Saturday, March 22, 2008

White House doesn't want Adm. William Fallon testifying to Congress

How badly does the White House not want Admiral William Fallon to testify before Congress? Fallon's retirement was announced last week. He retires in May. Until then he's a member of the US military.

At the Pentagon yesterday, press flack Geoff Morrell stated he was "ruling out" Fallon testify next month on 'progress' to Congress (despite the fact that Senator Hillary Clinton has requested he testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee) and stated Congress will only hear from Gen. David Petraeus and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker.

Morrell declared, "And I can tell you that Admiral Fallon will not be testifying with the general and the ambassador. The process we used last time worked quite well and we're going to stick with that this time."

By "worked quite well," it certainly did provide a snow job but is the White House maintaining, via the DoD flack, that Congress can only call witnesses that the White House approves?

"I'm ruling it out," declared Morrell of Fallon testifying and, last time I checked, a flack at the Pentagon was not over Congress and had no say in whom Congress could invite (or subpoena) to testify before them.

Morrell offered that Fallon steps down at the end of this month and seems to feel that makes Fallon unable to testify about Iraq. But Fallon was just testifying to Congress earlier this month. And it's not as if 'late breaking news' is going to be interjected into the testimony (it never is, see the Oversight & Government Reform Committee's agreement not to ask about the Sept. 17th slaughter in Baghdad by Blackwater when they later had Blackwater's Erik Prince before them -- as well as flunkies from the State Dept. including Condi).

Fallon is (until he steps down) the commander of CENTCOM. If Congress wants him to testify, he testifies. That's not really up to the White House and certainly isn't in any job description for a Pentagon flack.

With Fallon finishing his command of Centcom at the end of the month, it makes perfect sense for him to then appear before Congress and offer testimony on what he observed while commanding.


Morrell attempted to confuse the issue by stating that Gen. Martin Dempsey, interim CENTCOM commander, wouldn't be needed to testify. Why would he? A few weeks in the job? Isn't he just adjusting? Fallon, who probably wouldn't deviate from the White House script too much (but there's always hope), has overseen CENTCOM during the period that Congress is supposed to be receiving a report on.

Morrell kept referring to a "system" and an "arrangement" repeatedly. Congress chooses who they want. They do not hold hearings at the pleasure of the White House. They do not serve the White House, they serve the people and they honor the Constitution.

Growing increasingly frustrated, Morrell declared, "I have not talked to the secretary [of Defense, Robert Gates] about whether or not he has personal objections to the notion of Admiral Fallon testifying again."

Exactly where then is Morrell getting his information?

Morrell then tried to back pedal and accuse the reports of 'changing' the question ("you changed the question") and stated Fallon might or might not testify but it really wasn't needed ("I do know that Admiral Fallon is due to resign his command of Central Command at the end of this month. So he would not testify [in early April] in that capacity") and that Petraeus and Crocker were whom the White House would be offering up.

"Arrangement" or "system" the White House devised doesn't really matter. If Congress wants Fallon to testify as part of the presentation, than he should testify. The White House does not control Congress. (The White House doesn't want Fallon at the same hearing due to the risk that he'd go off script. Showing up at another hearing or after Operation Happy Talk via Petraeus and Crocker again enters the newstream could allow Fallon to be dismissed or overlooked. But taking part in the same hearings as Crocker and Petraeus risks going off message.)

In the New York Times' Sunday magazine tomorrow, Ben Ehrenreich's "War dodgers" appears:

Next month, the Canadian House of Commons is slated to debate a resolution that would allow conscientious objectors "who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations" to apply for residency in Canada. The phrasing is vague but the intent is not. The war in question is the Iraq war, and the resolution represents the culmination of a four-year debate about what to do with the small but steady stream of American soldiers who have fled across our northern border to avoid fighting in Iraq.
It all began in Jan. 2004, when a young American with a long, serious face walked into the Toronto law office of Jeffry House to ask for help with what was at the time a highly unusual immigration case. The American turned out to be a soldier named Jeremy Hinzman, an infantryman in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. He told House that his petition for conscientious-objector status was denied while he was stationed in Afghanistan. He crossed the border into Canada just days before his unit was to be deployed to Iraq. Of the more than 25,000 American soldiers who, according to the United States Department of Defense, have deserted since 2003, the Toronto-based War Resisters Support Campaign estimates that 225 have fled to Canada. (The D.O.D defines a deserter as anyone who has been AWOL for 30 consecutive days or who seeks asylum in a foreign country; desertion carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.)
The majority of the deserters in Canada have chosen not to make the authorities aware of their presence. Like any other illegal immigrants, they have settled for invisibility. A few dozen, though, followed Hinzman's lead. Most found their way to Jeffry House. One young Army medic named Justin Colby read an AOL news posting about Hinzman's case while stationed in Iraq. He telephoned House from Ramadi and showed up in his office a few months later.
House would eventually represent between 30 and 35 American deserters. Most of them, like Colby, say they joined the military in part out of patriotism. "I thought Iraq had something to do with 9/11," Colby says, "that they were the bad guys that attacked our country." But unlike Hinzman, most did not apply for conscientious-objector status. They tend to say they aren't opposed to all wars in principle -- just to the one they were ordered to fight. It wasn't until Colby arrived in Iraq that he started to see the conflict as "a war of aggression, totally unprovoked," he says. "I was, like, 'This is what my buddies are dying for?'" Midway through his tour, he decided: "I'm never going to do this again." He went AWOL the day before his unit left to train for a second deployment. House says that more than two-thirds of his clients have been deployed to Iraq at least once. "One is resisting a third deployment."


War resisters in Canada were dealt a setback in November the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, you can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored. We will note war resisters in Canada tomorrow. There is not time today, my apologies.

The following community sites have updated since yesterday morning:

Rebecca's Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude;
Cedric's Cedric's Big Mix;
Kat's Kat's Korner;
Betty's Thomas Friedman is a Great Man;
Mike's Mikey Likes It!;
Elaine's Like Maria Said Paz;
Wally's The Daily Jot;
Trina's Trina's Kitchen;
Ruth's Ruth's Report;
and Marcia's SICKOFITRADLZ


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















It's not progress

Today, the US military announced: "Two Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers were killed when an improvised explosive device struck their vehicle during a patrol northwest of Baghdad March 22. Two Iraqi civilians were also killed in the attack. An MND-B Soldier was injured in the attack and was transported to a Coalition forces medical facility for treatment."

The deaths bring the number of US service members to die in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 3996 -- four away from the 4,000 mark.

Nothing to show for it be an illegal war with no end point in sight. Sunday the US military trotted out the show ponies again in a Baghdad press briefing. Of the many ridiculous statements was the following:


Everyone knows that training is the only method to increase the combat capabilities of the troops, because without training, we cannot create a professional army in the field. Ever since the Iraqi Army was established and formed, our efforts were dedicated to training. Despite the challenges -- and that is despite the challenges and the fighting. We know that the operations in the field influence the training -- the training, and in some cases, the training -- or makes the training fast.

That ridiculous nonsense was, to give it an Iraqi face, from Hussein Dohy who is the "Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Army for training and doctrine." Nearly four thousand US dead and five years later, close to two million Iraqis dead, and it was time to dance out the 'progress' on training.

There is no progress, there's never been any progress. The Iraqi military continues to have an incredibly high rate of desertion and a large number of thugs (whom deserters are more and more pointing to as one of the main reasons for desertions). They show no respect for human life, no respect for the press, and think nothing of aiming guns (for 'fun') at civilians and reporters. Nothing to show for it despite Dohy insisting, "At the beginning of the formation of the Iraqi Army, the main focus was on the essential training that will promote and enhance the battalions with good fighters to control the field."

The thugs are never going to bring democracy and they only succeed in running off the Iraqis who could improve the military. Five years later and the Iraqi military is still in the 'formation' process.

Puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki is correct that the thugs of the "Awakening" Council are thugs but his concern isn't that they will turn the Iraqi military and police to more brutal practices, his concern is that those thugs will fight his thugs.

Five years later and Iraqi thugs fight it among each other still after having been elevated to positions by the US government to begin with. The brain drain didn't cause alarm as educated and trusted Iraqis fled their country. The refugee crisis, the largest in the world, didn't cause alarm. Both go to why Iraq still has no 'progress' and why Iraq will not. The US government installed and trained thugs.

And with the help of the Carr Center and it's counter-insurgency work, they continue to train the thugs on how to kill Iraqi civilians.

On Monday, they sent out a US General (the commander of Coalition Air Force Training Team), Robert R. Allardice to offer 'reflections' to the US press via a videolink from Iraq:

And if you think back to March of 2007, it was actually a pretty dangerous place in Iraq. The violence level was way up. In fact, when I showed up, the Iraqi Air Force was just barely starting their growth spurt. And I would tell you now -- report to you now that thanks to your United States Air Force, largely, with an infusion of about a total of 360 people and a lot of hard work on the Iraqi and Multinational Security Transition Corps here, we've actually seen the Iraqi Air Force grow significantly in the past 12 months.

