We're dropping back to Carolyn Tyler's report for KGO to note that Buddhist Quang Son Ta buys into Bully Boy's deliberate lies (Quang Son Ta bought into the lies during Vietnam which is why he elected to work for the US military) and declares, "If we pull out of Iraq, OK the sacrifice of 5,000 men already die and 100,000 soldiers wounded, is wasted." That's really appalling. That someone whose own country was invaded wants to list the dead from the current illegal war and isn't able to note the over one million dead Iraqis.
He worries about the "sacrifice" and the "lives wasted" but the US is in Iraq for? Depending upon the time of the day and Bully Boy's most current lie, it's to help/assist/liberate. But War Hawk Quang Son Ta's not concerned with those deaths, at least not concerned enough to note them.
The Iraq War is an illegal war. As Iraq Veterans Against the War, Tina Richards and Military Families Speak Out are, Fuding the war is killing the troops. It's not saving them, it's not saving Iraqis.
Reuters reports 25 dead from "a battle between Sunni Arab militants and al Qaeda" outside Baquba, a drive-by shooting in Mosul claimed 1 life, mortar attacks in Kut claimed 2 lives,
a Baghdad roadside bombing claimed 1 life, a Baghdad mortar attack claimed 2 lives, 15 corpses were discovered in Baghdad and 2 in Mosul. That's 48 deaths reported (and the US forces killed one 'insurgent' today so that's 49).
Yesterday, a US helicopter was "downed" (the military's term) and Martha notes this from Joshua Partlow's "Maliki Scolds His American Critics" (Washington Post):
Two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were flying back to base over rural terrain in northern Iraq early Wednesday, after a night mission, when one suffered what appeared to be a mechanical failure and went down, said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, a U.S. military spokesman in northern Iraq.
"The helicopter was not shot down; it was a mechanical malfunction, and that is based on a number of different facts and observations that we have to this point," Donnelly said. "For us, the most important thing is taking care of the families and the soldiers of the unit who are affected by this. We're all feeling a deep loss here."
Killed were the 14 troops aboard -- four crew members and 10 passengers, who were not identified Wednesday. Another U.S. soldier died, and three were wounded, in fighting Wednesday around villages between Baghdad and Fallujah. The 15 American fatalities represented the highest daily toll since January.
Joan notes this from The Honolulu Advertiser's "Army's worst day:"
Ten Hawai'i soldiers were among those killed when a Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed today in northern Iraq, a statement from Schofield Barracks said tonight.
The four crew members were from Fort Lewis, Wash., and the 10 passengers were based out of Schofield Barracks, according to the Army. All aboard the helicopter died.
The soldiers were assigned to Task Force Lightning, which includes units from Schofield and other bases across the nation.
Bill Moyers Journal latest broadcast (aired Friday on most PBS stations, possibly later on other PBS stations) included his "Farewell to Karl Rove:"
It's so easy, as Karl knew, to scapegoat people you outnumber, and if God is love, as rumor has it, Rove knew that, in politics, you better bet on fear and loathing. Never mind that in stroking the basest bigotry of true believers you coarsen both politics and religion.
At the same time he was recruiting an army of the lord for the born-again Bush, Rove was also shaking down corporations for campaign cash. Crony capitalism became a biblical injunction. Greed and God won four elections in a row - twice in the lone star state and twice again in the nation at large. But the result has been to leave Texas under the thumb of big money with huge holes ripped in its social contract, and the U.S. government in shambles - paralyzed, polarized, and mired in war, debt and corruption.
Rove himself is deeply enmeshed in some of the scandals being investigated as we speak, including those missing emails that could tell us who turned the attorney general of the United States into a partisan sock puppet. Rove is riding out of Dodge city as the posse rides in. At his press conference this week he asked God to bless the president and the country, even as reports were circulating that he himself had confessed to friends his own agnosticism; he wished he could believe, but he cannot. That kind of intellectual honesty is to be admired, but you have to wonder how all those folks on the Christian right must feel discovering they were used for partisan reasons by a skeptic, a secular manipulator. On his last play of the game all Karl Rove had to offer them was a hail mary pass, while telling himself there's no one there to catch it.
On Sunday, Karl Rove reported to the mother ship (Fox "News") and Moyers' response can be found here. If you're missing the obvious tie-in, Moyers isn't waiting to respond or being silent (the way so many did yesterday while Bully Boy pushed lies).
Today, Camilo Mejia has a reading from his book Road from Ar Ramaid: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia at Different Drummer (near Fort Drum -- 12 Paddock Arcade, 1 Public Square, Watertown, NY 13601) at 6:30 pm. Marcia notes he is a guest on today's Democracy Now! Brandon notes this from Tony Pecinovsky's "Vets pledge fight for 'record-breaking peace'" (People's Weekly World):
Conscientious objector Camilo Mejia, who served six months in Iraq with the Florida National Guard, told the World, “There is no greater argument against war than the experience of war itself.” Mejia added, “In the military you’re not free to decide for yourself what is right and wrong. The fog of war is very real. Your main concern is staying alive.”
