Saturday, September 19, 2009

Doable? Yes, always was

If Iraqis do decide to boot out the U.S. a year ahead of schedule, it would require a complete focus on the logistics of leaving at the expense of other tasks, such as sharing intelligence and training, said Brig. Gen. Heidi Brown, who is overseeing the exodus of U.S. equipment and troops.
"Is [a rapid redeployment] doable? Yes, but you pay the price," she said.
During a visit to Baghdad on Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden said the U.S. would follow the lead of Iraqi officials regarding the timetable for the pullout.
"Whatever the Iraqi people decide," Biden told reporters, "we will abide by it."

The above is from Heath Druzin's "Lesser role spurs talk of faster exit from Iraq" (Stars and Stripes) and, yes, it would be doable -- despite the repeated lies that have been run by the press over and over throughout this illegal war. We've said it before and we'll say it again, all 130,000 US troops and most of the equipment could be removed easily in six weeks. That's reality. And when Georgian troops needed to return to their country, they were able to do it very quickly. But we weren't supposed to notice that and we're all supposed to pretend that the US could not withdraw from Iraq quickly. We're noting the above because, yes, it is doable. It was always doable.

Joe Biden was in Iraq this week.

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As with all these trips, it was announced. Six years in and US leaders are still required to sneak into the country "like a cat in the dark and then she is the darkness" ("Rhiannon," written by Stevie Nicks, recorded by Fleetwood Mac).


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While there he met with thug of the occupation, Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad.


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He met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.


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And he traveleved to the Kurdistan Region for the first time as vice president to meet with Kurdish President Massoud Barzani. He's visited Iraq three times this year. The first time was before Barack was sworn in as president of the United States. The second time Biden visited, he was grounded in Baghdad. He was in communication with the Kurdistan Regional Government on that second visit via phone but the face-to-face was cancelled.


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The White House notes Joe Biden making these remarks to the press following his meeting with Massoud Barzani:


VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: Thank you, Mr. President, for your hospitality. I seem to bring bad weather to Irbil. (Laughter.) When I was to meet with you last, there was a severe sandstorm and we had to postpone the meeting.
As the President knows, I very much wanted to return to Irbil. I had the pleasure of being here some time ago, and it is a -- it's an honor to be back.
Last time the weather prevented my making it to Irbil. I promised President Barzani and President Talabani that I would make a return visit. And I make that promise again.
The United States understands that the Kurdish people, like so many other Iraqis, suffered terribly -- suffered terribly under the rule and the regime of Saddam Hussein. And the United States and the rest of the world will never forget that. The transformation and the economic development of this region since 2003 -- indeed, since the 1990s -- has been a truly remarkable transformation and a success story.
We landed in a beautiful airport, even though it wasn't instrument landing. And during the ride through the city, I was once again struck as I was seven years ago, by how much positive activity -- building and development -- is taking place.
The President and I have been conversing on the telephone the last couple of months, and I apologize for monopolizing so much of his time in our private meeting. But as the President suggested, there are a number of very important issues that we wanted to discuss with one another. President Barzani and the new Kurdish parliament are going to face a number of key issues in their upcoming term. And I've been impressed by the willingness and the commitment of the President to -- again, to negotiating good faith with his colleagues in Baghdad on a number of these issues.
For as the President said to me that he can only resolve these issues within the constitution and through good-faith negotiations between the Kurdistan regional government and the Iraqi national government. He knows, and we all know, these are difficult issues. If they weren't, they would have been resolved a long time ago.
So I commend President Barzani and President Talabani -- as well as meetings I had yesterday at length with Prime Minister Maliki -- who are, I believe, striving to resolve some of these very difficult issues that are outstanding. Although we did discuss specific details, I think it's totally inappropriate for us to discuss them publicly. But let me say that I'm convinced that there is good faith and a genuine desire to reach a fair compromise among all the parties that I mentioned.
The United States fully understands -- recognizes, and supports -- the notion that there's a sovereign Iraqi government. But we stand ready to use our good offices to support Iraqi national unity. Above all, the United States remains committed to a long-term, bilateral relationship with a united Iraq. We stand ready to continue this partnership with President Barzani and the other leaders of Iraq -- all those who are willing to make this country safer -- and to take the concrete, although difficult steps that still remain to ensure Iraq's long-term success and unity.
And, Mr. President, if you don't mind a personal reference, I am a general -- I am a genuine admirer of the courage that you showed when your people were under persecution of Saddam Hussein, and your courageous leadership. And I look forward to continuing our discussion. Thank you.


Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .


Bombings?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad mortar attack, a Mosul roadside bmbing which claimed 1 life (a "little girl" with her sister and brother left wounded) and an Anbar province roadside bombing which targeted the US military.

Shootings?


Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 Iraqi service member shot dead in Mosul and 2 "Sabian goldsmiths" were shot dead in their Basra jewelry shops. Reuters notes 1 "old woman" shot dead in Mosul and 1 police officer shot dead in Mosul.

Muhanad Mohammed, Tim Cocks and Sophie Hares (Reuters) notes that the Turkish government has decided to supply Iraq with additional "water from the Eurphates river".


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Shoe thrower shot by US troops dies

A man who lived through the "cleansing" of Fallujah by occupation forces. Two battles - not one.
He saw his city burn, his friends killed, his neighbours maimed.
His mind broke, and he became imbalanced.
He roamed the streets with long unkempt hair, disheveled clothes and a wild look in his eyes.
Whenever he saw an American military convoy pass, he would shake his fists in the air and raise his voice and swear at them. He would sometimes pick up a pebble and hurl it at them.

The above is from an Iraqi correspondent for McClatchy in "This Time a shoe thrower was shot" (Inside Iraq). This week the journalist who threw two shoes at Bush (and called him out for lying -- which we applaud in foreign countries but not in the US apparently) was released. On Wednesday Ahmed Abdul Latif was shot by US forces in Falluja after he threw a shoe at the US military. Nawaf Jabbar and Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) reported that Latif fell to the ground after being shot according to eye witness Ahmed Mukhlif who says that then "the four U.S. Humvees stopped and a man stepped out, his rifle pointing toward the wounded Iraqi, and a policeman intervened and prevented the American from firing again." Today an Iraqi correspondent for McClatchy reports that Ahmed Abdul Latif died in the hospital Thursay and quotes his brother stating, "Maybe now he is at peace."

Meanwhile in today's New York Times, Brian Knowlton reports on those in DC demonstrating in support of the residents at Camp Ashraf. Camp Ashraf is composed of the MEK, Iranian dissidents. July 28th they were attacked by Nouri al-Maliki. Eleven people were killed, thirty-six were hauled off. Knowlton quotes 26-year-old Iranian-American Hamid Goudarzi who is on a hunger strike, "I'm getting weaker every day. But I'm here to the end." Knowlton observes:

The protesters are calling for the resumption of American protection of the camp until a United Nations presence can be arranged and for the release of 36 members who have been detained since the clash at Camp Ashraf, which is home to about 3,400 people.

The following community sites updated since yesterday morning:




Wally's "THIS JUST IN! BIG BONED!" is up and went up when Cedric's post did (top of the above list). It's not being read for whatever reason. But it's up.

We'll note this from the KRG:

US Vice President Biden meets President Barzani in Erbil


Erbil, Kurdistan – Iraq (KRG.org) – United States Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Erbil yesterday and met President Masoud Barzani, on his first visit to the Kurdistan Region since taking office.

Vice President Biden also met outgoing Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister designate Barham Salih and other senior KRG officials.

Mr Biden and President Barzani discussed bilateral relations between the US and Iraq in general, and the US and the Kurdistan Region in particular.

