Saturday, August 29, 2009

22 reported dead in Iraq, 55 wounded

Today, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim was buried in Najaf while violence raged in Iraq. Jomana Karadsheh (CNN) reports an apparent suicide bombing in which the driver of a mini-van took his/her own life as well as the lives of many others at an al-Shirqat checkpoint in Salaheddin Province. Sabah al-Bazee (Reuters) explains, "Police opened fire to stop him but he detonated the load, killing at least nine people and wounding 17." al-Bazee goes on to note a Sinja truck bombing today which claimed 6 lives and left twenty people injured.

Those are today's high-attention acts, they are not the only violence.

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad sticky bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier, a Mosul mortar attack injured four Iraqi soldiers and a Muqdadiyah roadside bombing claimed the lives of 2 police officers while injuring four others. Reuters drops back to last night to note a Baghdad grenade attack in which 1 police officer was killed and seven people were wounded. AFP is calling it "the deadliest day since Ramadan began" -- presumably since it began this year -- and notes a Baghdad motorcycle bombing which claimed 2 lives and left thirteen injured.

Meanwhile the illegal war will cost the US even more dollars. From Ernesto Londono's "Embassy Costs to Rise in Baghdad" (Washington Post):

The cost of running the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is projected to rise in the coming years as the world's largest diplomatic mission weans itself from the support it receives from the U.S. military, the State Department's acting inspector general said in a report this week.
Harold W. Geisel also said an embassy office that oversees infrastructure projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars is chronically understaffed and may be unable to complete its work by May, when its charter ends.
In a separate report, Geisel noted that the State Department has no plans to open consulates in
Iraq, despite the looming closures of provincial embassy offices as the U.S. military withdraws.


We'll close with Sherwood Ross' "Animal Rights" which can also be found at Global Research among other sites:

A new and more humane era may be dawning for animals as recognition spreads that, like human beings, they are sentient creatures who experience joy and feel pain and are entitled to legal protection.

"Animal law is a rapidly expanding field that is becoming an important aspect of our social policy," says animal rights authority Diane Sullivan, who in 2004 founded an animal rights program at the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover(MSL). At present, "Legal textbooks on animal rights are replete with judicial decisions that, in case after case, make all too clear that the law does nothing to genuinely protect animals. It certainly does not recognize their true value and special place in our homes," the law professor says. Recent studies, she says, suggest dogs possess "a sense of fairness" and are on the same mental plane as a two-year-old child.

"Historically, animals have been defined as property and used for profit. They are slaughtered for food, experimented upon, worn as fashion, and serve as entertainment props," says Sullivan. "Today in the United States we slaughter approximately 9 billion animals for food every year. People eat meat and I accept that but the conditions we raise the animals in are something that I care about."

Sullivan says animal cruelty is more widespread than most people recognize. People seeking relief on behalf of a harmed animal have little chance of real success. The lack of legal “standing” can also be a significant impediment to protect animals. "Lawsuits could be more easily advanced on behalf of animals if the law in all states was changed to provide automatic standing to assert claims on behalf of animals."

In 2004, Massachusetts made animal cruelty a felony punishable by five years in prison and other states---including Alaska, Florida, and Kentucky---now award monetary judgments for emotional distress when an animal is harmed or killed. And Rhode Island now considers pet owners as "guardians," a distinction that reflects animals' greater value. "Some states are changing the law to reflect that animals are members of our family," Sullivan says.

A handful of states have enacted statutes providing recovery for damages for intentional or harmful harm to animals, Sullivan notes. Tennessee was the first state to do so and today has a cap of $5,000 on damages. In Ohio, one who maliciously or willfully without the owners' consent injures another's animal can be ordered to pay restitution of up to $25,000 per act. California also permits recovery as do Alaska, Florida and Kentucky.

Referring to the case of a killed cat, Sullivan said, "We need to have police chiefs and prosecutors take such cases seriously and prosecute to the full extent of the law. Unfortunately, many have the mindset that an animal is property with no rights and little protection under the law."

Sullivan said the low value placed on the life of animals was demonstrated during Hurricane Katrina when "we saw images of animals that were abandoned, drowned, starved and left for dead and left behind by rescuers, perhaps 50,000 in all. People being rescued were commanded to abandon their pets and forcibly separated from them."

Legislation was considered mandating pets be included in evacuations, Sullivan said. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank(D-Mass.) sponsored the bill that requires provisions for pets and service animals in disaster plans in order for those plans to qualify a state or municipality for federal emergency funding.

Besides teaching her animal rights courses, Sullivan in 2006 took up a collection to buy a new roof for the Beaks and Noses animal shelter of Billerica, Mass., a non-profit rescue home and also created the Shadow Fund to provide funds to help with medical surgery for beloved pets. The fund is named for its first recipient, a yellow Lab whose ex-Marine owner could not afford to pay $4,000.

With another professor, Holly Vietzke, Sullivan edited a book of 49 animal rescue stories contributed by MSL students titled "Please, Can We Keep The Donkey?"(Lantern Books). Sullivan said she was surprised by the number and quality of essays about animals that her students turned in and decided they had a heart-warming book. The 175-page work has just received a Clarion Award for the best non-fiction book of the year. Proceeds from the book's sales go to the Shadow Fund.

The book can be purchased by sending $23 to The Shadow Fund at the Massachusetts School of Law, 500 Federal St., Andover, Mass. 01810; or through the MSL Internet Web site at
http://www.mslaw.edu/; or by calling the law school directly at (978)-681-0800.

Summing up, Sullivan says, "Our unfortunate history shows that slaves, women and children were previously treated as property. The law was changed to stop this deplorable treatment. It is time to reclassify the legal status of companion animals."



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












Two of the fallen are identified

Yesterday, the US military announced two deaths in eastern Baghdad. The Defense Dept identified the two fallen:

Sgt. Earl D. Werner, 38, of Mondovi, Wis.; and

Pvt. Taylor D. Marks, 19, of Monmouth, Ore.


Oregon's KCBY provides some details on the two:

Pvt. Taylor Marks was born in Salem, Ore. on Nov. 9, 1989. He was raised in Monmouth, Ore. He was a graduate of Central High School and joined the Oregon Army National Guard attending a training with a friend. His thoughts were to join the military and continue his education. He was contracted to go to the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio in California, but made the decision to defer his schooling in order to deploy with the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
He is survived by his mother Michelle and stepfather Don; sister Courtney age 15; brother Alex age 19 of Monmouth, Ore, and father Morey Marks of Salem, Ore.


[. . .]

Werner was killed in the incident in Rashid, Iraq on Aug. 28, 2009 when his convoy was struck by an explosive formed penetrator and was serving with the 41st Special Troops Battalion (STB), 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
Werner was on his third deployment with the Oregon National Guard. His first deployment was as part of the 2nd Battalion, 162 Infantry in 2004. Later he deployed with the 234th Engineer Company in 2007 before transferring to the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team for deployment.
During his time with the Oregon National Guard, Werner was awarded the Bronze Star, two Army Commendation Medals and the Combat Action Badge.
He is survived by his wife Casey and son Charles, 19, of the Amboy, Wash. area.