After returning home, Mejia refused to return to combat. He was charged with desertion and sentenced to a one-year term.
"I couldn't return," he said, "knowing that we are committing war crimes. This war is criminal. But I’m no longer a prisoner of fear. I have hope that we can end this war."
Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich told the convention, "Those who serve today, serve with honor. Those who sent them, have no honor. The Bush administration accepts war as a instrument of policy, but it is obvious who is paying the price. Their right-wing dogma has made us less safe." Kucinich added, "They initiated this war without a plan for leaving, because they don’t intend to leave."
"The surge isn't working. It's contributing to the future of the insurgency," Col. Janis Karpinski told an Aug. 15 kick-off press conference." Karpinski, who served over 28 years in the U.S. Army, was given command of the 800th Military Police Brigade in 2003 and supervised 15 detention centers.
"Anybody defined as a terrorist, associate of a terrorist, or who has information related to terrorists" is held "without trial, as long as the military wants, without any rights," she said, adding that military intelligence officers encourage torture and humiliation of detainees.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
camilo mejia
democracy now
bill moyers journal
the washington post
iraq veterans against the war
tina richards
military families speak out
Thursday, August 23, 2007
When the left plays dumb, Bully Boy advances
You know, people say, "Well you keep going back, why are you going back to Vietnam?" We keep going back to Vietnam because I'll tell you what, the other side does. They're always going back. And they have to go back -- the Hawks, you know, the patriarchs. They have to go back because, and they have to revise the going back, because they can't allow us to know what the back there really was.
That's Jane Fonda explaining reality in the brilliant documentary Sir! No Sir! -- a reality missed by some of our voices on the left and 'left' yesterday. They were off on other topics and, if they touched Bully Boy's speech at all, they decided the way to go was Korea. Because? It's safer. Certainly not because it's what people were interested in. Four different student groups yesterday, not one of them asked, "What's this Korea analogy Bully Boy's making?" Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam. That's what they wanted to know about.
Now you knew the MSM wasn't going to do a good job it. They can (and did) applaud their work of their own when they pass away -- work done exposing the lies of Vietnam -- but it's funny kind of appreciation, one that requires they head to the right and centrists to discuss Bully Boy's
analogies. So when time's wasted yammering on about Korea, time is just wasted.
Bruce Cain tells Carolyn Tyler (KGO News) that what Bully Boy is "trying to do is use a conservative argument to rally the conservative base because what he fears is not that Nancy Pelosi and the democrats are going to vote for withdrawal. What he fears is members of his own party are going to join in." That's exactly what's going on but most other MSM reporting misses that point. Bully Boy's selling fear again and he can't sell it with Korea and he can't sell it with Japan.
He can try to sell it with Vietnam and he may win because you've got a revisionary history going on and a lazy portion of the left that has consistently refused to call out the right wing's lies about Vietnam as they have repeatedly taken hold since US forces pulled out.
Lazy and Stupid, we should say and include the idiot who fancies themselves left and never knows what they're talking about (we're being kind here) so felt the need to prop up centrists this week and get off a little jibe at Jane Fonda for working to end Vietnam in the "60s." Does it hurt to be that stupid? Or does that come with (hint) "day pass"?
I'm sick of the lazy and the stupid and the cowards who consistently avoid the topic of Vietnam. They've done untold damage over the years and they continue to do damage. Had they done any of the work required over the last years, Bully Boy's distortions would have been greeted with howls of laughter. Instead, he moves his p.r. battle foward an inch. And wasting everyone's time on Korea isn't preventing that.
In the New York Times, Jim Rutenberg, Sheryl Gay Stolber, Mark Mazzetti, Damien Cave and Erich Schmitt observe:
With his comments Mr. Bush was doing something few major politicians of either party have done in a generation: rearguing a conflict that ended more than three decades ago but has remained an emotional touch point.
[Those are the end credits, not the byline. John Kerry is quoted saying, "Invoking the tragedy of Vietnam to defend the failed policy in Iraq is as irresponsible as it is ignorant of the realities of both of those wars."]
Even the Times grasps what the speech was about and, no, it wasn't Korea.
Now Nixon only called those of us who called for US forces out of Vietnam "bums." Bully Boy has called those arguing OUT OF IRAQ terrorist enablers. (And, check the polls, that's a huge number of the American population Bully Boy's wagging his finger at.) From Jason Easley's "Bush reinterprets history at VFW National Convention speech" (Blogger News Network):
He then said that if the U.S. leaves Iraq, the terrorists win. "If we were to abandon the Iraqi people, the terrorists would be emboldened, and use their victory to gain new recruits. As we saw on September the 11th, a terrorist safe haven on the other side of the world can bring death and destruction to the streets of our own cities. Unlike Vietnam, if we withdraw before the job is done, the enemy will follow us home. And that is why, for the security of the United States
of America, we must defeat them overseas so we do not face them in the United States of America."
