Saturday, February 12, 2011

Slammed by a bombing, secret talks to extend SOFA

Salahudin Province was slammed with a suicide bombing today. Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reports, "At least 38 people were killed and 74 others wounded Saturday when a suicide bomber stepped onto a bus carrying Shiite pilgrims in Iraq and detonated himself, police officials said." Al Rafidayn notes that the military states the suicide bomber's explosive vest had at least 10 kilograms of explosives (approximately 22 pounds).Lu Hui (Xinhua)adds, "The pilgrims were heading to the shrine city to observe a religious ceremony that marks the death of Imam Hassan al-Askari at his tomb in the shrine of Ali al-Hadi in the Sunni dominated city. The shrine of Ali al-Hadi is one of the four most revered Shiite shrines in Iraq. It contains the tombs of Ali al-Hadi, who died in 868 A.D., and Hisson Hassan al-Askari who died in 874 A.D." Jack Healy (New York Times) observes, "It was the second attack in three days against Shiite pilgrims near Samarra, whose gold-domed shrine was damaged in a 2006 bombing that led to waves of sectarian killings between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite populations."

Yes, the ethnic cleansing of 2006 and 2007. Today, Al Rafidayn reports, a mass grave was discovered in Baquba wih 153 corpses -- thought to be part of the 2006 and 2007 blood letting. Supposedly, the police got a confession from someone they had arrested two weeks ago (this is according to Maj Gen Abdul Hussein al-Shammari) and that allowed them to find the bodies. Australia's ABC reminds "it is unclear who is responsible for the deaths."

Let's move over to Iraqi politics. Ayad Allawi is playing hardball. Recap: the March 2010 elections found Iraqiya -- a political slate headed by Allawi -- garnering the most votes (this was even after Nouri was able to 'massage' tallies in some areas). For nine months, Nouri pulled one stunt after another and finally won the blessing of the Kurds to become prime minister-designate. Unable to actually meet the requirements to move to prime minister, he was still dependent upon the Kurds (who follow US orders because they still believe they're going to get Kirkuk any day now) to go along with the pretense that he'd named a full Cabinet. Iraqiya was supposed to see members whom Nouri smeared to prevent them from running for office get their names cleared and a National Council -- on security issues -- was supposed to be created with Allawi being in charge. No National Council has been created in the months since the agreement was announced (November). Dar Addustour reports Allawi's now threatening to bail on the agreement and also making noises about taking down with him some of the concessions the Kurds wanted. Al Rafidyan reports that MP Talal al-Zobaie (of the National Alliance) has dismissed Allawi's remarks as "threats" and insists that Allawi should be focusing on the issue of services to the people. Ayas Hossam Acommok (Al Mada) reports that Said Khoshnaw (Kurdish Alliance member and MP) is denying reports about where his loyalties lie and maintaining that Article 140 (Kirkuk's status) will be implemented and that pressure on the US government will ensure that it is. Sounds like someone took Joe Biden's promises seriously. The question now is, did the White House take Biden seriously?

White House? Al Mada notes the secret talks taking place to extend the Status Of Forces Agreement and cites Qassim Mohammed Jalal as the source for the extension meetings currently taking place between Nouri's reps and the US inside the Green Zone. Qassam Mohammed Jalal is part of the National Coalition. He is a member of Parliament's Commission on Security and Defense. How long before the US media gets around to noting the meetings to extend the SOFA? Maybe January 2012?

Something else you most likely won't find in the US media is that today is the Iraq Communist Party's Martyr's Day. And on his day, Al Mada reports, the Party has issued a strong critique of the current government saying that malicious diseases entered the process and partisanship trumped Iraq's needs which is "the mid-wife" for further pain for the people of Iraq which will include poor services, a deteriorating standard of living and more government corruption.


Tomorrow on Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox (radio program) she interviews Cindy Corrie (Rachel Corrie's mother). It streams at 2:00 pm PST and then is archived. We'll close with this from "A Debate on Violence: Ted Rall and David Swanson" (War Is A Crime):

Ted Rall's new book "The Anti-American Manifesto" advocates for violent revolution, even if we have to join with rightwingers and racists to do it, and even if we have no control over the outcome which could easily be something worse than what we've got. We have a moral duty, Rall argues, to kill some people.
Now, I much prefer a debate over what radical steps to take to a debate over whether it's really appropriate for President Obama to whine about people's lack of enthusiasm for voting. Should we try to pep people up for him or gently nudge him to appoint a new chief of staff who's not a vicious warmongering corporatist? Decisions. Decisions.
Rall's book is packed with great analysis of our current state and appropriate moral outrage. I highly recommend it for the clear-eyed survey of the tides in this giant pot of slowly boiling water where we float and kick about like frogs. To an Obama proposal to create 17,000 jobs, Rall replies:
"The U.S. economy needs to add one hundred thousand new jobs a month to keep up with population growth and keep the unemployment rate even. At this writing, in March 2010, it would require four hundred thousand new jobs each month for three years to get back to December 2007.
"Seventeen thousand jobs? Was Obama still using drugs?"
I recommend Rall's manifesto as a call to action. The only question is what action?





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






























Xenophobia and EZ coverage

The men who were gathered in Tahrir Square - the Baghdad version, not the Cairo one - were young and old, employed and jobless, Sunni and Shiite. But they spoke with one voice as they chanted: "No, no to corruption," "The government are thieves" and "Baghdad, Baghdad, spark a revolution."

The above is from Liz Sly's "Egyptian revolution sparks protest movement in democratic Iraq" (Washington Post) and it's a problem. It's a cute little narrative, it's just incorrect. The Egyptian people revolted against their own corrupt government. That didn't happen because of the US but this need to be 'we' -- but from a safe distance, of course -- had so many crediting this or that or whatever. Egyptians didn't need WikiLeaks to inform them that they had a corrupt government. They were not unintelligent idiots whom WikiLeaks finally 'educated.' That's an offensive viewpoint that robs them of not only their agency but also their intelligence. It works as a narrative because the news media in the US loves to stroke us and make us the center of the damn world, where nothing can ever happen without our input, assistance and help.