Vice President Biden said at a press conference after the meeting, “The United States understands that the Kurdish people, like so many other Iraqis, suffered terribly - suffered terribly under the rule and the regime of Saddam Hussein. And the United States and the rest of the world will never forget that. The transformation and the economic development of this region since 2003 - indeed, since the 1990s - has been a truly remarkable transformation and a success story.”

The discussions focused on the Kurdistan Regional Government’s relations with Baghdad, the unresolved status of Kirkuk and Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution. The pending hydrocarbons law, the governance system in Iraq and the commitment to the Constitution were also discussed. Both sides emphasised the importance of the outcome of Iraqi elections in January.

President Barzani said, “We reiterate our commitment to the constitution of Iraq and to solving outstanding problems through dialogue and peaceful negotiations with Baghdad.”

President Barzani expressed thanks on behalf of the people of Kurdistan to the men and women of the US for liberating the people of Iraq from dictatorship. Mr Biden said on a personal note that he is mindful of the suffering of the Kurdish people and is an admirer of the courage that President Barzani showed in his leadership during Saddam’s era and today.

Senior KRG and US officials attended the meeting. This was the second visit by Vice President Biden following a visit in December 2002. He also met Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in Erbil.

See also photos of Vice President Biden's visit.

We'll note more of the visit in the next entry.

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Friday, September 18, 2009

Iraq snapshot

Friday, September 18, 2009.  Chaos and violence continue, Biden's visit gets some press attention, Triple Canopy does as well, Chris Hill's testimony last week revealed prior knowledge of an assault (which the press has ignored) and more.
 
Diane Rehm returned Monday as host of NPR's The Diane Rehm Show and today on the second hour, Iraq was a topic for Diane and her panelists James Kitfield (National Journal), Elise Labott (CNN) and Farah Stockman (Boston Globe). 
 
Diane Rehm: Alright, let's talke about Vice President Joe Biden's trip to Iraq which is presumably more under control but it sure doesn't look that way. He's in the Green Zone and the bombs are dropping all around him.
 
Elise Labott: Just a mile from where he was having lunch with Prime -- or Ramadan, kind of ending the fast, with Prime Minster al-Maliki.  And there were rockets that kind of landed on the American Embassy compound.  And that was over two days.  It seems to be under control now.  This was the third trip that Biden has made this year.  He was just there as recently as July.  And he's supposed to be the kind of point person in the administration to look over Iraq and we've heard a lot and we've talked a lot on the show about all the security problems that Iraq has been facing in the last few months and this renewed sectarian violence.  This was really a political trip.  This was a message by the administration to the Iraqi leadership of two things.  First of all, they're moving from this military relationship to a more strategic relationship and they want the Iraqis to know that even though the troops are not leaving, the administration is still going to give it that Cabinet level support that it needs and it's also "You need to get your political house in order."
 
Diane Rehm: Well what about Biden's statement, "If you want us to leave earlier, we will abide by your wishes"?
 
James Kitfield: That's been the case for some time, you know, ever since 2006, we ceeded that-that authority to the Iraqis. They can tell us to get out anytime they want.  What's worrying the Americans is Prime Minister Maliki running on his support for a referendum on maybe  pushing our departure up a whole year so in other words instead of getting out in 2011, get out the end of next year. And we're very worried about that.  We think that would be moving too fast the security situation is not stable enough and these-these rockets, even while Biden was meeting in the Green Zone with Maliki, kind of underscore our concern.

Diane Rehm: Farah?
 
Farah Stockman: Well I just also wanted to point out that a lot of violence in the north in Kirkuk and Mosul, and uh --
 
Diane Rehm: He talked to Kurdish leaders as well.
 
Farah Stockman: Right.  I think the Kurds are also -- there's a lot of tension between Arabs and Kurds and this was not a story that we were hearing a couple of years ago.  You know the Kurds have oil and they want to develop their oil fields by giving a higher percentage of uh profits to these oil companies that are coming in.  They want to sweeten the deal and uh Maliki's people don't want to do that.  So that when they give the Kurds money for their oil, they want the Kurds to take, uh, to take a hit basically to take a bigger cut out of their own money.  There's a lot -- they still haven't passed the oil law and a big agenda on Biden's -- a big agenda item for Biden.

Elise Labott: One of the things also on his agenda was "Listen you need to incur more foreign investment. You need to sweeten these deals for the foreign investment that's coming in." And so he's saying there's going to be a big conference in Washington next month on kind of incurring foreign investment and so they really need to get that oil law in order and also there's some security problems in the north that's where as we we said a lot of these attacks are and the administration it seems are going to try to take a bigger role in trying to settle disputes between Arabs and Kurds which are really shaping up to be the dirtiest part of the politics in Iraq right now.
 
US Vice President Joe Biden has been in Iraq this week meeting with various leaders. Yesterday's news, unremarked upon in US outlets, would be the political jockeying of Ibrahim Al Jaafari and Nouri al-Maliki as both worked overtime to prove they could be the most insulting to a visiting foreign official. Both made pointed remarks to outlets about issues such as Iraq's elections being Iraq -- and only Iraq's -- business. For those late to the party, Jaafari was the prime minster before Nouri. He was also the first choice of Iraqi MPs to be prime minister in the spring of 2006 but the US nixed that and demanded Nouri. Jaafari is part of the new Shi'ite alliance (Iraqi National Alliance) and it's thought that Jaafari's presence was what had Nouri insisting he wouldn't join the alliance unless he was promised that they'd re-nominate him for prime minister following January's scheduled elections. They refused to meet that demand and Nouri has not joined the alliance so far.
 
The KRG notes that Biden was in Erbil Thursday and met with various officials including KRG President Masoud Barzani, KRG Prime Minister Nechivan Barzani, KRG Prime Minister designate Barham Salih.  Barzani and Biden held a joint-press conference and the KRG quotes Biden stating, "The United States understands that the Kurdish people, like so many other Iraqis, suffered terribly -- suffered terribly under the rule and the regime of Saddam Hussein.  And the United States and the rest of the world will never forget that.  The transformation and the economic development of this region since 2003 -- indeed, since the 1990s -- has been a truly remarkable transformation and a success story."  Barzani is quoted stating, "We reiterate our commitment to the constitution of Iraq and to solving outstanding problems through dialogue and peaceful negotiations with Baghdad."  In addition, the KRG adds, "The discussions focused on the Kurdistan Regional Government's relations with Baghdad, the unresolved status of Kirkuk and Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution.  The pending hydrocarbons law, the governance system in Iraq and the commitment to the Constitution were also discussed."  UPI adds, "Joe Biden's visit to Baghdad earlier this week -- his third this year -- came hot on the hells of a lightening visit by Russia's energy minister as the scramble for Iraq's oil riches heats up.  Just as Sergei Shmatko sought favorable terms for Russian companies in an upcoming oil contract auction, Biden was hustling on behalf of the U.S. oil giants who have long dreamed of getting their hands on what may be the largest untapped oil reserves in the world." Bill Van Auken (World Socialist Web Site) also reports on the oil issues of the visit, "In his meetings with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is Kurdish, and Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Biden apparently pushed for a compromise with the Iraqi federal government in Baghdad on the issues of territorial borders and control of oil. [. . .] During the course of his visit, the US vice-president has made clear his concern that a bigger piece of this pie should go to the American oil companies, whose interests have played a prominent role in the prosecution of the Iraq war since well before the invasion of March 2003."
 
