Thursday, June 07, 2007

THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY TALKING POINTS NOT GOING TO FLY IN 2008!

 
IT WAS SO EASY IN TO BE THE DEMOCRATIC FRONT RUNNER IN THE 2004 PRIMARY: YOU JUST GRABBED WHAT BULLY BOY WAS SAYING, PUT IN PROPER ENGLISH (WITH SUBJECT AND VERB AGREEMENT) AND THE CROWDS CHEERED.
 
THINGS ARE SHAPING DIFFERENTLY IN 2007.  U.S. SENATOR BARACK OBAMA CALLED OUT JOHN EDWARDS IN THE DEBATE SUNDAY SAYING, BASICALLY, "OH, YOU TALK GOOD NOW BUT YOU ARE FOUR YEARS TOO LATE."  TO WHICH AN AWAKE NATION COULD HAVE EASILY REPLIED, "BARACK, I KNOW YOU USED TO SPEAK AGAINST THE ILLEGAL WAR BEFORE THE SUMMER OF 2004, BUT WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY?  OOOOH-OOOOH-OOOOH-YEAH."
 
WHILE SENATOR OBAMA WALKS AROUND NOT REALIZING HE HAS EGG ON HIS FACE, U.S. SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON THOUGHT SHE COULD COAST THROUGH THE SUNDAY DEBATE PARROTING THE BULLY BOY.  SHE TOO LEARNS IT AIN'T THAT EASY. 
 
SUNDAY, SHE DECLARED IN THE DEBATE, "I BELIEVE WE ARE SAFER THAN WE WERE.  WE ARE NOT YET SAFE ENOUGH". THE LAUGHABLE CLAIM STRUCK MANY AS OVERLY FAMILIAR BECAUSE THEY ECHO THE BULLY BOY'S RIDICULOUS FALL 2006 CLAIM THAT THE COUNTRY WAS "SAFER BUT NOT SAFE." 
 
SENATOR CLINTON WAS ATTEMPTING TO DISPLAY HER MACHO SIDE AND TO SCORE POINTS AGAINST JOHN EDWARDS BUT SHE ONLY ENDED UP MAKING HERSELF LOOK RIDICULOUS AS THOUGH SHE WANDERED INTO TO THE WRONG DEBATE AND HAD BEEN INTENDING TO PARTICIPATE WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF THE G.O.P.
 
 
THOUGH HILLARY CLINTON'S CAMP REFUSED TO COMMENT, ONE INSIDER IN THE BARACK OBAMA CAMPAIGN DID.
 
"WHAT'S THAT MEAN?"  ASKED THE INSIDER.  "ALL I KNOW IS I LOVE BARACK.  HE IS SO COOL AND SO BEAUTIFUL AND SO SEXY.  I AM HAVING SO MUCH MORE FUN HERE THAN I EVER DID FETCHING COFFEE FOR KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL!"
 
WE DO NOT FIND THAT HARD TO BELIEVE.
 
 
The 3500 mark for US service members who have died in the Iraq war was passed yesterday but it takes AP (and others) a little longer to count. ICCC lists the current total as 3504. Don't expect to hear much about it or for it to lead to many pieces (or air time) exploring Iraq -- it's summer so it's time for All Things Media Big and Small to begin their summer breaks.
As with last summer -- or the 'coverage' of the 3,000 mark -- don't expect a great deal.  There's an election!  A cruise!  A summer rental!  And about fifty other 'fun' topics that will yet again grab all the attention. 
 
As media tries to covering their mouths while yawning, the illegal war drags on and it's up to the people to stop it.   Adam Kokesh did and is doing his part and maybe someday someone in little media other than Matthew Rothschild can provide some serious coverage?  That is it, for the record.  The Nation -- when you've got a cruise to pack for, you've got a cruise to pack for!  They can't do everything!  They can't even do one damn thing. But  Adam Kokesh has been standing up.  On Monday, he faced a hearing for engaging in street theater with other members of Iraq Veterans Against the War while he wore fatigues.  The recommendation was to recommend he be issued a general discharge.  Yesterday, his attorney Michael Lebowitz attempted to file an appeal but KMBC reports that the appeal was denied by Brig. Gen. and shrinking violet Darrell L. Moore who also has the "power" to decide whether the recommendation of general discharge goes forward or not.  Dave Helling (Kansas City Star) notes that "Moore can't increase Kokesh's punishment by issuing an other-than-honorable discharge."  Writing to Editor & Publisher, Tom Wieliczka points out that while Kokesh is punished for street theater, General Petey Pace is able to write a letter of support for convicted liar Scooter Libby and no one questions that "the hypocrisy of the military when it comes to the 'grunts' vs the 'generals' when both of them use their first amendment rights."
 