The illegal war in Iraq has attracted some elements of al Qaeda into Iraq. It has allowed some Iraqis to see that element as the lesser of two evils. Even the nonsense of the 'success' of the Al Anbar 'model' -- as promoted by the US military flacks -- accepts that premise. But the Iraq War is a breeding ground for hostilities and terrorism. Those Bully Boy's scaring with his nonsense quoted prior should drop the fantasies and grasp that the illegal war has made the US far less safe and, well beyond the borders of Iraq, bred huge hostilities towards the US.
He's arguing that 'terrorists' must be defeated in Iraq to keep them from US shores. The reality is that what many would call 'terrorists' (rightly or wrongly) include those Iraqis who (connected to al Qaeda or not) killed US service members. And yet the US military is now working with many of those same people, bringing them into the fold. That's defeat? They're now getting trained and armed by the US. That's defeated?
Bully Boy wants to have his illegal war and his 'terrorism' on the same plate and his faithful herd will "moo" along behind him. That's the approximately 30% (a little under actually) that refuses to face reality to this day. They're with him to the end. A sex scandal, a same sex scandal, probably wouldn't turn that crowd against him. Where the battle he declared publicly yesterday is going to be fought will be to win the immediate circle after the willfully stupid, that's who he is hoping to influence.
And when his lies do not get called out or when a lengthy piece is written on Korea, the attitude is not, "Thank you for informing us!" Because the reality is you wasted your own time and everyone else's. He's attempting to harness the Ghosts of Vietnam. That's where the battle is now because too many let the right wing get away with their lies and their revisions to the point that many born after have no idea how hugely unpopular that illegal war was. For many born after, it's a murky period and Bully Boy's trying to ride the ignorance (and probably the assumption that so many on the left will not enter the discussion because they have spent decades absenting themselves from it) to bump up support for is own illegal war.
From Michael Tackett (Chicago Tribune):
It struck some historians as odd that the president would try to use Vietnam -- arguably the most divisive issue of the last 40 years -- to rally the nation behind his policy in Iraq.
"If we get into a Vietnam argument, the country is divided, but if you are going to try to sell this concept that the blood is on the American people's hands because we left and were weak-kneed in Asia, that is a very tenuous and inane historical argument," said historian Douglas Brinkley of Rice University.
Brinkley, who wrote both a flattering book on John Kerry during the 2004 presidential campaign and edited the private diaries of President Ronald Reagan, said Reagan was careful to rarely talk about Vietnam because of the passions it inspired.
Reagan shouldn't have worried. Judging by the reaction yesterday, when the right was on the ground and moving to shore up Bully Boy's lies while so many on the left avoided the issue, it would have been an easy move for him. But Reagan was the governor of California during Vietnam so he was probably haunted by the passion of that period and thought it would carry over. As we saw yesterday that really isn't the case and too many allegedly independent voices copied Reagan yesterday by avoiding calling it out. Apparently some in journalism see their roles as politicians. It's especially cute when they want to cite a truth teller (I.F. Stone) while avoiding tackling the thrust of Bully Boy's argument (his lies about Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).
Politicans? We noted John Kerry above. Harry Reid was useless (no surprise). Bill Richardson's campaign released the following statement:
Governor Bill Richardson, campaigning in Nevada, today released a statement in response to a speech by President Bush comparing a withdrawing of U.S. forces from Iraq to America's withdrawal at the end of the Vietnam War.
"The correct conclusion to draw from our experience in Vietnam," said Governor Richardson, "is that dragging out the process of withdrawal will be tragically worse in terms of U.S. lives lost and worse for the Iraqi's themselves in terms of the ultimate instability we will create by staying longer."
In 1968 Nixon ran on a platform of ending the war with honor. It took 7 years to get the last American soldier out of Vietnam. In the meantime, tens of thousands more Americans died. The costs in terms of tragedy in Southeast Asia itself are a matter of historical record. Millions of civilians ultimately died in Vietnam, in Cambodia and the killing fields and millions more ultimately had to flee their homes.
"We have now been in Iraq longer than it took to win World War II," Governor Richardson continued. "My plan for Iraq is designed to end this war with the least possible number of U.S. casualties and with the least damaging effects of Iraqi's reconciliation process. This means getting all of our troops out as quickly and safely as possible. Leaving residual troops in Iraq as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have suggested will only drag out the process to the detriment of all involved. Reconciliation can only occur when the U.S. has completely withdrawn. Everyday, more and more experts are coming to the same conclusion I drew seven months ago. My position has been consistent and unwavering. A fast, safe withdrawal with no residual troops."
In addition, Governor Richardson reiterated his belief that the so-called "surge" in U.S. forces in Iraq has been a failure, and responded to Senator Clinton's change of heart regarding the lack of progress in the war.
"I am pleased that Senator Clinton, today, recognizes that the surge has produced no progress of any long term significance to the Iraq debacle. That is different from what she said yesterday to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. But, it is that audience, who has sacrificed more than any of us, who deserves to hear a clear statement that our sons and daughters and mothers and fathers are not going to be sacrificed because of an irrational commitment to a failed strategy.
