Saturday, June 20, 2009

The US military announces another death, at least 70 Iraqis dead in Kirkuk

Today the US military announced: "CAMP STRYKER, BAGHDAD -- A Multi-National Corps -- Iraq Soldier died as the result of a non-combat related incident June 19. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense. The names of service members are announced through the U.S. Department of Defense official Web site at http://www.defenselink.mil/. The announcements are made on the Web site no earlier than 24 hours after notification of the service member's primary next of kin. The incident is under investigation." The announcement brings to 4315 the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war.


Meanwhile a bombing in Iraq has resulted in mass deaths. Khalid al-Ansary, Mustafa Mahmoud, Waleed Ibrahim, Muhanad Mohammed, Michael Christie, Daniel Wallis and Matthew Jones (Retuers) report on the Kirkuk bombing dubbed "the deadliest in more than a year" and Hussain Nashaat declares, "I was sitting in my house when suddenly a powerful blast shook the ground under me. I found myself covered in blood and ran outside in a daze. My lovely neighbourhood was just rubble." (The reporters also sneak in this: "Almost all U.S. soldiers will leave urban centres by June 30 under a bilateral security pact signed last year and the entire force that invaded the country in 2003 must be gone by 2012." Got to love that "almost." The Status Of Forces Agreement did not allow for "almost" -- outside of horse shoes, it's difficult to think of anything where "almost" counts.) Ali Al Winadawi and Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) count 70 dead and one-hundred-and-eighty-two injured:

Witnesses said the explosion leveled more than 80 clay brick homes and partially destroyed the mosque. Rescuers dug through mounds of rubble looking for the wounded and pulling out the dead.
Medical officials said at least 70 people had been killed and another 182 wounded in the bombing. They worried that the casualty figures would rise in the latest in a series of attacks on northern Iraq's Turkmen minority since 2003.

The Telegraph of London notes that shortly before the Kirkuk bombing, Nouri al-Maliki was raving about the "great victory" (US troops leaving some Iraqi cities). Nada Bakri (Washington Post) quotes eye witness Qanbar Abdullah Sajjad stating, "All I could see was a fireball flying into the air followed by a thick cloud of dust and smoke. Bodies, covered with mud, were laying on the ground. People were bleeding and shouting for help." Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) adds, "Hours after the blast, authorities were still digging through rubble searching for possible survivors and more bodies."

In other reported violence Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad sticky bombing which left two people wounded, 1 police officer shot dead in Mosul and his father left wounded, a Mosul roadside bombing which wounded two people, and, dropping back to Friday, a police officer stabbed to death in Kirkuk and a Falluja sticky bombing which wounded engineeer Sabah Absulsahab.

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the washington post

mohammed tawfeeq

Iraq

The glamor and glory of a war correspondent.
Five straight days in the same clothes. Five hours on plastic chairs between planes at London's Heathrow Airport, 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. Four hours on metal chairs at Istanbul's airport, 11 p.m.- 3 a.m. No luggage after landing at Baghdad International Airport at 6 a.m.. It stayed in Turkey. Washing your hair with hotel hand soap.
Wednesday a biblical sandstorm blew into Baghdad. Visibility that night was one meter. Sahar, a McClatchy bureau reporter, braved the reddish-brown fug to pick up her son up at an Internet cafe. He walked in looking like a gray ghost. No planes in the air, so no bag.
Earlier, Nasif, the bureau manager, kindly dispatched a driver. He returned with shampoo, two pair of pants, two shirts, disposable razors, shaving cream, two undershirts (called "wife beaters" in trailer parks) and two pair of underwear--briefs, colored in green, blue and orange triangles with "Dream Man" stenciled around the waistband. We always wondered what the Scots wore under their kilts. Now we know what some Iraqi men wear under their dishdashas, the gray or white neck-to-ankle robes

The above is from Mike Tharp's "Your correspondent in the rainbow 'Dream Man' undies" (Baghdad Observer, McClatchy Newspapers). The US broadcast networks left Iraq. Additional outlets are packing it in as well -- despite the fact that not only has the Iraq War not ended, there are over four times as many US service members in Iraq as in Afghanistan. In Thursday's snapshot, we note that Tharp, the executive editor of the Merced Sun-Star, had returned to Iraq for another period of on the ground reporting. Friday's snapshot noted Alice Fordham was in Iraq reporting for the Times of London and blogging at the paper's Inside Iraq. Fordham has covered the Twittering deputy prime minister, how baking can break down barriers, duststorms and rappers:


Meet the Narcycist. He’s an Iraqi slice of the rich and varied world of Arabic hip hop and his new video is quite entertaining if only for its title of PHATWA, which the great man told The Times, "stands for Purposeful Hatred Attacking The Wrong Arabs OR Political Hip-Hop Attracting The World's Attention," addressing the woes of a young Arab going through airport security.
While he was born in the UAE and grew up in Canada, he maintains a strong national identity and is by no means the only Iraqi pop artist operating from overseas -- there are artists in Lebanon and Syria, and another rapper in Jordan. The Narcycist says that, “music opened up that hole that was the loss of our motherland I think and filled it with representation; or the ability to represent my people in one way or another.” Western-style pop music is just beginning to filter into Baghdad, but most of the Iraqi pop music is listened to among the diaspora, according to the Narcycist.


Inside Iraq is also the name of the blog where McClatchy's Iraqi correspondents blog and today an Iraqi correspondent offers:

The Ministry of Interior spokesman said 115 charges of violations of human rights of Iraqis in detention centers have been forwarded to the courts.
Eight officers and two civilians were charged with violations. Nine were convicted and one was acquitted.
Today, 642 complaints are now being looked at by investigators, and so far they've found enough evidence to foward 43 cases to the courts.
Most charges were for being arrested without a court order, some for torture during interrogations and others for rape.
After the press conference held by the ministry was done, I had one more question. So I followed the spokesman to the corridor and called out to him, "We have inherited a legacy of total disregard for human rights from the previous regime. Does the ministry have any programs to raise awareness of the people handling the detainees, to impress upon them the importance of human rights and decent treatment?"


