Saturday, April 14, 2007

THIS JUST IN! TIRED OLD HOOKER


 
IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THESE REPORTERS, U.S. SENATOR CRAZY JOHN MCCAIN HOPPED OFF THE JOHN MCCAIN SHOWBOAT EXPRESS TO CONFIDE THAT HE WAS THINKING OF DROPPING OUT OF THE RACE.
 
THOUGH CRAZY JOHN HAD HOPED TO GRAB THE 2008 G.O.P. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION HE FELT HE WASN'T "GETTING THE BREAKS" AND THAT "REPORTERS ARE FICKLE. I COULD JOKE WITH 'EM, TELL 'EM MY G**K JOKES AND MAKE FUN OF MINORITIES AND THEY LAPPED IT UP LIKE I WAS DON IMUS OR SOMETHING.  NOW THEY'RE ALL OUT TO GET ME."
 
CRAZY JOHN WAS ESPECIALLY ANGRY THAT HIS BIG AD PUSH, TO BE TIMED WITH HIS OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HE WAS IN THE RACE, WAS LEAKED TO THE PRESS. 
 
"'VOTE INSANE! VOTE JOHN MCCAIN!' HAD A GOOD RING TO IT," HE WHIMPERED.  "NOW IT'S OUT THERE AND SO IS MY SLOGAN 'I DISAGREE WITH WHAT THE MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT.'  HOW CAN YOU DO BETTER THAN THAT?  I WAS POSITIONING MYSELF AS SO INDEPENDENT THAT I DIDN'T EVEN GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!"
 
AFTER CRAZY JOHN CALMED DOWN (AND AFTER THESE REPORTERS REMOVED ALL SHARP OBJECTS FROM HIS REACH), HE REVEALED THAT THE REAL ISSUE WAS MONEY.
 
"I GOT BEAT IN FUNDRAISING BY TWO GUYS NAMED MITT AND RUDY.  WHAT IS THAT?  THE MUTT AND JEFF OF CANDIDATES?  I WAS BIG TIME!  I OWNED 2000.  NOW NOBODY WANTS TO GIVE ME BLING-BLING OR MY PROPERS.  IT'S LIKE I GET A LITTLE LOVEY DOVEY WITH THE BULLY BOY AND SUDDENLY MY PRICE DROPS.  I'M SICK OF BEING TREATED LIKE A TIRED OLD HOOKER WHO'S BEEN WORKING THE CORNER ABOUT 20 YEARS TOO LONG," HE SIGHED.
 
 
 
 
In war resister news, we'll focus on KPFA and Brian Edwards-Tiekert.  Responding to a commentary by Marc Sapir in The Berkeley Daily Planet last week, Edwards-Tiekert wanted to address the issue of war resisters.  Edwards-Tiekert is an important part of KPFA's news staff and does strong work, but appears to think much more is being covered than actually is.   Sapir, sharing his feelings and fears regarding KPFA, wrote (this was not the thrust of his commentary), "How could KPFA be a useful tool for the GI resisters' movement, the immigrants' rights and sanctuary movements, the prison reform and opposition movements, the new sds [SDS] (already at 160 chapters), . . . if such an edict is upheld?"  Sapir is referring to the fact that KPFA can promote events; however, they can not say "Be there" (as Sasha Lilley explained on the Listeners' Report earlier this month).  Edwards-Tiekert grabs the subsection of that sentence and responds (this was not the thrust of his response), "Clearly, he [Marc Sapir] wasn't listening the week Aaron Glantz traveled to Fort Lewis, Washington, to produce up-to-the minute rports on the failed court martial of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada."  Was Edwards-Tiekert?  Aaron Glantz' reports were largely filed for Free Speech Radio News and re-aired duing the KPFA Evening News and during Aileen Alfandary's newsbreaks during The Morning Show.  Sandra Lupien and Alfandary each spoke with Glantz once during the court-martial on programs other than the Free Speech Radio News.  But, as Edwards-Tiekert well knows, Free Speech Radio News is an independent program, it is not a KPFA program.
 
Aaron Glantz did a wonderful job reporting on the court-martial for Free Speech Radio News, for IPS, for OneWorld.net.  His voice gave out and, possibly, had that not happened he would have done more reporting on it for KPFA.  But in terms of reporting (not interviews days after the mistrial was called), Edwards-Tiekert appears to believe that Glantz was reporting on KPFA programs more than he was.  This could result from the fact that it was usually announced (by the news staff) that he would be reporting but, in the morning or evening, what instead aired was a rebroadcast (sometimes edited down) of a report Glantz had done for Free Speech Radio News.
 