On Tuesday's CNN's Situation Room,  video here, transcript here, Wolf Blitzer informed that CNN's Chris Lawrence was "the only television correspondent traveling with the vice president".  Lawrence explained that they got "on the plane and left out of Andrews Air Force Base, we didn't even know where exactly we were going or when we would get there.  This is one of those secret trips -- not like going to London or Paris or visiting allies like that.  So it was all kept very hush-hush."  Chris Lawrence landed the only US television interview with Biden from Baghdad (click here for video). Ross Colvin, Tim Cocks, Missy Ryan and Jon Boyle (Reuters)report, "U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pressed leaders of semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan on Thursday to compromise on the potentially explosive issue of how to manage and share the country's vast oil wealth. Biden said he did not expect the long-running feud over land and oil between Iraq's minority Kurds and its Shi'ite Arab-led government in Baghdad, seen a main threat to its fragile stability, would be settled before national polls in January."
 
In Mahmoudiyah today, shoppers were surprised by a bombing.  Xinhua reports the bombing took place "at a crowded market".  Iran's Press TV explains it was a car bombing and adds that the city is "south of Baghdad . . . located within the so-called 'Triangle of Death' where sectarian tensions hiked in 2006 and 2007". Khaled al-Ramahi, Tim Cocks and Sophie Hares (Reuters) report that the bombing claimed 7 lives with twenty-one more left injured and remind that Mahmudiya was last rocked by bombings September 10th.  In addition, Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) adds a Baghdad roadside bombing wounded two people.
 
Turning to the topic of reports and studies, Nat Hentoff (Metro West Daily News) notes Physicians for Human Rights' August 2009 report "Aiding Torture: Health Professionals' Ethics and Human Rights Violations Demonstrated in the May 2004 inspector General's Report" and says, "This PHR report quotes from a February 2004 report by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on interrogations in Iraq, but as PHR has previously noted, "hooding was used both during transportation and during interrogation," not only in Iraq. And we can only guess what special forms of hooding were invented in the CIA's secret prisons."  For the report [PDF format warning], click here. 
 
According to the February 2004 report of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on treatment of deatinees in Iraq:   
Hooding [was] used to prevent people from seeing and to disorient them, and also to prevent them from breathing freely.  One, or sometimes two bags, sometimes with an elastic blindfold over the eyes which when slipped down, futher impeded proper breathing.  Hooding was sometimes used in conjunction with beatings thus increasing anxiety as to when blows would come.  The practice of hooding also allowed the interrogators to remain anonymous and thus to act with impunity.  Hooding could last for periods from a few hours to up to 2 to 4 consecutive days, during which hoods were lifted only for drinking eating or going to the toilets.
 
Still on the ICRC, as noted in yesterday's snapshot, the US military closed their prison in Camp Bucca. The International Committee of the Red Cross has a photo essay of families visiting prisoners in Camp Bucca and notes, "For families who used to visit their relatives detained in Bucca, southern Iraq, the journey was always long, perilous and costly, but well worth it.  Since October 2005, the ICRC had helped make the journey possible, not least by covering part of the costs.  In Spetember 2009, with the closure of the American facility at Camp Bucca, the ICRC ended its family-visit programme.  During the four years that the programme ran, almost 30,000 detained people received 146,000 visits from their relatives with ICRC support."
 
Meanwhile David Bedein (Philadelphia Bulletin) reports RAND Corporation's "Withdrawing from Iraq: Alternative Schedules, Associated Risks, and Mitigating Strategies" from July was submitted to Department of Defense this week. Bedein notes that the report found that the central government in Baghdad would not be able to 'eradicate' al Qaeda in Iraq.

The report was released in July and (my summary) it argues that a draw down is fine but US troops cannot leave Iraq. Because of al Qaeda in Iraq? No, the report is primarily arguing that a full US departure would lead Turkey to invade. And, since July, it's been a rare week that the report's assertion hasn't been decried by some Turkish news outlet. For example, Sunday Hurriyet Daily News ran the editorial "From the Bosphorus: Straight - RAND report wreaks of arrogance:"


There was a time, a certain age of innocence really, when it was possible to despise the CIA and associated intelligence agencies for their apparent evil. But today, we must regard them with contempt for their stupidity.                          
A case in point of international diplomacy at its arrogant worst is the new RAND Corporation report upon which Daily News Ankara bureau chief Serkan Demirtaş reported in the weekend newspaper. The "sponsored" research by RAND basically urges the U.S. Obama Administration to threaten Turkey with "negative consequences" to its European Union bid should any incursion into northern Iraq impede American withdrawal from that desperate and war-torn country.              
[. . .]
So we take great offense that RAND believes Turkey should be muscled into continuing this policy as insurance against a military incursion by Turkey in the wake of an Iraqi civil war sparked by the American exit. Such a report, particularly if embraced by Obama as policy, is simply a guarantee that the legitimacy of the "Kurdish opening" will be challenged by many in Turkey and probably derailed. Essentially, RAND's warning risks a self-fulfilling prophecy.              
We take particular offense that RAND would suggest U.S. coordination with European allies to make sure Turkey "understands" that any move into Iraq will harm the country's EU bid. RAND should "understand" Turkish sentiment. It is clear this institution does not. And this is why we can only summon contempt for a report that reeks of arrogance.          

This has not been a minor issue in Turkey and Hurriyet is among the most recent to weigh in and Sol's reporting on it today. It's surprising that a RAND report which has caused so much controversy hasn't been reported on by the networks or US daily papers. Or maybe not surprising.


The authors of the report are Walt L. Perry, Stuart E. Johnson, Keith W. Crane, David C. Gompert, John Gordon, Robert E. Hunter, Dalia Dassa Kaye, Terrence K. Kelly, Eric Peltz and Howard Shatz. In their preface [PDF format warning, click here for report] they note:


The analysis supporting this report was completed in May 2009, and
the illustrative schedules all assume implementation decisions having been made in time for implementation in May, if not earlier. To the extent that such decisions are made later, the schedules would likely be pushed back accordingly. We recognize that any drawdown schedule that calls for U.S. forces remaining in Iraq beyond the end of December 2011 would require renegotiating the Security Agreement between the United States and Iraq.
 
The SOFA might be renegotiated?  The study was prepared at the request of US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.  Are you starting to get why US outlets haven't really explored the RAND study?  No, the Iraq War has not ended and doesn't appear to be.  Steven Verburg (Wisconsin state Journal) reports, "About 200 Madison-based members of the Wisconsin Air National Guard are heading for Iraq in the next week."
 
Yesterday's snapshot noted the Istanbul meet-up of Ahmed Davutoglu (Turkey's Foreign Minister), Hoshyar Zebari (Iraq's Foreign Minister), Walid Mualem (Syria's Foreign Minister) Amr Moussa (Arab League Secretary General). Today's Zaman notes the meeting continued on Firday and that Turkey's Foreign Minister "Davutoglu also said the meeting in Istanbul would be preparation for the upcoming meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council, which will be held in Baghdad, with Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki presiding over the meeting."  He states, "This is such an important project that, when realized, peoples living side by side for centuries will reunite in a shared economic basin.  Our capabillities and assets will be mobilized to create a very powerful economic region."  Barcin Yinanc (Hurriyet Daily News) reports, "Turkey again tried to assume the role of 'troubleshooter' Thursday as it pressed Syria and Iraq to ease the tension stemming from Iraqi accusations that Syria is behind bomb attacks in Baghdad."  That's how it's reported in Turkey -- a long, long way from assertions Hoshyar Zebari has made on Al Jazeera TV where he repeatedly insists that Turkey sees Iraq in the right and Syria in the wrong. 
 
