THIS JUST IN! HARD WORKING ABC 'NEWS'!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE   ON THIS, THE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE START OF THE ILLEGAL WAR, ABC 'NEWS' GOES ALL OUT WITH NIGHTLINE TONIGHT TO COVER . . .   WELL LET'S LET THEM EXPLAIN.   WATCH: Bottle Time for Adorable Baby Apes   ADORABLE BABY APES!  WHY THAT'S JUST . . .  ADORABLE!    YOU CAN SAY A LOT OF THINGS ABOUT ABC 'NEWS.'  YOU CAN, FOR INSTANCE, ACCUSE THEM OF KNOWING NOTHING ABOUT JOURNALISM, OF HAVING NO SENSE OF PERSPECTIVE OR HISTORY, OF GOOFING OFF FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK, BUT THEY'RE ADORABLE, DAMN IT, DAMN ADORABLE.   MAYBE SOME NICE FAMILY WILL TAKE THEM HOME SOON AND REAL JOURNALISTS CAN GO TO WORK AT ABC?   IN A RELATED ITEM [AND A NEWS UPDATE TO "THIS JUST IN! ABC NEWS TAPS OUT!" AND "PaulTap taps out" FROM EARLIER THIS WEEK], JAKE TAPPER CALLED THESE REPORTERS IN TEARS TO EXPRESS HIS FEAR THAT HIS 'NEWS' COLLEAGUES ARE "MOCKING HIM.  THOSE BABY APES HAVE HAIRY CHESTS JUST LIKE MY PAUL RUDD!  IT'S NOT FUNNY WHEN YOUR HEART GETS BROKEN!"   FROM THE TCI WIRE:   At the New York Times' blog Baghdad Bureau, Rod Nordland reviews the reading lists of his colleagues and notes of Alissa J. Rubin, "Alissa has also been reading The Iliad ever since she returned to Iraq a year and a half ago.  It's not that she's a slow reader; I suspect she doesn't really want it to end just yet.  After all, Troy's war lasted nine years, and Iraq's is only in year six."  They make it so very difficult not to rip them apart, don't they?  Attempts at 'pith' that read like a really bad company newsletter, on a theme stolen from a joke about Rachel in a Friends episode.  And though reporters are supposed to make observations, Rod just offers minutes.  (Here's an observation, Rod, an obvious one: While the women will read books by men and women, the men only read books by men.  And people wonder about the institutional sexism at the New York Times?) Where there is an embarrassment for the paper, there is Bill Keller (executive-editor) who leaves comment number six: "Think you could get an Oprah for this and maybe have it included in each small unit field library with a couple Kindles included."  Oh, ha, ha.  Good to know all that non-work that resulted in losing millions for the paper hasn't stopped Bill Keller's joy of the funin'.  In the real world, it's the sixth anniversary of the illegal war today.    What's on Iraqis mind?  Ones with computer access have a fondness for a certain e-mail.  Abeer Mohammed (Baghdad Bureau Blog) reveals one e-mail that keeps getting forwarded around Iraq (nine times Abeer's received it since the election) is "Obama and Bush are Cousins." It's the photo strip where Bush morphs into Barack and it, as Abeer Mohammed notes, "suggest that the two's polices are the same." Enas Adil wrote in the e-mail, "There is no difference between Bush and Obama. He may use different words in his speeches but the weapons are the same."  Strangely, Bill Keller didn't feel the need to comment on that post.  No doubt he's trying to figure out how he can relate it to a TV show.  Well he's got to do something all day besides singing along with Annie Lennox, "This ship is sinking, this ship is sinking" ("Why" off Annie's Diva).   Finding out what's on Iraqis minds became harder this year as Jeffrey (Iraqi Bloggers Central) pointed out -- fewer Iraqis starting blogs and many Iraqis have ceased blogging.  Touta (Fog el Nakhal) reports on traveling from Baghdad to Ramadi: "To transport us from our house, we hired one of thos cars with black windows and large tyres, driven by a tall, quite intimidating guy.It really comfortable and large, and he bellows in laughter as he talks about the rumadi stereotype. I think we had to pass three checkpoints through the whole journey, and I didn't really do anything apart from stay seated as soldier after soldier would peer in suspiciously before exclaiming 'Family!' and letting us pass." Her report includes:   It turns out the whole of Iraq is suffering intolerably from unemployment, and lack of life. No money=no life. Its simple. All work seems to be handed out not to the best qualified, but to members of the same family, and this is the case for all sects and groups of Iraq. Same with the government. If you're lucky enough to have a foreign degree you can expect a job, but even then its sometimes hit and miss, and depends whether you have a head big enough to boast of how great you are. One of the older guests spends half an hour complaining about the iranians. At first I get up on my high horse and complain of racism, but then he quickly and quietly reminds me of how many friends and family he lost in the war. "Why do you think they hate us too?". There's a lot more foreign soldiers here. i didnt really expect it, but seeing them, after an absence brings back the whole Iraq situation again. It was fun in Rumadi, my 13 year old cousin actually felt it was necessary to walk me to the shop opposite the road. Then he spent 15 minutes trying to pay for everything. i know its out of niceness, and its the way they have been brought up etc, but I like independence. A bit too much perhaps.   Earlier this month, Sunshine (Days of My Life) shared her struggle to make what should be an easier drive, "I spend most the time these days studying, I stay up till 11 pm and wake up next day at 6:30 to go to school, I am not getting enough time to sleep, and my face looks tired, but I know these days will pass, but the result of my study will not fade away, so… I can sleep later.  The situation this week was very bad, many car bombs exploded, we hear shooting the whole time, many were killed or injured, and many roads were closed, I spend more than an hour trying to find an opened road in my way from school to my house, I arrive exhausted, with red face and killing headache after I take a nap for an hour to rest, I have physics or chemistry lectures at home, after that I do my homework while I listen to slow music, and my favorite songs ..