Thursday, March 08, 2012

Iraq snapshot

Thursday, March 8, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, Josh Rogin is an embarrassment whore and Foreign Policy is not about journalism,  Iraqi women reject the government spin, the US Congress hears about burial issues, was Dennis Kucinich's Tuesday loss a great blow to the left, and more.
 
In 2009 and 2010, US House Rep John Hall was the Chair of the House Veterans Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and memorial Affairs.  With others on the Subcommittee, including former US House Rep Steve Buyer, they raised many important issues. We'll drop back to September 24, 2009 to note one example:
 
During the first panel, US House Rep Steve Buyer opened with a visual display showing various cemeteries.   Normandy American Cemetery, Arlington National Cemetery, Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.  These were "beautiful" and up to standard.  He then went to a national cemetery run by the Department of the Interior, Andersonville National Cemetery.  Pointing to the dingy, dirty headstones, "This should not matter that this is the marker of someone who died in the Civil War.  It shouldn't matter.  It shouldn't matter if it was someone who died in the Revolution or someone who died that's interned in Mexico City."  He then "So when you said in your testimony that you gently, finely clean the markers, well that's going to take you a lot of time.  This is not a standard for which we should have in America. I think Mr. Cleland, if you saw that in one of yours, you would just freak out."  Buyer explained that he complained about the weeds and the result was they pulled out everything, including the grass.
 
If you can't take the heat and embarrassment from the shoddy work noted above, what do you do?  Maybe you do like the National Park Service did too and skip a Congressional hearing.  The Subcommittee Chair noted that they were invited but they decided they wouldn't attend today.  The first panel was made up of government officials who were willing to attend, the Veteran Affairs Dept's Steven Muro (Under Secretary for the National Cemetery Administration), the Pentagon's Kathryn Condon (Executive Director of Army and National Cemeteries Program) and the American Battle Monuments Commissions' Deputy Secretary Raymond Wollman.
 
 
In the 2010 mid-terms, control of the House flipped to the Republicans and some House members chose not to seek re-election and others did not win their re-election races (that applies to Buyer and Hall).   US House Rep Jon Runyan is now the Chair of the Subcommittee and Jerry McNerney is the Ranking Member.
 
 
Chair Jon Runyan:  We are here today to examine the current state of our final resting place for our nation's heroes.  These cemeteries and monuments span across our country and the entire world: from my own District in New Jersey with Beverly National Cemetery; to across the Atlantic in Normandy, France; or across the Pacific with Clarke Veterans Cemetery in the Philipines.  Some of these cemeteries instantly bring to mind the triumph of courage in conflicts fought around the globe for liberty and freedom.  Others hold memories of bravery now known only to God and those who died on the field of battle.  Others hold memories of bravery now known only to God and those who died on the field of battle.  Yet each one of these national shrines has this in common: They are all honored tributes to our service men and women now resting in peace. 
 
He would go on to explain that audits reveal more than "240 mismarked or unmarked graves and 8 veterans or their loved ones buried in the wrong place.  Again, this was not a failing of just one national cemetery, but at 13 NCA cemeteries nationwide.  Ladies and gentlemen, there is a pattern here and I find it totally unacceptable."
 
The following exchange was typical of the responses offered in the hearing.
 
Chair Jon Runyan: I want to start with Under Secretary Muro.  Currently NCA is performing 39 raise and realignment projects.  Could you discuss what is being done to make sure the problems related to the prior raise and realignment projects are not repeated?
 
Steven Muro:  Thank you for the question, sir.  The first thing we've done is ensure that the headstones are not taken from the grave sight. So they're maintained on the grave sight.  The second thing is we're requiring the COR -- which is the Contracting Officer's Representative at the site -- to do a daily check at the end of the day at the site before they leave to ensure that the headstones are on the correct grave sight.
 
Chair Jon Runyan: Were you able to identify all of the contractors who were involved in all of the previous raise and realignment projects where the errors occurred that actually uncovered and started this national audit.
 
Steven Muro:  Yes, we were able to uncover the contractors that had done the work.  Some of them had done multiple cemeteries and we didn't have an issue at other cemeteries  but we were able to identify them. 
 
Chair Jon Runyan:  That -- And what are you doing to ensure that none of these -- none of these contractors involved during the initial errors are involved in the future raise and realignments?  And are you going to reach out to the same ones or do we have to make sure that obviously we have the system of checks and balances and that in there?  Because, I mean, rewarding bad behavior  sometimes becomes, unfortunately, a bad pattern around here.
 
Steven Muro:  Two things we've done.  Some of them didn't rebid other contracts.  But the ones that have?  We have been watching them at the other cemeteries where they didn't have problems.  Plus, if they have a site now, we're making sure that they're doing it --
 
Chair Jon Runyan: So you're still -- you're still offering them?
 
Steven Muro: Unfortunately, if they did an error and we didn't catch it, it became our responsibility once they left and we signed off on it.  So that's where we're holding our employees accountable for that issue.
 
Chair Jon Runyan: But you're still offering the same contractors --
 
Steven Muro:  Actually, most of the contractors that did the first rounds aren't in the business anymore.  A lot of them couldn't keep up with the standard that we set and have not rebid their contracts.
 
Chair Jon Runyan: What is the process of accountabily once personnel are identified who directly led to some of the failings uncovered by the national audit?
 
Steven Muro:  Whenever -- Whenever an aerror is found at the national cemeteries, it's reported up through the chain and then we -- we double check to make sure everything they think they found, we do ask differet questions to verify.  Then when we are sure that it is an error, we make sure we advise Congress of the error and this committee.  And we also work with the families, we contact the families -- where there are families available -- and we talk to the families.  If it's just the headstone, once we move it -- We advise them  before we move it and after we've moved it that it's been corrected. And then if it's cremated remains or a body that needs to be relocated -- the eight that we did, we contact the family and we have a funeral director there.  If the family wishes us  to use the original funeral director there -- if they're still in business we do.  Otherwise we hire a local one from the area.
 
Chair Jon Runyan:  But to the personal accountability, there's nothing being done there?
 
Steven Muro: Yes, there is.  We're holding those employees there are still employed there accountable for the error and for not catching the error.
 
Chair Jon Runyan:  You have any examples of that?
 
Steven Muro:  We're in the process of doing the investigation to take the appropriate adminstrative action on those employees.
 