On the topic of Iraqi refugees, Theo Emery's "Iraqi Immigrants: Refugees in a Land of No Opportunity" (TIME magazine) explains :

According to assistance agencies, Iraqi refugees across the country -- some of whom, like the Jabers, risked violence, kidnapping and death threats for assisting U.S. forces -- face the danger of homelessness in their adopted land, a threat heightened by the foundering economy. The government's refugee assistance system as it exists is in crisis, and is failing to meet its basic mandate to protect and serve refugees, said Robert Carey, vice president of resettlement policy at the International Rescue Committee, which assists Iraqis and other refugees to resettle in the United States. A new report co-sponsored by the IRC and the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute points out that the problems existed long before the economic downturn, but the recession has highlighted and heightened its flaws. (Read about the plight of Iraq's refugees.)
The fundamental problem is that employment is the backbone of the U.S. resettlement program. Refugees are expected to find work when they arrive in the United States, and to move as quickly as possible toward self-sufficiency, a system tailored to an economy with plentiful jobs. When jobs dry up, as they have now, the system collapses, Carey said.


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oh boy it never ends

Friday, June 19, 2009

Iraq snapshot

Friday, June 19, 2009.  Chaos and violence continue, the VA backlog continues and will continue for some time judging by a Congressional hearing, Gordon Brown continues to be a newsmaker of the week (not a good thing for Brown), Iraqi refugees continue to struggle, and more.
 
Late yesterday, well after 6:00 p.m., the House Committee on Veterans Affairs' Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs called their 2:00 p.m. hearing to order.  US House Rep John J. Hall chaired the subcommittee hearing, "Addressing the Backlog: Can the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Manage One Manage One Million Claims?"  Hall observed, "This is a problem that's plagued the VA and the veterans it's supposed to serve for years."
 
The first panel was composed of the American Legion's Ian de Planque, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Disabled American Veterans' Kerry Baker, Service Women's Action Network's Rachel Ntelson and Gulf War veteran David Bohan of Oregon. 
Bohan shared his personal story which is not unique to him and which members of the House Veterans Committee and its various subcommittees have heard repeatedly but there's still been no action on it -- even with John Hall having proposed legislation to assist with this (HR 952).
 
David Bohan: A counselor at the VA in Roseburg suggested I pursue a claim for my PTSD and for injuries to my left foot during the time I was stationed at Fort Riley Kansas and recommended I contact the American Legion for help.  The VA system is confusing, overwhelming and it is not all friendly to veterans.  [. . .] So many of the people at VA are not veterans and don't understand what we are going through.  You end up feeling like some of them care more about their rules and regulations and paperwork than they care about the veterans.  We veterans don't have any idea where the piece of paper or that record is after all of the time.  Regarding military records, veterans don't have any idea where our records are kept.  And apparently the military doesn't know either.  I was up late last night digging through boxes, looking for records to prove I was in the army, that I was in the Gulf War and that I had been in a combat -- in combat and that I had all the necessary stressors to qualify for VA assistance.  The memories -- the memories that going through all these materials from my army days were very painful.  With the help of American Legion service officer Gregg Demaris, I received a PTSD rating from the BA.  But the issues with my foot have not yet been -- been addressed.  My medical records from Fort Riley are missing.  I've spent hour on the telephone, I've sent faxes, I've even sent e-mails.  But after months of trying, no one can find my records.  The hospital at Fort Riley says they do not have the records of the surgeries on my foot.  I have contacted the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis many, many times.  But I still do not have the records of the multiple surgeries on my foot.  Until I can obtain those records and present them to the VA, I cannot pursue the rest of my case. 
 
HR 952 would make it much easier for veterans suffering from PTSD to receive treatment for it without jumping through hoops of paperwork.  The measure would not help David Bohan with his foot injury.  The issue of the foot injury, however, is something that a call to one of his senator's office should have resolved already.  (Via the office lighting a fire under the VA.  I'm not stating Bohan hasn't pursued that.  I would guess he has.  I'm stating someone's dropping the ball: Gordon Smith or Ron Wyden -- or both.)  We'll note this section of Rachel Ntelson's opening remarks.
 
Rachel Ntelson: To begin, studies indicate an institutional bias in favor of claimants with combat experience, an advantage which disproportionately favors men.  Not only do claim processors fail to understand the degree to which women are effectively -- if not nominally -- serving in combat positions but they also fail to appreciate the extent to which service members in non-combat occupations and support roles are exposed to traumatic events.  Among the most pervasive stressors experienced by military women are incidents of sexual assault and harassment.  The prevalence of sexual assault in the military is hardly news and has been the subject of a number of recent Congressional hearings and Pentagon reports.  By some accounts, nearly a third of female veterans report episodes of sexual assault during military service while seventy-one to ninety percent report experiences of sexual harassment. These experiences are closely associated with PTSD in a variety of studies; in fact, military sexual assault is a stronger predictor of PTSD among women veterans than combat history.  Likewise, studies indicate that sexual harassment causes the same rates of PTSD in women as combat does in men.  In spite of this correlation, the VA grants benefits to a significantly smaller percentage of female than male PTSD claimants.  This disparity stems largely from the difficulties of substantiating experiences of military sexual assault -- especially in a combat arena.  Under military regulations, for example, sexual harassment investigations are only retained on file for two years from the close of each case.  While criminal investigations of sexual assault are better documented, eighty percent of assault victims fail to report the offense and over twenty percent of those who do file reports opt for a 'restricted' mode that precludes official investigation.  Although training and reference materials for raters provide a great deal of guidance on how combat medals and commendations may be used to support PTSD claims, they make little mention of how to address the challenges of documenting military sexual assault as an in-service stressor. 
 
The first panel was the only one not staffed by government employees.  We'll note a series of exchanges from it and these are my notes and I may have missed a word or two.  (I was tired.  During the long wait for the hearing to start, I believe it was Kerry Baker who was on his laptop throughout the wait using the time wisely.  Most waiting were thinking, "This has to start soon.  This has to."  Or as one reporter put it during the long wait, "It won't look very good for the House Veterans Committee if they can't handle a hearing on whether or not the VA can handle claims."  No, it wouldn't.  That's all stated because the Ranking Member may have had good questions but my pen skids right across the paper during his questions.  It was a long wait for the hearing to start.)
 
Chair John Hall: Mr. de Planque, there have been some concerns and misperceptions about the role of service connection in being able to access VA health care.  If a veteran is not service connected than how likely is it that he or she will get turned down for VA health care treatment?  Should veterans with claims pending adjudication be held eligible for VA health care and should mental health counseling be offered to all veterans during the stress of the VA claims processing system?
 
