Friday, October 07, 2011

Iraq snapshot

Friday, October 7, 2011.  Chaos and violence continue, protests and teach-ins take place in the US, the New York Times picks up an acoustic guitar and decides to try a confessional song, Iraq has serious water problems, Political Stalemate II continues, and more.
 
What is life?
Did you read about it
In a magazine?
Silent lies
Never give you what you need
Is there hope
For a mother
And an elf on speed?
-- "To A Child," written by Laura Nyro, first appears on her Mother's Spiritual
 
Carlos Granda (KABC -- link has text and video) reports, "About 150 people gathered and prayed at La Placita Catholic Church, and then went on a march through downtown Los Angeles.  The group, called the Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace, is calling for the withdrawal of all troops and private contractors from both Iraq and Afghanistan. Th group is also asking for an end to drone attacks and to redirect all funding for wars to jobs, education, health care and housing." AP notes 14 were arrested "for blocking taffic."  That was the plan as explained last week on KPFK's The Lawyer's Guild with Jim Lafferty (7:00 p.m. PST every Thursday; 52 days left in the KPFK archives), Jim spoke with Shakeel Syad about an upcoming action:
 
Jim Lafferty: And now we're going to turn our attention to activists around the question of the war.  We're coming up now to the 10th anniversary of course of the war in Afghanistan and there's a war in Iraq and a war in Pakistan and what have you. And there's a wonderful group in town, the Interfaith Clergy United for Justice and Peace. They've been active in the anti-war movement and social justice movement for some time now. And they are going to hold an action on the 10th anniversary of the war, that's next Friday October 7th, which will include both peaceful and legal protest and a parade and speeches and what have you.  But they're also putting into it a feature of civil disobedience and joining us on the air to explain all that my guest is Shakeel Syed.  He is the executive director of the Shura Council Mosques of Southern California, that's simply a coalition of the mosques here in southern California. Mr. Syed is one of this nation's really, really great true religious leaders and activists for for peace and social justice and especially I think for religious tolerance. Shakeel Syed, welcome back to the Lawyers Guild Show.
 
Shakeel Syed: Thanks for inviting me, Jim.
 
Jim Lafferty:  As always. No, no, it's my pleasure. So next Friday, you and as many as a dozen of other members of Clergy United for Justice and Peace and some others who may not be clergy members but are part of that religious community are prepared to get arrested in protest of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why?
 
Shakeel Syed: Gosh, I think this is an imperative for people of conscience to remind ourselves and our fellow citizens that for ten consecutive years we have been killing innocent people and getting our young men and women killed while destroying our treasure, whatever little is left, and having people like Rose [Gudiel whose story was covered in the first segment of the show] get evicted and so it is time that people should rise up.  We are only 24 or 25 people who will be doing this civil disobedience on October 7th in downtown LA but I hope and pray that there would be a mass uprising throughout the country in fact to remind the country, remind the nation, remind our political leaders that we are not going to forget the misadventures of our state.
 
LAist notes, "The protest, which incorporated religious leaders from many faiths, was scheduled to go from 9 a.m. until noon. Participants planned to engage in civil disobedience as they march from La Placita Church at 535 N. Main St to the downtown Federal Building, where a blessing was planned." Corey Moore and Larry Mantle (KPCC) report, "Protesters spoke from the platform of a truck where labor leaders, Occupy L.A. demonstrators and others denounced the war. They said money should be going to jobs and schools, not bombs."
 
In Baghdad today, protests took place.  The Great Iraqi Revolution notes that chants included, "America Out, Baghdad will always be Free." Aswat al-Iraq notes the activists were "demanding an end to corruption, unemployment and provision of services." Click here and here for video of the protest in Baghdad.
 
In other news, Al Rafidayn reports concern building over the fact that, as the headline notes, Baghdad is on top of a giant basin of oil but little water and the paper notes efforts are underway to address the potential scarcity of water in the future.  Water is an issue in Iraq for many reasons including the lack of potable water (water that is safe to drink) in much of Iraq and also the water issues they have with Turkey (predominately issues of dams preventing the flow of waterways) and Iran (salt polluting the water ways).  With so few aquifiers in that region (and Saudi Arabia sitting on several), the government of Iraq must be very worried about what happens in the future, especially if the world moves away from oil as the primary energy source and/or the price of oil drops.  New Sabah notes concern in the Ministry of Energy over the decline in the price of oil currently ($90 a barrel in the article; $83 per barrel currently according to AP)  and that there might be an emergeny meeting of OPEC to address crude production. This as Baser News reports that the Ministry of Health states that as much as 50% of the water in Baghdad is polluted.  And it's not just water in Baghdad that has pollutants.  At the end of 2007, Luke Mitchell reported for Harper's magazine from Iraq:
 
 
This was in a particularly empty patch of desert beyond even the lonely cinder-block houses and the rock-throwing kids. We had sped past dry concrete canals and abandoned oil drums and rocket-charred tanks, past mile upon mile of flat dirt and rust, and then we found ourselves drving between a series of mirror-black ponds. These pools crept along both sides of the highway, and through the scratchy ballistic glass of our SUV it was hard to tell at first if the liquid within was oil or water.  There were no ripples, though -- the pools were thick -- and the hot asphalt smell was strong enough that it had become a taste. Same said the oil came from leaky pipes, that there is no EPA watching over Rumaila.  "You have to gve the devil his due here," he said, meaning Iraq. "On a good day, they export 60,000 to 70,000 barrels an hour.  If 500 barrels of crude spill on the ground here, what is that?  Not more than a half minute of export."
[. . .]
Sam said the groundwater in Rumaila is so salty and alkaline that if you put it in your mouth you would gag and probably throw up.
 
The water issues are issues a real leader would address and do so quickly.  Meanwhile, Iraq's had Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister for five years and no progress on that or any other issue.
 
Despite his do nothing approach in his first term from 2006 to 2010, Nouri didn't want to give up the post as prime minister.  And even though his political slate came in second in the elections, he refused to surrender the post thereby creating Political Stalemate I which lasted over eight months.  Al Mada reports that Ayad Allawi, leader of Iraqiya which came in first in the March 2010 elections, announced yesterday that he was no longer going to seek to head the security council. The security council? Never created. The Erbil Agreement, which allowed Nouri al-Maliki to remain as prime minister, was supposed to, among other things, create an independent security council and Allawi was supposed to head it. After Nouri got what he wanted out of the agreement, he went back on his word and trashed the agreement. The Kurds and Iraqiya and the National Alliance have been calling for a return to the Erbil Agreement.

In his statements yesterday, Allawi decried the policies of the government currently and noted the "rampant corruption" taking place. He said there is no partnership nationally and noted the failure to implement the Erbil Agreement. As mixed up and messed up as he sees the national scene currently, he also stated that Iraq's relations with other countries and within the region was being harmed by the current approach of the current government (Nouri).
 