(I like Whitney Huston, blue, west life, George Michael, Shania twin, Josh Groban, and too many to mention, I also like country music a lot, and I hear Arabic and some Iraqi music).."  S.W. at Mosul 4all writes of last Wednesday (March 11th), being in Mosul Medical college when a bomb went off:   this was the most horrible sound I was ever heard, I never heard something like this before and next the steel fall toward us , the windows broken on the ground, someone lying on the ground, I put my hand over my ear and screamed, dust, and more of glass on the ground . I looked around me and checked my self then looked to my friends who still shocked , we didn't get hurt but still shocked, the man who was on the ground raise and stood on his feet he didn't get hurt too, no one get hurt in the lab, I looked from the crashed window and I saw damaged cars in the street and something black on the street I couldn't recognize it (i thing it was a body),then I knew that it was car bomb parked in front of the college, we collected our stuffs then hurried to the centre of the college to have close view ,     The daily life provided by the illegal war.  An illegal war that has seen over 1.6 million Iraqis killed, that has turned another 4 million-plus Iraqis into refugees (internal and external) and has resulted in the deaths of 4259 US service members.   The day the war started (March 20th in Iraq, due to the time difference), Iman Kadhim had given birth in Baghdad and, as she held her son in her arms, she heard the first bombs falling on Baghdad.   Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "She named him Harb, Arabic for war.  His full name, Harb Zaid, translates as Zaid's War.  Neighbors joked that the child named War would only bring damar, or destruction.  She worried about him, the boy with a difficult name and an uncertain future." He was in a market during a bombing when he was four-years-old, the same year he saw the Mahdi army pull "a man from the trunk of the car and shot him"  and his mother notes, "Our life is destruction, on top of destruction."  Fadel informs, "Today, War turns 6.  He's never had a birthday party."   The Iraq War has created many widows and many orphans.  Baghdad is still notorious for the number of street children inhabting it.  Oxfam International released [PDF format warning] "In Her Own Words: Iraqi women talka bout their greatest concerns and challenges" earlier this month (see March 9th snapshot).  Ashley Smith (Dissident Voice) observes:     The scale of the crisis in Iraqi women's lives is mind-boggling. Oxfam reported that 55 percent of the women they surveyed reported they had been the victims of violence since 2003. Researchers also found that 55 percent of women had been displaced or forced to abandon their homes.          Despite the media celebrations of growing security in Iraq, 40 percent of those surveyed stated that their security situation was worse in 2008 over 2007. Close to 60 percent of women said that security and safety remained their most pressing concern.              As result of displacement and violence, over a third of the respondents had now become the effective head of their households. There are an estimated 740,000 widows in Iraq, and the actual number could be far higher.            The U.S. attempt to dismantle the central government's traditional role as the hub of the economy and principal provider of social services has devastated these women. Seventy-six percent of widows said they did not receive their husband's pensions from the government. While 76 percent said that they relied government food rations, 45 percent reported receiving it intermittently. Thirty-three percent had received no humanitarian assistance since 2003, and a majority stated that their income was lower in 2008 than in 2007 and 2006.                  Oxfam reported, "Beyond security, the overwhelming concern women voiced was extreme difficulty accessing basic services such as clean water, electricity and adequate shelter . . . Availability of essentials such as water, sanitation, and health care is far below national averages."   Six years later.  And that's the reality.  The Kansas City Star explains that Baghdad sidewalks are "fillwed with water, boxes of water and water cooler bottles.  Stacked like squared-off hedges, and also colorful, they're constant reminders that even the basics for life are difficult.  About a third of all Baghdad water is undrinkable.  It brings disease.  Last summer it brought cholera, and government officials are warning that it will again this summer.  Beyond that, the water leaves many sick with nagging nausea, perhaps nothing more serious, but sick."  And Nouri al-Maliki sits on billions.   Cholera outbreaks take place each year.  And when WHO's doctor, so very cozy with Nouri, holds a press conference in Baghdad, as she did last fall, blaming Iraqi women for the cholera outbreak and not the failed and failing infrastructure, it leads to whispers that the 'good' doctor is being slipped a little under the table.  Nouri's refused to do a damn thing for the people of Iraq.  Maybe he feels he's not obligated to them?  After all, Iraqis didn't choose him, the US did.  (Parliament's first choice for MP in 2006 was shot down by the US.)  No potable water, electricty no more than four hours a day, etc.  Rod Nordland and Jad Mouawad (New York Times) report today that Hussain al-Shahristani, Minister of Oil, told OPEC yesterday that the puppet government is willing to steal the people's oil and give it to western companies ("to share directly in the profits from oil production") and that Thamir Ghadhban confirmed this wasn't a misstatement.  The reporters note Parliament's opposition to efforts to give foreigners the bulk of the profits from Iraq's oil but then they present Nouri Jr. -- Barham Salih -- whining, "It's acknowledged almost universally that the present oil policy and management has been a disaster."  