"We realized these explosions were close," said Bassam Sami, 21, one of the survivors of the attack on a Baghdad church carried out by heavily armed suicide bombers that left at least 58 people dead. "Father Wassem started pushing people inside the room."
Once they penetrated the church building, the silent assailants began executing people. "They were well trained," Sami said. "They didn't say anything. It was like someone had cut out their tongues."
The carnage that unfolded during the next few hours outraged many in a city that has seen more than its share of bloodshed. The siege suggested that al-Qaeda in Iraq, the weakened Sunni insurgent group that asserted responsibility for the attack, remains capable of carrying out mass-casualty operations.
Reality website summarizes a BBC News report: "Throughout Monday, mourners carried coffins from the church, loading them onto vehicles bound for the morgue ahead of funerals on Tuesday. Raed Hadi, who tied the coffin of his cousin to the roof of a car, said the raid had resulted in a 'massacre'. "We Christians don't have enough protection,' he said. 'What shall I do now? Leave and ask for asylum?'" BBC offers survivor Dr. Thanaa Nassir's account which includes:
The terrorists came into the church, closed the door and took us hostage. I was terrified. There were five or six of them - I do not know exactly because we were all on the floor and could not lift up our heads. They brought in a bomb.
I was lying on the floor and every now and then there would be an explosion or gunshots over our heads, over the lights, over the fixtures, over the Crucifix, over the Madonna, everywhere. After that, they started to say "Allahu akbar" [Arabic for God is great], and they blew themselves up.
And those living near the church shares stories with BBC including Julie who offers:
I heard shots and then explosions. I hurried back home as soon as possible.
One of my daughters has a Christian friend whom she feared would be at the church. She rang her mobile and the friend answered in hysterics - she was actually being held hostage at the time.
My daughter went to pieces at this point. There was not much we could do. We knew the army would be on the way after the explosions.
We got in touch with the young lady's family to let them know.
By midnight we heard that she had survived, but was in hospital with shrapnel injury. Her mother had also been held hostage and was also safe.
But another of my daughters has just now returned home from a funeral. Her friend's father was not so lucky - he died in the attack.
As a Muslim I am totally devastated and disgusted about what has happened. This is not what Islam is about.
The church is one of the biggest in Baghdad. Christians come from all over the city to worship there. It must be devastating for the community.
Curzon (Coming Anarchy) posts photos of Kurdistan, specifically "Ainkawa, a village home to thousands of Christrians, [where] the man guarding the gate [of St. Joseph's] casually carried a salishnikov -- even in Kurdistan, Iraq's Christian ultraminority was cautious, and mae this quiet show of force to ward off trouble." Christian Solidarity International has issued the following press release:
Christian Solidarity International (CSI) has urged President Obama to act to prevent the eradication of Iraq's endangered Christian community.
Writing today to the President, Dr. John Eibner, CEO of CSI (USA), called on the White House to respond positively to this morning's appeal by Pope Benedict XVI for a fresh international initiative to secure peace and reconciliation in Iraq. CSI proposed an American diplomatic initiative to convene high level government conferences, involving European and Middle Eastern states, to prevent the eradication of Iraq's Christian and other non-Muslim communities.
Eibner also asked President Obama to act in harmony with House Resolution 944 by instructing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to present Congress with a "comprehensive strategy to encourage the protection of the rights of members of vulnerable religious and ethnic minority communities in Iraq." Just over two years ago, during the 2008 Presidential campaign, then Sen. Obama wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on account of the "heavy price" paid by Iraq's Christians and other religious minorities, requesting answers to a set of questions, among them:
"What specific steps has the State Department taken to urge the Iraqi government to provide protection to Iraq's Christian and other non-Muslim religious minorities? Has the Iraqi government been responsive to requests for such protection? What is the U.S. government's assessment of the Iraqi government's efforts to protect religious minority communities?" (Sen. Obama to Secretary Rice, September 26, 2008.)