Ehren Watada's court-martial is important.  His upcoming court-martial (July 16th) will also be important and, hopefully, KPFA will do a better job covering it than they did with the February one.  For that coverage, Aaron Glantz deserves praise.  KPFA?  Not so much. That was February.  Since Watada's court-martial, Agustin Aguayo and Mark Wilkerson have been court-martialed.  Aguayo was court-martialed in Germany, possibly that's why it wasn't covered (reading wires doesn't really replace first person reporting)?  Wilkerson was in Texas.  Texas is much closer to California than DC (Edwards-Tiekert notes KPFA's DC coverage in his response) but it might as well be across the Atlantic.  What of Robert Zabala's historic court case?  Where was KPFA?  Again, reading wire reports (or local press) on air doesn't really replace on the spot reporting.
 
Edwards-Tiekert muses, "Perhaps Sapir doesn't listen much to the radio station he maligns."  As Ruth pointed out regarded Sasha Lilley's declarations in the Listeners' Report, Lilley doesn't seem to listen a great deal.  In the listners' report she maintained that KPFA news staff promoted, on air, the KPFA webpage of local events when, in fact, that wasn't the case.  KPFA is an important radio station and a historic one.  Edwards-Tiekert is a strong member of the news staff.  His commentary (and recent call in on air to Larry Bensky) only fans simmering flames for many.  I'm not interested in that.  (Ruth may be.  She can write whatever she wants in her space.)  I am interested in war resisters. 
 
Edwards-Tiekert may feel Watada was covered by the KPFA news.  He really wasn't.  (Off topic, but needs noting again, Philip Maldari, not part of the news staff, did a wonderful job last summer interviewing Bob Watada.)  That false impression may come from on air announcements such as, "Tomorrow morning in the first half-hour of The Morning Show, Aileen Alfandary will speak with Aaron Glantz . . ." -- announcements that were made of coverage that never took place.  (That's not a slam at Alfandary.  Glantz' voice was giving out early on.)  But announcements of intended coverage are not actual coverage.  And re-airing reports done for a non-KPFA produced program (Free Speech Radio News) on KPFA news and news breaks does not indicate that KPFA itself provided coverage.
 
In February, Kyle Snyder was hauled away in handcuffs (and in his boxers) by Canadian police.  Joci Perri (Citizenship and Immigration) stated the arrest was requested by the US military and that deportation was supposed to follow.  Did KPFA listeners hear about that on the news?  Joshua Key is being 'shadowed.'  Winnie Ng reported the incident that happened at her home.  She was visited by three men, she was told they were Canadian police.  They were looking for Key (Joshua, Brandi and their children stayed with Ng early on after moving to Canada).  Ng's character was called into question (including by some 'friends' in Canada) and the police said it never happened.  Turns out, it did happen.  The Canadian police, WOOPS, did send out one officer . . . with two members of the US military.  Has the KPFA news informed listeners about those developments?  Dean Walcott self-checked out of the US military and went to Canada in December of 2006.  How often has his name came up during news breaks or newscasts?
 
Here's where the real fault is, the real problem.  Four years into the illegal war and KPFA still has not created a program to focus on Iraq.  Flashpoints started to cover the first Gulf War.  KPFA can't spare one half-hour or hour a week for a program that focuses on Iraq?  Of course they can.  The fact that they haven't is more embarrassing than any of the back and forths or the old history (covered in both Edwards-Tiekert and Sapir's commentaries).  Is KPFA frozen or paralyzed when it comes to new programming?  No.  In fact it did an election series for the 2006 elections.  One would think that an illegal war was at least as important as a mid-term election.
 
Dean Walcott, the latest to go public, part of the growing movement of war resistance within the military that also includes Ehren Watada, Camilo Mejia, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson,  Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Joshua Key, Ricky Clousing, Mark Wilkerson, Agustin Aguayo, Camilo Mejia,  Patrick Hart, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight 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, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
 
