Saturday, June 27, 2009

DoD announces another death

The Defense Department issued the following: "The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Joshua L. Hazlewood, 22, of Manvel, Texas, died June 25 in Arifjan, Kuwait, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 614th Automated Cargo Documentation Detachment.
The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation. For more information the media may contact the Office of the Chief Army Reserve public affairs office at (703) 601-0846." The death brings to 4316 the number of US service members killed in the illegal war.

Until yesterday, the press was eagerly preparing their end of the month talking points but they've lost one because 2 deaths have been reported (by DoD). They bring the total for the month to 10 which will not allow June to be billed as the lowest monthly death toll for the year thus far. And, in fact, 10 may not end up being the final number. (March is the lowest month of the year thus far, with 9 reported deaths.)

US deaths are also on the mind of US service members and Ernesto Londono's "Military: No Ban on Use of Mine-Resistant Vehicles in Iraq" (Washington Post) notes a specific concern:

The U.S. military said Saturday that U.S. soldiers will not be barred from using mine resistant armored vehicles during the daytime in Iraqi cities after July 1, a departure from guidance officers and squad leaders said they received in writing in recent days.
The reported rule banning the use of the hulking vehicles, known as MRAPs, in urban areas starting July 1, raised safety concerns among soldiers.
A Washington Post story published Friday said soldiers were worried that using the smaller, less armored Humvees would leave them more vulnerable to armor-piercing roadside bombs and grenades.

The illegal war hasn't ended. Elizabeth Baier (Minnesota Public Radio) reports, "More than 550 troops from the Minnesota Army National Guard will head to Iraq next month, where they will serve a one-year deployment as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom." Bob Von Sternberg (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) adds, "They are scheduled to return to Minnesota next April."

In some of today's reported violence, Reuters notes a Baghdad motorcycle bombing which claimed the life of 1 person and left four more injured and a Baghdad roadside bombing which injured three.

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


the washington post
ernesto londono

Motorcycles banned in Baghdad

A bomb placed in a motorbike exploded at an outdoor market in Baghdad on Friday, killing about a dozen people and wounding scores. It marked the third straight day of violence in the capital before the Tuesday deadline for American comabt troops to withdraw from Iraqi cities.

So opens Sam Dagher and Alissa J. Rubin's "Stoking Fears, Bombs in Baghdad's 3rd Straight Day of Violence Kill About a Dozen" inside today's New York Times. Wednesday's Baghdad bombing which claimed 78 lives was also a motorcyle bombing and Dagher and Rubin tell you the bombing Saturday took place at "a market for new and secondhand motorbikes". Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reported yesterday on a Friday Baghdad bombing which left at least 1 person dead and three more wounded. That bombing was also a motorcyle bombing. As a result of the increase in motorcycle bombings, Dagher and Rubin report that Nouri's banned motorcylces in Baghdad "indefinitely."

Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) reports that the death toll in Friday's Baghdad bombing at the motorcycle market has risen to 22 and quotes survivor Ali Khudair Abbas stating from the hospital, "I saw some bodies and parts of motorcycles flying in the air at the moment of the explosion. [. . . ] I wonder why such a place is targeted! We are not army or police. We are not Americans. All of those coming to the market were poor . . . people hoping to get some money and return to their families." Laith Hammoudi and Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) quote eye witness Ibraheem Nomas, "When I reached the place of the explosion, I saw six dead men. Their bodies were completely burnt by the explosion. I saw a young man crying out for help for his young brother, who was still burning. I helped in saving four young men. Ambulances arrived quickly and saved many people, but many were already dead. Whoever did this is not human."


While I believe that reports of Barack's intelligence have been greatly inflated, I can't distort reality to make that point and have any self respect. The New York Daily News apparently has no self-respect to lose, hence a headline "Obama warns of increased violence in Iraq as U.S. troops pull out of cities." Richard Sisk follows the headline by opening with the claim, "President Obama Friday warned of rising violence as U.S. troops pull out of Iraqi cities and urged Baghdad to do more to end strife with ethnic and religious factions." No, he didn't claim that violence may rise. He made no such claim and that's why Sisk can't quote anywhere in the article making that claim. Barack would be an idiot if he claimed yesterday that violence might rise in Iraq. He'd be an idiot because violence has been rising in Iraq and that's been obvious throughout the last seven days for even casual observers (closer ones noted it some time ago). Again, I'd love it if Barack said it, I'd be making fun of him here for saying it. But he said no such thing.

In addition, Richard Sisk (New York Daily News) creates a quote for Barack. From yesterday's snapshot, here's Barack's statement in full (responding to a question from NPR's Don Gonyea):

On Iraq, obviously any time there's a bombing in Iraq we are concerned. Any time there's loss of innocent life or the loss of military personnel, we grieve for their families and it makes us pay attention. I will tell you if you look at the overall trend, despite some of these high-profile bombings, Iraq's security situation has continued to dramatically improve. And when I speak to General [Ray] Odierno and Chris Hill, our ambassador in Iraq, they continue to be overall very positive about the trend lines in Iraq. I think there's still some work to do. I think the Maliki government is not only going to have to continue to strengthen its security forces, but it's also going to have to engage in the kind of political give and take leading up the national elections that we've been talking about for quite some time. And I haven't seen as much political progress in Iraq, negotiations between the Sunni, the Shia, and the Kurds, as I would like to see.
So there are always going to be -- let me not say "always" -- there will continue to be incidents of violence inside of Iraq for some time. They are at a much, much lower level than they were in the past. I think the biggest challenge right now is going to be less those attacks by remnants of al Qaeda in Iraq or other insurgent groups, and the bigger challenge is going to be, can the Shia, the Sunni, and the Kurds resolve some of these major political issues having to do with federalism, having to do with boundaries, having to do with how oil revenues are shared. If those issues get resolved, then I think you will see a further normalization of the security atmosphere inside of Iraq.


Someone needs to the New York Daily News that when you grab a statement in mid-sentence, you don't capitalize the first letter of the first word. You note it as, ". . . . [begin statement and with lower letter for first letter in first word quoted]."

Barack says, "So there are always going to be -- let me not say "always" -- there will continue to be incidents of violence inside of Iraq for some time. They are at a much, much lower level than they were in the past." That's what you print. You don't print this:

"There will continue to be incidents of violence inside of Iraq for some time," Obama said, but "they are at a much, much lower level than they were in the past."

Is English grammar too damn difficult for the New York Daily News? You are not allowed to take half a sentence and present it as a full sentence. It is not fair to the speaker and it breaks the rules of English grammar. If a blog did that, we wouldn't say a word. When news outlets can't get it straight, it deserves to be called out. Three times in the New York Times this week they have had two verbs side by side. Such as, "The person declared stated . . ." And we didn't call it out. (Although NYT reporters have e-mailed Third to point out when Ava and I have done that in our TV pieces.) The reason being that it was clear they tossed out two words intending to come back and choose one. That's really something an editor should catch. It's a mistake. And it happened three times. And I could've gone to town on it but there was no point. However, when you doctor a quote, it is worth calling out. You cannot take half a sentence and present as a full one in a quote. That's dishonest, lying and a violating of grammar rules and journalism guidelines. One's a mistake, the other's a dishonest violation of rules, guidelines and, yes, ethics.


