Saturday, September 08, 2012

Nouri's criminal ways

Moni Basu, Hamdi Alkhshali, Holly Yan and Chelsea J. Carter (CNN) report,  "Four rockets fired from Syria landed across the Iraqi border in the town of al-Qaim, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said Saturday.  The rockets fell on a residential area, killing a 4-year-old girl."  Patrick Markey, Ahmed Rasheed, Barry Malone and Robin Pomeroy (Reuters) quote the girl's father Firas Attallah stating, "She was sitting on my lap just before we heard the rocket.  I knew she was dead immediately after the explosion. "  KUNA quotes Adnan al-Asadi, undesecretary at Ministry of the Interior, stating that Iraq "condemns the criminal act against the people of Al-Qa'em area in the city of Al-Ramadi, when four rockets fired from the Syrian side fell in the area which killed and injured some of our citizens. Iraq has a neutral position of the Syrian crisis and our forces will be ready to retaliate in case such operation is repeated."  Along with the young girl that was killed, three more of her relatives were injured.



That wasn't the only violence.  Xinhua reports, "At least 30 people were wounded Saturday in a series of bomb attacks in the city of Baquba, the capital of Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a provincial police source said."  Alsumaria adds that ten people were injured by a Baji car bombing, seventeen soldiers were injured in a Tikrit assault, a Falluja attack left 1 police captain dead and the corpse of 1 police officer was found dumped on the road in Nineveh Province.   All Iraq News adds a Ramadi roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 woman.

In other violence, Middle East Online notes, "Owners and employees at Baghdad nightclubs and bars voiced frustration on Wednesday after their establishments were raided by troops who allegedly beat customers and staff a day earlier. The raids, the first of their kind in several months, come as the Iraqi capital takes tentative steps to emerge from years of conflict and violence, with a limited nightlife having slowly returned."   From Wednesday's snapshot:



In other violence,  Alsumaria reports that armed forces in police uniforms attacked various social clubs in Baghdad yesterday, beating various people and firing guns in the air.  They swarmed clubs and refused to allow anyone to leave but did make time to beat people with the butss of their rifles and pistols, they then destroyed the clubs.  AFP adds, "Special forces units carried out near-simultaneous raids at around 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Tuesday 'at dozens of nightclubs in Karrada and Arasat, and beat up customers with the butts of their guns and batons,' said an interior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'Artists who were performing at the clubs were also beaten,' the official said."  The assaults were ordered by an official who reports only to Nouri al-Maliki. In related news the Great Iraqi Revolution posted video Friday of other attacks on Iraqi civilians by security forces and noted, "Very important :: a leaked video show Iraqi commandos during a raid to Baaj village and the arrest of all the young men in the village .they threatened the ppl of the village they will make them another Fallujah and they do not mind arresting all village's men and leave only women . they kept detainees in a school, and beating them, u can see they burned a car of one of the citizens" 


 
Alsumaria notes that Iraqiya, led by Ayad Allawi, has called out the assault on the social clubs and states that it is violation of the Constitution as well as basic human rights.  Iraqiya spokesperson Maysoun al-Damalouji called on the security forces to respect the rights of the citizens.  Tamim al-Jubouri (Al Mada) adds that the forces working for Nouri attacked many clubs including Club Orient which was established in 1944 and that the patrons including Chrisitans who were surprised Tuesday night when Nouri's forces entered and began breaking furniture, beat patrons and employees and stole booze, cell phones and clothing.  So they're not only bullies, they're also theives.  Kitabat notes that the people were attacked with batons and gun butts including a number of musicians who were performing live in the club including singer Hussein Basri.  Alsumaria adds that the Baghdad Provincial Council states that they were not informed of the assaults on social clubs.

Today, Al Mada attempts to make sense of the confusing stories.  Follow if you can.  Nouri's spoksesperson maintained Thursday that these actions were done to carry out a court order.  The Iraqi Supreme Court today denied such an order.  If such an order would have been issued, it would make sense to use the police.  Of course Baghdad Province was never informed of the raids so that left them and their forces out.  The Ministry of the Interior announces they knew nothing of the raids until the news covered it and that their forces did not take part in the raids.  (The last part is true, the forces that conducted the attack are directly under Nouri.)   An unnamded, high-ranking Ministry of the Interior source states that the order was from Nouri and Nouri alone, that he issued the order and based it upon his role as commander-in-chief (demonstrating that there are a great many dumb asses who don't understand that commander-in-chief has nothing to do with civilian life -- dumb asses in the US as well as Iraq).

It's interesting what those close to Nouri do, isn't it?  And how they get away with it?  Al Mada reports that the assassinated journalist and civil rights activist Hadi al-Mahdi was threatened by those "close to al-Maliki" prior to being assassinated last year.   They also report that the investiation into the assassination isn't ongoing but was quickly closed on Nouri's orders according to an Iraqi MP.   It's known by the official Commisson of Inquiry that Hadi received threatening phone calls on his cell phone.   They elected to ignore that and close the case.  The MP isn't nameless.  She's a member of Iraqiya, in fact, she's one of their spokesperson's.  Maysoon al-Damluji made these remarks on the record.  Guess who else is on the record?  a member of the Baghdad Provincial Counil, Mohammed al-Rubaie.