 
Yesterday in Iraq, the Green Zone was the target of an attack.  AFP notes today that the US military is now saying that the bombing in the parliament's cafeteria killed only one person (but "an Iraqi security officer" maintains "three people died").  Though Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) prefers to call it the "International Zone," as William M. Arkin (Washington Post) notes of the Green Zone, "The Zone is officially known as the international zone, a less inflammatory label that suggests non-U.S. control, but everyone knows the truth." Bushra Juhi (AP) reports that al Qaeda is claiming responsibility for the bombing and that it was a suicide bombing and that the Iraqi parliament met today ("about 90 minutes") but turnout was low due to the traffic ban and to the fact that many were visiting the wounded from yesterday's bombing.  While AP repeats that the culprit is thought to be a bodyguard to a Sunni lawmaker, The Australian reports that three cafeteria workers are being questioned as well as "some parliamentary guards".  CNN notes that this is due to the suspicion that the bombing was an 'inside job'.  Robert Burns (AP) reveals: "The U.S. military will not take over security of the Iraqi parliament building in the wake of the deadly suicide bombing in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, a top commander said Friday.  Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said "it is clear we still have a long way to go to provide stability and security to Iraq."  Michael Howard (The Guardian of London) informs, "US officials admitted last night that the bombing of the Iraqi parliament shows that not even the heavily fortified Green Zone is safe any more, despite the security crackdown launched earlier this year in the Iraqi capital."  Despite that reality, Robin Wright and Karin Brulliard (Washington Post) report that John McCain, "who this week spoke of 'the first glimmers' of progress in the new U.S. effort, said the attack on the parliament building does not change the 'larger picture'."
 

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Thursday, April 12, 2007

THIS JUST IN! CONDI KNOWS, SHE KNOWS!

 
 
PREPPING FOR A SOFT COVER, TRADE PAPERBACK ENTITLED THE WISDOM AND WIT OF CONDI, SECRETARY OF STATE AND ANGER CONDI RICE PHONED THESE REPORTERS TO TEST A LINE REGARDING THE BOMBINGS IN THE GREEN ZONE AND THE BOMBING OF A BRIDGE IN BAGHDAD.
 
"HOW DOES THIS SOUND?"  SHE ASKED.  "'WE KNOW THAT THERE IS A SECURITY PROBLEM IN BAGHDAD.'  SHOULD I DO A HEAVY SIGH?  DOES IT MAKE ME SOUND SMART?"
 
WE ADVISED HER THAT IT WAS PERFECTLY IN CHARACTER WITH OTHER PUBLIC REMARKS SHE HAD MADE.
 
 
Starting with war resisters, it must have been a full moon.  You had the overgrown "girl" going after war resisters and then you got Little Priss (at the most laughable student newspaper of any college in the US) doing the same.  It takes a special kind of voice to 'sing' so passionately about the tough life when Daddy's a big league coach but we're not supposed to talk about that, I'm guessing.  Just like we're all supposed to pretend Junior's slug line is in anyway authentic (Little Boys from Suburbia have nasty cases of Big City Envy that force them to lie -- something that was frowned upon in the private, religious school they attended to avoid mixing with other races).    Maybe Little Priss can join the overgrown "girl" and assist her in basket-weaving her home-made maxi-pads.   What has them up in arms?  A nasty case of toxic shock syndrome?
 
No, a hatred of war resisters such as Camilo Mejia whose new book, Road from Ar Ramaid: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia, will be published by The New Press next month (May 1st).  Kirkus Reviews found it, "Timely, courageous and cautionary."  Mejia, as noted in Amy Goodman and David Goodman's Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders and the People Who Fight Back, served six months in Iraq and, after returning to the US, applied for c.o. status and self-checked out of the military.  Mejia was convicted of desertion and sentenced to a year at Fort Still.  Upon release, Mejia declared, "Peace does not come easily, so I tell all members of the military that whenever faced with an order, and everything in their mind and soul, and each and every cell in their bodies scream at them to refuse and resist, then by God do so.  Jail will mean nothing when brekaing the law became their duty to humanity."  Another quote Camilo Mejia is known for, noted by Eric Ruder (Socialist Worker), is "Behind these bars, I sit a free man because I listened to a higher power, the voice of my conscience."
 
Mejia's book follows Joshua Key's successful  The Deserter's Tale and joins other books exploring the resistance in the military today including Peter Laufer's  Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq.  Mejia is also featured in the documentary To Disobey.
As Monica Benderman, wife of Iraq war resister Kevin Benderman, has noted, there has been little on resistance in many bookstores.  Monica and Kevin Benderman intend to do their part to change that by writing their own book.
 
Mejia and Benderman are a part of a movement resistance within the military that also includes Ehren Watada, Dean Walcott, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson,  Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Joshua Key, Ricky Clousing, Mark Wilkerson, Agustin Aguayo, Camilo Mejia,  Patrick Hart, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight 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, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
 
 

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Wednesday, April 11, 2007

THIS JUST IN! FRED THOMPSON OUT!

 
 
 
OF COURSE, THOMPSON LEFT THE BIGGER PROBLEM UNSTATED: HE'S A PROFESSIONAL ASSHOLE.
 