 
The movement of resistance within the US military grows and includes Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Augstin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, 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, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
 
 
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, 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.
 
 
Turning to the issue of Turkey? Did they or didn't they?  Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Khalid W. Hassan (New York Times) obeserved that the Turkish military was reported to state yesterday that "thousands of soldiers crossed the border [into Iraq] in pursuit of members of the Kurdistan Worker's Party, or P.K.K." but that "American and Turkish officials quickly denied those reports".  Patrick Cockburn (Independent of London) reports that Turkish troops did enter "northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish guerrillas" causing the US concern "that its entanglement in Iraq is about to become even more complicated if American troops and aircraf are asked to counter even a limited Turkish assault."  China's Xinhua reports US State Department's flack Sean McCormak declaring, "Bottom line it for you, (I) don't think there's any substance to it.  Our ambassador in Ankara, Ross Wilson, went in and talked to the Turkish General Staff, they said the reports weren't accurate."  Turkish Daily News states the PKK killed 7 Turkish soldiers on Monday and wounded 6 yesterday.  The Turkish Daily News also notes that the country's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Levent Bilman, declared yesterday that "the Turkish Republic is ready for anything any time."  Lebanon's Daily Star reports that the border crossing happened, quotes a Turkish military official characterizing it as "a hot pursuit, not an incursion," and quotes their third Turkish official stating that "600 commandos entered Iraq and were backed up by several thousand troops along the border.  He said the commandos raided Iraqi territory across from the Turkish border town of Cukurca before dawn after rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK] opened fire from Iraqi soil on Turkish patrols." Audio on this topic can be found on Thursday's Flashpoints (KPFA) where Robert Knight covered it in his "Knight Report" at the start of the program noting that Jabar Yawir declared, "This afternoon ten Turkish helicopters landed in a village in Mazouri, which is 2 miles inside the Iraqi border.  They landed with around 150 Turkish special forces."  Scott Peterson (Christian Sciene Monitor) notes the "hot pursuit" reports as well as: "Analysts say news of the raid is a warning to both the US and Iraqi Kurds, nominally in control in northern Iraq, to clamp down on the PKK, which has waged a fight for a homeland in southeast Turkey since 1984. Peterson also notes that ill will is building and cites Metehan Demi ("Ankara bureau chief of Turkey's Sabah newspaper and a military speciailist") noting, "The Americans are not doing things deliberately.  But the Americans are not acting as much as they can [to control the PKK in northern Iraq], according to Turkey. . . .  When any Turkish soldier dies, immediate focus [lands] on the US -- this is the public view, that the US is not acting sincerely for Turkey as an ally."  Patrick Seale (Agence Global via Pacific Free Press) maintains, "Turkey is dangerously close to launching a full-scale war across its eastern border into northern Iraq.  The aim would be to wipe out the bases of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), destroy once and for all the party's separatist ambitions, and put an end to cross-border terrorist attacks and hit-and-run raids by the PKK, which have inflamed nationalist opinion in Turkey."  The BBC notes the establishment of "temporary security zones" by Turkey "near its border with Iraq, where it has already deployed extra forces."  Vincent Boland (Financial Times of London via MSNBC) notes that troop build up will result in "special security measures in three provinces close to the border with Iraq" and that the approximately "100,000 Turkish troops" have led to "intense speculation that they are preparing for a large-scale incursion."  Suzan Fraser (AP) observes that "temporary security zones" has not been clarified; however, it may mean that "the areas would be off limits to civilian flights.  Others said the zones meant that additional security would be implemented, and entry into the regions would be restricted and tightly controlled" presumably through September 9th which the Turkish military has announced as the projected end date. As the details are discussed and debated, only Patrick Cockburn (Independent of London) notes the upcoming "referendrum . . . to be held on the future of the oil province of Kirkuk before the end of this year."
 
Meanwhile, tensions rise in Iraq as the BBC reports that Iraqi's Islamic Party (Sunni) states that two Sunni Baghdad mosques were attacked by Shi'ite "militiamen, backed by commando troops, [who] raised their banners over the Rahman and Fataah Basha mosques." 
 

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