That's what the US government still does, no change from Bush, they back and hold hands with devils who kill their own people, who think nothing of assassinating a journalist in his home.  Next time the DC press corps gets in bed with Barack, they might want to check for crabs or a social disease because there's nothing noble about Barack Obama.  He's just the latest crook in a long line of crooks who prop up despots who harm their own people.

I can't imagine anyone worse than Nouri leading Iraq -- I'm sure there's someone in the country now who must be worse -- and this is who Barack has backed for four years now.  This is Barack's buddy.  Nouri didn't win in 2010 but damned if Barack wasn't willing to break the Iraqi Constitution for Nouri, damned if he wasn't willing to spit on a potential democracy by instead ignoring the votes, and damned if he wasn't more than inclined to piss on the Iraqi people who braved great violence to go the polls and ask for actual change only to discover that everything stayed the same. 


Nouri may think he got away with the murder of Hadi but he didn't.  And bit by bit, like the current problems one of his daughter's having (the press doesn't know this little scandal yet), everything he has will fade or be torn from him.  The universe has its own way of meting out justice.


Kersten Knipp (DW) reports on how bad things are for the Iraqi people:


Though the oil industry accounts for over 90 percent of Iraq's income, it provides few opportunities for Iraqis themselves, since it employs barely one percent of the Iraqi workforce. Agriculture comprises a disproportionate sector of the Iraqi economy - supplying a fifth of all Iraqis with a living, but only four percent of the gross domestic product, leaving those who depend on it in relative poverty.
And the Iraqi private sector has developed much less than had been hoped. The country is struggling with widespread poverty, an employment rate of 18 percent, rising illiteracy, and above all rampant corruption. And state institutions are far from adequately established.



Alsumaria notes that Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi declared that the security situation is out of control, the public services are declining, poverty and unemployment are increasing and the amnesty law remains stalled.  He is calling for action to address the needs of the people and safety.  He made those remarks at a press conference today and Al Mada notes the remarks and that he's sent letters to the leaders of the political blocs.  Iraqiya came in first in the March 2010 elections.  That result was overturned by the US White House -- no, that's not allowed in the Iraqi Constitution.  Maybe that will be addressed one day when Iraq becomes an independent country? Al Mada also notes that Kurdistan Alliance MP Chaun Mohammed Taha has declared that State of Law has no intention to resolve the current political crisis.  Based on Nouri's record, Taha would be right.


WMC Live with Robin Morgan broadcast a new show on Sunday, "Dr. Cristina Azocar on media images of Native Americans, Judy Norsigian on the Our Bodies Our Votes Campaign, Brenda Berkman remembers overlooked women firefighters of 9/11, Diala Shamas exposes 9/11’s ongoing fallout on Muslim American women."   
The following community sites -- plus Tavis Smiley, Cindy Sheehan, Iraq Veterans Against the War,  Susan's On the Edge, the Guardian, PRI, and On The Wilder Side -- updated last night and today:


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


 


I Hate The War


John Rentoul is aware that Tony Blair's already married, right?  His latest embarrassing attempt to announce to the world that he is Mrs. Tony Blair really begs that question.

At what point does a journalist or 'journalist' cross the line into wack job?  It appears John Rentoul did long ago.  He tries to throw some dirt at Archbishop Desmond Tutu, he says the accusations against his beloved Tony are too numerous for him to refute, yet there he is again insisting he will stand by his intended until the stars fall from the skies, until the mountains slide into the seas.

You have to wonder if people like that ever grasp how ridiculous they look.

Rentoul's not alone.  We were calling out Tom Hayden for similar conduct in yesterday's snapshot.


John Rentoul doesn't have an image to protect or save.  But Hayden will pop up in books long after he's dead.  Largely because of Jane Fonda, yes.  Not only did he steal millions from her in what was euphemistically termed a "property settlement" (how sad for a a man of his age to still be living off the money he stole from an ex-wife) but he gets to be a footnote in history because he was married to one of American's most talented actresses, a political activist who put her money where her mouth was, a fitness leader and guru who can-can kicked started an industry (the home video industry) as a result of her brains, talent and sense of timing. 


And Tom?



He held minor public office because Jane was kind enough to fund his campaigns and campaign for him.  He didn't achieve anything for himself.


Today, Tom's apparently semi-aware that the end is near (the liver can only take so much) and that his trophy shelf is thread-bare.  Why else would he be self-promoting the Port Huron Statement?




What was the Port Huron Statement?  Not the Gettysburg Address, to be sure.  Not even really an important paper.  In many ways, the 1962 statement was a reaction to the statement conservative William F. Buckley's Young Americans for Freedom issued two years earlier.  It has some interesting turns of phrases so you can be sure those sections weren't written by Tom who wasn't known then or now for having any gifts with phraseology.


And that's the thing, isn't it?  Tom didn't really "write" it.  He likes to claim that and people in bed with him like to repeat it.   It's like the claim that he "founded the SDS."  Or that he was the first president of the SDS.  I believe the first president of SDS was Alan Haber.  I beleive Haber co-founded Students for a Democratic Society.