If you're not feeling like accountability is taking place, you're not alone.  Runyan's expressions throughout were often of disbelief.  And what of Ranking Member Jerry McNerney?  He noted that this was a follow up to the September 24, 2009 hearing and he would also note that "the value of the current $300 burial allowance and $300 plot allowance for qualifying veterans has diminished as funeral and burial costs have increased -- negatively affecting the survivors left behind."
 
He is correct.  However, if you go back to our snapshot of that Septemeber 24, 2009 hearing, one of the first things you'll find is this: "Subcommittee Chair Hall also noted that the VA's $300 for a funeral plot and $300 for burial does not begin to cover the costs."
 
This was known in 2009.  It's three years later.  Why has this not been addressed?
 
One new detail that did come up was when the Department of Defense's Kathyrn Condon informed the Subcommittee that the average wait time is 98 days for the burial of a veteran not killed in action.   98 days seems like a very long time.
 
 
Back in 2009, then public editor of the New York Times Clark Hoyt weighed in on the issue of anonymous sources. He noted that the paper's "policy says anonymous sources should be used only as 'a last resort when the story is of compelling public interest and the information is not available any other way'."  Does Foreign Policy not have a policy on anonymous sourcing?
 
"This is tough enough without paid advocates making it worse" is what Josh Rogin presents "one official" in the government telling him.  Are there any standards at Foreign Policy.  Is Josh Rogin just allowed write any damn thing?  He's now, yet again, attacking Camp Ashraf and this time he's gong after their public supporters. And the poor little White House and State Dept are just so so so worn down by these awful, awful advocates. 
 
Not only was the quote unneeded, not only did it violate the basic policies (in journalism) on anonymous sourcing, it also part of yet another catty attack on Camp Ashraf from someone who's been allowed to launch many already.
 
Here's another reality for Josh Rogin:  If the United Nations is monitoring Camp Liberty -- where some residents of Camp Ashraf are being relocated -- then you talk to the UN to confirm that. 
 
Unless you're a an idiot, you do not run with this, "While there are some legitimate problems at the camp, the ["Obama administration"] official admitted, the U.N. has been monitoring Camp Liberty's water sewage, and food systems on a daily basis and the condtions are better than the MEK is portraying."  How the hell is that sourcing?
 
Did Josh ever get his work fact checked?  Or did the little punk cry and piss his briefs to get his way with every editor he ever had?  The White House is not monitoring by that statement; therefore, the White House cannot tell you what is or isn't going on.  If you want to talk -- on the record or off -- about what the UN has found, you go to a UN source.  This is basic.  And what Josh has offered is bulls**t.
 
If you doubt it, this section of his 'report' is a character attack and you don't allow anonymous officials to launch character attacks:
 
"The Americans who ought to know better and claim to be on the side of good solutions are really damaging it. Either they are too lazy or too arrogant to actually do their homework. They don't spend the time to learn facts, they just pop off. They accept the MEK line without question and then they posture," the official said. "We have a plan that has a chance to work and the Iraqis want it to work. The MEK ... it's not clear. And in this situation they are being badly advised by the people whose names appear in these ads."
 
I know Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, Patrick Kennedy, Ed Rendell, John Lewis and Evan Bayh.  (I know Lee Hamilton but I loath him.) They're among the public advocates for Camp Ashraf residents to be treated fairly.
 
It's strange because I spoke to two about this little 'report' from Joshy Posh and, thing is, he didn't try to get a comment from them.  He just, like a good little whore, wrote down what the government wanted him to write down -- no questions asked.  Whores don't ask questions, they just take your money.
 
The White House has refused to honor international law.  Last week, we called out Hillary for making an idiot of herself and the US terrorist list by stating that whether or not Camp Ashraf residents were taken off that list would depend upon how they 'behaved' as the Iraqi government relocated them -- the same government that's already twice attacked them and -- as the United Nations publicly acknowledges -- the same government that's killed at least 49 Camp Ashraf residents.
 
No, that's not how you determine terorrism.  If Josh Rogin weren't such a little whore, he'd be writing about that, he'd be pursuing that.  Instead, he launches another attack on a group of people who are defenseless.  And, at some point, the argument's going to be made -- and I could do it right now and do it in terms of the law -- that Camp Ashraf residents aren't on the terrorist list.  The MEK is.  The MEK is on it for activites that don't involve Camp Ashraf.  When that argument gets made, the White House has even less to hide behind.
 
Somehow the State Dept refusing to comply with a court order from 2010 to conduct and complete a review of the status of the MEK isn't a concern to a whore like Josh Rogin.  It's not even worth mentioning to him.
 
Camp Ashraf residents are protected under international law, that's reality.  Josh Rogin doesn't have to like them, doesn't have to support whatever it is they support.  All he has to do is recognize the law.  Once he does that he can respect or reject the law.  But there is nothing in his mental midget ditherings to ever imply, infer or openly suggest that the idiot knows the first thing he's writing about.  But he's so very good at working in every point the White House wants made.
 
Here's what so damn embarrassing about Josh Posh's latest crap-fest, the White House is complaining that citizens -- that's what Howard Dean and company are -- are being active in politics.  They're using their First Amendment rights.  And that's what has the White House bitching, whining and moaning.  They need to grow the hell up.  In a democracy, what they're facing right now should happen on every issue and if they hadn't dragged their feet on this issue, maybe they wouldn't be fighting such a strong push now.
 
It's hard to tell when Josh is lying because he's so damn stupid.  But at one point, when he's listing the 'paid advocates' and their activities, he goes off about sitting in on Congressional hearings.  Those aren't paid advocates and that didn't start this year, it didn't start last year.  It's been going on forever and maybe if Josh Rogin didn't take swallow everything the White House sticks in his mouth, he'd know that.  Then again, maybe not.  As I said, it's always had to tell when he's lying or when he's just showing how very stupid he is.
 
I've noted this before, I'll note it again before someone wonders, I have not received any money from Camp Ashraf or MEK or anything to do with them.  I don't take money for things like that.  I don't take money period.  I don't take money for speaking -- I pay my own travel, I pay my own lodging.  Nor do I speak on behalf of Camp Ashraf. The law is the law and who knew Foreign Policy would decide that international law wasn't to be respected? 
 