What happened in Egypt had been building for years and is the credit and/or blame -- and will be the credit and/or blame -- of the Egyptian people. Should the whole thing turn into a nightmare tomorrow (a possibility), watch the same outlets rush to remove the US from the narrative. But while it appears successful, we're not supposed to notice that while failure is a bastard, success has many fathers. Or at least men wanting to step claim credit for the work of others.

The circus could have gone and we would have ignored it as we have. But now they want to drag Iraq in?

Stop your damn lying ass. I'm not in the damn mood.

Protest after protest in Iraq -- NOT COVERED BY THE U.S. OUTLETS WHICH COULDN'T BE BOTHERED WITH IRAQ -- THE WASHINGTON POST, FOR EXAMPLE, HAS IGNORED IRAQ ALL DAMN WEEK -- has had spokespeople who have specifically and repeatedly stated that they were not copying Egypt. Now southern Iraq has had protests this month and last, southern Iraq has also had protests last year. The Iraqi people are not the Egyptian people. They live under a different system (an occupation, in fact) and the reason we need to reject the nonsense the Washington Post has run is not just because it's xenophobic and attempts to put the US in the primary position when all the US did was grab some fold out chairs and watch the action from the cheap seats. [Before anyone at WP calls me -- and I know at least one will -- when you make a claim that Iraqis have repeatedly denied, that's xenophobia. When they are speaking of their own motivations and you chose to ignore them and impose your own narrative upon them, that's xenophobia.] It's also because Iraqis don't need to be insulted. And it's a short step from falsely claiming that they're copying Egypt to arriving at "Witness: Unlike Iraq, Egyptians do regime change their way."

That offensive crap comes from Reuters and their correspondent Samia Nakhoul. Egyptians do it their way, unlike Iraqis?

Iraqi didn't get to "do" regime change, it was forced on them, you stupid, stupid idiot. Lefty 'leaders' are still whining about Bill Keller's report on Little Julie Assange and that's so typical of the f**k backwards idiots that make up the 'leadership' of the left. Little Julie, one man, becomes the thing to defend. Watch and wait for anyone to defend Iraqis. A whole group of people are being slandered -- people already under physical attack -- but don't expect our 'brave' 'leaders' to step forward with the two weeks of whining they have offered for Little Julie.

When we self-stroke and make ourselves the center of the world, we don't just inject ourselves into a story and demand the close ups (even though we're nothing but bit players), we also push the real participants out of camera range.

And because a narrative always has to be embellished, it's only a matter of time before "How Great We Are" (chest thumping cheers of "USA! USA!") becomes "And Look At How Lousy They Are." Which is the short path from the Washington Post article over to the Reuters one.

Good heavens, the Iraqi people live under occupation. Their country has been destroyed. It has been polluted with weapons that most people won't even take the time to imagine. The youthful population will suffer massive birth defects for many years to come. Currently, the puppet government installed by the US still cannot deliver basic services -- services they had before 2003. Nouri's daughters live very, very well. And outside of Iraq.

Iraq's daughters and sons starve and beg on the streets. The widows of Iraq make do however they can.

So Reuters can go f**k itself before it again attempts to mount a high horse about how wonderful Egyptians are and how lazy and unsuccessful the Iraqis are.

Iraqis have yet, all these years after the war began, been able to pick their own government. If they had, it wouldn't be Nouri now. They made that clear in their voting.

The only real lesson regarding Iraq that Egypt has demonstrated is that when the US media can pull out the lawn chairs and root from the sidelines, when they can harken back to the old days of the gladiator stadiums and have no 'skin in the game' themselves, they can and will obsess over easy stories.

PEW's study that we noted this week? Iraq never got that attention. In three weeks, Egypt was the story. Iraq never got that attention.

Now the PEW study only goes back to 2007. You can argue that Iraq got that kind of attention the first month of the war and you can say it went on until Bully Boy Bush stood under the "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" banner.

But you need to grasp that the Iraq War is still ongoing and that it never received that kind of attention. The PEW study found the closest was in 2007 when the surge was being sold. But that was US coverage of US events. That was Congressional testimony padding out the so-called Iraq coverage.

The US government is responsible for the destruction of Iraq. I guess it is a whole hell of a lot easier for American media (including American bloggers) to obsess over Egypt and ignore Iraq. Egypt allows them to self-stroke and claim credit that has not been earned. Iraq would force them to examine the consequences of their government's actions and take accountability.

The following community sites updated last night:


Tomorrow on Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox (radio program) she interviews Cindy Corrie (Rachel Corrie's mother). It streams at 2:00 pm PST and then is archived.


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












thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends
























Friday, February 11, 2011

Iraq snapshot

Friday, February 11, 2011.  Chaos and violence continue, protests continue throughout Iraq, Iraqi women continue suffer, rumors swirl that Iraq will announce the vice presidents Sunday and that there will be four (not the three expected), Cindy Sheehan explains how you can have blood on your hands, and more.
 
This week on Antiwar Radio, Scott Horton spoke with Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) and the discussion included Iraq.
 
Scott Horton: What's going on in Iraq?
 
Jason Ditz: Well what's going on in Iraq is sort of the same thing that's going on all across the region. There's a high level of unemployment and increasing concern about a leader of the government taking more and more power for himself and there are starting to be some pretty big protests.
 
Scott Horton: Well be more specific about more power for himself?
 
Jason Ditz: Well right now Nouri al-Maliki the Prime Minister is also Nouri al-Maliki the Interior Minister and Nouri al-Maliki the Defense Minister and the National Security Minister and I believe he might have another title or two in there too.  But basically he's -- when he announced his new unity cabinet, he kept every single cabinet position that has any police or military forces or even some of the smaller law enforcement groups are all under his control.  He -- he literally controls, as the leader, every single, uh, every single non-foreign force in Iraq now.
 
Scott Horton: But that's unconstitutional according to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iraq from 2005, right?
 
Jason Ditz: Well it certainly is.  He's sort of skirting that by claiming that he's the interim Defense Minister and the interim Interior Minister and interim all these other ministers but -- And that he's going to appoint somebody.  But it's been awhile now and he certainly doesn't seem to be moving forward with it.
 