Eibner called on the President to ask Secretary of State Clinton to include in her strategic report answers to the questions he posed to her predecessor.
CSI's appeal to the President came the day after at least 52 Iraqi Christians were killed and over 60 injured in a terrorist inspired bloodbath at Baghdad's Our Lady of Deliverance Catholic Church. U.S. SWAT troops, together with Iraqi security forces, launched a deadly attempt to free the Christian hostages.
The Al Qaida-linked "Islamic State of Iraq" claimed responsibility and threatened to "exterminate Iraqi Christians." This shadowy jihad terror network justified the savagery on religious grounds, claiming that the church was an "obscene nest of the polytheists [infidels]" and a "base for their struggle against the religion of Islam."
Since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, more than half the country's Christian population has been forced by targeted violence to seek refuge abroad or to live away from their homes as internally displaced people. According to the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, over 700 Christians, including bishops and priests, have been killed and 61 churches have been bombed.
Seven years after the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Catholic Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk reports: "He who is not a Muslim in Iraq is a second-class citizen. Often it is necessary to convert or emigrate, otherwise one risks being killed." (Kathpress, November 1, 2010.)
"This anti-Christian violence," Eibner reminded Obama, "is sustained by a widespread culture of Muslim supremacism that extends far beyond those who pull the triggers and detonate the bombs."
Eibner concluded by requesting the U.S. President to spare no effort to ensure that American and Iraqi security forces provide the same level of security to Iraq's endangered Christian community as has been long provided for the country's vulnerable oil industry.
CSI has undertaken eight fact-finding and humanitarian aid visits to Iraq since 2007, and is providing medical assistance for maimed victims of terrorist attacks.
As Iraq falls more and more off the radar, some rush to offer 'explanations' that include a wide variety of reasons but repeatedly let the media off the hook. Miles Kellerman (College Media Network News) includes the media on his list:
Others might attribute our lack of attention to the media. While coverage of the war was all-encompassing during the early years. A study by The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism found that by 2008 news stories dedicated to the war had dropped by 15 percent. In an interview with PBS News hour, Majorie Miller of the Los Angeles Times explained, "There's definitely a weariness. This is a story that people want to go away, and so we are constantly looking for new and interesting ways to tell the story and keep people engaged."
While the media holds certain responsibilities to inform the public, we must also realize that they are businesses. Despite their agenda-setting power when it comes to deciding what are important issues, their coverage is dependent on what sells. The fact that we as a public need journalists like Miller to keep us engaged is symbolic of how confused our perception of war has become. Ironically, the enormous amount of available information on Iraq is what's deterring our attention. Media coverage made the war just another reality show whose ratings continue to drop with every new season.
The following community sites updated last night:
- He knew what he was saying6 hours ago
- They're putting people into comas!6 hours ago
- SNL, the most racist show on TV6 hours ago
- Sexist Terry Gross6 hours ago
- Working6 hours ago
- Not in the mood6 hours ago
- DADT realities6 hours ago
-
-
- A really bad movie6 hours ago
And we'll close with this from the campaign of John Anthony La Pietra:
John Anthony La Pietra for
Fairer, Better Elections
Secretary of State * Green Party
======================================
386 Boyer Court * Marshall, MI 49068
http://members.triton.net/jalp/jalp4FBE.html
jalp4FBE@triton.net
269-781-9478
*URGENT* News Release: November 1, 2010
UPDATE: La Pietra Reposts Corrected Candidate List for Saginaw County
=========================================================
County Website Front Page Now Links Only to Proof Ballots, Not Inaccurate List
Clerk's Office Still Won't Finish Fixing List Posted in Its Webspace
or Delete Erroneous Sections and Give Voters a Link to State List
John Has Also Posted Updated Versions of Statewide Write-In List,
Status of County Participation in Voting-Conditions Survey Preparations
John Anthony La Pietra, the Green Party of Michigan candidate for Secretary of State, cautions voters in Saginaw County not to rely on the incomplete and inaccurate candidate list posted by the County Clerk's office.