As Sheikh (Dar Addustour) notes of the Tuesday meet up at President Jalal Talabani's home, that Iraqis were expecting the governmental issues to be discussed but instead the meeting became solely about US troops remaining in Iraq (which they agreed to). He writes of failed opportunities and of a pattern of sewing dissatisfaction and mistrust.  Al Sabaah notes that to address the immunity that the political blocs were not willing to grant in that meeting, the notion of an umbrella of immunity under some agreement between Iraq and NATO could take place.  But MP Shaun Mohamed Taha tells the paper that the best thing to do would be for Iraq and the US to reach an agreement and save any NATO agreement for a last resort.  Al Mannarah, Iraq's independent newspapers, speaks with sources who state that Nouri had already promised the US White House that US troops would remain in Iraq before the Tuesday meet-up at Jalal's house (and Nouri had already promised it, they are right) and that if the blocs had rejected the US military presence beyond 2011, he had promised to sign a memorandum of understanding with the US which would allow US soldiers (billed as "trainers") to remain in Iraq.  It's said that Nouri and the US are tossing around the number 5,000 (number of US service members to remain in Iraq) and this in addition to any under the State Dept's banner who might be needed to guard the embassy. Al Sabaah is reporting that the Parliament's Security and Defense Commission has reached a decision about those non-"trainers" (US soldiers) and when they should leave.  Committee Chair Hassan Sinead issued a statement saying they should leave by November 11th.  Per the Status Of Forces Agreement, they should have until December 31, 2011.  Sinead is also insisting that, if soldiers are staying, a deal be made quickly.  His announcement may be, in part, an effort to move the process along. (A bluff to move the process along.)
 
Viola Gienger (Bloomberg News) reports, "Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Iraqi leaders must give the U.S. certain legal protections for its forces in Iraq under any agreement to leave some troops behind after this year." Chris Carroll (Stars and Stripes) reports speaks with national security expert Anthony Cordesman about the issue of immunity and, "Cordesman said the United States and Iraq might not ink a Status of Forces Agreement that explicitly gives troops immunity like the 2008 document now in effect, but there would at least be some agreement to effectively shield U.S. troops, while providing political cover for Iraqi leaders."
 
Super summer sugar croppin'
In the mornin'
Do you shoppin' baby
Love my lovething
Super ride inside my lovething
 
You may leave the fair
But you'll be back I swear
 
Would you love to love me baby?
I would love to love you baby now
Would you love to love me baby?
I would love to love you baby now
 
I keep hearin' mother cryin'
I keep hearin' daddy through his grave
"Little girl, of all the daughters
You were born a woman
Not a slave"
 
Oh I hate my winsome lover
Tell him I've had others
At my breast
And only now am I a virgin
I confess
-- "The Confession," written by Laura Nyro, first appears on her Eli & The Thirteenth Confession
 
 
And this June, Mr. Obama spoke by telephone with the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, and indicated he was willing to leave nearly 10,000 troops, according to a Western diplomat and an Iraqi official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions had been private.
 
'It's the miltiary, acting all on their own, those mean generals!, and maybe Leon Panetta too, that keep pushing to prolong the US military presence in Iraq. It's not Barack.  He needs to speak up so that these generals know he's not for this.'  You've heard that delusion on programs like Flashpoints Radio (from guests, Dennis Bernstein's not crazy enough to spout that himself) and Democracy Now! and read it at places like The Nation and ZNet. It's apparently the first song in the hymnal of the Cult of St. Barack -- has to be the first one, it's sung so often.  (I believe the title is "He's Not Responsible" and it comes right before "It's All Bush's Fault" and "He's Only Been President For ____.")  It was never true. 
 
There was not a rogue State Dept or rogue branch of the military working behind Barack's back.  This is what he's always wanted.  But the press likes to give Barack cover and he has to reach  a 55% disapproval rating for the press to decide to provide a little truth (a little well known truth).
 
It's Barack's war and it's been his war for some time now.  Since he rebranded it "Operation New Dawn" just over a year ago, 60 US service members have died, 36 of those in combat (this despite his claim that "combat operations" had ended).
 
Arango and Schmidt speak to a few Iraqis.  We'll ignore the college student -- normally, we'd grab him for the quote -- because the paper's never been at a loss to quote Iraqis in favor of the US is staying in their country.  Instead we'll note Hamid al-Mutlaq ("a lawmaker"), "The Iraqi people won't forget what they were subjected to, such as killing, hunger and displacement. The atrocities of Abu Ghraib prison remain in their memory."
 
On the second hour of today's Diane Rehm Show (NPR), a guest called in about the occupation of the MidEast and the animosity it breeds.
 
Yochi Dreazen: You know, he mentioned Iraq. I was just there for about a month and came back recently so I'm still mildly incoherent from jet lag.  The disconnect between the debate here about troops and the debate there was staggering to me.  Here the question was always framed as how many troops will Obama leave?  Republicans said too few, Democrats said too many.  But the basic idea was that it was his choice, that the US could sort of choose how many to leave.  We are, as Nadia [] said, more hated there than -- I was the bureau chief there for three years, I spent about five years there -- more hated now than ever before.
 
[Guest host] Laura Knoy: Really? In Iraq?

Yochi Dreazen: In Iraq.  They want us out. There's not a single political party -- [not] the Kurds, none, no matter how pro-American. I spent some time with Ayad Allawi the former prime minister. He was on the CIA payroll.  He's as close to America as you can find in Iraq. And he refused to say that he thinks troops should stay and hinted strongly that they want them gone. Some of that is politics. It's an easier thing to say if you're a political leader that you want them out.  But we are hated in Iraq and there is no constituency saying we should stay, which is -- my gut is that I don't think there'll be a troop extension.  If it is it's going to be tiny. It's not going to be 3,000, it's not going to be 2,000. It'll be 1,000 or 1500 because we are so deeply, deeply unpopular.
 
 

As Political Stalemate II continues, so does the violence. Aswat al-Iraq reports a Baghdad bombing has claimed 5 lives and left twenty injured, a Mosul bombing claimed the life of 1 woman and left another person injured, and a police officer was shot dead in Baghad. Reuters notes a second police officer was shot dead in Baghdad, 1 civilian was shot dead in his Baghdad house, and, dropping back to Thursday for the remainder, the Iraqi military shot dead a suspect in Mosul and a Baghdad roadside bombing left "six boys" injured.
 
 
I got fury in my soul
Fury's gonna take me
To the glory goal
In my mind I can't study war no more
Save the people
Save the children
Save the country
-- "Save The Country," written by Laura Nyro, first appears on her New York Tendaberry
 
 
 
"Old men send young people to die in their wars," explained Phyllis Bennis this evening.  "The old men who send them don't die very often" in these wars.  She was taking part in the action at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church where Iraq Veterans Against the War's executive director Jose Vasquez welcomed those assembled to War Voices.  Safia Elhillo kicked things off with a poem entitled "How To Love In War Time" which includes the advice to "clutch your firstborn in your lap" because "all you have lost" is behind you. Phyllis Bennis gave some opening remarks and kicked off the voices with Suraia Sahar who explained, among other things, how Afghans for Peace ended up with that name (Sahar is an Afghan whose family moved to Canada).  Other voices included Afghanistan War veteran Brock McIntosh and Military Families Speak Out's Pat Alviso who noted with four deployments already (a fifth to begin in January), her son has lost friends, seen a marriage end and that these and other tolls aren't noted by the recruiters who show up in a lousy economy promising jobs, money and adventure.
 
In addition, DC (like many cities) has seen Occupy Wall Street actions.  Not to be confused with the action we weren't interesed in (October2011.org) which Iraq War veteran Adam Kokesh noted was "now rebranded to capture the momentum of the #OWS."
 
adamkokesh Kevin Zeese, organizer of october2011.org says he is unwilling to put aside calls for universal... fb.me/1mjavc1o4
about 21 hours ago
 
Good for Adam (who doesn't need applause to tell the straight truth but does deserve recognition for always stepping up to the plate and doing so).  It wasn't interested in war.  It didn't care about the Iraq War or even name it.  It was a toss-out-everything and hope something sticks.  Kevin Zeese is part of Come Home America (no link) and needs to get his act together because he looks like a hypocrite being the public face of that group which is supposed to build bridges across the political spectrum, linking all opposed to the current wars, and yet can't make room for the right in a protest?  The reality is that in the next 2 years, the wars could be ended (in less than the next 2) but universal health care is something that will require a lot more ground work and probably many more years.  So it look like a fetish prevented a message of strong opposition to war from being sent.  (A "fetish" refers to a refusal to be realistic.  It's not a dig at single-payer, universal health care which I do support.)
 