Today was International Women's Day.  Salam Faraj (AFP) reports that Iraqi women refused to be silent puppets in their government's attempt to distort the record and use them as props.  While the Baghdad-government attempted to spin, Iraqi women gathered together for their own conference.  Hanaa Edwar was among the brave women gathered to tell the truth and she tells AFP, "Iraqi women suffer marginalisation and all kinds of violence, including forced marriages, divorces and harassment, as well as restrictions on their liberty, their education, their choice of clothing, and their social life." It's an important article and, if you use any link in this snapshot, please use that link.
 
We covered International Women's Day this morning.  The only thing to add to that is that Iraqi women are very strong and it's shame they have to be so strong yet again.  Their countries been attacked so many times, they've had to live through crippling sanctions, the US-picked ruler does nothing to improve the lives of Iraqis (via jobs or basic services) and the US assisted the "brain drain" -- where large portions of Iraq's educated class left the country -- by installing and building up theocratic thugs.  Not only that, the US government actively sought to undercut Iraqi women when the country's Constitution was being written. On top of all that, they have to deal with bombings, with shootings, with threats, with the never-ending attacks just for being a woman. 
 
That they get up each day and start the struggle all over is a testatment to their spirit and strength and they are surely (once again) making the country a better place for their children. Hopefully, when their children are adults, the US will not again attack Iraq in an illegal war thereby destroying all the hard earned progress these women are and will be making possible.  They are Iraq's heart and soul, its leaders and its dreamers.
 
 
 
 
 
Turning to the US, Tuesday in Ohio, US House Reps Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Katpur faced off against one another in a primary.  Both incumbent Democrats ended up in the same district due to redistricting.  Only one could run for a spot representing the newly designed district in November.  Marcy won the primary and will go on to compete for the vote this fall.  Dennis cannot represent Ohio now althogh there are rumors he might attempt to run in Washington state.  Marcy and Dennis both represented their constitutents.  In what follows, we're not discussing Dennis Kucinich as "your Congress member" but as the national politician -- a spot he actively sought.
 
 
Theo Anderson (In These Times) wonders who the next Dennis will be and thinks/hopes it will be US House Rep Tammy Badlwin.  I would hope not.  I was not impressed with National Dennis.  National Dennis did vote against the 2002 Iraq Authorization and applause for that.  But so what?  Did he filibuster to end the war?  No.  In 2008, former US Senator Mike Gravel would repeatedly explain how you can filibuster to stop the authorization vote for the war spending.  Dennis didn't do that.  Did he do anything?  He spoke. Often and well.  Little else.
 
In 2004, he ran for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.  This is, as Rebecca's explained many times, is why I truly do not care for National Dennis.  After he failed to make much of a dent in terms of votes, he assured his supporters he would make an impact on the platform and on the convention and blah blah blah.  Rebecca and I were at the 2004 DNC convention and dealt with the saddest non-physically injured person at a convention we've ever seen -- a Kucinnich supporter who couldn't believe Dennis would sell them out.  Dennis did what was best for Dennis.  That's all he ever did. Paul D'Amato (International Socialsit Review) analyzed Kucinich's sell-out of beliefs and principals and, yes, supporters at the 2004 DNC convention and concluded:
 
 
This is indeed the role of all left-leaning Democratic candidates. George McGovern in 1968 and Jesse Jackson in 1988, to mention a couple, did the same thing: corraling millions of votes by making a Left or populist appeal, and then handing those votes to the centrist party choice at convention time. The process is predictable. First the Left-Democrat presents his candidacy as one that can push the party to the Left and pressure it to take on issues it otherwise would not. Then, on the fateful convention day, it is revealed that the dynamic is actually the opposite: the party co-opts the Left, drags it to the right, and neuters it. In the end, it has absolutely no influence on the party's platform or trajectory. All the talk about campaigning for the Democrat as being "part of the movement" for labor rights, against war, for women's rights, and so on, is revealed to be a lie. The truth is that backing the Democrat is aimed at defusing the fight for a genuine alternative. Those who realize this become demoralized and depressed, and when the next presidential election roles around, a new crop of enthusiasts are found who can be convinced that this is the "most important election of your lifetime," and the whole process begins again. It is a seamless trap.
This is a textbook case of how to kill any attempt to build a third-party alternative that really represents working-class interests. The Mariah Williamses are right to believe that we have virtually one pro-corporate party. And it is the job of the Dennis Kuciniches to make sure that the Mariah Williamses fail to break from that party by wagging a left tail behind the mainstream dog.
 
 
 
That was 2004.  Then came his attempt to run for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination.  And we treated him fairly here (check the archives) despite the fact that I can't stand National Dennis.  He was the peace candidate, he swore.  But right from the start, he proved it wasn't a real campaign.  Before the caucus vote in Iowa, well before it, he was telling his supporters to vote for Barack Obama.  They would support Dennis in the first round and then go over to Barack.  Mike Gravel was a peace candidate.  You could make the case that Bill Richardson or John Edwards were.  But Barack Obama had voted for every Iraq War measure that came before him.  And Dennis knew it.  So it was offensive that way.  It was also offensive in the "I release you minions" manner.  But what it really did was demonstrate that Dennis wasn't a real candidate.  You don't do that if you're a real candidate.  And Dennis had sworn he was going to fight for every vote.  Then he wanted to whine that the networks were excluding him.  You competed in Iowa by giving your supporters away to another campaign.  You're not a real candidate.  The networks were under no obligation to cover him.  I love Rosenne Barr.  But with her announcing that she wants Jill Stein to win the Green Party nomination, that says to me, "You're not a real candidate."  And that's fine.  But time is limited as are resources and there's no reason to cover candidates who aren't trying to win the nomination.  It short changes those who actually are trying to run.
 
There have been many key issues since Barack Obama was sworn in as US President in January 2009.  One of them was ObamaCare.  The US needs to address health care.  From the left, many of us believe the only way to control costs is to supply universal, single-payer health care and the easiest way to get that is to lower the age for Medicare.  (You can raise the age on CHIPS and other state programs that cover children.)  If you do not have the guts or the votes to go to single-payer system immediately, you go incremental with Medicare lowering the age ten years.  You up the age for the children's health programs and pretty soon you're dealing with a 15 or 20 year gap and, of course, it is only fair to everyone that those people be covered so you do one more incremental and you've basically got everyone covered.  That's simple and you're not selling the American people on a new plan, you're just expanding one that already has a strong record of serving seniors.
 