Instead, he suggests, they should go to the front page of the county's Website and follow the "ballot proofs" link there -- which will let them see images of what tomorrow's ballots in their home precincts will look like. Or, if they want a list of all candidates on any county ballot, they can come to his Website and see the list he prepared and sent to the clerk's office.
The homepage of the Saginaw County government Website is
http://saginawcounty.com/Default.aspx
On the left-hand side of the page, there's a link titled "November 2010 Ballot Proofs". At the Webpage it leads to:
http://saginawcounty.com/November2010BallotProofs.aspx
visitors will see a list of all the townships and cities in the county. (The list is in alphabetical order -- but all of the cities are bunched together as "City of X".)
If you click on a particular township or city's name, you will see an image of all of the different ballots for the precincts in that city or township. (The files are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.) The ballots have been sent out to the candidates, John notes, to be checked -- proofed -- as required by law.
But if visitors go directly to the Clerk's home page:
http://saginawcounty.com/Clerk/Default.aspx
or the office's base Webpage on Elections:
http://saginawcounty.com/Clerk/Elections.aspx
they won't find that link to the ballots. Instead, under the heading of "CANDIDATES", they'll find a link to "Candidates for November 2, 2010 General Election". This page:
http://saginawcounty.com/Docs/Clerk/Elections/CANDIDATES.PDF
is the one missing all candidates for Supreme Court Justice and any mention of the races for two seats each on the four education boards:
State Board of Education
University of Michigan Board of Regents
Michigan State University Board of Trustees
Wayne State University Board of Governors
The situation is better than it was. Until last week, the county's list of candidates for tomorrow's general election was really just a leftover from the August primary, and included only one partisan candidate who wasn't a Democrat or Republican. But there are still two notable errors on top of the omissions:
* Albert Chia, Jr. is a Libertarian candidate for State Senate
from the 32nd District, not for the 4th District Congressional
seat.
* And J. Matthew de Heus is the Green Party's candidate in the
5th Congressional District, not a second Libertarian in that
race.
John tried to help Saginaw County make up for lost time and short-staffing of the Clerk's office by preparing a corrected list himself. He took the posted county list, added missing candidate information from the official state list posted by the Bureau of Elections:
http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/candlist/10GEN/10GEN_CL.HTM
formatted the information to match the county’s format, and sent it to the County Clerk as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. He has received no response, and his draft list was neither posted itself nor used to finish correcting the county’s posted list. Nor is there a link to the state’s list from the county’s Website. So John has posted his corrected version of the list. He updated his version today:
http://members.triton.net/jalp/SaginawCo_candidate-list101101_fixed-by-jalp.pdf
to include whatever changes the county may have made through Saturday:
http://members.triton.net/jalp/SaginawCo_candidate-list101030_as-posted.pdf
For details of John's correspondence with the Saginaw County Clerk's Office on this issue, visit
http://members.triton.net/jalp/jalp4FBE_re_SaginawCo_candidate-list.pdf
Over Half of Counties Provided Information on Write-In Candidates;
Over 3/4 Have Shared Precinct, Polling-Place Lists and Voter Counts
-------------------------------------------------------------------
On this last day before the election, John is also updating the status of some of his other efforts to make elections fairer and better for voters, candidates, and parties.
49 out of 83 counties and the Bureau of Elections have contributed some information to John's comprehensive list of "official" write-in candidates:
http://members.triton.net/jalp/jalp4FBE_write-in_list.pdf
And about half of the counties which have some "local" write-in candidates have provided contact information for those candidates as well.
"Since a 2006 change to Michigan state law," John reminds voters, "only votes for officially declared write-in candidates may be counted. So each precinct has to have a list of all officially declared write-in candidates, or else the election inspectors wouldn't know whose votes they should and shouldn't count."