Scott Horton: So now tell me about the reaction to this now too because across the Middle East, there's been protests.  What's the effect of the "Egyptian virus" -- as John McCain called it -- in Iraq?
 
Jason Ditz: Well there have been some protests particularly in some of the poorer Shi'ite cities in the south.  There's been some pretty good size protests demanding economic improvement, criticizing the government and police reacting as they have in a lot of places just by opening fire on the protesters.
 
Scott Horton: Do you know if there were any reports about Iraqi reaction to the international reports?  I guess it was Amnesty -- No, it was Human Rights Watch and I guess CBS News followed up on all of this about Nouri al-Maliki and his secret prisons and torture and all of that.  Is that part of the narrative in Iraq about the protests in the south, for example?
 
Jason Ditz: That I'm not sure about.  It seems like the protests are pretty non-specific to the extent they're reported in the media.  They're more angry at the general situation that they've got this not particularly elected government, Maliki's party came in second in last year's election and he ended up dominating the situation even more than he had before and that the economy is getting worse and worse so it seems like the specifics of torture, the specifics of his policies are sort of being drowned out by just the overwhelming annoyance at the situation in the hope that something similar that happened in Egypt might happen in Iraq too.
 
 
Yesterday attorneys led protests in Baghdad, Basra and Mosul. Alsumara TV notes, "The wave of demonstrations in Iraq does not only stir up underprivileged. Iraqi lawmakers staged a protest on Thursday in Baghdad against the ruling of the Iraqi Government to ban access for citizens and lawyers into State institutions mainly the Trade Ministry directorates. [. . .] Demonstrators believe that banning them from accessing state directorates to follow up their clients' formalities is an invitation for corruption." Al Rafidayn reports on the 500 in Baghdad and notes that 200 also demonstrated in Karbala and in Kut which saw two different protests -- one by attorneys. Haider Roa (Iraqhurr.org) adds demonstrations also took place in Samawah, Kut, Amara, Diwaniyah and Ramadi yesterday. Al Mada adds that the Islamic Supreme Council has declared it will protect any Iraqi who is protesting against the government's policies. Ammar al-Hakim, president of the Islamic Supreme Council, is warning that the government needs to start providing the basic services, providing jobs and end the corruption. He issued a call for the security forces of Iraq to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Iraqi people and ensure they are protected during demonstrations and marches. He demanded that Iraqi officials stop offering easy and false assurances of improvements and actually deliver improvements. In response, Baghdad Operations Command agreed that they will protect Iraqi citizens who are taking part in demonstrations. Alsumaria TV adds, "Head of Islamic Supreme Council Sayyed Ammar Al Hakim rebuked the way Iraqi officials including Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki are dealing with the concerns and interests of Iraqis. Al Hakim called to deal more seriously with people's demands and restrain from fake vows and pledges, he said."
 
Also yesterday Oxfam published the report "Whose Aid Is It Anyway?" and AFP notes, "The non-profit group Oxfam said on Thursday that major powers were concentrating too much aid on countries for political and military reasons and were overlooking other severe crises. The aid organisation said billions of dollars had been used for "unsustainable, expensive and sometimes dangerous aid projects" supporting short-term foreign policy and security objectives. Oxfam particularly highlighted tens of billions of dollars spent in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade." The topic was the focus of  the latest Guardian Focus podcast with Madeleine Bunting and guests  the Guardian's Jonathan Steele, the European Council on Foreign Relation's Daniel Korski, Oxfam's Mike Leis and War on Want's John Hilary. In the discussion Bunting played a clip of Hillary Clinton speaking on the issue of Afghanistan women which led Jonathan Steele off on a raving loon moment.  I've thought about that and that's the only term for it.  (This was supposed to be addressed in yesterday's snapshot but there wasn't room.)  Jonathan Steele needs to think about his remarks.  Madeleine Bunting and the Guardian need to stop the women bashing.
 
Had I written yesterday, I wouldn't have called it that.  But Madeleine specifically criticized David Cameron by name (as did guests) and they also criticized Hillary by name.  Does no one see the problem with that?
 
David Cameron is the Prime Minister of England.  Is Hillary Clinton the President of the United States?  No, she's not.  Her equivalent in the UK would be Theresa May.  May, the UK Home Secretary, was never mentioned.  Nor should she have been.  Jonathan would argue he was building on her voting record from her days in the Senate.  When she and Barack both served in the Senate, there wasn't a big difference in their voting records when it came to Afghanistan or Iraq.  And you're not building on her voting record if you're talking about the status today.  If you're talking about the status of that war today, the United States military has only one commander in chief and that is Barack Obama.
 
Instead of popping open a can of crazy, Jonathan should have asked Bunting why she played the clip to begin with?  She's calling out David Cameron who's the leader of England.  Why is she not calling out Barack?  He should have asked her was the clip played because Hillary's a woman?  Was the clip played because Barack makes no statements -- as he pursues these wars -- about the women in the countries he keeps the US military?  If the latter's the case, that's not only troubling, it's worthy of an entire broadcast.  People need to stop using Hillary as their chew toy. The Cult of St. Barack ensured that he got the White House.  He now needs to take the criticism for his policies.  And if that's too much for Jonathan Steele and Madeleine Bunting, then the Guardian Focus needs to find more mature guests and more mature host.
 