In Canada, Iraq War veteran and war resister Rodney Watson continues to hope for asylum.  Yolande Cole (Georgia Straight -- link has text and video) reports it's a little over two years since the US war resister, on the verge of being deported (September 2009), sought refuge at First United Church in Vancouver with his wife and son.  He states, "I've been through a lot in my life, and this has been one of the hardest things I've been through, being stuck in these walls. The hardest thing about being stuck here is waving to my wife and son . . . every time they got to the store, or to family dinners, outings, to the park . . . the hardest part for me is saying good-bye."  First United Church notes:
 
.
The 34th General Council of The United Church of Canada (1992) endorsed "the moral right and responsibilities of congregations to provide sanctuary to legitimate refugee claimants who have been denied refugee status."
Sanctuary should only be considered as a way to right a wrong or to uphold justice. As a public and prophetic witness of the church, it is to be considered only after all legal, administrative, and political appeals for justice have been tried. From this perspective, sanctuary is "moral obedience" and displays ultimate respect for the law and the justice it demands of it.
Rodney Watson, 31, after losing his job and being desperate for income, signed up as a cook for the U.S. army in Kansas City. He was subsequently sent to Iraq for 12 months. He found himself not working as a cook but as an armed soldier securing the kitchen and mess area. After his tour of duty ended in 2006 and a few months  before his 3-year contract would end, the US army informed him he would be sent back to Iraq where his contract would unilaterally be extended.
He fled to Vancouver, deeply convicted that his conscience would not permit him to continue to participate in a war that he believed was neither justified nor being conducted in ways he was willing to be a part of.  He sought refuge in Canada but Rodney was ordered to leave Canada by Friday September 11 2009, or face deportation. Rodney asked for Sanctuary at First United and came into this building on the evening of Friday September 18th, 2009.
In providing sanctuary for Rodney Watson, the Board of First United Church took the following into consideration:
1. Respect and support for the Law of the Land
The Church has consistently respected and supported the democratically established Law and processes of Justice. However, the Christian Church has also at times embraced actions that challenge and/or obstruct the Law when a law or its implementation is deemed unjust.
In Rodney's case, with reference to his application for refugee status:
A) The Law allows for a process that includes opportunity for a review on humanitarian and compassionate grounds to be held after a deportation order has been issued -- and it also allows for the deportation to be delayed until that hearing is held, but….
(i) Holding the Hearing after Rodney has been deported makes the process moot, since he will receive a prison sentence of at least a year and will have a criminal record that prevents re-entry into Canada
(ii) No indication has been given of a willingness to hold such a Hearing before deporting Rodney
(iii) The Hearing has been seriously prejudiced by the Minister of Immigration's public statement that "Iraq war resisters are bogus refugee claimants"
B) The legal process has denied Rodney refugee status despite the fact that the democratically elected Parliament of Canada has voted in 2008 and in March 2009 to allow Iraq war resisters to be given refuge in Canada, with the result that…
(i) The intent of the Law (which, as reflected in the Parliamentary majority votes and in Canada's history of providing refuge to Vietnam war resisters and others is clearly to offer refuge to war resisters) has been ignored or contradicted
The Board of First United considers the implementation and process of the Law as not being just -- and believes it would be an injustice for him to be deported at this point. Justice requires that Rodney be given a fair hearing on Compassionate and Humanitarian grounds before being deported -- and that the Hearing take into account the intent of the Law and the decisions of a democratically elected Parliament
2. Conscientious Objectors and Just Wars
The Church has over the ages been willing to accept the need for war as a last resort, carefully applying the Just War doctrine and criteria. When a war has been deemed not to meet the criteria of a Just War, the Church has opposed that war and refused to collaborate in its execution. Equally the Church has upheld (indeed often encouraged) Conscientious Objection by those who choose on the basis of conscience not to participate in a war (or to terminate their involvement in one.
In this context:
A) The war in Iraq is considered by many to be an illegitimate war.
(i) The grounds and justifications given for declaring that war have been proved to be invalid.
(ii) Canada itself chose not to participate in that war because the justification was suspect from the start.
B) The Church calls on secular society to join it in respecting the right to conscientious objection and Rodney is objecting to being sent back to a war in which he does not believe and cannot in conscience support  (In this case a war that most Canadians do not support).
C) Secular society holds individuals personally accountable for their decisions and actions in the context of war. We cannot hold people accountable if we do not give them the opportunity to choose not to participate. Denying Rodney the right to refuse to participate by seeking refuge in Canada, contradicts this basic principle.
Justice requires that Rodney be given the opportunity to make the choice of not participating in a war that in conscience he cannot support -- by being allowed as per the will of Parliament to be given refuge in Canada.
3. Basic justice and solidarity with those treated unjustly.
The Church has consistently stood in solidarity with those who are being treated unjustly. It has also traditionally had strong theological bases for defending the rights of workers/employees in the context of workplace/employment imbalances of power.
In Rodney's case:
A) There is a basic injustice in a unilateral extension of a contract (even when written into the small print of the document that has been signed by both parties. ). Rodney was not in breach of his 3-year contract in any way, when it was unilaterally extended 3 months before it was due to end.  The unilateral extension of a contract is an unfair labour practice and an abuse of power.
B) The consequence of deporting Rodney is that an 8-month old child will be deprived of any contact with his father for at least a year -- and possibly longer.
Justice requires that Rodney not be forced to continue being employed against his wishes despite having met his mutually agreed contractual obligations -- and equally that he not be imprisoned for being unwilling to meet unilaterally imposed requirements.
For the reasons outlined above and based on the theological principles and policies outlined in the attached documents, the Board of First United Church is providing refuge and Sanctuary for Rodney Watson.
 
 
Community note,  Wednesday, Cedric's "Who sat Wonkette at the grown ups' table?" and Wally's "THIS JUST IN! THEY LOWER US ALL!" (joint-post) took on the what-does-killing-American-citizens-mean-for-Barack's-re-election-campaign (as opposed to dealing with the serious issue on serious terms).  And the other posts that night were theme posts, everyone weighing in on cereal: Betty's "Super Sugar Crisps," Trina's "Frosted Mini Wheats," Ann's "4 men, 1 woman" (she covers cereal but she also tracks the numbers for the guests on The Diane Rehm Show), Rebecca's "oatmeal," Ruth's "Bagels, lox, Matzo Brei," Kat's "Corn flakes," Marcia's "Cap 'n Crunch with Crunch Berries," Stan's "Great Grains," Elaine's "Fruit Loops" and Mike's "Lucky Charms."

At Black Agenda Report, Bruce A. Dixon asks a very important question regarding the Libyan War. Please check that out.  We'd quote from it but four mornings this week, I've been trying to work something in and instead we'll just close with it here.  David Bacon's latest book is Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press) which won the CLR James Award. This is from his "Does Signing a Petition Give Parents a Voice?" (Rethinking Schools):
 

The first parent trigger law was passed in California last year. It says that if the parents of 51 percent of a public school's students sign a petition (the "trigger"), that petition will result in one of four options: firing the principal, bringing in an entirely new staff, closing the school, or handing over the school to a charter school operator. Rather than triggering a broader process, the specific option -- for example, the specific charter school company -- is part of the petition.