Tom helped craft a draft.  Not the final draft.  And of course the document was transcribed at several different drafting periods and the original copies do show that they were transcribed.  You know what transcribed means?  Someone's written it down.  It was written down because it was a group effort.  It's funny in the 40 or so pages Tom Hayden's spends on his only claim to fame (other than "husband of . . .") in Reunion, the only time he allows that anyone else participated is when he rushes to insist that anti-Communist section didn't come from him.  No, not him.


(Tom blames Dick Flacks, I believe that's page 92 but I haven't looked at the book in almost 25 years.)



The reality is that the Port Huron Statement is a product of the SDS.  It is a product of every member of the SDS in 1962.  Without the people transcribing the bull sessions it was written it, it would be forgotten.  Without the give-and-take of all members, it never would have been written.  It is not authored by one person and should not be credited as such. 

And the thing about group authorship?  You're responsible.

At Third, we have Jim's note to the reader and if I object to anything, I can have it noted there.  "C.I. did not participate in the writing of this."  What does that mean?  It means you're responsible.  You can't emerge ten or 20 years later and say, "That's not me!"  Especially if you've falsely claimed more credit than you deserved to begin with.

Meaning Tom Hayden called communism a failure.  He is responsible for that section of the document that he blames on Dick Flacks.  He needs to accept that responsibility.  If his calls now make him uncomfortable, he needs to address that as well.  But he can't pretend, decades after, that a section doesn't represent his position when, for decades, he went along with it in public.

So Tom will be gone soon, we all will.  And his reputation has so little.  A trashy husband who cheated on wives.  A trashy, filthy man who was known for his smell (not a good one) and called a "beast" to his face (as an insult) by many men (that pock marked face reflected a pock marked soul).  The only reason he'll be remembered is because he was married to Jane Fonda.  Since her ex-husbands are all so accomplished except for Tom, they'll have to bring Port Huron.  Ted Turner?  changed the world of communication and news.  Roger Vadim?  Helped change the way the world looked at cinema, more responsible for the use of color for emotion than any other director of the French New Wave. 

And then there's Tom.

Roger and Ted have charisma. 

Tom lacks even that.

So of course they'll take on the Port Huron Statement.

But in 2120, when someone's studying Jane Fonda in film class or acting or women's history or a business class or a feminist activism class, they'll pick up a book and it'll note -- briefly -- that a cad named Tom Hayden existed who could spend a spouse's money, take a spouse's money but couldn't honor a vow or treat a step-child with compassion or keep it in his pants.  But, oh, by the way, he once 'wrote' the Port Huron Statement.

The real kicker will be in the next paragraph where they note that alleged leftist Tom went on to justify empire from 2009 through 2012 and didn't understand why he was seen as a hypocrite when he died.



Wars are started for a lot of reasons, among them lust and rejection.  One has to wonder if Tom had embraced what so many of us see as his dominant and gay side, would he have been less aggressive and hateful?  It's a question a biographer could explore but, sadly, he will have none.








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!)


The number of US service members the Dept of Defense states died in the Iraq War is [PDF format warning] 4488.



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





Friday, September 07, 2012

Iraq snapshot

Friday, September 7, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue,  Tom Hayden crawls out of his rock to spin (and spin badly), people take to the streets to show their support for Bradley Manning, Jill Stein appears on Bill Moyers' new program, and more.
 
Old Whore Tom Hayden resurfaced to distort, lie and smear.   Tom Hayden is a joke.  He is so much of a joke that Barack Obama publicly and repeatedly derided what he termed "Tom Hayden Democrats" in 2007 and 2008.  Possibly demonstrating that men who abuse women are nothing but big cowards, Tom Hayden's never called out Barack but instead worked overtime to talk up the man who has repeatedly and publicly mocked him. 
 
Hijacking the E-Train to Crazy Town and packing plenty of stupid, Tom rabidly barks at everyone including Paul Krugman -- anyone who might question the politics of  Barack Obama -- in total or partial as he tries to whip people in line for his abuser Barack Obama.
 
Dirty whores don't speak for the campaign.  Which is why Tom Hayden goes on at length about ObamaCare and how it was up to politicians and the people are just too stupid to grasp this but last night in Charlotte, North Carolina, Barack was stating it's not "what can be done for us, it's about what can be done by us."
 
There are many decisions Barack's made and actions Barack's taken that I will hold against him.  The lunatic ravings of Tom Hayden, however, are not on that list. Here Tom  is molesting the topic of Iraq:
 
 
 
Many in the peace movement did not believe it then and dismiss it now. To the extent this is a rational objection - and not blindness - it rests on two arguments. First, some claim that Obama was only following the withdrawal plan already agreed to by George Bush. It is an interesting question for future historians to uncover what shadow entity orchestrated the Iraq-US pact between the end of Bush and the coming of Obama.
 
Oh, history will be the judge?  Seriously?  I seem to recall most of us on the left ridiculing Bully Boy Bush when he responded to questions about the Iraq War with statements like that.
 
That aside, it is logical to conclude that the immanence of Obama's victory pushed the Bush administration to wrap up the best withdrawal agreement possible before the unpredictable newcomer took office.
 