That's nothing like what Barack proposed.  Though he used the buzzword "universal health care" at the DNC in Denver in 2008, he wasn't going to provide that and he hasn't.  What did he do?  Prior to ObamaCare, you could purchase insurance or not.  Now you have to puchase it.  He pushed a law the Congress passed (which hopefully the Supreme Court will toss out) forces all Americans to buy insurance.  It turns you into consumers of the insurance companies, it leads you like lambs to slaughter.  It is of no help to anyone.  Strangely enough, when Mitt Romeny pulled this crap as governor, my own local Pacifica, KPFA, couldn't shut up about how wrong that was.  Despite the fact that we're in the Bay Area of California and what Massachusetts does really shouldn't be our biggest concern.  But damned if Philip Maldari and the rest couldn't let go of this story and what a fraud and rip-off it was.  Strangely enough when Barack pimps it, KPFA will not allow critics of the plan on the air to voice the exact same arguments they did when RomneyCare passed.
 
What does this have to do with Dennis?  National Dennis wanted -- and got -- national news stories when he vowed he would not vote for ObamaCare.  And in November 2009, he voted "no" and issued a press release which included the following:
 
 
We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care.  We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are.  But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays and deductibles they are simply trying to make a profit.  That is our system.

"Clearly, the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution.  They are driving up the cost of health care.  Because their massive bureaucracy avoids paying bills so effectively, they force hospitals and doctors to hire their own bureaucracy to fight the insurance companies to avoid getting stuck with an unfair share of the bills.  The result is that since 1970, the number of physicians has increased by less than 200% while the number of administrators has increased by 3000%.  It is no wonder that 31 cents of every health care dollar goes to administrative costs, not toward providing care.  Even those with insurance are at risk. The single biggest cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. is health insurance policies that do not cover you when you get sick.  

"But instead of working toward the elimination of for-profit insurance, H.R. 3962 would put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care.  In H.R. 3962, the government is requiring at least 21 million Americans to buy private health insurance from the very industry that causes costs to be so high, which will result in at least $70 billion in new annual revenue, much of which is coming from taxpayers.  This inevitably will lead to even more costs, more subsidies, and higher profits for insurance companies -- a bailout under a blue cross.  
 
 
And despite that when it was time to vote in March 2010, despite vowing he would stay a firm no, Dennis took a plane ride with Barack and suddenly changed his vote.  Jeff Zeleny and Robert Pear (New York Times) noted his Mach 17, 2010 announcement that he would vote "yes" for it and that, "In an interview five days ago, Mr. Kucinich said he could not support the legislation and dismissed suggestions that his vote would derail the Democratic health care agenda."
 
That is Dennis Kucinich.  Dennis talks a big game but in the end he always does what's best for himself.  How is it a loss not to have Dennis in the House of Representatives?  (Again, he served his constitutents very well.  I'm speaking of National Dennis.)  Isn't this 'talk big but have no spine' exactly why many of us on the left were upset with a large number of Democrats?  Didn't we hate seeing them cave in over and over?
 
What did Dennis accomplish either them getting national press for himself -- press that often portrayed him as a joke?
 
When he raised serious issues -- no, not his lawsuit against the Congressional cafe, think the remarks about Barack's Libyan War being in violation of the War Powers Act -- he was kooky Dennis.  How much did he undermine the right positions just by supporting them?  That's a serious question and someone should seriously explore it.
 
He voted against the Iraq War.  He was a critics of the Iraq War.  That's all you can say.  He didn't use his office to end the war.  Time and again, he caved and, time and again, he provided cover for the most craven acts of the Democratic Party.
 
I'm sorry that Dennis and Marcy had to go up against each other.  But this idea that the US Congress just lost Russ Feingold isn't accurate.  Russ did stand up and Russ made serious arguments and conducted himself in a serious manner so that when he took a stand -- like opposing the PATRIOT Act -- it registered as something other than, "Oh, look why the kooky flibbertigibbet did today!"  The Department of Peace was ridiculed by many this week.  It's something Dennis supported.
 
However, contrary to what some of those snarking though, that idea did not originate with Dennis Kucinich and has been around forever and a day -- it was popularized in 1793 by a free African-American. It's an important part of Black history and I wonder if knowing that history would have prevented some of the snark?  At Third Estate Sunday Review last October, it was addressed by Jim, Cedric and Ann:
 
 
Jim: I think it was the fact that The Nation could be leading the way towards something other than making excuses for Barack. And they're not leading. We're all on a treadmill, jogging in place, never getting forward. And that was driven home, to me, with the information -- I didn't know this before -- that a Secretary of Peace had been proposed as far back as 1793. That's 17 years after the start of the American Revolution.

Cedric: Benjamin Banneker. That's the person who proposed it in 1793. And that it was proposed in 1793 was as much a revelation to me as the fact that Banneker was a Black man. I had teachers who made a big deal out of Black History Month and really felt like I had a strong grounding in Black History. Obviously, that's not the case and I need to start supplementing what I was taught in school.

Ann: Well most of Cedric's Black history reading is on people from the Civil Rights Era. Such as Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth whose passing Ava and C.I. recently noted in "TV: That Bunny Won't Hop." There's a lot of history.

Cedric: There is but I think Banneker's contribution is sort of swept to the side the same way MLK's calls for peace, an end to war and economic justice get swept to the side.
 
It's a serious idea and it has been for centuries.  It's also an idea popularized by a great American, consider him a founding father, certainly so in terms of information -- he published an almanac. And it's not idea that should be ridiculued -- especially considering all the wars that US has been in lately.  But the fact that 'kooky' Kucinich is championing it, leaves it open to ridicule. 
 