Violence didn't stop. But apparently if all Iraqis leave the country except the thugs, that will be success. So ten years from now, Allardice may be able to again 'reflect' and claim that Iraq used to be 'a pretty dangerous place.' Of course, and this is al-Maliki's fear, the thugs would then begin fighting one another.

There is no 'win' in Iraq and that's why the likes of Sarah Sewall (Bambi advisor) and Samantha Power (former Bambi advisor) favor counter-insurgency. If the people can be terrorized, the two War Hawks believe, then 'calm' will come out of fear. For some strange reason, the people Bambi surrounds himself with are never reflective on who he is or the kind of president he would make. I suppose it's just him trying to have 'a dialogue' the same way it was when he put homophobes on stage?

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

Friday, March 21, 2008

Iraq snapshot

Friday, March 21, 2008.  Chaos and violence continue, the cease-fire gets frazzled, Antonia Juhasz spoke at Winter Soldier and we highlight her and Iraq vet James Gilligan, Cheney's out of the country, Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez propose a military draft for the children of elected officials, Joe Wilson attempts to set the record straight re: Bambi, and more.
 
Starting with war resistance.  Remember James Burmeister?  Probably not.  He was never interviewed on Democracy Now!, he was never profiled in The Nation.  He was one of the war resisters of 2007 who were ignored non-stop by Panhandle Media. (August 24th, Maria Hinojosa interviewed Burmeister for NOW on PBS.)  Ava and my summary:
 
James Burmeister also self-checked out while in Germany. He was lifted out of Iraq and taken there after he was injured. He enlisted to do humanitarian work (e.g. rebuilding in Iraq) and, of course, that didn't end up being the case. ("Of course" is not a judgement of Burmeister's intelligence, it is noting that we are probably far more cynical than he is.) "Humanitarian work" for the US military translated as leaving US military items out in public so that when an Iraqi touched them, he or she could be shot for touching US property. Your tax dollars at work in the illegal war. Following the third bombing he was the victim of, Brumeister was sent to Germany to recover. At that point, he and his family made the decision to go to Canada.
 
Courage to Resist reports that "Burmeister recently returned from Canada and turned himself in to the Army at Fort Knox, Kentucky on March 4.  In May 2007, James refused redeployment to Iraq.  He lived in Canada for the last ten months with the help of the War Resisters Support Campaign.  James' father Erich Burmeister of Eugene, Oregon believes that the Army is getting ready to prosecute James.  He is asking people to call the Fort Knox Public Affairs office at 502-624-7451 and let them know you are concerned about PFC James Burmeister."

Meanwhile Duluth's Budgeteer News reports: "War resister Melanie McPherson, an Army reservist from Tofte, will speak at 7 p.m. in UMD's Montague Hall, Room 70" on March 25th next week.  Also speaking next week is Iraq Veterans Against the War's chair Camilo Mejia who, Burlington Free Press reports, "plans to speak at Green Mountain College on at 7 p.m. on March 27 in Ackley Auditorium." 
 
War resisters in Canada were dealt a setback in November  the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, you can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored. We will note war resisters in Canada tomorrow.  There is not time today, my apologies.          

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. 

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).    
 
Like most things Iraq related, Iraq Veterans Against the War's Winter Soldier Investigation is not receiving the attention it deserves.  Noting the media silences on Iraq and actually writing about Winter Soldier, Osagie Ighile (North Carolina's Duke Chronicle) observes:

 
In the three days of testimony by war veterans, one thing that has emerged is that Abu Ghraib and other atrocities are not exceptions, but are commonplace.  The main cause is not an innate wickedness in our troops but is rather the necessary outcome of placing them in a situation where friend and foe are indistinguishable and soldiers are forced to choose between their survival instinct and their moral code.        
Marine Corps Sgt. Adam Kokesh, who served in Falluja from February to September 2004 on a civil affairs team, specifically explained this confusion of the rules of engagement, which state that 'positive identification is required prior to engagement' where positive identification means "'reasonable certainty' that you target is a legitimate military target." However, Kokesh said when all soldiers see is a muzzle flash from a building in a civilian area, they are forced to choose between increasing their chance of survival by returning fire and not breaking the rules of engagement.  Consequently, he stated that "we changed the rules of engagement more often that we changed our underwear." 
 
Trina wrote about Kokesh's testimony on Friday's Rules of Engagment morning panel and she noted him explaining,  "During the seige of Falluja, we changed rules of engagement more often than we changed our underwear. At first it was, you follow the rules of engagement you do what you're supposed to do and then there were times when you could shoot any suspicious observers or someone with binoculars or someone with a cell phone was fair game. And that really opened things up to a lot of subjectivity. But also firing at muzzle flashes into the city. Firing Mark 19s became common practice. At one point we imposed a curfer on the city of Falluja and at that point we were told we could shoot anything after dark."  Which goes back to Jason Hurd's testimony on the same panel about how civilians were supposed to recognize a checkpoint easily but, as Hurd noted, "I was in front of a desert colored vehicle, preceeding a desert colored building in desert colored camoflauge."
 
James Gilligan testified about both Afghanistan and Iraq.  Our focus is Iraq but his testimony on Afghanistan was very powerful for any who want to pursue it. 
 
James Gilligan: 2003, Iraq.  My HNS Company first sergeant.  He had a thing for handing out candy to the children who would come up to our Humvees -- winning the hearts and minds.  My first sergeant had seen that there was a little girl next to the Humvee and he personally handed her a lollypop. The little girl, excited, ran away from the vehicle and we're guessing her brother or a neighborhood kid came up behind her and hit her.  My first sergeant then proceeded to get out of the vehicle in the crowded marketplace endangering our entire convoy, withdrew his M9 pistol and ran after the kid, picked the kid up approximately 30 feet away from our vehicle and hoisted him one foot in the air, threatening him with the M9 pistol.  In 2003, in Iraq, we were ordered to . . . secure an expeditionary runway.  It was my job to pull overwatch security. . . .  In 2003, while securing this expeditionary runway we had observed that there was a gentleman at the end of the runway collecting souveniers.  I was my job as a corporal to go down and investigate and, of course, push this guy away and inform him that he was not to be at the end of our runway collecting souveneirs.  I took Lance Cprl. Jermone with me and we had went all the way down to the runway on foot, it's approximately 200 meters.  After walking down there, the gentleman was collecting bits of rounds  set from a previous battle. I radioed over what we were doing and of course we searched him and took away any kind of munitions that we had found I was then ordered to search the vehicle.  As I told Lance Cpl. Jerome "Secure my detainee," I went ahead and I searched the vehicle.  Afterwhich, I reported back that I did not find anything futher other than what was on the ground and we had already taken away from the gentleman, I was informed to make the vehicle inoperable.  It is at this time that I pulled out my knife.  I opened up the seats, I cut every single wire that I could find, I slashed tires and I made sure that his vehicle could not be used again without even thinking that this could be this man's lifeblood.   
 
He spoke last Friday, on the second Rules of Engagement panel.  Antonia Juhasz was among the speakers on the corruption and contractors panel that took place immediately before the second Rules of Engagement panel.  Among the tiny attention that's been doled out, this hearing has had almost no attention.  (There's one that got even less attention.)  So we're going to note her comments at length (and Wally and Cedric noted her last week).
  