New topic. I like Susan Burke. She's a great attorney. But this isn't a shining moment for the resume:

Judge T.S. Ellis III expressed deep skepticism about the claims. "Are you accusing Mr. Prince of saying 'I want our boys to go out and shoot innocent civilians?' '' he asked the attorneys."These are certainly allegations of not engaging in very nice conduct, but where are the elements that meet the elements of murder? I don't have any doubt that you can infer malice. What you can't infer, as far as I can tell, is intent to kill these people.''

That's from Jerry Markon's "Blackwater Founder Accused in Court of Intent to Kill" (Washington Post). Blackwater is not a 'nice' company and Erik Prince has plenty of problems. Susan Burke may indeed have proof of the assertions she made in court Friday. Regardless, she needs to move slowly and she needs to grasp that if it blows up, she's the one going down. When the Christic Institute pursued justice in a manner that may have put the cart before the horse and the case imploded, it wasn't, "Poor Daniel Sheehan and Sara Nelson." No, they were exiled. Little s**ts like Chip Berlet lined their own cages by ripping apart the Institute. By the same token, if this implodes, you'll see similar little Chippies step forward to save their own asses.

I like Susan Burke, she's a smart woman. She tends to have everything nailed down before she ever steps in the court room. And hopefully she's done that this time and will be able to back up every claim. However, it's equally true that you can be egged on (and Christic was) by people who swear they'll be there with you no matter what but they're lying.

The same way the group of people who pretended to care about ending the Iraq War and about Cindy Sheehan's protesting all bailed to get on board with Barry O.

Again, I like Susan. If her case goes well, we'll probably start noting it in the snapshot. If it doesn't, this will probably be all I say on it until people start grabbing the knives to carve her up in order to save their own asses.

On Cindy, Kevin Hechtkopf (CBS News) states, "But Sheehan no longer has the following she once had, when thousands joined her in Crawford and across the country. As CBS News White House producer Robert Hendin reports, there were was only a handful of people in her audience yesterday, in addition to the four speakers. There were more present from the media than there were protestors." Gary Harmon (The Daily Sentinel) observes:

Its almost as though they never really cared.
The logical explanation for the sudden silence would be that the United States, under new presidential leadership, was retreating back to its own borders.
Oh, but no.
President Obama has kept Defense Secretary Robert Gates in charge at the Pentagon.
Gen. David Petraeus no longer is tagged with the “betray-us” tag suggesting he was somehow a traitor.
And the commander in chief, Obama, has suddenly begun confusing himself with Lyndon Johnson, ordering the escalation of the war by pouring in 17,000 troops and bringing the United States’ commitment to 68,000 by the end of the year.
Americans in Afghanistan under Obama’s watch have more weapons at hand than did Americans in Vietnam did under Johnson’s.
Predator drones, laser-guided missiles and bombs, etc., all augur in favor of the modern conflict, but they did so as well under the Bush administration.
Polls even tilt against involvement in Afghanistan, with 50 percent of respondents saying the effort no longer is worth the while.
Yet the quagmire crowd no longer can be bothered even to whine about the Obama administration’s stunning failure to draw up an exit strategy.
If you’re getting the sense that the so-called peace protests had nothing to do with peace and were motivated entirely by partisan politics, well, you’re likely on the right path.


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Okay, now I'm about to note something but this isn't the language that I use. Drive-bys, don't e-mail me saying, "You said ___." No, I didn't. This was sent to the public e-mail account and we will note it. It's not language I use. (Neither is it 'dirty' language.) It's a passionate statement on an issue that already results in great passions.

MORE ON THE DISASTER SOME PALESTINIAN INTELLECTUALS BRING ON THE PALESTINIAN CAUSE‏

My 18th August appeal to supporters of the Palestinian cause, under the title, The Deafening Silence of The Palestinian Cause Supporters, opens as follows :

"I am overwhelmed by the silence which followed my OPEN LETTER TO ALL SUPPORTERS OF THE PALESTINIAN CAUSE‏‏, emailed to hundreds of them on the 16th of August (Melbourne time). Of particular surprise is the silence of Palestine supporters in Australia, some half a dozen websites of whom have been on my mailing list. Is it not clear that allowing the zionist Gestapo to terrorise me, my son, and my daughter is green light for it and for its ASIO partners to act similarly against all genuine supporters of the Palestinian cause in Australia, and perhaps even worldwide ?

Is it not clear that myself, my daughter and my son have been punished by the zionist Gestapo because of my strong support for the Palestinian cause - as anti-zionist Israeli of Jewish background - during the past 40 years ? Is it not clear that ASIO collaboration with this zionist terrorism against Australian citizens - thus violating the rule of law in Australia - will extend to zionist terrorism against all supporters of Palestine in Australia, as a result of their silence ? "

Those that are responsible for that silence conspiracy have thought, perhaps, of throwing only me to the zionist mad dogs, but they are in effect throwing with me, my daughter and my son,also the Palestinian cause to the zionist mad dogs. This is because added to the green light they signal to the zionist Gestapo to continue our torture,they also open wide the gate for the zionist Trojan horse to be brought into the Palestinian citadel. That Trojan horse has got its belly full of zionist impostors - Noam Chomsky and his cabal, Uri Avnery and his cabal - armed with lies and pretences and ready to ruin the Palestinian citadel from within.

I suspect that at the bottom of this disastrous attitude by some influential Palestinian intellectuals is the reverence instilled in themselves for any "academic scholars" like Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Jeff Halper, Ran Hacohen,Neve Gordon and others in Chomsky's zionist cabal; and for zionist "peace activists" in general, like Uri Avnery and and his zionist cabal in the Gush Shalom organisation. Such reverence is wrong ,of course, and has no justification in reality, as we shall see below.

Tertiary education in Western countries like the USA is controlled and financed by big business. As a result, only what is in the interest of big business is allowed to be taught.

Another result is the distortion of science by Big Pharma and by other corporations in the teaching of medicine and other branches of science. However, nowhere are the distortions as obvious as in the so called "humanities" fields, such as economy,history, politics, law,etc. The most rediculous and most conspicuous distortions are the titles "Political Science" ,and "political scientists" bestowed on those that pass the exams. Obviously, politics is contrary to science ! Thus, the politics of the oppressors are always in opposition to the politics of the oppressed, and the politics of the rulers are against the politics of the people ! What has the study of politics to do with science ? Nothing !

Yet, the world rulers popularised the false notion that "eduction" brings power to the people. Here, in Australia, there have been big propaganda campaigns to extoll the virtue of reading of books, while 95% of the books in most public libraries are cultural trash made up of trivia, lies and nonsense. Occupied Palestine has been the victim of similar propaganda which extols uncritically the "virtue" of academic studies in the USA and other Western countries.

Hence the Palestinian reverence for "scholars" like Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and their zionist cabals. Consequently, whenever I have exposed them as zionist impostors, I brought down on me the anger of those influential Palestinian intellectuals who admired them for their "scholarship" and for purporting to support the Palestinian cause.


Use the link for more information. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.













thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends

Friday, August 28, 2009

Iraq snapshot

Friday, August 28, 2009.  Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces more deaths, Human Rights Watch's report on the targeting of Iraq's LGBT community gets some attention, a Shi'ite leader is mourned, from the start of the month until yesterday there have been 471 reported deaths and 1,822 Iraqis reported injured,  Steven Lee Myers is a tiny man but a huge fool, and more.
 