The President is asking the country to wait for next month's progress report from General Petraeus. The chances are that report will be just another White House spin job and attempt to justify this war. This has been the bloodiest summer yet -- our troops have done an admirable job at trying to make a bad idea work, but the surge has failed, the war has failed, Bush has failed. It is time to end this war and bring all of our troops home as soon as possible. I'm glad Hillary Clinton has retracted her comments yesterday and has declared the surge a failure today -- but I still haven't gotten an answer to my question -- a peace in Iraq will fail as long as we leave troops behind -- how many would you leave behind? Every other major candidate would leave thousands of US troops in Iraq for an indefinite. I will leave no U.S. forces there. Zero.
The only way out of the Iraq mess is to remove all U.S. troops, and to use that leverage to get the warring parties to resolve their differences, and surrounding Muslim nations to help stabilize the country. Any residual U.S. force reduces the chances for success, and exposes our troops as targets. Our brave troops, and the American people, deserve better."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
the new york times
sheryl gay stolberg
jim rutenberg
bill richardson
sir! no sir!
jane fonda
That's Jane Fonda explaining reality in the brilliant documentary Sir! No Sir! -- a reality missed by some of our voices on the left and 'left' yesterday. They were off on other topics and, if they touched Bully Boy's speech at all, they decided the way to go was Korea. Because? It's safer. Certainly not because it's what people were interested in. Four different student groups yesterday, not one of them asked, "What's this Korea analogy Bully Boy's making?" Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam. That's what they wanted to know about.
Now you knew the MSM wasn't going to do a good job it. They can (and did) applaud their work of their own when they pass away -- work done exposing the lies of Vietnam -- but it's funny kind of appreciation, one that requires they head to the right and centrists to discuss Bully Boy's
analogies. So when time's wasted yammering on about Korea, time is just wasted.
Bruce Cain tells Carolyn Tyler (KGO News) that what Bully Boy is "trying to do is use a conservative argument to rally the conservative base because what he fears is not that Nancy Pelosi and the democrats are going to vote for withdrawal. What he fears is members of his own party are going to join in." That's exactly what's going on but most other MSM reporting misses that point. Bully Boy's selling fear again and he can't sell it with Korea and he can't sell it with Japan.
He can try to sell it with Vietnam and he may win because you've got a revisionary history going on and a lazy portion of the left that has consistently refused to call out the right wing's lies about Vietnam as they have repeatedly taken hold since US forces pulled out.
Lazy and Stupid, we should say and include the idiot who fancies themselves left and never knows what they're talking about (we're being kind here) so felt the need to prop up centrists this week and get off a little jibe at Jane Fonda for working to end Vietnam in the "60s." Does it hurt to be that stupid? Or does that come with (hint) "day pass"?
I'm sick of the lazy and the stupid and the cowards who consistently avoid the topic of Vietnam. They've done untold damage over the years and they continue to do damage. Had they done any of the work required over the last years, Bully Boy's distortions would have been greeted with howls of laughter. Instead, he moves his p.r. battle foward an inch. And wasting everyone's time on Korea isn't preventing that.
In the New York Times, Jim Rutenberg, Sheryl Gay Stolber, Mark Mazzetti, Damien Cave and Erich Schmitt observe:
With his comments Mr. Bush was doing something few major politicians of either party have done in a generation: rearguing a conflict that ended more than three decades ago but has remained an emotional touch point.
[Those are the end credits, not the byline. John Kerry is quoted saying, "Invoking the tragedy of Vietnam to defend the failed policy in Iraq is as irresponsible as it is ignorant of the realities of both of those wars."]
Even the Times grasps what the speech was about and, no, it wasn't Korea.
Now Nixon only called those of us who called for US forces out of Vietnam "bums." Bully Boy has called those arguing OUT OF IRAQ terrorist enablers. (And, check the polls, that's a huge number of the American population Bully Boy's wagging his finger at.) From Jason Easley's "Bush reinterprets history at VFW National Convention speech" (Blogger News Network):
He then said that if the U.S. leaves Iraq, the terrorists win. "If we were to abandon the Iraqi people, the terrorists would be emboldened, and use their victory to gain new recruits. As we saw on September the 11th, a terrorist safe haven on the other side of the world can bring death and destruction to the streets of our own cities. Unlike Vietnam, if we withdraw before the job is done, the enemy will follow us home. And that is why, for the security of the United States
of America, we must defeat them overseas so we do not face them in the United States of America."
The illegal war in Iraq has attracted some elements of al Qaeda into Iraq. It has allowed some Iraqis to see that element as the lesser of two evils. Even the nonsense of the 'success' of the Al Anbar 'model' -- as promoted by the US military flacks -- accepts that premise. But the Iraq War is a breeding ground for hostilities and terrorism. Those Bully Boy's scaring with his nonsense quoted prior should drop the fantasies and grasp that the illegal war has made the US far less safe and, well beyond the borders of Iraq, bred huge hostilities towards the US.