I realize that those who speak out will always be targeted with ridicule.  But you can bring it on yourself.  He didn't conduct himself in a serious fashion and he was always eager to grab the spotlight by laughing at himself. Cynthia McKinney speaks out.  She is ridiculed for it.  She never plays to the press by pulling "Look how stupid I am" the way Dennis did and does.  Doing that does not make you look like a "good sport," it makes you look like an idiot because people are calling you one and you're attempting to get their approval by agreeing with them.   I don't see his departure from Congress as a great loss for the peace movement.  Cynthia McKinney's departure from Congress?  That was a huge loss.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Posted by at

Women of the one world

For walks and talks through rain, wind, sun, star
Women of the one world, we oppose war
Women of the one world, dancers, sweepers, bookkeepers
We take you to the movies, take you to the movies
Women of the one world, one world
-- "Women Of The One World," written by Laura Nyro, first appears on her Laura: Live at the Bottom Line

Today is International Women's Day so for about 30 seconds various outlets that ignore women or scorn them all year round will pretend to care or at least bite their tongue. You'll also find a lot of women who ignore women all year round in their rush to come off as 'serious' and 'one of the boys' suddenly hop on a soapbox to pretend they care about women (as opposed to about "a woman" -- themselves). Some will pull off the deception better than Alexandra Zimmerman who gives herself and Policy Mic a bad name with her hastily pulled together piece on Iraq. From the opening, she's flaunting ignorance, "The Government of Iraq is fully committed to improving women’s rights in Iraq." Know what, Queen Bee Alex, a government "fully committed to improving women's rights" would not have 4 female ministers in the Cabinet in 2006 and only 1 in 2012. Nor would it have provided less than $2,000 a month budget for the Women's Ministry. In fact, we could go over all the ways in which the government of Iraq isn't committed -- fully or otherwise -- to improving women's rights. In September of last year, Sonali Kolhatkar (Uprising Radio) spoke with the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq's Houzan Mahmoud about realities in her country for women:

Houzan Mahmoud: Plus women were actually the first casualties of the war. You know, they lost jobs, they lost their family members -- husbands, brothers. And they have no one. The government doesn't really care about all these people who have no jobs, who have no homes to live in. You have a huge number of women being trafficked both internally and externally for prostitution in trafficking. The government doesn't even do anything about that. So -- And plus, the Islamic groups, Shi'ite political groups, have gained power as well as in opposition. They are reinforcing the most strict and conservative norms in the society and particularly against women forcing them to wear burqas and hijabs It is really -- As I said, women lost even those basic rights they had before.

In addition to being International Women's Day, today is also another day in Women's History Month. MADRE has a new Iraq project:


The US may have declared the war in Iraq to be over. But we won’t abandon our sisters. We will stand with mothers to care for children and raise safe and healthy families. MADRE is working in partnership with the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) to meet the needs of families trying to rebuild their lives in Haweejah.

When OWFI called a community meeting in Haweeja to discuss the health crisis, an overwhelming 500 people attended. With MADRE’s assistance, OWFI will provide humanitarian aid, medical assistance and counseling to families whose children are afflicted by birth defects, pediatric cancers and other health threats.

The food, water and medical aid provided by OWFI and MADRE will help families cope with the crises of war, poverty and compromised health. Counseling will help families support one another as they raise children with lifelong disabilities.

The Results:

  • Families whose livelihoods were destroyed by war will receive vital humanitarian aid, such as food and clean water.
  • Medical equipment and supplies will help families care for children born with birth defects and other health problems. Children with physical disabilities will be provided with wheelchairs, braces and other mobility aids.
  • Families raising children with disabilities will learn to support each other through peer counseling sessions, where they can share their challenges and experiences. These sessions will also help to counter discrimination against people living with disabilities.


Al Sabaah notes Iraqi women today endure forced marriages, that Iraq has no female ambassador among all of its ambassadors to other countries, that there are an estimated 2 million widows in Iraq and that a large number of Iraqi women are homeless. In addition, "Iraqi women and girls are subjected to conditions of trafficking within the country and in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Iran, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia for forced prostituion and sexual exploitation within households. Women are lured into forced prostitution through false promises of work. Women are also subjected to involuntary servitude through forced marriages, often as payment of a debt, and women who flee such marriages are often more vulnerable to being subjected to further forced labor or sexual servitude." That's the US State Dept, from June of last year with their report on sexual tafficking.

Iraq has a long history of feminism that includes the first women's magazine in the region, Layla, back in 1923. Women fought for and won a great deal in Iraq over the 20th century -- much of which was destroyed when the US launched the Iraq War. Iraqi women continue fighting for their rights. One notable Iraqi woman won a peace award last year. September 14th the International Peace Bureau announced that one of the two winners of this year's Sean MacBride Peace Prize was Hanaa Edwar:

["]Born 1946 in Basra, Iraq, Hanaa Edwar became an activist already as a student. She joined the Iraqi Women's League while very young, and was arrested after the Ba'athist-led coup in 1963. Escaping from prison, she moved to Germany to represent the Iraqi Women's League at the Women's International Democratic Federation in the 1970s.
["]After this period she moved to Lebanon and then Syria, and became a strong activist in the struggle against the dicatorship. She also joined the resistance movement in Iraqi Kurdistan for three years, but not in a military position. Forced to migrate again, she formed the Iraqi Al-Amal Association. This was located first in Damascus, and then from 1996 the organization settled in Erbil, Kurdistan. After the fall of the regime in 2003 she moved the head office to Baghdad.
Hanna's name has become synonymous with the defence of human rights, with a long track record of activities. She has been instrumental in the formation of the Iraqi Women's Network, made up of more than 80 organizations. One of her most recent campaigns was lodging a law suit at the High Court of Iraq against the Speaker of Parliament for acting unconstitutionally to hinder the formation of a government after the last election. This campaign became known as the Civil Initiative for the Preservation of the Constitution. Her action at the Human Rights Conference in Baghdad on 5 June 2011, to defend civil society organizations and to demand the release of four arrested young people, highlighted the increased attacks on civil liberties in general in Iraq. Her protest led to the release of four youths.
IPB's Co-President Tomas Magnusson comments: "Hanaa Edwar is an extraordinary woman activist, well-known in the whole of Iraq for her strong positions in the slow moving process among politicians. She is brave, and under constant threats to her life, but not slowing down in any way her mission. She is a most worthy laureate, determined and energetic, with an impressive record of activities to strengthen human rights and democracy, to develop civil society, and to defend women's rights. She has been an outspoken and tireless challenger of the ruling parties, the Ba'athists and male-dominated politics in general."["]

December 21, 2010, when Nouri announced his Cabinet, there were no women in it -- even the Minister of Women was a man. Hanaa Edwar publicly observed, "They call it a national (power) sharing government. So where is the sharing? Do they want to take us back to the era of the harem? Do they want to take us back to the dark ages, when women were used only for pleasure?"



