Kat's Korner: Cass Elliot's buried classic surfaces

Kat: "I'll be home," sings Cass Elliot, "I'll be home. When your life's in trouble . . .. And you're all alone . . . When you're feeling down . . ."



If you're a Cass fan, I am, you know one of the big problems with the last section of her career. "Disney Girls." It's one of the most archaic songs she's ever recorded, a real throw back. Mama Cass extolling the virtues of Patti Page? The US is waist deep in the big muddy (Vietnam) and Cass is singing that she's rejecting reality for "fantasy" and skipping through the house saying good morning to her parents? The song is part of the reactionary period the Beach Boys became mired in as the seventies dawned (a period they never left) and, no surprise, the song's written by B-Boy Bruce Johnson. It's not that Cass recorded a bad song, it's that she recorded it amazingly well. When it's included on any collected best-of, the song stands out as among her finest performances. And Mama Cass? From Mama Cass, it's just the last lyrics you'd want to hear from her.

Which is why "I'll Be Home" is such a wonderful surprise. That track and all the rest from Cass' Cass Elliot album feature the same (and stronger) level of interpretation. It's not just "Disney Girls," it's all the tracks on the album which has been remastered and released with The Road Is No Place For A Lady on one CD (I believe the title is Cass Elliot/The Road Is No Place For A Lady).

Cass Elliot is a masterpiece. That's the only term to apply. But let's back up a bit.

For those late to the party -- boy, did you miss a feast! -- Cass first came to fame as one of the Mamas and the Papas -- the sixties super group also featuring Mama Michelle Phillips, Papa Denny Doherty and Papa John Phillips. The four amazing members gave us "California Dreamin'," "Monday Monday," "Too Late," "Safe In My Garden," "Dedicated To The One I Love," "Got A Feelin'," "I Saw Her Again Last Night," "Creeque Alley," "String Man" and so much more. One of the best known songs, from The Papas & The Mamas, is "Dream A Little Dream Of Me." It was released as Cass with the Mamas and the Papas and begins the solo career of Cass.

Back in 2005, I reviewed The Complete Cass Elliot Solo Collection 1968-71. That amazing, 38-track, double-disc collection pulled together all of Cass' recordings (including unreleased tracks) for ABC-Dunhill. Dunhill had been the Mamas and the Papas label and when Cass went solo, she was forced to stay with "Dunhill" (by that time, Dunhill was no more, absorbed into ABC which never cared for the Mamas and the Papas and would sue them in the seventies -- after Cass signs with RCA -- to force them back into the studios for one more album, People Like Us). That double disc set went a long way towards re-introducing the world to Cass' amazing gifts. She remains among the finest singers to ever grace this country. A list of the top twenty singers of the 20th century wouldn't be complete if it didn't include Cass.

The set included "Different" which Cass recorded for a children's movie and which captures the essential Cass message in a way "Disney Girls" never can (yes, I truly hate the lyrics to "Disney Girls"). It includes many gems -- an overabundance of them. So when a friend/ex-boyfriend asked me last week if I was reviewing anything new lately (we bumped into one another at a wedding on Friday) and I said Cass Elliot and he responded, "More bubble gum," I responded by tossing my drink in his face. (Well, for that remark and for sleeping around on me before we broke up. He more than had it coming.)

The bubble gum label to Cass' solo work sticks like . . . well, bubble gum. But it's really not true. Listen to the double disc of her first solo recordings. Yes, there's Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil's "It's Getting Better" and "Make Your Own Kind of Music." Both are strong songs and successful singles but they're really not representative of what Cass was doing on her albums. "Make Your Own Kind of Music" wasn't even originally on her second solo album, Bubble Gum, Lemonade And . . . Something For Mama -- it was added after the album was released and the re-release was retitled Make Your Own Kind Of Music. In part due to the cheapness of ABC-Dunhill but that's another story. Those ABC-Dunhill albums featured songs like "Burn Your Hatred," Leonard Cohen's "You Know Who I Am," Laura Nyro's "He's a Runner," John Sebastian's "The Room Nobody Lives In," and much more. These are not bubble gum albums. (And Mann and Weil's "New World Coming" is probably the finest composition Cass recorded by them and one that underscores the songwriting duo's strong social conscience.)

The double disc collection went a long way towards restoring the artistry of Cass because collections like Mama's Big Ones have long been in print and long given the impression that they were all Cass was capable of. If that's all she was capable of, that would have been a great deal. But on the albums those singles come from, the songs exist to round out a total mood. Offered as the only evidence of Cass' solo recordings, the tracks brought to mind Holland Taylor's dismissive comment of a man at the bar in Romancing the Stone: "Too happy."

So Cass leaves ABC-Dunhill, records an album with Dave Mason (Dave Mason & Cass Elliot) and begins her RCA career. And it's the RCA career that Cass Elliot/The Road Is No Place For A Lady document. Those are the two studio albums Cass recorded for the label. Unlike her live album, Don't Call Me Mama Anymore, also the soundtrack to her 1973 TV special, these have not been on the shelves of your local music store. RCA (or whomever owns/absorbed the conglomerate now) has kept the live album in print. The new re-issue comes via Collector's Choice which is affiliated with Sony.

Let's leave Cass for a moment. What the re-issue does is really underscore what a strong songwriter Leah Kunkle is. Leah is Cass' younger sister and, throughout Cass' solo career, some of the finest songs she recorded were written or co-written by her sister. "What Was I Thinking Of?" (Dream A Little Dream), "Who's To Blame?" (Bubble Gum, Lemonade And . . . Something For Mama) appeared on the ABC-Dunhill albums, "When It Doesn't Work Out" (Cass Elliot), "All My Life" (The Road Is No Place For A Lady, co-written by Kunkel with Diana Hildebrand) and the amazing title track of The Road Is No Place For A Lady attest to Leah's own artistry. Cass was more than happy to highlight her sister's talents and this re-issue was overseen by Owen Elliot-Kugell, Cass' daughter, which really continues that family's strong tradition of celebrating each other's accomplishments.

Toni and I listened together to the album on Sunday and she was all over the liner notes which include an essay by Owen. She told me, "Owen's the anti-Christina Crawford." We laughed and then marveled over the time and effort Cass' daughter has put into maintaining and restoring her mother's legacy. It's quite an accomplishment.

And now I'm about to totally piss on all that. My apologies to Owen.

The Road Is No Place For A Lady is probably a wonderful album. If you order the reissue (I recommend you do), then listen to it first.

If you don't?

Well, I warned you.

Cass Elliot is not a good album. It is not a strong album. It is an amazing and exception album.

Where is the American singer's Dusty In Memphis?

Dusty Springfield's 1969 album is one of the great interpretive works of the rock era and a classic. The British songbird traveled to America and recorded the once-in-a-lifetime masterpiece.

Cass went to Sunset Blvd for her self-titled masterpiece.

And that's what Cass Elliot is.

"Disney Girls" appears on the album. It's the song you know from the collections and it's the one you curse because Cass has poured so much into it. She's taking her vocals to a place where they're so vulnerable that she always seems about to either go off key or lose it because the emotions are so raw and intense. It's an amazing vocal performance.

And the great news is Cass pursues that for every track on her RCA debut.

Judee Sill's "Jesus Was A Crossmaker" has been recorded by many including Sill herself but Cass' has a confidence and authority with it no others have gotten across. That lead vocal is all the more amazing when you grasp the gentle backing vocals are also provided by Cass. She does similar magic with Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" which, bad news for Judy Collins, should be the definitive version for anyone who hears it. (Collins recorded the song for her album In My Life.)

Bobby Darrin's "I'll Be There" finds new life as well as Cass layers so much love on it. "Love" is the word for it.

"Oh I tried to stay away from you," Cass sings on Leah's "When It Doesn't Work Out" and what you notice is how much Cass is working her upper register and how delicately. Cass could belt with the best of them. Listening to Cass Elliott, you really see the culmination of an artistic odyssey she began on ABC-Dunhill. It's there in Leah's song as she asks, "Isn't love terrible when it doesn't work oooUUUUUUOOOOOUUUUUTTTTT." She's mastering dynamics in a way that classical pianists often do but few singers ever come close to.

There's no question that Cass could interpret a song and reward the listener with riches. That's why she remains the legend all this time later. But it's on Cass Elliot that the master really struts her stuff. Like Dusty In Memphis, this album is a masterpiece and a standard bearer for any vocalist.

I'm short changing The Road Is No Place For A Lady. I know I am, I freely admit it. But nothing Dusty ever did approached the genius of Dusty In Memphis. It's a once-in-a-lifetime bit of magic. Cass Elliot is the same way. As a Cass fan, even I wasn't prepared for it.

Cass Elliot should be on the list of best rock albums right next to Dusty In Memphis and the other admitted classics because that's what it is. You'll marvel over "Cherries Jubilee," you'll marvel over it all.

But to do that, you'll need to buy the disc. For some reason, this reissue is not available as a download. That's a real shame because I'd hate to see it resurface as one in a decade and have people again wondering why this classic was buried?

cass elliot
mama cass
the mamas and the papas
leah kunkel
judee sill
laura nyro
dusty springfield
dusty in memphis
randy newman
bobby darin
cynthia weil
barry mann

Iraq violence claims 26 lives, leaves 44 wounded

In this morning's New York Times, Thom Shanker reported that the Congressional Research Service's "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations" found the US the biggest supplier of weapons in the world and, in contrast to the domestic and global recession, the US has actually increased its selling of death toys and destruction instruments in 2008 ($37.8 billion in revenues versuse 2007's $25.4 billion). The next closet competitor is Italy which raked in approximately one-tenth of the monies the US did ($3.7 billion).