He's arguing that 'terrorists' must be defeated in Iraq to keep them from US shores. The reality is that what many would call 'terrorists' (rightly or wrongly) include those Iraqis who (connected to al Qaeda or not) killed US service members. And yet the US military is now working with many of those same people, bringing them into the fold. That's defeat? They're now getting trained and armed by the US. That's defeated?
Bully Boy wants to have his illegal war and his 'terrorism' on the same plate and his faithful herd will "moo" along behind him. That's the approximately 30% (a little under actually) that refuses to face reality to this day. They're with him to the end. A sex scandal, a same sex scandal, probably wouldn't turn that crowd against him. Where the battle he declared publicly yesterday is going to be fought will be to win the immediate circle after the willfully stupid, that's who he is hoping to influence.
And when his lies do not get called out or when a lengthy piece is written on Korea, the attitude is not, "Thank you for informing us!" Because the reality is you wasted your own time and everyone else's. He's attempting to harness the Ghosts of Vietnam. That's where the battle is now because too many let the right wing get away with their lies and their revisions to the point that many born after have no idea how hugely unpopular that illegal war was. For many born after, it's a murky period and Bully Boy's trying to ride the ignorance (and probably the assumption that so many on the left will not enter the discussion because they have spent decades absenting themselves from it) to bump up support for is own illegal war.
From Michael Tackett (Chicago Tribune):
It struck some historians as odd that the president would try to use Vietnam -- arguably the most divisive issue of the last 40 years -- to rally the nation behind his policy in Iraq.
"If we get into a Vietnam argument, the country is divided, but if you are going to try to sell this concept that the blood is on the American people's hands because we left and were weak-kneed in Asia, that is a very tenuous and inane historical argument," said historian Douglas Brinkley of Rice University.
Brinkley, who wrote both a flattering book on John Kerry during the 2004 presidential campaign and edited the private diaries of President Ronald Reagan, said Reagan was careful to rarely talk about Vietnam because of the passions it inspired.
Reagan shouldn't have worried. Judging by the reaction yesterday, when the right was on the ground and moving to shore up Bully Boy's lies while so many on the left avoided the issue, it would have been an easy move for him. But Reagan was the governor of California during Vietnam so he was probably haunted by the passion of that period and thought it would carry over. As we saw yesterday that really isn't the case and too many allegedly independent voices copied Reagan yesterday by avoiding calling it out. Apparently some in journalism see their roles as politicians. It's especially cute when they want to cite a truth teller (I.F. Stone) while avoiding tackling the thrust of Bully Boy's argument (his lies about Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).
Politicans? We noted John Kerry above. Harry Reid was useless (no surprise). Bill Richardson's campaign released the following statement:
Governor Bill Richardson, campaigning in Nevada, today released a statement in response to a speech by President Bush comparing a withdrawing of U.S. forces from Iraq to America's withdrawal at the end of the Vietnam War.
"The correct conclusion to draw from our experience in Vietnam," said Governor Richardson, "is that dragging out the process of withdrawal will be tragically worse in terms of U.S. lives lost and worse for the Iraqi's themselves in terms of the ultimate instability we will create by staying longer."
In 1968 Nixon ran on a platform of ending the war with honor. It took 7 years to get the last American soldier out of Vietnam. In the meantime, tens of thousands more Americans died. The costs in terms of tragedy in Southeast Asia itself are a matter of historical record. Millions of civilians ultimately died in Vietnam, in Cambodia and the killing fields and millions more ultimately had to flee their homes.
"We have now been in Iraq longer than it took to win World War II," Governor Richardson continued. "My plan for Iraq is designed to end this war with the least possible number of U.S. casualties and with the least damaging effects of Iraqi's reconciliation process. This means getting all of our troops out as quickly and safely as possible. Leaving residual troops in Iraq as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have suggested will only drag out the process to the detriment of all involved. Reconciliation can only occur when the U.S. has completely withdrawn. Everyday, more and more experts are coming to the same conclusion I drew seven months ago. My position has been consistent and unwavering. A fast, safe withdrawal with no residual troops."
In addition, Governor Richardson reiterated his belief that the so-called "surge" in U.S. forces in Iraq has been a failure, and responded to Senator Clinton's change of heart regarding the lack of progress in the war.
"I am pleased that Senator Clinton, today, recognizes that the surge has produced no progress of any long term significance to the Iraq debacle. That is different from what she said yesterday to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. But, it is that audience, who has sacrificed more than any of us, who deserves to hear a clear statement that our sons and daughters and mothers and fathers are not going to be sacrificed because of an irrational commitment to a failed strategy.
The President is asking the country to wait for next month's progress report from General Petraeus. The chances are that report will be just another White House spin job and attempt to justify this war. This has been the bloodiest summer yet -- our troops have done an admirable job at trying to make a bad idea work, but the surge has failed, the war has failed, Bush has failed. It is time to end this war and bring all of our troops home as soon as possible. I'm glad Hillary Clinton has retracted her comments yesterday and has declared the surge a failure today -- but I still haven't gotten an answer to my question -- a peace in Iraq will fail as long as we leave troops behind -- how many would you leave behind? Every other major candidate would leave thousands of US troops in Iraq for an indefinite. I will leave no U.S. forces there. Zero.