Meanwhile, on the topic of Iraqi refugees, a rebuke to Nouri and his strong-arm attempts on relief agencies and the United Nations. Julian Isherwood (Politiken) reports Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi "has urged Denmark to reconsider the forced repatriation of Iraqis whose requests for asylum in Denmark have been refused." The Copenhagen Post adds that "Helle Lykke Nielsen, associate professor at the University of Souterhn Denmark's Centre for Middle East Studies, believes the message is a way of telling Denmark that its current method of forcing Iraqis back to their country needs to be changed."  Nouri al-Maliki has been eager to force the returns.  He's now joined by the dim bulb Chris Hill, US Ambassador to Iraq.  Testifying to Congress last week [see Thursday's snapshot here, Friday's here and Kat's post here], Hill insisted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the Iraqi refugees had to return for Iraq's own security.  Yeah, the widow who saw her husband and oldest son shot dead before her and now lives in Syria?  Without her, all of Iraq will crumble.  Chris Hill was so very lucky that the press had little interest in his testimony.  It was with the House Foreign Relations Committee, for example, under direct questioning from US House Rep Ted Poe that Hill had to admit the US had prior knowledge that the assault on Camp Ashraf and the Iranian refugees in the camp would take place.  Hill was blabbering on about assurances that Nouri had given that the residents would be treated fairly and humanely and Poe interruped.
 
US House Rep Ted Poe: Excuse me, just to clairy the question -- or the answer -- was this before or after the security forces came into Camp Ashraf that we got this assurance?
 
Chris Hill: This uh, was before, because our -- The UN mandate for the -- for us to run -- to be responsible for uh this camp ended at the end of 2008 -- after 2008 -- that is, starting January 1, this year -- it is the sovereign and sole responsiblity of the Iraqi govenment and because of that, we sought from them written assurances that they would treat them humanely and that they would not forcibly repatriate them where they would be -- they could be -- tortured or persecuted based on their religious or political beliefs.
 
US House Rep Ted Poe: It doesn't appear that they have been treated humanely if eleven of them were murdered and thirty-six others were arrested.
 
Chris Hill: Well on July 28th, Iraqi forces went in to try to set up a uh police station. They regarded that as uh an exercise of their sovereignty because Ashraf is in Iraq.
 
US House Rep Ted Poe: Did we know about that before it happened?
 
Chris Hill: We -- I understand that -- They told us that -- Yes, they were going to do this.
 
So not only were their warnings from members of the British Parliament but Nouri -- according to Hill -- informed the US government that the 'action' was going to take place July 28th.  For those who've forgotten, US troops were in the area when the assault took place and were ordered to stand down as they saw people bloodied.  After his exchange with Poe, way after, US House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee raised the issue and he fell back to "my previous answer" (to Poe) and declared that the US had "two committments that wev'e seen in -- what we've had in writing from the Iraqi government.  One, that they will respect the human rights of the camp residents.  And, two, that they will not engage in any forced repatriations to Iran."  Yes, that was a ridiculous response.  Nouri had already broken the early agreement with the assault on July 28th.  As US House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee observed, "Well I think that they're handling their business poorly and I would ask that, if there are human rights violations this blaring, we need to have answer and I appreciate if we'll have the opportunity to get them." 
 
Answers would be good on contractors as well.  (Sheila Jackson Lee pressed Hill on that issue but he tossed out a lot of words to say nothing.)  Today T. Christian Miller and Aram Roston (ProPublica) report that Triple Canopy -- sold as the 'better' choice when compared to Blackwater -- has a long history of its own scandals: "questionable weapons deals, government bungling and a criminal investigation that was utlimately closed without charges bieng filed, according to newly released files. Company employees told federal investigators that Triple Canopy swapped booze for weapons and supplies from the U.S. military. They said the company bought guns and other arms on the black market in Iraq. Some worried that the money was flowing into the hands of insurgents, records show."
 
TV notes. NOW on PBS begins airing tonight on most PBS stations and this week's topic is:

Commercial surrogacy -- when women are paid to carry and deliver babies for people who cannot conceive them biologically -- is banned in almost every developed country in the world except the U.S., making it a land of opportunity for parents around the world.
In June, celebrity parents Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker announced publicly they had twins delivered via surrogate. But surrogacy services and their oversight vary from state to state, creating a strong potential for deceit and fraud.
This week, NOW's Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa follows the surrogate pregnancy of a single mother over the course of several months. When she was 14 weeks pregnant, the surrogate agency that brokered the deal between her and the future parents vanished, leaving the woman stranded without health insurance and nowhere to turn.
NOW investigates how shady surrogacy services and a lack of regulation in the U.S. may be defrauding hopeful couples and victimizing mothers trying to help them.


Washington Week also begins airing tonight on many PBS stations and sitting around the table with Gwen tonight are Ceci Connolly (Washington Post), John Harwood (New York Times), Greg Ip (The Economist) and Martha Raddatz (ABC News). Remember that there is a web bonus each week that you can grab on podcast (video -- they also have audio podcast but it doesn't include the bonus) or wait for Monday morning when the bonus is available at the website. Also, a PBS friend asks that I note that they didn't just redesign their website at Washington Week, they added many new elements. One sidebar is on the right and it contains links to the latest writing by Washington Week regulars such as CBS and Slate's John Dickerson's article on health care at Slate. Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Karen Czarnecki, Donna Edwards, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Tara Setmayer to discuss the week's events on PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. Online, they address the announcement that Diane Sawyer will begin anchoring ABC's World News Tonight next year. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:

  • The DEKA Arm
    New technology is making it possible for amputees to pick up small, delicate objects they never thought they would master thanks to the biggest innovation in prosthetic arms since World War II. Scott Pelley reports. | Watch Video
    Anna Wintour
    The sunglasses come off the high-queen of haute couture in this rare and unprecedented interview, in which the Vogue editor reveals why she always wears them and much more to Morley Safer in her first long-length interview for U.S. television. | Watch Video
    Coach Carroll
    Byron Pitts profiles USC college football coach Pete Carroll, who, in addition to his success in making the Trojans a football dynasty, is making positive contributions toward decreasing gang violence in Los Angeles. | Watch Video
    60 Minutes Sunday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
    Editor's Note: Due to live programming at 8:00 p.m., ET, 60 Minutes will probably run a full hour only in Pacific and Mountain Time zones. Central and Eastern zones may have shorter versions of this broadcast. All three segments will be available on 60Minutes.com.
 

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Iraq snapshot

Friday, September 18, 2009.  Chaos and violence continue, Biden's visit gets some press attention, Triple Canopy does as well, Chris Hill's testimony last week revealed prior knowledge of an assault (which the press has ignored) and more.
 
Diane Rehm returned Monday as host of NPR's The Diane Rehm Show and today on the second hour, Iraq was a topic for Diane and her panelists James Kitfield (National Journal), Elise Labott (CNN) and Farah Stockman (Boston Globe). 
 
Diane Rehm: Alright, let's talke about Vice President Joe Biden's trip to Iraq which is presumably more under control but it sure doesn't look that way. He's in the Green Zone and the bombs are dropping all around him.
 
Just a mile from where he was having lunch with Prime -- or Ramadan, kind of ending the fast, with Prime Minster al-Maliki.  And there were rockets that kind of landed on the American Embassy compound.  And that was over two days.  It seems to be under control now.  This was the third trip that Biden has made this year.  He was just there as recently as July.  And he's supposed to be the kind of point person in the administration to look over Iraq and we've heard a lot and we've talked a lot on the show about all the security problems that Iraq has been facing in the last few months and this renewed sectarian violence.  This was really a political trip.  This was a message by the administration to the Iraqi leadership of two things.  First of all, they're moving from this military relationship to a more strategic relationship and they want the Iraqis to know that even though the troops are not leaving, the administration is still going to give it that Cabinet level support that it needs and it's also "You need to get your political house in order."
 