Several very conservative players in national education reform, in addition to Broad, have made parent trigger proposals a key part of their agenda. Many teachers fear the expansion of a privatized education system, and view parent trigger laws as a means for rushing the process forward.

And there is no indication that these laws increase parental voice in their children's education. "You get one shot and that's it, because once that charter is formed, that charter dictates how it will operate," John Rogers, associate professor of urban schooling at UCLA, told NBC's Education Nation. "[Parents] have fewer rights in the context of a charter than they would at a public school."

As trigger laws are introduced in state after state, California's experience is being watched closely. When the trigger law there was up for a vote, Democrats, among them Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (a former field rep for United Teachers Los Angeles), spoke for the bill, although the votes to pass it came mostly from Republicans. Teachers' unions lobbied against it, while a chorus of mainstream media hailed it. Patrick Range McDonald of the LA Weekly claimed it was the product of "minority parents and fierce reformers, who seemed to materialize from thin air."

Not quite. Although some grassroots parents undoubtedly did support the bill, it was the product of powerful political figures, backed by the wealthy foundations that shape much of the country's debate over education reform. SBX54 was written by the Los Angeles Parents Union (LAPU), started in 2006 by the Green Dot charter school company. The LAPU was headed by political operative Ben Austin, who then started another organization, Parent Revolution, to promote and implement the parent trigger law. At its birth, Parent Revolution had a $1 million budget supplied by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wasserman Foundation, the Eli Broad Foundation, the Hewlett-Packard Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation.

 
And we'll note an ongoing exhibit:
 
This Camera Fights Fascism:
The Photographs of David Bacon and Francisco Dominguez

Santa Clara, CA
July 29 - December 4, 2011 and January 14 - February 5, 2012
Tuesday - Sunday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
David Bacon and Francisco Dominguez have both followed in the tradition of Depression-era photographers such as Dorothea Lange, focusing their cameras on struggle, dissent, immigrants, and workers. Their photographs speak to the global character of contemporary migration. Like the so-called Okies of the Depression, many of today's migrants have been displaced by environmental degradation and wider economic forces.

The title of this exhibition refers to a sign that 1930s folk musician Woody Guthrie often had on his guitar, "This Machine Kills Fascists." These two photographers build a powerful body of visual evidence of the continuing struggle of workers, migrants, and poor people to survive. In this exhibition the photographers responded to images by Dorothea Lange and selected photographs from their own work that draw close connections between the 1930s and today.
David Bacon is a photojournalist who has documented the movements of farm workers, social protest from Iraq and Mexico to the U.S., and the migration of people. He is the author of several books, and many of the images in this show are from Communities Without Borders, Images and Words from the World of Migration.

Francisco Dominguez is a photographer and printmaker. His parents both were farm workers. He documents the struggles of indigenous, immigrant, and poor people in black and white photography.

- Art Hazelwood, Guest Curator

To view the slide show please go to:

This exhibition is taking place at the museum simultaneously with
Hobos to Street People: Artists' Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to the Present
and
Between Struggle and Hope: Envisioning a Democratic Art in the 1930s
July 29 - December 4, 2011
also curated by Art Hazelwood
 
 
 
 
 
Posted by at 6:03 PM Links to this post

True confessions from NYT

"Even in 2008, when the security agreement requiring a complete withdrawal by the end of 2011 was passed, officials said privately that they expected the document to be amended to allow a longer military presence," inform Tim Arango and Michael S. Schmidt (New York Times) this morning. While I'm aware neither was covering the SOFA for Iraq in November 2008 or in the immediate months that followed, they do work for the paper that was part of the Lie Chamber promoting the myth that the Status Of Forces Agreement meant all US forces left Iraq by the end of 2011. So when they share their tidbit today, near the end of their article, the natural response is: It's not that easy.

The paper lied. They were far from the only outlet to do so. But those that lied do share responsibility for the continuation of the illegal war. When you tell people -- over and over, it was never one-day coverage -- in article after article, that the Iraq War ends at the end of 2011, that it has to and all US troops have to leave at the end of 2011, you don't just mislead, you give many a reason to focus on other things, to (wrongly) believe that this issue is taken care of and they can focus on something else.

The media pimped that lie hard. They share responsibility. Share. They are not solely responsible. The Cult of St. Barack also shares responsibility. They were beyond desperate to believe the lie, so much so that they would take the Bush administration's Status Of Forces Agreement and treat that as proof not just that the illegal war would end but that Barack was better than Bush, they would turn a Bush agreement into a Barack treaty. People who are that eager to self-deceive are the reason the media can't be the sole culprit but it was an active accomplice.

Maybe Arango and Schmidt's article should have been called "True Confessions"? They certainly supply a lot of information the press has been concealing.

All summer, all year, we've had to take the crap for telling the truth that Barack was pushing for US troops to stay in Iraq while crackpots no longer with the CIA launched one disinformation that Barack didn't want that, didn't know a thing about it, that it was these out of control military officers and, Barack, please, please, please speak clearly on this issue so that your military will know you are opposed to this -- On and on that garbage went. So it is refreshing to see Arango and company report (finally): "And this June, Mr. Obama spoke by telephone with the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, and indicated he was willing to leave nearly 10,000 troops, according to a Western diplomat and an Iraqi official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions had been private."

I am not a Barack supporter. So it's interesting that we've always recognized his agency and power here while the Cult of St. Barack has repeatedly portrayed him as a victim, naive, apparently stupid to what the people he appointed are doing, unaware of what was going on around him.

I hope the Cult of St. Barack is aware that their portrayal of him the last years has contributed to the negative image he now holds (and that it's too late to change it now) with the public at large. You can only whine for so long that he's a victim, that he's Patty Hearst, that he doesn't want to do ___ but people won't listen to him, before that all contributes to his being seen as inept. And underlying the negative polling of Barack currently is that image that the Cult of St. Barack created. (Don't expect LieFace Melissa Harris Perry to ever tell that at The Nation. This is the cheap liar who went to work for the Obama campaign in 2007 but 'forgot' to disclose that in January 2008 on Democracy Now! or in March 2008 on The Charlie Rose Show.)

Had the paper bothered to offer reality in 2008 or 2009, I'd be raving over the article today. Instead, it plays a lot like someone broke the window and Arango and Schmidt got stuck taking the blame for everyone when they came to ask for their baseball back.

Al Mada reports that Ayad Allawi, leader of Iraqiya which came in first in the March 2010 elections, announced yesterday that he was no longer going to seek to head the security council. The security council? Never created. The Erbil Agreement, which allowed Nouri al-Maliki to remain as prime minister, was supposed to, among other things, create an independent security council and Allawi was supposed to head it. After Nouri got what he wanted out of the agreement, he went back on his word and trashed the agreement. The Kurds and Iraqiya and the National Alliance have been calling for a return to the Erbil Agreement.

In his statements yesterday, Allawi decried the policies of the government currently and noted the "rampant corruption" taking place. He said there is no partnership nationally and noted the failure to implement the Erbil Agreement. As mixed up and messed up as he sees the national scene currently, he also stated that Iraq's relations with other countries and within the region was being harmed by the current approach of the current government (Nouri).