But under the current administration’s interpretation, the names on those lists aren’t available to voters at the polls. The list isn’t posted next to that sample ballot that's always up on the wall, as you might expect it to be. And if you ask the election inspectors at your polling place, they’re not allowed to tell you who's running as a write-in. You'd have to go to your local clerk’s office and ask there. “And who gets out of line to go do that?” John asks
rhetorically.
John believes this is unfair to those candidates -- and it’s unfair to deny voters
information about all of their choices. That's why he compiled the list page and
is posting it on his campaign Website.
The turnout is even better on John's call for lists of precincts, figures on how
many voters are registered in each precinct, and where the polling places are.
65 out of 83 county clerks have now responded.
He is now looking forward to getting voting-conditions survey results from
voters in the 5,050 precincts across Michigan on and after Election Day.
"When we put the information from the clerks and the observations of the
people together," John says, "we'll have a powerful tool for analyzing and
planning the equipping and staffing of polling places better and more fairly --
giving us shorter lines and more time to vote.”
Voters who want to know how their clerks responded to this request can see an
updated status report on John’s campaign Website at
http://members.triton.net/jalp/jalp4FBE_survey_county-status.pdf
John’s initial request to the clerks is also on line, at
http://members.triton.net/jalp/jalp4FBE_ltr2co-clks101004.pdf
And a copy of the survey sheet for individual voters to take with them to the polls
November 2 is posted at
http://members.triton.net/jalp/jalp4FBE_voting_conditions_survey.pdf
# # #
Fairer, Better Elections
Secretary of State * Green Party
======================================
386 Boyer Court * Marshall, MI 49068
http://members.triton.net/jalp/jalp4FBE.html
jalp4FBE@triton.net
269-781-9478
*URGENT* News Release: November 1, 2010
UPDATE: La Pietra Reposts Corrected Candidate List for Saginaw County
=========================================================
County Website Front Page Now Links Only to Proof Ballots, Not Inaccurate List
Clerk's Office Still Won't Finish Fixing List Posted in Its Webspace
or Delete Erroneous Sections and Give Voters a Link to State List
John Has Also Posted Updated Versions of Statewide Write-In List,
Status of County Participation in Voting-Conditions Survey Preparations
John Anthony La Pietra, the Green Party of Michigan candidate for Secretary of State, cautions voters in Saginaw County not to rely on the incomplete and inaccurate candidate list posted by the County Clerk's office.
Instead, he suggests, they should go to the front page of the county's Website and follow the "ballot proofs" link there -- which will let them see images of what tomorrow's ballots in their home precincts will look like. Or, if they want a list of all candidates on any county ballot, they can come to his Website and see the list he prepared and sent to the clerk's office.
The homepage of the Saginaw County government Website is
http://saginawcounty.com/Default.aspx
On the left-hand side of the page, there's a link titled "November 2010 Ballot Proofs". At the Webpage it leads to:
http://saginawcounty.com/November2010BallotProofs.aspx
visitors will see a list of all the townships and cities in the county. (The list is in alphabetical order -- but all of the cities are bunched together as "City of X".)
If you click on a particular township or city's name, you will see an image of all of the different ballots for the precincts in that city or township. (The files are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.) The ballots have been sent out to the candidates, John notes, to be checked -- proofed -- as required by law.
But if visitors go directly to the Clerk's home page:
http://saginawcounty.com/Clerk/Default.aspx
or the office's base Webpage on Elections:
http://saginawcounty.com/Clerk/Elections.aspx
they won't find that link to the ballots. Instead, under the heading of "CANDIDATES", they'll find a link to "Candidates for November 2, 2010 General Election". This page:
http://saginawcounty.com/Docs/Clerk/Elections/CANDIDATES.PDF
is the one missing all candidates for Supreme Court Justice and any mention of the races for two seats each on the four education boards:
State Board of Education
University of Michigan Board of Regents
Michigan State University Board of Trustees
Wayne State University Board of Governors
The situation is better than it was. Until last week, the county's list of candidates for tomorrow's general election was really just a leftover from the August primary, and included only one partisan candidate who wasn't a Democrat or Republican. But there are still two notable errors on top of the omissions:
* Albert Chia, Jr. is a Libertarian candidate for State Senate
from the 32nd District, not for the 4th District Congressional
seat.