Yesterday's violence trend in Iraq was attacks on checkpoints with 3 attacks in Mosul on army and police checkpoints. Attacks on checkpoints continued today leading Marc Santora (New York Times) to note:

For those seeking to undermine the Iraqi government, attacking checkpoints is a natural way to undermine public confidence. However, the attacks at checkpoints could also indicate a frustration at being able to penetrate attack more populated areas, Iraqi officials say.

Which isn't really say much, now is it? No, it's not.

AP reports a suicide car bombing outside Ramadi (western Iraq) which claimed at least 7 lives (ten reported wounded) and they quote eye witness Mohammed Hussein Alwan stating, "I ran to the site and saw five burning cars and a child who was thrown by the explosion and landed on top of a car. I tried to approach him to see whether he was alive or dead but the police started to open fire in all directions and we had to run away." Reuters notes (specifically Ali al-Mashhadani but the other Reuters items do not have bylines) that the death toll has climbed to nine (with thirteen injured) and they note a a sticky bombing (attached to a minibus) outside Kerbala (southern Iraq) which claimed at least 4 lives (eight injured) while a car bombing outside Ramadi (western Iraq) claimed 7 lives (sixteen wounded).

In other violence today, Reuters notes a Baghdad sticky bombing attack on an Iraqi military checkpoint (two soldiers and three civilians injured), a Baghdad sticky bombing attack on an Iraqi police checkpoint (claimed the life of 1 civilian, wounded eight more and also injured two police officers), a Baghdad sticky bombing that injured "an employee in Iraq's cabinet," a Kirkuk hand grenade incident in which 2 "teenage brothers" died, 1 "employee in the state-run North Oil Company" was shot dead in Kirkuk and, dropping back to yesterday, a Mosul sticky bombing that claimed the life of 1 "police colonel and his son".


David Zeiger, Director of Sir! No Sir! and Bestor Cram, Director of Unfinished Symphony note:

Episode Five: This is Not Human Nature available now. Click here
This Is Where We Take Our Stand discussed in a New York Times piece on the antiwar movement and Afghanistan. Click here
Episode Five of the ground breaking web series, This is Where We Take Our Stand, is now live at http://www. thisiswherewetakeourstand.com.
"This is Not Human Nature" tells the story of the Iraq Veterans Against the War members' struggle to bring hundreds of veterans to Washington, DC, to tell their stories and reveal the true nature of these occupations. If you've watched the first four episodes, you won't want to miss this one.
And if you haven't, WATCH THEM.
This is Where We Take Our Stand is a series that can and should help push the debate about these wars back on to the table. Experience the series, send this email to everyone you know, and spread the word!
This is Not Human Nature: For the first time in history, women have combat and other front-line roles in the U.S. military, yet the military today is rife with sexual harassment, as Wendy Barranco reveals. Is this progress? Is it inevitable? Human nature? Or perhaps it's the sign of a deeper malignancy. For Wendy, her treatment was "the last thing I would have imagined from my own peers and comrades."
This is Where We Take Our Stand, the series that tells the riveting and timely story of the hundreds of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who testified at last year's Winter Soldier investigation, continues today. Watch episode five, tell friends, forward this email, spread the word and fan the debate. These stories must be heard.
Stay tuned for the final episode:
Episode Six: No Longer a Monster will launch September 20, 2009.
Spread the link and mark your calendar!

Because this is technically the 'weekend' for some community members, I won't embed the video today. But we'll embed one tomorrow and may do all of them this week (through Friday -- some of those using home computers -- with dial up connections -- have slower connections and videos can mean the page takes forever to load or they get script errors -- for that reason, we don't embed videos on the weekend and that's also why we try to make sure any embedding of videos at Third appears on the second page of an edition and not on the main page).

Next up, Kat reviews a CD release of two classic Cass Elliot albums.

Liz Sly has an article worth reading in this morning's Los Angeles Times but Kat and I are both trying to figure out what's wrong with Flickr (can't get it to upload right now) so I'll just offer the link. It's on the new face of US occupation in Iraq.

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

iraq
the new york times
thom shanker
david zeiger
bester cram
iraq veterans against the war
liz sly
the los angeles times
marc santora
cass elliot
kats korner

The loons, the idiots, the crazies and the self-deceivers

I'm going through the e-mails (private and public accounts) and looking at the big complaints about what's to be found online and ay-yi-yi, there's a whole lot of crazy going on.

Keesha nominates this garbage for Scariest Thought of the Year, it's someone explaining why he supported Barack:

One reason was that Obama is African-American, and the country needed to have a black president.

Keesha response, "So we're going to have to go through this again in 16 years? The country wrongly called Bill Clinton the first Black president. Then a bi-racial man runs in 2008 and he is also falsely called the first Black president. So in 2024, we may get another man -- and you know it will be a man -- because he's the first Black president? And I'm with Betty, my kids know Black. They look in the mirror and they see it. Continuing to call Barack Black is offensive. It's offensive enough when it comes from some in my own race but it's especially troubling coming from non-Blacks."

The idiot offering the garbage is Vincente Navarro ("Obama's Mistakes in Health Care Reform") and he also peers into Barack's soul and vouches for that as well. The idiot teaches at Johns Hopskins University and for those not in the know about the slaughter house, it was and remains refuge to War Cheerleaders who gave us the Iraq War. No surprise, it's in Maryland after all which gives it access to many assets and agents with the CIA. For fun sometime, go through PBS' The NewsHour archives for 2003 and 2004 and identify the feel-good War Hawk. In most cases, it will be someone from the Baltimore, Maryland slaughter house. When Little Vinnie Navarro wants to take on the slaughter house, he may have something worth saying. Until then he just wakes up with his penis yet again attached to the sheets and gasping: "Barack!"

Vincent's sexual fantasy needs a threat for Barry to rescue him from: The Emanuals!

Rahm and his brother Ezekiel Emanuel. (Disclosure, I know Rahm. I also like Rahm.) Poor Barry. The sexual fantasies his cult members need decree that he's cast in the dumb blond role. Barry bumbles through history. He's good but incapable of making decisions.

Is that how we're going to play the next four years?

Pretending a man-child occupies the White House?

Barack's a grown adult and he does what he wants to do. Quit making excuses, Vinnie, for the bruises on your face. Your man hit you because he wanted to hit you. And your desire to excuse it and justify it speaks to the fact that you need help.


Self-deceivers.

We've all been there. For example, I don't 'joke' about Sharon Tate's death. Many years ago, it was reported that someone I knew -- who needed my help then -- then throughout now -- had made an appalling statement about Sharon's death. When confronted, she denied it. Having no proof, I took her at her word. In 2008, as she and her man-wife skirted around the fringes of publicity (poor, foolish children, they thought January 2009 would be a publicity bonaza for them and another bad book), two present when the remark was uttered made a point to inform it was true. She was cut off immediately. And she needed a protective circle. It collapsed and now she's fallen to her natural social level -- somewhere below sedminentary.

We're all guilty of self-deception.

2008 was also the year I stopped staying on the fence about a man who'd been a friend for decades. That's when a friend told me how he beat her throughout their relationship. And that was all it took. I've never spoken to him again. I refuse his calls, letters, packages and he's turned away at the gate if he attempts to visit. I'd always heard the rumors but they didn't appear to be more than rumors.

In both cases, when confronted with reality, I stopped self-deceiving.

I'm going to be kind and not link to a self-deceiver. He's written an embarrassing third-grader's view of Ted Kennedy and, no, he's not still in grade school. The most laughable assertion is that Ted went for help while Mary Jo was at the bottom of the lake. Ted didn't go for help. He walked to a hotel, he checked in and he went to sleep. The police found the car the next morning. "Going for help" would be calling for help.

The Kennedy males of that generation regularly used and abused women. That shouldn't be a controversial statement for anyone on the left at this late date. But for those defending Teddy, his exploits in the 80s and 90s were documented in real time. Not in some right-wing rag but by outlets like GQ. "Good time Teddy" treated women like meat. (As I've stated before, I knew him and he was nice to me but I'm a big donor to the Democratic Party. Were that not the case, I'm under no illusion that I would've been treated any differently.)

Ted's behavior throughout the nineties was sexual harassment. Any wait staff who encountered him could expect to be pinched, groped and propositioned. It was not the conduct one expected from a first term senator, let alone one who'd been in the Senate forever.

In the course of reinventing history (which includes proferring that Mary Jo knew details about JFK's assassination and that's why Ted couldn't get help when the car sank in the lake), the self-deceiver feels the need to assert The Nation is among the mags that has repeatedly trashed the Kennedys.