Diane Rehm: Well what about Biden's statement, "If you want us to leave earlier, we will abide by your wishes"?
 
James: That's been the case for some time, you know, ever since 2006, we ceeded that-that authority to the Iraqis. They can tell us to get out anytime they want.  What's worrying the Americans is Prime Minister Maliki running on his support for a referendum on maybe  pushing our departure up a whole year so in other words instead of getting out in 2011, get out the end of next year. And we're very worried about that.  We think that would be moving too fast the security situation is not stable enough and these-these rockets, even while Biden was meeting in the Green Zone with Maliki, kind of underscore our concern.

Diane Rehm: Farah?
 
Farah: Well I just also wanted to point out that a lot of violence in the north in Kirkuk and Mosul, and uh --
 
Diane Rehm: He talked to Kurdish leaders as well.
 
Farah: Right.  I think the Kurds are also -- there's a lot of tension between Arabs and Kurds and this was not a story that we were hearing a couple of years ago.  You know the Kurds have oil and they want to develop their oil fields by giving a higher percentage of uh profits to these oil companies that are coming in.  They want to sweeten the deal and uh Maliki's people don't want to do that.  So that when they give the Kurds money for their oil, they want the Kurds to take, uh, to take a hit basically to take a bigger cut out of their own money.  There's a lot -- they still haven't passed the oil law and a big agenda on Biden's -- a big agenda item for Biden.

Elise: One of the things also on his agenda was "Listen you need to incur more foreign investment. You need to sweeten these deals for the foreign investment that's coming in." And so he's saying there's going to be a big conference in Washington next month on kind of incurring foreign investment and so they really need to get that oil law in order and also there's some security problems in the north that's where as we we said a lot of these attacks are and the administration it seems are going to try to take a bigger role in trying to settle disputes between Arabs and Kurds which are really shaping up to be the dirtiest part of the politics in Iraq right now.
 
US Vice President Joe Biden has been in Iraq this week meeting with various leaders. Yesterday's news, unremarked upon in US outlets, would be the political jockeying of Ibrahim Al Jaafari and Nouri al-Maliki as both worked overtime to prove they could be the most insulting to a visiting foreign official. Both made pointed remarks to outlets about issues such as Iraq's elections being Iraq -- and only Iraq's -- business. For those late to the party, Jaafari was the prime minster before Nouri. He was also the first choice of Iraqi MPs to be prime minister in the spring of 2006 but the US nixed that and demanded Nouri. Jaafari is part of the new Shi'ite alliance (Iraqi National Alliance) and it's thought that Jaafari's presence was what had Nouri insisting he wouldn't join the alliance unless he was promised that they'd re-nominate him for prime minister following January's scheduled elections. They refused to meet that demand and Nouri has not joined the alliance so far.
 
The KRG notes that Biden was in Erbil Thursday and met with various officials including KRG President Masoud Barzani, KRG Prime Minister Nechivan Barzani, KRG Prime Minister designate Barham Salih.  Barzani and Biden held a joint-press conference and the KRG quotes Biden stating, "The United States understands that the Kurdish people, like so many other Iraqis, suffered terribly -- suffered terribly under the rule and the regime of Saddam Hussein.  And the United States and the rest of the world will never forget that.  The transformation and the economic development of this region since 2003 -- indeed, since the 1990s -- has been a truly remarkable transformation and a success story."  Barzani is quoted stating, "We reiterate our commitment to the constitution of Iraq and to solving outstanding problems through dialogue and peaceful negotiations with Baghdad."  In addition, the KRG adds, "The discussions focused on the Kurdistan Regional Government's relations with Baghdad, the unresolved status of Kirkuk and Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution.  The pending hydrocarbons law, the governance system in Iraq and the commitment to the Constitution were also discussed."  UPI adds, "Joe Biden's visit to Baghdad earlier this week -- his third this year -- came hot on the hells of a lightening visit by Russia's energy minister as the scramble for Iraq's oil riches heats up.  Just as Sergei Shmatko sought favorable terms for Russian companies in an upcoming oil contract auction, Biden was hustling on behalf of the U.S. oil giants who have long dreamed of getting their hands on what may be the largest untapped oil reserves in the world." Bill Van Auken (World Socialist Web Site) also reports on the oil issues of the visit, "In his meetings with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is Kurdish, and Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Biden apparently pushed for a compromise with the Iraqi federal government in Baghdad on the issues of territorial borders and control of oil. [. . .] During the course of his visit, the US vice-president has made clear his concern that a bigger piece of this pie should go to the American oil companies, whose interests have played a prominent role in the prosecution of the Iraq war since well before the invasion of March 2003."
 
On Tuesday's CNN's Situation Room,  video here, transcript here, Wolf Blitzer informed that CNN's Chris Lawrence was "the only television correspondent traveling with the vice president".  Lawrence explained that they got "on the plane and left out of Andrews Air Force Base, we didn't even know where exactly we were going or when we would get there.  This is one of those secret trips -- not like going to London or Paris or visiting allies like that.  So it was all kept very hush-hush."  Chris Lawrence landed the only US television interview with Biden from Baghdad (click here for video). Ross Colvin, Tim Cocks, Missy Ryan and Jon Boyle (Reuters)report, "U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pressed leaders of semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan on Thursday to compromise on the potentially explosive issue of how to manage and share the country's vast oil wealth. Biden said he did not expect the long-running feud over land and oil between Iraq's minority Kurds and its Shi'ite Arab-led government in Baghdad, seen a main threat to its fragile stability, would be settled before national polls in January."
 
In Mahmoudiyah today, shoppers were surprised by a bombing.  Xinhua reports the bombing took place "at a crowded market".  Iran's Press TV explains it was a car bombing and adds that the city is "south of Baghdad . . . located within the so-called 'Triangle of Death' where sectarian tensions hiked in 2006 and 2007". Khaled al-Ramahi, Tim Cocks and Sophie Hares (Reuters) report that the bombing claimed 7 lives with twenty-one more left injured and remind that Mahmudiya was last rocked by bombings September 10th.  In addition, Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) adds a Baghdad roadside bombing wounded two people.
 
Turning to the topic of reports and studies, Nat Hentoff (Metro West Daily News) notes Physicians for Human Rights' August 2009 report "Aiding Torture: Health Professionals' Ethics and Human Rights Violations Demonstrated in the May 2004 inspector General's Report" and says, "This PHR report quotes from a February 2004 report by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on interrogations in Iraq, but as PHR has previously noted, "hooding was used both during transportation and during interrogation," not only in Iraq. And we can only guess what special forms of hooding were invented in the CIA's secret prisons."  For the report [PDF format warning], click here. 
 
According to the February 2004 report of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on treatment of deatinees in Iraq:   
Hooding [was] used to prevent people from seeing and to disorient them, and also to prevent them from breathing freely.  One, or sometimes two bags, sometimes with an elastic blindfold over the eyes which when slipped down, futher impeded proper breathing.  Hooding was sometimes used in conjunction with beatings thus increasing anxiety as to when blows would come.  The practice of hooding also allowed the interrogators to remain anonymous and thus to act with impunity.  Hooding could last for periods from a few hours to up to 2 to 4 consecutive days, during which hoods were lifted only for drinking eating or going to the toilets.
 