Antonia Juhasz: The problem is that when these grants were given, first of all, Iraqis were of course overlooked.  But not only were Iraqis overlooked, the entire structure of the economic
reconstruction laid in place the results we're seeing now.  So one of the first acts of the US occupation government led by Paul Bremer was called the de-Baathification order.  This was the order by which Bremer fired 120,000 of all of the key ministerial leaders in Iraq, all of the engineers, all of the scientists, all of the people who ran the water ministry, the electrical ministry, the oil ministry.  He fired them all.  120,000 people.  He fired them all because he didn't want anyone standing in the way of the restructing that was being planned.  That left an enormous brain vaccum.  The next step that Bremer did was to fire 500,00 Iraqi soldiers. . . . Half a million Iraqi soldiers.  The US military had intended that those soldiers would be put to work to do the reconstruction but the Bush administration's economic plan didn't include that.  The Bush administration's economic plan was to bring in private contractors.  So immediatly at the get-go you had half-a-million men with guns made unemployed, without jobs, without money and their families left without hope, without money.  And some estimates put that number at 2.5 million Iraqis -- ten percent of the population -- who from the get-go were now very, very hostile to the reconstruction and to the invasion, and to the occupation.  All of these people also knew that US companies were being given billions of dollars to reconstruct the country and you'll hear many people testify to the fact that there were many Iraqis who while they were upset that Iraqis companies -- of which there were many, Iraqi workers -- of which there were many, who were more than  capable of doing the work, were being jumped over.  But there was a sense that, "If America was going to spend 10 billion dollars fixing our electricity, that's no so bad and, you know, maybe that'll be good."  And there was a sense of allowing this to take place.  The reconstruction failed and one of the primary reasons that it failed was that objective was not to just get the services up and running.  The objective was this longer term permanent presence which I mentioned. 
So that you had companies like Bechtel spending the first six weeks in country . . . walking around doing an assessment of the situation.  They could have talked to the Iraqis who ran the water systems.  They could have hired the Iraqis to run the water systems.  But they didn't.  They walked around, they checked out the scene.  In that time there was no electricty, there was no water being provided and that built up, of course, bad will and by the time Bechtel got to work it became very unsafe for Bechtel to be at work.  The failure of the reconstruction continues but one of the things that's important for us to remain aware of today is that many of the companies have radically failed.  So Bechtel, a recent report found that they completed less than half of the projects that they were contracted to fulfill and that was water, electricity, schools, basic  rebuilding.  Parsons, another analysis just done that Parsons had barely fulfilled any of its comittments.  Of the statistics that Louis just gave, Parsons was hired to rebuild 150 primary health centers across the country.  They built 34 and not all of them are even functional.  But not all of that money has been paid out and that's an area where we can take action.  I just don't have nearly the time to say the things I'd planned to say so let me just say a couple of things.  The first is, the intention of the war to be about oil.  Right now we are in a situation where five oil companies -- Exxon, Chevron, BP, Shell and Total, have just signed, within the last week, contracts to get oil  -- to go into Iraq. Anyone with any sense of Iraqi history recognizes the names of these companies.  These are the exact same companies that from the end of WWII until 1970 owned all of Iraq's oil.  They were given it as a war bounty at the end of WWI.   They owned it, they controlled it and they controlled Iraq's fate because of owning the oil. Since they were kicked out in the early 1970s, they've been trying to get back in.  This is the second or third and maybe the largest pot of oil in the world depending on who's counting.  The world is running out of oil; however, oil sells for $110 a barrel.  This oil is sitting there like a gleaming prize at the end of the finish line.  And believe me, they have been planning and plotting to get it.  These five contracts are the tip of the iceberg.  The intent is to get the Iraqis to pass a law that would put everything back the way it was in the '20s, to take it from a nationalized oil system to a privatized oil system where US oil companies -- and a little bit for the French and a little bit for the British because, you know, we like them -- would own and control the oil.  Now, if that happens a US government report that was leaked by ABC News said -- and just so we are using the terminolgoy, this is one of the president's benchmarks  for Iraq, which the Congress adopted, passage of an oil law in Iraq.  Another one of the benchmarks, by the way, was reversing the de-Baathification law that Bremer put into place that fired all of those experts.  The oil law, if it is to be put into place and if US companies that are angling are Exxon, Cheveron, Conoco, Marthon, BP, Shell and Total.  If they stay, they will need to be quote "underwritten by the US government."  I take "underwritten by the US government" to mean you, to be underwritten by the US military.  That we will have to stay to ensure their safety and the continuation of their mission which was the whole reason we went there in the first place. 
 
On contractors, at the start of the week Hannah Allem (McClatchy Newspapers) reported on the opinions expressed by Iraq's clerics that "the real crime is that five years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, they still swelter in the summer and freeze in the winter because of a lack of electricity.  Government rations are inevitably late, incomplete or expired.  Garbage piles up for days, sometimes weeks, emanaging toxic fumes" and Allam noted that now worms are being found in the water.
 
Staying with the topic of contractors, Sahara Zahav (Florida Alligator) notes Iraq veteran Anthony Maroun's speaking to students at Santa Fe Community College prior to Winter Soldier:
 
As the team leader of his unit, it was part of Maroun's job to keep the Dell computers they used from overheating in the desert climate.  But as hard as he tried, Maroun couldn't manage to get the necessary air conditioner, which meant his unit couldn't do its mission.  
"I finally asked a friend of mine, this contractor, to help me out," Maroun said.  "He got the air conditioner so fast.  But me, a leader in the Marines, wasn't connected enough to get the equipment we needed." 
Maroun said for him, that air conditioner stood for the "corporate takeover of a country."
 
We'll be noting Winter Soldier in Monday's snapshot.  Visitors have e-mailed to complain that this or that person hasn't been noted.  Regarding civilians offering testimony, Nancy Lessin of Military Families Speak Out is someone that will be hopefull noted on Monday.  Otherwise?  None of us are interested in highlighting someone who says -- to wide applause -- that there's no difference between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on the illegal war and then rushes off to give an embarrassing interview where he maintains there is a difference and, since he can peer into the souls of both, he knows Barack is all things wonderful.  So if he says, to applause at Winter Soldier, that the candidates need to be pressed and now is the time and he then rushes off to give an interview where he completely dismisses Hillary's signing onto US Senator Bernie Sanders' call to ban Blackwater (while offering the valentine of an excuse for Bambi that it's "complicated"), we're not interested.  We're not interested in liars.  We're not interested in people who went to Winter Soldier to get some applause and some attention and then turned around and gave interviews taking back their applause lines.    Six snapshots have covered Winter Soldier and Monday we'll probably wind things down.  We don't have time to note hypocrites so those visitors needing their 'man' noted can just forget it.  He danced pretty at Winter Soldier and then -- like his earlier interview subject Samantha Power -- said something completely different.  We're not interested.  We could further add that while others had to stick to a time limit, the visitors' 'man' was allowed to run on and on, always promising to wrap up but avoiding that repeatedly.  If you missed Winter Soldier you can stream online at Iraq Veterans Against the War, at War Comes Home, at KPFK, at the Pacifica Radio homepage and at KPFA, here for Friday, here for Saturday, here for Sunday. Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz were the anchors for Pacifica's live coverage. 
 
Juhasz also spoke of oil, so let's note Deb Riechmann (AP) reported that two months after Bully Boy went to Saudi Arabia to beg, Dick Cheney does so now:

During his trip to Saudi Arabia in January, President Bush urged the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase production, saying it was a mistake to have the economies of its largest customers slowing down as a result of higher energy prices.
The oil-producing nations ignored Bush's request. The White House said it disagreed with OPEC's decision to rebuff that request, and that the oil-producing nations themselves could be hurt by gas prices that are more than $3 a gallon.
Cheney was greeted at King Khaled International Airport by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. The two shared tea inside the airport before heading to the king's horse farm, a posh retreat with a towering water fountain and statues of four show horses, their tails standing high.
 
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
 
Bombings?
 
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Tikrit roadside bombing that wounded "a little boy".  Reuters notes a Dour mortar attack that left four children injured.
 
Shootings?
 
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Diyala Province 2 people wounded by unknown assailants who shot up their car in Diyala Province, 3 police officers wounded in a shooting in Diyala Province, a Tikrit home invasion that left 1 person dead and an attack in Balad on the Chief of Police of al-Mahata area that killed him and 2 of his guards as well as leaving two bystanders wounded.
 
Corpses?
 
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 corpses discovered in Baghdad.
 
Meanwhile Alexandra Zavis (Los Angeles Times) reports on the "Awakening" Council -- thugs changed to turncoats against the Iraqi people when the US tossed coin their way -- who are now getting antsy because another thug -- Nouri al-Maliki -- won't bring them into the government already.  Zavis notes that "the fighters need jobs now.  If not, many openly declare that they will have no choice but to work for the insurgency" -- of course not, they only turned to begin with because they were bought off.  This as Reuters reports that the cease-fire/truce between the US and forces alligned (at one time?) with Moqtada al-Sadr battled in Baghdad and Kut -- 3 followers dead in Kut, five injured in Baghdad.
 
In political news, Military Families Speak Out [PDF format] notes Diane and Neil Santoriello are calling on Senators Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama "to meet them at their son's grave in Arlington National Cemetry -- a a grave they visit every month." Their son Neil Santoriello "was the 930th [US] soldier killed" in the Iraq War (August 13, 2004).  Both parents are quoted.  This is Diane Santoriello:
 
I would like to see the presidential candidates utilize the leadership that they each claim to have.  With each funding bill that the President signs, he is actually signing the death warrant for more soldiers and more Iraqi civilians.  The Senate has the power to stop that death warrant from reaching his desk.  Senator McCain, Senator Clinton, and Senator Obama all share responsibility for continuing this war.  Senator Clinton, Senator Obama, Senator McCain, do you have the courage and honor to face up to the reality of section 60?  If so give us the day and time and we will meet you there.  (Leave the wreaths, the media and your staffers at the gate.)
 
And this is Neil Santoriello:
 
I challenge each presidential candidate to meet us at our son's grave in section 60 of Arlington Cemetery.  I want them to stand at his grave and face the Memorial Bridge.  I want them to see how many more soldiers have been laid to rest since he was buried in 2004.  He was the 930th soldier killed.  How many more rows need to be created before they say enough?
 