That is why so many people are losing respect for sites they once read. Get your facts right or don't be surprised when people stop **reading.**

Alexander Cockburn is not "The Nation." He is one voice. He has always held the Kennedy feet to the fire. The Nation itself? You will not find a more pro-Kennedy outlet -- to the point that they tell themselves fairy tales. (Such as JFK would have ended the war on Vietnam!!! Really? Before or after ordering the assassination of another of its leaders?) The Nation is a gate keeper on the issue of the Kennedys. They uphold the official position repeatedly. If someone writes a book or article or gives a speech -- even a pro-JFK speech -- that questions the Warren Report, it's time for agency-linked Nation magazine to immediately go into overtime as they pump out one attack on the person after another. (The author Joan Mellen was the most recent example of that. Silly Professor Mellen, thinking that, in a democracy, you could explore a death from over forty years ago. Silly Professor Mellen for believing that she was living in a free country. Immediately The Nation went into overtime attacking her, attempting to discredit her. It was not pretty. And The Nation does that every time anyone strays from the official Kennedy narrative.) [I am not mocking Joan Mellen. She wrote a book worth reading, a strong book, Farewell To Justice. We defended her in real time when The Nation was attacking her.] The Nation is the chief outlet today responsible for the creation of a cardboard, children's story JFK as opposed to a life and blood, relatable John Kennedy.

I believe that leaves us with the loons and the crazies. Ezekiel Emanuel pops up in many articles members and guests are noting. He's attacked repeatedly or he's dismissed. I don't know Ezekiel (I do know Rahm's other brother Ari) but his field is bioethics. And at some point, people are going to have get honest about that field. I'm not slamming it. I am saying that it's a field that those in the middle to the bottom financially are not really aware of. Nat Hentoff is not an idiot. He's been raked over the coals by some on the left for an article he wrote. He wrote an honest article. Anyone familiar with the field of bioethics is aware of that. The right-wing has certainly told some whoppers about the 'plans' for health insurance reform. But the left 'voices' include some highly uneducated people who have no idea about the field of bioethics or the hiearchy of choices at the heart of it. I'm not slamming bioethics. On a day-to-day level, every American practices it. If you're struggling to pay the bills, for example, and you need to visit the dentist, you make a decision on whether the dentist visit is worth it? You may decide "yes" and you may decide "no." That's bioethics on a micro level. On a macro level?

There's no honesty in the discussion. That reality is most appalling when it comes from Bill Moyers who has repeatedly explored bioethics on air in the past but refuses to do so today.

Barack's not proposing government run health care (despite hopeful lies from the left) so bioethics is a topic we can wait on exploring but those slamming Sarah Palin for "death panels" or attacking Nat Hentoff (I know Nat from many years ago, back when he was a music journalist -- we do not agree on abortion, I'm firmly pro-choice, he's firmly anti-choice, I believe he's also now with Cato which puts him in the libertarian field) are the loons and the crazies who would do well to educate themselves about a field that's rarely covered (which is why Bill Moyers -- in the past -- made a point to cover it) but one that impacts all of our lives.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. This entry is to acknowledge the big topic in e-mails and also to buy time while I look at the news breaking to see whether or not an Iraq snapshot is necessary today. And Kat's working on the conclusion to her music review it will be up this afternoon. (She says sooner if I don't do a snapshot.)


joan mellen
kats korner
thomas friedman is a great man

Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Barack Prepares To Talk To The Kids"

Isaiah's latest The World Today Just Nuts, "Barack Prepares To Talk To The Kids." Sharp dressed man Barack declares, "I'm all psyched about talking to kids this week. I figure I'll moonwalk in, talk about the smurfs and just win them over. Kids still watch The Smurfs, right?"

the world today just nuts
comic
barack obama
barack prepares to talk to the kids
the common ills

And the war drags on . . .

"Iraqis are still dealing with lingering ethnosectarian histories, Arab-Kurd tensions, and violent extremist groups such as al Qaeda and other external actors who seek to exploit any fissures. The Iraqis are still deterrmining the nature of their federal state and the balance of powers between the central and provincial govenrments. [. . .] I see Arab-Kurd tensions as the greatest single driver of instability in Iraq -- and it does complicate the security situation in the north to an extent. While our combined operations have degraded al Qaeda, there is still a presence in the north, and those cells work to exploit tensions between the ISF and the Kurdish peshmerga and police forces," the top US commander in Iraq, Gen Ray Odierno, tells Joint Forces Quarterly (PDF format warning, click here). Today Karen DeYoung (Washington Post) notes Odierno's desire to slow the draw-down planned (for "combat" troops) through next August and she observes, "If that does not happen, Obama may be faced with the choice of whether to leave one unpopular war unfinished in order to escalate another that is rapidly losing public support."


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

Last Sunday, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 4336 and tonight? 4338. Violence continued today.

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing which injured five people, a Baghdad car bombing which injured six, a second Baghdad roadside bombing which wounded four people and two Baquba roadside bombings which injured "four explosive experts". Reuters drops back to Saturday to note a Baghdad car bombing that injured five people (three were Iraqi soldiers).

Shootings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an attacks on 2 Mosul police checkpoint which claimed the lives of 2 police officers, an attack on a Mosul army checkpoint which claimed the life of 1 Iraqi service member and a Mosul home invasion that killed a police officer (it was his house) and his daughter. Reuters notes another Mosul home invasion in which 1 woman and "her 3-year-old grandchild" were shot dead.

Meanwhile Nouri al-Maliki attempts to create an international crisis as he goes after Syria with accusations that they harbor the two masterminds behind Black Wednesday's bombings. Ned Parker and Caesar Ahmed (Los Angeles Times) report Nouri continues to air 'confessions':

Two confessions have been shown on state television and a third was aired at a news conference. The first confession was of an Iraqi arrested for the Aug. 19 attack, who blamed Baath Party leaders in Syria for planning the attack. The other confessions have shown foreign fighters recounting their alleged travels through Syria. There is no way to verify whether the taped remarks were genuine or staged. But they mark a concerted effort to blame Syria in part for recent security breaches.

They provide the transcript to one 'confession' and that's reporting. I don't question their right to do so. However, we're not quoting from it. The current 'government' of Iraq has already notched up a bulky history of torturing people for 'confessions' and I will not knowingly allow the possible work-product of torture to go up here. Meanwhile Adam Ashton reports on the PKK for McClatchy Newspapers. In doing so, he may be the first reporter for a western outlet to visit them since Deborah Haynes (Times of London) did. Haynes report of the visit was published as denials were being made by the KRG of even knowing where the PKK was in the region. After Haynes' report was published, reporters were 'encouraged' not to visit the PKK's camp again. From Ashton's report:


Interviewed in their camps in the Qandil Mountains, a historic retreat for Kurdish independence movements since the 1960s, PJAK leaders are defiant.
"Sometimes we've been asked to disarm, but we don't take those requests into consideration," said Agir Shaho, 31, a PJAK commander and member of the organization's seven-person board of coordinators, flanked by armed guards. "If we do what they're asking, we won't have freedom."
The group says it's killed hundreds of Iranian police and soldiers since 2004 in raids on their outposts. Inside Iraq, Shaho and several hundred PJAK fighters find cover in stone houses topped with plastic tarps and disguised with dead tree branches. They move across the border on foot, and grow their own food in irrigated gardens.
PJAK is an offshoot of the larger and better-funded Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has fought in Turkey -- often finding sanctuary in northern Iraq -- since the 1980s in clashes that have killed tens of thousands of people. They share the objective of establishing Kurdish autonomy in a region that covers parts of Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.


New content at Third:

Truest statement of the week
Truest statement of the week II
A note to our readers
Editorial: Accountability
TV: Ugly wallpaper
War Criminal sentenced to life with no parole
Iraq
Roundtable
From the CrackPot 'mind' of Jerry Merryitt
US imprisons reporter
Idiot of the week
Highlights

Isaiah's latest goes up after this. Pru notes the following from Great Britain's Socialist Worker:

This article should be read after: » Outbreak of the Second World War: Who were the ‘guilty men’?
Stalin’s unholy alliance with Hitler
by Chris Bambery
When German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop arrived in Moscow in August 1939 to meet his Russian counterpart, Russian dictator Joseph Stalin turned out to greet him.
As the date of Hitler’s attack on Poland approached, the Germans rushed to convince the Russian government of the benefits of a non-aggression pact between the two states – a secret agreement partitioning Poland, granting the Baltic States to Russia and offering Russia generous trade arrangements.
When the agreement was finalised Stalin invited Ribbentrop to celebrate. The Soviet dictator toasted Hitler, Ribbentrop toasted Stalin.
On 17 September, shortly before Poland surrendered to Germany, the Russian army invaded from the east.
After Poland surrendered, Stalin and Hitler issued a joint statement calling for Britain and France to accept the new order and make peace, stating, “If, however, these efforts of both governments remain unsuccessful, it will be established thereby that England and France bear the responsibility for the continuation of the war.”
In December 1939 Stalin assured Hitler that the alliance between Russia and Germany was “cemented in blood”.
Attacks on fascism ceased to appear in the Russian press and the world’s Communist parties switched from supporting a “people’s war against fascism” to opposing “imperialist war” in the wake the pact.
Eight hundred exiled German communists were transferred across the Soviet border into the welcoming hands of Third Reich’s Gestapo.
Stalin could point to the refusal of the British and French to seal a pact against Hitler but his priority was not fighting fascism but establishing control of Eastern Europe in order to create a buffer zone between Russia and Germany.
Stalin was prepared to trade with anyone to obtain that.
The subsequent argument deployed by the Kremlin to justify the Hitler-Stalin Pact was that Russia bought vital time to prepare its defences.
Yet until Germany attacked Russia in June 1941, Stalin refused to countenance that the Führer would break his word. It was Hitler who bought time. With his eastern frontier secure, he was free to attack westwards into France.
The supplies flowing from the Soviet Union to the Third Reich were vital to Hitler’s ability to wage war. They kept flowing until German troops invaded Russia.
Because Stalin trusted Hitler he prevented any preparations for that attack. Hitler’s onslaught almost destroyed Stalin’s regime.
The realisation that Hitler was intent on bringing down genocide on the Russian people ensured resistance stopped the Germans just short of Moscow.
The following should be read alongside this article: » Outbreak of the Second World War: Who were the ‘guilty men’?
[updated to correct error in dates]
© Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original.
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The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.


iraq
and the war drags on
donovan
the washington post
karen deyoung
the los angeles times
ned parker
caesar ahmed
mcclatchy newspapers
adam ashton
the socialist worker
the third estate sunday review
the world today just nuts

Talking entry

This is a talking entry. Beth suggested it was time for another one when she helped out with the public account this week. These are some basic points for drive-bys and guests. Community members know all of this and will chuckle as they read.