Some basic facts on Iraq from the United Nations Country Team Iraq -- young population with nearly 50% being less than 19, only 18% of women are employed.  Those are 2011 figures.  In 2009, Oxfam published their survey of Iraqi women and the number of them who were head of household was approximately 36%.  The bulk of them are not receiving any assistance from the government and the meager amount offered to widows by the government (the few that receive assistance) is not enough to live on. In December, IRIN noted, "An IOM survey of 1,355 female-headed displaced families who have returned to their places of origin found that 74 percent are struggling to secure adequate nutrition for their families. Delays in receiving subsidized government food rations or lack of some food items in the rations force women to buy food with whatever money they have, adding to their struggle, the report, issued on 3 December, states. The survey also found that health problems and social norms had prevented nearly 40 percent of them from finding jobs. Of those who are able to work, 71 percent are unemployed."  Nizar Latif (The National) reported last week on how the Iraqi Women's Association's Madia al Rawai was warning that the al-Maliki government needed to look at what was happening in surrounding countries, "The Iraqi government should pay attention. There is an army of women, with no jobs and no money, and they are ready to take to the streets unless something is done to improve their situation."  Tupperware's Elinor Steele has been writing entries for The Huffington Post about Iraqi women she encountered on her recent visit to the country.  She noted earlier this month:
 
Iraq has always been a pioneer in the Middle East for integrating women into society and promoting women's rights; however, over the past 30 years many laws that empowered women have been retracted and some men in society have become more conservative and less open-minded to women-owned businesses. This kind of thinking could set Iraq's economy back by decades.
During my visit, I had a chance to meet a group of Iraqi female politicians.  The first comment they made was about unequal representation within the Iraqi government.  While the Iraqi parliament is complying with its constitutional mandate that 25% of the seats must be held by women, there are no women in senior-level government positions such as vice president or serving as ministers at high-ranking ministries.
 
 
 
Sunday, Iraq's representatives in Parliament are supposed to vote on the vice president.  In the past, the country has had two vice presidents.  Three has been expected to be the number this year and all men.  However, Al Rafidayn reports that there may be four vice presidents and that the fourth expected to be a VP is a woman with the Turkmen bloc, Faihaa Zine El Abidine.  Supposedly, on Monday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani asked parliament to allow for four vps and that was to provide a post for "the women of Iraq."  The Turkmen bloc issued a statement noting that women in Iraq are maginalized in the current government and that they did not receive any posts from Nouri to his cabinet ("the center of political decision-making"). How very telling that the country might have their first female vice president when Nouri -- his Cabinet still not full -- can't find slots for women.  His Cabinet is so bad that even the head of the Ministry of Women is a man.
 
 
Iraq has many problems but Elinor Steele and the New York Times ignore the obvious.  The puppet government is installed.  The forces terrorizing Iraqis were picked by and endorsed by the US and British governments.  The terrorizing was supposed to keep the Iraqis too frightened to fight the occupation.  So religious extremists were put into positions of power and it has made life hell for Iraqi women, Iraq's LGBT community and Iraq's religious minorities.  These thugs doing the terrorizing were elevated to their positions not by accident.  John Leland and Duraid Adnan (New York Times) report on the situation in Baghdad for women and reveal just how close minded so many are (including some women).  A store's window display promises eternal damnation to women who allow even bits of the hairs on their head to be seen.  (Iraqi women should reject that store window display by rejecting the store itself.) 34-year-old Maysson Ibrahim vows she will continue to wear her "tight jeans and skirts" and the curses and harassment will not force her "to cover herself."  And all of this could have been addressed.  The US government controlled Iraqi media.  They could have set a tone (hell, if they knew what they were doing, they could have shaped the society -- that's not me encouraging it and I've refrained from stating how that could happen -- either in personal conversations or at this site).  They chose not to.  Yet again, they decided it was more important to support terrorism and allow the thugs free reign.  Journalist Anna Badkhen writes:
 
No one knows exactly how many Iraqi women have been raped since the U.S-led invasion in 2003, but activists in Iraq and abroad put the numbers in the thousands.  Human rights groups began to see an increase in rapes in Iraq immediately after the fall of Hussein's regime, and evidence that different factions were targeting women. In 2008, Amnesty International reported that "crimes specifically aimed at women and girls, including rape, have been committed by members of Islamist armed groups, militias, Iraqi government forces, foreign soldiers within the U.S.-led Multinational Force, and staff of foreign private military security contractors."
 
Badkhen writes the above for a Frontline video report she and Mimi Chakarova did on the safe houses for Iraqi women.  They visit one in the Red Zone which, for safety reasons, they must visit "in the dead of night," Chakarova explains. They discover "a two bedroom apartment full of women and children.  One of the women warns us that the rats will keep us awake. [. . .] There are six women living here with their children.  Four have been raped."  From the video report:
 
 
Mimi Chakarova: When we were in Iraq, did you witness any women getting raped.
 
Male US service member: Yeah, definitely.  On both tours I would say at least 8 rapes that I saw with my own eyes.
Anna Badkhen covered the women shelters for Ms. magazine in 2009.  Utne re-runs her article for Ms. Excerpt:
 

The Underground Railroad was founded in 2004 by Baghdad-born architect-turned-feminist-organizer Yanar Mohammed, head of OWFI, along with MADRE, an international women's rights group based in New York. It provides the only sanctuaries for victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence outside the quasi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, where the local government and nongovernment organizations operate several shelters. In addition to providing temporary asylum, it helps women resettle in places where their abusers cannot find them easily. Since its inception, says MADRE policy and communications director Yifat Susskind, the railroad has helped thousands of women. Several have been transferred to Turkey and at least two now live in the United States, but most of the rescued women have remained in Iraq.

Saddam Hussein's regime persecuted political dissidents but allowed women personal rights and freedoms; assaults on women were rare. But when violence engulfed the country after the U.S. invasion, women became "the easiest targets," says OWFI member Dalal Juma. Violence against women is now rampant and goes virtually unchecked by Iraq's new legal system. Sexual violence is "severely under­reported," Amnesty International wrote in March, and along with other crimes against women and girls, is usually committed with impunity.

[. . .]
Women learn about the shelter through word of mouth and OWFI's quarterly newsletter; the only people who know its location are the women who run it and a thoroughly vetted handful of male security guards armed with handguns. One of these guards lives at the shelter with his young wife, an OWFI employee. As far as the landlord is concerned, the couple is renting the apartment and the other women are their relatives, in town for a visit. Just to be on the safe side, the organization pays $350 a month for the place, which would normally cost about $150. "Money for silence," Juma explains.
 