Ian de Planque: In the sense of that, Mr. Chairman, it's -- it's actually -- it's a slightly complicated issue and there have been a number of things that have changed although they are attempting to bring them back forward.  In 2003, when the category eight veterans were shut out of VA from treatment, it made it very difficult for them to receive treatment for -- for medical conditions.  And that is being phased back in.  However veterans who are serving now in the present conflict are entitled to five years of VA health care after they demobilize, after they are discharged from the military and it will run out after that point and they will not be able to get health care for the conditions that are not service connected.  With regards to mental health care, in many of the VA outreach clinics they're not in a position to be turning people away from trying to get the care they need but it's not always capable of getting the full level of care that particularly severe cases of  mental disorders which can arise. It is possible to get some degree of health care within certain circumstances when you fall into certain categories as a veteran but in terms of an all inclusive group of veterans being able to receive health care if they are not service connected for a condition than that is not the case.
 
Chair John Hall: I would ask you one more question if I may which is that some of the solutions highlighted in your testimony were already considered and enacted by Congress in PL110-389.  Do you think these provisions are sufficient or are there other legislative changes the Legion would like to see Congress enact?
 
Ian de Planque: In some sense with the changes which have been enacted, they've all been enacted very recently and we're seeing promising signs for example with what VA is beginning to do with improving electronic communication and making 4As into the IT solutions.  They're showing promising signs but it's still very early to determine how overall effective those will be.  As I've stated before, it would be beneficial to work with the -- the changes that are creating improvements but we don't want to just change the set of tools that continues to operate within the same system.  If we -- if you're continuing to make the same problems but doing it electronically that doesn't make it any better than if you're making the same mistakes and doing it on paper. In terms of legislative solutions which could be brought forward, already up for consideration are the -- as we mentioned in our testimony -- the changes to the Section 1154 which covers veterans -- currently covers veterans who have engaged in combat in proving the occurrence of incidents that are consistent with combat and the expansion of it to combat zones as we recognize the non-linear battlefield of modern warfare and that the documentation of all  such incidents for all soldiers -- not just soldiers who have infantry cross rifles and can get a combat infantry badge.  Not just soldiers who are wounded and receive a Purple Heart which makes things obvious, but all the soldiers who are deployed to combat zones and experience these incidents which are sometimes difficult to document.  So continuing to work towards the legislation and pass solutions on that front would be a great help in reducing because it would reduce a lot of their burden for overdeveloping.  They would be able to grant that one point and they wouldn't spend a lot of time needlessly developing.
 
Chair John Hall: Thank you sir, and Mr. Bohan once again thank you for your testimony and your service.  It sounds like nobody from VA mentioned to you that you could file a claim even though you were in treatment for over 15 years before you did file.  Would your experience with this process have been easier if you had filed a claim right away?
 
David Bohan:  Mr. Chairman, not knowing what the technology back then at that point, I'm assuming there would be roadblocks also as well.  But that's hard to say because I did not file back at that time.   
 
Chair John Hall: Fair enough.  Thank you.  And, Mr. Jackson, I'm interested in the provisional claims processing proposal you mentioned in your testimony.  Could you elaborate on how it would work practically by walking us through the first steps of finality for a veteran who might file a claim under this system?
 
Robert Jackson: My pleasure, Mr. Chairman.  What this does, it essentially is not a -- it's not a permanent fix.  What it does is buys time. What you're doing is you're -- you're allowing existing information to be used for a provisional rating.  The veteran then -- if he or she decides that that rating is not what they think is sufficient then they can continue the process that they normally would.  The goal of the provisional proposal that Jerry [Manar] has created is to -- is to get claims -- new claims through the system quickly allowing the VA workforce to work on the backlog.  It's -- it's something that's not going to be a permanent fix but it's something that could certainly alleviate some of the workload.
 
This is where the Ranking Member Doug Lamborn came in.  I believe I nodded off for his entire questioning of the first panel.  Here's where Hall resumed speaking.
 
Chair John Hall: In listening to your testimony I'm reminded of a hearing we held over a year ago on artificial intelligence, Dr. Randy Miller, Chair of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University made similar observations about reducing the days to process claims by using clinical informatics which is what your imaging scanning center would seem to do.  Have you also considered that the scanned image should be converted into a standardized electronically processed format?  What is the feasibility of implementing the proposed centralized information system that you mentioned in your testimony?
 
Kerry Baker: Well Mr. Chairman, if you're talking about -- are you suggesting if we use something like an image scanning center would you do more than just copy the document?  Would you have a workable format that could provide some sort of database and search-able tool? That would absolutely be preferable.  It would allow people to search the claims file much, much easier than sitting there having to read 1000 pages on the computer.  The feasibility of that?  I'm afraid I don't have the expertise. I don't know where VA is in their IT development, if they could do something like that.  As I understand it, there's a lot of companies out there and processes out there that can capture that sort of data.  I just don't know where VA is with that technology.

Chair John Hall: Thank you.  And your plan also calls for a reduction time from one year to 180 days of the time that a veteran can make an appeal but then allows them the opportunity to ask for an extension.  Other insurance programs have restrictions that do not allow an appeal after the due date.  Are their circumstances in which you could see a case being closed and an appeal being disallowed?  And should there be a limitation on the number of times that a veteran can appeal the same condition without new evidence?
 
Kerry Baker: I could see where one could get closed and disallowed if they allowed the six months to run out and they did not request an extension and they couldn't show any cause as to why their appeal should be equitably told.  That would be no different than the appeal running out at the in excess of one year point right now. Only right now they cannot request an extension and they cannot be equitably told  the court have stopped short of addressing that issue with the appellate period.  So we realize that the six months issue may not be met with a lot of favoritism upfront but when you're providing a couple of extra benefits that a lot of people are going without right now -- which is the extension and the equitable tolling -- we think that's more than fair.  And it's still six months we're talking about.  The average time it takes VA to get an NOD is forty-one days. 90% of all the POs are received in the first six months. So we think in the long run the system will be much better with that.  You had a second part of that question?
 
Chair John Hall: Should there be a limitation on the number of times the veteran can appeal the same condition without new evidence?
 
Kerry Baker: Well VA -- VA has a process now, a lot of people get it confused.  If you  -- if you reapply for the same thing and you've been denied for and you don't have any new evidence, what you normally get is -- you will get a decision saying 'you haven't presented new evidence, your claim is not reopened.'  However, that issue -- in and of itself -- can be appealed all the way up to the courts.  So it is, in effect, a claim within the system -- the claim is an appeal to reopen the claim.  During the appelate process, that could be decided in favor of the veteran and goes all the way back down to the beginning just to be reopened and the actual issue decided so I mean there is some convulsion there  -- how do you go about, you know -- Iiii -- rectifying that.  I wouldn't suggest that you simply not allow the veteran to reopen anything without new evidence, I mean there's a fine line where you start taking away rights as some point.  But if they had no evidence whatsoever, that's kind of what they do now. You can just appeal that decision just like you can appeal anything else.
 