1) Our focus here is Iraq.

Iraq was always part of our focus but in 2006, as Iraq coverage vanished from Panhandle Media, community members voted for that to be our focus.

2) We do not and have never supported the Afghanistan War.

Afghanistan, however, is not our focus. It's not our focus for a number of reasons including the fact that the press has made the pretense of rushing there from Iraq (actually, many pulled out of Iraq did not go to Afghanistan). To now turn our focus to Afghanistan or expand it to include Afghanistan would be following the herd and we don't do that.

It would also send the false message that the Iraq War is over or almost over.

3) I am C.I. and I am responsible for what I write and only what I write. There are other sites in the community:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

If you don't like, for example, a joke Wally and Cedric do in a joint-post, I don't need to hear about it unless I've participated in the writing of their piece. (I've done that once or twice, each time I have, they've included me at the top as they do with any guest.) If Mike's opinion is one you disagree with, why are you boring me? If Rebecca has outraged you with her critique of you, why are you running to me to tattle?

At The Third Estate Sunday Review, Ava and I write the TV commentaries each week. Anything else we write together at Third has our byline on it. Other pieces, unless they have a byline, are group pieces. You need to check Jim's note to find out if I participated on the writing of the piece before you e-mail this account to complain. Ava and I write the TV piece and sometimes everyone else works on editing other features and typing them and other times they work on an article without us. There are pieces I do not work on by choice and there have been pieces that I have asked that my name being taken off of because it's gone somewhere I'm not comfortable going. That's not, "Oh, they're doing something wrong!" That's, "I can't be a part of that article" for any variety of reasons including conflict of interest and Jim will include conflict of interest in his "note to our readers."

At Third, a roundtable is a roundtable. It is a variety of opinions. Each person is responsible for their own remarks. If you don't like that Ruth or Betty said ___ in the roundtable, don't come whining to me.

5) The public e-mail address is common_ills@yahoo.com.

That's where you can write to complain about something I did or to suggest something. Martha, Shirely, Eli, Charlie, Jim, Dona, Jess, Ava and myself all work the public account regularly. (Beth grabbed some to help out and to check a question community members had asked her about regarding drive-by e-mails.) (If you're one of the ones who asked, she'll be answering it in her column in this week's gina & krista round-robin.)

If you don't include a greeting, it will be assumed the e-mail is written in regards to something at The Common Ills.

The public e-mail account can also be used to write Ruth, Kat and Isaiah who also post here (and all have their own sites). If you're writing one of them, you should note that at the top of your e-mail or in your subject line. (Martha & Shirley also contribute here on the topics of books. You could use the public e-mail address to write them as well, also noting you were writing them.)

If you had no working knowledge of how to use a website and needed to contact, for example, Elaine and the thought of clicking on "about me" was just too complicated for you, you could write Elaine or anyone else care of the public e-mail account. You would need to put Elaine's name in your subject heading or in the first line of your e-mail. It would be forwarded on to Elaine (or whomever). But we don't have time here to read through all the e-mails to this site and also to read your multi-paragraph discussion of a post at another site.

6) On the weekends, I am the only one who checks the public e-mail account and usually the only one who checks the private e-mail accounts for this site (sometimes Ava will).

You may have sent something 'right away' on Saturday night and it may be perfect for this site but your e-mail may not be read until the next non-holiday Monday. If it can be squeezed in somewhere at this site, it will be. If not, I may toss it into the scraps e-mail each weekday which contains things that had to be pulled from or did not make the snapshot. If it goes into scraps, another site may note it. If they do, that may be it because it's already a new day and there are other things to do.

7) There are many sites we do not note.

First of all, we are a site for the left.

Second, there are sites we will never note.

We do not note AlterNet because they attempted to bully a teenager. They attempted to blackmail him and all because he suggested in a comment that the blogger at Peek (Evan something) step "out of the GOP closet" if he was going to blog about how Michelle Malkin was getting it right. As a result of that comment, he was first threatened with being banned at AlterNet and then he was threatened with his four favorite sites (Rebecca's site, Daily Kos, Atrios and this site) being banned if he didn't grovel and beg in e-mails. I found out about it from Rebecca (I was speaking and didn't see the e-mails) and I immediately delinked from AlterNet. I don't approve of bullying children to begin with and that a site on the left would allow it (and it was Evan and some guy named Mark who was higher up the chain than Evan). After that happened, after we called them out and delinked from them (and AlterNet pulled this site off its links -- no surprise and no big loss) various e-mails were forwarded to this site that Evan had written where he had tried to get dirt on the kid who left the "out of the GOP closet" remark. That behavior's disgusting and far more disgusting than AlterNet's frequent 'syndication' of articles (in 'independent' papers) that they have no rights to and that the authors receive no monies for.

We don't link to TruthOut. Marc Ash decided he knew who should run for office and who shouldn't and he knew who should drop out when. That's not democracy. In 2004, I supported John Kerry but I did not participate in any "Ralph Don't Run" garbage. I'm not interested in that crap, I'm not interested in telling Democratic candidates to drop out of race, I'm not interested in telling people not to run. If you are, you really aren't interested in democracy. We need more choices not fewer.

We don't link to Truthdig. We highlight Chris Hedges gladly but we will never highlight him at Truthdig. Robert Scheer disgraced himself and I find his behavior appalling.

We don't link to BuzzFlash. In the early days of this site, we linked to Buzz all the time and they frequently linked to us. Following the AlterNet 'controversy' (who knew it was controversial to say: Don't bully children and don't spy on them?), they decided we were radioactive. Which was fine and I didn't really give a damn. They continued to e-mail this site near daily asking for links and I continued to give them (much to Mike's displeasure). The nail in the coffin was in January 2008. At that time, the assumption (a generalization) was that women were supporting Hillary and African-Americans (sometimes just males, sometimes males and females) were supporting Barack. Mark felt the need to hector women about supporting Hillary. He was one of many. Search in vain for the 'editorial' by Mark or any other loser telling African-Americans not to blindly support Barack (who is bi-racial). You won't find it. Because that would have been offensive. But it's a sign of how little respect Karlin has for women that he didn't break a sweat at the notion of attempting to bully them. That's also why he so frequently links to porn at Buzz. (Which is why he got pulled from the permalinks -- a community member who is a city worker made the mistake of assuming Buzz was a news site and saw a link there for Arnuld when he was running for governor -- the community member clicks on the link and is taken to photos of Ahnuld -- clothed -- with a nude women on his shoulders. There was no warning, there was nothing. That's when we pulled Buzz from the permalinks. They got banned for their CDS in 2008 including the notion that 'little ladies' need 'big' Mark to tell them how to vote.)

We don't link to this century's Christopher Hitchens. That is Robert Parry of Consortium News. We don't link to him anymore. He destroyed his own work in 2008. There is nothing he wrote in 2008 that you could compare with his past coverage and expect it to stand up. For Parry, of all people, to have a late life case of CDS was shocking.

I would prefer not to link to Huffington Post. If I'm asked to by them, I do consider what they're asking to be linked on and make the decision on a case-by-case basis.

I have friends at The Nation. If I get a phone call asking to link, I generally do. They remain on our permalinks. They're not a go-to spot for me or for members.

The Progressive was pulled from the permalinks due to the deranged ravings of then closeted-Socialist Matthew Rothschild. I'm glad we were able to help Matty out of the political closet. Hopefully, now that he's out he'll learn to love himself.

If I get a phone call from one friend at Mother Jones, they get a link but they got pulled when they started with the CDS. And "they" includes David Corn who really foamed at the mouth in 2008. It was hugely embarrassing.

We will link to Dissident Voice and Information Clearing House and even CounterPunch (all of which are on our permalinks). CounterPunch was the home of CDS in 2008 but it's always gone wide-eyed and punch drunk while muttering "Mena, Mena." We link to many other sites but the sites listed above? You're really wasting your time to e-mail on them. If it's The Nation, I've already heard about it via a phone call, and if I didn't link, I either didn't have the time or didn't think it was worth it. If it's Truthdig or others, we're just not interested.

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

Chalabi's secretary connected to League of Rightous

U.S. authorities detained a top aide to former Iraqi exile leader and Bush administration ally Ahmad Chalabi last year and accused him of helping Iranian-backed militants kidnap and kill American and British soldiers and contractors.
The aide, Ali Feisal al Lami, said he was quizzed about Iranian agents, senior Shiite Muslim politicians and deadly bombings. Then, Lami said, he asked his American interrogator: Have you ever been to the White House?
"He said, 'No,' " Lami told McClatchy. "I told him, 'Well, I have.' "
Lami said he'd visited the White House with Chalabi in November 2005 and met with a senior administration Mideast expert. By August 2008, however, when Lami was arrested at the Baghdad airport, the U.S. command considered him a dangerous man with links to Shiite terrorist groups and the Iranian intelligence apparatus.