The following community sites updated since yesterday morning:


Cedric's Big Mix
No change
52 minutes ago

The Daily Jot
THIS JUST IN! IT'S THE 3RD BUSH TERM!
52 minutes ago

Thomas Friedman is a Great Man
Gay and Lesbian Pride Month
17 hours ago

Mikey Likes It!
Torture
17 hours ago

Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude
appreciation
17 hours ago

SICKOFITRADLZ
Stonewall and Beyond
17 hours ago

Trina's Kitchen
3 Bean Salad in the Kitchen
17 hours ago

Ruth's Report
Blogging
17 hours ago

Oh Boy It Never Ends
Pillow Talk
17 hours ago

Like Maria Said Paz
What's around the corner
17 hours ago

Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)
Bob Somerby, etc.
17 hours ago

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


the new york times

sam dagher
mcclatchy newspapers



ned parker





thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends

Friday, June 26, 2009

Iraq snapshot

Friday, June 26, 2009.  Chaos and violence continue, Iraqi oil garners attention, the pull-out becomes a ring around the roses, the Defense Department announces a death, Barack talks Iraq (briefly), and more.
 
Violence continues this morning in Iraq. Alissa J. Rubin and Campbell Robertson (New York Times) explain a Baghdad motorcycle suicide bombing which has claimed multiple lives. Nizar Latif (The National) reports the bomb was "packed with nails and ball-bearings, designed to make the blast even more deadly".  CNN counts the dead to be 15 with another forty-six injured. Abdul Rahman Dhaher, Missy Ryan, Michael Christie, Tim Cocks, Sophie Hares and Bill Trott (Reuters) add, "Shredded shoes and bits of bloody clothing were scattered around the twisted frames of motorbikes. The blast site was swiftly sealed off by Iraqi soldiers and police."

The motorcyle bombing was the second in Baghdad this week. The first was Wednesday's which resulted in at least 78 deaths. That wasn't a suicide bombing, however, the bomber was said to have fled the motorcyle (used to pull explosives hidden beneath produce) before it exploded. Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports the third took place Friday night in Baghdad and resulted in the death of 1 man and left three more injured. In other violence . . .

Bombings?
 
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and wounded two more.  Reuters notes Thursday included a Mosul car bombing which claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldiers, a Baghdad overnight mortar attack which left four people injured and a Baghdad roaside bombing which injured two people.
 
Shootings?
 
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Iraqi security forces in Mosul shot dead a suspected bomber. Reuters drops back to the Thursday to note: "Gunmen wearing military uniforms attacked a convoy carrying a senior criminal judge in Mosul on Thursday, wounding one of his bodyguards, police said. The judge was not hurt." 
 
Today the Defense Department announced a death (one MNF never reported): "Spc Casey L. Hills, 23 of Salem, Illinois died June 24 in Iraq of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over.  He was assiagned to the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment, Pago Pago, American Samoa.  The circumstnaces surrounding the incident are under investigation."   The announcement brought the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4315.
 
Turning to the US, yesterday's Free Speech Radio News featured a report on the latest Winter Soldier by Iraq Veterans Against the War. Click here for the segment.

Manuel Rueda: At home Iraq Veterans Against the War, a grassroots organization of vets opposed to US wars, continues to organize Winter Soldier hearings across the country. It´s a venue where veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan can tell stories from their war days, in a venue where veterans can tell stories from their war days in an environment that's safe and supportive. Leo Paz reports from Los Angeles. 


Leo Paz: Ryan Endicott is a former Marine Corporal who did multiple tours in Iraq and returned to the US in 2006. He talked about what it's like for US marines to enforce martial law in a foreign country.  

Ryan Endicott: Young boys 18 to 22 are having martial law over a group of people. It's complete oppression and it actually borders on the line of terrorism. I mean you strap dead bodies to your Humvee and drive around a city with it, that's terrorism. That's scaring a group of people into your beliefs -- into your belief  system and structure and that's exactly what we're doing, we're terrorizing them.

Leo Paz: Corporal Endicott who was in Ar Ramadi Iraq says these were not isolated incidents but daily occurrences.            

Ryan Endicott: Every single day, every time you kick in a door and drag a man out of his bed in the middle of the night, that's terrorism. That's not -- we're not saving people that's not liberation. You don't liberate people by -- by kicking in their doors in and arresting people by mass numbers by shooting them that's not liberation, that's occupation.       

Leo Paz: Some of the soldiers recalled the harsh treatment of Iraqi civilians stopped at the numerous checkpoints installed by the US throughout the country. Former Marine Corporal Christopher Gallagher compared the checkpoints in Haditha and Falluja to herding cattle.         

Christopher Gallagher: If any Iraqis voiced their opinion for the way they were being treated the Iraqi police -- we had a checkpoint -- would handle the situation by harassing and assaulting them.       

Leo Paz: According to Gallagher when the US military went door to door in the middle of the night, raiding homes to eliminate any resistance to the occupation, Iraqis held massive protests. Gallagher described the typical US response to this protest.                     

Christopher Gallagher: In 2004 the Iraqis would hold protests in the town of Haditha against the occupation typical response for this was to have fighter jets fly over the crowd and scare them away.          

Leo Paz: Corporal Endicott questioned the sanitized version of war portrayed in mainstream American media.             

Ryan Endicott: What should be on the media is the thousands of doors that are kicked in every day and the thousands of people that are terrorized by the US soldiers that are pumped up on adrenaline and just looking to kill people. I mean there's plenty of people that joined the military just to kill people.             

Leo Paz: Endicott is one of many vets who denounced the indiscriminate shooting of civilians by US military. Devon Read a former Marine infantry Sgt who took part in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 saw comrades anxious to fire at whatever came in their path. He told people at winter soldier about driving through Nazaria, speeding on the way to Baghdad, on the back of a Humvee and Marines in his unit shooting randomly at people in houses.            

Devon Read: You know, none of the grunts that wanted to shoot people really cared about that. If it was an opportunity to shoot someone, they'd be shooting. So there's two of us on my side of the vehicle and three guys on the other side of the vehicle and we're facing outboard and suddenly the guys on the other side of the vehicle start shooting and I'm curious what the heck they're shooting at but I can't really look because I'm paying attention to my side and the other guy that's with me decides to switch sides, switches over to the other side and starts shooting also. And I finally take a moment to look and I'm looking and they're all just shooting wildly.              

Leo Paz: Sgt. Reed was appalled by the random gunfire and wondered how many civilians had been shot by US troops that day.                

Devon Read: There's, you know, people in windows way off in the distance, who really knows? Plenty of civilians with their -- poking their heads out of the window but its just someone to shoot at and there's shooting going on so no one's going to ask any questions if they start pulling the trigger too. So everyone starts shooting randomly and I talk to everyone after and none of them had any idea what they were shooting at or why.                 

Leo Paz: Many Vietnam war vets showed up to support the IVAW and the Iraq veterans in denouncing war and violence. Ed Garza an army gunner with the 173rd airborne Brigade still has nightmares forty years after the war.            

Ed Garza: I remember the dead bodies and I remember seeing them and I remember we used to kill the Vietnamese and we'd put our patch on them To remind the other Vietnamese in the area that uh that we were there, the 173rd airborne. So those are some of the things I remember.                     

Leo Paz: According to a study conducted by Iraqi doctors, and published in a British medical journal, Iraqi dead are in the hundreds of thousands since the US invasion in 2003, Afghan civilians are estimated at more than 10,000 dead. Now into the 8th year of the war, more than 5,000 soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan according to the US military. Leo Paz, FSRN.           
 
Staying with resistance to illegal wars, Australia's The Guardian (The Worker's Weekly) carries an interview  by Elsa Rassbach with war resister Andre Shepherd who is appealing for asylum in Germany after having served one tour of Iraq already.
 
Elsa Rassbach: Since the "war on terror" began, there have been many US soldiers who have spoken out and many who have refused to serve.  But you are the first so far to apply for asylum in Germany.  What are the grounds on which your application is based?
 