The only way out of the Iraq mess is to remove all U.S. troops, and to use that leverage to get the warring parties to resolve their differences, and surrounding Muslim nations to help stabilize the country. Any residual U.S. force reduces the chances for success, and exposes our troops as targets. Our brave troops, and the American people, deserve better."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
the new york times
sheryl gay stolberg
jim rutenberg
bill richardson
sir! no sir!
jane fonda
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Iraq snapshot
Wednesday, August 22, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, over 80 Iraqis are reported today, the US military announces deaths as well including those dead from a helicopter crash, Bully Boy demonstrates -- even before Karl Rove departs on Aug. 31st. -- that he doesn't need a brain and wouldn't use it if he had one, while Nouri al-Maliki hears voices and sees enemies and conspiracies all around him . . .
Starting with war resistance. Camilo Mejia does a reading from his book Road from Ar Ramaid: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia at Different Drummer tomorrow (Thursday) at 6:30 pm. Friday he has events in Syracuse (click here and check out the sidebar). Today, Deepa Fernades interviewed him on WBAI's Wakeupcall Radio.
Deepa Fernades: Can you just talk us through that . . . Those moments of deciding? Of realizing "Okay, I really don't have any other option but the military?" What was going through your mind? Did you actually think, "This is crazy. And what am I signing up for"?
Camilo Mejia: Not really because -- Well, first of all, I would disagree now days that there are no options. I think there are some options. I think we need to fight for more options. But young people really don't need to join the military to get themselves, you know, out of poverty and to get themselves educated. But that was my mentality, certainly that was my mentality when I joined the military.
An important point and one that Iraq Veterans Against the War, of which Mejia was just elected to the board (as chair), will be making with a new campaign: September 17th IVAW will kick off Truth in Recruiting. It's also a point driven home in Army of None, a new book by Aimee Allison and David Solnit -- from Seven Stories press, available at book stores, online, and via Courage to Resist where you can support both the book and a strong organization. In their book, Allison and Solnit offer an easy to comprehend and inspiring look at counter-recruiting including hands on details. Mejia was mentioning how important it is for students to know there are other opportunities besides the military and the authors Allison and Solnit stress that in their book, the need to provide more "information on job-training programs, college financial aid, and youth service projects." There are other opportunities -- however, the US government doesn't spend millions and billions of dollars a year promoting that. The authors also note the opt-out portion of No Child Left Behind and since fall semesters are starting -- parents have exactly six weeks after the fall semester starts to put in writing that the US military is not to be provided with information about their children. This must be done at the start of each school year.
On A12 of today's New York Times, Sarah Arbuzzese reports on the huge drop in the number of African-Americans enlisting in the US military noting "the share of blacks among active-duty recruits declined to 13 percent in 2006 from 20 percent in 2001" and that the Army has seen the most dramatic decline (from 23% of the 2006 Army population to 13%), then the Marines (from 12% to 8%) and then the Navy and Air Forces. African-Americans have been opposed to the illegal war from the start in large numbers and Abruzzese notes that the most recent polling showed 83% of Afican-Americans say "the United States should have stayed out of Iraq." So counter-recruiting efforts are important and do have effects. Many veterans assist and lead those efforts and IVAW, again, will be launching a campaign next month.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.
Turning to Iraq, having already made clear (via the Sunni shut out of the alleged 'alliance') that the White House defined 'benchmarks' two and sixteen were out the window, Nouri al-Maliki made it even more clear that the Sunnis are not welcome in 'liberated' Iraq. KUNA reports that a list has been issued "of wanted people" which includes the names of those "currently involved in financing attacks against the MNF" according to the Interior Ministry's Abdel-Karim Khalaf who has the title "Lieutenant General". The Interior Ministry has long been accused of being run by thugs who are set upon driving Sunnis out but apparently they now have the means and capabilities to track down those "financing attacks" or, at least, to pretend they do in order to continue targeting Sunnis.