The above is the opening to Hannah Allem's "Chalabi aide: I went from White House to secret U.S. prisoner" (McClatchy Newspapers) and in the article it states the League of Rightous (that's the group Lami was connected to and Eli Like reported on that last week) is suspected of kiling 5 US soldiers and kidnapping 5 British citizens. The League of Rightous has claimed credit/responsiblity for those actions. It's a little late in the game, years late, to suddenly toss around 'suspect.'

Reading the article with both feet on planet earth should convey why the US never should have installed exiles into the government. Ba'athists 'bad' and Lami heads a committee to keep them out. But the League of Rightous? Lami is convinced they can be brought into the process.

Allem sketches out the splinter group (League of Rightous) from Moqtada al-Sadr's actions and Lami's bragging that his connections to al-Sadr allowed him to work to free two kidnapped journalists held by one of al-Sadr's many groups apparently.

Which two journalists? That would be worth knowing.

Lami's imprisonment was noted by Eli Lake two weeks ago. This article just allows Lami to play drama queen. Best example, those mean, mean Americans tricked him by telling him Chalabi was dead. He cried, he says, for three days. Is he your boss or your lover? Three days is a bit excessive. He's hooded when he's transported. Other than that, his allegations do not rise to the level of torture. He mentions no physical abuse and, except for some lying, no mental tricks were used (and nothing resembling mental abuse is alleged by him in the article). A different article at McClatchy is a recounting of his imprisonment and it offers this:

He was filthy and couldn't wash himself in the ablutions necessary before Muslims pray. Without a toothbrush for so long, Lami said, his lower gums gradually separated from his teeth and he often woke up with blood in his mouth.

That's mistreatment. It could be abuse. Especially if he was denied medical treatment. However, he claims psychological abuse and there's not any in either article.

We've covered here many times that if someone says, "I wish you were dead," that's not a threat. Unless they're rubbing Aladin's lamp, it's not a threat. By the same token, when they displayed photos of Lami's family and asked him which one would die first at the hands of Ba'athists he'd wronged since he was in prison and not outside to protect them?

That's not them threatening.

And Ba'athists do have a reason to loathe Lami.

We do learn that, while in prison, he and Qais Khazali slobbered one another with kisses. Qais is the leader of the League of Rightous. After their kiss-kiss greeting, Lami relates:

"I asked him, 'So, Sheikh Qais, which is better: your military way or my political way?"
"He said, 'It's all the same. We're both in prison,' " Lami said. "He was right and I was wrong."


Eli Lake's "EXCLUSIVE: Iraqi official's top aide linked to Shi'ite terrorists" (Washington Times) opened:

The U.S. military authorized the arrest and interrogation last year of a top aide to Ahmed Chalabi on suspicion that the aide served as a liaison to a Shi'ite group thought responsible for the 2007 execution-style slayings of five U.S. Marines and other violence against foreigners and Iraqis, U.S. officials and the aide say.
The group, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or the League of the Righteous, also has been implicated in the kidnappings and slayings of four British contractors in 2007. The British government is negotiating for the release of a fifth abductee, Peter Moore.

The paper's Barbara Slavin spoke of that article on the August 28th broadcast of NPR's The Diane Rehm Show:

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.

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad sticky bombing which injured one person, a second one which wounded five people (two Iraqi soliders), a Baquba roadside bombing which left one woman wounded, a Baquba sticky bombing which claimed 1 life (the driver), and, dropping back to Friday, Turkish military bombed Erbil "without causing any casualties." Reuters drops back to Friday to note a Mosul roadside bombing which wounded two people and a second one which claimed 3 lives and left three people injured.

Reuters notes 1 person shot dead Friday in Mosul.

We'll close with this from Sherwood Ross' "When Will Obama See Afghanistan's Daughters As His Own?" (YubaNet):

The war in Afghanistan today hangs like some cloud of poison gas over Washington that won't blow away. It sickens everything as it spreads. It continues to suck precious tax dollars out of the Treasury, money this country cannot afford to squander, especially as millions of Americans are sinking into poverty and joblessness exceeds ten percent. Writing in USA Today last March 10th, Susan Page reported, "In one year, 24 million slide from 'thriving' to 'struggling' and "Some fear that the American dream may be in peril as well." Worse, the U.S. is turning poverty-plagued Afghanistan, a long-suffering nation of 25 million souls into another Iraq, perhaps even another Viet Nam. Afghanistan has already been under U.S. assault for eight years and President Obama's top military advisers are telling him it will take many more years to achieve "victory," a term having utterly no meaning for skyrocketing numbers of dead and dismembered civilians.
U.S. troops dispatched to "build long-term stability" in Afghanistan (the phrase was uttered by Obama accomplice British Prime Minister Gordon Brown) went from 5,200 in 2002 to 62,000 currently while the cost has shot up from $21 billion to $60 billion a year in that period for a grand total of $228 billion---dollars that could have been far better spent in America, on Americans, for Americans. And dispatching more troops means dispatching more targets. "Deaths from bombings soaring," the Miami Herald reported last August 12th. IED explosions soared to 828 in July, more than twice as many as in the previous July and the highest level since the war began. U.S. casualties are at record highs. This is the road to "victory"?
Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, calls the Afghan crisis "serious and deteriorating" as U.S. casualties hit new highs. The Pentagon throws crack Marine fighters at the Taliban in southern Helmand province yet they are not enough. General Stanley McChrystal may shortly have to ask to increase his forces by nearly half. Worse, President Obama has escalated the fighting into Pakistan, where the Pakistani Taliban control areas close to the capital of Islamabad, and where the fighting has created two million refugees. Congratulations to the White House and Congress: America is now at war in three Middle Eastern nations, on behalf of governments in all three that are weak, unpopular, and corrupt. Who would have thunk it? And even though McChrystal says "the most important thing is to not hurt the Afghan people", Obama is escalating, not withdrawing, and children just like his own daughters are being carted to the cemeteries.
Even conservative columnist Pat Buchanan asks, "What is so vital to us in that wilderness land worth another eight years of fighting, bleeding and dying, other than averting the humiliation of another American defeat?" Buchanan rightly adds, "And if Obama yet believes this is a war of necessity we cannot lose, and he must soldier on, his decision will sunder his party and country, and put at risk his presidency." George Will, another conservative columnist, wants to continue the war but by doing "only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes and small, potent special forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters." He wants land forces out. Apart from the smug arrogance with which Will dismisses Afghanistan as a no-account nation (!), this theep dinker's strategy of bombarding from untouchable bases at sea will only inspire fresh hatred against the U.S. Afghani rage is white hot because the Pentagon attacks with unmanned drones and Afghanis regard this method of warfare as "unfair" and unmanly. Reuters reported that in Farah province the district leader lamented an air attack in Bala Boluk that killed 108 civilians. Does Obama really believe he is doing the Afghans a favor?
Americans need to recognize that violence only begets violence, that attacks only beget more attacks, and that each round of reprisals gets ever deadlier. Also, there would be no war today if U.S. meddling hadn’t jump-started Osama bin Laden. "(President) Clinton's bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan in 1998 effectively created Al Qaeda, both as a known entity in the intelligence world and also in the Muslim world," philosopher Noam Chomsky is quoted as saying in "Imperial Ambitions"(Metropolitan Books) by David Barsamian. "In fact, the bombings created Osama bin Laden as a major symbol, led to a very sharp increase in recruitment and financing for Al Qaeda-style networks, and tightened relations between bin Laden and the Taliban, which previously had been quite hostile to him." The U.S. is by no means innocent in bringing war and misery to this country.

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


iraq
mcclatchy newspapers
hannah allem
sahar issa
the washington times
eli lake
npr
the diane rehm show
sherwood ross

Adam Ashton says the US wanted to 'fix' Iraq

I know why we stayed; I don't know why we came.
It's never going to be worthwhile, just less bad.
Those are the two conclusions I've reached in my four months in Iraq in the past year. I know they're not original, but they're mine and I've been getting to them along with you ever since we watched "shock and awe" rock Baghdad on our televisions in March 2003.
We stayed because we broke Iraq. We owed it to Iraqis to fill the vacuum and restore stability.

That's McClatchy's Adam Ashton, back in the US, writing in "Reporter reflects on Iraq: Fixing what we broke" (Modesto Bee) and playing like he can make sense of it all. A tornado rolled through and his house wasn't hit so Adam rationalizes to assuge guilt? That's what it reads like. Ashton's a solid reporter but what a load of crap. "I don't know why we came" -- but "I know why we stayed."

No, you don't. The US did not stay in Iraq "because we broke Iraq." That's the biggest load of bulls**t in the world. "I don't know why we came."

That's actually true. We know the Bush administration lied to start the illegal war and we all have hunches as to why that is, but we don't KNOW why that is. By the same token, Ashton doesn't KNOW why the US stayed but he offers a bulls**t excuse, one we rejected years ago. (See "Should This Marriage Be Saved?" from December 2004.)

It takes a lot of stupidity (willful stupidity) to believe that the US remained in Iraq to help. With all the reconstruction scandals? With no potable water? With electricity shortages?

When was the US 'fixing' Iraq?

It was trying to fix the laws in order to justify the theft of Iraqi oil. It remains focused on that and Barack's even referred to the 'need' for these laws publicly.

Adam Ashton's too smart to play dumb. He embarrasses himself when he tried to cast himself as Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday.