 
 
Today the US military announced: "An MND-B Soldier died and two others were wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated near their patrol in an eastern section of the Iraqi captial April 11."  And they announced: "One MDN-B Soldier died and another was wounded after their unit came under attack in the southern portion of the Iraqi capital April 10."  This brings the total number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 3294 with 47 for the month of April alone, reports ICCC.
 
We're starting with the above for a reason, Crazy John McCain.  Last week, Crazy John McCain took  The John McCain Showboat Express to Baghdad and became a topic of ridicule for his boldface lies that things were getting better in Iraq and that he could walk freely through a Baghdad street.  Robert Knigh ( Flashpoints, Monday, April 2nd) described the 'free walk' this way: "McCain, in defiance of various independent reports that Iraq's daily death toll actually increased last month, nevertheless declared that the so-called 'surge' was 'making progress' and that Americans were 'not getting the full picture of what is happening in Iraq'; however a zoom out from McCain's photo op shows that he was actually surounded by orbiting F16 fighter planes, three Black Hawk attack helicopters, 2 Apache gun ships, more than 100 US troops, snipers and armed vehicles, a flak jacket and personal body armour. The presidential contender and Congressional comedian concluded his celebration of April Fool's Day by declaring with a straight face that 'There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today. These and other indicators and reasons for cautious optimism about the effects of the new strategy'."
 
Crazy John McCain lost some of his luster over that and went on CBS' 60 Minutes Sunday where Scott Pelly asked him about the claims he'd made re: Iraq and Senator Crazy responded, "Of course I'm going to misspeak and I've done it on numerous occasions and I probably will do in the future.  I regret that when I divert attention to something that I've said from my message but you know that's just life, and I'm happy frankly with the way I operate, otherwise it would be a lot less fun."  Never deny a crazy their fun.  Speaking at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, Crazy John McCain was at it again, kissing ass and telling lies and he asserted that he was speaking "to an audience that can discern truth from falsehood in a politician's appraisal of the war," then went on to dub the illegal war as "necessary and winnable" and attempted to drum up sympathy by stating his Crazy Walk through Baghdad left him at the mercy of "a hostile press corps".  Crazy spoke of "memorable progress and measurable progress" and some probably fell for the crap.  Those who did probably have forgotten the outline General John P. Abizaid presented on March 14, 2006 (link goes to Centcom, click here).  He's also bragging about Baghdad where, as AFP notes, "the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a new report that the operation had not yet stabilised Baghdad."  His bragging comes as Bruce Rolfsen (Air Force Times) notes "more than 850 wounded and injured service men" and service women "out of war zones during March, according to the Air Force.  In February, the Air Force flew out 767 patients.
 
Senator Crazy went on to declare that the armed battle included a "struggle for the soul of Islam" sounding as insane as the Bully Boy when he originally used the term "crusade."  Senator Crazy was, no doubt, amusing himself again with thoughts of bombs being dropped, rockets launched, bullets shot all for a "struggle for the soul of Islam."  Senator Crazy remains the undeclared GOP candidate for the 2008 presidential nomination and with all the crazy remarks he makes, it's easy for the electorate to miss some of them. When Scott Pelly (60 Minutes) pointed out that the majority of US citizens want and wondered to Crazy when Crazy would "start doing what the majority of the American people want?"
 
 
A memorable, if not winning, campaign slogan if ever there was one.  Crazy John McCain is running for president on the premise that, his words, "I disagree with what the majority of the American people want."  Vote Insane! Vote McCain!
 
Staying with the crazies, the Giddiest Gabor in the Green Zone, little Willie Caldwell, grabbed his feather boa and marched before reporters to declare, "They're arming the insurgents, dahling."  With the five Iranian diplomats still not released (and US military command announcing today that they weren't going to be), Little Willie strutted and made broad statements.  Or, as the BBC put it, "accused."  AFP also uses the (accurate) terminology, noting that Little Willie "accused the Iranians of training Iraqi groups on how to assemble explosively-formed projecticles -- a type of armour-piercing roadside bomb that has caused many coalition casualties."  Lauren Frayer, AP's frequent embed, paid to write for a living, somehow fails to utilize "accused" once; however, she did take down good stenography for Little Willie and deploy the term "said" eight times in a 300 plus word 'report' (324 -- check my math).
 
In other Press Shames, Joe Strupp (Editor & Publisher) reports what's what at The Savannah Morning News these days.  On their front page, they are now running a column by Major General Rick Lynch -- at least it may be by him.  The paper's editor, Susan Catron, asked of the names at the end of Lynch's opinion column offers happily,  "I can't tell if they wrote it or not."  Catron also reveals that the paper is not paying the general for his column.  Hmmm.
 