Ralph Nader is running for president and Matt Gonzales is the vice-president on the ticket.  At their campaign website, it's noted today: "President Bush believes that the war in Iraq is 'worth the sacrifice.'  The question then becomes -- sacrifice by whom?  What about George Bush's daughters Jenna and Barbara?  Prince Harry served in Afghanistan.  Senator Jim Webb  and Senator John McCain each have a son who served in Iraq.  During World War II four of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's sons entered the armed forces, as did General Eisenhower's son, John Eisenhower.  No double standard for them.  So, why not Jenna and Barbara Bush?  And why not military service for the children of all members of Congress -- who have funded this criminal war in Iraq? . . . It's called -- draft at the top.  Pass a law that says this -- whenever Congress and the White House take our country to war, all able-bodied military-age children of every member of Congress, the President and the Vice-President will be conscripted automatically into the armed forces."
 
Meanwhile Dominque Soguel (WeNews) speaks with US service members Luz Gonzalez, Carolyn Schapper, Emily Stroia and Chrissy DeCaprio who state their concerns for the next president include "vision, experience and patriotism."  If your candidate of choice wasn't mentioned and you're not a community member, tough.  This week was the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, not the fifth anniversary of a Venezuelan War, for example.  Maybe your candidate needs to learn to focus?  Regardless, we don't have time for nonsense.  We do have time to support our own.  As Gina's long noted, this is a private conversation in a public sphere.  If you're a visitor, you can listen in, but you cannot steer it.
 
Patriotism.  Jeremiah Wright's damning of America has offended many Americans and will only offend more as time passes.  Barack Obama's Tuesday speech was met with the usual press nonsense which was to focus on the pretty words he offered and not grasp that the speech was a distraction and an avoidance.  As the polling indicates, Americans grasped it far better than the press did.  We all love Betty and what Cedric has termed her "deep wisdoms from the south."  We love them because she's usually right on the money.  This was Betty in Sunday's "Roundtable:" "We've seen a very ugly campaign season and I was so disappointed when it was announced on Friday that they were calling a truce. Whenever the heat gets turned up on Bambi, it's time for a truce. Jesse Jackson Jr. can get on TV and lie about Hillary and not be called out but when realities emerge about Bambi, it's time for a truce? There should be no truce and there should be no nonsense that race hasn't played a part or that White people have repeatedly ignored the way the Obama campaign has used racism throughout the campaign."  Betty's correct that everytime the Obama campaign gets into hot water they insist on a truce and then they don't honor it.  Jeremiah Wright's damning of America was offensive to many.  It was time for a "truce" insisted the Obama campaing and then, not a full week later, they show up to "peddle photos of President Clinton shaking hands with . . . Wright less than 48 hours after calling for a high-minded conversation on race.  Well, President Clinton took tens of thousands of photos during his eight years as president.  Stop the presses."  Neither Bill or Hillary Clinton were members of Wright's church.  This is the same crap that the George W. Bush campaign repeatedly pulled in the 2000 election.  And you need to be noticing Hillary's response.
 
Democrats have stated since 2000 -- when Al Gore didn't fight hard enough after the election -- and again in 2004 -- when John Kerry refused to stand up for Ohio voters -- that the party needed a fighter.  Hillary Clinton is a fighter.  She's fighting for the nomination and doing so against one of the most rigged systems in recent memory.  Panhandle Media has churned out embarrassing, fawning copy for Obama since 2006 in anticipation of his run while running 'exposes' on Hillary.  It hasn't changed a thing with the core of the Democratic Party, working class people, who continue to support her.  Panhandle Media's non-stop lying has allowed some very smart Obama supporters to believe such lies as "Obama voted against the Iraq resolution in 2002."  They believe that because the LIARS of Panhandle Media repeatedly suggest that.  Last year on KPFA we saw Professor Patti Williams float that lie and when called on it, by a woman of MidEastern descent who pointed out Obama wasn't in the Senate in 2002, Professor Patti had her meltdown on air, snarling at a woman who obvioulsy had dificulty speaking on air.  How proud Professor Patti must be -- both for attempting to lie and for attacking a woman who pointed out that Professor Patti was wrong.  We saw all this crap during the 2000 George W. Bush campaign.  We're seeing it all again but it's coming from Democrats and it's not Hillary, despite Panhandle Media's non-stop lying.  It's the Barack team.
 
Meanwhile, having offended a good portion of Americans, what has Barack done?  It is now Friday and the best he can offer is to try to smear the Clintons by pointing out that Wright was among many clergy invited to one prayer breakfast at the White House.  If you're not alarmed by that, you're not paying attention.  Wright is toxic.  He is pulling the Obama campaign down.  And the campaign's best response is to pull out a photo-op shot of the man with Bill Clinton?  How does Barack Obama plan to address a Republican opponent because he's running a losing campaign right now.  You need to think about Florida 2000 and ask yourself which of the two would be fighting and which would be saying, "Oh, well, we all need to heal and blah blah blah" thereby stabbing voters in the back.  I don't think anyone can argue that Hillary would say, "Oh well, it's over.  Heal, America, let's all heal!"  Democrats have complained and, yes, whined for eight years now that they wanted a figher.  You've got your fighter, it's Hillary Clinton.
 
Now the rejects of Panhandle Media -- who couldn't work in the Real Media -- are facing their own little awakening.  They have to face that all their talk of 'democracy' and of 'participation' and of embracing the 'working class' is just b.s.  They've spat on all three notions this election cycle.  They've stamped their feet and amplified their LIES when they didn't get their way.  It is a testament to the spirit of working class Democrats that with all the lies, all the distortions, they have refused to be taken in.  But then real Democrats didn't vote for the Bully Boy in 2000 or 2004.  And maybe Panhandle Media should start including disclaimers when they LIE about Obama.  Maybe readers do, as Mike and Marcia both noted yesterday, have a right to know, when reading yet another endorsement of Obama, whether the writer can even vote in the election, whether the writer is a Democrat, whether the writer is a Communist, whether the writer voted Democrat before or -- again -- even can vote. 
 
They've created their little artisan class (highly undemocratic) to act as an echo chamber and they've enlisted people who HAVE TO PASS for Democrats.  When someone has to pass for a Democrat, there's a problem and that's an indication that they probably shouldn't be addressing a Democratic primary to begin with.  Hillary's fighting and Panhandle Media can't stand that.  They're working overtime to say that damning the United States does not matter -- how very cosmopolitan of them -- or is it European of them.  It does matter and they need to get out of their elitist little nooks and crannies to start interacting with real Americans.  If they do that, they'll quickly grasp how serious Barack Obama's 20-year-relationship with Jeremiah Wright is. 
 
Panhandle Media can't allow for dissent at something as 'serious' as rigging an election.  So they (like the Obama campaign) toss people to the curb.  One such person is Joe Wilson.  you may remember him and how the likes of David Corn, BuzzFlash, Amy Goodman and all the other sorry excuses for 'media' can't seem to find him today -- because he is supporting Hillary Clinton.  Via TaylorMarsh.com, here's Joe Wilson, former US ambassador:
 
Senator Clinton has a long and well documented history of involvement in many of critical foreign policy issues we have confronted and will continue to confront as a nation. Critics can quibble about the details of the health plan she fought for in the 1990s, or whether hers was the decisive or merely an important voice in the Northern Ireland peace efforts, but there can be no denying that she has been in the arena for a generation fighting for what she believes in, gaining experience and developing leadership skills. She has traveled the world and met with international leaders both as the First Lady and as a respected senator on the Senate Armed Services Committee. As NSC director on Africa I experienced her direct positive involvement in U.S.-African relations; it was she, as First Lady who advanced through her own travel, then urged and made possible President Clinton's historic trip. In the Senate, she has aggressively exercised her oversight responsibility and held the Pentagon's feet to the fire on plans related to withdrawal from Iraq, shaped legislation requiring reports to Congress, and cosponsored legislation with Senator Byrd to deauthorize the war with Iraq. She has exercised the levers of power because she knows how to do so. That is not a small thing; it is not a campaign theme. It is simply true and goes to the heart of whether she, or anyone, is prepared to be the president to manage at once two wars and a global economic crisis.
Senator Obama is clearly a gifted politician and orator. I disagree profoundly with his transparently political efforts to turn George Bush's war into Hillary Clinton's responsibility. I was present in that debate, in Washington, from beginning to end, and Obama was nowhere to be seen. His current campaign aides in foreign policy, Tony Lake and Susan Rice, were also in Washington, but they chose to remain silent during that debate, when it mattered.       
Claims of superior intuitive judgment by his campaign and by him are self-evidently disingenuous, especially in light of disclosures about his long associations with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko. But his assertions of advanced judgment are also ludicrous when the question of what Obama has accomplished in his four years in the Senate is considered.        
As the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee subcommittee on Europe, he has not chaired a single substantive oversight hearing, even though the breakdown in our relations with Europe and NATO is harming our operations in Afghanistan. Nor did he take a single official trip to Europe as chairman. This is the sum total of his actions in the most important responsibility he has had in the Senate. What are his actual experiences that reassure us that when the phone rings at 3 a.m. he will know what to do, which levers of power to pull, or which world leaders he can count on?          
Obama has stated that he will rely upon his advisers. But how will he know which ones to depend upon and how will he be able to evaluate what they say? Already, one of his chief foreign policy advisers, Samantha Power, has been compelled to resign for, among other indiscretions, honestly revealing on a British television program that Obama's public position on withdrawal from Iraq is not really his true position, nor does it reflect what he would do. Her gaffe exposed a vein of cynicism on national security. How confident can we be in his judgment? In fact, the hard truth is that he has no such experience.        
 