Beat down in the market, stoned to death in the plaza
Raped on the hillside under the gun from LA to Gaza
A house made of cardboard living close to the rail
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail

And I feel the witch in my veins
I feel the mother in my shoe
I feel the scream in my soul
The blood as I sing the ancient blue
They burned in the millions
I still smell the fire in my grandma's hair
The war against women rages on
Beware of the fairytale
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail
-- "Somebody's Jail," written by Holly Near, first appears on her Show Up


Iraqi women suffer through a great deal including the Gender Traitor Ibtihal al-Zaidi, the only women on the Council of Ministers and one who doesn't believe in equality. Reuters notes the so-called 'honor' killings in Iraq and quotes Gender Traitor al-Zaidi insisting that, since a girl (12-years-old) got 15 years for killing her father when she caught him in bed with a woman other than her mother but men who kill women for infidelity get six months in jail, "Definitely, we have brought up this issue and we asked 'where is the fairness and justice?' Here the sentence for a woman differs from a man's. Fairness and equality is required in this issue."

Is there a bigger idiot in all of Iraq? No, Gender Traitor, the issue isn't "fairness and equality" in the sentencing of those who murder in the name of 'honor killing' -- the issue is fairness in terms of murder. Murder is wrong. Start punishing murder the way you should and stop making exceptions for so-called 'honor killings.'

Stop allowing murder in the name of 'honor killings' and the small number of families who engage in the practice will have to deal with reality the same way the bulk of Iraqi families do. That would prevent a large number of homeless young women who are forced to leave their homes due to so-called 'honor' crimes.

Iraqi-American Manal M. Omar visited Iraq for the first time when the Iraq War broke out and she went on behalf of an NGO and worked on programs to assist Iraqi women. Her Barefoot in Baghdad: A Story of Identity -- My Own and What it Means to be a Woman in Chaos is a strong book (and, at Third, we picked it as one of the top ten most important books of 2001 to 2011). Here's an excerpt from the book where she's attempting to help a young Iraqi woman.


Perhaps it was the fact that the drugs had worn off. Perhaps it was the pregnancy. I secretly believed her twenty minutes at the orphanage for disabled children had shocked her into the reality of her situation.
For whatever reasons, we stood at a crossroads. I called several Iraqi women's organizations for information, as I knew they would be the only people to tell me the truth about her situation. They all confirmed my worst fears: her return to her family would be a death sentence.
Yet Kalthoum was fully aware of this. In her heart of hearts, she seemed to believe it to be a reasonable sentence.
Over the span of a few days Kalthoum had developed a strong sense of the cosmic powers of karma, and she begged me to allow her to pay her dues to her family so that her suffering would end. She explained to me repeatedly that her life was over and that the decisions she made head left little room for her to start over.
However, she had four unmarried sisters at home. Her scandal had reached the tribe. Before, she believed that people would think she had been kidnapped or killed, and there would be no way to confirm she had abandoned her husband and broken the family honor. Now it was to be confirmed. If she were to go back to her family and face her sentence, then honor would be restored. If she were to run away, then her four unmarried sisters would pay the price. They would be shunned by society and would never marry because of their sister's tarnished reputation.

Nasrin Mohammed is a an Iraqi activist and one of the women behind a new woman's only cafe in Erbil. When the cafe opened in January, she noted that there were numerous clubs and facilities throughout Iraq that were for men only and that she and other women wanted to create a space for women (and their children). She also works to end female genital mutilation in Iraq. Inez Tariq and Mahmoud Raouf (Al Mada) quote her today explaining that the Ministry of Women is not equipped to address the problems of Iraqi women and that was true before the Minister herself spoke against equality. She notes that the Gender Traitor's mentality does nothing to help Iraqi women. She also points out that Iraqi women represent over half of Iraq's population and that women's rights are Iraqi rights so Iraqis should unite to promote equality.

The Gender Traitor's attack on equality goes against the Iraqi Constitution and it outraged many Iraqi women. February 11th, they took to the streets of Baghdad:

Al Mada notes a group of women demonstrated in Iraq on Baghdad's Mutanabi Street -- a large number of women from the picture -- to salute Iraq women and the pioneering Iraqi women of the 20th century feminist movement. The women noted the widespread discrimination against women (illegal under the country's Constitution). Dr. Buthaina Sharif made remarks about how the rights of women are a cause for all men and women to share. Dr. Sharif saluted Paulina Hassoun who, in 1923, edited Iraq's first feminist magazine Layla ("On the way to the revival of the Iraqi woman"). She spoke to Iraq's long history of social progress in the 20th century and decried the violence aimed at so many women today. (The UN estimates that one out of five Iraqi women is a victim of domestic violence.) Those demonstrating had passed a list of recommendations.

1) The Constitution must be followed.
2) The government needs to establish a fund for women -- women who are widows and women whose husbands have left them.
3) Publis assistance for the education of girls to prevent them from being forced to drop out.
4) Subsidies for young families which would encourage marriage and building families.
5) Better housing for women and priority on housing lists.
6) Training sessions should be opened to women and job creation should keep their qualifications in mind.
7) Double the amount guaranteed by the ration card.
8) Efforts to discredit women by sullying their names with false rumors should result in prosecution in court.
9) Freedom and unity is for all and that includes women.
10) Restore normal life by providing potable water (safe to drink) and electricity.
11) create a Higher National Committee of women and men from different backgrounds and ages

Nora Khaled Mahmoud and Mahmoud Raouf file a follow up piece for Al Mada on the demonstration noting thatit included intellectuals and activists and could said to have been prompted by the Minster for Women's recent remarks that men and women were not equal and her insistance upon dictating how women dress. The note Iraqi women spoke of women's history being a continuum of two experiences: Injustice and triumph. Women face injustice and they triumph over it. They declared that democracy is traveling around the world and that Iraq must be a good model for it. They noted that, throughout the women's movement in Iraq, women and men have taken part in the struggle for equality and that, as early as the 20s and 30s, Iraqi clerics joined in the demands for equality for all. Women, they insisted, must not lose their freedom and that this is even more clear when they hear the Minister for Women publicly declaring she does not believe in equality. While that's her opinion, the women state, that's not the opinion of alll women and it's not the opinion of the Constitution. Journalist and feminist Nermin Mufti declared that civil liberties and personal freedoms are declining in Iraq and that the Minister for Women should represent the interests of Iraqi women and seek to claim the rights guaranteed to wom1en, not rob them of their rights little by little.

Before we leave Iraq, we should take a moment to note that the most experienced foreign reporter in Iraq is a woman, Jane Arraf. From her Twitter feed.