It isn't logical to conclude any such thing.  If the opinion of the people of the world didn't matter to Bully Boy Bush before starting the illegal war, if the opinions of world leaders didn't matter to him, why in the world would the election of Barack matter?
 
People like Tom Hayden live in their own fact free world.  Never having spoken to even one person who worked on the SOFA, Hayden 'just knows' exactly how it happened.  The SOFA replaces the UN mandate for the occupation.  The UN mandate was yearly -- each year it had to be renewed.  Nouri renewed it on his end twice.  Outraging the Iraqi politicians both times.  The first time (the end of 2006), he insisted he wouldn't do that solo again, that he'd get approval from Parliament.  But then he turned around and did the exact same thing at the end of 2007.
 
The Bush White House realized early on (late 2007), that an agreement that replaced the UN mandate would need to run longer than one year because there was too much anger over these yearly renewals.  For that reason, it was a contract that ran three years.   Even something that basic is beyond the Tom Haydens.  They bought into the lie -- and how popular it was -- that Nouri was sticking it to the White House and dictating the terms.  Other than the amount of 'rewards,' Nouri didn't dictate a thing.  And the SOFA was written prior to the November 2008 election.  (Is Tom even aware of that?)  November was about fine tuning it and about surveying Parliament and greasing palms (the Parliament was adament that they would be voting on this contract). 
 
Tom:
 
In addition, Obama increased his previous withdrawal commitment in February 2009 to include virtually all American forces instead of leaving behind a "residual" force of 20-30,000.
 
Tom's spinning so hard that even he has to admit the reality in the next sentence:
 
It is true that as the endgame neared, Obama left open the possibility of a residual force after American ground troops departed, saying he would be responsive to the request of the Baghdad regime.
 
Yes, Barack gave an interview to the New York Times as candidate about residual troops.  I remember that very well.  And you know what I remember most about that?
 
 
On the subject of Iran, Barack Obama appears on the front page of this morning's New York Times. War pornographer Michael Gordon and Jeff Zeleny who lied in print (click here, here and here -- the paper finally retracted Zeleny's falsehood that should have never appeared) present a view of Barack Obama that's hardly pleasing. Among the many problems with the article is Obama as portrayed in the article -- and his campaign has issued no statement clarifying. The Times has the transcript online and from it, Barack Obama does mildly push the unproven claim that the Iranian government is supporting resistance in Iraq. Gordo's pushed that unproven claim repeatedly for over a year now. But Obama's remarks appear more of a reply and partial points in lengthy sentences -- not the sort of thing a functioning hard news reporter would lead with in an opening paragraph, touch on again in the third paragraph, in the fourth paragraph, in . . . But though this isn't the main emphasis of Obama's statements (at any time -- to be clear, when it pops up, it is a fleeting statement in an overly long, multi-sentenced paragraphs), it does go to the fact that Obama is once again reinforcing unproven claims of the right wing. In the transcript, he comes off as obsessed with Hillary Clinton. After her, he attempts to get a few jabs in at John Edwards and one in at Bill Richardson. Here is what real reporters should have made the lede of the front page: "Presidential candidate and US Senator Barack Obama who is perceived as an 'anti-war' candidate by some announced that he would not commit to a withdrawal, declared that he was comfortable sending US troops back into Iraq after a withdrawal started and lacked clarity on exactly what a withdrawal under a President Obama would mean." That is what the transcript reveals. Gordo really needs to let go of his blood lust for war with Iran.
 
And then over at Third that Sunday (November 4, 2007), we offered "NYT: 'Barack Obama Will Keep Troops In Iraq" which was taking the transcript and writing the report as the Times should have covered it.  Tuesday November 6, 2007 (see that day's snapshot), Tom Hayden finally discovers and writes about the article with rah-rah for Barack because he didn't read the transcript (and he actually misread the printed article) resulting in this garbage.  After we called him out, he would write another article suddenly 'discovering' the transcript and find that things were not as sunny as he'd made out to be.
 
Point being, he's no one to trust for facts.
 
 
 
Tom-Tom's thrilled Barack doesn't have 'residual troops' in Iraq but for Barack to have residual troops, the SOFA would need to be extended or replaced.  With nothing to extend it or replace it,  it had to be followed.  That's how a contract works.
 
Tom:
 
Here, some on the left seized on these remarks to later claim that Obama had to be forced by the Iraqis to finally leave. There is no evidence for this claim, however. It is equally possible - and I believe more credible - that Obama was simply being Obama, knowing that the Iraqis could not possibly request the Americans to stay.
Dissecting diplomacy, like legislation, is like making sausage, in the old saying. Obama certainly knew that he would gain political cover if he could say with credibility that he was only following Bush's withdrawal plan and Iraq's request.
 
There is evidence for that claim.  I know Tom doesn't care for Arabs.  Remember it was only during his Iraq War makeover that he finally 'apologized' for being a tool of the right-wing Israeli government while he was a small-fry state legislature who stupidly thought he would end up president done day.  There was Tom, cheering on the murder of Palestinians.  He really hasn't changed his anti-Arab views.  Try to remember that when everyone was telling Jane Fonda that Rollover was an iffy project, Tom was telling her it was political, prescient and important (in the film, the world's financial downfall is caused largely by greedy, you know this is coming, Arabs).  If Tom weren't so 'allergic' to Arabs, maybe he'd read the Arab press.  You can find many articles that argue Iraqis forced Barack to back down.  Those articles generally note that Iraq refused to grant immunity to US service members and that the White House had already made that a deal breaker.
 