Oh, boo hoo.  Let's all pretend the puppet government is near starvation and that Iraq's oil doesn't already bring in billions.  UPI reports today that the puppet "government has more than $70 billion in hard cash reserves thanks to two years worth of oil sales".  Nigeria, by contrast, brings in about $19 billion a year and the CIA estimates it has approximately 146,000,000 people.  Iraq?  The CIA estimates they have approximately 28,000,000.  The whining by the puppet government is a joke.  And while Nouri sits on billions, Iraqis suffer.  Jenan Hussein (McClatchy's Inside Iraq) explains that Iraqi orphanges get the US equivalent of $1.50 a month to cover each orphan: "Can you imagine, with the explosive budget that reached to 71 billion dollars last year, the share of the orphan is 1.50 $ montly?  What a justice, that we live under this national government which promised to end the years of lack! Islam, the official relgion for Iraq state and customs emphasize the importance of caring the orphans and most Iraqi officials reach to authority by using Islamic cover to convince voters.  Iraq the country of orphans (there are more than 3 million orphans in Iraq) only 469 orphans of them distrubte on 15 orphanage are living under the care of the state."  It's disgusting and it's disgusting that Nouri gets away with this, year after year.   Also disgusting is what has passed for 'coverage' of the sixth anniversary of the illegal war.  The New York Times can't even muster the strength for a tiny editorial or a column.  A rare exception was Martha Raddatz' report for ABC's World News Tonight (link is video only) yesterday:    Martha Raddatz: The improvements across Iraq are remarkable but US soldiers in the northern city of Mosul know that they are still at war. Col Gary Volesky: Yesterday we had three VB IEDs. Keep your head in the game. Martha Raddatz: VB IED. Vehicle Born Improvised Explosive Devices. The car bomb, rocket attacks and fire fights have made Mosul one of the most dangerous places in Iraq and made the job of Col Gary Volesky and his 5,000 soldiers all the more difficult. Col Gary Volesky: Is security good here or is it not so good? Martha Raddatz: It's not that good says the shop keeper. Only 9% of Mosul residents polled say they feel "very safe" in their neighborhood. The national figure is 59% and Col Vuleski thinks he knows why. Col Gary Volesky: The unemployment is anywhere from 60 to 80% and if the only option you have to feed your family is to go put in an IED or go throw a hand grenade, that's what you're going to do, whether you like it or not. Martha Raddatz: Volesky has seen this before. Col Gary Volesky: A lot of it looks really familiar. Martha Raddatz: So has Capt Shane Aguero. Martha Raddatz: [Speaking with Volesky and Aguero] The two of you together again? Col Gary Volesky: Can you believe it? Martha Raddatz: I first met Aguero and Volesky five years ago, after an ambush in Baghdad's Sadr City Col Gary Volesky [2004]: We're receiving fire from rooftops, second floors and then out of the alley ways. Cpt Shane Aguero: I realized I was obviously wounded -- calf, foot, thigh. I was bleeding a lot. Martha Raddatz: Before the night was over, 8 of Volesky's soldiers were dead, sixty wounded. Today Volesky and Aguero are on their third deployment to Iraq. Aguero has been to Afghanistan twice as well. Martha Raddatz [to Aguero]: Tell me how many significant events you've missed at home? Christmases . . . Cpt Shane Aguero: (laughing) Well pretty much all of them for the last four years -- almost five. Martha Raddatz: And five years later, Volesky is saying goodbye to his soldiers again. Col Gary Volesky [Speaking at a memorial service]: She's no longer with us. Mission complete, Martha Raddatz: 22-year-old Private 1st Class Jessica Y. Sarandrea was struck by a rocket on March 3rd. Col Gary Volesky: It doesn't matter how many memorial services you go to, there as bad as the first one I ever sat in. Martha Raddatz: But the death of Volesky's battalion commander Garnet [R.] Derby last month was as bad as it gets. Col Gary Volesky: He was the first real personal friend I'd lost in combat, his family's right across the street from me. I mean, uh, you know, his son and Alex play on the same soccer team. Martha Raddatz: At such moments, Gary Volesky tries to remember what's been achieved here. Col Gary Volesky: What is relevant to me is tomorrow I'll have one less day than I did today to make a difference. Martha Raddatz: Volesky and his soldiers are determined for all the hardship to build on that progress. Martha Raddatz, ABC News, Mosul.     Rania Abouzeid (Time magazine) also reports on Mosul and ponders, ". . . Why?  What is it about Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, that has sustained an insurgency that has largely (with the exception of northeastern Diyala province) died out in most of the country?  Why has this city of some 2 million people become the site of al-Qaeda's last stand in Iraq?"   While the New York Times plays like they're unaware it's the sixth anniversary, wowOwow notes the anniversary and Condi Rice's appearnace on Charlie Rose last night where she tried out a new comedy routine telling Rose, "No one was arguign that Saddam Hussein somehow had something to do with 9/11." "No one?" Rose asked.  "I was certainly not," Condi lied.  "The president was certainly not."  They falsely and repeatedly linked 9-11 to Iraq.  Condi Rice lied her way through the last eight years and seems determined to lie her way through whatever years she has left.  In late 2003, the BBC compiled some examples of how the White House linked Iraq and 9-11 repeatedly.  Condi, for example, declared Saddam was a risk in "a region from which the 9/11 threats emerged."  