* And J. Matthew de Heus is the Green Party's candidate in the
5th Congressional District, not a second Libertarian in that
race.
John tried to help Saginaw County make up for lost time and short-staffing of the Clerk's office by preparing a corrected list himself. He took the posted county list, added missing candidate information from the official state list posted by the Bureau of Elections:
http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/candlist/10GEN/10GEN_CL.HTM
formatted the information to match the county’s format, and sent it to the County Clerk as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. He has received no response, and his draft list was neither posted itself nor used to finish correcting the county’s posted list. Nor is there a link to the state’s list from the county’s Website. So John has posted his corrected version of the list. He updated his version today:
http://members.triton.net/jalp/SaginawCo_candidate-list101101_fixed-by-jalp.pdf
to include whatever changes the county may have made through Saturday:
http://members.triton.net/jalp/SaginawCo_candidate-list101030_as-posted.pdf
For details of John's correspondence with the Saginaw County Clerk's Office on this issue, visit
http://members.triton.net/jalp/jalp4FBE_re_SaginawCo_candidate-list.pdf
Over Half of Counties Provided Information on Write-In Candidates;
Over 3/4 Have Shared Precinct, Polling-Place Lists and Voter Counts
-------------------------------------------------------------------
On this last day before the election, John is also updating the status of some of his other efforts to make elections fairer and better for voters, candidates, and parties.
49 out of 83 counties and the Bureau of Elections have contributed some information to John's comprehensive list of "official" write-in candidates:
http://members.triton.net/jalp/jalp4FBE_write-in_list.pdf
And about half of the counties which have some "local" write-in candidates have provided contact information for those candidates as well.
"Since a 2006 change to Michigan state law," John reminds voters, "only votes for officially declared write-in candidates may be counted. So each precinct has to have a list of all officially declared write-in candidates, or else the election inspectors wouldn't know whose votes they should and shouldn't count."
But under the current administration’s interpretation, the names on those lists aren’t available to voters at the polls. The list isn’t posted next to that sample ballot that's always up on the wall, as you might expect it to be. And if you ask the election inspectors at your polling place, they’re not allowed to tell you who's running as a write-in. You'd have to go to your local clerk’s office and ask there. “And who gets out of line to go do that?” John asks
rhetorically.
John believes this is unfair to those candidates -- and it’s unfair to deny voters
information about all of their choices. That's why he compiled the list page and
is posting it on his campaign Website.
The turnout is even better on John's call for lists of precincts, figures on how
many voters are registered in each precinct, and where the polling places are.
65 out of 83 county clerks have now responded.
He is now looking forward to getting voting-conditions survey results from
voters in the 5,050 precincts across Michigan on and after Election Day.
"When we put the information from the clerks and the observations of the
people together," John says, "we'll have a powerful tool for analyzing and
planning the equipping and staffing of polling places better and more fairly --
giving us shorter lines and more time to vote.”
Voters who want to know how their clerks responded to this request can see an
updated status report on John’s campaign Website at
http://members.triton.net/jalp/jalp4FBE_survey_county-status.pdf
John’s initial request to the clerks is also on line, at
http://members.triton.net/jalp/jalp4FBE_ltr2co-clks101004.pdf
And a copy of the survey sheet for individual voters to take with them to the polls
November 2 is posted at
http://members.triton.net/jalp/jalp4FBE_voting_conditions_survey.pdf
# # #
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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like maria said paz
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sex and politics and screeds and attitude
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oh boy it never ends
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