 
 Having ignored the mountain of articles on that point, Tom wants to then argue:
 
 
A more bizarre left criticism of Obama on Iraq is that the war itself never ended but instead morphed into a secret war with tens of thousands of Americans fighting as Special Ops or private contractors.
 
 
Is he drunk again?  Is that it?  I have no idea.  But last week,  Sean Rayment (Telegraph of London) reported:
 
More than 3,500 insurgents have been "taken off the streets of Baghdad" by the elite British force in a series of audacious "Black Ops" over the past two years.
It is understood that while the majority of the terrorists were captured, several hundred, who were mainly members of the organisation known as "al-Qa'eda in Iraq" have been killed by the SAS.
The SAS is part of a highly secretive unit called "Task Force Black" which also includes Delta Force, the US equivalent of the SAS.
 
 3,500 killed over the last two years.  Seriously, Tom-Tom, you're going to ignore that?  You who tries to reference the Honduran death squads in how many articles on Iraq?  You're going to ignore that 3,500 Iraqs have been 'taken off the street' as a result of being captured by US and British forces?  And that "several hundred" have been killed during this time?
 
The wars on Latin America in the 70s and 80s targeted which groups?  The citizens the oppressive regimes wanted to shut up.  And we're not bothered by the news from the Telegraph?
 
And this isn't 'conspiracy' talk.  This is what's been reported by the few reporters who've bothered to report.  In December of last year, while everyone was filing 'withdrawal, Ted Koppel filed an important report on Rock Center with Brian Williams (NBC).


MR. KOPPEL: I realize you can't go into it in any detail, but I would assume that there is a healthy CIA mission here. I would assume that JSOC may still be active in this country, the joint special operations. You've got FBI here. You've got DEA here. Can, can you give me sort of a, a menu of, of who all falls under your control?


AMB. JAMES JEFFREY: You're actually doing pretty well, were I authorized to talk about half of this stuff.
 
 
 
Back during Vietnam when he had a little bit of guts, Tom Hayden wouldn't have accepted this as 'withdrawal' but today he's just an old whore.  In fact, didn't Tom-Tom just affect outrage over 600 US troops in Honduras?  (He did, click here.) As Barbra Streisand tells Robert Redford in The Way We Were, "Hubbell, people are their principles."  How sad for Tom Hayden that he no longer has any principles.
 
You know who does appear to have principles?  Bradley Manning.
 

Monday April 5, 2010, WikiLeaks released US military video of a July 12, 2007 assault in Iraq. 12 people were killed in the assault including two Reuters journalists Namie Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh. Monday June 7, 2010, the US military announced that they had arrested Bradley Manning and he stood accused of being the leaker of the video. Leila Fadel (Washington Post) reported in August 2010 that Manning had been charged -- "two charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The first encompasses four counts of violating Army regulations by transferring classified information to his personal computer between November and May and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system. The second comprises eight counts of violating federal laws governing the handling of classified information." In March, 2011, David S. Cloud (Los Angeles Times) reported that the military has added 22 additional counts to the charges including one that could be seen as "aiding the enemy" which could result in the death penalty if convicted. The Article 32 hearing took place in December.  At the start of this year, there was an Article 32 hearing and, February 3rd, it was announced that the government would be moving forward with a court-martial.  Bradley has yet to enter a plea and has neither affirmed that he is the leaker nor denied it.  The court-martial was supposed to begin this month has been postponed until after the election . 
 
Yesterday, protests took place across America as people showed their support for Bradley.  Yael Chanoff (San Francisco Bay Guardian) reports on the action in San Francisco where participants included Iraq Veterans Against the War's Joshua Shepherd:

"It's a process to turn around once you've joined the military and committed so much of yourself to this institution," Shepherd told protesters today.
Shepherd was one of six veterans arrested at Obama campaign headquarters in Oakland Aug. 16. 
After the rally, protesters marched and protested a group watching Obama's DNC speech.
"I find it hypocritical that Obama promised to protect whistle blowers four years ago," said David Zebker, a San Francisco CPA who attended march.
 
 
 
A group of about 20 local DC area people, who are affiliated with the Bradley Manning Support Network,arrived at the DNC headquarters to meet with a representative of the Obama 2012 campaign to deliver our letter with our concerns for Bradley Manning (see below).
We were met at the main entrance of the DNC by security who refused entrance to about 4 people from the group who wanted to go inside and deliver our letter and to request that it be faxed to President Obama. The security guards told us to get off the front steps as were on private property. We explained that we were there on business. They refused us entry. We said we would not leave. Police were called. US Capitol Police showed up in four police cars and one police wagon. We talked with the police and explained were there with important business we needed to engage the campaign with and President Obama. After a while the US Capitol Police all left presumably because they didn't want to get involved, probably telling the security guards that it wasn't their jurisdiction and that we hadn't broken any laws.
 