Chair John Hall: Thank you very much.  And Ms. Ntelson, thank you first of all for your support of HR 952.  The information that you've presented on women's veterans -- women veterans corroborates what we have heard before at our hearings.  When the Department of Defense appeared at one of these hearings, they described their PTSD approach as relying on the opinion of the medical examiner which is what it seems you are suggesting.  So if VA like DoD instituted a disability evaluation system that relied more on medical opinions than psychometric testing results, do you think this change would be reliable enough for the establishment of compensation?
 
Rachel Ntelson: Well I think that there's a value in allowing -- a VA professional has a treating relationship with the claimant.  To have their word, you know, taken at face value. Presumably since these are VA medical professionals, there's been some sort of vetting, some sort of determination, that their credentials are approriate.   So it doesn't make very much sense to me that if somebody has been in a treating relationship with a medical professional or counselor employed by the VA on the VHS side of the equation that -- that somebody on the benefit section to decide that, you know, that person's word isn't good enough.
 
Chair John Hall: Thank you.  And lastly would you please elaborate on your recommendation to incorporate upon request investigative files of harassment and sexual assault into the joint virtual  lifetime electronic record.  How would thi help women veterans
 
Rachel Ntelson: Well an enormous problem for women with military sexual trauma in establishing their in-service stressor is that it's so hard to obtain those documents.  Like I say there are actual military policies -- especially with harassment as opposed to an actual criminal case of assault that prevent records from even being kept on file for more than a couple of years.  So if somehow those -- the documents that do exist could be memorialized and kept within the system, you know, for as long as possible, so that if the claimant elected to they could use that in support of their claim. I think that would be very helpful in establishing that there was an in-service stressor. 
 
The second panel was composed of the VA's Lt Gen James Scott and the VA's Michael Ratajczak.   Michael Ratajczak made many sound points in his opening remarks but the point we'll emphasize was his points that managers without experience or with only a little experience when it comes to processing claims are not able to provide training, to supervise or to assist with the work.  That's basic but it is a repeated point you will hear from VA as you step away from the appointees and administrators at the top. US House Rep Deborah Halvorson was probably the strongest voice from the committee or the panel on the second panel.  She pointed out how confusing the form alone was and how someone's claim being turned down can be confusing and leading to more work as a result of appeals over a denail that may or may not have been judged correctly.  Who answers the question when a veteran calls in about a denied claim is a basic question.
 
Her efforts to keep it basic and simple weren't helped by Ratajczak meandering answer that did not address the issues but offered bromides (no heading in the manual with "do the right thing").  Good for Halvoroson for interrupting and asking,  "And why aren't we doing that?"  Why aren't veterans brought in immediately when there's something confusing about their case that might lead to a denial.  Ratajczak replied that it's "because we're not giving credit for doing it."  Halvorson explained how she runs her office,  "Because I have a lot of caseworkers in my office and I don't let them share cases, I want them starting it and finishing it because when there's questions, one person can answer the question because if you've got a team or five people working on something, you're going to get five different answers depending on who answers the call."  Ratajczak wanted to offer a ton of examples that backed up Halvorson's question but none that answered her question.  He ate the time, ran out the clock and avoided providing an answer. 
 
"I don't have an answer for that," Michael Waldcoff said in a flat voice on the third panel.  Though VA sends many people to Congress who make that comment, the Deupty Under Secretary for Benefits was replying to John Hall's question about how many veterans committed suicide while waiting for their claims to be settled?  That's a basic question and as distrubing as Wadlcoff's claim that he didn't know was his obvious disinterest in the question.  Hall rightly noted that this was "a question that VA should be able to answer" -- yes, they should.
 
Today Gregg Zoroya (USA Today) reports that there has been an increase ("nearly doubled") in the number of enlisted seeking treatment for dependency on or abuse of alcoholism. and he notes there were 142 recorded army suicides in 2008 and that there are already 82 confirmed so far this year.  This as VA's backlog continues.
 
Turning to England.  Gordon Brown's been the topic of the week. Fresh from nearly losing his prime minister post and on the heels of the spending scandals in Parliament, Brown promised a new age of transparency only to turn around Monday and offer the long promised inquiry into the Iraq War . . . as a back-door, hidden-from-public view song and dance. Today Andrew Sparrow (Guardian) offers "Iraq war inquiry: Five reasons why a full Gordon Brown U-turn looks inevitable" which includes:
 
1. The Commons wants a public inquiry                
This hasn't had much publicity, but yesterday the (Labour-dominated) Commons public administration committee published a strong report criticising the format proposed by Brown. This was its key finding:           
While we welcome the government's announcement that an inquiry into Iraq will be held, that it will have a broad scope, and that it will aim to learn lessons from the decision to go to war, the conflict and its aftermath, there is a strong risk that the inquiry as currently constituted will not be able to pursue what should be its fundamental purpose: to identify the truth and ensure that the executive can be held properly accountable for its decisions and conduct in relation to Iraq.            
Tony Wright, the committee's chairman (and the man Brown has just asked to recommend ways of making the Commons operate more effectively), said this:        
It is also crucial that the inquiry be conducted openly and in public, and that Parliament has a role in establishing it. Only an open, legitimate and credible process of this kind will satisfy a sceptical public that this inquiry is not a whitewash.
        
Aljazeera's Inside Iraq this week explores Gordon Brown's never ending problems.  "The announcement," Aljazeera notes of Brown's closed-door inquiry, "was supposed to boost his populartiy among the British public.  However the calls for an inquiry has met with indifference at best, hostile criticism at worst."  John F. Burns (New York Times) offers that the "outcry" has been from the families who lost service members in Iraq, "the House of commons, from newspaper editorials and from powerful establishment voices, including a retired military commander, Gen. Sir Michael Jackson, who oversaw Britain's operations in Iraq as army chief in 2003."   Duncan Gardham (Telegraph of London) covers Brown's spokesperson who swears that "the precise format of the inquiry" will be determined by Sir John Chilcot. 
 
While everyone else appears eager to pull correspondents out of Iraq, a British paper has actually sent another correspondent into the country. Alice Fordham (Times of London's Inside Iraq) notes that Barham Salih, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, is now Twittering.  Yesterday Salih noted he was following news on Iran's elections while "Busy with our own elections". Click here for Ray Odierno's Facebook page.  Alice Fordham is blogging at the paper's Iraq blog and blogging regularly on a variety of topics.  Visiting an American base, she noted all the food associated with the US, "It's not a new observation, and my colleague Martin Fletcher wrote brilliantly about the supply chain required to keep the thousands of troops stationed here in popcorn and Froot Loops. But sometimes in Iraq an unexpected offer of marmalade or somesuch reminds me of the British colonial legacy here, and I wonder if, as the Americans withdraw, they will leave behind a taste for infintely variable ice cream and baseball."
 