Women in Iraq have not been afforded equal access to justice or protection by law enforcement agencies, so have stayed more vulnerable and likely to face abuse.
"The security situation in general has obviously hit the vulnerable populations worst, and when we look at the situation for women, there is a fear that -- rather than improving -- the situation since 2003 has deteriorated," said Helen Olafsdottir, a UNDP Iraq advisor for Crisis Prevention and Recovery. "We've found that there was a huge gap in terms of addressing issues of domestic violence, and gender-based violence in general."
According to surveys conducted jointly by the Government of Iraq and UN agencies from 2006 to 2009, women in Iraq face high levels of violence, but lack adequate access to care and justice in the aftermath.
One in five women from 15 to 49 years old has suffered physical violence at the hands of her husband -- some 14 percent of whom were also pregnant at the time. The real numbers are likely higher, however, since reporting of gender-based violence cases is generally low, as women fear social stigmatization and lack confidence that authorities will investigate complaints. [See
here and here for sources of stats above and facts in the next paragraph.]
In Iraq, there is not a strong legal framework to protect women from abuse, compounded by a lack of shelters and a lack of adequate training for medical and law enforcement authorities to respond to instances of gender-based violence.

The US government created the conditions women in Iraq now live in.  It's amazing how little press coverage Iraqi women receive.  The best thing the US can do for Iraqi women is to remove all forces immediately.  US forces are used to prop up the puppet government and the thugs who terrorize. A quick departure by the US could spell an end to them.  The longer US forces prop up this anti-woman government, the longer the anti-women sentiment exists and begins to appear 'normal' to many Iraqis.
 

In other news, Al Mada reports the Health and Environment Committee in the Maysan Province is warning of an impending environmental disaster as a result of the continued influx of contaminated water from Iran. The salt in the water, is threatening farming and and animals, the committee learned on a visit to Amara. Still on water news, Water World reports:

On Thursday, 10 February 2011, Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey presented the report "The Blue Peace: Rethinking Middle East Water" to the Swiss Press Club in Geneva. Supported by Switzerland and by the Swedish government, the report compiles a list of 10 recommendations whose objective is to contribute to building peace and to reducing the conflicts in the Middle East thanks to a sustainable trans-border management of water in the region.
On Thursday, 10 February 2011, the "Blue Peace" report was officially presented by Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey. The document assesses the principal challenges linked to the trans-border management of resources. At present a factor of division and tension, water harbours the potential of becoming an instrument of peace and cooperation. This emerges as the report's central thesis. Subsequently, it compiles a list of ten recommendations, calculated in the short, medium, and long terms, which are aimed to lead to pragmatic solutions.
Water resources in the Middle East are subject to an unprecedented pressure which is threatening the populations of entire regions along with their economic activities. Population growth, migration, urbanization, and climate change are all exerting an enormous impact on these resources. In fact, over the last 50 years, the flow rate of numerous rivers in turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan has plunged by 50 to 90 percent. And yet at the same time, the sustainable management of trans-border water resources is vital to provide for the requirements of agriculture, the need for clean drinking water, and for socio-economic development in general. It is key to avoiding human tragedy and to fostering the promotion of peace.


AFP also notes
the joint Swiss and Swedish report adds, "Downstream territories such as Israel, Jordan and Palestinian territories were in the worst position with mounting clean water deficits of up to 500-700 million cubic metres each. The report also argued that technical solutions such as desalination or wastewater recycling in Israel would ultimately have limited scope."
Al Rafidayn reports that Behouz Aziz Older, a journalist in northen Iraq, is said to have taken his own life after being discovered hanged in a cemetary. His funeral services were yesterday.  Reuters notes 1 man ("mobile shop owner") was shot dead Thursday night in Falluja.
 
Last night on KPFK's Lawyer's Guild (7 to 8:00 PST each Thursday night -- click here to visit the KPFK archives and scroll down to listen to program -- you have 59 days before it's pulled from the archives), Jim Lafferty spoke with Peter Dudar who made the documentary Arlington West with Sally Marr. 
 
Jim Lafferty: So tell us about Cross Wise, what is it?
 
Peter Dudar: Well it's the new version of Arlington West and it's twice as powerful
 
Jim Lafferty: Okay.
 
Peter Dudar: Now we have an update with all these --  The mothers' stories have been they were lied to unfortunately. Along with Fernando Suarez [del Solar]' story about saying his son [Jesus Suarez del Solar, November 16, 1982 - March 27, 2003] was --
 
Jim Lafferty: Who was the first guy to die in Iraq.
 
Peter Dudar:  Jesus.  Ironically in a Christian country, he was the first to die in Iraq.
 
Jim Lafferty: And he was told what?  That his son had died -- I can't remember the story, Peter.  Tell us.
 
Peter Dudar: Well he was told his son died and with a bullet to the head.  He goes to the mortuary and asks for the lid to be lifted and the military refuses.  He calls the police.  They remove the military.  He opens the lid and discovers his son's face is perfect and it's the rest of his body that's damaged -- from a US cluster bomb, he discovers.
 
Jim Lafferty: From our own weapons. That's right.  And Cindy Sheehan, the famous Cindy Sheehan, sort of the mother of the anti-war movement in the country these days, they lied to her about how her son [Casey Sheehan, May 29, 1979 - April 4, 2004] lost his life, didn't they?
 
Peter Dudar: Yeah.  A Humvee mechanic. She was told that he died a very heroic death in battle and volunteered for the mission.  Well she discovers later, years later, that he was forced on the mission, that he was killed immediately and dies, you know, there in a MedTent, the first day, his first day in Iraq.  Karen Meredith.  She discovers that her son [Ken Ballard, July 21, 1977 - May 30, 2004] actually didn't receive a bullet to the head from insurgents, he was killed by a discharge from his own machine gun on his tank.
 
Jim Lafferty: Ow. And I think you talked with one -- I don't know if this is in the movie yet because I confess almost no one has seen it, including me, you were kind enough to give me some copies tonight so I'm going to see it -- but it was a Marine recruiter, wasn't it? That told you because you got to talking about this whole question for a very long time, not only, let me put it this way, not only don't we know how many civilians the war has killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.  I mean there's been some relatively decent figures taken by the Lancet and doctors and scientists abroad while our own country lies about the figures.  It's certainly, with sanctions, well over a million people.  Maybe it's two million with the sanctions that went on for years? But we even lie about how many of our soldiers we lost because we don't want the country to know the price that our own families are paying.  And this Marine recruit said something interesting.  Could you remind us of that?
 