On the heels of US Senators Carl Levin and John Warner's announcement that the Iraqi prime minister's "last chance" had arrived, Bully Boy attempted a show stopping performance today by dusting off his Dark Lady lp, popped it on the turntable and sang along with Cher about just being "a Dixie girl who prays/ Some day she'll be a Delta queen/ Find a good man . . . " Possibly that was his way of entertaining the VFW? Speaking of the puppet of the occupation, Nouri al-Maliki, Bully Boy pronounced him "a good guy, a good man". But it wasn't all spangles and head tosses, Bully Boy also wanted to give a history lesson and, suffice to say, he's no Howard Zinn. Mangling every known fact to humanity, Bully Boy came off like a college student dependent upon the "gentleman's C" which, for the record, was how he got through college. As Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted today, Bully Boy's declaring withdrawal from Iraq will cause the violence that followed when the US withdrew from Vietnam -- violence in Camobia and Laos as well as Vietnam. On the issue of Cambodia, in a speech in June, John Pilger addressed Cambodia, "I've made a number of documentaries about Cambodia. The first was Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia. It describes the American bombing that provided the catalyst for the rise of Pol Pot. What Nixon and Kissinger had started, Pol Pot completed -- CIA files alone leave no doubt of that. . . . The [US] troops were withdrawn from Vietnam after four long years. And during that time the United States killed more people in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos with bombs than were killed in the preceding years. And that's what's happening in Iraq." There's Bully Boy's actual historical comparison -- the one he won't make. To read Pilger's speech click here for Dissident Voice, click here for Democracy Now! which offers it in audio, video and text. As Saul Landau (CounterPunch) has noted of the US and Cambodia, "Between March 1969 and May 1970, Kissinger ordered some 3,600 B 52 raids on Cambodia. Kissinger later lied to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee saying he had selected only 'unpopulated' areas of Cambodia for bombing. Somehow, between 600,000 to 800,000 civilians died in these 'unpopulated' areas. This carnage occurred before Pol Pot won power. . . . Kissinger's undeclared war against Cambodia also included overthrowing the government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk. A pro U.S. military coup produced an ineffective regime and subsequently led to the seizure of power by the Khmer Rouge." "Bush is rewriting history -- never his best subject," notes Matthew Rothschild (The Progressive) who also notes, "he's counting the victims of the Khmer Rouge, who came to power only after the U.S. ruined Cambodia. And he's not counting the three million people the U.S. killed in Southeast Asia during the war. Just as he's not counting the 70,000 to 700,000 civilian Iraqis his war has killed, or the one in ten who have been forced to leave their homes."
David Jackson and Matt Kelley (USA Today) cite Vietnam historian Stanley Karnow saying the "historical analogies . . . don't track" because "Vietnam was not a bunch of sectarian groups fighting each other. . . . Does he think we should have stayed in Vietnam?" "We" would not, of course, include Bully Boy who joined the National Guard to stay out of Vietnam and couldn't even complete his duties there. (Note, in the 90s, Bully Boy would make comments indicating he was against the US involvement in Vietnam. That may have been the closest he ever came to making sense.) Joe Allen (ISR) noted Stanley Karnow referring to the invasion of Laos as Tricky Dick and Crooked Hank (Kissinger)'s "drastic new initiative" to distract from losing to the North Vietnamese with Allen noting: "In February 1971, 150,000 South Vietnamese troops invaded Laos in an operation called Lam Son 719. The U.S. Air Force flew 8,000 ariel sorties in support of the invasion. They advanced about a dozen miles into Laos without much opposition, then they were hit with a major counteroffensive by five divisions of the North Vietnamese Army. It immediately became a major rout, with the South Vietnamese Army fleeing back to South Vietnam . . . The Laos debacle proved that even with U.S. air and logistical support, the South Vietnamese Army was a useless fighting force. There was a rapid disintegration of the U.S. position in Vietnam during the remaining two years of the war." (That's from part three of Joe Allen's Vietnam series, click here for part one and here for part two.) Matthew Davis (BBC) analyzes the false comparison and quotes "Iraq analyst at King's College, London" James Denselow: "This smacks of spin, a last throw of the dice designed to pre-empt the anti-war lobby and justify the US's continued presence. This is an issue of how America goes to war, and how it gets out of it. It is rare for a leader in a democracy to take a country into war, and to take the country out." Click here for Thom Shanker's laughable 'Bully Boy is right and look Council on Foreign Relations and a host of War Hawks say so!" And no link to The Nation because John Nichols is apparently representing the entire magazine and most of the timid left who refuse to call out the Vietnam nonsense (Nichols zooms in Korea. Way to go, we'll all go home and watch M*A*S*H!). This is how the Vietnam revisionary history took hold to begin with, people smart enough to know it needed calling out refusing to do so. (In fairness, Nichols is apparently the only working at the magazine today.) Check instead the piece by Ron Fullwoood (OpEdNews). Or The UnCapitalist Journal which notes, "Incapable of admitting utter catastrophe in waging a 21st Century war of aggression that has left the U.S. armed forces debilitated and incapable of effectively fighting even a single theater war against a real enemy, and unable to face up to the wreck visited upon the fiscal house of the nation by irresponsible tax cuts for the rich coupled with unending, uncontrolled costs of vaporous war against a stateless band of criminal maniacs, the President of the United States of America is about to go all the way back and blame Richard Milhouse Nixon for this miserable failure of a Presidency."