From baseball to karate, BBC reports 45-year-old Izzat Abdullah was shot dead in Mosul today.  He had been the coach of Iraq's karate team.  On the topic of Mousl, Thursday Chelsea J. Carter (AP) reported it was allegedly Mosul police that shot dead US Lt William Emmert February 24th, as well as his interpreter (five more people were wounded in the attack).  Carter reported that Col Gay Volesky was told by the Mosul police chief that the reason the two alleged killers hadn't gone before a judge was because there were 'doubts' but "Volesky wasn't buying it, saying the men's relatives had identified them."  Nikki Weingartner (Digital Journal) observes, "The first step in the process of prosecution is appearing before a judge."
 
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
 
Bombings?
 
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Mosul bombing targeting an alcohol store which left two people injured, a Baquba roadside bombing which wounded Ahmed Zarkush ("District Commissioner of al Saidyah") and three members of his security team, a Falluja house bombing and an Anbar Province sticky bombing targeting Zeki Obaid's son who was wounded (Obaid fled to Jordan in 2008).
 
Shootings?
 
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports aremd clashes in Falluja in which two civilians were wounded, 1 person shot dead in Mosul from "a speeding car" and, dropping back to last night, 1 Iraqi soldier and 1 iraqi civilian shot dead in Mosul.
 
Patrik Jonsson and Kristen Chick (Christian Science Monitor) report on the small number of Iraqi refugees admitted into the US and note that the number who have been able to find work has fallen from 80% in 2007 to 11% this year. International Rescue Committee's Alaa Naji states that the Iraqi refugees "never imagined that they would be struggling to survive here in America.  They expected more from a country that was involved in the violence that destroyed our land, homes, and loved ones."  IRC has a new report [PDF format warning] entitled "Iraq Refugees In The United States: In Dire Straits."  "We conclude," the report notes, "that the U.S> resettlement program, likely the only safe alternative for thousands of Iraqi refugees, faces major structural challenges in its organization and funding.  These challenges are exacerbated by a simultaneous global economic downturn and resettlement of a highly educated refugee population with many special needs.  Issues like rising unemployment and homelessness are threatening the well-being not only of Iraqi refugees but also of all recently resettled refugees in America."  The report notes conditions that can add to economic issues:
 
Many of the women widowed by the war in Iraq have young children.  Without male relatives, these women are especially at risk in Iraq and in its neighboring countries and are considered among the most vulnerable of refugees.  In Phoenix, the IRC delegation met with six refugee women from Iraq whose husbands were killed.  The situation for those who are here alone with young children is especially precarious.  Like other refugees, they must secure a job soon after arrival in the United States.  Manyhave been separated from sons, brothers or other family members because of the delays from the additional security checks that Iraqi men are subjected to before the United States will grant them admission.  
In Atlanta Commission members met Shayma Sadeq, a single mother with three children who recently obtained a job working the night shift cooking for inmates at a detention facility in Atlanta.  It is a job she is not likely to continue to hold for long.  The support she receives from the state pays only for certified day care providers, and such providers do not operate at night.  Unable to afford nightmare childcare for her three minor children, she has arranged for a neighbor to watch the children at night, but the arrangment is not sustainable.  At the same time, the financial support the IRC is able to provide to her has run out.  Without a job she and her children will soon face eviction.   
Inaya Al Basha, a widow from Iraq living alone in Phoenix, has received multiple eviction notices.  She jokes that if she is evicted she will come to sleep at the IRC office.  Like other refugees with eviction notices, she has nowhere else to go.  The homeless shelters in Phoenix are at capacity and the waiting list for subsidized housing is up to two years long. 
 
 
 Assyrian International News Agency also covers the refugees with a report (including many photos) entitled "Assyrian Refguees in Sweden Caught in Political Struggle." The article notes that despite puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki meeting with Pope Benedict XVI there's no increase in trust. A refugee is quoted stating, "How will he [al-Maliki] protect anyone? He doesn't even dare to leave the Green zone."

Meanwhile Asia News reports that the Pope met with the Patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians Ignace Youssiff III Younan today and the Pope declared, "I constantly pray for peace in the Middle East, in particular for the Christians who lived in the beloved nation of Iraq, every day, during the Eucharistic Sacrifice, I present their suffering to the Lord." On Iraqi Christians, Iran's Press TV observes the declining number of Christians in Iraq stating "nearly half have fled" as a result of threats and attacks "unleashed by the Salafi militants as well as the Al-Qaeda.  These Salafi groups did not appear over night in the Arab countries.  Some regional governments have been funding these groups primarily to target Shia Muslims and those Sunnis who rose up against extremism."  A large percentage of Iraq's external refugees are Christians. Some Christians remain in Iraq. In Kirkuk, Archbishop Louis Sako has called for an end to executions in Iraq as Amnesty International also has. Adnkronos Security quotes Archbishop Sako stating, "The Death penalty is horrible deed. It is humanly and spiritually unjustifiable. It is an offence to life and to the maker." This as Iraq Oil Report notes a Sunni satellite TV station which is said to broadcast hate speech aimed at Shi'ites and Christians inflaming tensions in Najaf with such comments as, "If I have ten nuclear bombs, I would use one against Christians and Jews, and the remaining nie agains Shi'ites."
 
 
TV notes. Starting with PBS. This week on Bill Moyers Journal (begins airing tonight on most PBS stations, check local listings, and it streams online -- video and audio -- and offers transcripts):
 
 
Instructed by a dream and organized in prayer, Leymah Gbowee and
thousands of everyday women in Liberia - both Christians and Muslims
alike - confronted warlords and a corrupt president to successfully
fight for peace and dignity in their war-torn nation. "I realized that
every problem we encounter on this journey, I'm going to rise above it
and lead these women because they trusted me with their lives and their
future," says Gbowee. Journal guest host Lynn Sherr interviews Leymah
Gbowee and Abigail Disney, who documented their inspiring tale in the
award-winning film PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL. Lynn Sherr is a
long-time broadcast journalist who most recently covered events in
Liberia for PBS' news program, WORLDFOCUS.


NOW on PBS offers:

According to the Department of Education, the average amount of undergraduate student debt in this country is now more than $22,000. And sudden changes in lenders' terms and rates can quickly turn a personal debt into a financial sinkhole, grounding the dreams of many college graduates even before they've started.
This week, NOW follows the story of a single mother in Baltimore trying to dig herself out of more than $70,000 student loan debt. While issues of personal responsibility are debated, there's no question the high price of higher education is creating an ocean of student loan debt for people who can least afford it.
How are the 70 million Americans with student debt frustrating America's economic recovery?


Washington Week finds Gwen sitting around the table with Barbara Slavin (Washington Times), Karen Tumulty (TIME magazine), David Wessel (Wall St. Journal) and Jeff Zeleny (New York Times). All begin airing tonight (check local listings) on most PBS stations and tonight also finds Bonnie Erbe sitting down with Karen Czarnecki, Irene Natividad and Leslie Sanchez to discuss the week's news on PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:

A Clean Version Of Hell
Exclusive footage from within and a rare interview with its former warden takes viewers inside the secretive "Supermax" federal prison, where the nation's most dangerous and infamous criminals - including terrorists - are held under the strictest rules. Scott Pelley reports.


The War Next Door
Drug-cartel fueled violence has turned into a war in Mexico, with thousands of deaths and the government battling well-armed gangs whose military-quality weapons come mostly from U.S. dealers. Anderson Cooper reports.


LeBron
Steve Kroft profiles the Cleveland Cavalier's superstar, LeBron James, who at only 24, is already among an elite handful of athletes who command tens of millions a year in playing and marketing fees.


60 Minutes, Sunday, June 21, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

 
 

Iraqi refugees

It hasn't been smooth sailing for the thousands of Iraqi refugees entering America's resettlement program. Only 11 percent are finding work this year, compared with 80 percent two years ago. Many are frustrated as benefits dwindle, cash runs out, and eviction notices pile up.
With such findings in hand, nonprofit resettlement agencies like the International Rescue Committee (IRC) are urging this week an overhaul of America's three-decade-old refugee policy.
Reforms should include more cash assistance from the US government to the refugees, the IRC says. The government should also offer a uniform and more substantial package of benefits, the IRC says.
Refugees "never imagined that they would be struggling to survive here in America," says Alaa Naji, a refugee from Baghdad who now works in Atlanta for the IRC. "They expected more from a country that was involved in the violence that destroyed our land, homes, and loved ones."
Complaints about the handling of refugees have risen as the United States has tried to welcome more Iraqi refugees. Until 2006, only 202 Iraqis had come to the US, partly because of security concerns. In the past three years, 25,659 Iraqi refugees have arrived.

The above is from Patrik Jonsson and Kristen Chick's "Many Iraqi refugees in US now in dire straits" (Christian Science Monitor) which is the most in depth article on Iraq by a US outlet this morning. Assyrian International News Agency also covers the refugees with a report (including many photos) entitled "Assyrian Refguees in Sweden Caught in Political Struggle." The article notes that despite puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki meeting with Pope Benedict XVI there's no increase in trust. A refugee is quoted stating, "How will he [al-Maliki] protect anyone? He doesn't even dare to leave the Green zone."

Meanwhile Asia News reports that the Pope met with the Patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians Ignace Youssiff III Younan today and the Pope declared, "I constantly pray for peace in the Middle East, in particular for the Christians who lived in the beloved nation of Iraq, every day, during the Eucharistic Sacrifice, I present their suffering to the Lord." On Iraqi Christians, Iran's Press TV observes:

In Iraq, the number of Christians has been declining on a fast track basis in the wake of the 2003 invasion of the country by the US. Of the 1.4 million Christians living there in 2003, nearly half have fled. Apart from the consequence of the invasion, Iraqi Christians, especially those in Mosul, came under attacks unleashed by the Salafi militants as well as the Al-Qaeda.
These Salafi groups did not appear over night in the Arab countries. Some regional governments have been funding these groups primarily to target Shia Muslims and those Sunnis who rose up against extremism.
Therefore, it is no wonder to see that the holy Shia sites including Askariya shrine and Imam Musa al-Kadhim shrine as well as churches became the targets of such groups. Interestingly, many of these regional governments are very close allies of the West, especially the US.

A large percentage of Iraq's external refugees are Christians. Some Christians remain in Iraq. In Kirkuk, Archbishop Louis Sako has called for an end to executions in Iraq as Amnesty International also has. Adnkronos Security quotes Archbishop Sako stating, "The Death penalty is horrible deed. It is humanly and spiritually unjustifiable. It is an offence to life and to the maker." This as Iraq Oil Report notes a Sunni satellite TV station which is said to broadcast hate speech aimed at Shi'ites and Christians inflaming tensions in Najaf with such comments as, "If I have ten nuclear bombs, I would use one against Christians and Jews, and the remaining nie agains Shi'ites."

In the New York Times this morning, Bernie Becker offers "Senate Widely Approves Emergency Funds for Wars" about yesterday's vote for the War Supplemental in the Senate and includes this:

Senators Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, and Joseph I. Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, had threatened to block the spending measure because it had no longer included a ban on the release of photographs showing abuse of prisoners held by American forces.
But the two backed off after separate legislation to ban the photos' release was introduced and approved by the Senate on Wednesday. Mr. Obama had already said he would work to prevent the release of the photos.



That's a circumspect way of describing what happened. David Lightman (McClatchy Newspapers) doesn't skirt the issue:

The other obstacle was lifted Wednesday after Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., spoke to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel about controversial photos that show Guantanamo Bay detainees being abused.
"I have been personally assured by Rahm Emanuel that if Congress fails to do its part in protecting these photos from being released, President Obama will sign an executive order classifying the photos," Graham said.
The senator was threatening to block Senate business unless he got assurance that either the Senate would act to bar the photos or the president would issue such an order.
He wound up with both. The Senate unanimously approved the ban on releasing the photos without debate late Wednesday. Graham also said that Emanuel "assured me these photos would not see the light of day." Emanuel's office didn't answer requests for comment.



TV notes. Starting with PBS. This week on Bill Moyers Journal (begins airing tonight on most PBS stations, check local listings, and it streams online -- video and audio -- and offers transcripts):
Instructed by a dream and organized in prayer, Leymah Gbowee and
thousands of everyday women in Liberia - both Christians and Muslims
alike - confronted warlords and a corrupt president to successfully
fight for peace and dignity in their war-torn nation. "I realized that
every problem we encounter on this journey, I'm going to rise above it
and lead these women because they trusted me with their lives and their
future," says Gbowee. Journal guest host Lynn Sherr interviews Leymah
Gbowee and Abigail Disney, who documented their inspiring tale in the
award-winning film PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL. Lynn Sherr is a
long-time broadcast journalist who most recently covered events in
Liberia for PBS' news program, WORLDFOCUS.


NOW on PBS offers:

According to the Department of Education, the average amount of undergraduate student debt in this country is now more than $22,000. And sudden changes in lenders' terms and rates can quickly turn a personal debt into a financial sinkhole, grounding the dreams of many college graduates even before they've started.
This week, NOW follows the story of a single mother in Baltimore trying to dig herself out of more than $70,000 student loan debt. While issues of personal responsibility are debated, there's no question the high price of higher education is creating an ocean of student loan debt for people who can least afford it.
How are the 70 million Americans with student debt frustrating America's economic recovery?


Washington Week finds Gwen sitting around the table with Barbara Slavin (Washington Times), Karen Tumulty (TIME magazine), David Wessel (Wall St. Journal) and Jeff Zeleny (New York Times). All begin airing tonight (check local listings) on most PBS stations and tonight also finds Bonnie Erbe sitting down with Karen Czarnecki, Irene Natividad and Leslie Sanchez to discuss the week's news on PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:

A Clean Version Of Hell
Exclusive footage from within and a rare interview with its former warden takes viewers inside the secretive "Supermax" federal prison, where the nation's most dangerous and infamous criminals - including terrorists - are held under the strictest rules. Scott Pelley reports.


The War Next Door
Drug-cartel fueled violence has turned into a war in Mexico, with thousands of deaths and the government battling well-armed gangs whose military-quality weapons come mostly from U.S. dealers. Anderson Cooper reports.


LeBron
Steve Kroft profiles the Cleveland Cavalier's superstar, LeBron James, who at only 24, is already among an elite handful of athletes who command tens of millions a year in playing and marketing fees.


60 Minutes, Sunday, June 21, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.




This morning on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show (begins airing at 10:00 a.m. EST, streams online at the same time and archives shortly after the broadcast is over), the panel for the first hour (domestic) is USA Today's Susan Page, Hedda Hopper Lives!'s Eamon Javers and Wall St. Journal's Laura Meckler; while the panel for the second hour (international) is Wall St. Journal's Youchi Dreazen, Washington Time's Barbara Slavin and Al-Arabiya's Hisham Melhem.



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







the new york times
mcclatchy newspapers
bill moyers journal
60 minutes
cbs news
to the contrary
bonnie erbe
now on pbs
npr
the diane rehm show

Gordon Brown's scandals continue

Gordon Brown's been the topic of the week. Fresh from nearly losing his prime minister post and on the heels of the spending scandals in Parliament, Brown promised a new age of transparency only to turn around Monday and offer the long promised inquiry into the Iraq War . . . as a back-door, hidden-from-public view song and dance. Today Andrew Sparrow (Guardian) offers "Iraq war inquiry: Five reasons why a full Gordon Brown U-turn looks inevitable" and we'll note the first reason:

1. The Commons wants a public inquiry
This hasn't had much publicity, but yesterday the (Labour-dominated) Commons public administration committee published a strong report criticising the format proposed by Brown. This was its key finding:
While we welcome the government's announcement that an inquiry into Iraq will be held, that it will have a broad scope, and that it will aim to learn lessons from the decision to go to war, the conflict and its aftermath, there is a strong risk that the inquiry as currently constituted will not be able to pursue what should be its fundamental purpose: to identify the truth and ensure that the executive can be held properly accountable for its decisions and conduct in relation to Iraq.
Tony Wright, the committee's chairman (and the man Brown has just asked to recommend ways of making the Commons operate more effectively), said this:
It is also crucial that the inquiry be conducted openly and in public, and that Parliament has a role in establishing it. Only an open, legitimate and credible process of this kind will satisfy a sceptical public that this inquiry is not a whitewash.

Brown's backing away somewhat. Duncan Gardham (Telegraph of London) covers Brown's spokesperson:

He said that it would be up to Sir John Chilcot, the inquiry chairman, to decide "how the precise format of the inquiry should be structured."
Mr Brown's spokesman stressed that the Government did not want to see a lengthy public inquiry like the Saville Inquiry into the Bloody Sunday killings that "goes on for years involving countless lawyers."

After minimizing the news earlier this week (providing a whitewash of the whitewash), John F. Burns (New York Times) offers a more realistic take in today's paper:

The latest imbroglio was touched off by Mr. Brown’s move earlier this week to redeem a longstanding pledge by creating an investigative panel to look into British military involvement in Iraq, now that Britain's last major military units are set to withdraw by July 30. But his restrictive provisions for the inquiry prompted wide condemnation among those who pressed for the inquiry, including relatives of the 179 British service personnel members who died in Iraq.
The outcry has come, too, from all parties in the House of Commons, from newspaper editorials and from powerful establishment voices, including a retired military commander, Gen. Sir Michael Jackson, who oversaw Britain's operations in Iraq as army chief in 2003. He said Thursday that the inquiry "must be open wherever possible" to ensure lessons are learned for future military operations. A similar view was articulated by John Major, a former Conservative prime minister. "If the purpose of the inquiry is to settle doubts that people have had for so long, then it defies logic to hold it in private," Lord Major said.
A common view has been that Mr. Brown, facing an election within 12 months, set out to limit the inquiry's potential for damaging Labor, which trails the opposition Conservatives badly in public opinion polls.

As she's done for over three weeks now, Rebecca covered the Brown news last night.

Tuesday the US military announced: "CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq -- A Multi-National Division–South Soldier was killed by an improvised explosive device near the city of Samawah June 16. The Soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin. The name of the Soldier will be announced through the U.S. Department of Defense official Web site at http://www.defenselink.mil. The announcements are made on the Web site no earlier than 24 hours after notification of the service member's primary next-of-kin." Denny Boyles (Fresno Bee) reports the soldier was 25-year-old Joshua Soto and quotes his aunt Carol Maldonado stating, "Joshua's brother Shane is serving in the Air Force, and he called home after he was told his brother had died in Tallil." Boyles notes that Joshua Soto's survivors include a widow and "a 10-month old son" as well as "eight sets of aunts and uncles". Norma Yuriar (KMPH, link has text and video) quotes Joshua's friends Koneeshia and Brenda Brown stating that he was on his third tour of Iraq. Koneeshia Brown declares, "Josh was a funny guy, he was a big joker and loved to mess around and play jokes on people. He was into sports and an all around good friend."

Kevin Schwaller (Ozarks First -- link has text and video) notes that the 1138th Military Police Company of the Missoouri National Guard is preparing to deploy to Iraq, June 26th at Springfield-Branson National Airport, they have their send-off as they head to Texas for one month and then onto Iraq. AP notes that Illionis Air National Guard's 183rd Civil Engineering Squadron will send 30 members to "Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations".