Today the US military announced: "BAGHDAD – Two 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) Soldiers died of wounds suffered following an improvised explosive device in eastern Baghdad Aug. 28 at approximately 2:30 a.m. The Soldiers names are being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin and release by the Department of Defense. The incident is currently under investigation." The deaths bring the total number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4336.
 
 
Before Steven Lee Myers wrote his dumb ass blog post at the New York Times website, I thought we could wait on unpacking the violence this month until, golly, the month ended.  But whores are always lying and Steven's no reporter.  August 1st, McClatchy reported 1 soldier dead in Mosul.  August 2nd, 8 people were reported killed and twenty injured.  August 3rd,  23 were reported dead and sixty-five wounded (these include late reporting of the day before's violence -- these are the deaths reported that day -- also note that we will not include Swine Flu deaths and that US military deaths and contractors will not be noted in this count).  August 4th, 2 dead and nine wounded. August 5th, 9 reported dead and twelve reported injured.  August 6th, 8 dead and thirty-two injured.  August 7th, 59 dead and injured one-hundred and ninety-eight wounded.  August 8th, 1 death was reported and two people injured.  Because there is an UNDERCOUNT every month of the reported dead and because ICCC's count is WAY OFF each month on civilians, we've started monitoring the reported toll at Third.  Third noted August 16th, there were 122 reported deaths in Iraq the previous week and 414 reported wounded ("Last Sunday found the press reporting 6 deaths and 12 people injured. Monday saw 61 deaths reported and 252 injuries. Tuesday saw 11 dead and 57 wounded. Wednesday's numbers were 11 dead and 21 injured. Thursday 25 lives were claimed and 51 people were wounded. Friday there were 2 reported deaths and 6 reported injured. Saturday saw 6 dead and 15 injured.") Third noted August 23rd resulted in 211 reported deaths and 950 wounded. ("Last Sunday saw 13 reported dead and 41 reported injured. Monday saw 24 dead 59 wounded. Tuesday the reported death toll was 5 and 24 were reported injured. Wednesday 102 were reported dead and 572 wounded. By Thursday evening, 22 were reported dead with 67 injured. Thursday night 33 more deaths were reported and 145 wounded. Friday saw 8 deaths reported and 31 people wounded. Saturday saw 4 dead 11.")  This week?  August 23rd 4 dead and eleven injured.  August 24th, 11 dead, twenty-nine wounded. August 25th, 4 dead, nineteen injured. August 26th, 4 dead and ten wounded. August 27th, 4 dead and fifty-one wounded.  Leaving out today, that's 27 dead and 120 wounded this week.  ICCC shows 413 dead.  That's incorrect.  Use the links, there have been 471 reported deaths -- not including today -- in August and 1,822 reported injured.  That's Reuters and McClatchy with one inclusion of Xinhau.  Use the links.  So Steven Lee Myers, you stupid liar, ICCC's count is not "invaluable" -- it's not even correct, you stupid moron. That the New York Times can't do their own count tells how damn little Iraq and Iraqis matter to them.  So Steven Lee shows up whoring again and hoping we're all so stupid we mistake it for reporting.  He not only whores on the civilian count, he whores on the number of US service members killed.
 
"In Iraq," Steven types, "fewer American soliders have died this month -- seven, including two in a roadside bombing early Friday -- than any other month of the war, a figure that . . ."  The month isn't over.  How many damn times do we have to point that out each year?  Hmm.  And how many were reported dead in July in the first days of August?  7.  7 were reported dead.  The same damn number that outlets like the New York Times trumpted at the start of August as "lowest!!!!!" 
 
He can't tell you that. From the August 4th snapshot:
 
 Late yesterday, DoD announced: "Staff Sgt. Johnny R. Polk, 39, of Gulfport, Miss., died July 25 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds suffered when his vehicle was struck by anti-tank grenade on July 23 in Kirkuk, Iraq."  That July 25th death was never reported by M-NF and, again, was only announced late yesterday -- long after the outlets had done their 'end of the month' pieces.  This happens over and over and the press falls for it everytime -- like saps, like suckers. 
 
Yeah, they fell for it at the start of the month and, late August 3rd (after all the outlets had done their month-in-review pieces on July), the US military finally, FINALLY, announced a July death.
 
I'm not in the mood for nonsense.  We are talking numbers, they are not supposed to be fluid, they are supposed to be fixed.  That's why they are numbers and not ranges.  Do you get the difference you damn glorified general studies major or that just beyond your highly limited education?  I'm not in the mood.
 
Steven Lee Myers did an early roll-out on how the military wants August spun: Low deaths for civilians!  Lowest month evah for US military!  Evah!  In fact, the whole thing reads like Maj Gen John Johnson wrote it.  He gave a press briefing yesterday at the Pentagon (he appeared via videolink from Baghdad) and about the only thing of interest there was that he was asked about the 135,000 US troops in Iraq and didn't correct on that number.  We'll come back to his briefing later in the snapshot.
 
Steven Lee Myers' cluelessness reminds me of two friends.  One is a producer, the other is a singer.  The singer wanted an arrangment in B flat.  The singer then insisted that the arrangement was in some other key and the producer replied that the singer wouldn't know a car key from a music key "but let's go over to the piano right now and I will teach you a musical key."  The singer let it go and sang the arrangement as arranged.  I'm reminded of that story when I think of Steven.  Who was right?  The song was recorded as the producer wanted.  The singer hit number one with it and it's also gave the singer the longest number of weeks in the Hot 100 -- more than any  of the singer's other hits.  (Yeah, I'm avoiding gender and trying to keep this very much a blind item.)  Like the singer, Steven Lee Myers doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.  And yet he's doing the early roll out and this is what we'll have to put up with because the press never self-corrects.  (Nor does the press have a good beat that you can dance too.)
 
This was the month the the Project for Excellence in Journalism noted a 92% drop in Iraq coverage took place from the first part of 2007 "to the middle of 2009."  So we get less coverage and, thanks to the likes of Steven Lee Myers, we get worse coverage. 
 
One of the few outlets -- the very few media outlets -- which has not forgotten Iraq is NPR's The Diane Rehm Show.  Diane Rehm tripped last Thursday and while she recovers from her fall, guest hosts are filling in.  USA Today's Susan Page filled in for her today and Iraq was addressed during the second hour (the international hour) with panelists David Ignatius (Washington Post), Barbara Slavin (Washington Times) and Janine Zacharia (Bloomberg News).
 
Susan Page: Lots of developments in Iraq this week, including the death of a Shi'ite leader.  Tell us what's happening there, Barbara.
 
Barbara Slavin: Abdul Aziz al-Hakim headed something which used to be called the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, SCIRI. It changed it's name to the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, taking out "Revolution." But it's a very important organization it was essentially created in Iran by Iran's Revolutionary Guard corps in the 1980s, after the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War. The Hakims returned to Iraq after the US overthrew Saddam.  And Abdul Aziz al-Hakim has had lung cancer for some time and so this is not unexpected.  But it still happens at a very delicate phase where we are anticipating elections in Iraq next year and there is a reorganization going on among the Shi'ite parties.  His party, others affialiated with Moqtada al-Sadr -- a militant leader, with Ahmed Chalabi whom we'll talk about in a little bit have formed an alliance that excludes the prime minister who is a Shi'ite, Nouri al-Maliki.  And they are all manuevering to see who will take power as the US withdraws from Iraq.
 