He will rely on his advisors?  Oh, didn't we all hear that in the 2000 campaign and, after all these years of that man occupying the White House, don't we all grasp how dangerous that is.  That's in for two reasons.  1) Betty's father asked for the topic to be addressed and 2) Jim thinks we'll also grab it at Third on Sunday.  On the first, that's how it works: the community dictates content, not outsiders.
 


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Other Items

War resister Melanie McPherson, an Army reservist from Tofte, will speak at 7 p.m. in UMD's Montague Hall, Room 70.

That's from Duluth's Budgateer News' "Community Calendar" and McPherson's been noted here before including in the October 19, 2006 snapshot and this is timeline she blogged of her military experience:

August 16, 1999

Joined Army Reserves. 8-year contract; 6 years as a Reservist, 2 years as an Inactive Ready Reserve

January 2000

Reported for Basic Training at Fort Jackson, SC

April 2000

Attended Advanced Individual Training (AIT) for Journalism at Fort Meade, MD

August 2000

Graduated AIT
Joined the 88th Regional Support Command at Fort Snelling, MN with the Mobile Public Relations Department

August/September 2000

Attended two-week ULCHI Focus Lens Annual Training in South Korea

October 1, 2001

Moved to Vermont to work with Eckerd Youth Alternatives as a counselor for youth whom commited sexual offences

Summer 2002

Attended two-week Public Affairs exercise in Germany

May 15, 2002

Changed soldier status from Army Reservist to Inactive Ready Reservist

May 15, 2002 April 1, 2006

No military involvement

April 1, 2006

Received orders dated March 28, 2006, to report to Fort Jackson, SC on May 28, 2006, for an 18-month tour with Operation Iraqi Freedom (O.I.F.)
Orders for mobilization with 131st MPAD had been cancelled a month prior on March 4, 2006
Military contract extended from original exit date of May 27, 2007, to November 23, 2007, for fulfillment of O.I.F. orders
Assigned to the 131st Mobile Public Affairs Detachment (MPAD) out of Mobile, AL

May 28, 2006

Reported to Fort Jackson, SC
Received orders while at Fort Jackson to report to a MOPERS non-unit at Fort Meade, MD on July 8, 2006

July 8, 2006

Reported to Fort Meade, MD

July 14, 2006

Received new orders to integrate into the National Guard 34th Brigade (BDE) 1st Infantry Headquarters (IN HHC) stationed in Iraq since March 2006
Ordered to report to the CRC 875th RC at Fort Bliss, TX on July 23, 2006, for movement to Kuwait en route to joining the 34th BDE 1st IN HHC in Iraq

July 23, 2006

Reported to Fort Bliss, TX

She was trained as a military reporter and they wanted to send her to Iraq as military police with no additional training, a role she had no training in.

She's not the only one who will be speaking out this month. Rob notes the Burlington Free Press' "War Resister to Speak at Green Mountain College:"

The first U.S. soldier court-martialed for desertion during the Iraq War plans to speak at Green Mountain College on at 7 p.m. on March 27 in Ackley Auditorium.
Camilo Mejia comes to campus as the featured speaker for a Voices of Community plenary. His talk will address his nine-month jail sentence, his views on torture in Iraq, and his reasons for refusing to fight. It is free and open to the public.

Mejia was stop-lossed and couldn't be extended legally due to not being a US citizen. He is now the chair of Iraq Veterans Against the War who staged Winter Soldier Investigation over the weekend. Clifton Hicks and Steven Casey testified at Winter Soldier and below is a Real News Network clip of that.



Mike wrote about Hicks last Friday. Protests took part in the Bay Area and independent journalist David Bacon has posted photos here.

On PBS tonight in most markets NOW on PBS offers:

Why does the United States remain one of the few developed countries to allow children to play with toys that some scientists say may cause infertility in boys? The toys in question contain substances called phthalates (pronounced "thal-ates"). While the European Union has banned these substances in products meant for children, there is powerful resistance from the chemical and toy industries to doing the same here.
NOW Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa travels from California, where citizens have successfully gotten the state to pass a ban on phthalates in children's toys, to New York City's prestigious Toy Fair, and to Washington, D.C., to uncover some answers.
Phthalates help make plastic toys like some rubber ducks and teething rings soft and pliable. But scientific evidence suggests that exposure to phthalates (which are also used in dozens of other consumer items like, makeup, shampoos and shower curtains) may interfere with the sexual development of boys. Last year, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban phthalates in toys. The toy and chemical industry sued the city to block implementation, claiming there's not enough evidence to warrant any action. A similar ban is set to take effect throughout the state of California in 2009.
Investigative Journalist Mark Schapiro, author of "Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power," tells NOW, "By refusing to close the loopholes in EPA laws that regulate chemicals in toys (and other products), the U.S. government is jeopardizing our health, alienating us from the global market, and erasing our role as a world leader in environmental protection."
Is the U.S. falling behind the European Union in regulating chemicals found in products we give our children?


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




Where is Adam Martin?

Chances are that Army deserter Adam Martin is long gone from these parts.
But his mother, sister and a newspaper reporter from Martin's hometown in Texas don't want to leave any stone unturned in their search for the 20-year-old soldier.
"He was only at Fort Benning a couple of weeks, and he rarely, if ever, left post until the weekend he disappeared. Maybe somebody in Columbus knows his whereabouts," Martin's mother, Donna Kay Martin, said Thursday via telephone from her home in Palestine, Texas.
Martin enlisted in the Army in July and attended basic training at Fort Jackson, in Columbia, S.C.
On the day he graduated in October, he, his mom and sister Jennifer Cupples went out to dinner and enjoyed a couple of movies before they dropped him off at the post late that evening.
"It was the last time we saw him," Cupples said of her younger brother.
Martin was proud of his accomplishment. He'd lost weight in training and had been accepted to Airborne School at Fort Benning. "Everything seemed to be going pretty well."
But once at Benning, rectal bleeding put him in Martin Army Community Hospital, thus delaying his entrance into Airborne School.

The above is from Mick Walsh' "Benning soldier disappears: Family searches for Adam Martin, who they insist did not go AWOL" (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer) and as the title and the excerpt should indicate, his family doesn't believe he self-checked out. So where he is? He had rectal bleeding, his family doesn't believe he checked out and the military has nothing to indicate he was at risk for checking himself out. Why are they classifiying him as AWOL and deserted? Because it's the easiest thing to do or because something's being sweeped under the rug?


Meanwhile, remember the illegal war had nothing to do with oil. Nothing. Forget Alan Greenspan's revelation in his book, forget everything. Deb Riechmann's "VP, Saudis to Talk About Oil Security"(AP) details Dick Cheney's visit to Saudi Arabia and reminds the White House was visiting that nation at the start of the year:

During his trip to Saudi Arabia in January, President Bush urged the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase production, saying it was a mistake to have the economies of its largest customers slowing down as a result of higher energy prices.
The oil-producing nations ignored Bush's request. The White House said it disagreed with OPEC's decision to rebuff that request, and that the oil-producing nations themselves could be hurt by gas prices that are more than $3 a gallon.
Cheney was greeted at King Khaled International Airport by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. The two shared tea inside the airport before heading to the king's horse farm, a posh retreat with a towering water fountain and statues of four show horses, their tails standing high.

And Alexandra Zavis (Los Angeles Times) reports on the continued US problems in getting the puppet regime in Baghdad to employ the thugs who became turncoats when the US tossed coins at them:

After months of U.S. entreaties, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Shiite-led government grudgingly agreed in December to hire a portion of the mostly Sunni Arab fighters for the official security forces. But the process of vetting and approving the job candidates is painfully slow -- some say deliberately so -- and less than a third of them are expected to qualify.
U.S. and Iraqi officials are now hammering out details of a plan to revive local economies and create new opportunities for the fighters through vocational training, public works schemes, farm revitalization programs, micro-grants and business start-up loans. The two governments have committed $155 million apiece to the projects.
But these are long-term strategies, and the fighters need jobs now. If not, many openly declare they will have no choice but to work for the insurgency, which has tried to lure some of them back with offers of more money.
Already, cracks are appearing in what one senior official describes as the central plank of the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy. Hundreds of Sunni guards abandoned their posts for weeks last month in the Diyala provincial capital, Baqubah, demanding the replacement of a provincial police chief, a Shiite Muslim they accused of brutality against Sunnis. Errant U.S. airstrikes, which have killed a number of the fighters, prompted a similar walkout in Jurf al Sakhar, south of Baghdad.