As Sheikh (Dar Addustour) notes of the Tuesday meet up at President Jalal Talabani's home, that Iraqis were expecting the governmental issues to be discussed but instead the meeting became solely about US troops remaining in Iraq. He writes of failed opportunities and of a pattern of sewing dissatisfaction and mistrust.

As Political Stalemate II continues, so does the violence. Aswat al-Iraq reports a Baghdad bombing has claimed 5 lives and left twenty injured, a Mosul bombing claimed the life of 1 woman and left another person injured, and a police officer was shot dead in Baghad.


The following community sites -- plus Antiwar.com -- updated last night:

Plus Mike's "Turley" and Rebecca's "fast & furious."
Joan Wile is the founder of Grandmothers Against the War and has written the book
On Friday, Oct. 7, 2011, a coalition of major peace groups will mark the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan war with a large rally at the SE corner of 42nd St. and 7th Ave. from 12 noon to 2 p.m. The event will advocate for an end to the war and redeployment of the money spent for the conflict to our needs here at home.

Among the speakers will be Cong. Charles Rangel; New York City Public Advocate Bill DiBlasiol; City Council member Gale Brewer; Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, Rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church; legendary Broadway actress Vinie Burrows; peace leader Dave McReynolds, renowned civil liberties attorney Norman Siegel, and many more. Entertainment will be provided by the Raging Grannies.
"This is not only America's longest war, it's the first not to be funded, but put on a credit card costing us billions," said Jerry Moss, Vice President of Peace Action Manhattan. "We desperately need that money here at home for jobs, schools, scientific research, health care, repair of infrastructure, and so on."
Sponsors are Military Families Speak Out, the War Resisters League, the Granny Peace Brigade, Afghanistan Veterans Against the War, Code Pink, Peace Action Manhattan, Grandmothers Against the War, Westchester Concerned Families, the Gray Panthers, Veterans for Peace, West Side Campaign Against Hunger, Citizen Soldier, and others.
"There are almost 7,000 dead, hundreds of thousands who lost a limb or developed
long- term medical and mental issues. We must call for an end to a war causing
so much destruction, economic disaster and which has no clear mission or goals achieved," stated Lionelle Hamanaka, a leader of Military Families Speak Out.

DATE: Oct. 7, 2011
TIME: 12 noon to 2 p.m. -- Rep. Rangel scheduled to speak 1 p.m.
LOCATION: SE corner of 42nd St. at 7th Ave






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



















Posted by at 4:20 AM Links to this post

The fallen, veterans issues, employment and protest

Last week, Spc Adrian G. Mills was killed in Iraq. Winston Skinner (Newnan Times-Herald) reports his "funeral service will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. in the chapel of McKoon Funeral Home in Newnan. John Daviston of McKoon's said Mills' family will be receiving friends at the funeral home on Sunday from 5-8 p.m. and Monday from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m." Yesterday, Skinner reported that Mills' body would be arriving home on Saturday and that Adrian Mill's stepfather Jeff Blehschmidt, at the family's home, had created a memorial of photographs and candles as well as box "for people to leave a message for the family." David Ibata (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) quotes Cassie McDonald remembering her time in high school and the Air Force JROTC with Mills and stating, "It didn't matter where he had to go or what sacrifices he had to make. He definitely knew what he wanted to do."

Survivors like Iraq War veteran Jeff Hall can have issues to struggle with upon return. For Hall, it was PTSD. KY3 (link has text and video) reports:

Married 20 years, Major Hall's wife Sheri says she barely recognized her husband when he came home. She went on, “one minute he could be happy-go-lucky Jeff, and the next minute his eyes would go completely black and he would just be angry."
Rage, sadness, despair. He exposed his post-traumatic stress demons through self-portraits. "To come across as a broken vessel is death to you in the combat arms. Who wants to follow the officer who's gone crazy?" said Major Hall.

Senator Patty Murray is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Richard Burr is the Ranking Member. Yesterday they held an employment roundtable for veterans and her office notes:

PATHFIRE VIDEO/AUDIO: Chairman Murray and Ranking Member Burr Host Veterans and Nonprofits for Veterans Employment Roundtable

With the unemployment rate among young veterans reaching new highs, Chairman Murray and Ranking Member Burr sat down with Microsoft, nonprofit organizations and veterans to discuss how to help unemployed veterans find skilled jobs

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO ACCESS PATHFIRE VIDEO

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO ACCCES AUDIO ONLY

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Patty Murray and Ranking Member Richard Burr, together with Microsoft Corp., convened a roundtable discussion about training and hiring America’s unemployed veterans for skilled jobs. In August, Microsoft announced an expansion of its Elevate America veterans initiative, in partnership with the Department of Labor, to provide additional support to veterans in their transition to the civilian workforce. Attendees heard from veterans and the National Commander of the American Legion, Fang Wong, about the difficult employment landscape our returning veterans face.

“The critical issue is making sure that our men and women who come home after serving their country are able to transition into the civilian world,” said Senator Murray at today’s roundtable. “I’ve said many times that this is the most employable group of people in the world. They know how to show up to work on time, they’ve got tremendous skills, they’ve got a great attitude and just have so much to offer to our country.”

At the hearing Julius Clemente, a veteran from Washington, told his own story of struggling to find work that would allow him to translate the skills he learned while serving his country:

“My certification, my experience in the military, faces a difficult challenge of transferring over to the civilian side,” Clemente said. “The path we now face from the military to college -- life is more complicated and challenging than what I thought.”

Attendees also heard from Brad Smith, Microsoft Corporation General Counsel and Executive Vice President for Legal and Corporate Affairs, about the work they are doing to aid veterans and their spouses acquire the skills and resources that they need to be successful in today's workplace.

In June, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee unanimously passed Chairman Murray’s Hiring Heroes Act of 2011 - the first of its kind to require broad job skills training for all service members returning home. In addition to providing new job skills training to all service members, the bill will also create new direct federal hiring authority so more service members have jobs waiting for them the day they leave the military, and will for the first time require the military to provide separating servicemembers with the tools to help them find jobs when they return home.

For more information on the bill click HERE.

###

Meghan Roh

Deputy Press Secretary

Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray

@PattyMurray

202-224-2834

Get Updates from Senator Murray


Lastly, Joan Wile will be participating in an action today in NYC. She explains:

CONG. RANGEL, OTHERS TO DEMAND AT TIMES SQ. RALLY OCT. 7:
"BRING TROOPS HOME NOW!
MOVE THE MONEY FROM WAR TO HOME!"



On Friday, Oct. 7, 2011, a coalition of major peace groups will mark the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan war with a large rally at the SE corner of 42nd St. and 7th Ave. from 12 noon to 2 p.m. The event will advocate for an end to the war and redeployment of the money spent for the conflict to our needs here at home.

Among the speakers will be Cong. Charles Rangel; New York City Public Advocate Bill DiBlasiol; City Council member Gale Brewer; Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, Rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church; legendary Broadway actress Vinie Burrows; peace leader Dave McReynolds, renowned civil liberties attorney Norman Siegel, and many more. Entertainment will be provided by the Raging Grannies.
"This is not only America's longest war, it's the first not to be funded, but put on a credit card costing us billions," said Jerry Moss, Vice President of Peace Action Manhattan. "We desperately need that money here at home for jobs, schools, scientific research, health care, repair of infrastructure, and so on."
Sponsors are Military Families Speak Out, the War Resisters League, the Granny Peace Brigade, Afghanistan Veterans Against the War, Code Pink, Peace Action Manhattan, Grandmothers Against the War, Westchester Concerned Families, the Gray Panthers, Veterans for Peace, West Side Campaign Against Hunger, Citizen Soldier, and others.
"There are almost 7,000 dead, hundreds of thousands who lost a limb or developed
long- term medical and mental issues. We must call for an end to a war causing
so much destruction, economic disaster and which has no clear mission or goals achieved," stated Lionelle Hamanaka, a leader of Military Families Speak Out.