Peter Dudar: Yeah.  Actually --
 
Jim Lafferty: Is that in the film, by the way?
 
Peter Dudar: It's -- No. That's not in the film. But this kind of keys us into what happened.
 
Jim Lafferty: Okay.
 
Peter Dudar: Okay. 18 suicides a day. 6570  suicides by our young men and women every year.  Times 7 years of war. How many is that?  45,000 suicides.

Jim Lafferty: That we know of.

Peter Dudar: That only gives us the clue.  What this gentleman came up to me and said -- and I had some people stand there --  "I'm a Marine counter. I count the dead
 
Jim Lafferty: Oh.
 
Peter Dudar: Here's what we're waiting for in America: From somebody who knows what's going on to finally come forth and say, "Here's actually the number of our dead."  He said, "I count the dead for the Marines.  Where did you get your number on the site?
 
Jim Lafferty: For the total.
 
Peter Dudar: For the total. And it was at that time for Iraq, only 4,400, I think. And he goes, "Well, anyway, there are more Marines dead than that."
 
Jim Lafferty: Let's be sure we understand that.  Here's a guy whose job is to count the deaths for the Marines.  He comes up to Peter and the crosses [white crosses placed at Arlington West] were representing at that time 4,400 some dead, that's what we thought, that's what the government was telling us.  And he said, "Hell I've got more -- Sadly, I know more Marines that died in this war than that."  That doesn't talk about the Army and the rest of them. Alright --
 
Peter Dudar: But we can -- we can juxtapose that number and say okay that was told to us.  Can it be proven now?  No.  But what we can prove is this 18 a day, 6570 a year
 
To obtain a copy of Cross Wise, you can order by phone at 323-650-8166 or order by e-mail mail@arlingtonwestfilm.com.  The documentary is a strong film and a strong peace resource.  Peace Mom Cindy Sheehanis a truth teller and  Abby Martin (Media Roots Radio) interviewed Cindy for this week's show.  You can stream it here.
 
Cindy Sheehan: But then in 2004, I really bought into that lie that-that Ralph Nader was the reason that George Bush became president because, you know, if Ralph Nader wasn't running, then [Al] Gore would have won Florida --
 
Abby Martin: In 2000.
 
Cindy Sheehan:  In 2000, yeah.  In 2004, I bought into that lie, I mean.  And I had a lot at stake. I was more awake because my son was killed in March and the elections were in November so I was going around the country speaking out against Bush and people were telling me -- you know, the people I was with, were telling me, you know, especially like Medea Benjamin from CODEPINK, who was one of the early advocates in the Green Party to support [2004 Democratic Party presidential nominee John] Kerry instead of supporting the Green Party candidate, was telling me it was because of Nader that George Bush won.  And we were in Florida.  And actually, the bottom line about Nader stealing the election from Gore is that Gore actually won Florida.  He won Florida by something like 529 votes before it [the recount] was stopped. And so I bought into that lie.  Again, I wasn't raging pro-Kerry because I did not like Kerry.  But I was raging against George Bush.  And so thinking that it might make a difference, even though Kerry said -- And see, this is the same thing with the Obama followers.  Even though Kerry said he was going to send more troops to Iraq, I still thought he would be better than Bush.  So most of the people in this country, they just affiliate with the party their parents affiliated with and they don't put too much thought into it and that's the way I was before my son was killed. And those are the people that we need to educate and reach out too. But, like before, it's the people who know but still help the people who aren't that aware come to the conclusion that 'you have to vote for a Democrat' are the ones who are the problem.  You know, they're the ones that we're not going to change. We have the hope of changing just regular grassroots America.  We're not going to change the operatives.  They're doing it because they're doing it deliberately.
 
Abby Martin: And have you talked to any of these people?  It seems like you've been in contact with a lot of these people like from MoveOn and like that and have you asked them, "Why are you perpetuating this? I mean, you know that this isn't the solution.  It can't be."
 
Cindy Sheehan: I -- Early on, I had a lot of dialogue with-with people like that. In fact, in August of 2005, MoveOn sent two really high ranking people in their organization, Tom Andrews from Win Without War and Glen Smith -- he's with MoveOn, I don't know in what -- but he's a Texan. And I knew both of them before.  So they sent them. And we had a meeting in my trailer and they wanted me to support a bill that was not supportable.  It was a -- it was a Democrat - Republican co-sponsored bill about getting out of Iraq eventually.  And I was just like, "No, that's not what Camp Casey's about. That's not what the affiliated organizations" -- we called them the skin-in-the-game organizations, Veterans for Peace, IVAW, Gold Star Families for Peace and Military Families Speak Out; I said, "No, we're calling for an immediate end to the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan."  And so that's when they basically just said 'Okay, you know, see you later if you won't support this awful bill then we're not going to support you.'  And then when the 2,000 soldier was getting ready to be killed in Iraq, we were in Washington, DC calling for civil disobedience and then MoveOn like totally severed ties and said "No, we're doing a candle light vigil." And I said, "Okay, then there's going to be a 3,000th soldier, a 4,000th soldier, a 5,000th soldier if we don't start to get a little more radical with our demonstrations.  And you're the one that has the major list.  And then in '07 it was the -- No, it was '08.  It was the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.  United For Peace & Justice refused to call a demo in DC saying they didn't want to embarrass the Democrats.
 
Abby Martin: Wow.
 
Cindy Sheehan: Yeah. I mean just boldly said we don't want to embarrass the Democrats.
 
Abby Martin:  Get an f-ing backbone.
 