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




Thursday, March 20, 2008

I Hate The War


Lieutenant-General Tommy Franks, who led the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan during his time as head of US Central Command, once announced, "We don't do body counts." This blunt response to a question about civilian casualties was an attempt to distance George Bush's wars from the disaster of Vietnam. One of the rituals of that earlier conflict was the daily announcement of how many Vietnamese fighters US forces had killed. It was supposed to convince a sceptical American public that victory was coming. But the "body count" concept sounded callous - and never more so than when it emerged that many of the alleged guerilla dead were in fact women and children civilians.
Iraq was going to be different. The US would count its own dead (now close to 4000), but the toll the war was taking on Iraqis was not a matter the Pentagon or any other US government department intended to quantify. Especially once Mr Bush had declared "mission accomplished" on May 1, 2003. After that, every new Iraqi who died by violence would be a signal he was wrong, and would show that a war conducted in the name of humanitarian intervention was exacting a mounting humanitarian toll of its own.
But people were dying, and every victim had a name and a family. Wedding parties were bombed by US planes; couples driving home at night were shot at checkpoints because they missed a light warning them to stop. In the last three weeks of April 2003, after Saddam's statue and his regime were toppled, US forces killed at least 266 civilians - a pattern of shooting as a first resort that has continued to this day.
So five years after Mr Bush and Tony Blair launched the invasion, no one knows how many Iraqis have died. We do know that more than 2 million have fled abroad. A further 1.5 million have sought safety elsewhere in Iraq. We know that the combined horror of car bombs, suicide attacks, sectarian killing and disproportionate US counter-insurgency tactics and air strikes has produced the worst humanitarian catastrophe in today's world. But the exact death toll remains a mystery.


The above is from Jonathan Steele and Suzanne Goldenberg's "Iraq's civilian dead: why US won't do the maths" (Sydney Morning Herald). Olive noted it and, looking at the e-mails, it's interesting to see what is being highlighted in different publications. Martin Bright's "The woman who nearly stopped the war" (The New Statesman) addresses an episode that never received massive traction in the US and that many may not know of may have forgotten:

Of all the stories told on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, there is one important episode that took place during the build-up to the conflict that has gone largely unreported. It concerns a young woman who was a witness to something so outrageous, something so contrary to the principles of diplomacy and international law, that in revealing it she believed war could be averted. That woman was Katharine Gun, a 29-year-old Mandarin translator at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham.
On Friday 31 January 2003 she and many of her colleagues were forwarded a request from the US government for an intelligence "surge" at the United Nations (with hindsight, an interesting choice of words). In essence, the US was ordering the intensification of espionage at the UN headquarters in New York to help persuade the Security Council to authorise war in Iraq. The aim, according to the email, was to give the United States "the edge" in negotiations for a crucial resolution to give international authorisation for the war. Many believed that, without it, the war would be illegal.
The email was sent by a man with a name straight out of a Hollywood thriller, Frank Koza, who headed up the "regional targets" section of the National Security Agency, the US equivalent of GCHQ. It named six nations to be targeted in the operation: Chile, Pakistan, Guinea, Angola, Cameroon and Bulgaria. These six so-called "swing nations" were non-permanent members of the Security Council whose votes were crucial to getting the resolution through. It later emerged that Mexico was also targeted because of its influence with Chile and other countries in Latin America, though it was not mentioned in the memo. But the operation went far wider - in fact, only Britain was specifically named as a country to be exempt from the "surge".
Koza insisted that he was looking for "insights" into how individual countries were reacting to the ongoing debate, "plans to vote on any related resolutions, what related policies/negotiating positions they may be considering, alliances/ dependencies etc". In summary, he added: "The whole gamut of information that could give US policymakers the edge in obtaining results favourable to US goals or to head off surprises." The scope of the operation was vast: "Make sure they pay attention to existing non-UNSC member UN-related and domestic comms for anything useful related to the UNSC deliberations/debates/votes," wrote Koza.
Gun was appalled by the email in two ways. First by the seediness of the operation: she believed the clear message was that GCHQ was being asked to find personal information that would allow Britain and America to blackmail diplomats in New York. But second and more importantly, she believed GCHQ was being asked to undermine the democratic pro cesses of the United Nations.

Both are important. But some writers make selections that reveal more than they might wish. Take 'hero' Greg Mitchell who's been overly praised as much as he's been fairly praised.
He decides to pick his five for "unsung heroes and alternative voices" and it's an ugly and uninformed list. For example, since Chris Hedges was the New York Times writer to get the false link between 9-11 and Iraq on the front page (2001), you really don't put him on any best of list for Iraq. That's just a given. He was a dupe, fooled by two sources the US government supplied and, when Mother Jones investigated, he never named the second source for his article (Mother Jones had figured out who the first source was). Hedges and the Times were doing that article with PBS so that 'reporting' had the effect of getting LIES on both the front page of the New York Times and on PBS. But Greg loves him some Hegdes. Then it's onto Mark Benjamin, Lee Pitts, Stephen Colbert (I didn't make that up) , Neil Young and "McClatchy Baghdad Bloggers." Apparently no women did anything?

Take that Molly Ivins. Take that Naomi Klein. Take that Amy Goodman (as sad as her work is today, she did cover Iraq early on and it did it better than any major outlet). Neil Young? Take that Dixie Chicks! Stephen Colbert? Take that Janeane Garofalo. Take that all the women who spoke out, who told truths. You don't matter. Greg can include one of the pre-war dupes (Hedges) but women aren't going to be noted, will never be noted.

Now he may claim that he mentions the women of McClatchy. He didn't give the award to them and when it's time to quote, these Iraqi women aren't important enough to quote. Instead, they need a man, a White man to speak for them. In fact, they need two: Brian Ross and David Westphal.

It's real cute the way history gets written. The only women are those that are lumped in as "McClatchy Bloggers" (which includes men) and they don't even get to speak for themselves. Here's Huda Ahmed speaking, "Covering women is really hard and dangerous at the same time.
We call to make an appointment and suddenly a male relative tells them not to talk to us."

It's how women get erased every day. It's how their accomplishments are ignored. Greg wanted to go goo-goo over the men in his life, he wanted to hang with the boys. So it didn't matter that what he produced was an insulting list, it didn't matter that he grabbed quotes from men in the only time women are mentioned. It was all about the same damn boys club it's always been about. Colbert makes him giggle. Ha. Ha. No women makes his list of five. In the final category (to all McClatchy's bloggers) he includes the Iraqi women by . . . letting two White men speak for them.

All the men are quoted, even if means offering comedy bits or song lyrics. But the only time women show up -- to share the fifth place -- he finds two White men to quote at length.

Considering that Iraqi women have lost a lot in the illegal war, that's not only appalling it's disrespectful.

Greg Mitchell's a 'hero' to many. Heroic is not rendering women invisible and silent.

He chooses to look back at the illegal war and that's what he finds worth noting?

Chris Hedges, again, helped with the pre-war selling of the illegal war. He's never revealed his second source and he deserves no praise, he does deserve a lot of the blame because he is the reporter who got the false link onto the front page of the New York Times.

Dana Priest and Ann Scott Tyson? Not on the list. Ellen Knickmeyer? Nope. No to Nancy A. Youssef, no to Leila Fadel. No to Sabrina Tavernise, no to Carla Buckley, no to Alissa J. Rubin. No to Molly Bingham. No to Giuliana Sgrena, no to Jill Carroll. No to Riverbend. No to Alexandra Zavis, no to Tina Susman. No, no, no. His list says a great deal more than he realizes it does.

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 3987. Tonight? 3992. 8 away from the 4,000 mark. Just Foreign Policy lists 1,189,173 as the number of Iraqis killed since the start of the illegal war.

Pru notes "Anti-war student sabbatical suspended at University College London" (Great Britain's Socialist Worker):

Students and anti-war campaigners across the country are rallying to defend the student union at University College London (UCL) from an astonishing attack on democracy.
On 5 March at the union's annual general meeting, UCL students voted to stop all support for military recruitment on campus as a protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The decision triggered a furious backlash from the right. A clique of sabbatical officers unilaterally suspended Sam Godwin, the union's general secretary, and then annulled the annual general meeting.
Sam spoke at the rally at the beginning of the Stop the War march held in London last Saturday. She appealed for anti-war activists to defend the student union’s right to oppose illegal and immoral wars.
Sam's suspension has sparked widespread outrage, says Rob Owen from the National Union of Students' national executive.
"We're calling on students across the country to defend the basic principle of democracy in student unions," he said.
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Iraq snapshot

Thursday, March 20, 2008.  Chaos and violence continue, which outlets are covering Winter Soldier and more. 
 