Andre Shepherd: Well, it's very simple: In the war of aggression against the Iraqi people, the United States violated not only domestic law, but international law as well.  The US government has deceived not only the American public, but also the international community, the Iraqi community, as well as the military community.  And the atrocities that have been committed there these past six years are great breaches of the Geneva Conventions.  My applying for asylum is based on the grounds that international law has been broken and that I do not want to be forced to fight in an illegal war. 
 
Elsa Rassbach: In your asylum application, you mention the Principles of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, which were incorporated in the UN Charter.  In Nuremberg, the chief US prosecutor, Robert H Jackson, stated: "To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."  In opening the trial on behalf of the United States, he stated that "while this law is first applied against German aggressors, this law includes and if it is to serve a useful purpose it must condemn aggression by any other nations, including those which sit here now in judgment."  What does Nuremberg mean to you?
 
Andre Shepherd: The Nuremberg statutes are the foundation of many US soldiers' refusal of the Iraq war and to some extent of the Afghanistan war.  The United States with its allies after World War II crafted these laws stating that even though you've gotten orders to commit crimes against humanity, you don't have to follow them, because every person has their own conscience.  That was more than 60 years ago.  Today the US government seems to be under the impression that those rules do not apply to it.  In invading Iraq, they did not wait for a UN mandate, they didn't let the inspectors do their job, and they made up stories about who's a real threat.  This is totally violated everything stated in the Nuremberg statutes.   The US Constitution states that the US is bound to our international treaties, for example with the UN.  When we ignore the UN, we are violating the US Constitution, which every US soldier is sworn to uphold.  And the US must also respect our own very strict laws against war crimes and torture.  Since the Obama administration refuses to investigate and prosecute the previous administration, it's clear to me that the Obama administration is an accomplice to the previous administration's crimes.  They're setting a very dangerous precedent for the future of the world, something I don't want to see.  The German people are well aware of the history; it is here that the Nuremberg tenets were first set down.  Now we have to find a way to restore those tenets, to actually respect the Nuremberg tenets as well as the Geneva Conventions.  Germany needs to tell the US, "Look, you guys helped create these laws, and now you guys should abide by your own rules."
 
On Iraq, the second hour of  NPR's The Diane Rehm Show featured Michael Hersh of Newsweek, Elise Labot of CNN and Warren Strobel of McClatchy Newspapers and Iraq was addressed early on.
 
 
Diane Rehm:  Michael Hirsh, there have been bomb attacks all across the country in Iraq this week.  What's going on?
 
Michael Hirsh: Well you have what remains of the insurgency trying to forment sectarian violence and war to get them back to -- very close to the civil war in Iraq they were at in 2006 as the US prepares for this dramatic withdrawal from Iraqi cities which is really effectively the end of George W. Bush's surge.  The surge was all about putting American troops on the front-line in the cities.  It worked along with other aspects of change policy.  So this is a -- this is a very, very critical moment, perhaps the most critical moment since the beginning of the insurgency in Iraq War. 
 
Diane Rehm:  But why this week is it an attempt to get the US to change it's mind? is it a protest, what is it, Warren?
 
Warren Strobel: I think it's an attempt to portray the US withdrawal as a retreat by the insurgents.  We saw similar stuff happen in Gaza a few years ago when the Israelis withdrew and Hamas was trying to do this, so that's -- that's part of it.  I totally agree with Michael. I think this at least the most critical moment in Iraq since the surge began -- if not since the insurgency began.  I mean this is a really, really critical point and uh it's -- we're going to see whether the Iraqi security forces all the money and training we've thrown into them can handle this.
 
Diane Rehm: That's a huge question, Elise.
 
Elise Labott: And it's not just the American troops that are leaving.  They're taking with them this whole infrastructure of support and logistics and intelligence that the Iraqis have come to rely on.  I mean you have intelligence satellites, cameras, bomb-sniffing dogs, medical evacuations.  All of these things that the Iraqis have kind of come to rely on that they're not going to have anymore.  And I think on Warren and Michael's point, it's not just about trying to portray it as a retreat, I think it's also trying to show, um, that the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki is not suit -- able to handle this.  And I think what we need to see right now is whether you're going to start to see the development of militias that we saw in 2005 when there was a lack of confidence in the government to be able to protect the people.
 
Michael Hirsh: There will continue to be a quiet presence of the US special forces and intelligence
 
Diane Rehm: Yes --
 
Michael Hirsh: In addition --
 
Diane Rehm: -- in what numbers?
 
Michael Hirsh: We don't know.  As well as uh obviously surveillance from the skies  And let's not forget either that uh, you know, Maliki has an air force, the US air force which is actually both his artillery and his air force and proved to be very effective when he first began cracking down on the militias as he did in Basra.  So it's not a total withdrawal nor will it be, I believe,  even when  we supposedly fully pull out at the end of 2011.  But it is a real, real test for Maliki's leadership and, as Warren said, the training of the Iraqi forces. 
 
Diane Rehm: So what is the mood of the Iraqi people as the US prepares to withdraw, Elise?
 
Elise Labott: Well I think they're kind of ambivalent about it.  On one hand they're ready to see the Americans go.  I mean this is the last true symbolism of their sovereignty but at the same time, the reports that we hear from Iraq is that a lot of Iraqis aren't really looking for the United States to leave, they're worried as to whether the government can handle this and I think it is, it's going to be looking to the government to pick up the slack. They're not sure if Nouri al-Maliki is able to do it.
 
Warren Strobel: Well I think they wanted us to leave [laughing] until we actually started to leave.  And now some at least Some people are having second thoughts.
 
Elise Labott: You don't know what you've got till it's gone.
 
Warren Strobel: Exactly.  And there was this guy quoted in the paper from Sadr City, a huge Shi'ite neighborhood in Baghdad, expressing great concern about the pull-out of a specific, I guess it was a US security station maybe it was a joint-security station there, about what would happen next.  I mean I agree with Michael that we're still going to have a lot of US assets there but the American ability to influence the situation has been steadily declining and it's going to decline a lot more in the coming months.
 
Elise Labott: I think you also started to see the US and the Iraqis working to implement of the US withdrawing from the cities but maybe trying to fudge the lines of what the city constitutes so that some forces could stay but at the same time technically they're outside of the cities.  And the US acknowledges that it's very difficult because it's time for the Iraqis to stand up on their own.  The longer the Americans are there, the Iraqis are going to become dependent on them  they need to be seen as leaving for the Iraqis to step up.
 
Diane Rehm: What about rebuilding those cities? To what extent might that begin to take place?  And do the Iraqis themselves have to go about doing that?  Where do they get money, Michael?
 
Michael Hirsh: Well I mean obviously the oil, their oil industry is back on line to some degree.  Accompanying this development of US withdrawal you finally have serious interest by US oil companies and wri-- agree to contracts that they have been unwilling to do up until now because of the violence. So they'll be getting additional revenues from that but this is -- this is also a very good test for Maliki.  One is security, the other is rebuilding.  You still have long periods of blackouts in Baghdad.  You know, six years or more into this, you have very, very poor infrastructure and a lot of unhappiness among the Iraqis.
 
Diane Rehm: Michael Hersh of Newsweek, Elise Labot of CNN, Warren Strobel of McClatchy.  
 
 
As for the pull-out from Iraqi cities, Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) reveals, that instead of being in the cities, US forces will "encircle them," "put in place in the belts around those cities and in areas that are potential flashpoints of Kurdish-Arab tension. . . . The plan keeps US advisers within the cities, and in Mosul redeploys battalions that had been within the city to the surrounding areas." Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) reports that while "[t]housands of U.S. combat troops will remain at a handful of bases in Baghdad and on the outskirts of other restive cities, such as Mosul and Kirkuk, in nothern Iraq, past the June 30 deadline" and that this has US military officials worried that US service members as well as Iraqis will be put at risk in the new holding pattern Barack's created.  Stop the holding pattern, just bring the troops home.
 