Tim Cocks, Shamal Aqrawi and Michael Christie (Reuters) report tensions in Nineveh Province as Mayor Barzan Said Kaka (who is Kurdish) declares "independence from the largely Arab-run council" in the province while offering a list of allegations against the council including violent crimes and claims that they aren't concerned at all with Kurds. The reporters note that the province's governor, Atheel al-Nujaifi, has made repeated statements against the Kurds and that he "has so upset mayors in 16 Kurdish areas that they're threatening to secede."

Staying with the Kurdish focus, Azad Aslan (Kurdish Globe) reports that Barham Salih, who recently resigned as deputy prime minister of the central government (under Nouri al-Maliki) is expected to "start negotiations to form the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)." Today the Kurdish Globe reports on the KRG's reaction to Nouri's announcement that the long-promised census will not, in fact, take place this year:

"The KRG is concerned that the decree has been issued. The census process is a national right for all Iraq, including Kurdistan Region. By holding the census, all of us would have benefited from the great information that would have been gained," said Osman Shwani, KRG Minister of Planning. Shwani explained that the delay had political backgrounds. The decree came during a meeting of the Iraqi Council of Ministers, according to a statement published by government spokesman Ali al-Dabagh on Thursday. Al-Dabagh stated that the Council of the Ministers agreed to postpone the census until October 2010 as reply to "social changes" in provinces of dispute.

Ako Muhammed (Kurdish Globe) reports that Kamal Kirkuki (Speaker of KRG Parliament) is calling out the United Nations' inept and unfocused 'help' offered in the last years. It's noted that Staffan de Mistura did very little as the UN rep in Iraq. The article notes:

UN involvement came as Baghdad halted fulfilling constitutional Article 140, which calls for returning displaced families home in the disputed areas, deporting brought-in people from those areas, and allowing the original people of those places to decide in a referendum whether to be governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government or directly by the federal government. "We insist on the resolution of this issue in accordance with the implementation of Article 140 of the Constitution, because we do not want to see our people go through hardships and tragedies again." [KRG President Massoud] Barzani also assured of their readiness to cooperate with the UN, "but this issue concerns a whole nation and we will not make any concessions on this issue in any way whatsoever.

Meanwhile an editorial wonders, pay attention Adam Ashton, if Iraq's already returning to the Saddam era? From "Iraq's freedoms under threat: Could a police state return?" (The Economist):


Old habits from Saddam Hussein’s era are becoming familiar again. Torture is routine in government detention centres. “Things are bad and getting worse, even by regional standards,” says Samer Muscati, who works for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based lobby. His outfit reports that, with American oversight gone (albeit that the Americans committed their own shameful abuses in such places as Abu Ghraib prison), Iraqi police and security people are again pulling out fingernails and beating detainees, even those who have already made confessions. A limping former prison inmate tells how he realised, after a bout of torture in a government ministry that lasted for five days, that he had been relatively lucky. When he was reunited with fellow prisoners, he said he saw that many had lost limbs and organs.
The domestic-security apparatus is at its busiest since Saddam was overthrown six years ago, especially in the capital. In July the Baghdad police reimposed a nightly curfew, making it easier for the police, taking orders from politicians, to arrest people disliked by the Shia-led government. In particular, they have been targeting leaders of the Awakening Councils, groups of Sunnis, many of them former insurgents and sympathisers, who have helped the government to drive out or capture Sunni rebels who refused to come onside. Instead of being drawn into the new power set-up, many of them in the past few months have been hauled off to prison. In the most delicate cases, the arrests are being made by an elite unit called the Baghdad Brigade, also known as “the dirty squad”, which is said to report to the office of the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki.
The American-sponsored judicial system was supposed to protect Iraqis’ civil rights. But it is sorely overstretched, with some 1,500 people being brought into prisons every month as the Americans empty their own Iraqi jails. The number of Iraqis in American-run prisons has dropped to less than 9,000 from more than 21,000 a year ago, whereas the number in Iraq’s own jails has risen from 35,000 in February probably to more than 40,000 today.
Moreover, sentencing is getting harsher, with more people sentenced to death. On a single day in June 19 people were hanged in Baghdad. In a recent report Amnesty International, a British-based group, says that more than 1,000 Iraqis face execution, often on the basis of confessions, which, it says, are sometimes made under torture.

The following community sites updated since yesterday morning:


Cedric's Big Mix
The company he keeps
1 hour ago

The Daily Jot
THIS JUST IN! GOOD THING MEN CAN'T GET PREGNANT!
1 hour ago

Mikey Likes It!
Saturday post
2 hours ago

Thomas Friedman is a Great Man
How we lose
18 hours ago

Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude
steven dale green off to prison
18 hours ago

SICKOFITRADLZ
The War Criminal
18 hours ago

Trina's Kitchen
Pasta Salad in the Kitchen
18 hours ago

Ruth's Report
Steven Dale Green will die behind bars
18 hours ago

Oh Boy It Never Ends
Important
18 hours ago

Like Maria Said Paz
Public records are public domain
18 hours ago

Ann's Mega Dub
Name the War Criminal
18 hours ago

Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)
The Diane Rehm Show can't find Iraq
18 hours ago


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


iraq
the modesto bee
adam ashton
tim cocks
shamal aqrawi
michael christie
azad aslan
ako muhammed
the economist
anns mega dub
like maria said paz
kats korner
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
thomas friedman is a great man
trinas kitchen
the daily jot
cedrics big mix
mikey likes it
ruths report
sickofitradlz
oh boy it never ends