Susan Page: How important is this situation, David?  And how perilous for US interests?
 
David Ignatius: Well as the US now withdraws its forces in ernest from Iraq -- we've pulled back from the cities and are really not a factor in day-to-day security --  we are seeing an increase in violence and in political chaos in the country.  The death of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim a figurehead for the Shi'ite religious parties, is an example of this but in every direction I look in Iraq, I see similar uncertainty.  Maliki is increasingly cocky about his own role as prime minister and I-I think has decided he can go it alone separating himself from the other Shi'ite parties.  He's got his own complicated dealings with Iran.  You've got the Kurds who are pushing for their own interests ever more stridently.  I think the question that we need to think about is: Going forward in Iraq, is this project of the new Iraqi state that was created in 2003, after the United States invasion, do Iraqis think it's going to continue?  And are they going to buy into it?  And are they going to make the deals that would be part of having some kind of viable country and democracy?  And right now it's really tough to be confident about that.
 
Susan Page: Janine?
 
Janine Zacharia: Just to follow up on what David was saying, I think the August 19th co-ordinated attacks where nearly 100 people were killed and 600 were wounded and US forces who were pulled back on June 30th were sitting on the outskirts and couldn't get in there because the Iraqis had not invited them, I think that this is something the US is going to be looking closely at going forward and we have to see how that's going to effect Obama's promises of doing a complete US pullout by the end of 2011.  Just quickly on al-Hakim, some people have said that he's been, because of his illness, as Barbara said, he hasn't been as important day-to-day in Shi'ite politics right now and one US diplomat I spoke to said they're hoping actually this will clear the way for fresh Shia leadership within that party who can challenge Moqtada al-Sadr who is the more radical concern for them.
 
Susan Page: David.
 
David Ignatius: I've met Abdul Aziz al-Hakim's son Ammar who's the new leader of this party.  We had a long and very interesting breakfast conversation and he's the sort of young man who, you know, when you meet him and talk to him, you think, "Gee, maybe things are really going to work out in this country."  He is surrounded by some of the toughest, meanest politicians  and I think of this nice, young man, this cleric from Najaf, getting eaten alive by the -- by the wolves of Baghdad.
 
Susan Page: You mentioned, Barbara, Chalabi, a familiar name to Americans from the very beginning of the Iraq War.  What happened this week to an aid of his?
 
Barbara Slavin: Yeah, well, the twists and turns involving Ahmed Chalabi are just incredible.  This is the guy, to remind people, who led Iraqi exiles after the Gulf War, who lobbied so hard to overthrow Saddam Hussein, who presented information to the media about alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction that didn't turn out to actually exist in Iraq once the US got there and he also, throughout this time, had maintained good relations with Iran -- which makes sense if you're an Iraqi Shia, since Iran is the neighbor and the biggest Shi'ite country.  And what we have now is more evidence that his connection with the Iranians are closer perhaps than we even thought. The Washington Times has a front page story today about the arrest of a top aide to Chalabi on charges that he was a liason to an Iraqi Shi'ite militant group called the League of the Righteous which, among other things, is believed responsible for the execution-style murder of five US marines in 2007.  And Chalabi, of course, denies it, the aide denise it, but, uh, senior US military officials say that, indeed, Chalabi's links and the links to this group are-are documented and that Chalabi has been playing both sides of the fence.
  
The article Barbara Slavin's referring to was written by Eli Lake who notes, "Mr. Chalabi is a top Iraqi politician best known in the West for helping to persuade the Bush administration to go to war to remove Saddam Hussein from power. In 2004, he sat with first lady Laura Bush during Mr. Bush's State of the Union address to Congress."  Lake quotes anonymice US officials (three). The aide's name is Ali Faisal al-Lami.
 
For those late to the party on who the League of Righteous is, we'll drop back to the June 9th snapshot:
 
This morning the New York Times' Alissa J. Rubin and Michael Gordon offered "U.S. Frees Suspect in Killing of 5 G.I.'s.Martin Chulov (Guardian) covered the same story, Kim Gamel (AP) reported on it, BBC offered "Kidnap hope after Shia's handover" and Deborah Haynes contributed "Hope for British hostages in Iraq after release of Shia militant" (Times of London).  The basics of the story are this. 5 British citizens have been hostages since May 29, 2007. The US military had in their custody Laith al-Khazali. He is a member of Asa'ib al-Haq. He is also accused of murdering five US troops. The US military released him and allegedly did so because his organization was not going to release any of the five British hostages until he was released.  This is a big story and the US military is attempting to state this is just diplomacy, has nothing to do with the British hostages and, besides, they just released him to Iraq.  Sami al-askari told the New York Times, "This is a very sensitive topic because you know the position that the Iraqi government, the U.S. and British governments, and all the governments do not accept the idea of exchanging hostages for prisoners.  So we put it in another format, and we told them that if they want to participate in the political process they cannot do so while they are holding hostages.  And we mentioned to the American side that they cannot join the political process and release their hostages while their leaders are behind bars or imprisoned." In other words, a prisoner was traded for hostages and they attempted to not only make the trade but to lie to people about it.  At the US State Dept, the tired and bored reporters were unable to even broach the subject.  Poor declawed tabbies. Pentagon reporters did press the issue and got the standard line from the department's spokesperson, Bryan Whitman, that the US handed the prisoner to Iraq, the US didn't hand him over to any organization -- terrorist or otherwise.  What Iraq did, Whitman wanted the press to know, was what Iraq did.  A complete lie that really insults the intelligence of the American people. CNN reminds the five US soldiers killed "were: Capt. Brian S. Freeman, 31, of Temecula, California; 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz, 25, of Verdon, Nebraska; Spc. Johnathan B. Chism, 22, of Gonzales, Louisiana; Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Cortland, New York; and Pfc. Johnathon M. Millican, 20, of Trafford, Alabama."  Those are the five from January 2007 that al-Khazali and his brother Qais al-Khazali are supposed to be responsible for the deaths of.  Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Robert H. Reid (AP) states that Jonathan B. Chism's father Danny Chism is outraged over the release and has declared, "They freed them?  The American military did? Somebody needs to answer for it."
 
That's what Barbara Slavin was referring to and she noted that she was only citing one example of the group.  Another involves British citizens.  From the  August 6th snapshot:
 
Jason Swindlehurst, Jason Creswell, Alec Maclachlan, Alan McMenemy and Peter Moore, all British citizens, were kidnapped in Baghdad May 29, 2007. Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell were dead when their bodies were turned over to the British authorities after the two leaders of the group bragging about having done the kidnappings were released from US custody. (The same group, and why the brothers had been imprisoned originally by the US, bragged about their actions in assaulting a US base and killing 5 American soldiers.) The British government considers Alec and Alan to be dead (the families remain hopeful) and it is thought (by the British government) that Peter Moore is alive. The group taking credit for the kidnappings and for the deaths of 5 US soldiers is alternately called the Righteous League or the League of Righteous by the press. The press? They got press this week, see Monday's snapshot, because Nouri met with them to bring them back into the government. As noted in the Tuesday snapshot, the press spin that the group has given up violence is false. Their spokesperson says they will not attack Iraqis but that they will continue to go after US service members.
 