Here's BBC on Bully Boy Bush linking:   "Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror." President Bush in his State of the Union address, January 2002. The speech was primarily concerned with how the US was coping in the aftermath of 11 September. "We also must never forget the most vivid events of recent history. On 11 September, 2001, America felt its vulnerability - even to threats that gather on the other side of the earth. We resolved then, and we are resolved today, to confront every threat, from any source, that could bring sudden terror and suffering to America."   President Bush speaking in Cincinnati, Ohio, in October, 2002, in which he laid out the threat he believed Iraq posed. "Before 11 September 2001, many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein could be contained. But chemical agents and lethal viruses and shadowy terrorist networks are not easily contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons, and other plans - this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would take just one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known."     President Bush in his State of the Union address, January 2003. He made these comments in the context of the links he perceived between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. "The terrorists have lost a sponsor in Iraq. And no terrorist networks will ever gain weapons of mass destruction from Saddam Hussein's regime."          President Bush in his speech to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, September, 2003.   The administration repeatedly lied.  And the effects are still felt in Iraq to this day.     RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" "Sixth anniversary of the war in broadcast TV" "The sixth anniversary of the war in print" "barbra" "Janis" "Carly" "Aretha" "Scream, he said" "Neil Young, Andy Worthington, Iraq" "Ben Folds Five, Ireland, Iraq" "Getting to know Barack" "THIS JUST IN! THE REAL BARACK!"

THIS JUST IN! THE REAL BARACK!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE     "DUE TO POPULAR OUTCRY," BARACK OBAMA TOLD THESE REPORTERS, "I HAVE DROPPED MY CHEAP ASS SCHEME TO MAKE WOUNDED VETERANS PAY FOR THEIR OWN CARE.  SEE I DO THE RIGHT THING."   RIGHT.  WHEN YOU'RE PRESSURED, PUBLICLY SHAMED AND CALLED OUT.   LOTS OF LUCK THAT HAPPENING VERY OFTEN WITH YOUR DEVOTED LOVE CULT.     FROM THE TCI WIRE:   Friday's snapshot noted a video of US forces 'training' Iraqi police.  We're revisiting the video because the critique offered Friday of how damaging it is for women when the US military condones that behavior is only more obvious today.   At his site Adam Kokesh - Revolutionary Patriot, Adam Kokesh has posted the video so you can stream it there if you're able to stream and/or enjoy streaming.  For those who can't, a transcript is below and, as noted Friday, the US service member  mentions three areas that we're calling A and B and C (I have no idea what he's taling about):   We're going to talk a little about how you are conducting yourselves as Iraqi police.  Raise your hand if you're in the Mahdi militia.  Let's see it.  Who's in the militia?  Who has militia ties?  Which one of you are more loyal to the militia than to your own country?  None of you?  Bulls**t.  Some of you in this formation are f**king lie right now.  You know why I'm pissed off?  I've come down here with my soldiers to try and train you and you're trying to f**king kill Americans, you're trying to kill your fellow f**king Iraqis cause you got no f**king backbone.  You want everything from me.  You want weapons and ammunition.  You want fuel, you want trucks.  But you're too f**king p**sy to go three kilometers down the road and go get the people that are tearing this f**king town apart.  That's pure f**king cowardice.  I'll take three g**damn trucks down the road any f**king day.           [To an Iraqi, thumping him on the chest] You think this is f**king funny?  You want to call me out?  You think it's f**king funny?  Why don't I take your ass out back and kick your little  f**king ass? You better shut the f**k up.  F**king pay attention.  [To all] I have no problems beating anyone of your asses, not one.  Because I don't give a f**k.  Because you're acting like a bunch of f**king women.  [To one Iraqi] Shut up when I'm talking.  Shut your f**king mouth.     [To all]  I'm not going to come down here and waste my f**king time or my soldiers' lives because you don't want to do s**t.  You guys better figure out where your loyalties lie.  Are you loyal to Iraq, Shia, Sunni, what is it? You want to fight for your country or are you better off having me die for your country because you're too much of a f**king woman to do it yourself?  You love seeing Americans die for your f**king country, you won't die for it yourself.  I don't see your ass in my hometown.     [Turning around] And you f**king leadership [ought to?] get off your ass too.  Lead from the f**king front.  When's the last time you went on patrol?  Probably never.  When's the last time you went these guys down to A, when did you take them to A and lead 'em on a f**king patrol? You never did, did you?  Because you're too chicken s**t.  [Facing front] Figure out what the f**k you want from us or I'm going to stop coming down here. And when the Sunnis from A come down here and cut your f**king heads off, I'm not going to do a g**damn thing about it.  I'm going to let them bomb your f**king ass into oblivion with their mortars because you will not do s**t about it. I will not help people that will not help themselves.  Get your heads out of this f**king bulls**t Mahdi militia and start fighting for Iraq. What do you want?  Questions?  . . . . [Question asked, then translated.]  You wanna erase that image, you want to fix your image.  This group right here, f**k your stupid checkpoints, they're worthless.  Get together, get all your weapons and start marching south towards the river.  I guarantee you'll get into a gunfight and I guarantee you'll f**k some people up.  Get down there and kick some ass. What?  You don't need trucks.  Take some water, take some food.  [shouting over him]  Hey, quit making excuses.  