The editor can't state for the record whether or not the column was written by the general and this weekly column (carried on the front page) requires no payment to the writer?  For many, that would be enough to raise red flags but Catron's still recovering from the mighty Sunday comics war that so drained the paper's resources 
 
Strupp reveals that the newspaper staff believes (and they are right) that if the column belongs anywhere, it is "on the opinion page . . .  Is this appropriate for a 50,000-reader newspaper that purports to be free from government influence?  Staff members feel it has undermined the newspaper's credibility and independence."
 
Turning to news of attempts to increase leisure time, AP reports that the US "White House is considering naming a high-powered official to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and report directly to President Bush".
 
There seems to be some confusion here so let's turn to the US Constitution, Article II, section 2 which reads:
 
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to Grant  Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
 
If anyone's confused (and apparently the White House is) the role being discussed is a Constitutionally mandated role for the occupant of the Oval Office.  It's really not something that can be "delegated."  Possibly Bully Boy's all tuckered out from his vacation in Crawford?  Mimi Kennedy (writing at Truthout) notes that Camp Casey was in full swing in Crawford last weekend with the Bully Boy in town.  Kennedy reports that Friday was spent at the checkpoint singing "We Shall Overcome" and chanting "We are here with Cindy/We're here to ask/What noble Cause/We are here with Cindy now" dying Easter eggs and singing; with Saturday revolving around Pink Police actions.  On the topic of CODEPINK, they have redesigned their website adding many new features and one of the new campaigns revolves around the video "Toy Soldiers" -- watching it and passing it on. 
 

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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

THIS JUST IN! DEMS DESTROY THEMSELVES!

 
THE PARTY OF CAVING HAS DONE IT AGAIN.
 
ELECTED ON A MANDATE FROM THE PEOPLE TO END THE WAR, CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS HAD TO BE FORCED TO EVEN INCLUDE IRAQ ON THEIR THINGS-TO-DO LIST.
 
AFTER MUCH STRUTTING AND BLUSTERING, BOTH HOUSES MANAGED TO PASS TOOTHLESS, NON-BINDING MEASURES THAT WOULD ALLOW THE WAR TO CONTINUE WELL PAST THE 2008 ELECTIONS.  SMOKE AND MIRRORS ALLOWED DEMOCRATS TO CLAIM THEY HAD "BENCHMARKS" AND "TIMELINES" BUT THE MEASURES OUT OF BOTH HOUSES HAD ESCAPE CLAUSES FOR THE BULLY BOY.
 
DESPITE THIS, DEMOCRATS STROKED THEMSELVES. 
 
THEY WOULD STAND STRONG, THEY SAID, ON THEIR PIECE OF PUFFERY EVEN IF BULLY BOY VETO-ED IT. 
 
LIKE THE SPINELESS COWARDS THAT THEY REALLY ARE, NEW SIGNALS WERE SENT BY CARL LEVIN ON SUNDAY WHEN HE DECLARED CONGRESS WOULD NOT CUT OFF FUNDS.  WAY TO GIVE THE COW AWAY WHEN BULLY BOY JUST WANTED THE MILK, CARL..
 
LIKE ANY BULLY, BULLY BOY SMELLED THE FEAR AND HIS OPENING SO HE HAS NOW INVITED DEMOCRATS TO THE WHITE HOUSE.  FROM A POSITION OF POWER IN JANUARY, THE DEMOCRATS 1ST SOLD OUT VOTERS BY REFUSING TO END THE WAR, THEN SOLD OUT THEIR OWN LEGISLATION AND ARE NOW POISED TO SELL OUT THEMSELVES AS THEY SCAMPER OFF TO THE WHITE HOUSE TO SAY "YES, SIR" AND "NO, SIR."
 
 
Starting with the final section of Robert Knight's "Knight Report" on yesterday's  Flashpoints:
 
Meanwhile, there's little indication from London or Washington that the occupation will end any time soon.  In London a confidential planning document drawn up by the Defence Ministry, called the "Operational Tour Plot," was obtained by the London Telegeraph which today disclosed that British troops will be serving in Iraq and throughout the Arab gulf at least until 2012.  And finally in Washington, Congressional Democrats  made it perfectly clear they have no serious intention of bringing the war in Iraq to an end before they can capitalize on it in time for the 2008 presidential elections.  After a week's recess and backtracking on the non-binding and loophole laden timeline legislation which permits the Bush administration to continue the war in until the next presidential term Democratic leaders retreated even further than they did during the legislative debate.  Among the retreaters Senator Carl Levin, the chair of the Armed Services Committee told ABC's This Week that, "We're not going to vote to cut funding."  He said that after a veto "There's  a number of options.  Either we can keep the benchmarks part of the bill without saying that the troops must begin to come back and if that doesn't work what we will leave will be benchmarks for instance which would require the president to certify to the American people that the Iraqis are meeting the benchmarks for political settlement which they have set themselves."  And that's some of the news of this Monday April 9, 2007 from exile in New York, I'm Robert Knight for Flashpoints.
 