Recapping: the League of Righteous has claimed credit for the deaths of 5 US soldiers and credit for kidnapping 5 British citizens, at least 2 of whom are known to be dead.  In addition, British outlets noted last month that the Iraqi government appeared to be involved in the kidnappings (see the July 31st snapshot if you're late on this story).  Gareth Porter (Asia Times) reported in August that recent developments demonstrate how Nouri al-Maliki, puppet of the occupation and US-installed thug, has long been working with the League of Righteous:
 
The history of the new agreement confirms what was evident from existing information: the League of the Righteous was actually the underground wing of the Mahdi Army all along, and the Sadrist insurgents were secretly working closely with the Maliki regime against the Americans and the British - even as it was at war with armed elements within the regime.         
The contradictory nature of the relationship between Maliki and the Sadrists reflects the tensions between pro-Sadrist elements within the regime - including Maliki's Da'wa Party - and the anti-Sadrist elements led by the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq.  
The relationship between Maliki and the US was also marked by contradictions. Even though he was ostensibly cooperating with the US against the Sadrists in 2007 and 2008, the Maliki regime was also cooperating secretly with the Sadrist forces against the Americans. And Maliki - with the encouragement of Iran -- was working on a strategy for achieving the complete withdrawal of US forces from Iraq through diplomatic means, which he did not reveal to the Americans until summer 2008.
 
That was earlier this month and no one really followed up on what Gareth Porter was reporting.  But that is the League of Righteous.  Nouri has some ties to it and now the Washington Times is stating that three US government officials (who may or may not be telling the truth) are stating that Ahmed Chalabi also has a relationship with them.  On The Diane Rehm Show, Steve Roberts has also been filling in for Diane and Monday's show featured him with a panel discussing Iraq and Afghanistan with three people.  I'll provide a link to it and note that Steve did a strong job filling in but the guests were decidely unimpressive and that's why we didn't note it. 
 
While we're in the US, Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan has been on Martha's Vineyard protesting the continued illegal war and the Afghanistan War and the undeclared war on Pakistan. Mike Seccombe (Vineyard Gazette) reports her events included a press conference where she stated of Barack Obama, US president, "Just because he's better than Bush doesn't sell me, because practically everybody in the world is better than Bush."   George Brennan (Cape Cod Times) adds, "Like she has since her son, Casey, was killed in Iraq in 2004, Sheehan is using the backdrop of a presidential vacation to make her pitch for peace. It's an effective way to get her anti-war protests attention, she said. 'The only change in foreign policy has been a change for the worse,' she said, wearing a pink T-shirt with a peace symbol and the words, 'Peace. Love. Vineyard'."
The White House states that due to a funeral, Barack will be leaving the island. Not the funeral that has the world's attention. That funeral hardly gets noticed in the US -- outside of those mourning the passing. BBC News (link has text and video) reports that Abdul Aziz al-Hakim's body has been taken to Baghdad and "PM Nouri Maliki and hundreds of officials met the coffin of Hakim, the leader of one of Iraq's most powerful Shia parties, at Baghdad airport. The body is to be taken to the Shia shrine city of Karbala, before being buried in Najaf on Saturday." Xinhua quotes Nouri stating at the airport, "We lose you in a delicate and sensitive period, when we are in need of a strong an experienced man." That's always been Nouri's problem, like Melissa on thirty-something, he needs a man.  Al Jazeera hails al-Hakim, who died Wednesday, as "the most powerful Shia politician in Iraq". A memorial service was held yesterday in Tehran and the central government in Baghdad has declared a three-day mourning period. CCTV has video of Nouri at the memorial service in Baghdad. Alsumaria provides this sketch of al-Hakim's life:

He is the son of Grand Ayatollah Mohsen Al Hakim and the youngest of his ten children who most of them were killed during the former regime.
Abdul Aziz Al Hakim co-founded the Islamic Revolution Supreme Council in Iraq and fled the country in the early eighties after his family was chased and assassinated. He lived in Iran leading the Iraqi opposition against the regime of former President Saddam Hussein.
Sayyed Abdul Aziz Al Hakim returned to Iraq on April 17 2003 following the topple of the former regime.
He gained an influential political role when he took over as head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq after his elder brother, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqer Al Hakim, died in a car bombing.
 
Jomana Karadsheh (CNN -- link has video and I'm told it includes the shot of the thousands reaching for the coffin that CNN was running throughout the afternoon -- footage which resulted in a high number of e-mails to CNN about the funeral because that footage caught a number of American viewers' attention) reports that security was tight in Baghdad with streets "sealed off Friday, and Iraqi air forces helicopters hovered overhead.  Sobbing mourners beat their chests and heads, a traditional Shiite way of mourning.  They swarmed around the coffin trying to touch it as it was carried into the Kadhimiya shrine, one of Shiite Islam's holiest."  Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) notes, "The black turban signifying his family's descent from the prophet Muhammed was placed on Hakim's coffin which was covered in flowers and placed on a covered platform on the tarmac."  Gulf Times reports that Ammar al-Hakim (his son) led the mourners and wore a black robe and turban while President Jalal Talabani was the first mourner to speak and stated, "He was a leader, a devoted fighter of Iraq. We are confident that the void left in his family and in the Supreme Council will be filled by the men of his family, such as Ammar al-Hakim."
 
The security was tight but how tight is underscored by the decision to hold that memorial ceremony at Baghdad International which means that the US forces were also out in force.  Camp Victory is a US base (not handed over to iraq) and it surrounds Baghdad International Airport. Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
 
Bombings?
 
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Nineveh Province roadside bombing which claimed 1 life (civilian) and wounded an Iraqi soldier and, dropping back to last night, a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the lives of 2 people and left four injured. 
 
Shootings?
 
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Nineveh Provincial Council member Tariq Ali Abbawi was assassinated last night.  Reuters notes the US military shot dead 1 man and injured another stating the two were suspected bombers and, dropping back to last night, note an attack in Mosul on Iraqi police which claimed the life of 1 young girl and left another civilian injured.
 
None of that was included in the earlier count.  Yesterday, US Maj Gen John Johnson spoke to the press and Military Times' Bill McMichael asked about Sahwa, aka Sons Of Iraq, aka "Awakening." These are the Sunnis the US government armed and trained (they
dispute arming them) and paid to stop fighting US troops.  Nouri al-Maliki does not want to bring them into Iraq's security forces.  Many a reporter has WRONGLY stated that they've been brought in.  Since November.  They have not been brought in.  Johnson stated that of the "over 90,000 Sons Of Iraq," only "about 20% of them will be integrated into the Iraqi security forces" and he then stated that "over 3,300, as I said, have already been pulled into the Iraqi ministries" and then he would say that was just in Baghdad and throughout Iraq there were "a little over 13,000 that have been integrated into Iraqi security forces, either into the army or into the Iraqi police" -- no, that's not really 20% which is why it appears he's helping Steven Lee Myers, neither can handle numbers.  And when you can't handle 20%, I really fear for your wait staff.  I mean, however do you tip?  Like Steven Lee Myers, another US general tried to play down the violence today.  Diana Elias (AP) reports that Gen George Casey yammered away about "ebb and flow" -- he sounds like a Righteous Brother but not, however, a member of the League of Righteous.
 