Don't f**king talk about US patrols.  I never saw your ass down in ledge, where the f**k were you?  I never saw you in B, C, so shut the f**k up.  When I tell you to man up, you shut the f**k up.   You guys want to be men, go down there and start beating some f**king asses. You're supposed to be Iraqi police.  Why don't you try acting like it?  You sit her with your thumb up your ass because you're too f**king scared to do your jobs.   Those are the remarks.  They're offensive and appling on every level including what a police force actually does, law and order and so much more.  [See "Iraq," "Iraq roundtable," "The Iraq roundtable," "iraq roundtable," "Iraq," "Iraq in the Kitchen," "Talking Iraq," "Iraq around the table," "Roundtable on Iraq," "The roundtable," "Roundtable," "Friday roundtable,"  "Iraq roundtable" and "Talking Iraq".]  They are also sexist remarks and, as such, they are offensive and damaging.  For Iraqi women and for American women.  The US military has no right to use female as a curse word, to use gender as a put down.  MADRE's Yifat Susskind explains at CounterPunch how the illegal war and the US have impacted Iraqi women's lives:   If you haven't thought about the Iraq War as a story of US allies systematically torturing and executing women, you're not alone. Likewise, if you were under the impression that Iraqi women were somehow better off under their new, US-sponsored government. In the spring of 2003, Fatin was a student of architecture at Baghdad University. Her days were filled with classes and hanging out in her favorite of Baghdad's many cafes, where she and her friends studied, shared music, and spun big plans for successful careers, happy marriages, and eventually, kids. Today, Fatin says that those feel like someone else's dreams. Soon after the US invasion, Fatin began seeing groups of bearded young Iraqi men patrolling the streets of Baghdad. They were looking for women like her, who wore modern clothes or were heading to professional jobs. The men screamed terrible insults at the women and sometimes beat them. By the fall, ordinary aspects of Fatin's life had become punishable by death. The "misery gangs," as Fatin calls them, were routinely killing women for wearing pants, appearing in public without a headscarf, or shaking hands and socializing with men. As the occupying power, the US was legally obligated to stop these attacks. But the Pentagon, preoccupied with battling the Iraqi insurgency, simply ignored the militias' reign of terror. In fact, some of the most treacherous armed groups belonged to the very political parties that the US had brought to power. By 2005, the Pentagon was giving weapons, money and military training to these Shiite militias, in the hope that they would help combat the Sunni-led insurgency.   And after destroying women's lives, the US military thinks it is acceptable for one of their own to 'train' Iraqi police officers to further disrespect women?  Train them to think that female is the ultimate insult?  Really?  That's acceptable?   The US war destroyed the rights of women in Iraq and someone wants to pretend it's 'acceptable' for US service members to further destroy the lives of Iraqi women with little stunts like that 'training'?  And what about the women in the US military?  wowOwow notes, "A Pentagon report released Tuesday claims one in three women soldiers will be victims of some sort of sexual assault during their service, compared to one in six women civilians. In fiscal 2008, 2,923 sexual assaults were reported -- an 8 percent spike over the prior year; 63 percent were rapes or aggravated assaults. Also, 251 incidents occurred in combat areas, with 141 in Iraq and 22 in Afghanistan -- a 26 percent increase from fiscal 2007."   On yesterday's CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, (here for text, here for video), Katie Couric reported on sexual assault and the principal Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Michael Dominguez told her, "Sexual assault injures troops, injures readiness.  So regardless of the numbers we have, it is by definition too much."  Katie observed that 2007 saw 2,200 reported sexual assaults and "only 181 were prosecuted" to which Dominguez responded, "Yes, we absolutely have to get better.  Secretary Gates himself is driving this initiative this year to improve our ability to investigate, to prosecutre and convict."  Remember that point, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is driving it.  NBC Nightly News also offered (video only) a look at sexual assault in the military yesterday. Jim Miklaszewski filed the report and started with Angela Peacock who was sexually assaulted while serving. Angela Peacock: You want to stay in the army keep your mouth shut, suck it up and drive on. Jim Miklaszewski: Angela did drive on and later deployed to Iraq but under the lingering trauma of the sexual assault and the horrors of war she cracked. Angela Peacock: I started having panic attacks and like sleepless nights. I was spiraling down pretty fast. Jim Miklaszewski: She was diagnosed with post traumatic stress and discharged from the army. A Pentagon report on sexual assaults released today shows Angela is not alone. In 2008 there were more than 2900 sexual assaults in the military -- an 8% jump over the previous year. Perhaps more alarming, the number of sexual assaults in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan spiked by 26%. Pentagon officials insist they're taking the disturbing trend seriously. US House Rep Jane Harman smells a cover-up and tells Miklaszewski, "And anyone in the chain of command who covers up the act, and says 'Oh, it's just boys will be boys,' which is what has been happening, also should be prosecuted."  Exactly but it's equally true that when a member of the US military -- in a training position -- insults women, makes it so that the worst thing in the world to be is a woman, he is encouraging assaults on women serving in the military.  