The report also includes photos by Ted MadjoszMax Obuszewski (Baltimore Non-Violence Center) adds of the DC protest, "When we arrived we were chanting "President Obama Free Bradley Manning." Kevin Zeese an attorney who is a member of the steering committee of the Bradley Manning Support Network explained why the charges against Manning should be dismissed and why we were focused on President Obama. He noted that the decision to hold Manning in solitary confinement was made by a three-star general at the Pentagon and it would be surprising if he acted without the approval of the president, Joint Chiefs of Staff or Secretary of Defense, in other words the decision to illegally torture a U.S. soldier being held in pre-trial detention was made at the highest levels of government."  The Bradley Manning Support Network notes that protests took place "in 34 cities across the United States [and] targeted local Obama campaign headquarters to demand the President free accused WikiLeaks whistleblower and Nobel Peace Prize nominee PFC Bradley Manning.  International supporters, in Australia and the U.K. also protested at U.S. embassies."
 
The San Jose Mercury News has a photo essay (by Kristina Sangsahachart) of the San Jose protestWorld Can't Wait's San Francisco chapter notes:

In San Francisco Thursday night, about 80 people met up tonight in the Mission District at a BART (subway) plaza, lofting colorful banners and signs.  We came from different movements – antiwar, Occupy, veterans – and people were feeling fierce.  A short rally brought up speakers from the Bradley Manning Support Network, Courage to Resist, Code Pink, World Can't Wait, and Veterans for Peace.

Nancy Siesel (Demotix) notes the NYC protest with a photo essay.  In the comments of a post at Naked Capitalism, Jill shares her experience protesting:
 
 
I want to relay my experience protesting the torture and illegal imprisonment of Bradley Manning.
As two people tried to enter the office to deliever a letter to Obama on Manning's behalf, the staffers locked the door and closed the curtains. That says a lot. But here's what I thought was most interesting.
They weren't prepared for protest. I am convinced peaceful protest is a good avenue to pursue. They think they've locked everything down, that people are too afraid, too tired, too progagandized to take them on. They need to know that isn't true.
And here's one more thing. They wouldn't let anyone in while we were picketing. If there was a large enough group to form 24 hour picket lines around the Obama and Romney campaign HQ's, it might be worth trying. It would be necessary to offer voter registration while picketing because this is offered at the HQ and this should not ever be stopped. But if their response to protest is to shut down their office, well, it's something to think about!
 
Protests against war took place yesterday as well.  CODEPINK notes:
 
PRELIMINARY PHOTOS.

PRELIMINARY VIDEO HERE.


Charlotte, NC—At 4:15pm today, Thursday, September 6, hours before President Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention, five CODEPINK activists dropped a 40 foot giant pink slip banner that read "YES WE CAN END WAR" off of a parking garage at S. College and 3rd Street near the Democratic Convention.  CODEPINK national organizer Alli McCracken, 23, from Washington, DC, was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for "attaching a banner to private property without permission." 

"When the war in Afghanistan started I was only 12 years old, and for my entire adult life the US has continued to squander precious tax dollars on war, while young people like me can hardly afford college or healthcare, and many can't find jobs," said McCracken.  "Both the Republicans and Democrats continue to pour money into the bloated Pentagon budget instead of addressing people's real needs.  I'm sick and tired of the huge amount of corporate and super-PAC money going into elections that keeps our politicians funding war, killer drone strikes, and weapons to Israel.  Let's put people before profits!"

"
There were 34 police officers involved in arresting this one peace activist, clearly a huge waste of taxpayer money," said Medea Benjamin, cofounder of CODEPINK.  "At a convention that is supposed to be the most open convention in history, it's tragic that a young activist would be arrested for peacefully expressing her desire to end war, a position that the overwhelming majority of Democratic delegates support."

CODEPINK has demonstrated at both the RNC and DNC, including speaking out every night at the RNC and Wednesday night, September 5, when CODEPINK co-director Rae Abileah
unfurled a pink banner inside the convention that read "Bring Our War $$ Home" during Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer's speech. 

In the wake of the Citizens United case, with corporate and super PAC money in politics polluting democracy and drowning out the will of voters, CODEPINK will also be calling for money out of politics. "We want people-powered elections that prioritize human needs over war and greed," said CODEPINK co-director Jodie Evans.  "And we'd like the police to go after the real war criminals instead of nonviolent protesters."
CODEPINK, founded in 2002, is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into health care, education and other life-affirming activities. www.codepink.org

 
Wow.  The war's 'over' but Iraqis are being killed by Brits an
 
 
Violence continues in Iraq. The month's not even a week old and already Iraq Body Count can count 29 violent deaths in the country -- and that's just through Wednesday.


Think about that.  The month started on Saturday and already 29 reported deaths.   Just through Wednesday.  Think about that and ask yourself where the US reporting on that has been.  Seems Iraq was 'in the news' with US outlets this week -- in terms of what was said at the DNC.  But no one has talked about 29 dead in 5 days.   And already today Alsumaria reports an attack today on a military checkpoint outside Baghdad killing 2 Iraqi soldiers and a Shi'ite shrine in Kirkuk was attacked leaving 3 people dead and eleven more injuredKitabat adds the death toll has risen to 8 and that the number injured now stands at thirty-three.   In addition, All Iraq News notes Turkish war planes shelled northern Iraq last night and that there was an attempt on Sheikh Ali Shuwaili (cleric for Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani) in Sadr City yesterday with unknown assailants using guns with silencers shooting at himSam Dagher (Wall St. Journal) counts 8 dead today and 88 injured.  Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) counts 12 dead.
 