Human Rights Watch released "'They Want Us Exterminated': Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq," a 67-page report [PDF format warning] click here, last week. In the US, it's received more attention this week than last.  Wayne Besen (Windy City Times) noted of the revelations about the targeting of Iraq's LGBT community, "In Iraq, 'extremism' is too mild a word to describe the acts of those who abuse gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people."  Rex Wockner (San Francisco Bay Times) adds, "The killers invade homes and grab people on the street, HRW reported. Victims are interrogated for names of others before being murdered. Torture practices include supergluing victim's anuses shut, then feeding them laxatives." At CounterPunch, David Rosen notes the report and attempts to find some larger points:
 
Sexuality, and the attendant issue of "honor" killings, provides a unique window into the alleged clash of civilizations. It is that sphere of human existence in which the twin dimensions of being human are forged. In sex, the truely human (i.e., consciousness) and the truely animal (i.e., physicality) are unified into a singluar experience. This unity is lived out as both species reproduction and erotic pleasure.          
Sexuality is also one aspect of socio-personal life that is very much sharpened by "civilization," by cultural values and religious beliefs as well as by the marketplace and battles between geopolitical empires. Peoples, nations and civilizations have struggled for millennia over the meaning of sexuality, whether for men, women or young people and whether defined as hetrosexual or homosexual.           
Explicit and aggressive sexuality is a powerful force dividing the West from, for example, the Arab and Islamic world. It is one of the most threatening dimensions of Western capitalism's cultural system that is pushing ever-deeper into the intimate, private lives of people throughout the world.
For many, the experience of globalization resonates less in the plunder of a nation's natural resources or the exploitation of its collective labor power than in the flood of erotic sensibilities challenging established power relations. This apparent assault often provokes the greatest resistance.
 
I do not believe David Rosen is attempting to state or imply that same-sex attraction and relationships are new or just emerging in Iraq.  Someone will e-mail to protest.  To be clear, HRW's report makes a point of noting that LGBTs are not new to Iraq and they're certainly not new to any region or area. 

Finally Sherwood Ross (Veterans Today) weighs in on Lawrence Velvel's America 2008 (Velvel is the Dean of Massachusetts School of Law at Andover):
 

 

Iraq's bloodshed is worse, Velvel writes "because today we not only have a years-long unwinnable war, but also torture, kidnappings and renderings to foreign countries for torture, many years of detention without trial of people who are innocent, the use of massive private armies to help carry out Executive policies" suppression of the media far beyond anything experienced during Viet Nam"the use of Executive Branch lawyers to write professionally incompetent secret memoranda giving clearance to awful policies, and the use of retired generals who are making a fortune from the Pentagon to spread its gospel on the mainstream media."

Today's wars of aggression are being waged, Velvel notes, because previous Washington officials were not held to account for their crimes: "Lyndon Johnson retired to his ranch, Nixon received a pardon and went back to San Clemente, McNamara became the long time President of the World Bank, Kissinger became richer and richer (and secretly advised Bush and Cheney on Iraq)"Wolfowitz was given a sinecure at the World Bank, lawyers who facilitated the misdeeds---such as Jay Bybee and John Yoo---are federal judges or professors at leading law schools."

 

 TV notes, and all PBS programs begin airing tonight in most markets. NOW on PBS offers:

Would you pay more in taxes to fix roads and rail?
The majority of American goods are transported by trucks, even though freight trains are greener and more fuel-efficient. Where should America be placing its bets for moving our economy and what would you personally sacrifice for it?
This week, Correspondent Miles O'Brien looks at the contemporary needs, challenges, and solutions for transporting vital cargo across America, and how those decisions affect the way you live, work, and travel.
This program is part of a PBS-wide series on the country's infrastructure called "Blueprint America."

On Washington Week, Gwen sits around the table with David Broder (Washington Post), Karen Tumulty (Time magazine), David Wessel (Wall St. Journal) and Pete Williams (NBC News).
Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe and her guests Karen Czarnecki, Ann Friedman, Irene Natividad and Tara Setmayer discuss the week's news on this week's edition of PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:

The Wasteland
Where do the millions of computer monitors, cell phones and other electronic refuse our society generates end up? Some of it is shipped illegally from the U.S. to China, reports Scott Pelley, where it is harming the environment and the people who salvage its valuable components. | Watch Video


Financial Weapons of Mass Destruction
Steve Kroft examines the complicated financial instruments known as credit default swaps and the central role they are playing in the unfolding economic crisis. | Watch Video


Birdman
Forrest Bird's invention, the respirator, has saved millions of lives and, approaching his ninth decade, he's still living his life to the fullest, flying his airplanes and working 12-hour days. Morley Safer reports. | Watch Video


60 Minutes Sunday, Aug. 30, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.


 

US military announces the deaths of 2 US soldiers

Today the US military announced: "BAGHDAD – Two 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) Soldiers died of wounds suffered following an improvised explosive device in eastern Baghdad Aug. 28 at approximately 2:30 a.m. The Soldiers names are being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin and release by the Department of Defense. The incident is currently under investigation." The deaths bring the total number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4336.

Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan is on Martha's Vineyard protesting the continued illegal war and the Afghanistan War and the undeclared war on Pakistan. Mike Seccombe (Vineyard Gazette) reports:


Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist whose son died in Iraq, organized several actions in opposition to America's continued engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
At one of them, a press conference at the media center at the Oak Bluffs School, Ms. Sheehan said she was there to remind people that while the Obamas were on vacation people were still dying.
"There's no vacation from body bags," she said. "And the families of dead soldiers will never be able to truly enjoy a vacation again.
"Just because he's better than Bush doesn't sell me, because practically everybody in the world is better than Bush."

George Brennan (Cape Cod Times) adds, "Like she has since her son, Casey, was killed in Iraq in 2004, Sheehan is using the backdrop of a presidential vacation to make her pitch for peace. It's an effective way to get her anti-war protests attention, she said. 'The only change in foreign policy has been a change for the worse,' she said, wearing a pink T-shirt with a peace symbol and the words, 'Peace. Love. Vineyard'."

The White House states that due to a funeral, Barack will be leaving the island. Not the funeral that has the world's attention. That funeral hardly gets noticed in the US -- outside of those mourning the passing. BBC News (link has text and video) reports that Abdul Aziz al-Hakim's body has been taken to Baghdad and "PM Nouri Maliki and hundreds of officials met the coffin of Hakim, the leader of one of Iraq's most powerful Shia parties, at Baghdad airport. The body is to be taken to the Shia shrine city of Karbala, before being buried in Najaf on Saturday." Al Jazeera hails al-Hakim, who died Wednesday, as "the most powerful Shia politician in Iraq". A memorial service was held yesterday in Tehran and the central government in Baghdad has declared a three-day mourning period. CCTV has video of Nouri at the memorial service in Baghdad. Alsumaria provides this sketch of al-Hakim's life:

He is the son of Grand Ayatollah Mohsen Al Hakim and the youngest of his ten children who most of them were killed during the former regime.
Abdul Aziz Al Hakim co-founded the Islamic Revolution Supreme Council in Iraq and fled the country in the early eighties after his family was chased and assassinated. He lived in Iran leading the Iraqi opposition against the regime of former President Saddam Hussein.
Sayyed Abdul Aziz Al Hakim returned to Iraq on April 17 2003 following the topple of the former regime.
He gained an influential political role when he took over as head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq after his elder brother, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqer Al Hakim, died in a car bombing.