He's encouraging it and so is the military command which lets him get away with.  If Robert Gates is seriously concerned, he'll need to address the culture.  Mike Mount (CNN) speaks with the idiot Kaye Whitley ("director of the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response office) and Whitley is part of the problem as anyone who has attended a Congressional hearing on this issue knows.  A victim provides testimony -- tears herself up to provide testimony -- and Kaye Whitley comes along on the next panel and gets all these little jabs in discrediting the witness -- out of compassion, you understand.  She tells Mount that there's no increase in actual assaults, there's just an increase in them being reported.  She's a damn fool, a damn liar and someone who should have been kicked off the tax payer payroll a long time ago.  It's past time Kaye Whitley got a real job and stopped living off tax payers.  Whitley pulled that crap most recently on January 28th where she pretended to be 'concerned' about Laura Waterson.  Whitley was pimping for the military (and pimping's the only word) to push for more use of the trial programmed "restricted reports."  What this does is allow a rape to go unreported.  It counts . . .  as a statistic.  The women (and male victims as well) are 'counseled' by the military about this option and how it can 'help' them.  And throughout their 'counseling' with the military's untrained (a seminar is not training, nor is reading a notebook) 'clinical staff' they will be counseled on whether they're prepared to step forward now or not.  It's a crime.  Crimes need to be reported.  For the victim and especially for the attacker.  A rapist may walk -- many do.  But if I'm at Fort Lewis and I prosecute my rapist, even if he walks, that follows him because he's not just going to rape once.  So the next victim who steps forward has a little easier way to go.  As US House Rep Niki Tsongas pointed out to the dithering Whitley, with 1,896 Restricted Reports, "It means a significant number of people who committed these assaults are not accountable."  They are not.  Whitley wasn't concerned about the victim or about future victims.  She declared that if you didn't have that restricted option (where no crime is reported and prosecuted) you would be left with something that "just tears a unit apart."  Guess what, Dumb Ass Whitley, maybe it needs to.  Maybe it f**king needs to.  Maybe if enough units are "torn apart" by these sexual assaults, the military will get serious about preventing them.  But that won't happen as long as apologists like Kaye Whitley are allowed to continue in their jobs.  The woman needs to be removed from her job immediately.  And civilian clinicians need to be brought in because we are talking about crimes and the military's history is one of hiding sexual assaults.  Civilians who do not answer to the military chain of command need to be brought in as counselors.  As Niki Tsongas also explained to Whitley "we do have new women coming into the military who have no real understanding of the threat that might exist" and "we have many young people coming into the services who we want to protect."  "Restricted Rape" assists no one except the US military command which is already well versed in how to cover up sexual assault crimes.   Those who missed Laura Watterson's powerful and moving testimony can refer to Jan. 28th's "Iraq snapshot," Kat's "When I tried to smoke a banana," Jan. 29th's "Iraq snapshot," Ruth's "Laura Watterson's testimony and its meaning" and Kat's "Laura Watterson's testimony."   We're not done with the 'training' the US military is giving the Iraqi police.  It disrespected the traditions of law and order, it confused the role of a civilian police.  The US military -- which is not a trained civilian police force -- is giving 'training' lessons on topics they know nothing of.  The civilian police force, in any country, is not supposed to attack civilians or suspects.  They can arrest suspects but the US service member in the video isn't recommending that anyone be arrested, he is recommending that police become a viligante force.    Rob Nordland (New York Times) reported earlier this week that six prisoners from Camp Bucca were released by the US military and they returned home.  That was not the end of the story for them.  A Haditha police "posse" was after them and "hunted them down, hancuffed them and shot them repeatedly, killing all six, according to a leader of their Al Bonemir tribe, Salal Rasheed al-Goud, was interviewed Saturday." al-Goud explains, "One of the police officers thought they had killed his brother more than a year ago." That's not justice and the US military is part of the problem when a US 'trainer' tells the Iraqi police, "This group right here, f**k your stupid checkpoints, they're worthless.  Get together, get all your weapons and start marching south towards the river.  I guarantee you'll get into a gunfight and I guarantee you'll f**k some people up.  Get down there and kick some ass."  The military is not the police and people who can't grasp that -- including the service member and all those ranking above him -- do as much longterm damage to Iraq as do any bombs dropped.  This kind of 'training' -- with all the 'benefits' -- is why the US military needs to leave Iraq immediately.   Tomorrow marks the sixth anniversary of the illegal war.  Some will say it's going into year seven! We won't say that.  When it comes to the basics, we stick with the basics.  If you were born in 2003, let's say I gave birth to you, I would be throwing you your sixth birthday this year.  If your birthday was tomorrow, you would be turning six years old.  No one would say, "S/he's starting her/his seventh year!"  If they said that, we'd probably all encourage them to leave the birthday party -- we certainly would serve them dry cake without ice cream.  The Iraq War turns six-years-old tomorrow.  