6 Mar

Fascinating parliament session now debating whether MPs should keep their armored cars after they leave office. So glad this is on TV.

Jane Arraf has now covered Iraq for decades. She currently covers it for Al Jazeera and the Christian Science Monitor. In addition to Jane, two other extremely experienced foreign correspondents are women: AP's Lara Jakes and Rebecca Santana. And one of the best Iraqi reporters for a US outlet remains McClatchy Newspapers' Sahar Issa.

In addition to those four women, other women who've done strong work covering Iraq since the start of the war include: Alexandra Zavis, Ellen Knickmeyer, Alissa J. Rubin, Sabrina Tavernise, Deborah Haynes, Gina Chon, Tina Susman, Nancy A. Youssef, Erica Goode, Deborah Amos, Kelly McEvers, Cara Buckley, Anna Badkhen, Lara Logan, Martha Raddatz, Liz Sly, Alice Fordham and Lourdes Garcia-Navarro.

Women struggle around the world for equality. In the US, women are victims of assault, victims of wage discrimination and much more. Ian Simpson (Reuters) reports on a group of women taking on a very powerful institution, "Eight current and former female members of the U.S. military allege in a lawsuit they were raped, assaulted or sexually harassed while in the military and were retaliated against when they complained. The suit filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington is the latest to allege widespread sexual violence in the world's most powerful military." Susan Burke's representing the women, as disclosed before, I know and like Susan. Jennifer Hlad (Stars and Stripes) zooms in on one of the plantiffs:

Ariana Klay, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and Iraq veteran, also appeared at the news conference. She was stationed at Marine Barracks Washington four years after Helmer, and said the command had “a frat-house culture.”
After six months of “routinely being called a slut and a whore,” enduring verbal and physical sexual advances and false allegations of adultery, Klay reported the abuse. No action was taken, she alleges in the lawsuit; instead, she was told to “deal with it.” Klay said she was raped in August 2010 by a Marine officer and a former Marine. The officer was court-martialed and convicted of adultery and indecent language — a process Klay called “a farce” on Tuesday.
“Our constitution forms a system of checks and balances, but I faced the military justice system unchecked,” said Klay.


Meanwhile Tammy Daniels (iBerhshires) reports, "Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International, is encouraging women to 'break the code of silence' and share their stories -- about social discrimination, about physical violence, about economic suffering."


If all our flights are grounded
Libby, we'll go to Paris
And dance along the boulevards
And have no one to embarrass
Puttin' on the Ritz in style
With an Arab and an heiress
Libby, we'll fly anyway

And leave behind our blues
Half sung melodies
We'll trade them all in
For a Paris breeze
Libby, we'll fly
-- "Libby," written by Carly Simon, first appears on her Another Passenger

We'll close with this from the International Committee of the Red Cross:


On the occasion of International Women's Day, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is calling for more action to help these women meet their specific needs and regain dignity and hope, while emphasizing the responsibility of parties to a conflict to search for the missing and provide information for the families.

"Women all over the world have shown an extraordinary capacity to overcome hardship and take their fate into their own hands," said Maria-Teresa Garrido Otoya, the ICRC's adviser on issues relating to women and war. "Given half a chance, they find novel and effective ways of providing for themselves and their families."

Beyond the anguish of not knowing what happened to their husbands, sons or other relatives, women and girls in these situations typically face daunting practical difficulties. Because in many cases they have lost a breadwinner, they struggle to provide such basic necessities as food for their families and education for their children. "They also face legal and administrative challenges when it comes to such things as claiming their husband's property or their eligibility for public assistance to ease their families' economic hardship," said Ms Garrido Otoya. "In addition, they are often stigmatized in their communities. For example, not knowing whether their spouses are alive or dead, many do not dress or behave like widows. Their communities are unable to understand their behaviour, leaving them with no one to turn to for support."

The ICRC endeavours to provide a whole range of support to address the specific needs of women with missing loved ones. In Libya, families are still approaching the organization on a daily basis in the hope that it can help find out what became of their loved ones. In Iraq, the ICRC helps women whose husbands have gone missing by helping them set up small income-generating activities, like running a shop or working as a hairdresser. (see also: Households headed by women in Iraq: a case for action)

In Nepal, the ICRC makes counselling available and helps set up support groups to relieve some of the distress and difficulty that the wives and mothers of missing persons experience. In the support groups, women come together and are able to share their suffering, sometimes even when they and their families were formerly on opposite sides in the conflict.

Devisara and Laxmi are two Nepalese women ostensibly on opposite sides who are now allies – they are united in pain. "For days, we walked alone," said Devisara. "Now, we are walking in search of justice as victims from both sides of the conflict. This is equally beautiful. We share grief with each other." Laxmi agrees that they should not lose hope and that they must move ahead.

Under international humanitarian law, everyone has the right to know what happened to missing relatives. It is the responsibility of parties to a conflict to search for the missing and to provide the families with information on their fate, and this obligation continues after the end of the armed conflict. The authorities must see to it that the needs of the families of missing persons are met. The most effective and appropriate way of doing so is to provide women heading households with the tools to fend for themselves without outside help.

For further information, please contact:
Dorothea Krimitsas, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 25 90 or +41 79 251 93 18




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Suicides and PTSD

Carrie Gann (ABC News) reports on the military suicide rate increasing by 80% since the start of the Iraq War. Dr. Michelle Chervak co-authored the study and cautions, "This study does not show that U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan cause suicide. This study does suggest that an Army engaged in prolonged combat operations is a population under stress, and that mental health conditions and suicide can be expected to increase under these circumstances." But, as AFP quotes the study, "This increase, unprecedented in over 30 years of US Army records, suggests that 30 percent of suicides that occurred in 2008 may be associated with post-2003 events following the major commitment of troops to Iraq, in addition to the ongoing operations in Afghanistan." And Stephanie Armour (Bloomberg News) notes the Health Command's Injury Prevention Program in Aberdeen Proving Groudn, Kathleen Bachymaki, declaring, "The recent increase in suicide rates may be viewed as the tip of the ‘mental health iceberg,' signaling more prevalent underlying mental health problems." Press TV adds:

According to three different studies published in the American Journal of Public Health in January, many US military personnel and veterans are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression or other consequences of deployment to war zones.
A study of almost 600 US veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan showed that nearly 14 percent of them were suffering from PTSD and 39 percent from probable alcohol abuse.