The assault on the press in Iraq never ends and, lucky for Nouri, so many reporters in the US are happy to remain silent in the face of it. Oh, the New York Times will serve up that 'dirty' websites might be banned but they will avoid the proposed draft law which is an attack on journalism. Agnes Callamard (Guardian) tackles what the US ignores today:

Article 19, which today releases its analysis of the draft journalists' protection law, welcomes moves by the Iraqi government to ensure better protection and safety for journalists but this particular piece of legislation falls far short of its objective.
Article 19, which campaigns globally for freedom of expression, is concerned that this law fails significantly to meet international standards on human rights, including freedom of expression. Iraq was one of the earliest signatories to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratifying the covenant in 1971. Obviously the country's appalling human rights record under Saddam Hussein meant that the provisions of the ICCPR were flagrantly flouted. Yet, even post-Saddam, Iraq's 2005 constitution is weak with regard to freedom of expression – it leaves the concept vaguely defined and creates the possibility for the Iraqi authorities to restrict freedom of expression on grounds of "public order" and "morality".
International law sets out specific provisions for freedom of expression, which include the right to seek, receive and impart information, facts and opinions across all frontiers and through any media. By failing to provide adequately for free expression in the constitution, Iraqi legislators have failed at the first hurdle. They have failed, also, in their task to create national governing legislation to ensure a free press and protection for all those who work within the media.
When local media workers express their concerns about the draft journalists' protection law, one of the issues they point to is the extremely narrow definition of a journalist as "one who works for press … and who is affiliated with the Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate". This specifically excludes editors, commentators, bloggers, citizen journalists and freelancers who may also be in the business of providing information and comment to the public sphere.

TV notes, and all PBS programs begin airing tonight in most markets. NOW on PBS offers:

Would you pay more in taxes to fix roads and rail?
The majority of American goods are transported by trucks, even though freight trains are greener and more fuel-efficient. Where should America be placing its bets for moving our economy and what would you personally sacrifice for it?
This week, Correspondent Miles O'Brien looks at the contemporary needs, challenges, and solutions for transporting vital cargo across America, and how those decisions affect the way you live, work, and travel.
This program is part of a PBS-wide series on the country's infrastructure called "Blueprint America."

On Washington Week, Gwen sits around the table with David Broder (Washington Post), Karen Tumulty (Time magazine), David Wessel (Wall St. Journal) and Pete Williams (NBC News).
Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe and her guests Karen Czarnecki, Ann Friedman, Irene Natividad and Tara Setmayer discuss the week's news on this week's edition of PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:

The Wasteland
Where do the millions of computer monitors, cell phones and other electronic refuse our society generates end up? Some of it is shipped illegally from the U.S. to China, reports Scott Pelley, where it is harming the environment and the people who salvage its valuable components. | Watch Video


Financial Weapons of Mass Destruction
Steve Kroft examines the complicated financial instruments known as credit default swaps and the central role they are playing in the unfolding economic crisis. | Watch Video


Birdman
Forrest Bird's invention, the respirator, has saved millions of lives and, approaching his ninth decade, he's still living his life to the fullest, flying his airplanes and working 12-hour days. Morley Safer reports. | Watch Video


60 Minutes Sunday, Aug. 30, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.



This morning on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, the panelists for the first hour will be Dante Chinni (Christian Science Monitor), Doyle McManus (Los Angeles Times) and Jerry Seib (Wall St. Journal). The first hour panel addresses domestic news. The second hour is the international
focus and the panelists are David Ignatius (Washington Post), Barbara Slavin (Washington Times) and Janine Zacharia (Bloomberg News). The Diane Rehm Show begins airing on most NPR stations at 10:00 a.m. EST and streams live online starting then as well.

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












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Remember that war?

Remember that war? Whatever happened to that? I heard a lot of people died. I also heard that there was no end in sight. I don't seem to hear about that war at all anymore. I remember promises of it coming to an end, even talk of a troop withdrawal. But I don't think the war ended. Still, I can't seem to find anything about it anymore.
Occasionally on the news I see stories about more deaths, more bombings, and even another hostage or two. However, there's no talk about the war itself, and certainly no talk about when it's going to end.
The news media has been fixated on stories of a healthcare crisis and swine flu. This sexy tale is full of controversy, fear of imminent death by an invisible invader, and even contains all the stimulus of high spending and corporatism
Remind you of that War on Terror? The war that President Barack Obama promised to end. The war that the Democratic party promised to stop - even going so far as to swear to take congressional action to end it as soon as possible. Instead, Obama and the Democrats have decided to continue occupying foreign soil.

The above is the opening to Chad Van Alistin's "Obama's promise on War in Iraq remains unfulfilled" (Collegiate Times) so, yeah, some people notice what's going on. And some notice that the endless hours wasted on the ObamaInsuranceGiveAway are worthless. There is no plan. The House and the Senate had months to agree on something and they couldn't. They still haven't. There is no plan but hour after hour is wasted on this garbage. And I have to stop there because Jim's placed a hold on where I'm headed (we're taking that to Third). But while there's no plan to be debated (so the media's masturbated for the last weeks?) there is an ongoing illegal war in Iraq and people are dying. (US soldiers today, that'll be in the next entry.) And we're not supposed to notice. Like we're not supposed to notice how cheap the coverage of ObamaCare is. Yeah, it's tacky, but it's cheap to produce. As Katha Pollitt proved, you can 'report' on a town hall without even being present, 'My gal pal tells me . . .' It's insane, the whole thing is insane. It's a non-stop distraction from real issues. But that's part of the point, now isn't it?

"Black Wednesday," two Wednesdays ago when Baghdad was targeted with bombings which claimed at least 101 lives and left over 570 people wounded, has been the source for speculation in the press. This is from Fateh Abdulsalam's "America's Duty to Iraq" (Azzaman) and, an an editorial note in the article points out, he is suggesting Nouri and associates may be responsible for the violence.

To summarize, the government talks of factions waging war on the country - and who plan to participate in the elections which, as they say, are financed with foreign money. But at the same time, it is unable in any shape or form to stand against the destruction they wreak. What does this mean? That the government is incapable and weak? That this insinuates an electoral message to new alliances? [i.e.: that Maliki's refusal to act is a hidden message to the factions and parties who are behind the recent bombings that regardless of the elections, they will continue to play a role]. Or is it, perhaps, that the government is voluntarily or being forced to participate in all of these events?

A visitor e-mailed to note the article and to say he found it via William Kern at The Moderate Voice. Certainly every other grouping has been accused by the US press. Although accused may be too weak a word. Every other group has been found guilty by the US press? Yes, I believe that's it.