Still on the ICRC, as noted in yesterday's snapshot, the US military closed their prison in Camp Bucca. The International Committee of the Red Cross has a photo essay of families visiting prisoners in Camp Bucca and notes, "For families who used to visit their relatives detained in Bucca, southern Iraq, the journey was always long, perilous and costly, but well worth it.  Since October 2005, the ICRC had helped make the journey possible, not least by covering part of the costs.  In Spetember 2009, with the closure of the American facility at Camp Bucca, the ICRC ended its family-visit programme.  During the four years that the programme ran, almost 30,000 detained people received 146,000 visits from their relatives with ICRC support."
 
Meanwhile David Bedein (Philadelphia Bulletin) reports RAND Corporation's "Withdrawing from Iraq: Alternative Schedules, Associated Risks, and Mitigating Strategies" from July was submitted to Department of Defense this week. Bedein notes that the report found that the central government in Baghdad would not be able to 'eradicate' al Qaeda in Iraq.

The report was released in July and (my summary) it argues that a draw down is fine but US troops cannot leave Iraq. Because of al Qaeda in Iraq? No, the report is primarily arguing that a full US departure would lead Turkey to invade. And, since July, it's been a rare week that the report's assertion hasn't been decried by some Turkish news outlet. For example, Sunday Hurriyet Daily News ran the editorial "From the Bosphorus: Straight - RAND report wreaks of arrogance:"


There was a time, a certain age of innocence really, when it was possible to despise the CIA and associated intelligence agencies for their apparent evil. But today, we must regard them with contempt for their stupidity.                          
A case in point of international diplomacy at its arrogant worst is the new RAND Corporation report upon which Daily News Ankara bureau chief Serkan Demirtaş reported in the weekend newspaper. The "sponsored" research by RAND basically urges the U.S. Obama Administration to threaten Turkey with "negative consequences" to its European Union bid should any incursion into northern Iraq impede American withdrawal from that desperate and war-torn country.              
[. . .]
So we take great offense that RAND believes Turkey should be muscled into continuing this policy as insurance against a military incursion by Turkey in the wake of an Iraqi civil war sparked by the American exit. Such a report, particularly if embraced by Obama as policy, is simply a guarantee that the legitimacy of the "Kurdish opening" will be challenged by many in Turkey and probably derailed. Essentially, RAND's warning risks a self-fulfilling prophecy.              
We take particular offense that RAND would suggest U.S. coordination with European allies to make sure Turkey "understands" that any move into Iraq will harm the country's EU bid. RAND should "understand" Turkish sentiment. It is clear this institution does not. And this is why we can only summon contempt for a report that reeks of arrogance.          

This has not been a minor issue in Turkey and Hurriyet is among the most recent to weigh in and Sol's reporting on it today. It's surprising that a RAND report which has caused so much controversy hasn't been reported on by the networks or US daily papers. Or maybe not surprising.


The authors of the report are Walt L. Perry, Stuart E. Johnson, Keith W. Crane, David C. Gompert, John Gordon, Robert E. Hunter, Dalia Dassa Kaye, Terrence K. Kelly, Eric Peltz and Howard Shatz. In their preface [PDF format warning, click here for report] they note:


The analysis supporting this report was completed in May 2009, and
the illustrative schedules all assume implementation decisions having been made in time for implementation in May, if not earlier. To the extent that such decisions are made later, the schedules would likely be pushed back accordingly. We recognize that any drawdown schedule that calls for U.S. forces remaining in Iraq beyond the end of December 2011 would require renegotiating the Security Agreement between the United States and Iraq.
 
The SOFA might be renegotiated?  The study was prepared at the request of US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.  Are you starting to get why US outlets haven't really explored the RAND study?  No, the Iraq War has not ended and doesn't appear to be.  Steven Verburg (Wisconsin state Journal) reports, "About 200 Madison-based members of the Wisconsin Air National Guard are heading for Iraq in the next week."
 
Yesterday's snapshot noted the Istanbul meet-up of Ahmed Davutoglu (Turkey's Foreign Minister), Hoshyar Zebari (Iraq's Foreign Minister), Walid Mualem (Syria's Foreign Minister) Amr Moussa (Arab League Secretary General). Today's Zaman notes the meeting continued on Firday and that Turkey's Foreign Minister "Davutoglu also said the meeting in Istanbul would be preparation for the upcoming meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council, which will be held in Baghdad, with Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki presiding over the meeting."  He states, "This is such an important project that, when realized, peoples living side by side for centuries will reunite in a shared economic basin.  Our capabillities and assets will be mobilized to create a very powerful economic region."  Barcin Yinanc (Hurriyet Daily News) reports, "Turkey again tried to assume the role of 'troubleshooter' Thursday as it pressed Syria and Iraq to ease the tension stemming from Iraqi accusations that Syria is behind bomb attacks in Baghdad."  That's how it's reported in Turkey -- a long, long way from assertions Hoshyar Zebari has made on Al Jazeera TV where he repeatedly insists that Turkey sees Iraq in the right and Syria in the wrong. 
 
Meanwhile, on the topic of Iraqi refugees, a rebuke to Nouri and his strong-arm attempts on relief agencies and the United Nations. Julian Isherwood (Politiken) reports Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi "has urged Denmark to reconsider the forced repatriation of Iraqis whose requests for asylum in Denmark have been refused." The Copenhagen Post adds that "Helle Lykke Nielsen, associate professor at the University of Souterhn Denmark's Centre for Middle East Studies, believes the message is a way of telling Denmark that its current method of forcing Iraqis back to their country needs to be changed."  Nouri al-Maliki has been eager to force the returns.  He's now joined by the dim bulb Chris Hill, US Ambassador to Iraq.  Testifying to Congress last week [see Thursday's snapshot here, Friday's here and Kat's post here], Hill insisted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the Iraqi refugees had to return for Iraq's own security.  Yeah, the widow who saw her husband and oldest son shot dead before her and now lives in Syria?  Without her, all of Iraq will crumble.  Chris Hill was so very lucky that the press had little interest in his testimony.  It was with the House Foreign Relations Committee, for example, under direct questioning from US House Rep Ted Poe that Hill had to admit the US had prior knowledge that the assault on Camp Ashraf and the Iranian refugees in the camp would take place.  Hill was blabbering on about assurances that Nouri had given that the residents would be treated fairly and humanely and Poe interruped.
 
US House Rep Ted Poe: Excuse me, just to clairy the question -- or the answer -- was this before or after the security forces came into Camp Ashraf that we got this assurance?
 
Chris Hill: This uh, was before, because our -- The UN mandate for the -- for us to run -- to be responsible for uh this camp ended at the end of 2008 -- after 2008 -- that is, starting January 1, this year -- it is the sovereign and sole responsiblity of the Iraqi govenment and because of that, we sought from them written assurances that they would treat them humanely and that they would not forcibly repatriate them where they would be -- they could be -- tortured or persecuted based on their religious or political beliefs.
 
US House Rep Ted Poe: It doesn't appear that they have been treated humanely if eleven of them were murdered and thirty-six others were arrested.
 
Chris Hill: Well on July 28th, Iraqi forces went in to try to set up a uh police station. They regarded that as uh an exercise of their sovereignty because Ashraf is in Iraq.
 
US House Rep Ted Poe: Did we know about that before it happened?
 
Chris Hill: We -- I understand that -- They told us that -- Yes, they were going to do this.
 