Iraq snapshot

Friday, September 4, 2009.  Chaos and violence continue, two fallen US soldiers are identified, the Bremer walls are put back up in Baghdad, Nouri courts an international crisis, Jordan and Iraq strengthen their ties, Steven D. Green gets sentenced for War Crimes and more.   A US soldier in Iraq posted the following to his blog (through amber lenses) August 27th:   Leaning up against the back of the building we discovered half of a rusted Russian heavy machine gun, and another piece of a Cold War era anti-aircraft gun. No big deal, except both weapons had been used against our company two years prior during the retaking of the city of Baqubah. Pretending this find meant the IPs were doing their job and taking dangerous weapons off the street and not that they were the average two-faced insurgents, we rounded the last corner of the compound and headed for the front gate.            Thanks to the hand-tying status of forces agreement between Iraq and the United States, American soldiers are not allowed to operate in urban areas without having the Iraqi Police or Iraqi Army present. Exceptions apply, but they're few and far between.                    By the time our squad had regrouped around the front of the building, our IA escort forces from outside the city had exited their humvees and stood around smoking and joking with each other. They were dressed in USMC desert fatigues, military body armor, and commercial tactical vests. They were also carrying clean weapons outfitted with modern American optics and flashlights. Apparently, Iraqi Army Special Forces are fairly well funded.              We passed them by and headed out the gate, since our absurdly strict platoon leader wasn't around to stop us. One lonely IP stood guard just outside the entrance to the station. He remained rooted to the ground while we moved past him and out into the neighborhood. We figured he'd count as our Iraqi escort if someone important came along. Crossing a small lot with a few scattered cars and trash piles, a pack of four or five dogs picked up our scent and barked to alert the area to our presence. We held up at the far side of the lot, less than a hundred meters from the IP station. A group of kids had been playing around in the street, but had scattered as soon as we left the station. In previous years, that was a bad sign. Kids scattered and plugged their ears before roadside bombs detonated. This time around, it's a different war. "War" is hardly the word to describe the current situation. Anyway, the unit we're replacing didn't spend a single second of their tour mingling with the locals around this particular IP station. It had been months since the last American foot patrol through their village. They peeked around corners and out from behind courtyard gates. Families weaving around rubble and small rivers of sewage eyeballed us suspiciously, rarely returning a wave.                        Two young boys crept closer, stopping about ten meters ahead of us. I motioned to them to come closer while Todd called to them in broken Arabic. Cautiously, the older of the two darted up to us. Todd pulled a pack of gum from his pants pocket and handed a piece to the boy, who looked confused but optimistic. Todd pulled out another piece for himself, and popped it in his mouth. The boy smiled and darted back to the safety of his house. When he stuck his head out a moment later, he was chewing happily and surrounded by a new group of local kids. I motioned again to them, and a younger boy came running up over the broken bricks and dirt littering the street. I handed him a little pack of Sweet Tarts as my squad started moving back to the police station. He accepted happily and ran back to the house. I turned and followed the squad out of the neighborhood and back through the guarded station entrance, offering the lone IP a wave as he closed the gate behind me.                                 We walked up to the front of the building, wondering where our blundering platoon leader was. The Iraqi Army Special Forces soldiers were still lounging around, smoking cheap cigarettes in the scorching afternoon sun. Approaching them, they welcomed us with open arms and all sorts of broken English. Cigarettes were offered all around, we removed our helmets and gloves, and relaxed. The language barrier is always difficult to overcome, but through the few Arabic phrases I remember from my first deployment and creative sign language, we got to know each other. We examined each others rifles and pistols, resisted the pleas of the IA soldiers to trade watches and jokingly traded insults. An American private from Guam was played up as an Iraqi who forgot how to speak Arabic, and the sexual preference of all involved was questioned. Some things are funny to soldiers no matter their nationality. That blog post was written by Jordan Shay who was killed while serving in Iraq. Yesterday the US military issued the following announcement: "CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, TIKRIT, Iraq -- Two Multi-National Division - North Soldiers were killed and five wounded in a vehicle rollover accident in the Diyala province of northern Iraq Sept. 2.  ICCC is currently down [they note a server crash and that they are working to get the site back up] but the announcement should bring the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4338. (It was 4336 on Sunday. ICCC was down yesterday and remains down today.) It appears the two killed were Todd Selge, 25-years-old, and Jordan Shay, 22-years-old.  Frederick Melo (Pioneer Press) reports Selge was on his second tour of duty in Iraq and his wife Dellona Selge states, "He was definitely gung-ho about the military.  He was going to get out.  He wanted to finish up school and move back home and have a regular life." With her and their sons "ages 6 and 2."  John R. Ellement (Boston Globe) reports Shay was also on his second tour of duty and had been engaged to marry.  Marie Szaniszlo (Boston Herald) adds that his MySpace page has "a clock counting down how many days he had left in the Army".   July 31st, Jordan Shay wrote (on his Twitter accont), "I've been saying I'm ready to go, and I am, but it's amazing how fast the last two weeks have flown by." August 23rd, he noted "back in iraq for round two, probably won't fire a shot in anger all tour. sucks."  In his last post at his blog, Shay observed, "We are respected in Baqubah. We are also feared. Our battalion has a fantastic opportunity to use these facts to our advantage and make a real difference before the withdrawal of all combat forces in the summer of next year. We made a difference in 2007, we could do it again in 2009. I fear we will not."   Any such efforts at "a real difference" seem blocked as Nouri al-Maliki continues his quest to create an international incident.  August 19th was Black Wednesday -- mulitple bombs going in off in Baghdad, the Foreign Ministry and the Finance Ministry being targeted, at least 101 people were killed nearly 600 hundred injured.  Though no one knows who is responsible, Nouri has attempted to make political hay by blaming Ba'athists in Syria and demanding that the Syrian government turn over to Ba'athists.  The Syrian government has responded by following the laws on extradition and requesting evidence before making a move.  Boht countries have recalled their ambassadors.  Nouri bloviates about evidence but either has none or is unwilling to turn any over.  Nouri's demanding the United Nations set up some sort of tribunal to investigate the bombing -- which actually makes it clear how inept Nouri's 'leadership' is that he can't handle an incident of violence.  Alsumaria reports that Syrian President Bashar Al Assad denounced the proposal at a press conference today with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Khalid al-Ansary, Muhanad Mohammed, Tim Cocks and Janet Lawrence  (Reuters) report that Nouri's sending "thousands of extra police" to the border with Syria and Iraqi police chief Tariq Yusuf describes those being sent as "emergency forces."  BBC quotes Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's Foreign Minister, stating, "We have given them [the Syrian government] the evidence that we have through the Turkish foreign minister and we are waiting for their response."  Efforts by Turkey to mediate between the governments of Syria and Iraq earlier this week appear to have fallen apart after Turkey refused to send more water to the two countries.  Alsumaria reports that Jordan's Prime Minister Nader Al Dahabi (visiting Baghdad and now in the Kurdistan region) "noted that his country is willing to calm tensions between Baghdad and Damascus". As Mike noted yesterday, the Jordan Times reported Iraq and Jordan reached an agreement to establish "a free trade zone".     Iraq as the Angry Child.  Stomping its feet and demanding everyone bow to its wishes.  If you learn one thing from following the current government, it's how ignorant and uninformed or uncaring the officials are.  Inside Iraq airs every Friday on Al Jazeera and usually includes one Iraqi government employee who struggles to redefine what government actually is and only succeeds in demonstrating how nothing resembling democracy is taking root in Iraq.  Forget respect, there is no understanding of the press and you get idiots like the Ministry of National Dialogue's Saad al-Muttalibi (see the August 21st broadcast) stating:   And I'm not here to defend anybody, I'm just saying that there were no evidence. For somebody to write a piece, an article in a state-owned newspaper and claim that he knew in advance that somebody, anybody has the intention of doing the robbery and buying blankets and distributing the blankets through -- during the elections, that sounds to me like going out of the norm, this is not media reporting, this is accusation and without any evidence.  I mean the journalists didn't have any evidence for his case. A journalist's job is uh to produce the news uh to convey the news and events that happen in the country and as truthfully and honest as possible and but not to make interpretation, their own interpretation of events.  Thank you.   A journalist doesn't gather 'evidence.'  Journalism is not a court of law.  Reporting isn't a court of law.  There are different standards in a court of law than are required for journalism and that's because public shaming (the worst that journalism can do) is not the same as imprisonment.  Equally true, journalism is reporting and it is more than that.  The article that had Saad al-Muttalibi so enraged wasn't "reporting."  He wants to impose reporting standards on what was an opinion piece, a column.  Forget that it was parody -- which the uneducated Saad al-Muttalibi and a whole host of others can't grasp -- it was an opinion column.  But Saad thinks he can dictate what journalism will be in a country and what it would be under him is nothing but "The government said today . . ."  That's not how journalism works and it's not even reporting is supposed to work.  The thugs in charge in Iraq like to toss around "evidence" but they never understand what it is nor do they ever grasp that just because they dub something "evidence" doesn't mean others would recognize it as such.  The government's a joke and it would deservedly fall apart if the US pulled out all troops tomorrow.  Which should probably happen because it would allow the Iraqis a fighting chance -- the people who the US military was supposedly 'freeing' but instead have been enslaved to the whims of a bunch of cowardly exiles who couldn't fight Saddamn but could run off and hide in other countries where they lobbyied for US involvement for decades.  These cowards are the ones the US government put in charge of Iraq and they have no legitimacy in the eyes of the average Iraqi which is not a surprise because no one would want their rulers to be composed of a slew of cowards and turncoasts who didn't have the guts to struggle in the country with everyone else but instead fled for posh and cushy lives in London, Iran, Jordan, Syria, etc. When you grasp how many exiles make up the so-called 'government,' it's all the more shocking the central government's lack of concern for the ongoing external refugee crisis.  UNHCR announced today that 36 Iraqi refugees living in Jordan and Syria have been "resettled to Belgium".  On the subject of refugees, Marcia noted the appeal sent out by the US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents -- Camp Ashraf is a camp of Iranian exiles who have been in Iraq for decades now.   On the 38th day of a hunger strike outside the White House in protest against the continuing siege of Camp Ashraf in Iraq, speakers at a news conference called on President Obama to intervene and end the humanitarian crisis in Ashraf, home to 3,400 members of the People's Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and their families. Steven Schneebaum, U.S. Counsel for the families of Camp Ashraf residents, said, "The position of the United States that it no longer has any obligation towards the residents of Ashraf is plainly wrong. The US is still responsible based on the agreement it signed with each and every member in 2004, according to Article 45 of the 4th Geneva Convention and International Customary Law." Colonel Gary Morsch, Reservist, Commander, Combat Support Hospital in the US army, who severed in Ashraf in 2004, remarked that, "I am speaking as a soldier and cannot comprehend why our military did nothing to stop the carnage at Ashraf." "There are hundreds of people across the world on hunger strike. If we can get our government to act quickly, and get the 36 hostages released, we can bring the hunger strike to an end," Colonel Morsch added.   Unlike their 'leaders,' for the Iraqi people, the stuggle never ends.  