Flashpoints is archived at its own website and at KPFA (which right now is having archive problems and has archived nothing since early Monday morning) and airs live from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm, Monday through Friday online and over the airwaves of KPFA, KFCF, KPFB and other stations.  (A full transcription of Robert Knight's "Knight Report" appears in Hilda's Mix today.)  Knight was speaking, first, of the news from the UK.  Sean Rayment (Telegraph of London) notes approximately half "of the country's armed services have now served in Iraq since the war began in March 2003" and that the revelations that UK forces will be in Iraq through 2012 and that report is "in marked contrast to a statement made by Tony Blair in Feburary giving the impression that British troops would remain in Ira for less than two years."  On the earlier issue of the Democrats caving, as Joshua Frank (CounterPunch) notes, "The Democrats may not have enough votes to overturn a Bush veto, but they certainly have enough to filibuster the war-funding bill, which at this point is the only way to stop this god-awful disaster.  One brave Democrat could take a stand, filibuster, and 40 more senators could then abstain from breaking the filibuster.  That is all it would take.  Bush would then have to be the one to compromise and produce a plan that was acceptable to the 41 Senate Democrats who want to end the war.  But of course, we are more likely to see Dick Cheney drinking margaritas with Cindy Sheehan on the White House lawn before we'd witness this scenario play out."  Tabassum Zakaria and Richard Cowan (Reuters) report that Bully Boy has "invited congressional leaders of both parties to the White House next week" to discuss the non-binding, toothless Congressional measure.  That is the same measure he has stated he intends to veto and that Senator Carl Levin says, if he vetos, Democrats will immediately rush to fall in line (no power of the purse for Levin).
 
From the madness of the governments
To the vengeance of the sea
Everything is eclipsed
By the shape of destiny
So love me now
Hell is coming
Could you do it now?
Hell is here
Little soldier, little insect
You know war, it has no heart
It will kill you in the sunshine
Or just as happily in the dark
-- "No One Would Riot For Less" written by Conor Oberst, off Bright Eyes' Cassadaga
 
Turning to the topic of war resistance, Paul Rockwell (CounterPunch) offers an open letter to Major General Charles Jacoby Jr. where he reviews the court-martial of Ehren Watada.  In June 2006, Watada became the first officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq.  In February of this year, he became the first officer to be court-martialed for refusing to deploy.  Rockwell notes that the court-martial ended in a mistrial over the objection of the defense, argues that "now is a good time to drop all the charges against the Lieutenant, to bring closure to a trial that, in my opinion, should never have taken place" and concludes that "history will vindicate the courage of Lt. Ehren Watada."  Pretrial motions are currently scheduled for May 20th through 21st and the court-martial for July 16th.  Watada is represented by the Seattle based Carney Bradley Spellman and his attorneys are Kenneth Kagan and James Lobsenz.
 
 
 
Ehren Watada is part of a movement of resistance within the military that also includes Joshua Key, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson,  Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Ricky Clousing, Mark Wilkerson, Agustin Aguayo, Camilo Mejia, Dean Walcott, Patrick Hart, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight 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, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
 
 
At a rally to show support for Ehren Watada, Sara Rich (AfterDowningStreet.org) writes, she and her daughter Suzanne Swift turned out to show their support and Swift asked, "Mom, where are the kids my age?  Where is my generation?"  Rich goes on to tell her daughter's story, sexually abused and harassed for the apparent 'crime' of thinking a woman could serve in the military, Swift was betrayed by the very system she attempted to defend.  As Rich explains, her daughter did not self-check out because of an objection to the war but to save herself when the military refused to do so.  Rich: "Confronting imminent redeployment she went AWOL.  Later the Army would contend that she went AWOL because of her mother's political beliefs.  I only wished it was that.  If it was because of my political beliefs she never would have gone to Iraq the first place.  Then they tried to say it was because of her own anti war beliefs.  That would have been a dream come true.  But the truth was that my daughter went AWOL out of pure fear; fear of what her command had done to her in the first deployment and rejection of being treated like a 'deployment whore' again.  This was not a decision it was a reaction." 
 
Though Suzanne Swift's reaction was perfectly normal, even before you get to the fact that she suffers from PTSD, not only was she abandoned by the military command that damn well should have prevented what she went through, the US Congress -- all those brave talking Senators, male and female -- sat on their collective asses which apparently kept their lips from moving.  The military conducted a whitewash investigation (that still found validity and confirmation in some of Swift's charges), her offer was sign a paper saying she lied or face a court-martial.  Swift was court-martialed, stripped of her rank, sentenced to 30 days and then placed back in the same system that not only did not refuse to ensure her safety, but failed to after she sought help.  To repeat, Congress sat on its collective ass.  That's Hillary Clinton, that's Carl Levin, that's Barbara Boxer, that's Russ Feingold, that's Susan Collins, that's Mr. uber-goodness Joe Lieberman. 
 
Rich concludes, "It is amazing to me how much we have to be thankful to the Army for.  They tried to break my daughter down and shut her up, and in the process created a strong advocate for women around the world.  Imagine if they had done the right thing and protected from MLester in the first place or given her an immediate medical discharge when our attorney contacted Ft. Lewis right after she went AWOL and was diagnosed with PTSD.  How simple and right it could have been.  But the US military did not understand what they were doing or Suzanne's fortitude."  A number of Congressional members who are also attempting to campaign for president have issued the "If only we knew then what we know now . . ." junk to excuse their support for an illegal war.  What's their excuse for doing nothing about Suzanne Swift?  She should have received an honorable discharge.  Congress should have immediately initiated hearings into what women serving in Iraq are actually having to endure.  It's not too late for that nor is it too late to push for Swift to get the honorable discharge she more than deserves.
 
Rich offers that the people her daughter's age are waking up to the realities and will be showing up at protests in greater numbers.  In Iraq yesterday, hundreds of thousands participated in a Najaf rally against the occupation of the nation by foreign forces.  Hiba Dawood (Free Speech Radio News) reported by speaking with Iraqis (an apparently novel and new thing to do when you consider how few others bothered to do so) taking part in the protest.  One man noted 4 years have passed since the occupation of Iraq and what happened?  Hundreds of thousands were killed, hundreds of thousands were wounded and arrested. They humiliate the Iraqi homes every day.  The Constitution says that the Iraqi homes are protected but they invade homes anytime they want.  We have to always remember Abu Ghraib and the abuses that has happened there including the sexual abuse against Iraqi women and the killing of those Iraqi women with their families."  Ahmed Ali states: "The demands in this demonstration are different than the ones we had in 2005, for example.  Then people demanded the condemnation of Saddm Hussein and called for the total and immediate departure of the occupation forces.  Today, we demand that there should be at least a timetable set up for troops to leave.  Our other demand is that want people in the occupying countries in the removal of their military forces from Iraq."
 

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Monday, April 09, 2007

THIS JUST IN! MITT GOES ON THE OFFENSIVE

ON THE HEELS OF HIS HUNTING LIE BEING EXPOSED, FORMER MASS. GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY, WHO IS CAMPAIGNING FOR THE REPUBLICAN NOMINTATION FOR PRESIDENT, DECIDED TODAY TO FIGHT BACK.
 
RATHER THAN ADMIT THAT HE LIED WHEN HE SAID HE WAS A LIFELONG HUNTER, ROMNEY STUDIED A BOOK LEANT HIM BY KARL ROVE ENTITLED TEXAS WHOPPERS.  FOLLING A SPEED READING OF MAIN POINTS, MITT ROMNEY TOLD REPORTERS:
 
A) HE WAS A PROFESSIONAL NASCAR DRIVER.
 
B) HE WAS THRICE DECLARED "THE ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPION."
 
C) HE OVERSAW ALL NASA FLIGHTS BEGINNING IN THE EARLY 60S.
 
D) HE HAD ALREADY WON THE G.O.P. PRIMARY SO IF YOU HADN'T VOTED FOR HIM, DON'T BOTHER TURNING OUT, YOUR VOTE WILL BE WASTED.
 
E) HE IS THE SPIRITUAL HEIR TO RONALD REAGAN BASED ON THE FACT THAT HE KNOWS ALL THE LINES TO BEDTIME FOR BONZO.
 
F) HE HAS SINNED IN THE PAST, INCLUDING A NASTY ADDICTION TO MS. PACMAN, BUT THE GOOD LORD JESUS HAD SAVED HIM RECENTLY SO ALL THINGS THAT HAPPENED BEFORE HE WAS SAVED HAVE BEEN ERASED BY JESUS AND NONE OF THOSE NO-GOOD REPORTERS BETTER BRING UP ANYTHING FROM HIS PAST UNLESS THEY ARE JESUS HATERS.
 
KARL EXPLAINED TO THESE REPORTERS THE BASIC PHILOSOPHY OF TEXAS WHOPPERS, A BOOK HE PENNED, "SPREAD ENOUGH MANURE AROUND AND THE STINK WILL BE SO BAD EVERY ONE WILL FORGET ABOUT THE HORSE.  WORKED WITH BULLY BOY."
 
 
 
Turning to the topic of war resistance, Dave Zirin discussed with Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) today one of the more famous war resisters, Muhammad Ali: "And, you know, going back to that Kinshasa fight, I think it's a great example of the redemptive power of Muhammad Ali, because by that time he was somebody who, you know, had returned to the world of boxing, had fought off through the Supreme Court a five-year prison sentence given down to him by the federal courts, an outrageously high sentence for a draft resister at the time, and by the end, after that fight, he was named 'Sportsman of the Year' by Sports Illustrated. So he makes this amazing journey from being the most vilified, hated athlete in the history of the United States -- and I don't think there's any contention about that -- to becoming a figure of reconciliation, who was invited by Gerald Ford to the White House to shake hands. And that's the thing about Ali, is that he was always bound up in the rhythms of the social movements of the day."  Denying the social movement today in the New York Times, Paul von Zielbauer writes that self-check outs result soley from PTSD and the military lowering the standards of who is recruited -- no one, to read von Zielbauer's clampdown of an article, ever self-checks out because they are opposed to the war and he gets that point across, in article noting the increase in court-martials, by refusing to speak to any one who has been court-martialed or to any one who self-checked out and went to Canada.  Someone who does suffer from PTSD and did self-check out because he turned against the illegal war after serving in Iraq is Joshua Key. 
 
Last month, three men claiming to be Canadian police visited the home of Winne Ng who provided housing for Joshua, Brandi and their children early on when they went to Canada.  Winnie Ng maintained that they identified as Canadian police but she suspected they were the US military.  The three men were looking for Joshua Key and asking questions about him.  Jeffry House, Key's attorney, immediately contacted the military which has not yet -- one month later -- bothered to return his calls.  That certainly gives the impression that the US military was not interested in speaking to Key.  But what of Winnie Ng who one 'helper' suggested might be lying?  The Candian police swore none of their police officers had visited her home.  It was suggested, by 'helpful' that Ng might have made it up or be lying.
 
Winnie Ng was not lying.  At the end of last week, The Toronto Globe and Mail reported that Canadian police were now admitting one of their police officers visited Ng's home.  In addition, who accompanied them?  Two US military members.  The Canadian police maintains that the two men were never presented as police officers.  That claim is as believable as their earlier claim that they knew nothing about, that no police officer visited Ng's home, go down the list.  Ng told the truth.  It's the Canadian police which continues to change their stories.  In one of the few moments of truth in his article, von Zielbauer notes that the military is upping their quest for those who self-check out.  Until futher information is furnished, the possibility that the US military was there no to speak with Joshua Key but to attempt to take him back to the US remains a strong one.
 
 
Joshua Key is part of a movement of resistance within the military that also includes
Ehren Watada, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson,  Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Ricky Clousing, Mark Wilkerson, Agustin Aguayo, Camilo Mejia, Dean Walcott, Patrick Hart, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight 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, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
 
 
In US Congressional news, how does one cave after Democratic leadership in both houses pass non-binding, toothless legislation, that does not enforce ALL US troops leaving Iraq and that funds all of Bully Boy's requests and then some?  Count on the Democratic leadership to find a way.  As Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) observed today, "Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, a key Democratic leader has given new indications Democrats are prepared to back down on their call to cut off war funding if President Bush vetoes a bill calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Speaking on ABC Sunday, Armed Services Committee chair Senator Carl Levin said: 'We're not going to vote to cut funding, period.' Levin said a veto would lead Democrats to consider removing language calling for the withdrawal of troops."  Guest Laura Flanders, host of RadioNation with Laura Flanders and author most recently of Blue Grit, noted that the Democratic leadership "had to be dragged kicking and screaming" to the topic of the illegal war and spoke at length of how the right-wing fuels the Republican Party while the Democratic Party is more inclined to run from their own base.  (This is one of the themes of her new book Blue Grit, another theme is the power driving change is on the ground in local areas, not in DC.)  More on Democratic leadership caving can found at BayouBuzz which also notes US Senator Charles Schumer's caving remarks.  While Democratic leadership caves in the face of a threatened veto (one they knew of all along), Evelyn Pringle (CounterPunch) observes that "what is clear, is that Bush plans to leave our troops dying in a war without end indefinitely, and therefore, its up to American citizens to rescue these young men and women in the only way possible, by insisting that Congress cut off funding for Iraq to force Bush to get them out of that hellhole."
 
 
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