There are many groups in Iraq beyond Shi'ite and Sunni (and those two groupings have a series of sub-categories as well). Though the Jewish population is pretty much gone (it's single figures in Baghdad now) and though Iraqi Christians make up a significant portion of Iraq's external refugee population, a significant number of Iraqi Christians remain in Iraq and are regularly targeted. Asia News reports a "cliamte of fear" is returning for Christians in Kirkuk and notes that Iraqi Christian Sabah Daowd Askar was shot dead in front of his home this week and Samir Georgia ("50 year old doctor") was kidnapped as well.

Aid to the Church in Need released the following today:

    Iraq: From bad to worse as Christians struggle for survival

    Posted by Press Release on 28/8/2009, 8:59 am
    Board Administrator

    ACN News, Friday, 28th August 2009 – IRAQ

    From bad to worse

    Archbishop: Worsening security crisis in Iraq to blame as Christianity’s struggle for survival intensifies

    By John Pontifex


    AN IRAQI archbishop – who for years stood out virtually alone in predicting better times for the country’s ancient Church – has given a damning assessment, saying that hopes for a new start after Saddam have now evaporated.
    Archbishop Louis Sako said that the future of Christianity in Iraq – even in the short-to-medium term – now “hangs in the balance”.
    In a wide-ranging interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, the Archbishop of Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, said the faithful’s confidence in the future has been destroyed by what he described as a worsening security situation.
    Explaining that Christians are “easy targets for criminals” lacking the protection of militia, he stressed how more and more faithful are desperate to leave.
    He said there are now only 300 Christian families in southern Iraq and less than 400,000 Christians in the country as a whole – down 750,000 within the past decade.
    The archbishop lambasted the country’s security system, calling it “ineffective” and “unprofessional”.
    He underlined the continuing exodus of Christians sparked by the security crisis, adding: “I feel more pessimistic now than ever before. We do not have the same hope that we had before.
    “In fact I am not seeing any signs of hope for the future. Our whole future hangs in the balance.
    “We are experiencing bad days. Every group involved in criminal activity seems to be active.”
    “The government and the police are doing their best but they are incapable of controlling the situation.”
    “Nor is this just happening in one part of Iraq,” he said. “Every day, there are explosions – in Baghdad, Mosul, so many different places.”


    Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk

    The archbishop was speaking by telephone from Kirkuk 10 days after attacks there in which a Christian father of three was shot dead and a doctor was abducted on his way home.
    Last month, militants carried out attacks on seven churches in Baghdad, killing and injuring dozens of people.
    Nearly 100 people were killed and more than 500 were injured in a series of attacks in Baghdad last week, described as the deadliest day since the U.S. handover.
    Archbishop Sako warned of the rise of extremism, saying: “Iraq is going to a narrow Islam.”
    He also said the Christian exodus was being driven by economics: “In the villages in the north there are no jobs, no services, no facilities – many Christians are leaving …in Mosul [the northern city and former Christian heartland] many Christian families are too afraid to come back.”
    The archbishop said Christians are a principal target for attack not so much because of their religion but because they are seen as unable to defend themselves.
    He said: “Living in this climate, the Christian people are afraid. They are really worried. Despite what we tell them, encouraging them to stay, they want to leave.”
    “It just takes one crime, one abduction, one killing to move the whole community into wanting to move.”
    Archbishop Sako said the people had lost patience with the country’s politicians.
    He went on say that Western countries should put pressure on Iraqi political groups to reconcile in a bid to reduce the conflict and restore law and order.
    He said: “There can be no proper security without a real reconciliation. The only people who seem to be benefitting from the situation at the moment are the criminals. This has got to change.”
    The archbishop also went on to highlight the importance of inter-faith work, describing it as crucial for coexistence between Christians and Muslims.
    But he said that the inter-faith initiatives he is involved with in Kirkuk – for example a dinner he is hosting for Ramadan this weekend – are largely not being replicated elsewhere in the country.
    He added that the work is relatively small-scale and tends to involve “individuals” rather than “large groups” crucial for attitude change towards minorities.
    The archbishop also said Church leaders and Christian politicians are not doing enough to work together to confront common problems.


    Editor’s Notes:

    Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

    Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 130 countries throughout the world.

    The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 46.5 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

    For more information, contact please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148.Web: www.aidtochurch.org




Meanwhile water conditions threaten every Iraqi. The cholera season is blooming in Iraq as it does each year around this time because no one in the Baghdad government will spend any of the oil billions on access to potable water. This means that water has to be boiled before it can be consumed and that requires a heat supply that some do not have -- there are a huge number of homeless in Iraq. And it also requires a cooling period for the water. There are any number of reasons that water may not be boiled (might only be heated) and this year hopefully will not again find a WHO doctor blaming Iraqi women for a cholera update (as happened in 2008). The homeless population is predominatly young (children are the bulk of the homeless population, not surprising when at least 40% of the country's population is under the age of 14. Martin Chulov (Guardian) reported Wednesday night:


A water shortage described as the most critical since the earliest days of Iraq's civilisation is threatening to leave up to 2 million people in the south of the country without electricity and almost as many without drinking water.
An already meagre supply of electricity to Iraq's fourth-largest city of Nasiriyah has fallen by 50% during the last three weeks because of the rapidly falling levels of the Euphrates river, which has only two of four power-generating turbines left working.
If, as predicted, the river falls by a further 20cm during the next fortnight, engineers say the remaining two turbines will also close down, forcing a total blackout in the city.

John Laurner (TreeHugger) notes the Guardian article and this from USA Today:

As if ongoing bombings and drought weren't enough, Hassan al-Asadi, a member of the Dhi Qar provincial council in southern Iraq, said that a few months ago, water snakes that had lost their natural habitat along the rivers started to show up around houses near al-Chibaiysh marshland.

"The snakes were looking for food and dozens of people were bitten," he said, adding that for a time, Iraqi soldiers and policemen were shooting about 70 wayward snakes a day.

Larry West (Larry's Environmental Issues Blog) adds:

Throughout history, the valley of the Euphrates has been a model of fertility and abundance, giving rise to the idea that the Garden of Eden was located there. Two years of drought and an increasing number of water diversions by neighboring countries—Turkey, Syria and Iran—have left the Euphrates looking like a fetid stream and cut the region’s agricultural production by 60 percent. There is not enough water in the Euphrates to feed the surrounding marshlands or to prevent salt water from the Persian Gulf from contaminating the drinking water. There is not enough water to drink, let alone wash, and both are taking their toll on the region. Animals are dying, disease is rampant, and at least two towns have been entirely abandoned due to the lack of fresh water.

The water supply dries up, the people move. That's not at all historically surprising. Daniel Angell (Orato) informs:

Iraq's Water Minister, Dr Abdul Latif Rashid, estimated that up to 300,000 marshland inhabitants are on the move, many of who are newly displaced and moving to nearby towns incapable of supporting them.
"In the last 20-30 years, our neighbouring countries have built a number of structures for collecting water or diverting water for their agricultural lands," Dr Rashid said.
Officials have made some attempts to relieve the problems by digging wells and bores, especially in the particularly parched provinces of the south and in Anbar, west of Baghdad.

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oh boy it never ends