 
At the White House today, President Barack Obama met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and he spoke about Iraq when NPR's Don Gonyea asked about Iraq's "upsurge in violence; a lot of bombings, a lot of deaths, does that give you any second thoughts on the coming deadline to pull the combat troops from the cities?"
 
 
Barack Obama: On Iraq, obviously any time there's a bombing in Iraq we are concerned.  Any time there's loss of innocent life or the loss of military personnel, we grieve for their families and it makes us pay attention.  I will tell you if you look at the overall trend, despite some of these high-profile bombings, Iraq's security situation has continued to dramatically improve.  And when I speak to General [Ray] Odierno and Chris Hill, our ambassador in Iraq, they continue to be overall very positive about the trend lines in Iraq.  I think there's still some work to do.  I think the Maliki government is not only going to have to continue to strengthen its security forces, but it's also going to have to engage in the kind of political give and take leading up the national elections that we've been talking about for quite some time.  And I haven't seen as much political progress in Iraq, negotiations between the Sunni, the Shia, and the Kurds, as I would like to see.
So there are always going to be -- let me not say "always" -- there will continue to be incidents of violence inside of Iraq for some time.  They are at a much, much lower level than they were in the past.  I think the biggest challenge right now is going to be less those attacks by remnants of al Qaeda in Iraq or other insurgent groups, and the bigger challenge is going to be, can the Shia, the Sunni, and the Kurds resolve some of these major political issues having to do with federalism, having to do with boundaries, having to do with how oil revenues are shared.  If those issues get resolved, then I think you will see a further normalization of the security atmosphere inside of Iraq.
 
Later at the White House, spokesmodel Robert Gibbs was asked to clarify Barack's statement ("express some of the things the president is hoping for and what is he intending to do about that?") and he responded, "Well -- I mean -- Obviously, he's met continually with Ambassador Hill.  Obviously, the stops -- or the meetings -- that we made during the stop in Baghdad on the -- I guess that was in late March, early April -- Obviously, without getting specific, there continues to be progress in terms of political reconciliation in terms of oil and hydrocarbons that, as move throughout a year -- a very important year -- of elections in Iraq, again, proving that it will take the steps necessary to govern its country."  Interesting and telling that Gibbs would go straight to the theft-of-Iraqi-oil law.   
 
Staying with oil, when you're caught serving up US government propaganda at the start of the week, you'd think you'd keep your head low for the rest of the week. Not only do your talking points end up on the US government propaganda outlet Voice of America (and all its spin-offs with "Radio Free . . ." in the title), but you're rah-rah Nouri talking point is slapped down by Anthony Shadid (Washington Post) and public events slap down your 'Western companies aren't going to do oil business in Iraq!'. But apparently you woke up yesterday begging for a beating which is why Timothy Williams offers up "Warily Moving Ahead on Oil Contracts" in this morning's New York Times. In the real world, AP offers a list of the Big Oil countries rushing in to bid on Iraqi oil and we'll note their first eight countries on the list:


UNITED STATES: Chevron, ConocoPhilips, Exxon Mobil, Hess Corp., Marathon International Petroleum Ltd., and Occidental Petroleum Corp.              

United Kingdom: BP Group PLC.             

Japan: Inpex Holdings Inc., Japex and Nippon Oil Corp.                  

Australia: BHP Billiton Ltd. and Woodside Petroleum Ltd.                

China: China's CNOOC Ltd., CNPC International Ltd., Sinochem International Co. Ltd., and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical co. Ltd.              

Italy: Edison International SPA and Eni.                  

Russia: JSC Lukoil and JSC Gazprom Neft.           

France: Total SA.              

Anthony DiPaola (Bloomberg News) explains that Exxon and Shell are foaming at the bit and they are only 8 "of the world's top 10 non-state oil producers" who are rushing to cash in on Iraq oil. Sinan Salaheddin's "Big Oil poised for return to Iraq" (AP) explains the basics. While Timothy Williams played the violins for Big Oil on Monday and begged for a greater theft of Iraqi oil, Ahmed M. Jiyad (UPI) details what the contracts actually allow and concludes, "Considering the above and their possible implications it seems these model related to the first bidding round do not and could not deliver the best interest for the Iraqi people, and probably this explains the growing opposition to them." Reuters explains, "Here are some facts about Iraq's oil industry" in this report which points out: "Iraq's oil has been coveted by foreign powers for decades." Also of interest, Christopher Helman's "Cashing In On Iraqi Oil" (Forbes). Earlier this month,  IVAW's Aaron Hughes reported on his trip to Erbil for the International Labor Conference in Iraq at US Labor Against War at which a resolution was passed "against the draft oil and gas law" :



The conference was set up to bring together the major labor constituencies from across Iraq to form a confederation based on worker rights. At the end of our second day, the eve of the conference, workers from fifteen of Iraq's eighteen provinces began to arrive. There were representatives from Iraq's oil and gas industry, its port union, the electrical generation and distribution industry, construction, public sector, transportation, communications, education, rail roads, service and health care industries, machinists and metal working sector, the petro-chemical industry, civil engineers, writers and journalists, food oil workers, tailors and students.
The historical nature of the conference was clear. This opportunity for the international community and the workers across Iraq to show solidarity was long overdue. After the United States invaded Iraq and set up the provisional government, a new constitution was drafted that included worker rights. However, at the same time, Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, retained Saddam Hussein's labor laws.
[. . .]
Leading by exmaple is the Iraq Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) lead by its president Hassan Juma'a Awad, which exploded in size over the past four years to over 25,000 members.  It is the strongest and most powerful union in Iraq and is also extremely militant in regards to workers rights.  For example, the union has protested, gone on strike, and used direct non-violent tactics to force the British occupation forces to stand down and furthermore drove the US contractor KBR from the oil fields near Basra.
 

In their 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (from February 25, 2009), the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor notes:
"The constitution provides the right to form and join unions and professional associations, subject to regulating law. Labor Law 150 of 1987, enacted by the Saddam government, ...declared virtually all public sector workers to be government 'executives,' and therefore legally ineligible to form or to join unions, a move that, in effect, eliminated unions and the right of association from the public sector. In the private sector, the extant 1987 Trade Union Organization Law ...was also intended, in practice, to remove the right of association from a majority of private sector workers, because most private sector businesses employ fewer than 50 workers. Decree 8750 of 2005, which cancelled unions' leadership boards, froze their assets, and formed an inter-ministerial committee to administer unions' assets and assess their capacity to resume activity, also inhibited union activity. The laws and decree do not prohibit anti-union discrimination by employers or others. In addition to this oppressive legal and regulatory framework, violence and insecurity, high unemployment, and maladapted labor organizational structures inhibited the exercise of labor rights."
Throughout the conference, in moments here and there, over sips of tea, in the hallway between talks, over a meal of lamb and rice, or in the marble floored lobby I had the opportunity to speak with the different labor leaders. Their stories were hopeful and humble. They were filled with courageous acts of resistance against the many odds stacked against them. Their government does not legally recognize unions and organizing in the public sector (seventy percent of the economy) is illegal. Union assets are frozen and confiscated. The US military has raided union leaders' homes and occupied factories and plants. The local militias target union leaders and female workers. Despite these odds, the unions are organizing, growing and winning.
 