It is the anniversary of the start of the illegal war.  March 19, 2003, Bully Boy lied the world into war with the help of an eager and compliant media.  It's Barack Obama's illegal war now.  He has trashed all of his promises from the campaign (as we all knew he would) including removing a brigade a month.  Barack Obama is not ending the illegal war, he is continuing it.  If George W. Bush told us he needed 19 months to get US forces down to 50,000, the peace movement wouldn't have gone for it and wouldn't have mistaken that for ending an illegal war.   If you want to live in the real world, World Can't Wait offers a list of other cities holding demonstrations. Saturday, those wanting to call out the illegal war can join with groups such as The National Assembly to End the Wars, the ANSWER coalition, World Can't Wait and Iraq Veterans Against the War -- all are taking part in a real action. Iraq Veterans Against the War explains:  IVAW's Afghanistan Resolution and National Mobilization March 21st As an organization of service men and women who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan, stateside, and around the world, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War have seen the impact that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have had on the people of these occupied countries and our fellow service members and veterans, as well as the cost of the wars at home and abroad. In recognition that our struggle to withdraw troops from Iraq and demand reparations for the Iraqi people is only part of the struggle to right the wrongs being committed in our name, Iraq Veterans Against the War has voted to adopt an official resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and reparations for the Afghan people. (To read the full resolution, click here.)   To that end, Iraq Veterans Against the War will be joining a national coalition which is being mobilized to march on the Pentagon, March 21st, to demand the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and further our mission and goals in solidarity with the national anti-war movement. This demonstration will be the first opportunity to show President Obama and the new administration that our struggle was not only against the Bush administration - and that we will not sit around and hope that troops are removed under his rule, but that we will demand they be removed immediately.   For more information on the March 21st March on the Pentagon, and additional events being organized in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Orlando, to include transportation, meetings, and how you can get involved, please visit: www.pentagonmarch.org or www.answercoalition.org.    Today the US Senate's Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Personnel held a hearing on suicides in the military.  Senator Lindsey Graham is the Ranking [Republican] Member on the Subcommitee and he noted early on that the Army suicide rate has doubled since 2004, that the Air Force rate has been "neglible" (and he pointed out that the Air Force has had just as many deployments as other branches, he also noted that the Army deployments were longer than some branches), he felt the Marines and the Navy had a "pretty consistent rate" over the last years.  US Marine Corps Assistant Commandant Gen James F. Amos explained that the Marine's rate went up in "'06, '07 and '08."  This is a problem throughout the branches -- even in the Navy which has had a more steady rate (a steady rate is not zero).    Republican Senator John Cornyn does not serve on the Committee or the Subcommittee.  He participated in the meeting because he has pressed the military to investigate the suicides among recruiters stationed in Texas -- pressed them last fall.  Cornyn spoke briefly, noted he was intrested in finding out the why and hows and spoke of  "saving families."  He stated, "It doesn't seem taking one's life is what you would call a normal response" and he pointed out that not everyone in the service (or civilian life) takes their own life.  He wondered, "Is this something you think we need to do a better job of identifying on the front end when someone is recrutinged into the military . . . [or] when they return from deployments?"  He wanted to know what 'the key" was for intervention.   "That is a tough question," the Army's Vice Chief of Staff, Gen Peter Chiarellis said. "70% of those or greater, a little bit greater than that, had some sort of a relationship problem" at the time of their suicides.  But these relationship problems were not the only factor, "it was compounded with something else" like deployments.  Chiarellis wanted a "multi-discplinary approach" which would all for "attacking" it all points.  "It's going to take a multi-disciplinary approach across the entire career of the soldier."   The Navy's Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Patrick Walsh spoke of influencing factors such as alcohol, it's "glamorization," the stigma attached to asking for help and noted the differences in what the individaul reports and what the family does. Amos would echo the reporting issue when later replying to Senator Susan Collins' questions and note that family members -- wives and mothers -- were more likely to disclose more about the stress or behaviors of the individual than was the individual. (Would this include husbands disclosing more?  That wasn't addressed.)  To Cornyn, Amos wanted to make it clear that he did not feel there was a problem at the intake end -- meaning he refuted the notion that the problem was the 'wrong' people were being admitted.  Amos referred to boot camp and how it was "designed to do a whole lot of things," to put an individual through "a stressful environment" for the purpose of identifying "those areas where he or she needs improvement -- where he or she needs our help".  As for Cornyn's "why," the Air Force's Vice Chief of Staff Gen William Fraser declared, "There's no one suicide that's exactly the same as another" which is why they investigate.    