In the US, the Green Party has made Dr. Jill Stein their presidential nominee and Jill's campaign notes:
 
 
This week on Moyers & Company, Bill talks with Green Party presidential and vice presidential candidates Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala about their campaign platform and what they've learned about American politics. 
The episode, appropriately entitled "Challenging Power, Changing Politics,"  delves into the history of the candidates' civic engagement and their vision for a just, sustainable future. Don't miss it!
"Moyers & Company airs weekly on public television – Check your local listings  and learn more at www.BillMoyers.com
 
 
 

Protests in support of Bradley Manning

Yael Chanoff (San Francisco Bay Guardian) reports on the protests yesterday across the US in support of Bradley Manning with a focus on the one in San Francisco where participants included Iraq Veterans Against the War's Joshua Shepherd:

“It’s a process to turn around once you’ve joined the military and committed so much of yourself to this institution,” Shepherd told protesters today.
Shepherd was one of six veterans arrested at Obama campaign headquarters in Oakland Aug. 16. 
After the rally, protesters marched and protested a group watching Obama’s DNC speech.
“I find it hypocritical that Obama promised to protect whistle blowers four years ago,” said David Zebker, a San Francisco CPA who attended march.


Monday April 5, 2010, WikiLeaks released US military video of a July 12, 2007 assault in Iraq. 12 people were killed in the assault including two Reuters journalists Namie Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh. Monday June 7, 2010, the US military announced that they had arrested Bradley Manning and he stood accused of being the leaker of the video. Leila Fadel (Washington Post) reported in August 2010 that Manning had been charged -- "two charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The first encompasses four counts of violating Army regulations by transferring classified information to his personal computer between November and May and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system. The second comprises eight counts of violating federal laws governing the handling of classified information." In March, 2011, David S. Cloud (Los Angeles Times) reported that the military has added 22 additional counts to the charges including one that could be seen as "aiding the enemy" which could result in the death penalty if convicted. The Article 32 hearing took place in December.  At the start of this year, there was an Article 32 hearing and, February 3rd, it was announced that the government would be moving forward with a court-martial.  Bradley has yet to enter a plea and has neither affirmed that he is the leaker nor denied it.  The court-martial was supposed to begin this month has been postponed until after the election . 

The San Jose Mercury News has a photo essay (by Kristina Sangsahachart) of the San Jose protestWorld Can't Wait's San Francisco chapter notes:

In San Francisco Thursday night, about 80 people met up tonight in the Mission District at a BART (subway) plaza, lofting colorful banners and signs.  We came from different movements – antiwar, Occupy, veterans – and people were feeling fierce.  A short rally brought up speakers from the Bradley Manning Support Network, Courage to Resist, Code Pink, World Can’t Wait, and Veterans for Peace.

Nancy Siesel (Demotix) notes the NYC protest with a photo essay.


On the topic of Iraq Veterans Against the War, they have updated their post on Iraq War veteran Joshua Casteel who died most likely as a result of his exposure to burn pits while serving in Iraq:


UPDATE: FUNERAL SERVICES

Friday September, 7, 2012
Wake and Visitation - Cedar Memorial Funeral Home Chapel (near the flower shop)
4200 First Ave, NE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
4:00 – 7:00 pm (Wake 4 – 4:30)

Saturday September 8, 2012
Memorial Service - All Saints Catholic Church, 720 29th Street SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52403
10:00 am  (Luncheon and celebration of memories following the service)

To make donations online:
Paypal

Or mail a check to:
Casteel Family
285 34th Street SE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52403


In other veterans news, a lot of self-congratulation on the stage in Charlotte, North Carolina last night, Wednesday night and Thursday night about just how wonderful the current administration supposedly is to veterans.  Guess there wasn't time to note what the federal government announced this week.  Kari Huus (NBC News) reports:

The Department of Veterans Affairs will cover the costs of service dogs to help veterans with impaired vision, hearing or mobility, but will not cover canines assigned for mental disabilities, according to regulations published on Wednesday in the Federal Register.
The VA said that despite many individual veterans’ testimonials that mental health service dogs provide relief from the symptoms of combat-related disabilities such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), it lacked research substantiating the efficacy of mental health service dogs.


The following community sites -- plus Adam Kokesh, Cindy Sheehan, The World Can't Wait, Susan's On The Edge,  The Pacifica Evening News,  The Diane Rehm Show and NYT's At War -- updated last night and this morning:


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


 


Sweeping the violence under the rug



9ibc
Violence continues in Iraq. The month's not even a week old and already Iraq Body Count can count 29 violent deaths in the country -- and that's just through Wednesday.