Starting with war resistance.  Aaron Glantz (OneWorld) reports on a CO testifying at Winter Soldier:
 
"The problem that we face in Iraq is that policy makers in leadership have set a precedent of lawlessness where we don't abide by the rule of law, we don't respect internationl treaties," argued U.S. Army Sgt. Logan Laituri, who served a tour in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 before being discharged as a conscientious objector.  "So when that atmosphere exists, it lends itself to criminal activity."  
Laituri told OneWorld that precedent of lawlessness makes itself felt in the rules of engagement handed down by commanders to soldiers on the front lines.  For example, when he was stationed in Samarra, he said, one of his fellow soldiers shot an unarmed man while he walkded down the street.              
The problem is that that soldier was not committing a crime as you might call it, because the rules of engagement were very clear that no one was supposed to be walking down the street," Laituri said.  "But I have a problem with that.  You can't tell a family to leave everything they know so you can bomb the [expletive] out of their house or their city.  So while he definitely has protection under the law, I don't think that legitimates that type of violence."
 
We'll come back to Winter Soldier in a moment but it concluded on Sunday and also over the weekend, protests against the war took place in Canada.  Jenny Yuen (Toronto Sun) reports that among those taking part was war resister Linjamin Mull who was among at least 500 protesting in Toronto.
 
War resisters in Canada were dealt a setback in November  the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, you can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored. We will note war resisters in Canada tomorrow.  There is not time today, my apologies.          

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. 

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).    
 
 
FAIR asks why  Iraq Veterans Against the War Winter Soldier Investigation isn't news in the US and it's a question worth asking but that requires more honesty and facts than FAIR is providing.  They give two shout-outs to Democracy Now! which is about one too many.  Fact check FAIR in this statement: "While the tetimony of soldiers who had served multiple tours of duty was broadcast on Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now!, Free Speech TV and the Real News network, the major broadcast networks and PBS instead . . . "  Free Speech TV and Real News Network broadcast the hearings in real time.  Democracy Now! did not.  Where in that sentence -- or anywhere else in their action alert -- is there any acknowledgement that KPFA broadcast the hearings live, that the stream was available at Pacifica's homepage, at The War Comes Home, at KPFK?  Where in that action alert do Aaron Glantz and Aimee Allison receive any credit for anchoring the live coverage?
 
We've noted that Christopher Hayes did two blog posts at The Nation -- the first noting that the hearings were streaming live and the second noting Camilo Mejia.  That's not included.  More importantly the wasteland that is Panhandle Media gets a walk.  The Progressive did nothing on them (it's finally published it's written ahead of time story today and we're not linking to that crap -- community wide, we're not linking to that crap), Mother Jones couldn't be found either.  In These Times' article that ran AFTER we linked to but it needs to be noted they were among the ones contacted AHEAD of time to ask if they'd be covering Winter Soldier and, of course, they had something else to do.  As did Mother Jones and assorted others in Panhandle Media who elected to blow off Winter Soldier.
 
Before we go futher, if you missed Winter Soldier you can stream online at Iraq Veterans Against the War, at War Comes Home, at KPFK, at the Pacifica Radio homepage and at KPFA, here for Friday, here for Saturday, here for Sunday. Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz were the anchors for Pacifica's live coverage.  That's credit FAIR forgot to give.  Anthony Swofford (Slate) attended the hearings and his article was published Monday.  He quotes Jose Vasquez, who oversaw the verification process for witnesses taking part in the panels, stating, "We were willing at least to take testimony from anybody, whether or not they were a member.  They didn't even have to agree with our points of unity.  If you had a story to tell about Iraq and you were able to prove your service, then we would give you a venue to spread that word."  He focuses on the the first Rules of Engagement panel on Friday and notes Jon Turner provided video clips during his testimony:
 
He then played a few videos he'd made while in Iraq.  The first video he played was of his executive officer, after having called in a 500-pound bomb, saying, "I think I just killed half the population of northern Ramadi.  F**k the red tape."         
Then he played video of a missile attack on a Ministry of Health building.  He spoke about the standard procedure of a "weapon drop": When mistakes are made, you drop a weapon on the innocent dead man so it appears he was a combatant.  He showed photos of a man's brain.  "This wasn't my kill, it was my friend's," he stated.  
When the next image of a corpse appeared on the big screens in the hall, he continued, "On April 18, 2006, I had my first confirmed kill.  Ahh.  This man was innocent.  I don't know his name.  I call him the Fat Man.  He was walking back to his house, and I shot him in front of his friend and father.  The first round didn't kill him after I hit him up here in his neck area.  So I looked at my friend who I was on post with and said, 'Well, can't let that happen.'  So I took another shot and took him out."  It took seven members of the Fat Man's family to move his body.
 
Linda Milazzo (OpEdNews) notes the blackout from big broadcast and observes, "Had Winter Soldier been televised, viewers would have seen the anguish of young Americans who saw and committed acts that torment them every day.  The public would have heard stories of returning veterans abandoned by their government and by their V.A. (Veterans' Administration).  The public would have seen the agony of parents whose 23 year old son hung himself in their closet due to untreated PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).  If Winter soldier had been televised, The People could no longer accpe the deceptions of those who had alterted the facts.  The people would have received the knowledge they need to motivate them to act -- to stop the atrocities -- to end the war -- NOW!"  OpEdNews, FYI, may have been the only website of its kind (Truthout, BuzzFlash, et al) to actually COVER Winter Soldier.  Throughout the hearings, various contributors to OpEdNews were filing stories.  By the way, here's a folder The Real News Network has created for its Winter Soldier coverage. Celeste De Vore (Boise State's Arbiter) observes, "Many people may not even know this is happening; the event has been completely ignored by the corporate media.  I suppose I can understand why: If America really took hold of the message portrayed by these brave veterans and soldiers (a message of betrayal, brutality, dismay and disillusionment) its citizens couldn't stand in silent ignorance anymore.  We would demand an end to the Iraq occupation now."  Eric Ruder (Socialist Worker) reports on the hearings and we'll note this section on Bryan Casler:
 
Bryan Casler was a Marine who, in the course of his four years of action-duty service, was deployed first to Iraq, then to Afghanistan, and then again to Iraq.  His testimony captured the indifference of the U.S. military for the well-being of Iraqis, as well as U.S. soldiers.  
"During my first deployment, I was deployed to Kuwait in support of the invasion of Iraq," said Casler.  "This was in 2003.  Our unit was responsible for guarding Gen. Tommy Franks.  While stationed in Kuwait, we received alerts for incoming missiles or possible gas attacks.   
"As a Marine, being with the general, you feel like you're going to get the most current information, and you're going to be protected because you are going to be up to date and around these other important people.   
"It was very disheartening to see the generals running out of their tents, putting on their gas masks, and I look over to our commander and say, 'Shouldn't we put on our gas masks?' He said, 'We'll wait.  The siren hasn't been sounded yet.' 
"And several minutes later, maybe five or 10 minutes, they would come running back out because they had forgotten to sound the siren for the rest of the base.  As Marines, we knew our place.  We were at the bottom of the food chain.  We are the ones that get forgotten about."  
Casler went on to explain that his unit had no clearly defined mission except to keep moving forward.  In such circumstances, he said, the first instinct of every Marine is to rely on the tactical training that is drilled into recruits from the start of basic training, which is to use lethal force to repel attacks and destroy the enemy.    
"When you mission is not defined, you are going to use . . . those skills that you have to handle hostile people -- not friendly people, not people that are looking for your help or looking for a hand," said Casler.  "All you have is hammers, and everything you find is nails.  And you are going to crush it.  You are going to crush every nail that you find.  We are crushing the Iraqi people with the training we're given."
 
Michael Kramer (Workers World) offers testimony and backround and we'll highlight this section:
 
While most of the panelists were IVAW members, expert witnesses also testified. Iraqi civilians, including refugees, described their experiences with the occupation through detailed interviews that had been video recorded in Iraq, Jordan and Syria. IVAW Advisory Board member Dr. Dahlia Wasfi raised the occupation of Palestine
IVAW is a growing organization with over 800 members. The leadership is diverse: the chair of its Board of Directors was born in Nicaragua and the co-chair is African-American. The treasurer and executive director are women. The group is LGBT-friendly.          
Most members come from the enlisted ranks and are under 30 years old. They are from both urban and rural areas. Many were on track to be career noncommissioned officers--the foundation of any military organization. Their membership in IVAW is a major defeat for the U.S. imperialist war machine.
 
Kat wrote about Dahlai Wasfi's testimony on Monday.  Tim Wheeler and Joel Wendland (People's Weekly World) provide a cross-section report and we'l lfocus on this section:
 
Marine Lars Ekstrom said he suffered an emotional breakdown from brutal "hazing" during his tour in Iraq.  It included ordering him to do pushups and then to crawl with his face pressed against the ground causing cuts, a bloody nose, and sand filling his eyelids.  "I was more afraid of my own unit than I was of the enemy," he said.  He finally accepted "administrative separation" from his unit.    
Marine Matt Howard said the Marine Corps "bases itself on subjugation and abuse" of lower-ranking enlisted personnel.  "I was beaten and then I was kicked out of my platoon for being beaten," he said.    
Many of the casualties in Iraq "are from friendly fire," he said.
Howard was the at the front in Kuwait the day the invasion began in March 2003.  The first Abrams M-1 tank to cross into Iraq was destroyed by a U.S. helicopter gunship firing rockets armed with depleted uranium, he said.  Luckily, the American soldiers escaped.  "Why are we using these weapons?" he demanded.  "We're poisoning the soldiers.  We're poisoning Iraq.  We're poisonin the world.  Depleted uranium is the Agent Orange of the Iraq war."
 