Though the puppet has made no known comment on Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia, Carol J. Williams (Los Angeles Times) reports he's spitting mad over talk that he needs to go declaring, "No one has the right to place timetables on the Iraq government. It was elected by its people." Setting the issue of the election aside, al-Maliki wasn't elected by the people and should have been tossed out in May of 2006 by the Iraq Constitution since he failed to meet the deadline to put together his cabinet (after missing it, for those who've forgotten, al-Maliki tossed out the Constitutional deadline and created his own deadline -- which he also missed). Paul Tait and Mohammad Zargham (Reuters) report that al-Maliki declared of US criticism (the reporters note it wasn't "clear if he was referring to Bush or [US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan] Crocker"), "These statements do not concern us a lot. We will find many around the world who will support us in our endeavour." Really? Because the puppet was whining (when the US Congress was speaking of withdrawal at the end of spring) that the US forces couldn't leave (though poll after poll demonstrates the Iraqi people want them to). The puppet who never met a conspiracy he couldn't latch on to also began seeing a plot caused by the trip he's currently on, "Those who make such statements are bothered by our visit to Syria. We will pay no attention. We care for our people and our constitution and can find friends elsewhere." "Our"? It's his trip. Is the "we" also al-Maliki speaking of himself in the plural form? While al-Maliki gives a performance to rival Mary Todd Lincoln, Robert H. Reid (AP) reports that members of Iraq's Parliament "lack the votes to replace him" (maybe not) and that the White House fears no one else "could do a better job". So Iraq's stuck with al-Maliki the way the Democratically controlled US Congress tries to stick the American people with Bully Boy? Further calling Reid's reporting skills into question, he cites War Hawk Kenny Pollack -- who's been so 'right' about everything from the start (that was sarcasm). Jonathan Steele (Guardian of London via ICH) observes of al-Maliki's outburst, "In one sense, the crisis only confirms what has been clear for months. Whoever sits in the Green Zone in nominal charge of Iraq's government has little power or authority beyond its walls. Bush's political project for Iraq looks more fragile than ever."
Fragile? In some of today's violence . . .
Bombings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad car bombing claimed 1 life (five wounded), a Baghdad mortar attack that wounded two, a truck bombing in the Salahuddin Province that killed 12 (twenty-five wounded), a car bombing in Tikrit that claimed 1 life (police officer, three more wounded), a Kirkuk car bombing that wounded one police officer and a roadside bombing near Flaifel left four members wounded. Reuters reports 6 killed (thrity-five wounded) in a motorcycle bombing in Muqdadiya, 20 dead (fifty wounded) in a tanker bombing in Baiji. The Baiji truck bombing death toll rose to 45 dead (eighty wounded), CBS and AP report. Carol J. Williams (Los Angeles Times) notes the death toll has climbed to 51 and that it "leveled" Baiji's "main police station" as well as causing "neighboring buildings" to collapse while noting the toll contains "such high casualties because most residents do their shopping in late morning and the station was located on a main commerical street."
Shootings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Ahmed Hassan was shot dead in Al Riath.
Stabbings?
Reuters reports, "Armed men stabbed a female professor to death in the Shi'ite city of Kufa".
Corpses?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 15 corpses discovered in Baghdad. Counting corpses that is 88 deaths and that's not all of the deaths today.
The US military announced: "Fourteen Task Force Lightning Soldiers died when the aircraft they were riding went down in northern Iraq Wednesday. Two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters were on a night operation when one of the aircraft crashed. That helicopter had been carrying four crewmembers and 10 passengers. Initial indications are that the aircraft experienced a mechanical malfunction." Megan Greenwell (Washington Post) notes at least 63 helicopters have crashed (my term) in the illegal war with at least 36 being "struck by enemy fire". CBS and AP note that the deadliest helicopter crash in the illegal war took place on January 26, 2005 "when a CH-53 Sea Stallion transport helicopter went down in a sandstorm in western Iraq, killing 31 U.S. troops." Like that helicopter crash, this one too "is under investigation." The January 26th helicopter crashed outside Ar Rutbah.
The US military wasn't done -- they announced: "A Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier was killed and three others were wounded during combat operations in an area west of the Iraqi capital Aug. 22." Today's deaths brought the total number of US service members killed in the illegal war to 3722 with 64 of those from the month of August thus far (ICCC).
And finally, in media news, Jeff Zeleny and the New York Times have smeared the peace movement with a big-old-fat lie. Yesterday, Senator Barack Obama (and 2008 Democratic presidential hopeful) delivered a speech to the VFW where he declared, "The graves of our veterans are hallowed ground. When men and women who die in service to this country are laid to rest, there must be no protests near the funerals. Its' wrong and it needs to stop." Obama was referring to the 'vangical fringe that is the gay hating Fred Phelps crowd. The extreme right wing set. As Cedric's "New York Times lies again!" and Wally's "THIS JUST IN! NEW YORK TIMES LIES ABOUT PEACE MOVEMENT!" noted yesterday, somehow New York Times' Jeff Zeleny heard that and decided Obama was talking about the peace movement: "He also said it was wrong for anti-war activists to protest at military funerals, declaring: 'It needs to stop'." The print version of the story ran in this morning's paper on A11 and does not contain the error/lie; however, the story is still up online at the paper's website and has not been corrected. How many times is the Times going to smear the peace movement during this illegal war?
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