Cindy Sheehan: Yeah.  Yeah.  So I've had so much dialogue with these people.  I just finally wrote an article and I said that all the people from MoveOn had blood on their hands.  And anybody who supports this empire, supports any part of -- Because that's when MoveOn was saying -- telling their groups that they needed to support the Democrats in supporting the supplemental war funding. And I was just like, "You all have blood on your hands." And it was like, "Oh, you said we have blood on our hands."  And you do. You know. So you have two choices.  Keep supporting the Democrats or support peace. And you're supporting the Democrats so that means you have blood on your hands.
 
Blood on the hands if you sit silently as the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars continue.  Supposedly we wanted the wars ended NOW! when Bush was occupied the White House.  Where did the outrage go?  Maybe it deflated when most of the press coverage of the real conditions in Iraq vanished?  To address the realities of Iraq, there is an upcoming Iraq Veterans Against the War event:

February 25, 2011 9:30 - 10:30 am
Busboys & Poets, Langston room
14th & V st NW Washington DC
This report back will be to answer questions from media and the peace movement about the recent trip back to Iraq by members of Iraq Veterans Against the War. The war is not over but it is not the same as it was in years past. What is the humanitarian situation in Iraq?
How can we do reparations and reconciliation work?
Speakers are all returning from this delegation and include:
Geoff Millard (IVAW) Hart Viges (IVAW) Haider Al-Saedy (Iraqi Health Now)
Richard Rowely (
Big Noise Films)
 
To make it clear that continued war is unacceptable, in March  A.N.S.W.E.R. and March Forward! and others will be taking part in this action:
 

March 19 is the 8th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Iraq today remains occupied by 50,000 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of foreign mercenaries.

The war in Afghanistan is raging. The U.S. is invading and bombing Pakistan. The U.S. is financing endless atrocities against the people of Palestine, relentlessly threatening Iran and bringing Korea to the brink of a new war.

While the United States will spend $1 trillion for war, occupation and weapons in 2011, 30 million people in the United States remain unemployed or severely underemployed, and cuts in education, housing and healthcare are imposing a huge toll on the people.

Actions of civil resistance are spreading.

On Dec. 16, 2010, a veterans-led civil resistance at the White House played an important role in bringing the anti-war movement from protest to resistance. Enduring hours of heavy snow, 131 veterans and other anti-war activists lined the White House fence and were arrested. Some of those arrested will be going to trial, which will be scheduled soon in Washington, D.C.

Saturday, March 19, 2011, the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, will be an international day of action against the war machine.

Protest and resistance actions will take place in cities and towns across the United States. Scores of organizations are coming together. Demonstrations are scheduled for San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and more.

 
 
TV notes. Washington Week begins airing on many PBS stations tonight (and throughout the weekend, check local listings) and joining Gwen are Dan Balz (Los Angeles Times), Helene Cooper (New York Times), Yochi Dreazen (National Journal) and John Harwood (New York Times). Gwen's latest column is "Sending Signals." Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Gretchen Hamel, Avis Jones-DeWeever, Kim Gandy and Star Parker to discuss the week's events on PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight.  Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes:
 
To Be Determined
Our lead story is yet to be determined.

The 33
Four months after 33 Chilean miners were rescued from a half-mile underground, where they lived in daily fear of death for over two months, psychologists say all but one of them are experiencing serious mental stress. Bob Simon reports. |
Watch Video

Lady Gaga
With her outrageous costumes and mega-hit dance songs, Lady Gaga has become the world's most talked about entertainer. CNN's Anderson Cooper reports. |
Watch Video

Sunday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.


 
 
 

Continued protests in the streets of Iraq

Yesterday attorneys led protests in Baghdad, Basra and Mosul. Alsumara TV notes, "The wave of demonstrations in Iraq does not only stir up underprivileged. Iraqi lawmakers staged a protest on Thursday in Baghdad against the ruling of the Iraqi Government to ban access for citizens and lawyers into State institutions mainly the Trade Ministry directorates. [. . .] Demonstrators believe that banning them from accessing state directorates to follow up their clients’ formalities is an invitation for corruption." Al Rafidayn reports on the 500 in Baghdad and notes that 200 also demonstrated in Karbala and in Kut which saw two different protests -- one by attorneys. Haider Roa (Iraqhurr.org) adds demonstrations also took place in Samawah, Kut, Amara, Diwaniyah and Ramadi yesterday. Al Mada adds that the Islamic Supreme Council has declared it will protect any Iraqi who is protesting against the government's policies. Ammar al-Hakim, president of the Islamic Supreme Council, is warning that the government needs to start providing the basic services, providing jobs and end the corruption. He issued a call for the security forces of Iraq to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Iraqi people and ensure they are protected during demonstrations and marches. He demanded that Iraqi officials stop offering easy and false assurances of improvements and actually deliver improvements. In response, Baghdad Operations Command agreed that they will protect Iraqi citizens who are taking part in demonstrations. Alsumaria TV adds, "Head of Islamic Supreme Council Sayyed Ammar Al Hakim rebuked the way Iraqi officials including Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki are dealing with the concerns and interests of Iraqis. Al Hakim called to deal more seriously with people’s demands and restrain from fake vows and pledges, he said."

In other news, Al Mada reports the Health and Environment Committee in the Maysan Province is warning of an impending environmental disaster as a result of the continued influx of contaminated water from Iran. The salt in the water, is threatening farming and and animals, the committee learned on a visit to Amara. Still on water news, Water World reports:

On Thursday, 10 February 2011, Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey presented the report "The Blue Peace: Rethinking Middle East Water" to the Swiss Press Club in Geneva. Supported by Switzerland and by the Swedish government, the report compiles a list of 10 recommendations whose objective is to contribute to building peace and to reducing the conflicts in the Middle East thanks to a sustainable trans-border management of water in the region.
On Thursday, 10 February 2011, the "Blue Peace" report was officially presented by Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey. The document assesses the principal challenges linked to the trans-border management of resources. At present a factor of division and tension, water harbours the potential of becoming an instrument of peace and cooperation. This emerges as the report's central thesis. Subsequently, it compiles a list of ten recommendations, calculated in the short, medium, and long terms, which are aimed to lead to pragmatic solutions.
Water resources in the Middle East are subject to an unprecedented pressure which is threatening the populations of entire regions along with their economic activities. Population growth, migration, urbanization, and climate change are all exerting an enormous impact on these resources. In fact, over the last 50 years, the flow rate of numerous rivers in turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan has plunged by 50 to 90 percent. And yet at the same time, the sustainable management of trans-border water resources is vital to provide for the requirements of agriculture, the need for clean drinking water, and for socio-economic development in general. It is key to avoiding human tragedy and to fostering the promotion of peace.