Meanwhile Gregg Zoroya (USA Today) reports that there has been an increase ("nearly doubled") in the number of enlisted seeking treatment for dependency on or abuse of alcoholism. The headline is "Alcohol abuse by GIs soars since '03" but that's not what the study can determine. What the study can determine is there is an increase in the number seeking assistance. That most likely means an increase across the board in abuse; however, it could mean raised awareness on the issue. Do I think that's what it is? No. But it is possible. Especially when you soncider that Zoroya reports that there has been no increase in the number seeking help with other drug issues. In other words, illegal drugs haven't shown an increase. Alcohol is a legal drug (provided you meet the minimum drinking age requirement) and it may be, for whatever reason, that the enlisted are more comfortable asking for help addressing problems with it. The headline leaps to a conclusion that the data, as presented in the article, can't back up. Zoroya notes there were 142 recorded army suicides in 2008 and that there are already 82 confirmed so far this year.

The following community sites updated last night:



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

















oh boy it never ends

Thursday, June 18, 2009

I Hate The War

Rainbow World Fund
URGENT ALERT
RWF Responds To Killing Of LGBT People In Iraq
Since 2004, hundreds of gay men have been killed in Iraq. Although this deadly campaign has been investigated and recognized by the Human Rights Report of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) in 2007, little has been done to stop the killings.
Over the past few months the violence and killing have escalated. LGBT people in Iraq are targeted by clerics, such as those associated with Moktada al-Sadr, who are reviving religious pressure against gays leading to killings and by militias seeking rally their bases. Currently, the majority of killing and torturing is being perpetrated by militias. Between February and March it is estimated that 28 to 60 men have been killed and many more have been terrorized and tortured.
TAKE ACTION! HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP IRAQI LGBTs RIGHT NOW:
1. Help provide safe passage, shelter, medical and psychiatric care to Iraqi LGBT people in danger. Donate Now:
http://www.rainbowfund.org/donate specify “IRAQ” when ask where you would like your money to go.
2. Contact your Congressperson and Senators and ask them what they are doing to stop the violence. Send them an email or call them directly (contact their local headquarters or DC office). Bringing the issue to their attention gets action!
3. Come out and show your support - search the net to find a rally near you.
In San Francisco:

On May 17, International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, RWF along with Gays Without Borders, a group of activist focused on the welfare of LGBT everywhere, held a rally to bring attention to this tragedy and raise funds to help LGBT Iraqis. Click here to see video highlights of the rally.
Click here to learn more about the situation and how RWF is helping.

Rainbow World Fund has a fundraiser in San Francisco tomorrow night (nine p.m. to one a.m., Cafe Flora, 2298 Market St.). While the Rainbow World Fund continues working hard on the issue, the US Ambassador to Iraq Chris Hill? Not so much. Chris Hill has never spoken publicly of the targeting of Iraq's LGBT community. He's done nothing.

But he's back in the United States and felt the need to comment on the Status Of Forces Agreement. "Forces." State Dept. What's not fitting there? Oh, yeah, this should be an issue for the Defense Dept not the State Dept. Human rights?

That's actually an issue for the State Dept and it's one that Hill and the State Dept have made the choice to avoid. The State Dept lied last week and got away with it because, hey, it's just the BBC, who doesn't lie to the BBC? And who doesn't lie to the BBC and get away with it?

The State Dept did. And Hill showed up in the US -- because, let's face it, he does nothing in Iraq -- and wanted to make jokes about North Korea before he got down to . . . yet again avoiding the issue of the attacks on the LGBT community.

Here's some of Chris Hill's yammering today:


Obviously, this is an important month because we’re getting to the -- one of the major milestones of the security agreement that is the out-of-the-city milestone where our combat forces will be out of the remaining urban areas in Iraq. It’s an important moment because some -- because as we go forward with the security agreement, we will also be moving ahead on something called the Strategic Framework Agreement, and this is an agreement which will really govern our relationship for, we hope, decades to come, that will involve our educational exchanges, economic relations, various political exchanges, things that we work on internationally.
So we want to make this Strategic Framework Agreement really the essence of the relationship, and to get to that we need to get through the remaining elements of the security agreement, and certainly the one dealing with -- the provision dealing with our combat forces out of the urban areas is obviously a key element of it.


Wants to talk all big but doesn't even know how many US service members are in Iraq and pleads that the question go to the Defense Dept. Let's laugh at Chris Hill.

QUESTION: Can you – I don’t know whether you’ve been to Kirkuk or not. This – any resolution or any advancement of the problem of solving Kirkuk, and also the oil revenue sharing?
AMBASSADOR HILL: Yeah. I think there has been some – there’s a lot of discussion within Iraq on oil revenue sharing, and – not so much revenue sharing, but overall exploitation of oil. I know the government in Baghdad has had renewed and, I think, positive discussions with the Kurdish regional authority on this matter. I think you saw some fruits of this just a few weeks ago when oil from Kurdish areas was exported out through the main pipeline and where the revenue sharing went according to the UN formula of 17 percent.
I know that the Iraqi Government is working very hard to see what can be done to boost oil production, and they are in touch directly with international oil companies on this. There has been a lot of discussion about where the so-called hydrocarbons law is. And if you ask various political leaders in Iraq, you get different answers as to the potential for getting this law through the parliament. Right now, I must say the discussion in the parliament is very much geared to getting an election law through so that parliamentary elections can take place as scheduled on January 16th.


First, Hill, the parliamentary elections were scheduled for December. January was the push-back date after Nouri and company announced they couldn't meet the scheduled date. Second, Hill wants to claim that things are trucking along with oil-rich Kirkuk?

This is Mohammed Abbas (Reuters) reporting tonight:

Iraq's Oil Ministry is in "disarray" as oil officials revolt against its plan to hold the country's first major auction of oil field contracts since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a Kurdish official said on Thursday.
Ashti Hawrami, natural resource minister for Iraq's oil-producing Kurdish region, said firms taking part in the auction this month will find it difficult or impossible to actually work in Iraq because of the dispute. [ID:nLE419256]
The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and the Shi'ite Arab-led Baghdad government have long feuded over how best to exploit Iraq's vast oil reserves, the world's third largest.


Yeah. Hill's an idiot. He's never grasped the issue and that was apparent in his embarrassing hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But the most embarrassing thing remains that the is Gay and Lesbian Pride Month and Chris Hill refuses to speak out against the assaults on Iraq's LGBT community.


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 4311. Tonight? 4314.

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