DATE: Oct. 7, 2011
TIME: 12 noon to 2 p.m. -- Rep. Rangel scheduled to speak 1 p.m.
LOCATION: SE corner of 42nd St. at 7th Ave

That's today. I've got lousy WiFi reception today and just want to get this up, I'll note Joan in the next entry as well and her book.

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



















Posted by at 4:15 AM Links to this post

Thursday, October 06, 2011

I Hate The War

In a column on the 10th anniversary of the never-ending Afghanistan War, Neil Steinberg (Chicago Sun-Times) writes, "Did I miss anything? I almost said that the best result was liberating the Kurds, but that's Iraq, the other war we've got going on."

Barring a last minute complete about face by the White House, there will still be US security forces on the ground in Iraq next year (US soldiers and contractors) when the Iraq War hits the 9 year mark.

And most people can probably list a lie or two or three for how the US military ended up there (lies include: 'connected to 9-11,' 'WMD,' etc.) the lack of attention to Iraq from the press means that the White House doesn't even feel the need to come up with a lie to justify the continued war.

They're helped in that by the fact that the broadcast media pretty much all abandoned the Iraq War in the week or so before Barack was sworn in.

So for a lot of Americans, the war is over. If it wasn't, they would have a right to see it on their TVs, right?

And when you think all the lies it took to get the US over there, it's amazing that they've managed to keep the military over there without constant lying. They just don't talk about it.

If forced to, Barack will. And he'll lie and claim combat operations ended August 31, 2010. This despite the 36 US service members who have died since that day. Combat wasn't over for them on August 31, 2010.

The Iraq War has gone on for over eight years now. And Barack's working to keep US soldiers on the ground in Iraq beyond this year. And it's so fallen off the radar and we've grown so accustomed to it that we don't even demand answers. No one even seems able to ask the words: Why are we still in IRaq?

It's really sad and depressing that the administration just can't be honest. Or at least can't today.

"Just understand my frustration. We want to normalize a government that really doesn't exist."

That's Joe Biden. Before he was vice president. When he was still a Senator. April 10, 2008.

All this time later and the only thing that's changed is which party controls the White House.

Joe, just understand my frustration. Now you're the one wanting to normalize a government that really doesn't exist.


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

Last Thursday, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 4481. Tonight it is [PDF format warning] 4481. Here's the screen snap:

10 6 11 dod

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




Posted by at 9:59 PM Links to this post

Iraq snapshot

Thursday, October 6, 2011. Chaos and violence continue, 'withdrawal' continues to be addressed, the Turkish Parliament votes to continue bombing northern Iraq, Panetta says no immunity means no US troops, and more.
 
 
 
Scott Horton: . . . which makes me look at the Iraq War in context and think, did you guys ever think of yourselves as maybe just window dressing? That this never really was about winning hearts and minds of the people of Iraq but telling the American TV audience that "Don't worry, someon'es over there winning their hearts and minds"?
 
Peter Van Buren: This actually was something that we did talk about quite a bit.  There were sort of two groups of folks with us.  One -- I'd say three.  There was a group of very gung ho folks that really thought we were out to do something great. And they were really just a tiny, tiny minority. Most of the people there just wanted to do their job the best they could, make a little money and go home.  But a number of us, and I include myself in this, came to believe that, in fact, it was nothing but a scam, a Ptokeman village that was set up simply so that someone could say, "Look, we're trying to help. We're rebuilding schools. We're doing all of these wonderful things." And then, in fact, the reason why it failed is that nobody really cared if it succeeded or not. The most important thing we could do was simply to be there so that when it became politically expedient to point to us and say, "Look at the nice thing we're doing.  We're building a road, we're giving some food out to kids, or something," we were there and handy for that. When the political expediency expired, they closed the program down.  It's not like we finished the job.  They just basically said earlier this year, "Well time to move on," and closed everything down and left things pretty much where we started.
 
Scott Horton:  You know I'd hate to give too much credit to the Bob Woodward version of events but it seems like despite all the smoke screens and kind of you know the spin that all of his first person actors put on their own part in the Iraq War and whatever it does seem pretty clear, you know, the truth kind of leaking through and all that as soon as the war started no one was in charge of anything.  Everything that Rumsfeld was supposed to be doing he pointed to Condoleezza Rice.  Everything Condoleezza Rice was supposed to do, she pointed to Rumsfeld and Powell and whomever. And back and forth they went and no one was really doing anything except down at the local level Douglas Feith and Paul Bremer are deciding to disband the army and these kind of things.  But -- well, man, and now the music's playing and we've got to go out to break.  But that's kind of where I want to pick up when we get back was whether anybody was really in charge of this thing at all?
 
Peter Van Buren: Absolutely.
 
Scott Horton: Or whether this was just like a local job training program run amuk.
 
[. . .]
 
Peter Van Buren: You were talking earlier about -- we were talking earlier about the lack of leadership and actually one of the chapters that got cut from the book but that I'm going to put up on my blog was called "Lessons Learned from Iraq." And the idea was that we're going to repeat this nation building stuff over and over again, we're doing it right now in Afghansitan where we've spent over $70 billion and the rumors are that Libya, Yemen, maybe even Syria are on the future screen. So if we're going to spend all this money and take all this time, one of the lessons learned was the desperate need for adult supervision.  What happened in Iraq was a series of failures.  Coalition Provisional Authority was one of the first failures to do anything useful rebuilding Iraq.  They got caught up in neocon fantasies of creating flat taxes and super powered stock markets and things like that and it crashed and burned.  The Army Corps of Engineers was then handed the bag of money to try to rebuild Iraq and they got tangled up in their own security issues and their own bureaucracy and they crashed and burned.  The next step under the Bush administration, of course, was to hand all the money over to KBR and some of those other nice mega contracting firms and let them rebuild Iraq.  They -- they took the money alright, they were very efficient at that part but they didn't really accomplish anything. So by around 2007, pretty much the only people left in town that hadn't had a shot at it were the State Dept, where I worked, and we were sent in to do this. The problem was that State had no vision for it.  They didn't really understand what we were supposed to do other than we were supposed to spend money and try to make some friends.  The projects that we were asked to do were pretty much left to do were pretty much left to each person on the ground to conceive.
 
Telling the truth comes with no applause in the so-called Era of Transparency Barack Obama supposedly ushered in.  No, the administration's response is to attack.  Kelley B. Vlahos (Antiwar.com) charts the administration's response to Van Buren's book:
 
Van Buren says he is being accused of "disclosing classified material," though the
cables he linked to were "unclassified," "confidential," and "unclassified/for official use only," respectively*. The State Department told Antiwar.com that it would not comment on "whether or not there is an investigation underway."
Van Buren, who worked for a year on an embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team (ePRT) in Iraq from 2009-2010, is nonetheless convinced that the book is what set off the alarms at Foggy Bottom. He may well be right. Van Buren's publisher, Macmillan Publishers, has confirmed that the department is now seeking redactions, even though We Meant Well just hit the shelves and was officially vetted for classified material a year ago.
According to Van Buren, the State Department never raised a flag about the book until now.
 
 FYI, Kelley Vlahos will be taking part in a Saturday event.  This is Angela Keaton's write up for Antiwar.com:
 
Kelley B. Vlahos along with military veterans Daniel Lakemacher and Students for Liberty's Peter Neiger will be appearing at an Antiwar Break Out Session at the 2011 Students for Liberty Philadelphia Regional Conference. The conference will be held Saturday, October 8th. Register here.
Vlahos is a contributing editor for The American Conservative magazine, a Washington correspondent for the DC-based homeland security magazine, Homeland Security Today, a long-time political writer for FOXNews.com, and weekly columnist for Antiwar.com.
 
 
 
 
Scott Horton: Well now they're talking about keeping troops past the 2011 deadline.  Do you think that Maliki and his armies still need Americans to keep them in power?
 
Peter Van Buren: What they need is American money and they'd like to have that and if they have to tolerate a few thousand American soldiers around to get the money bags, I suspect they will. Maliki right now has consolidated his power quite effectively. He retains control of both the Defense and the Interior Ministries, the two most powerful parts of the centeral Iraqi government. He retains control of personal militias -- many of which have been linked to alleged secret prisons and alleged torture. He doesn't need the Americans to keep him in power anymore. What he does like is the flow of cash and some of the weapons that we're planning to give/transfer/sell to him. So he's a smart guy, he's played a little poker in his life and if he needs to keep a few thousand American soldiers in the neighborhood to get all those benefits, sure, that's a small price to pay for all the benefits, money and goods he's going to rake in.
 
Let's stay with 'withdrawal' and then we'll come back to other topics mentioned.  What's known so far?  Tuesday, a meet-up of the political blocs at Jalal Talabani's home resulted in the declaration that "trainers" would be needed in Iraq beyond December 31st.  ("Trainers" is a euphemism for "US soldiers.")  At Jalal's house it was decided that the political blocs would not grant immunity.  Their decision not to grant immunity did not mean immunity would not be granted but damned if so many idiots in the press (here for a critique of the New York Times' 'reporting') didn't insist that was the case.  Are they really that stupid?  And, if so, how long does stupid qualify as an excuse?
 
 
Suadad al-Salhy (Reuters) reports, "Iraqi lawmakers on Wednesday said they were discussing a deal to extend a NATO training mission that could allow U.S. troops to stay as trainers beyond the year-end deadline for withdrawal, with the type of legal protections demanded by Washington." Wait, it gets better, al-Salhy reports the bill was read out loud to the Parliament once already.
 
Do you get it?  Most of the press didn't.  All the political bloc leaders said on Tuesday was that they -- themselves -- would not be granting immunity at that meeting.  If indeed, as so much of the press misreported, what they were saying was NO IMMUNITY, what al-Salhy reported couldn't and wouldn't and shouldn't have happened.
 
But it did.
 
What happens if there's no immunity granted or created? (And it can be granted or created in any number of means provided the administration's attorneys agree it grants immunity.) US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta answered that today.  AFP reports he declared, on a visit to Brussels, that without immunity, US troops would not remain in Iraq. (US soldiers shoved under the US State Dept's umbrella will have immunity.) Slobodan Lekic (AP) quotes Panetta staing, "I can say very clearly that any kind of U.S. presence (in Iraq) demands that we protect and provide the appropriate immunity for our soldiers."  BBC News notes that Panetta pointed out that negotiations continue.
 
In related news, Nathan Hodge (Wall St. Journal) reports on a letter US House Rep Darrell Issa has sent the White House demanding to know the details of the White House's plan for contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, "The American people have a right to know the past, present, and future status of private security contractors in these regions."  Issa also notes: "Americans would be shocked to learn that during your administration, in fact, the numbers [of private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan] have drastically increased. Despite poor oversight and unacceptable levels of waste, fraud and abuse, the numbers of private security contractor boots on the ground and the price tag have only gone up during your administration."  In related news, yesterday the US State Dept issued the following:

Question: Approximately how many security contractors will be required in Iraq to protect the U.S. diplomatic mission next year?

Answer: In light of the high threat environment in Iraq over the past several years, we expect that in 2012 there will be approximately 5,000 such security personnel to help protect our diplomatic presence in various locations around the country and ensure our capability to interact successfully with the Iraqi Government and people to build an enduring partnership of benefit to both countries and the region. We expect this number of security personnel to noticeably decrease in the following years as security conditions continue to improve, as they have done steadily since 2007.

In addition, the Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq (OSC-I) will be part of our strategic engagement and partnership with Iraq. This office will require additional security personnel to protect facilities and staff. The exact number and final disposition of these security requirements are still under review.

The United States is committed to an enduring partnership with Iraq, which can be a strong ally in a strategic region of the world critical to our national security. This Administration has placed a priority in strengthening our partnership by maintaining a strong diplomatic presence on the ground in Iraq and is committed to ensuring the safety of the men and women who make up that presence. Utilizing security personnel to assist U.S. diplomatic security officials in protecting Americans serving abroad is not a new practice; it has been part of civilian operations in Iraq and elsewhere in the past and is an important component of security operations at many of our embassies and consulates around the world today.

As Iraq further develops its democratic institutions and improves its security capacity, our security presence will be reduced and operations will be comparable to other countries around the world where we have large missions and vital interests.
 
And back to Peter Van Buren.  It's good to hear someone from State calling out Nouri al-Maliki.  The US government has been thrilled to shower him with (undeserved) praise but not to hold him accountable.  As he's 'consolidated' his power (power grab), he's rarely been called out by the US government.  In Iraq, many have called him out.  They've often been arrested, beaten and/or killed as a result.  Arwa Damon (CNN -- link has text and video) reports on Hanaa Edwar, the activist and feminist famously stood up to Nouri last June. Today she continues to worry about the attacks on peaceful demonstrators:

Both Al-Amal and Human Rights Watch are concerned the government is trying to portray the protesters as terrorists, and allowing thugs to beat and sexually assault them.
Despite her long career in human rights, Edwar is pessimistic about the current state of her country.
"We are losing everything now in Iraq, even you know, our dream for democracy, our dream for elections," she said.
 
That's Iraq today.  And the people did not choose their leader.  An Iraqi exile who fled the country and lived in Iran, Syria and elsewhere for decades, returned only after the US invaded and cuts ahead of all the Iraqis who remained in the country and becomes prime minister?
 
That's the first strike against Nouri.  His inability to provide basic services (he's now had five years as prime minister in which to do this) is another strike against him.  The fact that he's disliked for who he is and what he represents (he represents sectariansim) go to the fact that he will have trouble holding on to power without the US military being present.  Peter Van Buren is correct about Nouri's lust for money (he's stock piled a ton of it already).  His conclusion that Nouri is safe from a takeover, however, is less sound.
 
Remember that Tuesday meeting?  Iraqiya's Ayad Allawi and Tareq al-Hashemi walked out; before the meeting ended, Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister and thug of the occupation, also walked out.  Many observers had assumed the event was called to address Political Stalemate II and the Erbil Agreement. Al Mada reports today that State of Law (Nouri's political slate) admits that's what the blocs thought as well. Instead, the meet-up was held so that the plan to keep US soldiers on Iraqi soil beyond 2011 and disguise them as "trainers" could be agreed to. State of Law is calling the meeting productive. Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc sees things less optimistically and states that they will not support US soldiers continuing to remain in Iraq beyond the end of the year. Kurdish MP Mohammed Taha feels that the meeting was necessary, regardless of topic, in a move to get the political blocs talking to one another and states his hope that the Erbil Agreement will be implemented.

Political Stalemate I followed the March 7, 2010 elections in which Nouri al-Maliki's political slate did not come in first. Despite this, despite Iraqiya winning the most votes, Nouri refused to give up his post as prime minister. With the US backing Nouri, al-Maliki dug his heels in and month after month there was a governmental stalemate. In November 2010, the Erbil Agreement allowed a government to finally be formed. All the political blocs, except State of Law, made major concessions. Iraqiya gave up their claim to the right to the prime minister post, for example. Nouri ran with the agreement long enough to be retained as prime minister and then proceeded to ignore the agreement creating Political Stalemate II as surely as his selfish actions created Political Stalemate I.

Turning to some of today's reported violence, Reuters notes 1 "member of the Yathrib town council" was shot dead in Yathrib and, dropping back to last night, a Samarra grenade attack wounded four police officers and one of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's representatives was hot in Hilla (and left injured).  Aswat al-Iraq reports five men playing football were left injured by a Baghdad bombing.
 
 
Trend News Agency reports Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's Foreign Minister, is set to go to Turkey to "discuss the problem of Kurdish separatists and other regional issues."  Dawn notes, "Turkish air and artillery opertaions against suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the Qandil Mountains have intensified since August, straining relations with the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq."  Throughout most of the Iraq War, the Turkish military has bombed northern Iraq. The latest wave of attacks began August 17th. For years now, the Turkish government has decided that's the way to handle a problem they created through their own actions of suppression, discrimination and violence. The PKK is one of many Kurdish groups which supports and fights for a Kurdish homeland. Aaron Hess (International Socialist Review) described them in 2008, "The PKK emerged in 1984 as a major force in response to Turkey's oppression of its Kurdish population. Since the late 1970s, Turkey has waged a relentless war of attrition that has killed tens of thousands of Kurds and driven millions from their homes. The Kurds are the world's largest stateless population -- whose main population concentration straddles Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria -- and have been the victims of imperialist wars and manipulation since the colonial period. While Turkey has granted limited rights to the Kurds in recent years in order to accommodate the European Union, which it seeks to join, even these are now at risk." The Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq has been a concern to Turkey because they fear that if it ever moves from semi-autonomous to fully independent -- such as if Iraq was to break up into three regions -- then that would encourage the Kurdish population in Turkey. For that reason, Turkey is overly interested in all things Iraq. So much so that they signed an agreement with the US government in 2007 to share intelligence which the Turkish military has been using when launching bomb raids. However, this has not prevented the loss of civilian life in northern Iraq. Aaron Hess noted, "The Turkish establishment sees growing Kurdish power in Iraq as one step down the road to a mass separatist movement of Kurds within Turkey itself, fighting to unify a greater Kurdistan. In late October 2007, Turkey's daily newspaper Hurriyet accused the prime minister of the KRG, Massoud Barzani, of turning the 'Kurdish dream' into a 'Turkish nightmare'."

So year after year, the Turkish military terrorizes northern Iraq residents -- farmers, shepherds, villagers -- so they can tear up the countryside with bombs, leaving craters everywhere. This wave is displacing the region more than previous waves and turning many residents into refugees. In addition, though the Turkish government attempts to deny it to this day, the bombings in this wave have also resulted in many deaths of non-PKK.

Some had hoped that a break -- not an end -- might be in sight because the measure approving the latest wave would expire at the start of this month. Yesterday the vote on whether to extend the motion or not took place. Goksel Bozkurt (Hurriyet Daily News) reports:

The BDP, Turkey's biggest Kurdish political force, voiced harsh objections to the move, sparking heated exchanges in Parliament.
BDP deputy group chairman Hasip Kaplan called the vote "a declaration of war," while fellow lawmaker Sırrı Süreyya Önder said four major cross-border operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in the 1990s had proved the futility of military action.
Rhetoric on the other side ran high as well. Mehmet Şandır of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, said the state was taking measures "against terrorists shedding blood." MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli called for an immediate ground incursion "to destroy the murderers in their dens," during remarks in the southern province of Osmaniye earlier Wednesday.
 
 

The Voice of Russia notes that the motion that passed extends "by another year the army operation".  Euronews quotes Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu stating, "The reason for the terror attacks by this terrorist group is because they can gather and move freely in northern Iraq without any obstacles. The aim of a probably cross-border operation is clear."

Ivan Watson and Yesim Comert (CNN) report something gas bags on the issue should pay attention to but won't. The PKK is one of many groups. Stop saying every act taking place was the PKK. One attack last month was even claimed by another group (as AP reported in real time -- as only AP reported in real time -- Selcan Hacaoglu: "Friday's thwarted attack stoked more fears a day after a Kurdish militan group, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack near a school in the Turkish capital of Ankara that killed three people and wounded 34 [. . .]") but gas bags in the US have continued to inist it was PKK. (Watson and Comert, "Last month, at least three people were killed by an explosion in the heart of the Turkish capital, Ankara. A Kurdish rebel splinter group later claimed responsibility for the attack.") The motion was renewed by the Turkish Parliament so the bombings continue. 
 
Of the newly passed motion, Alsumaria TV notes, "This permission allows Turkish Army to launch air raids and to launch an incursion into, 'in compliance with international law', over banned Kurdistan Workers party's (PKK) strongholds." Times AM adds, "This is the 33rd time when Turkish Parliament" voted to extend the attack order.  Aurelie Gaudron (Policy Mic) calls on the US to stop supplying the government of Turkey with 'intel' and instead help work towards a peace agreement, "Washington should push Ankara to reach a peaceful settlement to put an end to a conflict which has already claimed the lives of around 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, and cost Turkey $300 billion, thus allowing Iraqi Kurdistan to enjoy its newly acquired freedom in peace."  Fazel Hawramy (Guardian) observes:

In recent months, the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been given a hero's welcome in the Middle East for standing up for the rights of downtrodden Arab people and promoting Turkish democracy as a model for Arab societies.

Back home, the civil rights of 20 million Kurds in Turkey have been gradually eroded. The EU acknowledges this is "a serious cause for concern" in a country where more than 3,000 Kurdish activists are in detention. The EU has called on Turkey this week to bring its justice system into line with international standards and amend its anti-terrorism legislation.

On Tuesday, under the same anti-terrorism legislation, more than 120 members of the BDP, including the party's deputy leader, were arrested.

So sensitive is Turkey to anyone acknowledging the plight of the Kurds that the novelist and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk was charged and tried for "public denigration of Turkish identity", after mentioning in a 2005 interview that "30,000 Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it".


UPI notes, "Turkish President Abdullah Gul said, during a visit to Germany last month, that the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, was committing 'suicide' by advancing its militant campaign inside his country."
 
 

War Voices - Live Broadcast!

Join us for a live broadcast of the "War Voices" forum

Friday, Oct 7, 5:30-7:30 pm

27 Social Center

2727 27th Ave, Unit D

Denver, CO

Friday, October 7 marks ten years of the U.S. Global War on Terror, which began with the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Iraq Veterans Against the War and its Afghanistan Veterans Against the War committee will commemorate the occasion with "War Voices," a public dialogue on war, economic recession, and Islamophobia.

Join us in-person or via livestream!

The event will take place in Washington, DC, but we will watch the proceedings live via http://www.ustream.tv/channel/war-voices. We'll send questions to our speakers via Facebook, Twitter (@WarVoices), or email (ivaw@ivaw.org). We will have live chat on the day of the event alongside the streaming video.


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