Last week, Andy Rowell (Oil Change) noted the Independent's report on the "public fury" in Iraq as "the country is handing over control of its fields to foreign companies." And you can also refer to an article by Gina Chon (Wall St. Journal).  Rowell also notes a cartoon by Peter Brookes (Times of London) about the Iraq inquiry in England and concludes, "Whether the inquiry is in secret or public, one thing is certain an inquiry is unlikely to tell us whether Iraq was ever about oil."  The Great Britain's Socialist Worker observes, "The row over the transparency, or otherwise, of the inquiry into the war on Iraq has exposed the continuing influence of Tony Blair on the Labour Party -- and the weakness of Gordon Brown.  Blair put pressure on Brown to ensure that the inquiry into the war would be held in private."  They conclude that testimony and evidence should be submitted by peace activists and they should "hold protests at MPs' surgeries to demand that the warmongers are brought to justice."
 
Not interested in the oil and despite foreign forces and foreign media leaving the country, Sister Maria Hanna has no intention of leaving.  She explains to Carmen Blanco (Catholic Spirit), "I am committed to staying in Iraq for those who remain: the poor, the vulnerable, the widows and their chilren."  Blanco adds, "Sister Hanna, a member of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena in Mosul, Iraq, visited Washington in June to talk about her work and to give Catholic agencies and organizations an update on current conditions in the country. She has set goals to build schools and hospitals for those remaining in Iraq and to give hope to all Iraqis."
 
TV notes. Coming up on NOW on PBS:

American streets are littered with foreclosed houses, but one daring advocate says these homes shouldn't go to waste. He encourages and facilitates homeless squatting. It's an idea that addresses two issues at once - homelessness and foreclosed homes -- and it's also illegal.
This week, NOW travels to Miami to meet with Max Rameau, an advocate for the homeless. Rameau's organization, Take Back the Land, identifies empty homes that are still livable, and tries to find responsible families willing to take the enormous legal risks of moving in.
Rameau, who considers his mission an act of civil disobedience, says it's immoral to keep homes vacant while there are human beings living on the street. But while these squatters have morality in their hearts, they don't have the law on their side.
With the faltering economy separating so many people from their homes, what's society's responsibility to those short on shelter?

That and other PBS programming noted begin airing on many PBS stations tonight, check local listings. Only on PBS can you get crap like Gwen gas bagging with three men and one woman in 2009 and have that junk be considered 'appropriate' and 'diverse'. On Washington Week, Gloria Borger (US News & World Reports, CNN) is the lone woman. Pete Williams (NBC), David Sanger (NYT) and John Dickerson (Slate, CBS News) are the men. To actually see women address the week's issues, join Bonnie Erbe who sits down with Sam Bennett, Victoria Lipnic, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Tara Setmayer and Genevieve Wood on PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:

  • The Cheaters
    60 Mintes and The Washington Post reveal how online poker players suspecting cheating were forced to successfully ferret out the cheaters themselves. That's because managers of the mostly-unregulated $18 billion Internet gambling industry failed to respond to their complaints. Steve Kroft and The Washington Post's Gilbert Gaul report. | Watch Video

    Mind Reading
    Neuroscience has learned so much about how we think and the brain activity linked to certain thoughts that it is now possible - on a very basic scale - to read a person's mind. Lesley Stahl reports. | Watch Video


      Gorongosa
      American Greg Carr is using his great wealth to try to help some of the poorest people in Africa by attracting more tourists to their neighborhood - the beautiful national park of Gorongosa in Mozambique. Scott Pelley reports. | Watch Video


      60 Minutes, Sunday, June 28, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

         
        On this week's White House plant in the press conference, please check out this video from NewsyThe Hurt Locker  opens in Los Angeles and New York today and opens July 10th in San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, Oahu, Portland, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Minneapolis, Denver, Toronto and DC.  Kenneth Turan gives it a rave review in "The Hurt Locker" (Los Angeles Times):
         
        "The Hurt Locker" has the killer impact of the explosive devices that are the heart of its plot: It simply blows you apart and doesn't bother putting you back together again. Overwhelmingly tense, overflowing with crackling verisimilitude, it's both the film about the war in Iraq that we've been waiting for and the kind of unqualified triumph that's been long expected from director Kathryn Bigelow.
         
         
         

        14 dead in Baghdad bombing this morning

        Violence continues this morning in Iraq. Alissa J. Rubin and Campbell Robertson have already filed "Wave of Bombings Continues in Iraq" online at the New York Times. They open with a Baghdad motorcycle suicide bombing which has claimed at least 9 lives and left twenty-five wounded. This is an update to their article which appears in this morning's paper.

        The motorcyle bombing is the second in Baghdad this week. The other was Wednesday's which resulted in at least 78 deaths. That wasn't a suicide bombing, however, the bomber was said to have fled the motorcyle (used to pull explosives hidden beneath produce) before it exploded. Reuters notes the death toll in the suicide bombing has risen to 13 (actually 14, count the bomber -- and the wounded is at forty-five) and they also note the following violence today: a Baghdad roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left two more injured. They include some overnight and late Thursday violence and we'll note this: "Gunmen wearing military uniforms attacked a convoy carrying a senior criminal judge in Mosul on Thursday, wounding one of his bodyguards, police said. The judge was not hurt."


        When you're caught serving up US government propaganda at the start of the week, you'd think you'd keep your head low for the rest of the week. Not only do your talking points end up on the US government propaganda outlet Voice of America (and all its spin-offs with "Radio Free . . ." in the title), but you're rah-rah Nouri talking point is slapped down by Anthony Shadid (Washington Post) and public events slap down your 'Western companies aren't going to do oil business in Iraq!'. But apparently you woke up yesterday begging for a beating which is why Timothy Williams offers up "Warily Moving Ahead on Oil Contracts" in this morning's New York Times. In the real world, AP offers a list of the Big Oil countries rushing in to bid on Iraqi oil and we'll note their first eight countries on the list:


        UNITED STATES: Chevron, ConocoPhilips, Exxon Mobil, Hess Corp., Marathon International Petroleum Ltd., and Occidental Petroleum Corp.

        United Kingdom: BP Group PLC.

        Japan: Inpex Holdings Inc., Japex and Nippon Oil Corp.

        Australia: BHP Billiton Ltd. and Woodside Petroleum Ltd.

        China: China's CNOOC Ltd., CNPC International Ltd., Sinochem International Co. Ltd., and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical co. Ltd.

        Italy: Edison International SPA and Eni.

        Russia: JSC Lukoil and JSC Gazprom Neft.

        France: Total SA.

        Anthony DiPaola (Bloomberg News) explains that Exxon and Shell are foaming at the bit and they are only 8 "of the world's top 10 non-state oil producers" who are rushing to cash in on Iraq oil. Sinan Salaheddin's "Big Oil poised for return to Iraq" (AP) explains the basics. While Timothy Williams played the violins for Big Oil on Monday and begged for a greater theft of Iraqi oil, Ahmed M. Jiyad (UPI) details what the contracts actually allow and concludes, "Considering the above and their possible implications it seems these model related to the first bidding round do not and could not deliver the best interest for the Iraqi people, and probably this explains the growing opposition to them." Reuters explains, "Here are some facts about Iraq's oil industry" in this report which points out: "Iraq's oil has been coveted by foreign powers for decades." Also of interest, Christopher Helman's "Cashing In On Iraqi Oil" (Forbes). In other words, as Elton John might sing it, "Oh, little Timmy, you were always someone's fool."

        Addressing real issues is Carmen Blanco's "Dominican sister vows to remain in Iraq despite increasing violence" (Catholic Spirit) which opens with:

        Despite growing numbers of Iraqi Christians fleeing their country to escape the violence and persecution, an Iraqi Dominican nun says she will remain in her country.
        "I am committed to staying in Iraq for those who remain: the poor, the vulnerable, the widows and their children," Sister Maria Hanna said in a meeting at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
        Sister Hanna, a member of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena in Mosul, Iraq, visited Washington in June to talk about her work and to give Catholic agencies and organizations an update on current conditions in the country. She has set goals to build schools and hospitals for those remaining in Iraq and to give hope to all Iraqis.
        "Our services are not just for Christians," Sister Hanna said. "Our hospital offers care to Christians and Muslims. And the students in our schools are mostly Muslims."


        TV notes. Coming up on NOW on PBS:

        American streets are littered with foreclosed houses, but one daring advocate says these homes shouldn't go to waste. He encourages and facilitates homeless squatting. It's an idea that addresses two issues at once - homelessness and foreclosed homes -- and it's also illegal.
        This week, NOW travels to Miami to meet with Max Rameau, an advocate for the homeless. Rameau's organization, Take Back the Land, identifies empty homes that are still livable, and tries to find responsible families willing to take the enormous legal risks of moving in.
        Rameau, who considers his mission an act of civil disobedience, says it's immoral to keep homes vacant while there are human beings living on the street. But while these squatters have morality in their hearts, they don't have the law on their side.
        With the faltering economy separating so many people from their homes, what's society's responsibility to those short on shelter?

        That and other PBS programming noted begin airing on many PBS stations tonight, check local listings. Only on PBS can you get crap like Gwen gas bagging with three men and one woman in 2009 and have that junk be considered 'appropriate' and 'diverse'. On Washington Week, Gloria Borger (US News & World Reports, CNN) is the lone woman. Pete Williams (NBC), David Sanger (NYT) and John Dickerson (Slate, CBS News) are the men. To actually see women address the week's issues, join Bonnie Erbe who sits down with Sam Bennett, Victoria Lipnic, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Tara Setmayer and Genevieve Wood on PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:

        • The Cheaters
          60 Mintes and The Washington Post reveal how online poker players suspecting cheating were forced to successfully ferret out the cheaters themselves. That's because managers of the mostly-unregulated $18 billion Internet gambling industry failed to respond to their complaints. Steve Kroft and The Washington Post's Gilbert Gaul report. | Watch Video


          Mind Reading
          Neuroscience has learned so much about how we think and the brain activity linked to certain thoughts that it is now possible - on a very basic scale - to read a person's mind. Lesley Stahl reports. | Watch Video


          Gorongosa
          American Greg Carr is using his great wealth to try to help some of the poorest people in Africa by attracting more tourists to their neighborhood - the beautiful national park of Gorongosa in Mozambique. Scott Pelley reports. | Watch Video


          60 Minutes, Sunday, June 28, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.




        Turning to public radio, NPR's The Diane Rehm Show begins airing at ten a.m. EST today (and streaming online). The first hour is domestic and her panelists are New Republic's Michael Crowley, Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet and Wall St. Journal's Naftali Bendavid. The second hour is international in focus and her panelists are Newsweek's Michael Hirsh, CNN's Elise Labott (who's done outstanding work on Iraqi refugees and is never afraid to press that issue in an official press briefing) and McClatchy's Warren Strobel.

        In the New York Times, Susan Stewart offers an obit on Farrah Fawcett which is probably the closest to getting her career right. I am not recommending anything else and am intentionally not reading another piece. Were I to read it and it be as bad as I suspect it might be, I would rip ____ apart and point out how personally destroyed Farrah was by _____'s slam that attacked her not for her acting but for the way a Jackie Collins character was created. That is one of the few reviews that actually hurt Farrah and is the one Ava and I have repeatedly noted in reviews about how the writer might find the gloves off is someone died. That someone was Farrah and I'm not in the mood for nonsense this morning. Take an actor to task for their own performance. If you have a problem with the plot itself, that's something to take up with the writer -- especially when it's from a book.

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






        60 minutes
        cbs news
        to the contrary
        bonnie erbe
        now on pbs
        npr
        the diane rehm show

        Iraqis and US troops at risk

        Hurt Locker

        "The Hurt Locker" has the killer impact of the explosive devices that are the heart of its plot: It simply blows you apart and doesn't bother putting you back together again. Overwhelmingly tense, overflowing with crackling verisimilitude, it's both the film about the war in Iraq that we've been waiting for and the kind of unqualified triumph that's been long expected from director Kathryn Bigelow.

        That's the opening to Kenneth Turan's rave review of The Hurt Locker which opens in Los Angeles and New York today and opens July 10th in San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, Oahu, Portland, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Minneapolis, Denver, Toronto and DC. Turan's review is entitled "The Hurt Locker" (Los Angeles Times) and, again, it's a rave. If you're able to catch the film today, make a point to, it's amazing. (Disclosure, as noted before I know Kathryn. And that's reason enough to open with a plug for her film.)

        In the New York Times this morning, Steven Lee Myers and Marc Santora's "Premier Casting U.S. Withdrawal as Victory for Iraq" runs on the front page and continues inside the paper and continues the paper's long history of informing you of less than you actually need to know. The only thing worth noting from the article is Ali al-Adeeb's comment, "They will be invisible for the people. They will turn into genies." (he's "a senior leader in Mr. Maliki's Dawa Party").

        If they were genies, they could blink themselves back to the US and that's something that should happen and will most likely only become more clear as time passes. The military has certain roles. Baby sitting isn't one of them. And some roles the military shouldn't play can force them into being targets. Ernesto Londono grasps what the Times can't. From his "U.S. Troops, Civilians to Become Less Protected on July 1" (Washington Post):

        Thousands of U.S. combat troops will remain at a handful of bases in Baghdad and on the outskirts of other restive cities, such as Mosul and Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, past the June 30 deadline. But U.S. troops say their ability to respond quickly to thwart attacks could erode significantly because Iraqi officials will have unprecedented authority over their mobility and missions in urban areas.
        "We won't be providing the same level of security for ourselves and Iraqis," said 2nd Lt. Jason Henke, a military police platoon leader who will remain at one of the few inner-city bases in Baghdad. "With only a small window of time that we are allowed to operate in, it's going to be easier to target U.S. forces when we are outside the wire."

        The entire article is a must-read and will only become more so after July 1st. Make time to read it.

        The New York Times has three articles on Iraq this morning. The strongest of the three is Alissa J. Rubin and Campbell Robertson's "7 Bombs Strike in Iraq as Violence Spreads" and that's really not fair to them because it's not just the strongest, it's actually worth reading, without any contextual comparisons such as 'compared to the other two.' They cover the increase in violence including yesterday's and also provide this update: "Meanwhile, the death toll from a bombing at a crowded market in the Sadr City section of Baghdad on Wednesday night continued to rise. Hospital officials said Thursday that 76 people had been killed and 158 wounded."

        We'll address the third Times article in the next entry. But staying on something worth reading, Jack Dolan and Sahar Issa's "Iraqi's sweet sorrow: Bomb sniffers detect his perfume" (McClatchy Newspapers) documents what it's like to be a perfume distributor in Iraq when perfumes (and colognes) set off the wands Iraqi security uses to detect explosives.

        The following community sites updated last night:




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



        the new york times
        alissa j. rubin




        the washington post





        mcclatchy newspapers
        mike tharp
        sahar issa



        thomas friedman is a great man






        oh boy it never ends

        Thursday, June 25, 2009

        I Hate The War

        Tonight's Free Speech Radio News featured a report on the latest Winter Soldier by Iraq Veterans Against the War. Click here for the segment.

        Manuel Rueda: At home Iraq Veterans Against the War, a grassroots organization of vets opposed to US wars, continues to organize Winter Soldier hearings across the country. It´s a venue where veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan can tell stories from their war days, in a venue where veterans can tell stories from their war days in an environment that's safe and supportive. Leo Paz reports from Los Angeles.


        Leo Paz: Ryan Endicott is a former Marine Corporal who did multiple tours in Iraq and returned to the US in 2006. He talked about what it's like for US marines to enforce martial law in a foreign country.

        Ryan Endicott: Young boys 18 to 22 are having martial law over a group of people. It's complete oppression and it actually borders on the line of terrorism. I mean you strap dead bodies to your Humvee and drive around a city with it, that's terrorism. That's scaring a group of people into your beliefs -- into your belief system and structure and that's exactly what we're doing, we're terrorizing them.

        Leo Paz: Corporal Endicott who was in Ar Ramadi Iraq says these were not isolated incidents but daily occurrences.

        Ryan Endicott: Every single day, every time you kick in a door and drag a man out of his bed in the middle of the night, that's terrorism. That's not -- we're not saving people that's not liberation. You don't liberate people by -- by kicking in their doors in and arresting people by mass numbers by shooting them that's not liberation, that's occupation.

        Leo Paz: Some of the soldiers recalled the harsh treatment of Iraqi civilians stopped at the numerous checkpoints installed by the US throughout the country. Former Marine Corporal Christopher Gallagher compared the checkpoints in Haditha and Falluja to herding cattle.

        Christopher Gallagher: If any Iraqis voiced their opinion for the way they were being treated the Iraqi police -- we had a checkpoint -- would handle the situation by harassing and assaulting them.

        Leo Paz: According to Gallagher when the US military went door to door in the middle of the night, raiding homes to eliminate any resistance to the occupation, Iraqis held massive protests. Gallagher described the typical US response to this protest.

        Christopher Gallagher: In 2004 the Iraqis would hold protests in the town of Haditha against the occupation typical response for this was to have fighter jets fly over the crowd and scare them away.

        Leo Paz: Corporal Endicott questioned the sanitized version of war portrayed in mainstream American media.

        Ryan Endicott: What should be on the media is the thousands of doors that are kicked in every day and the thousands of people that are terrorized by the US soldiers that are pumped up on adrenaline and just looking to kill people. I mean there's plenty of people that joined the military just to kill people.

        Leo Paz: Endicott is one of many vets who denounced the indiscriminate shooting of civilians by US military. Devon Read a former Marine infantry Sgt who took part in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 saw comrades anxious to fire at whatever came in their path. He told people at winter soldier about driving through Nazaria, speeding on the way to Baghdad, on the back of a Humvee and Marines in his unit shooting randomly at people in houses.

        Devon Read: You know, none of the grunts that wanted to shoot people really cared about that. If it was an opportunity to shoot someone, they'd be shooting. So there's two of us on my side of the vehicle and three guys on the other side of the vehicle and we're facing outboard and suddenly the guys on the other side of the vehicle start shooting and I'm curious what the heck they're shooting at but I can't really look because I'm paying attention to my side and the other guy that's with me decides to switch sides, switches over to the other side and starts shooting also. And I finally take a moment to look and I'm looking and they're all just shooting wildly.

        Leo Paz: Sgt. Reed was appalled by the random gunfire and wondered how many civilians had been shot by US troops that day.

        Devon Read: There's, you know, people in windows way off in the distance, who really knows? Plenty of civilians with their -- poking their heads out of the window but its just someone to shoot at and there's shooting going on so no one's going to ask any questions if they start pulling the trigger too. So everyone starts shooting randomly and I talk to everyone after and none of them had any idea what they were shooting at or why.

        Leo Paz: Many Vietnam war vets showed up to support the IVAW and the Iraq veterans in denouncing war and violence. Ed Garza an army gunner with the 173rd airborne Brigade still has nightmares forty years after the war.

        Ed Garza: I remember the dead bodies and I remember seeing them and I remember we used to kill the Vietnamese and we'd put our patch on them To remind the other Vietnamese in the area that uh that we were there, the 173rd airborne. So those are some of the things I remember.

        Leo Paz: According to a study conducted by Iraqi doctors, and published in a British medical journal, Iraqi dead are in the hundreds of thousands since the US invasion in 2003, Afghan civilians are estimated at more than 10,000 dead. Now into the 8th year of the war, more than 5,000 soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan according to the US military. Leo Paz, FSRN.

        Information on an earlier Winter Solider -- also featuring Ryan Endicott, Devon Read and Christopher Gallagher -- can be found here.

        It's over, I'm done writing songs about love
        There's a war going on
        So I'm holding my gun with a strap and a glove
        And I'm writing a song about war
        And it goes
        Na na na na na na na
        I hate the war
        Na na na na na na na
        I hate the war
        Na na na na na na na
        I hate the war
        Oh oh oh oh
        -- "I Hate The War" (written by Greg Goldberg, on The Ballet's Mattachine!)

        Last Thursday, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 4314. Tonight? 4314. The number remained the same. Nine soldiers were injured in two Baghdad roadside bombings.

        Now.

        I knew Farrah Fawcett and she passed away today. She pops up here as a "a friend" many times. Most often with the story about the back of her hair. She never brushed the back of her hair. Her attitude was she couldn't see it. It was a running joke between her and her mother (Pauline Fawcett) for many, many years.

        I'm not expecting to recognize the person I knew in the write ups because it never happens that way. But what's bothering me, what's had me screaming on the phone with friends all night, isn't the observations or memories. It's reporters who don't know her beyond what they saw on a screen and they think they can just write anything. An idiot for the Los Angeles Times wants to inform the world that Farrah got to do Extremities (play and movie) because of the acclaim she received for the TV movie The Burning Bed.

        Really?

        Really?

        Because Farrah did the off Broadway play before, repeating BEFORE, she did The Burning Bed.

        She's wonderful in the Burning Bed and I'm not taking anything away from that amazing performance but another false thread is that the film was her first 'serious' role. The one that caused critics rethink Farrah was the mini-series A Murder in Texas. She was only on the first half (the first night was broadcast on a Sunday). She's the murder in the title. She gets to deliver lines about the toast getting a little stale (when told she's the toast of the town). And she did an amazing job. But if you asked her, she would tell you all she did differently was pull her hair back into a pony tail.

        And in fairness, she's telling the truth. She created a character, no question. But she always created a character and she was a lot more talented as an actress than she was ever given credit for in the 70s.

        Farrah was slammed by the king of all sexist pigs (Tom Shales) at the Washington Post for Charlie's Angels. (Ava and I noted that when we reviewed Charlie's Angels.) He slammed the whole show as he does with all shows starring women and you'd think after decades and decades of doing exactly that, you'd think he'd be called out for his b.s. But it never happens. Never.

        What Tommy and other fools didn't grasp was that Jill wasn't Farrah.

        Farrah could play Jill anytime she wanted but she rarely wanted to after she left Charlie's Angels. She created a character -- all the original cast members did -- and did so with no help from the writers. In fact, the writers shouldn't be quoted in any article on Farrah. The writers didn't even know which character was which and used to brag about how they'd call their wives and ask, "Which one's Jill?" These aren't one-script writers, we're talking about writers who logged twenty and thirty episodes over the course of the show. They didn't care and, guess what, they were men.

        They wrote sexist and demeaning roles for women and Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith elevated those cheesy, rotten scripts into something that had Americans glued to their TV sets.

        There's a lie that still floats around which says "jiggle TV" was why Charlie's Angels was a hit. LIE. There were a lot of "jiggle TV" shows after Charlie's Angels first hit. Barbi Benton starred in one, American Girls was another. Those shows didn't last. They didn't have three strong actresses.

        Jill was based, by Farrah (the writers had no basis for Jill), on the commercials she did. Jill was an extreme example of that. Very eager to please and win you over. That was Jill. First season. Farrah refused to play Jill that way again when forced to return for two seasons of guest spots (seasons three and four). Jill snuck in a little on her own in one episode because it revolved around a child and there was a reason for the character to be reassuring (and strong).

        But Jill was a character. And Farrah created her. And got slammed for playing a character that critics confused with the actress.

        Farrah left Charlie's Angels and the story told in the press isn't the story I heard from her, from Lee Majors (her husband at the time) and from Jay Bernstein (her then-manager). Farrah walked because they weren't honoring something they'd agreed to. She would be home every evening. No all-night shoots. They didn't honor that. They didn't honor and she never signed her contract.

        This was not a walk out for more money (though they all should have done that including David Doyle), this was not a I-want-to-be-first-billed. This was, "You're not honoring my contract and, in fact, I never signed it." Farrah was in the right and if the lawsuit took place today she'd win. ABC was a lot more powerful back then.

        They were powerful enough to destroy her first starring film role: Foul Play. It was supposed to be Farrah and Chevy Chase. ABC threatened lawsuit. Paramount told Farrah, don't worry, we're standing by you. And they were already making Goldie jump through hoops (as Farrah quickly found out). (Goldie jump through hoops? Despite being one of the few women to make the box office top ten in the seventies, Goldie had to be 'seen' because she'd given birth and they wanted to be sure they weren't getting a 'fatty.' I use that word because that was insulting and that's the way it worked back then. Goldie was box office but she still got treated like a piece of meat.)

        Farrah ended up doing Somebody Killed Her Husband instead. It was a nightmare and largely because the print was far too dark and people had a hard enough time following the plot. Farrah and Jeff Bridges did have strong chemistry but that got ignored and the reviews were along the lines of "Somebody Killed Her Career."

        That's important because liars like Mary McNamara at the Los Angeles Times don't seem to grasp any of that. Sunburn was a caper film that wasn't a bomb but wasn't a box office hit. Saturn 3 was considered a modest hit for it's genre (sci-fi) and made a lot more money on home video (it contains partial nudity). And that could have been it, it could have all been over for Farrah. Certainly a number of crowing critics thought so.

        It's amazing to read the nonsense, the fact-free nonsense being published by 'news' outlets and grasp that no one bothers to fact check, no one gives a damn what they publish as long as they publish something.

        Farrah Fawcett found success in Florida. That's not noted. She had to pay bills so I personally didn't believe her when she spoke of quitting acting after her three S-films failed to produce a box office hit. But she apparently was serious. And Burt Reynolds suggested she do a play. So she went to Florida and did Butterflies Are Free. And was amazed at the reception.

        The character was close enough to her own Jill that she could use some of that in the play but she also had a ruthless side and Farrah enjoyed the audience reaction throughout but especially the tension when she's decided to go off with an old boyfriend and the character (also named Jill) isn't likable and she could feel it and she could sense the relief when Jill almost walks out but stops. It recharged her, it convinced her that she could continue acting and should.

        This part of the story's important because the critics were vicious to Farrah, eager to bury her, and only her talent saved her. And that's among the details not being included.

        With Burt, she had her own solid, mass appeal box office hit at the movies, Cannonball Run. That was important for her continued employment; however, Burt convincing her to go onstage is why she continued her career. Butterflies Are Free was a very big deal to her. (And she got strong reviews for it.)

        If she hadn't done Butterflies Are Free, she wouldn't have done Extremities off-Broadway. That did not change things for her on the West Coast with nervous suits convinced that she had no appeal to viewers and didn't Charlie's Angels get cancelled? And The Burning Bed didn't convince them either because it followed the TV movie that actually changed things for her -- the one where she teamed up with Beau Bridges: The Red-Light Sting.

        The Red-Light Sting was more of a caper. It did land her on the cover of TV Guide for an article she hated (the jabs at Ryan by the writer) and that she liked (for being brutally honest about her career). She talked about what it means to only have one card up your sleeve and how you have to be very careful about how you play it. The Red-Light Sting thrilled the network and put her back on the map because it proved Farrah could deliver ratings.

        She was employable for TV. The suits no longer had to worry. And when The Burning Bed aired even most of her doubters were silenced. What followed were some of the strongest roles any actress tackled during that period. Between Two Women is my own personal favorite of all of her tele-films. She made brave choices.

        It's so easy for a little know-nothing writing for the Los Angeles Times to mock Farrah. It's so easy because the stupid idiot doesn't know what the hell she's writing about while pretending to be writing about Farrah's career. Or about Farrah. Mary frets over whether or not Farrah was a feminist.

        Farrah addressed that issue in private and in public and it's a real shame that a writer for the Los Angeles Times, choosing to write about Farrah, can't go through the clip-file. Yes, Farrah was a feminist. And like many women of that time, she was one because of her own experiences. That included being seen as an airhead or not smart (when she was very smart, one of the smartest women working in TV). That included falling for a man and still liking him but realizing you couldn't share a life because the be-all, end-all for you wasn't going to be waiting for him to come home. (I'm not insulting Lee. He loved Farrah and she loved him. But they wanted different things and they didn't realize that until well into their marriage.) Farrah loved Ryan from the minute Lee asked him to keep an eye on her. (That's not to suggest that they did anything then. I'm merely noting it was an instant attraction for Farrah, who'd already known her marriage was ending. Ryan's always stated it was instant attraction for him as well.) And despite the fact that Farrah, Ryan and Lee have spoken of this publicly, the writers have a problem figuring out when and how Farrah and Ryan got together.

        Farrah was an artist and she was a visual artist. Long before the 90s, she was a visual artist. I've been amazed looking at the so-so photographs being run that no one's bothered to reprint her favorite session. She did it for People and they ran it (cover story) right before Murder In Texas. It was a night shoot and she loved what was done with the space. It wasn't about "I look good!" She always looked good. (And she looks good in the crap photos they've run today although the bulk of them, even with "AP" stamped on them, are nothing but stills from Charlie's Angeles, largely from the "Angels In Chains" episode.)

        Farrah also co-created the Farrah. She didn't sit in a chair and say, "Cut it any way you want!" She had a strong idea of what she wanted and she and Allen Edwards worked it out together. Not Jose. I have no idea why Jose's once again attempting to claim credit. I know why Barbara Walters let him, he frequently does Barbara's hair for her big interviews. (Such as when she interviewed Kate Hepburn who decided if he was going to fuss around Barbara's hair, he should take a look at her own.) What Jose did was the blunt bangs. You can see that on some of the first year episodes of Charlie's Angels. That's not the Farrah.

        No one considered that the Farrah in real time. Jane Fonda, winning the Oscar for Coming Home (her second Best Actress Oscar) wore a wig that she referred to as "the Farrah." That's the hairstyle that Farrah and Allen created.

        Another lie is that Farrah went on Charlie's Angels and then did a poster. The poster was huge long before she ever filmed her first scene as Jill. If we are talking about her red bathing suit poster. Because apparently reporters don't feel they need to explain that Farrah had several multi-million selling posters. She always made fun of LA Farrah and couldn't understand why anyone would spend money on that. (It's the poster where she's on all fours.)

        Back to Ryan and Farrah. I'm not planning on telling any secrets here but to return to the point about feminism. Farrah loved Ryan from the beginning. She turned down the marriage proposals so many times because she feared being stuck in a role, the way her first marriage ended up, the way it ended. She was an independent woman (and Ryan loved that about her) and yes, she was a feminist. And more importantly, she was a strong woman who was supportive and encouraging of other women.

        Farrah loved being happy and she was happiest when others got good news. She was one of the most positive and life affirming people. And she could still go toe-to-toe with the suits, even the ones who tried to destroy her in the seventies. And that same strength would pop up if she found out someone screwed you over. When even you didn't believe in you, she did. We could talk about that, we could talk about her love of (addiction to) saunas, and other things. But the reality is the public Farrah was an artist and, in the all the write ups, that seems to be repeatedly lost. Some men are writing from their hormones and some women are writing from jealousy. I see damn little actual reporting taking place.



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