to rock to an early form of rap. Return to this space at noon ET Friday to hear Faithfull perform live in concert from WXPN and World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, with opening act The Felice Brothers.

Faithfull's music speaks of glamour, introspection and pain — all of which have been powerful forces in her own life. After a long battle with drug abuse and two years spent living on the streets, the singer-songwriter returned to recording sporadically. Official comebacks took place roughly once every decade, as listeners took notice of the ragged, tortured talent shining through her work. Allen Ginsberg called her "Professor of Poetics, Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poets."

Faithfull's latest album, Easy Come, Easy Go, is a collection of surprising and moving covers. Her gravelly, moody voice tackles a Morrissey cover, gently colors a Duke Ellington piece and even takes on Dolly Parton. The result mixes old and new classics with a timeless but contemporary air.

The members of The Felice Brothers, a gritty Americana quintet from the Catskills, include three brothers and a former dice player; the group got its start playing in New York City subway stations. Over the past three years, the band has toured with the likes of Levon Helm and Bright Eyes.

Often compared to influences such as Bob Dylan and The Band, the fiddling rock band is about to release a fine new album titled Yonder Is the Clock. With a title drawn from the work of Mark Twain, the album tells tales of love, death, betrayal and even baseball.

For more on the Felice Brothers, visit their website. I will gladly note that John Mellencamp was on Fresh Air and you can stream it online now.

The Kurdistan Regional Government announces:

EU Parliament holds Seminar on Genocide against Kurds of Iraq


Brussels, Belgium (KRG.org) – Mr. Olle Schmidt, Swedish Member of the European Parliament, sponsored a one-day seminar to discuss and raise awareness of the genocide committed against the Kurds of Iraq. Mr. Schmidt opened the seminar with a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims.

Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Fredrik Malm, a member of Sweden’s Parliament, moderated the seminar. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister for Extra-regional Affairs Dr. Mohammed Ihsan, KRG representative in Brussels Mr. Burhan Jaf, and several academic experts also participated.

Dr. Ihsan, who has rich field experience on the issue, said, "What we saw was an attempt at complete destruction -- destruction of a people and of a culture. I hope history will not repeat itself in Iraq, and I hope that the European Union and the international community will work to prevent genocide in Iraq and to prevent genocide in every part of the world."

He continued, "I think that more must be done for the victims and the relatives of the victims, from the European Union and from the KRG. International recognition of the genocide by the EU is important for us, and I hope this will be the next step."

The Kurdish Gulan Association of Sweden partnered with MEP Mr. Schmidt in the organization of the event. The film All My Mothers was screened in the final hour. The KRG plans to hold a high-level conference in Brussels later on this year, and has expressed interest in the passage of a European Parliament resolution recognizing the crimes of the previous regime as an act of genocide.




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