In other news, there's an ongoing investigation into a medical center in Washington (state). At issue is whether or not some of those who received a medical diagnosis of PTSD later had their conditions re-classified in order to cut costs. February 28th, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta appeared before the Senate Budget Committee. Senator Patty Murray, who is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and also one of Washington's two US senators. She had this exchange with Panetta.



Senator Patty Murray: Secretary Panetta, you know I spent a lot of time last year on the Joint- Select Committee on Defecit Reduction working with Democrats and Republicans to tackle some of the issues that you're talking about today. All of us went into the Committee knowing that sequestration would be a terrible outcome and we understood that, across the board, cuts to these programs middle class families and most Americans depend on would be bad policy. That was really the point of the bi-partisan triggers that Senator [Harry] Reid and Speaker [of the House John] Boehner agreed to -- they were supposed to be painful to push us towards a compromise. So I was really disappointed that despite the fact that we put a lot on our side, some pretty painful cuts out, we couldn't get to an agreement because we couldn't come to that shared sacrfice moment. I'm still willing to make those compromises needed to get to that. I hope everyone on both sides are because I think we're all really concerned about where that's going to go. But I -- I didn't want to focus on that today on my time, I wanted to ask you a question about an issue that has become very important and recently come to light at Madigan Army Medical Center in my home state of Washington. A number of soldiers had their behavioral health diagnoses changed from PTSD to other behavioral health disorders that didn't come with the same level of benefits. However, following, as you may know, an independent review at Walter Reed, a number of those diagnoses was changed back to PTSD. Obviously, this is really troubling. But what's even more troubling to me and to many service members and their family members in my home state and to a lot of people I've been talking to allegation that the decision to strip those soldiers of a PTSD diagnoses came from a unit at Madigan that seems to be taking the cost of a PTSD diagnosis into account when they were making their decision. Now there's an investigation going on into this but really, to me, one of the things that's clear is that oversight within the army and at the departmental level allowed this break from standard diagnoses process to go unchecked. So I'm really concerned about how the services handle non-PTSD behavioral health conditions like adjustment disorder where service members are administratively separated instead of going through the physical disablity process and I wanted to ask you given that an adjustment disorder is compensable, VA and DoD is required to use the VA's rating schedule, what is the reason for DoD treating adjustment disorder differently?


Secretary Leon Panetta: Well I was, uh, I was very concerned when I got the report about what happened at Madigan. And I think, uh, it-it reflects the fact that frankly we have not learned how to effectively deal with that and we have to. We-we-we need to make sure that, uh, that we have the psychiatrists, the psychologists and the medical people who can make these evaluations because these are real problems. I've met with men and women who have suffered this problem. Just met with a couple last night and they had to go through hell in order to be able to get the diagnosis that was required here. And that should not happen. So we are investigating obviously what took place but I've directed our Personnel Undersecretary to look at this issue and to correct it because it's unacceptable now to have the process we have in place.

Senator Patty Murray: Well I appreciate the attention given to this. It's going to take a lot of work. And I'm deeply concerned when someone comes home from war that they have to go through a diagnosis like this. It's hard enough after you've been told to "man up" during your time of service to then face the fact that you have PTSD -- and then to have that reversed and changed back and told there's nothing wrong with you is just devastating to these men and women and their families. So this is something I'm going to be following very closely. I want your personal attention on it. And I think that the issue raised at Madigan really shows us that we need to have a more clear, consistent guideline for clinical practices for diagnosing and treating PTSD.


Secretary Leon Panetta: I agree with that. I agree with that. Abosluetly. You're absolutely right.

Senator Patty Murray: I never want to hear anybody in any service say we're not going to give you a diagnosis of PTSD because we have a budget problem.

Secretary Leon Panetta: That's for sure.


Hal Bernton (Seattle Times) reports the disturbing news that, "The Army Medical Command has identified some 285 Madigan Army Medical Center patients whose diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder were reversed as they went through a screening process for possible medical retirements, according to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray." Of the 285, 14 have been retested at Walter Reed and six -- nearly half, roughly 43% -- received a diagnoses of PTSD. If all 285 were re-tested and the rate held, you'd have at least 122 being rediagnosed with PTSD. Repeating, they were originally diagnosed with PTSD. After remarks were made by those in administration at Madigan about the costs of PTSD, 285 were stripped of their PTSD diagnoses.


The following community sites -- plus On The Wilder Side, Adam Kokesh, CSPAN and the Los Angeles Times -- updated last night and this morning:


We'll close with this from the National Lawyers Guild -- they issued it last week, I missed it until a friend called (to ask why I hadn't noted it):


The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) continues to stand behind longtime member, civil and human rights defender Lynne Stewart, as the Second Circuit appeal of her sentence is argued before a three-judge panel today.

“It is a rare honor for us in the Guild to be among Lynne’s friends and colleagues,” said NLG President David Gespass. “And government repression and overreaching only reinforces that.”

The prosecution and utterly unjustified sentence leveled against Ms. Stewart carries the larger aim of intimidating any lawyer in the post-9/11 era who would represent controversial clients. Ms. Stewart devoted her life to defending poor people, political activists and others with unpopular viewpoints, and her 2002 arrest directly targeted her for that vigorous representation.

“Even as she serves out a harsh and unjust sentence, Lynne’s dedication to her community, her clients, and her principles continues to be an inspiration,” said NLG Executive Vice President Ian Head. “Guild members will pack the courtroom today to show our support.”

The NLG has helped launch a broad-based, national education campaign about the impact that her indictment and harsh sentencing have had on the Sixth Amendment right to an attorney and on the First Amendment right to free expression.

Lynne Stewart is imprisoned in a federal facility in Texas, and will not appear at the oral argument. She was re-sentenced in 2010 to 10 years in a federal medical prison facility. Supporters can write to her at: Lynne Stewart #53504-054, Federal Medical Center, Carswell, PO Box 27137, Ft. Worth, TX 76127. For more information on the case visit http://lynnestewart.org.

The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937, is headquartered in New York and has chapters in nearly every state. The Guild has a long history of representing individuals whom the government has deemed a threat to national security. The organization also helped expose illegal FBI and CIA surveillance, infiltration, and disruption tactics, leading to enactment of the Freedom of Information Act and other limitations on federal investigative power.




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