Matt Howard's who we're focusing on today.  "The Marine Corps bases itself on dehumanization and subjegation and abuse of its lower enlisted in order for it to function," Howard stated early on.  He testified on Sunday's The Breakdown of the Military panel and noted being beaten during bootcamp "and ended up being kicked out of my platoon."  He noted being on the border between Iraq and Kuwait before the invasion officially started and learning that Captain Banning of Alpha Company a helffire missile was launched into a tank.
 
Matt Howard: Contained in that Hellfire Missile was depleted uranium.  Contained in the armor of the M1A1 tank was depleted uranium.  Maximum exposure time for depleted uranium or when you're most susceptible to exposure is directly after impact.  You should not be in the vincity of a vehicle that was just hit by friendly fire.  I certainly don't have a science background.  I won't get into the issue of depleted uranium too much, I expect you to do that and do the research.  But I can speak briefly to the fact that this is the Agent Orange of this occupation.  This weapon has no purpose in Iraq.  Granted this was during the initial invasion so I can maybe understand its deployment but let's be clear here depleted uranium is an anti-armor weapon.  The Iraqis do not have armor.   They don't have tanks.  They don't have bombers. Why are we using this?  And, again, I urge you to do the research yourself.  I can quickly say that we're using this because it's a way to get rid of atomic waste. We do not know what to do with that.  We are posioning our soldiers.  We are posioning the people of Iraq.  But make no mistake, we are posioning the world.  I can test every single person in this room and I can find depleted uranium in your hair.  I was tested myself personally.  in Australia.  I had begged the VA for testing. I received this letter recently: "Dear Mr. Howard, I checked with the provider who has been with the VA and many branches of the services and he does not know of any depleted uranium testing.  I have put in a request for your dental visit but it will be most likely only cover an evaluation for mouth-jaw pain due to grinding teeth for PTSD.  For routine cleaning, we would need a letter from your command stating you were due for routine dental work prior to leaving the service."  The VA has continually denied my requests to be tested for depleted uranium.  This letter clearly shows they're saying a test doesn't even exist.  And I will say for the record a test does exist.  It's the wrong test.  It's an urinalysis used to detect exposure, immediate exposure.  The problem with depleted uranimum is that these particles dig deep within your body and you will not find them in your urine after a couple of days.  You need a very expensive test, one that the VA is certainly not willing to pay for.  But I would also like to point out that the VA does recognize the danger of depleted uranium.  While they might not want to test for it, or talk about it, or give us any briefings on it beforehand.  I specifically remember still holding this round . . .  When we were issued tank rounds in Kuwait, most of the tankers had never seen this weapon.  They don't use it, at least the Marines don't use it, in training.  Probably because they don't just have the money for it compared to the other branches. But we finally got to Kuwait and we're being issued this ammunition, I just so clearly remember these Marines coming up and saying, "Hey, Howard, will you take my picture, will you take my picture?"  They wanted the picture of them holding the Black Widow because this is the first time they ever got to actually have their hands on it.  And this was a depleted uranium sable round that went in the tank.  That round on impact aerosols and vaporizes and these particles go up in the air.  And that's why I was saying I can test every single one of you for depleted uranium and find it in your hair.  These particles blow up into the atmosphere and they are disseminated all around the entire globe.  They have found depleted uranium on the skin of NASA vehicles in space.  We are changing the entire genome of our planet -- human beings, cats and dogs, plants.  We're changing the genetic makeup of our planet by using these munitions in Iraq and Afhganistan.  And as I said, the VA does recognize the danger albeit in a different way.  I'm holding here is a depleted uranium questionnaire that I had dowload from the VA. I certainly never saw this in Iraq. And it says: "Did you enter an Abrams battle tank to retrieve sensitive items immediately after it was struck by friendly fire?"  Why do they ask that question?  Because they know how dangerous a situation that is.   And my best friend, Lance Cpl. Greg ____ did exactly that he entered an Abrams battle tank to retrieve sensitive items immediately after it was struck by friendly fire.  And those sensitive items did not need to be retrieved.  The tank was already destroyed.  In fact there were live rounds still on that tank.  My command that ordered him to retrieve those sensitive items put his life at risk -- those rounds could have cooked off. And not only that, they weren't that sensitive to begin with.  Another Hellfire could have been launched into that tank and we could have moved on.  Instead he was ordered to stay on that tank for an extended period of time and was exposed to depleted uranium in the process.
 
Greg's last name given sounds likes Stroll but I'm not sure I transcribed that correctly so there's ____ instead.
 
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
 
Bombings?
 
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad rocket attack that left two people wounded, a Baghdad mortar attack wounded two police officers, Nineveh Province car bombing wounded two police officers and a Mosul roadside bombing wounded two police officers.
 
Shootings?
 
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an Iraqi soldier was shot and wounded in Kirkuk today by unknown assailants. Reuters notes 2 police officers shot dead in Mosul.
 
Kidnappings?
 
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Raad Shallal and his driver were kidnapped yesterday and are being held for a $250,000 ransom while today Khalid al-Seyid was kidnapped in Kirkuk as was the owner of a story in Kirkuk.
 
Corpses?
 
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 5 corpses discovered in Baghdad, 1 corpse discovered in Sulaimaniyah Province. 
 
Meanwhile Marcus Baram (ABC News) reports on Ryan D. Maseth who died January 2nd of this year while serving in Iraq as a result of electrocution in the base shower due to "an improperly grounded electric water pump [which] short-circuited and flowed through the pipes.  Since the coiled hose was touching his arm, he was hit with an electrical jolt and went into cardiac arrest and died." He was at least the 12th US service member to die "in Iraq due to accidental electrocution".  Guess who had that contract?  KBR. 
 
With over four milliion Iraqi refugees (internal and external), the International Rescue Committee issues a report entitled "Five Years Later, A Hidden Crisis."  In the (PDF format warning] report, they make four recommendations.  1) Displaced Iraqis need more aid delivered more effectively and efficiently.  2) Calls for the international community to work on the problem.  3) The US must lead on admitting Iraqi refugees. 4) Hold a talk with Ban Ki-moon chairing.  It really is that superficial and that disappointing.  On step 3, for example, they note that 12,000 is the number of Iraqis the White House has promised to allow into the US in this year (fiscal year).  They said it needs to be "more".  While that may be true (I wouldn't argue with that) it also needs to be at least 12,000.  The US is not on track to admit 12,000 currently and the fiscal year started October 1st -- not January 1st.  Last year (last fiscal year), the US government did not meet the total they pledged and this year is already on track to be a repeat.  Yes, more would be nice but how about we point out the reality that even the number the White House has promised to admit isn't happening?
 
In a community-wide correction, Barack Obama's maternal grandmother -- the one he chose to shame in his speech Tuesday -- is alive and our apologies.  With wife number two or three of his father is paraded around on TV as his paternal grandmother (his father and his paternal grandfather had multiple wives), one would assume his maternal grandmother must be dead.  But that's not the case.   Taylor Marsh (TaylorMarsh.com) reports Bambi can't stop shaming the woman and that he's now called her "a typical white person".  This is the grandmother he painted as a racist in his speech (though that 'creative tale' doesn't go with what he wrote in his book if anyone in the press wants to check that out).
 
For those worrying about a US war with Iran, William M. Arkin (Washington Post) offers a score card:

When it comes to making sense on Iran, Hillary Clinton wins hands down over Barack Obama, John McCain and George Bush.        
In his zeal to describe the mess created by the war in Iraq, Obama falls into the trap of lumping Iran in with our "enemies." McCain is even more offensive, borrowing from the president's always-change-the-justification playbook to argue that the Iraq war is ultimately about Iran. And President Bush is more confused than ever, fretting about emboldening Iran if we leave Iraq, but oblivious to how invading and occupying Iraq may have had the same effect.       
[. . .]      
We throw the word "enemy" around way too much these days. Is that what Obama thinks Iran is? The same country he has pledged to negotiate with?     
In his five-year anniversary speech about Iraq yesterday, Obama said Iran "poses the greatest challenge to American interests in the Middle East in a generation,  continuing its nuclear program and threatening our ally, Israel." It is time to present Iran "with a clear choice," Obama said, to abandon its nuclear program, its support for terrorism and its threats to Israel.   
"Make no mistake," Obama bellowed about Iran, "if and when we ever have to use military force against any country, we must exert the power of American diplomacy first."      
Gee, I'm no Republican and have no confidence in the Bush administration. But that sounds like current White House policy.           
 
 
 


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