So not only were their warnings from members of the British Parliament but Nouri -- according to Hill -- informed the US government that the 'action' was going to take place July 28th.  For those who've forgotten, US troops were in the area when the assault took place and were ordered to stand down as they saw people bloodied.  After his exchange with Poe, way after, US House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee raised the issue and he fell back to "my previous answer" (to Poe) and declared that the US had "two committments that wev'e seen in -- what we've had in writing from the Iraqi government.  One, that they will respect the human rights of the camp residents.  And, two, that they will not engage in any forced repatriations to Iran."  Yes, that was a ridiculous response.  Nouri had already broken the early agreement with the assault on July 28th.  As US House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee observed, "Well I think that they're handling their business poorly and I would ask that, if there are human rights violations this blaring, we need to have answer and I appreciate if we'll have the opportunity to get them." 
 
Answers would be good on contractors as well.  (Sheila Jackson Lee pressed Hill on that issue but he tossed out a lot of words to say nothing.)  Today T. Christian Miller and Aram Roston (ProPublica) report that Triple Canopy -- sold as the 'better' choice when compared to Blackwater -- has a long history of its own scandals: "questionable weapons deals, government bungling and a criminal investigation that was utlimately closed without charges bieng filed, according to newly released files. Company employees told federal investigators that Triple Canopy swapped booze for weapons and supplies from the U.S. military. They said the company bought guns and other arms on the black market in Iraq. Some worried that the money was flowing into the hands of insurgents, records show."
 
TV notes. NOW on PBS begins airing tonight on most PBS stations and this week's topic is:

Commercial surrogacy -- when women are paid to carry and deliver babies for people who cannot conceive them biologically -- is banned in almost every developed country in the world except the U.S., making it a land of opportunity for parents around the world.
In June, celebrity parents Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker announced publicly they had twins delivered via surrogate. But surrogacy services and their oversight vary from state to state, creating a strong potential for deceit and fraud.
This week, NOW's Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa follows the surrogate pregnancy of a single mother over the course of several months. When she was 14 weeks pregnant, the surrogate agency that brokered the deal between her and the future parents vanished, leaving the woman stranded without health insurance and nowhere to turn.
NOW investigates how shady surrogacy services and a lack of regulation in the U.S. may be defrauding hopeful couples and victimizing mothers trying to help them.


Washington Week also begins airing tonight on many PBS stations and sitting around the table with Gwen tonight are Ceci Connolly (Washington Post), John Harwood (New York Times), Greg Ip (The Economist) and Martha Raddatz (ABC News). Remember that there is a web bonus each week that you can grab on podcast (video -- they also have audio podcast but it doesn't include the bonus) or wait for Monday morning when the bonus is available at the website. Also, a PBS friend asks that I note that they didn't just redesign their website at Washington Week, they added many new elements. One sidebar is on the right and it contains links to the latest writing by Washington Week regulars such as CBS and Slate's John Dickerson's article on health care at Slate. Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Karen Czarnecki, Donna Edwards, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Tara Setmayer to discuss the week's events on PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. Online, they address the announcement that Diane Sawyer will begin anchoring ABC's World News Tonight next year. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:

  • The DEKA Arm
    New technology is making it possible for amputees to pick up small, delicate objects they never thought they would master thanks to the biggest innovation in prosthetic arms since World War II. Scott Pelley reports. | Watch Video
    Anna Wintour
    The sunglasses come off the high-queen of haute couture in this rare and unprecedented interview, in which the Vogue editor reveals why she always wears them and much more to Morley Safer in her first long-length interview for U.S. television. | Watch Video
    Coach Carroll
    Byron Pitts profiles USC college football coach Pete Carroll, who, in addition to his success in making the Trojans a football dynasty, is making positive contributions toward decreasing gang violence in Los Angeles. | Watch Video
    60 Minutes Sunday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
    Editor's Note: Due to live programming at 8:00 p.m., ET, 60 Minutes will probably run a full hour only in Pacific and Mountain Time zones. Central and Eastern zones may have shorter versions of this broadcast. All three segments will be available on 60Minutes.com.
 

Posted by at

Say hello to the new Judy Millers

Iraq's vice-president has urged Denmark to reconsider the forced repatriation of Iraqis whose requests for asylum in Denmark have been refused.
The call, made during a meeting between Vice-President Tarik al-Hashimi and Denmark's Ambassador to Baghdad Mikael Winther, is reported on al-Hashimi's website.

Julian Isherwood (Politiken) reports the above and it's major news because Nouri and other members of the Baghdad government have repeatedly issued statements that refugees must return and must return now (and Nouri's thrown tantrums with UN representatives including with the Secretary General's last Special Representatiave to Iraq who always indugled Nouri -- to the point that he undercut world wide efforts for refugees). The Copenhagen Post adds:

Tarik Hashimi uploaded the request onto his personal website today after previously meeting with the Danish ambassador to Iraq, Mikael Winther. Hashimi also included a general summary of the meeting on his website.
Winther confirmed that he had met with Hashimi but would not give details about what the two discussed, saying only that it was ‘a political matter’ being addressed by the Integration Ministry.
Helle Lykke Nielsen, associate professor at the University of Southern Denmark’s Centre for Middle East Studies, believes the message is a way of telling Denmark that its current method of forcing Iraqis back to their country needs to be changed.

David Bedein (Philadelphia Bulletin) reports RAND Corporation's "Withdrawing from Iraq: Alternative Schedules, Associated Risks, and Mitigating Strategies" from July was submitted to Department of Defense this week. Bedein notes that the report found that the central government in Baghdad would not be able to 'eradicate' al Qaeda in Iraq.

The report was released in July and (my summary) it argues that a draw down is fine but US troops cannot leave Iraq. Because of al Qaeda in Iraq? No, the report is primarily arguing that a full US departure would lead Turkey to invade. And, since July, it's been a rare week that the report's assertion hasn't been decried by some Turkish news outlet. For example, Sunday Hurriyet Daily News ran the editorial "From the Bosphorus: Straight - RAND report wreaks of arrogance" from the editorial:



There was a time, a certain age of innocence really, when it was possible to despise the CIA and associated intelligence agencies for their apparent evil. But today, we must regard them with contempt for their stupidity.
A case in point of international diplomacy at its arrogant worst is the new RAND Corporation report upon which Daily News Ankara bureau chief Serkan Demirtaş reported in the weekend newspaper. The “sponsored” research by RAND basically urges the U.S. Obama Administration to threaten Turkey with “negative consequences” to its European Union bid should any incursion into northern Iraq impede American withdrawal from that desperate and war-torn country.
[. . .]
So we take great offense that RAND believes Turkey should be muscled into continuing this policy as insurance against a military incursion by Turkey in the wake of an Iraqi civil war sparked by the American exit. Such a report, particularly if embraced by Obama as policy, is simply a guarantee that the legitimacy of the "Kurdish opening" will be challenged by many in Turkey and probably derailed. Essentially, RAND's warning risks a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We take particular offense that RAND would suggest U.S. coordination with European allies to make sure Turkey "understands" that any move into Iraq will harm the country's EU bid. RAND should "understand" Turkish sentiment. It is clear this institution does not. And this is why we can only summon contempt for a report that reeks of arrogance.

This has not been a minor issue in Turkey and Hurriyet was just the most recent to weigh in. (Excuse me, Sol's reporting on it today. That would be the most recent.) It's surprising that a RAND report which has caused so much controversy hasn't been reported on by the networks or US daily papers. Or maybe not surprising.


The authors of the report are Walt L. Perry, Stuart E. Johnson, Keith W. Crane, David C. Gompert, John Gordon, Robert E. Hunter, Dalia Dassa Kaye, Terrence K. Kelly, Eric Peltz and Howard Shatz. In their preface [PDF format warning, click here for report] they note:


The analysis supporting this report was completed in May 2009, and
the illustrative schedules all assume implementation decisions having been made in time for implementation in May, if not earlier. To the extent that such decisions are made later, the schedules would likely be pushed back accordingly. We recognize that any drawdown schedule that calls for U.S. forces remaining in Iraq beyond the end of December 2011 would require renegotiating the Security Agreement between the United States and Iraq.