AFP also notes
the joint Swiss and Swedish report adds, "Downstream territories such as Israel, Jordan and Palestinian territories were in the worst position with mounting clean water deficits of up to 500-700 million cubic metres each. The report also argued that technical solutions such as desalination or wastewater recycling in Israel would ultimately have limited scope."

In other news, Al Rafidayn reports that Behouz Aziz Older, a journalist in northen Iraq, is said to have taken his own life after being discovered hanged in a cemetary. His funeral services were yesterday.

TV notes. Washington Week begins airing on many PBS stations tonight (and throughout the weekend, check local listings) and joining Gwen are Dan Balz (Los Angeles Times), Helene Cooper (New York Times), Yochi Dreazen (National Journal) and John Harwood (New York Times). Gwen's latest column is "Sending Signals." Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Gretchen Hamel, Avis Jones-DeWeever, Kim Gandy and Star Parker to discuss the week's events on PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight.

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
























Children taken into custody, homelessness (vet issues)

Melissa Evans (Daily Breeze) reports, "A San Pedro boy whose father is set to leave for Iraq was placed under involuntary psychiatric care by county officials this week after threatening to commit suicide, his mother said." His 'suicidal behavior' apparently including drawing a picture of stick figures and zombies with the word "help" on it. KTLA explains that Syndi Dorman's son is six-years-old and put on "a 720hour psychiatric hold" and she explains that now her "son doesn't want to go back to school. He's afraid they're going to take him away again." So a 6-year-old is upset because his father is about to deploy again and the school thinks the answer is to put him away for 72-hours as his father's about to deploy?

In other veterans news, William M. Welch (USA Today) reports that another study has found veterans are at greater risk of becoming homeless and that, in 2009, "136,334 veterans spent at least one night in a homeless shelter -- a count that did not include homeless veterans living on the streets." Rhonda Pence (Press TV, link has text and video)adds, "The urgency of the problem is growing as more men and women return from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. More younger veterans aged 18 to 30 are spending time in shelters."

Yesterday the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee issued this:


(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman, Senator Patty Murray, released the following statement on the joint report from the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development's on veterans homelessness which was released today.

"I commend the Obama Administration for taking real steps to shine a light on a problem that has for too long been ignored. For too long homeless veterans have been forgotten heroes. But this report provides an important foundation to better understand who these veterans are, the nature of the problems they face, and how to develop solutions to address their needs. This is a critical piece of the Obama Administration's laudable effort to prevent and end homelessness among veterans.

"What this report shows is a stark and finally more accurate picture of this serious issue. It shows that the disabilities and mental health challenges facing many of our nation's veterans put many of them, particularly those living in poverty, at greater risk of homelessness. It also shows that current economic conditions and the influx of young veterans are putting many more of our veterans at risk of homelessness."

"What this report calls on all of us to do is clear - more. We need to build on the work we have begun. With the HUD-VASH program that I restarted in 2008 we have been able to provide vouchers and supportive services for those who have sacrificed for our nation but are now homeless. We need to continue this program that has proven its worth.

"But we also need to do more to prevent veteran homelessness before it starts. That means prevention programs like the pilot program I worked with my colleagues to create near some of our nation's military installations. Prevention also includes focusing on getting our veterans into stable employment. We need to help veterans translate the skills and expertise they learned on the battlefield into the skills needed in today's working world.


"We also need the Administration to continue to come together as they have with this report. If we are going to bring veterans off the streets and into steady housing and employment we need VA, HUD, and the Department of Labor to continue working together. I look forward to working with all of these agencies, as well as the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness to put forth innovative and effective solutions to get our veterans into safe, secure, and stable housing."

As Chairman of the Senate Housing Appropriations Committee and the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Murray has initiated and passed into law critical help for homeless veterans including the
Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program which provides housing vouchers and supportive services for homeless veterans and the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Demonstration (VHPD) program which provides housing, health and other supportive services at areas adjacent to military installations to help prevent homelessness. Both programs were cited by today's report as critical sources of help for homeless veterans.

Today's report shows that female veterans are twice as likely to be represented in the homeless population as they are to be the U.S. adult female population. Last Congress, Public Law 111-275, Veterans' Benefits Act of 2010, included provisions derived from legislation introduced by Chairman Murray which provides new support for
homeless women veterans reintegrating into the workforce.

Chairman Murray has also introduced
veterans jobs legislation that aims to reduce a rising unemployment rate among returning veterans.



Yesterday Oxfam published the report "Whose Aid Is It Anyway?" and AFP notes, "The non-profit group Oxfam said on Thursday that major powers were concentrating too much aid on countries for political and military reasons and were overlooking other severe crises. The aid organisation said billions of dollars had been used for "unsustainable, expensive and sometimes dangerous aid projects" supporting short-term foreign policy and security objectives. Oxfam particularly highlighted tens of billions of dollars spent in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade."

The following community sites -- plus Antiwar.com, Military Families Speak Out and Jane Fonda -- updated last night:


And we'll close with this from "Rendition: America's Torturers for Hire in Egypt" (Revolution via World Can't Wait):

At a February 4 press conference, U.S. President Barack Obama said about the Mubarak government's response to the protests, "Suppression is not going to work. Engaging in violence is not going to work."
Obama and other U.S. officials are now condemning the thuggish nature of the Mubarak regime—but the indisputable fact is that the U.S. has long relied on Mubarak and other oppressive regimes in the region to commit numerous savage crimes.
One example is the torture that they have carried out in relation to rendition by the U.S.—the CIA practice of kidnapping people outside the U.S. (without any charges and often without the knowledge of the authorities where the kidnapping takes place) and shipping them off to a third country, where they are handed over to the torturers in secret prisons.

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














thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends