Saturday, June 30, 2007

THIS JUST IN! LAURA BUSH'S "GREATEST FAILURE"!

 
FIRST LADY DIME BAG LAURA BUSH WRAPPED UP HER VISIT TO AFRICA IN MALI WHERE SHE MADE A SINCERE REMARK NOTING THAT WHEN SHE SAW AFRICA'S ATTEMPTS AT EDUCATION, SHE WAS "TOUCHED."
 
DIME BAG LAURA ALL BUT CHOKED UP.  THE MOMENT WAS TOTALLY BELIEVABLE BECAUSE WHEN SOMEONE IN YOUR FAMILY SUFFERS FROM A PROBLEM IT ALWAYS BRINGS THE ISSUE CLOSER TO HOME.
 
CORNERED BY THESE REPORTERS, DIME BAG LAURA ATTEMPTED TO RUN OFF UNTIL WE WAIVED A SIX PACK OF LONE STAR BEER.
 
OVER SEVERAL BEERS, SHE ADMITTED THAT "AS AN EDUCATOR," ONE OF HER "GREATEST CHALLENGES AND FAILURES" WAS IN ATTEMPTING TO TEACH HER OWN HUSBAND TO READ.
 
WITH A BELCH SHE CONCLUDED, "HELL, IF I CAN JUST KEEP HIM AWAY FROM PRETZELS UNTIL WE LEAVE THE WHITE HOUSE, I'LL CALL IT A VICTORY WHILE I CALL THE DIVORCE LAWYER."
 
 
 
Starting with Iraq Veterans Against the War's Liam Madden.  Madden and two other members of IVAW,  Cloy Richards and Adam Kokesh, have been targeted by the US military brass in an attempt to silence and cow them.  They have been threatened with the loss of benefits (Cloy Richards is classified as 80% disabled), loss of their honorable discharges and more.  Kokesh participated in street theater in DC and then found himself facing the theatrics of a kangaroo court -- proving there is no bigger drama queensthan those commanders in the marines.  Kokesh recevied a general discharge from the IRR -- meaning he's twice discharged: honorably from the marines, general from the IRR -- and Richards reached an agreement where he would not wear any part of his fatigues in public (his mother, Tina Richards, now usually wears his Marine Corp boonie cover at rallies and marches).  Madden was being tarred with the usual trumped up charge that fatigues are the equivalent of dress uniforms and the added bonus that his speech was "disloyal" (which may echo the questioning in Kokesh's kangaroo hearing where he was asked if he was "a card carrying member of Iraq Veterans Against the War").  Now comes the news via the AP's own Ethel Mertz (Heather Hollingsworth) that although "[a]n investigating officer had recommended in May that Liam Madden, 22, of Boston receive an other-than-honorable discharge, the worst discharge possible under non-court martial conditions" the Marines issued a press release stating "that they were dropping the case because they had 'received sufficient indictation' from Madden . . ." of something.  Of what?  Madden has been very clear that he'll come to terms with them provided they put in writing that he made no disloyal statements about the US.  He tells Hollingsworth that he's received nothing in writing but, "I think it's a total victory.  The country is on our side and it really puts the Marine Corps in a bad light if they try to intimdate".
 
Madden and other members of Iraq Veterans Against the War are currently conducting a summer base tour that takes them next to the US Social Forum in Atlanta, GA on June 30th at 7:00 pm; Fort Benning in Columbus, GA on July 1st at 7:00 pm; a fundraiser in Philadelphia on June 3rd at 6:00 pm; a fundraiser in NYC on July 5th at 7:00 pm; the Naval Sub Marine Base in Groton, CT on July 6th at 7:00 pm; and concluding at Fort Drum in NY on July 8th at 4:00 pm. 
 
And in news of resistance within the military (IRR is a way station -- Richard, Madden and Kokesh were all discharged and the brass had no reason to screw with them), we'll turn to Eli Israel.  Eleonai "Eli" Israel is stationed and Iraq and has announced he can no longer take part in the illegal war.  He is also a supporter of 2008 presidential candidate Mike Gravel having noted, "I am taken away by the truth and clarity that is spoken by Sen. Gravel.  He has my vote.  The National Initiative that he proposes is what this country needs." And: "My paychecks currently comes from the Army.  I have worked with and trained with Blackwater in the past, among others.  I have seen this war (and it's orchestrators) from the inside out, and I'm telling anyone who has 'ears to hear', that Mike Gravel is the only voice of reason that is speaking."  Those were both noted in May.  In April, he posted, "My name is Eli Israel, and yes, you probably guessed it, I'm very much Jewish.  I'm also a soldier in Iraq, and I'm also a HARD CORE Mike Gravel supporter."  In an update at Iraq Veterans Against the War, Eli notes, "I have been in Iraq for over a year.  I have served in combat.  I have been awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, for my actions in Combat.  I have been recommended for other medals, that I will now probably never see (nor do I want) . .. It would have been a lot 'easier' for me to simply keep doing combat missions for a couple more week, and be done with things.  Moral convictions are not based on timing or convenience".  Courage to Resist has more information here.
 
Eli Israel is part of a 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, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed 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.
 
In Iraq, where all business seems to stop anytime Moqtada al-Sadr deliberates . . .  Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Stephen Farrell (New York Times) report that Nouri al-Maliki is all but on his hands and knees regarding a planned al-Sadr march for next week (July 5th).  Mike Drummond (McClatchy Newspapers) judged that "the march poses a test of his [al-Sadr's] popularity.  A peaceful demonstration could arm him with broad political clout, which has eluded other Iraqi leaders so far, including Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.  A low turnout could underscore the limites of Sadr's ability to marshal ordinary citizens."  AP reported this morning that al-Sadr had called off the march and cited Sheik Asad al-Nassiri's statement: "Muqtada al-Sadr has decided to postpone the march to Samarra for several reasons, including the government's inablity to secure the route and many officials' appeals for a postponement."
 
When not begging al-Sadr, Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) reports, the puppet was attempting to sideline him via an attempted partnership with alleged moderate bloc in Parliament who would make it their business to take up the "oil revenue-sharing law".  However Asad al-Hashimi remains 'at large.'  With Iraq's Culture Minister out and about, better hide those copies of Ram in the Thicket.  Worse for al-Maliki, as he's attempting to realign himself, BBC reports that the Iraqi Accord Front and its six minister "will boycott government meetings because of legal steps being taken against one of its ministers."  That would be al-Hashimi who, this week, suddenly became the main suspect in a 2005 assassination (he is now said to be in Jordan).  Waleed Ibrahim and Alister Bull (Reuters) observe "the move is a blow to Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki at a time when he is under U.S. pressure to push through laws" and that this is the second time the bloc has gone on strike this month -- last week they objected to the removal of Mahmoud al-Mashhadani who held the post of Speaker in the Parliament.  In terms al-Hashimi, they further note that "there has been some confusion about the warrant.  Police and court officials have not been able to confirm such a warrant has been issued for Hashemi."
 
 
 

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Thursday, June 28, 2007

THIS JUST IN! FAITH BASED FOOL!

EAGER TO GET OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE AND FAR FROM THE BULLY BOY, FIRST LADY LAURA BUSH HIT THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA.  HOWEVER, IT APPEARED SHE HIT THE LONE STAR BEER A LITTLE HARDER.
 
THAT WOULD EXPLAIN HER REMARKS IN DAKAR THAT "CURBING THE SPREAD OF HIV/AIDS ALSO INVOLVES ADDRESSING MALNUTRITION AND MALARIA".  THE FAITH-BASED AND BEER SOAKED FIRST LADY WAS ASKED TO CLARIFY BY THESE REPORTERS AND SHE RESPONDED THAT SHE WAS "PRETTY SURE YOU CAN GET IT FROM A SQUASH.  I HAD A FRIEND IN HIGH SCHOOL WHO GOT V.D. FROM A VEGETABLE."
 
THESE REPORTERS INFORMED HER THAT AIDS WAS NOT TRANSMITTED THROUGH FOOD OR THROUGH HUNGER PAINS.  WHEN THE FIRST LADY ASKED HOW IT WAS TRANSMITTED, WE ATTEMPTED TO INFORM HER; HOWEVER, SHE STOPPED US INSISTING THAT "I DID THAT ONCE WITH MY HUSBAND AND NEVER AGAIN!"
 
IN ZAMBIA, THE FIRST LADY DECLARED THAT "RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS BRING A PERSONAL HEALING TOUCH TO THE FIGHT AGAINST AIDS" AND INSISTED THAT SHE KNEW "VERY WELL THE HEALING POWER OF FAITH" BEFORE ADDING, "THAT'S WHY I ALWAYS PRAY BEFORE A ROLL AT THE CRAPS TABLE."
 
MEANWHILE WHAT AFRICA COULD USE TO COMBAT AIDS IS MORE CONDOMS; HOWEVER, A MYSTERIOUS SHORTAGE IS BEING WHISPERED.  IN A NOT UNRELATED TOPIC, FIRST DAUGHTER AND BULLY IN TRAINING JENNA BUSH ACCOMPANIED HER MOTHER ON THE TRIP.
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance.  Estes Thompson (AP) gets tasked with filing the featue based on AP's 'study.'  AP's studying data on self-check outs from the US military -- data compiled by the branches and "each branch of the military keeps statistics in different ways".  Of course, as NPR demonstrated last month, that 'tracking' of figures is often fudged.  But working from the data, Thompson wants to tell you that "the US military does almost nothing to find those who flee" and buying that really requires ignoring the realities of Kyle Snyder's story.  Snyder self-checked out after serving in Iraq (something the military tells Thompson really doesn't happen -- these self-checkouts, according to the military are people who haven't served anywhere yet) and went to Canada only to return to the US in October of 2006 after his attorney and the military had reached an agreement.  Upon turning himself in, Snyder found out that the military which lied to him repeatedly was still lying.  He was not being discharged.  Snyder self-checked out again and began a speaking tour across the country (also worked on reconstruction in New Orleans) and what happened then? 
 
What happened then was that Snyder, who truly did not believe the US military was interested in what he was doing and was quite public about where he would be speaking, suddenly found the police showing up at every scheduled stop.  And the instructions to the police were reportedly coming from Fort Knox in Kentucky.  That's before Snyder returned to Canada.  Once he returned to Canada, as he was about to get married, Canadian police show up at his door to arrest him, carrying him out in his boxers, and doing so on orders from the US military.  We could also go into the two US military officers that accompanied a Canadian police officer to Winnie Ng's home, her Canadian home, in search of was resister Joshua Key and the fact that the two US military officers posed as Canadian police -- an offense several times over in both countries. It's an article meant to lull everyone to sleep and, for peace resisters, that will probably be the case.  For those who've paid any attention at all, prepare to laugh repeatedly.  In fact, let's note this: "In recent years, the military has lowered its standards to fill its ranks, letting in more recruits with criminal records or low aptitude scores.  But officials said that does not appear to be a factor in the rising desertion rate either.  In fact, Edgecombe said, recruits who got into trouble before they enlisted tend to shape up under the influence of the military's code of honor and discispline."
 
Peace resisters will probably nod along.  Those who have given a damn about the illegal war will immediately think of three words: Steven Dale Green.  Steven D. Green belonged to which branch?  The Army.  And Green made his decision to sign up when?  After he got busted (again -- this time for possession of alcohol).  Moral character waiver took care of that, just wiped it away.  Soon enough, Green was in Iraq.
 
And what happened then?  Small media ran from it in the summer of 2006. So let's go to CNN for the words of Captain Alex Pickands, summarizing as military prosecutor, exactly what Green and others did: "They gathered over cards and booze to come up with a plan to rape and murder that little girl. She was young and attractive. They knew where she was because they had seen her on a previous patrol. She was close. She was vulnerable." 
 
Yes, Abeer, the story small media ran from as if their life depended upon it.  (Exceptions have been noted before.)  Green, who will be tried in a civilian court and maintains his innocence, and others watched Abeer, leered at her.  Green ran his finger down the 14 year-old's face.  He freaked her out.  Abeer told her parents who made plans for her to stay elsewhere.  The day before that could happen, the plan Pickands noted would be implemented. March 12, 2006, Paul Cortez, James P. Baker, Jesse Spielman, Bryan Howard and Steven D. Green began the criminal actions.  (Howard was reportedly the lookout.  Barker and Cortez have confessed in court to their actions and those of the others involved.)  Green, Barker and Cortez entered the home of 14 year-old Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi.  While Cortez and Barker began gang raping the 14 year-old girl, Green took Abeer's parents and her five-year-old sister into a bedroom and shot them dead.  While she was being gang-raped, Abeer could hear the gunshots.  Barker and Cortez made room for Green who then joined the gang-rape.  After the gang-rape, Green shot Abeer.  They then attempted to set her corpse on fire.
 
Now that doesn't fit with the sunny annecdotal 'evidence' that gets quoted by the AP; however, that is reality. Green, the high school drop out, let into the Army on a moral waiver shortly after being busted by the cops (again), has been described as the "ring leader" from the start.  (Again, Green maintains he is innocent.)
 
Edgecombe is Major Anne Edgecombe, a military flack whose job it is to spin.  She does that repeatedly with sunny anecdotes -- as opposed to facts and figures -- and the AP runs with them -- as opposed to reality. 11,020 is the US Army's official count on check outs since the start of the illegal war. Thompson's article is a test book case of weakening journalistic standard.  The article takes official data and official statements.  This isn't even the he-said-she-said (the 12 lines about Ricky Clousing -- the closest to an independent source in the entire article -- is not 'balance' in a 114 line article).  On March 19, 2007, Nancy Mullane broke the story of the US Army's undercounting on NPR.  The AP article gives no indication that Thompson is familiar with it.  In that report, Mullane explained how the 2006 figures for the Army were said to have dropped.  That was wrong.  The number given before NPR caught them was 2334.  Mullane reported: "Instead of 3100 deserters [for 2006], the real number may be closer to 5,000.  That's according to analysts within the Army's personnel division at the Pentagon and at the Fort Knox desertion information center.
Both reached that 5,000 figure by adding on soldiers who deserted and then were discharged from the Army throughout the year."  Search Thompson's article in vain for any mention of that.  There is none.  Thompson merely repeats the figure 3,301 for 2006, never notes the military's 'problem' with numbers and uses a military flack to offer anecdotal evidence and 'conclusions' throughout the article. 
 
Despite that nonsense, 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, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed 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.
 
In other resistance news, Iraq Veterans Against the War's Liam Madden "may not have to get ANY discharge" from the IRR, the AP (Heather Hollingsworth) reports citing Col. Pat McCarthy as the source of that quote.  He shouldn't need one.  He's already been discharged from active duty and the IRR doesn't usually do discharges.  The AP notes that Madden wants, in writing, the US military to admit "that my statements are neither disloyal nor inaccurate."  Along with  Cloy Richards and Adam Kokesh, Madden has been targeted by the US military brass for speaking out against the war and sharing what they observed first hand in Iraq.  Iraq Veterans Against the War are currently conducting a summer base tour that takes them to Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina tonight at 7:00 pm; the US Social Forum in Atlanta, GA on June 30th at 7:00 pm; Fort Benning in Columbus, GA on July 1st at 7:00 pm; a fundraiser in Philadelphia on June 3rd at 6:00 pm; a fundraiser in NYC on July 5th at 7:00 pm; the Naval Sub Marine Base in Groton, CT on July 6th at 7:00 pm; and concluding at Fort Drum in NY on July 8th at 4:00 pm.  Madden, writing at Iraq Veterans Against the War, notes of the kick off Saturday (Green Belt Park) in DC:  had an early visitor, a police officer who apparently does double duty as a 'journalist': "This confirmed to all of us that he was indeed, not a journalist and in fact, a cop with a bad attitude who wanted to leave before he was subject to any more inquiry.  Then, to top it off he drove by with a bright, fluorescent orange vest in his passenger seat.  You know, the kind cops wear when they need a bright fluorescent vest.  We carried on with the BBQ and 7 active duty military personnel joined us along with at least a dozen IVAW members and another 15 civilian supporters.  We declared the first cook-out a success as we recruited 4 new members, raised over $200 and did what we set out to do, have meaningful conversations and meet good people.  We later got a phone call from the news station asking why we sent their reporter away. Ooops."
 
 At his website, Adam Kokesh responds to comments that have been left, pro and con.
 
 
 

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

THIS JUST IN! JUNK NEWS DOMINATES!

 
WHAT IS ABOUT THE PRESS AND THE BLONDE WOMAN?
 
AS IF NBC'S TODAY SHOW'S BREATHLESS COVERAGE OF PARIS HILTON THIS WEEK WASN'T GUTTER BALL JUNK NEWS, NOW EVERYONE'S OBSESSING OVER THE LATEST SWILL TO EXIT THE MOUTH OF THE IMPLODED BOMBSHELL ANN COULTER.
 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, TO THEIR CREDIT, COVERS THE DEATH TOLL OF U.S. SERVICE MEMBERS IN IRAQ.  BUT INSTEAD OF NEWS WE GET "BLONDES GONE WILD!"  MEANWHILE THERE ARE TWO INCIDENTS WHERE THE U.S. MILITARY APPEARS TO HAVE KILLED IRAQI CIVILIANS.  (SEE TCI WIRE BELOW.) 
 
INSTEAD OF INFORMING US, TOO MANY IN THE PRESS CORPS GLOM ON THE EQUIVALENT OF NOTES PASSED IN STUDY HALL AND ATTEMPT TO SELL THAT AS NEWS.  YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.  AND SO DO WE, IF WE PAY ATTENTION.
 
 
Starting with war resistance, Ehren Watada has provided a spark fueling actions in Washington.  Watada is the first commissioned officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq (June 2006) and the first to be court-martialed for it (a kangaroo hearing that ended in a mistrial back in February).  Linda Averill (ZNet) observes that Watada's "defiance, amplified by an effective defense effort, inspired many anti-war activists, including Gibbs" referring to Molly Gibbs who attempted to get Congressional attention for Watada but only "got the runaround" from Senator Patty Murray and decided, "I'm done dealing with my congressional representatives.  It is in our hands.  We have to do something."  Which for Gibbs including counter-recruitment at high schools and joining with others in SDS, Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace and United for Peace of Pierce County in actions like shutting down ports which, Averill observes, take those participating "from demonstrators and lobbyists into direct actors against the war masters, blocking streets and facing arrest as needed."  And, in Hawaii, Watada is hailed as a hero at a "War and Peace Art Exhibit."  Gary T. Kubota (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) reports the Maui event brought over "100 artists and writers" to 1134 Makawao Ave (exhibit closes Saturday -- may move to "galleries in California, Oregon and Arizona") and included a piece by Tom Seweel involved the "scanned . . . faces of more than 3,00 American soldiers who have died in Iraq into the stars and stripes of the U.S. flag."  Along with adult artists, the exhibit in Maui (closes Saturday, repeating) also included artwork done by children.  Watada inspires as do others standing up.
 
 
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, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed 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.
 
Iraq Veterans Against the War have been targeted by the US military brass in an attempt to force them to stop speaking out.  The three targeted are  Liam Madden, Cloy Richards and Adam Kokesh.   Bob Audette (Brattleboro Reformer) speaks with Madden who explains he will not enter agree to any deals to end the matter -- deals offered by the military brass -- until the note in writing "that my statements are neither disloyal nor inaccurate."  Madden also discussed the strong reception to Iraq Veterans Against the War's summer base tour which goes to Camp Lejune in Jacksonville, NC tonight at 7:00 pm and follows with: Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina on June 18th 7:00 pm; the US Social Forum in Atlanta, GA on June 30th at 7:00 pm; Fort Benning in Columbus, GA on July 1st at 7:00 pm; a fundraiser in Philadelphia on June 3rd at 6:00 pm; a fundraiser in NYC on July 5th at 7:00 pm; the Naval Sub Marine Base in Groton, CT on July 6th at 7:00 pm; and concluding at Fort Drum in NY on July 8th at 4:00 pm.   And Kokesh is the subject of an editorial from the Charleston Gazette which basically states that the brass needs to back off and cites
VFW head Gary Kupius' statements echoing that ("These Marines went to war, did their duty, and were honorably discharged from the active roles.  I may disagree with their message, but I will always defend their right to say it.") before concluding: "Kokesh and Kurpius both merit praise for defending free speech as guaranteed in America's Bill of Rights."
 
 
In Iraq, Mohammed al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "Governmental and political parties' sources in Khalis disputed a U.S. military statement that was issued a few days ago; the statement said that a U.S. helicopter killed 17 terrorists but these sources say these men were protecting their own town from terrorist attacks.  They said that Abbas Muthafar Hashim, Shakir Adnan, Ali Jawad, Jassim Jaleel, Abbas Jaleel, Kamal Hadi, Jamal Hassan and Mohammed Abdul Kareem were killed and 8 others were injured.  They noted that the killed were members of what is called the popular committees that protect the area from the terrorists attacks, as they said."  The US military press release on that incident was issued Friday, June 22nd and noted that those killed were "17 al-Qaeda gunmen" and that they US forces "observed more than 15 armed men attempting to circumvent the IPs and infiltrate the village.  The attack helicopters, armed with missiles, engaged and killed 17 al-Qaeda gunmen and destroyed the vehicle they were using."  Obviously the people of town differ with the US military on the dead and, since they knew the dead and didn't just observe them from the air, one would assume a follow up by the military is in order.  Those very likely wrongful deaths make the news as Molly Hennesy-Fiske (Los Angeles Times) reports this from today, "Witnesses said U.S. troops opened fire on civilians in the sprawling Sadr City neighborhood of the capital after a passerby fired a revolver into the air to settle a family dispute.  The ensuing gunfire left two men dead and three injured, witnesses said.  A spokesman for the U.S. said he had not received reports of soldiers firing at civilians." 
 
 
Meanwhile the tensions between Turkey and northern Iraq continue.  Al Jazeera reports that Turkish General Yasar Buyukanit declared today, "I have said [in April] that we need a cross-border operation and that this would bring benefits.  I repeat this view now."  "BBC correspondents say attacks in Turkey by rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have increased recently, sometimes carried out by rebels based across the border in northern Iraq," notes the BBC as well as the fact that Buyukanit's statements may also have Parliamentary intent (attempting to prove the controlling party -- AK party -- is "weak on terrorism") right before the elections scheduled for the fourth week next month.  Damien McElroy (Telegraph of London) reports that Turkey is shelling villages in Iraq currently as "part of an effort by Turkey to create a de facto 10-mile buffer zone inside Iraq and stop terrorists of the Kurdish independence movement, PKK, infiltrating its borders from their mountain training camps.  Turkey has mobilised more than 20,000 of its soldiers in an operation to stop the PKK using Iraq as a staging post for a new campaign of violence.  Yesterday Turkish newspapers sounded an alarm over the terrorist group after it staged an Iraqi-style suicide truck bomb attack on Turkish troops for the first time."  Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which generally announces every visit in Iraq or abroad with a dignitary, carries no annoucement of this meeting.  The alleged statements come at a time when the US is not seen positively around the world.  Alan Fram (AP) reports that an international poll ("46 nations plus the Palestinian territories") found that "wide-ranging majorities think the U.S. does not consider their intersts when formulating policy; worry that U.S. customs are hurting their countries; and think the U.S. contributes to the gap between rich and poor nations", that even the 'coalition' partner England has gone from "75 percent favorable" opinion "in 2002 to 51 percent now".
 
In news of other neighboring countries, Al Jazeera reports that during a visit to Iran by Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared, "The main elements of insecurity in Iraq which are behind the current atrocities are the US and the Zionist regime intelligence services and some accompanying nations."
 
Meanwhile in the US, Bill Schneider (CNN) reports on CNN's latest polling which has found
54% "of Americans do not believe U.S. action is morally justified," support for the illegal war has now fallen to an "all-time low of 30 percent," 69% "of Americans believe the war is going badly" and that Republicans are among those (obviously, when approximately 70% of Americans are against the illegal war) and 42% of them "support some form of troop withdrawal."  CBS, MTV News and the New York Times did a joint poll of young adults (17 y.o. to 29 y.o.) on their attitudes today. In the Times write up, Adam Nagourney was doing his usual spin but the real news (unreported by the Times) was that 58% of young people say that the US should have "stayed out" of Iraq and 72% say that the illegal war is going badly (34% "somewhat badly" plus 38% "very badly").
 
 

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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY THINKS HE'S LEO!

 
"I'M THE FOOL OF THE WORLD!" BULLY BOY EXCLAIMED PROUDLY FROM THE ROSE GARDEN.
 
SECRETARY OF STATE AND ANGER CONDI RICE PULLED THESE REPORTERS ASIDE AND EXPLAINED THAT SHE HAD JUST INFORMED HIM THAT REPUBLICAN SENATORS
 
"TOSS THEM LIFE PRESERVERS!" HE INSISTED.  "OR I GOT THESE FLOATIES I WEAR WHEN I GO DOG PADDLING AND I COULD GO GET THOSE."
 
SECRETARY RICE TOLD THESE REPORTERS SHE TRIED TO EXPLAIN THAT  THEY WERE CALLING FOR U.S. TROOPS TO BEGIN COMING HOME BUT THAT ONLY CONFUSED HIM MORE.
 
"SO I EXPLAINED THAT THIS WAS LIKE THE MOVIE TITANIC WHEN THE SHIP SINKS AND HE SAID IT COULD SINK UNTIL HE GOT TO YELL FIRST," SECRETARY RICE DECLARED SHAKING HER HEAD AND TWIRLING ONE FINGER AROUND THE RIGHT SIDE OF HER HEAD REPEATEDLY.
 
 
Starting with news of war resistance.  Eli Israel is an Army Specialist resisting the illegal war while stationed in Iraq.   Iraq Veterans Against the War and Courage to Resist (among others) have been getting the word out on the 26 year-old who "told his commanding officer and sergeants that he will no longer be a combatant in this illegal, unjustified war."  Courage to Resist notes that he did have a MySpace blog until the military cracked down on that and includes these statements:
 
I want you all to know, that most of us that are over here, came to Iraq, with the very best of intentions, and really thought that the Iraqi people wanted us here.  Now that I'm here, I realize that they want to work it out themselves, and I know we should respect that.
 
We'll return to that later on, for now note the wisdom -- far more wisdom than some paid for 'insight' can manage.  Resisting the war takes courage and the stand not only results in attacks from the right, it leads many on the left and 'left' to play mute.  But covered or not, it remains an important action.
 
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, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed 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.

 
In addition to highlight Eli Israel's brave stand, Iraq Veterans Against the War are also launching a new action --  a summer base tour and have already visited Washington DC (June 23), Norfolk, VA (June 24).  Next up?  Camp Lejune in Jacksonville, NC on June 27th at 7:00 pm; Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina on June 18th 7:00 pm; the US Social Forum in Atlanta, GA on June 30th at 7:00 pm; Fort Benning in Columbus, GA on July 1st at 7:00 pm; a fundraiser in Philadelphia on June 3rd at 6:00 pm; a fundraiser in NYC on July 5th at 7:00 pm; the Naval Sub Marine Base in Groton, CT on July 6th at 7:00 pm; and concluding at Fort Drum in NY on July 8th at 4:00 pm. 
 
In addition to the bus tour, Iraq Veterans Against the War continue to fight the US military brass that is both (a) scared of them and (b) attempting to silence them.  Liam Madden, Cloy Richards and Adam Kokesh have all been targeted.  At his site, Kokesh gives a heads up to the latest on Madden via Madden's reply to Lt Col Blessing:
 
This letter is in response to the offer of the Marine Corps Mobilization Command relayed to me via my military appointed attorney.  I am prepared to accept the settlement proposed in which the Marine Corps agrees not to continue with the discharge proceeding regarding my alleged disloyal statements and protest activity.  I understand that this is contingent on my oral promise not to engage n further political protest while wearing articles of my Marine uniform.
I will make such an oral agreement and stand by my good word if the Marine Corps is prepared to meet the following condition. 
I will orally agree to not wear my military uniforms while engaged in any political protests, hell, I'll have it carved into stone if you'd like, upon receiving a signed, written statement on official USMC letterhead acknowledging that my statements in question were neither disloyal nor inaccurate.  If the Marine Corps issues this statement, apologizing for erroneously (or possibly vindictively) accusing me of disloyalty to my country, I will not share it with another living soul.
 
 
Turning to Iraq and focusing on trends of violence, in yesterday's New York Times, Alissa J. Rubin noted, "Farther north, in Mosul, a policewoman was shot to death by gunmen as she left home for work.  A 35-year-old Iraqi journalist was also shot to death on her way home from work in Mosul, The Associated Press reported.  The journalist, Zeena Shakir Mahmoud, had been writing about women's affairs for the newspaper Al Haqiqa."  Ellen Massey (IPS) reports on the "one important group that has largely been left out of the process: women.  But they are refusing to be left behind.  With little international support or media attention, a network of more than 150 women's organisations across Iraq is fighting to preserve their rights in the new constitutional revision."  And, Massey reports, they are attempting to enlist support from US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.  Not all have been silent on the attacks on women and women's rights.  In March, MADRE issued "Promising Democracy, Imposing Theocracy: Gender-Based Violence and the US War on Iraq" (which can be read in full in PDF format or, by sections, in HTML).   RadioNation with Laura Flanders' Laura Flanders (writing at The Huffington Post) observed: "Call me crazy but it still gets my goat that the entire Iraq debate takes place without the input of the female majority."   Flanders also interviewed MADRE's Yanar Mohammed on RadioNation with Laura Flanders in December (December 9, 2006).
May 14th, Amy Goodman spoke with Yanar Mohammed (Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq).  In April, Bay Fang's "The Talibanization of Iraq" (Ms. magazine, spring 2007 issue) addressed the issue.  Yifat Susskind, author of the MADRE report, wrote, at CounterPunch, a very realistic look at the attacks on women and their rights in Iraq and notes: "The US has empowered Islamist political parties whose clerics promote 'honor killing' as a religious duty.  The US has empowered Islamist political parties whose clerics promote 'honor killing' as a religious duty. . .  The US also destroyed the Iraqi state, including much of the judicial system, leaving people more reliant on conservative tribal authorities to settle disputes and on unofficial 'religious courts' to mete out sentencing, including 'honor killings'."  To be fair, those and others have noted to attacks on women.  Most media has sat out (big and small) but it's equally true that so have the faux think tanks.  Women are also facing other problems created by the US war and occupation (illegal war, illegal occupation).  Last month, Katherine Zdepf (New York Times) examined life for Iraqi demale refugees and found . . . prostitution.  Nihal Hassan (Independent of London) addressed the topic this week and noted, "There are more than a million Iraqi refugees in Syria, many are women whose husbands or fathers have been killed.  Banned from working legally, they have few options outside the sex trade.  No one knows how many end up as prostitutes, but Hana Ibrahim, founded of the Iraqi women's group Women's Will, puts the figure at 50,000."  In a further sign of how bad things are for women in Iraq, the US military reports that an Iraqi women "safely delivered a newborwn thanks to the efforts of Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soliders and the Iraqi Army."  A pregnant woman nows needs "the help of troops from 2nd Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division" in order to avoid a home birth. Speaking in Chicago last week, Dahlia Wasfi (via the US Socialist Worker) summed the situation up: "Women have all but disappeared from their roles in the workforce.  Once contributors to Iraqi society as teachers, judges, lawyers, doctors, engineers, traffic police and more, the threat of violence and kidnapping now imprisons many women in their homes.  But even there, they are not safe from the terrorism of daily house raids by American soldiers and their subordinate Iraqi police."
 
 

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Monday, June 25, 2007

THIS JUST IN! DON'T CALL HER A "POOR"!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.

THE SCUM THAT IS THE COUNCIL FOR FOREIGN RELATIONS SAW ONE OF IT'S MEMBERS HIT THE NEWS TODAY IN

THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY MOUTH PIECE WAS IN D.C. TO TESTIFY NOT ABOUT NUKES, NOR TO SING "IT'S MY PARTY TOO! AND I'LL WHINE IF I WANT TO, WHINE IF I WANT TO, WHINE IF I WANT TO, YOU WOULD WHINE TOO IF YOU WERE ME AND NOT YOU," OR EVEN BEING ON THE SHORT LIST OF THE PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE-PRESIDENTIAL 2008 NOMINATIONS FROM THE LAUGHABLE "UNITY '08" CAMPAIGN.

CHRISTY TODD WHITMAN WAS THERE TO SPEAK OF HER DISASTER LEADERSHIP OF THE HEAD OF THE E.P.A. IN THE FIRST BULLY BOY'S ADMINISTRATION.

CHRISTY TODD WHITMAN BREEZED IN AND WAS VISIBLY STUNNED BY THE BOOS AND HISSES THAT GREETED HER CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY.

RUBBING SALT IN THE WOUND, SHE ATTEMPTED TO PIN TERRORIST WITH THE BLAME FOR HER REFUSING TO WARN THE PUBLIC OF A SAFETY HAZARD.

"I HAVE BEEN CALLED A LIAR," SHE ADMITTED BUT DID NOT GO ON TO DENY THE CHARGE.

ON THE WAY OUT OF THE HEARING, CHRISTY TODD WHITMAN SNAPPED AT A WOMAN AND ATTEMPTED TO SLUG HER.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME! WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!" WHITMAN HOLLERED.

THE WOMAN REPEATED THE 5 LETTER WORD.

"OH THAT," SAID WHITMAN BACKING OFF. "I THOUGHT YOU SAID I WAS 'A POOR'."


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


Starting with war resisters. Chris Capps (Courage to Resist via Democracy Rising) shares his story which begins in "the Army Reserves in 2004 looking to earn money for college and basically to become independent," continues to Iraq (2005) where the "chow" at Camp Victory is among the surprises:

There were Philly cheese steaks, a good salad bar, a juice bar, Baskin Robbins Ice Cream, and food better then anything I had ever seen before. There was a Pizza Hut, a giant PX store, a Subway, an Arby's, a Greens Beans, and a Popeye's Chicken too.
When you're expecting a combat zone and you walk into something like this you have to wonder "What the hell is going on here?" It was surreal sitting there eating a Subway sandwich, listening to evelator music, and hearing explosions sou loud they could knock your drink right off the table, and gunfire in the distance.
KRB ran everything on Camp Victory. I eventually figured out the deal. I saw the Filipino and Pakistani contractors laboring hard while the American KBR employees drove around in brand new cars just to get from one end of the post to another. Everyone talked about the corruption. I learned about how much it cost the American taxpayer so that I could walk into that nice DFAC, sit down, and have a bite to eat.

In September 2006, he was stationed in Germany and, having seen what Kyle Huwer was going through attempting to get conscientious objector status, Capps decided to self-check out: "I remained AWOL for 60 days. At that point my unit classified me as more then AWOL -- I was now in a 'deserter status.' On May 8 I turned myself in at Fort Still, Oklahoma. Kyle had suggested Fort Sill because it, along with Fort Knox, had a designated out processing center for AWOL soldiers who turn themselves in. But if you're not yet in a 'deserter status,' chances are you will just be returned to the unit you left. It doesn't always work out so smoothly, but on May 11 I was discharged from the Army with an 'other than honorable' discharge."

Chris Capps resides in Germany now, is assisting other soldiers and attempting to start up "a chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War" there. He concludes: "I don't believe in this war. I would like to see more people choosing not to deploy. I think this is the only direct and effective resistance that is going to make this war impossible to go on forever. If the politicians refuse to listen to the people, then the people need to take action. If we had resistance throughout the military then we could finally end this war here and now."


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, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed 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.

Sunday, Kirsten Scharnberg (Chicago Tribune) examined the efforts of the US military brass to silence dissent [Scharnberg's article is also carried by The Baltimore Sun which requires no registration] and zoomed in on the attempts to punish Iraq Veterans Against the War's
Liam Madden, Cloy Richards and Adam Kokesh for speaking out against the illegal war with Scharnberg noting: "Many of the protests involving vets in uniform are all-out street theater, like on in Washington last spring at which protesters staged a mock patrol, manhandling people at stimulated gunpoint to illustrate how they say Iraqis are treated by American troops. The intended subtext of the uniformed protests is apparent. Protesters have additional credibility because they are denouncing a war they have witnessed firstand, that the very uniforms now being used in protest have walked the real battlefield." Madden explains, "Guys like us -- veterans who served but then came believe the war is not only wrong but illegal -- are not who the military wants speaking on a national stage." Which is what it comes down -- fatiques are not dress uniforms. Those discharged (as Kokesh, Madden and Richards were) are not generally discharged from the IRR. But the brass is working overtime in an attempt to clamp down and will resort to anything, no matter how shameful.

KBR, mentioned by Chris Capps, was Kellogg Brown and Root which came together when Brown and Root merged with Halliburton's M.W. Kellogg. Jackie Northam (NPR) reported on the issue of the 120,000 contractors in Iraq for today's Morning Edition noting a hearing
exposed many other problems in the contracting industry . . . in fact, at that hearing, a spokesperson for the army couldn't even say how many contracting companies were working in Iraq. These issues have led to calls for more transperancy in the contracting industry . . . There's no central data base, no single organization to keep track of facts and figures and so that the most basic questions regarding civilian contractors cannot easily be answered. What roles do the contractors play? What nationalities? How much is it costing the American taxpayer and how many contractors have been killed? One of the most vexing questions is what legal framework do the contractors fall under?"

Heading into last weekend, the US military fatality count in Iraq stood at 3546 on Friday. Today it stands at 3560. The US military began announcing the 14 deaths on Saturday and Sunday and reaching 14 with this morning's announcement: "A Task Force Marne Soldier died in a small arms fire attack today" in Baghdad. The 14 dead come days after Peter Pace and US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates were attempting to push the notion that progress in Iraq had nothing to do with violence or deaths. Today Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) reports that "some American commanders expressed doubts about the ability of Iraqi troops to hold gains made in areas north of the capital last week . . . The American commander in Baquba, Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, and his counterpart south of Baghdad, Maj. Gen Rick Lynch, pointed to a variety of problems with the Iraqi forces, including a shortage of trained troops and a lack of basic supplies like ammunition, radios and trucks." BBC notes: "The BBC's Andrew North, in Baghdad, says US commanders blame a lack of committed and properly organised Iraqi troops for the failure of past efforts to secure the Baghdad region" and those problems do not appear to have vanished as the same-old-same-old spreads into the north. Though doing the same thing with larger numbers in northern Iraq (don't call it strategy) resulted in as many as 10,000 US service members in the Diyala province, Baghdad has been the locale for deaths in the last few days -- US and Iraqis.


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"THIS JUST IN! PENNY ANTE PARTY!"
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THIS JUST IN! WHINE ON ,CHRISTY, WHINE ON!

 
THE SCUM THAT IS THE COUNCIL FOR FOREIGN RELATIONS SAW ONE OF IT'S MEMBERS HIT THE NEWS TODAY IN
 
THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY MOUTH PIECE WAS IN D.C. TO TESTIFY NOT ABOUT NUKES, NOR TO SING "IT'S MY PARTY TOO! AND I'LL WHINE IF I WANT TO, WHINE IF I WANT TO, WHINE IF I WANT TO, YOU WOULD WHINE TOO IF YOU WERE ME AND NOT YOU,"  OR EVEN BEING ON THE SHORT LIST OF THE PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE-PRESIDENTIAL 2008 NOMINATIONS FROM THE LAUGHABLE "UNITY '08" CAMPAIGN.
 
CHRISTY TODD WHITMAN WAS THERE TO SPEAK OF HER DISASTER LEADERSHIP OF THE HEAD OF THE E.P.A. IN THE FIRST BULLY BOY'S ADMINISTRATION.
 
CHRISTY TODD WHITMAN BREEZED IN AND WAS VISIBLY STUNNED BY THE BOOS AND HISSES THAT GREETED HER CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY.
 
 
"I HAVE BEEN CALLED A LIAR," SHE ADMITTED BUT DID NOT GO ON TO DENY THE CHARGE.
 
ON THE WAY OUT OF THE HEARING, CHRISTY TODD WHITMAN SNAPPED AT A WOMAN AND ATTEMPTED TO SLUG HER. 
 
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!  WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!"  WHITMAN HOLLERED.
 
THE WOMAN REPEATED THE 5 LETTER WORD.
 
"OH THAT," SAID WHITMAN BACKING OFF.  "I THOUGHT YOU SAID I WAS 'A POOR'."
 
 
 
 
Starting with war resisters.  Chris Capps (Courage to Resist via Democracy Rising) shares his story which begins in "the Army Reserves in 2004 looking to earn money for college and basically to become independent," continues to Iraq (2005) where the "chow" at Camp Victory is among the surprises:
 
There were Philly cheese steaks, a good salad bar, a juice bar, Baskin Robbins Ice Cream, and food better then anything I had ever seen before.  There was a Pizza Hut, a giant PX store, a Subway, an Arby's, a Greens Beans, and a Popeye's Chicken too.
When you're expecting a combat zone and you walk into something like this you have to wonder "What the hell is going on here?"  It was surreal sitting there eating a Subway sandwich, listening to evelator music, and hearing explosions sou loud they could knock your drink right off the table, and gunfire in the distance.
KRB ran everything on Camp Victory.  I eventually figured out the deal.  I saw the Filipino and Pakistani contractors laboring hard while the American KBR employees drove around in brand new cars just to get from one end of the post to another.  Everyone talked about the corruption.  I learned about how much it cost the American taxpayer so that I could walk into that nice DFAC, sit down, and have a bite to eat.
 
In September 2006, he was stationed in Germany and, having seen what Kyle Huwer was going through attempting to get conscientious objector status, Capps decided to self-check out: "I remained AWOL for 60 days.  At that point my unit classified me as more then AWOL -- I was now in a 'deserter status.'  On May 8 I turned myself in at Fort Still, Oklahoma.  Kyle had suggested Fort Sill because it, along with Fort Knox, had a designated out processing center for AWOL soldiers who turn themselves in.  But if you're not yet in a 'deserter status,' chances are you will just be returned to the unit you left.  It doesn't always work out so smoothly, but on May 11 I was discharged from the Army with an 'other than honorable' discharge." 
 
Chris Capps resides in Germany now, is assisting other soldiers and attempting to start up "a chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War" there.  He concludes: "I don't believe in this war.  I would like to see more people choosing not to deploy.  I think this is the only direct and effective resistance that is going to make this war impossible to go on forever.  If the politicians refuse to listen to the people, then the people need to take action.  If we had resistance throughout the military then we could finally end this war here and now."
 
 
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, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Care, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed 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.
 
Sunday, Kirsten Scharnberg (Chicago Tribune) examined the efforts of the US military brass to silence dissent [Scharnberg's article is also carried by The Baltimore Sun which requires no registration] and zoomed in on the attempts to punish Iraq Veterans Against the War's
Liam Madden, Cloy Richards and Adam Kokesh for speaking out against the illegal war with Scharnberg noting: "Many of the protests involving vets in uniform are all-out street theater, like on in Washington last spring at which protesters staged a mock patrol, manhandling people at stimulated gunpoint to illustrate how they say Iraqis are treated by American troops.  The intended subtext of the uniformed protests is apparent.  Protesters have additional credibility because they are denouncing a war they have witnessed firstand, that the very uniforms now being used in protest have walked the real battlefield."  Madden explains, "Guys like us -- veterans who served but then came believe the war is not only wrong but illegal -- are not who the military wants speaking on a national stage."  Which is what it comes down -- fatiques are not dress uniforms.  Those discharged (as Kokesh, Madden and Richards were) are not generally discharged from the IRR.  But the brass is working overtime in an attempt to clamp down and will resort to anything, no matter how shameful.
 
KBR, mentioned by Chris Capps, was Kellogg Brown and Root which came together when Brown and Root merged with Halliburton's M.W. Kellogg.  Jackie Northam (NPR) reported on the issue of the 120,000 contractors in Iraq for today's Morning Edition noting a hearing
exposed many other problems in the contracting industry  . . . in fact, at that hearing, a spokesperson for the army couldn't even say how many contracting companies were working in Iraq.  These issues have led to calls for more transperancy in the contracting industry . . .  There's no central data base, no single organization to keep track  of facts and figures and so that the most basic questions regarding civilian contractors cannot easily be answered.  What roles do the contractors play?  What nationalities?  How much is it costing the American taxpayer and how many contractors have been killed?  One of the most vexing questions is what legal framework do the contractors fall under?"
 
Heading into last weekend, the US military fatality count in Iraq stood at 3546 on Friday.  Today it stands at 3560.  The US military began announcing the 14 deaths on Saturday and Sunday and reaching 14 with this morning's announcement: "A Task Force Marne Soldier died in a small arms fire attack today" in Baghdad. The 14 dead come days after Peter Pace and US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates were attempting to push the notion that progress in Iraq had nothing to do with violence or deaths.  Today Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) reports that "some American commanders expressed doubts about the ability of Iraqi troops to hold gains made in areas north of the capital last week . . .  The American commander in Baquba, Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, and his counterpart south of Baghdad, Maj. Gen Rick Lynch, pointed to a variety of problems with the Iraqi forces, including a shortage of trained troops and a lack of basic supplies like ammunition, radios and trucks."  BBC notes: "The BBC's Andrew North, in Baghdad, says US commanders blame a lack of committed and properly organised Iraqi troops for the failure of past efforts to secure the Baghdad region" and those problems do not appear to have vanished as the same-old-same-old spreads into the north.   Though doing the same thing with larger numbers in northern Iraq (don't call it strategy) resulted in as many as 10,000 US service members in the Diyala province, Baghdad has been the locale for deaths in the last few days -- US and Iraqis.
 
 
 

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