What! Wait! Who said that! It's shocking! The SOFA might be renegotiated!!!!

I think I'm having a heart attack!

Oh wait, we've said that here since the day the SOFA was released by the White House (Thanksgiving of last year). We said that all along.

While liars and whores have repeatedly misled the American people [liars and whores refers to the our self-appointed 'leaders' of the left and 'left' -- I didn't vote them into office, did you?] and while the mainstream media [largely a bunch of glorified "general studies" majors] have pretended they know the first damn thing about contract law, we've gotten it right from day one. And it is a rare week that some idiot doesn't e-mail the public account to 'inform' me that they 'just read' in The Nation or some other rag that the SOFA means the end of the Iraq War and "you've got it wrong." No, we've been correct here from day one.

I know contract law. I'll repeat, unless you've managed to break a contract with a large conglomerate and not be sued for damages, maybe you should sit your ass down and let the grown ups who know what the hell they're talking about speak. How 'bout that? Think all the liars and the whores and the general studies majors could do that? I think they should. I think they've lied to the American people just about enough.

We told the truth and we did it when it wasn't popular. Even today, the bulk of your left 'voices' will not tell you the truth about the SOFA. One ass wipe 'leader' wanted to bicker with Ava and I for including him as a liar or a fool (we knew which one he was, we were being kind) and as Dona pointed out in an e-mail to him Tuesday, don't pretend like you're not lying to the people. He wants to claim he doesn't say the Iraq War is ending but, little idiot, he forgot that not only did he tell America that over and over, he had a counter at his website declaring X number of days (ticked off each day) until US forces leave Iraq.

I'm sick of those people and I'm damn sick of the lying regarding the SOFA. I went over the SOFA the day it was released. Unlike the bulk of 'reporters,' I do know contract law and I also know how to pick up the phone and call friends if I come across a point I'm unfamiliar with.

The Washington Post reported the truth early on. But today you get idiots like Anthony Shadid -- Gung-ho Grunt Turned 'Porter or maybe just Gung Ho -- who doesn't care about the readers of the paper and will gladly lie to them. Get your damn act together, Shadid, all of you. It's past time you got honest and the only thing that has me considering continuing this site until the end of 2011 is the realization that I can publicly mock and humiliate every damn one of you liars.

The lies that got us into the illegal war were never as damaging as the ones that kept us in it. Over one million Iraqis wouldn't have died if the 'reporters' on the ground in Iraq (see Dexy and Burnsie for an early prime example) hadn't repeatedly lied about what was actually happening. If those lies hadn't been 'reported,' if the truth had been told to the American people from the first day of the illegal war, it would have ended long ago. And in the new selling of the illegal war, it was important for liars, whores and general studies majors to tell the American people a SOFA ended the Iraq War when it did no such thing. That's reality.

And it's all taken place without any objections, without any barks from the so-called 'watch dogs,' be they FAIR, Amy Goodman, Danny Schechter, MediaChannel, The Nation, The Progressive, go down the damn list. All of them had something 'better' to do. Say hello to the Judy Millers of the left because they have become as shameful in 2008 and 2009 as Judith Miller was with her pre-invasion 'reporting' (which she believed in, at least she didn't lie -- she was way off the mark, to put it mildly, but she believed those lies).

And before the next liar steps forward, note that the RAND report was done at the request of Robert Gates, US Secretary of Defense.

TV notes. NOW on PBS begins airing tonight on most PBS stations and this week's topic is:

Commercial surrogacy -- when women are paid to carry and deliver babies for people who cannot conceive them biologically -- is banned in almost every developed country in the world except the U.S., making it a land of opportunity for parents around the world.
In June, celebrity parents Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker announced publicly they had twins delivered via surrogate. But surrogacy services and their oversight vary from state to state, creating a strong potential for deceit and fraud.
This week, NOW's Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa follows the surrogate pregnancy of a single mother over the course of several months. When she was 14 weeks pregnant, the surrogate agency that brokered the deal between her and the future parents vanished, leaving the woman stranded without health insurance and nowhere to turn.
NOW investigates how shady surrogacy services and a lack of regulation in the U.S. may be defrauding hopeful couples and victimizing mothers trying to help them.

Bill Moyers Journal tonight will do the sort of one-sided nonsense that risks PBS funding. It's doubtful the audience will be informed of how one-sided the program is. Ava and I may tackle the reality of this week's show at Third but already PBS friends are groaning at Bill's latest efforts to 'slip a few in under the radar' (paraphrase). When the attacks on PBS come next (and they will), it will be shows like Moyers this week that people will cite and they'll be correct because if you're topic is, for example, the right-wing, you need to have a guest from the right-wing. And if you're guests are Socialist and Communists, they need to be identified on air as such. That's especially the case when one of your guests was saying on the radio a year ago that Democrats were too centrists and that a radical makeover of society was needed. (Like the bulk of the closeted when they're above ground, he was, however, a devoted cheerleader for Barack.) Nothing wrong with making that case, but when you then go on PBS and try to present yourself as a Democrat (by statement or inference), you're deceiving the viewers.

Washington Week also begins airing tonight on many PBS stations and sitting around the table with Gwen tonight are Ceci Connolly (Washington Post), John Harwood (New York Times), Greg Ip (The Economist) and Martha Raddatz (ABC News). Remember that there is a web bonus each week that you can grab on podcast (video -- they also have audio podcast but it doesn't include the bonus) or wait for Monday morning when the bonus is available at the website. Also, a PBS friend asks that I note that they didn't just redesign their website at Washington Week, they added many new elements. One sidebar is on the right and it contains links to the latest writing by Washington Week regulars such as CBS and Slate's John Dickerson's article on health care at Slate. Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Karen Czarnecki, Donna Edwards, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Tara Setmayer to discuss the week's events on PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. Online, they address the announcement that Diane Sawyer will begin anchoring ABC's World News Tonight next year. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:

  • The DEKA Arm
    New technology is making it possible for amputees to pick up small, delicate objects they never thought they would master thanks to the biggest innovation in prosthetic arms since World War II. Scott Pelley reports. | Watch Video

    Anna Wintour
    The sunglasses come off the high-queen of haute couture in this rare and unprecedented interview, in which the Vogue editor reveals why she always wears them and much more to Morley Safer in her first long-length interview for U.S. television. | Watch Video

    Coach Carroll
    Byron Pitts profiles USC college football coach Pete Carroll, who, in addition to his success in making the Trojans a football dynasty, is making positive contributions toward decreasing gang violence in Los Angeles. | Watch Video

    60 Minutes Sunday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

    Editor's Note: Due to live programming at 8:00 p.m., ET, 60 Minutes will probably run a full hour only in Pacific and Mountain Time zones. Central and Eastern zones may have shorter versions of this broadcast. All three segments will be available on 60Minutes.com.



Diane Rehm is back this week as host of NPR's The Diane Rehm Show and today's the Friday roundup. Her panelists for the first hour (domestic) are Sheryl Gay Stolberg (New York Times), John Dickerson (Slate and CBS News) and Greg Ip (The Economist). For the second hour (international), the panelists are James Kitfield (National Journal), Elise Labott (CNN) and Farah Stockman (Boston Globe). The Diane Rehm Show begins airing on most NPR stations (and streaming online) live at 10:00 a.m. EST.


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