Think about that.  The month started on Saturday and already 29 reported deaths.   Just through Wednesday.  Think about that and ask yourself where the US reporting on that has been.  Seems Iraq was 'in the news' with US outlets this week -- in terms of what was said at the DNC.  But no one has talked about 29 dead in 5 days.   And already today Alsumaria reports an attack today on a military checkpoint outside Baghdad killing 2 Iraqi soldiers and a Shi'ite shrine in Kirkuk was attacked leaving 3 people dead and eleven more injuredKitabat adds the death toll has risen to 8 and that the number injured now stands at thirty-three.   In addition, All Iraq News notes Turkish war planes shelled northern Iraq last night and that there was an attempt on Sheikh Ali Shuwaili (cleric for Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani) in Sadr City yesterday with unknown assailants using guns with silencers shooting at him.





Now he's soaking in it

That's Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Now He's Soaking In It" from September 6, 2010.  Last night, in North Carolina, Barack noted Iraq in his acceptance speech (he formally became the Demcoratic Party's presidential candidate at the convention last night):


My opponent said it was 'tragic' to end the war in Iraq, and he won't tell us how he'll end the war in Afghanistan. I have, and I will. And while my opponent would spend more money on military hardware that our Joint Chiefs don't even want, I'll use the money we're no longer spending on war to pay down our debt and put more people back to work -- rebuilding roads and bridges; schools and runways.
After two wars that have cost us thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars, it's time to do some nation-building right here at home.


FactCheck.org's Lori Robertson, Brooks Jackson, Eugene Kiely, Robert Farley and Ben Finley note on that section of Barack's speech, "Obama quoted Romney as saying it was 'tragic' to 'end the war in Iraq.'  What Romney was criticizing was the pace of Obama's troop withdrawal, not ending a war."

Those remarks were so brief and he couldn't even get the facts right, could he?

Joe Biden gave a speech too.  Joe Biden noted the fallen and the wounded.


Now that the GOP and Democratic Party have both finished their conventions, the next act in the political circus is the debates.  But they aren't real debates unless all the candidates are present.  The Green Party of the United States notes:


GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Monday, September 3, 2012
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org


Unless Stein can join the presidential debates, there will be no discussion of fossil fuel consumption, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, hydrofracking, mountaintop detonation mining, and other threats to the environment and public health


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party candidates and leaders said today that the delay of the Republican National Convention in Tampa and hurricane Isaac's Gulf Coast landfall should remind voters of a worsening crisis that both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama keep ignoring: global climate disruption.

Greens expressed alarm over Thursday's news that the Obama Administration has granted Shell Oil approval for dangerous oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean in a fragile region off Alaska, especially when a critical oil-spill containment vessel still awaits certification.
Andrew Groff, Green candidate for US Senate in Delaware (http://www.andrewgroffforsenate.us):

"Unless Green presidential candidate Jill Stein is allowed to participate in the presidential debates, there will be no discussion of what we need to do to curb catastrophic climate change. On one hand, Romney is appeasing the know-nothing extremists and junk-science believers in the GOP who deny human responsibility for global warming. On the other hand, President Obama has proposed minimal steps to deal with global warming -- and then undercuts them by surrendering to the corporate energy lobby, supporting off-shore drilling in US coastal waters, repeating the myth of 'clean coal', and allowing hydrofracking and mountaintop detonation mining to continue. All of these are immediate threats to public health and the environment and contribute to the fossil-fuel consumption that's pumping more and more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The effects are already evident in the drought and growing instability of weather patterns in the US."

(See also "Climate Change: An Information Statement of the American Meteorological Society," August 20, 2012, http://www.ametsoc.org/policy/2012climatechange.html)
Martin Pleasant, Green candidate for US Senate in Tennessee (http://www.martinpleasant.com):

"Jill Stein and other Green candidates are running on a platform that will put millions of Americans to work and restore economic stability by combatting global warming with new jobs in conservation, developing new and safe energy technologies, retrofitting buildings and homes and redesigning public infrastructure for energy efficiency, expanding public transportation to reduce car traffic, a carbon tax as an incentive to promote safe and clean energy, and other ideas. Obama and Romney keep talking about independence from foreign oil. The real problem is America's addiction to fossil fuels, regardless of where they come from. Only Dr. Stein is offering solutions."

(More on Dr. Stein's 'Green New Deal': http://www.jillstein.org/green_new_deal)
Ursula Rozum, Green candidate for US House in New York's District 24 (http://www.ursulaforcongress.com), author of "Solve climate crisis to make economy humane," Syracuse Post Standard, April 20, 2012 (http://www.greenpapers.net/?p=240):

"The Obama Administration has turned out to be a disaster on the global warming front. He wants to banish the 2C goal (keeping the world's average temperature from rising more than two degrees Centigrade) from international negotiations on climate change (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19161799). President Obama is also promoting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a new international trade pact that will serve powerful corporate lobbies by overrriding environmental protections and allowing more logging, drilling, mining, and transportation of raw materials in the Pacific rim, as well as weakening labor rights and imposing more restrictive intellectual property rules. TPP was negotiated in secret and is supported by Mitt Romney. Greens oppose it. There will be no discussion of these enormously important issues in the Obama vs. Romney debate. A victory for either candidate on Nov. 6 will spell more disaster for our planet."




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