Campbell Robertson (online at the New York Times) reports from northern Iraq's "small Christian villages" where "residents seem tired; looking into their empty, often unhealthy faces, you wonder whether the massive exodus of Christians from Iraq -- half the population by many estimates -- has left only the weakest and least capable behind to look after their homeland." And in order "to look after their homeland," Nordland reports, a new development has emerged, the formation of Christian militias.  Militia member Thabid Daoo is quoted stating, "We are protecting the whole city, not the churches only.  We are the people of our city, so we know the strangers who are coming from outside."   Meanwhile Quil Lawrence (NPR -- text only) reports that Iraqi security forces are using an instrumbent to detect bombs that probably doesn't do that: "Many U.S. officials say the science is about as sound as searching for groundwater with a stick. [. . .] One American expert in Baghdad compared the machine with a Ouija board but wouldn't comment on the record.  A U.S. Navy investigation exposed a similar device made by a company called Sniffex as a sham."  Meanwhile one security measure is in the news.  Martin Chulov (Guardian) reports that not only have they stopped taking down the Bremer walls (blast walls) in Baghdad, "This week walls were again being erected across the capital in areas where they had only just been removed.  The symbolism was unmistakable: forebodying landmarks of Iraq's descent into chaos were once again necessary.  The security gains of the past year are starting to look like a false dawn."     Bombings?   Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad sticky bombing and a Baghdad car bombing last night with seven injured from the latter.  Reuters notes a Basra rocket attack last night "on the South Cas company offices" and a Baghdad car bombing which injured three people last night (in addition to the one that injured seven).   Corpses?   Reuters notes 1 corpse discovered in Kirkuk.   Turning to the United States and what may be the only accountability for the crimes in Iraq.  May 7th Steven D. Green (pictured above) was convicted for his crimes in March 12, 2006 gang-rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, the murder of her parents and the murder of her five-year-old sister while Green was serving in Iraq. Green was found to have killed all four, to have participated in the gang-rape of Abeer and to have been the ringleader of the conspiracy to commit the crimes and the conspiracy to cover them up. May 21st, the federal jury deadlocked on the death penalty and instead kicking in sentence to life in prison. Today, Green stood before US District Judge Thomas B. Russell for sentencing. Kim Landers (Australia's ABC) quotes Judge Russell telling Green his actions were "horrifying and inexcusable."  Not noted in any of the links in this snapshot (it comes from a friend present in the court), Steven Dale Green has dropped his efforts to appear waif-ish in a coltish Julia Roberts circa the 1990s manner.  Green showed up a good twenty pounds heavier than he appeared when on trial, back when the defense emphasized his 'lanky' image by dressing him in oversized clothes.  Having been found guilty last spring, there was apparently no concern that he appear frail anymore.    Italy's AGI reports, "Green was recognised as the leader of a group of five soldiers who committed the massacre on September 12 2006 at the Mahmudiyah check point in the south of Baghdad. The story inspired the 2007 masterpiece by Brian De Palma 'Redacted'."  BBC adds, "Judge Thomas Russell confirmed Green would serve five consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole."  Deborah Yetter (Courier-Journal) explains, "Friday's federal court hearing was devoted mostly to discussion of technical issues related to Green's sentencing report, although it did not change Green's sentence. He was convicted in May of raping and murdering Abeer al-Janabi, 14, and murdering her parents, Kassem and Fakhriya, and her sister, Hadeel, 6, at their home outside Baghdad."   Green was tried in civilian court because he had already been discharged before the War Crimes were discovered.  Following the gang-rape and murders, US soldiers attempted to set fire to Abeer's body to destroy the evidence and attempted to blame the crimes on "insurgents."  In real time, when the bodies were discovered, the New York Times was among the outlets that ran with "insurgents."  Green didn't decide he wanted to be in the military on his own.  It was only after his most recent arrest -- after a long string of juvenile arrests -- while sitting in jail and fearing what sentence he would face, that Green decided the US Army was just the place he wanted to be.  Had he been imprisoned instead or had the US military followed rules and guidelines, Green wouldn't have gotten in on a waiver.  Somehow his history was supposed to translate into "He's the victim!!!!"  As if he (and the others) didn't know rape was a crime, as if he (and the others) didn't know that murder was considered wrong.  Green attempted to climb up on the cross again today.  AP's Brett Barrouguere quotes the 'victim' Green insisting at today's hearing, "You can act like I'm a sociopath.  You can act like I'm a sex offender or whatever.  If I had not joined the Army, if I had not gone to Iraq, I would not have got caught up in anything."  Climb down the cross, drama queen.  Your entire life was about leading up to a moment like that.  You are a sociopath.  You stalked a 14-year-old Iraqi girl while you were stationed at a checkpoint in her neighborhood.  You made her uncomfortable and nervous, you stroked her face.  She ran to her parents who made arrangements for her to go live with others just to get her away from you, the man the army put there to protect her and the rest of the neighborhood.  You are one sick f**k and you deserve what you got.  Green play drama queen and insist "you can act like I'm a sex offender" -- he took part in and organized a gang-rape of a 14-year-old girl.  That's a sex offender.  In fact, "sex offender" is a mild term for what Green is.   Steven D. Green made the decision to sign up for the US military.  He was facing criminal punishment for his latest crimes, but he made the decision.  Once in the military, despite his long history of arrests, he didn't see it as a chance to get a fresh start.  He saw it as a passport for even more crimes.  What he did was disgusting and vile and it is War Crimes and by doing that he disgraced himself and the US military.  His refusal to take accountability today just demonstrates the realities all along which was Green did what he wanted and Green has no remorse.  He sullied the name of the US military, he sullied the name of the US.  As a member of the army, it was his job to follow the rules and the laws and he didn't do so.  And, as a result, a retaliation kidnapping of US soldiers took place in the spring of 2006 and those soldiers were strung up and gutted.  That should weigh heavily on Steven D. Green but there's no appearence that he's ever thought of anyone but himself.  He wants to act as if the problem was the US military which requires that you then argue that anyone serving in Iraq could have and would have done what he did.  That is not reality.  He does not represent the average soldier and he needs to step down from the cross already.    AFP notes, "During closing arguments at his sentencing, Green was described alternately as 'criminal and perverse' and deserving of the death penalty, and as a 'broken warrior" whose life should be spared'."  Brett Barrouquere (AP) has been covering the story for years now.  He notes that Patrick Bouldin (defense) attempted to paint Green as the victim as well by annoucing that Green wanted to take responsibility "twice" before but that Assistant US Attorney Marisa Ford explained that was right before jury selection began and in the midst of jury selection.  In other words, when confronted with the reality that he would be going to trial, Steven D. Green had a panic moment and attempted to make a deal with the prosecution.  (The offer was twice rejected because the 'life in prison' offer included the defense wanting Green to have possible parole.)  Steve Robrahn, Andrew Stern and Paul Simao (Reuters) quote US Brig Gen Rodney Johnson ("Commanding General of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command") stating, "We sincerely hope that today's sentencing helps to bring the loved ones of this Iraqi family some semblance of closure and comfort after this horrific and senseless act."   While Green plays victim, Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan attempts to end the wars. Last week, she led demonstrations on Martha's Vineyard while US President Barack Obama vacationed there.  John V. Walsh (CounterPunch) reports:   I spent but a short time with Cindy Sheehan as she carried her antiwar protest from an earlier time at Crawford, TX, to Martha's Vineyard, vacation spot for Obama and many other Democrat Party elite.   As Cindy remarked, the real story was not that she was protesting Obama's wars but that the "leadership" of the peace movement did not support her protest.  When the target was Bush in Crawford, she was all the rage with antiwar celebrities, but not so now that the target is Barack Obama.   While there is considerable enthusiasm for her anti-Obama protest on the part of the rank and file in the anti-war movement, a refusal of its "leaders" to notify their members far and wide, high and low, crippled the action.   As a result of this betrayal, the numbers at Martha's Vineyard were not large.   But Cindy and her fellow anti-warriors were undeterred.  While I was there, she mounted a spirited march down the road to Obama's place, no more than a quarter mile away from where she stayed.  The purpose was to present the President with a poster of Cindy bearing a signed plea to end the wars.   The considerable armed force at the gate and the Secret Service officers would not even bring out the lowliest of staffers to receive the poster.  Clearly the message from Obama was "Get lost, Cindy."  And we were quickly told to move a considerable distance down the road.  At least in Crawford it had been possible to demonstrate at the checkpoint to the site -- not so at Obama's place.  Thus, did Obama greet a mother whose son was lost in the wars, which he continues and enlarges by the day.   CounterPunch's Alexander Cockburn observes:     Is there any sign of life in a movement that marshaled hundreds of thousands to march in protest against war in Iraq?  Ah, but those were the Bush years. Now we have a Democrat in the White House. One person hasn't tossed aside her peace sign. Cindy Sheehan sees war as war, whether the battle standard is being waved by a white moron from Midland, Texas or an eloquent black man from Chicago. But when she called for protesters to join her on Martha's Vineyard to stand outside Obama's holiday roost for four days at the end of August there was a marked contrast to the response she got when she rallied thousands to stand outside Bush's Crawford lair.            As John Walsh described it here last week, "the silence was,  as Cindy put it in an email to this writer, 'crashingly deafening.'  Where are the email appeals to join Cindy from The Nation or from AFSC or Peace Action or 'Progressive' Democrats of America (PDA) or even Code Pink?   Or United for Peace and Justice. And what about MoveOn although it was long ago thoroughly discredited as principled opponents of war or principled in any way shape or form except slavish loyalty to the 'other' War Party.  And of course sundry 'socialist' organizations are also missing in action since their particular dogma will not be front and center.  These worthies and many others have vanished into the fog of Obama's wars."  Before he joined Sheehan on Martha's Vineyard, Walsh says he contacted several of the leaders of the "official" peace movement in the Boston area -- AFSC, Peace Action, Green Party of MA (aka Green Rainbow Party) and some others.  Not so much as the courtesy of a reply resulted from this effort -- although the GRP at least posted a notice of the action.   TV notes. NOW on PBS begins airing tonight on many PBS stations: This week NOW, as part of a collaboration with the nonprofit investigative unit ProPublica, explores the controversial tactic of "preventative detention," a government plan that may detain suspects indefinitely without trial or even formal charges. Implementing such a plan may have far-reaching consequences on not just our fight against terrorism, but the integrity of the U.S. Constitution and the cause of human rights. Washington Week also begins airing tonight on many PBS stations and sitting around the table with Gwen this week are Dan Balz (Washington Post), Jackie Calmes (New York Times), John Dickerson (CBS News and Slate) and Martha Raddatz (ABC News). Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe and her guests Sam Bennett, Amanda Carpenter, Karen Czarnecki and Eleanor Holmes Norton 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 Age of Megafires Global warming is increasing the intensity and number of forest fires across the American West. Scott Pelley goes to the fire line to report. Watch Video Combat in Afghanistan The enemy is on the rise in Afghanistan and Lara Logan's report from a forward operating base near Pakistan includes 60 Minutes footage of up-close combat. Watch Video Mr. Ayers and Mr. Lopez Discovered living on the streets by Los Angeles Times newspaper columnist Steve Lopez, mentally ill musician Nathaniel Ayers has become the subject of a book by Lopez and now a Hollywood film. Morley Safer reports. Watch Video 60 Minutes Sunday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.     iraq steven d. green brett barrouquere the new york times campbell robertson npr quil lawrence mcclatchy newspapers sahar issa cindy sheehan john v. walsh al jazeera reuters martin chulov the guardian bbc news alsumaria washington week iraq 60 minutes cbs news pbs to the contrary bonnie erbe now on pbs