Senator Ben Nelson is the Committee Chair and he wanted to know what role help or assistance played in some of the suicides since "medical record reviews indicate of the recent victims that a majority" of those who took their own lives while serving had utilized some programs -- for drinking or other preventions -- and "while it's clear that they reached out for some help -- as their medical records would indicate, they still committed suicide. [. . .]  What are your throughts on that fact?  Prior use of the mental health services and yet it was not sufficient or may not have been sufficient -- it may have been something else that came along?"      "That is something that we are trying to understand better," Fraser responded and noted that a suicide case where the deceased attempted to receive help "automatically triggers a mental health investigation" that attempts to discovere "was there something that happened in their care?"  He was not clear in response initially, so let's be clear here.  This automatic investigation does not start when someone in the military seeks help or after they have received help.  This investigation only kicks in if someone takes their own life (or is thought to have taken their own life) and records show that they sought help or assistance of some form -- at that point the investigation automatically kicks in.   Also of interest is that early on, Fraser would tell Senator Nelson, "We, too, are experiencing a shortage of mental health care providers . . . due to the shortage going on across the country."     RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" "ABC News serves up Iraq War propaganda" "Who reports from Iraq?" "Our childish press" "The war and Kristoffer" "be outraged" "Iraq, Christopher Hill, etc." "Thoughts on Amazon and Iraq" "Danny Sphincter and Bully Boy Bush" "Thoughts on Iraq" "Why?" "Mitch Jeserich, buy a damn clue" "Where was Courage to Resist?" "THIS JUST IN! ABC NEWS TAPS OUT!" "PaulTap taps out"

THIS JUST IN! ABC NEWS TAPS OUT!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE     AND THEY SAY REAL NEWS IS DEAD!    TONIGHT NIGHTLINE WILL IGNORE THE IRAQ WAR -- HITTING IT'S SIX YEAR ANNIVERSARY THIS WEEK -- AND OTHER TOPICS TO EXPLORE WHAT REALLY MATTERS.   Jake Tapper Bonds With Paul Rudd: Bromance? What happens when Jake Tapper and actor Paul Rudd "accidentally touched hands?"     YES, WHAT DOES HAPPEN?   THESE REPORTERS HAVE LEARNED THAT NEWS MUFFIN JAKE TAPPER TAPS-OUT.  WE CAUGHT UP WITH YOUNG LOVERS JAKE TAPPER AND PAUL RUDD -- OR AS JAKE PREFERS THEY BE KNOWN "PAULTAP" -- AND SPOKE WITH THEM INDIVIDUALLY.   JAKE INFORMED US, "THOSE BIG BROWN EYES.  I WASN'T SURE WHAT I'D DO TO BE HONEST BUT THOSE BIG BROWN EYES.  THOSE FURRY BROWN CHEST HAIRS.  THOSE DANK, FURRY ARM PITS.  HE HAD ME AT THE FIRST SNIFF!  JOHNNY CARSON AND SALLY FIELD GOT TOGETHER AFTER THEY HAD A LITTLE FLIRTATION DURING AN INTERVIEW BUT, HONESTLY, WHAT ME AND PAUL HAVE IS MUCH MORE LONG LASTING.  I SEE US AS THE NEW MARLO AND PHIL.  YOU KNOW THEY MET WHEN DONAHUE INTERVIEWED HER.  AND THEY'RE STILL TOGETHER.  WE ARE DEEPLY IN LOVE.  DEEPLY.  LIKE BALLS DEEP OR SOMETHING."   PAUL RUDD WAS LESS HYPERBOLIC DECLARING, "LOOK, I'VE HAD BETTER.  I MOUNT HIM AND RIGHT AWAY I'M THINKING, 'I'VE HAD BETTER.'  AND I HAVE HAD.  BUT IT WAS PROBABLY AFTER A GOOD 10 MINUTES OF PLOWING HIM -- WHILE HE KEPT SCREAMING "CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN!" AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS -- THAT I REALIZED IT WAS LIKE SLOPPY SECONDS OR SOMETHING.  HE TELLS ME I'M THE ONE HE GAVE HIS FLOWER TOO BUT HE WAS STRETCHED OUT LIKE A LIMO, IF YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING AND I THINK YOU DO.  AS FOR 'PAULTAP' . . . WELL, YEAH, ONCE.  BUT THAT'S GOING TO BE IT.  I LIKE A TIGHT FIT, YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING?  I DON'T HAVE TO BE THE 1ST TO CLIMB THE MOUNTAIN BUT I NEED TO KNOW IT'S NOT MAGIC MOUNTAIN, YOU KNOW LIKE '1 MILLION ALREADY SERVED' OR SOMETHING.   GOOD TO KNOW THAT ABC NEWS CONTINUES AIMING CROTCH LEVEL.  THEY CAN ALMOST REACH THAT TARGET.         FROM THE TIC WIRE:   March 17, 2003, Bully Boy Bush occupied the White House and announced that Saddam Hussein and his sons had 48 hours to leave Iraq.  In other words, get out of town by sundown after next.  And the media ate it up as much as they ate up the non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction.  It was wall to wall but not much time for anyone to point out that Bush sounded like the bully of the global village.  That would have required 'reporters' and 'journalists' to use observational skills and that was a no-no.  Why, back then, they couldn't even correct the false linkage by the White House of Iraq to 9-11.  But they could bore the hell out of us.  Ever wonder what it would be like to be an embed?    Look, there's NBC's Richard Engel bent over at the waist with a tooth brush in his mouth showing us what 'life' will be like in these bad, non-news, farmed out to all the NBC affiliates footage.  Nightline spent the night yacking about Bully Boy's 'bravado,' but everyone had time to get giddy over the oncoming slaughter.   Now it's six years later and where is the media?  Apparently ABC's Nightline didn't disgrace itself enough with last night's freak story on the "memory like a hard drive" man.  No, tonight they will answer the following (heavily promoted) question: "What happens when Jake Tapper and actor Pull Rudd 'accidentally touched hands?'"  Yes, it should be "touch hands" but the steno pool that's taken over ABC News is just so giddy that their news-muffin Jake and Paul Rudd got a little hand contact.  See, there are two names and that's a who!  And their hands touch so that's a what!  Who and What!!!! If they can just find a "when," they're pretty sure they've got a news story!!!!     It's the sixth anniversary of the start of the illegal war this week. The war the media sold. With their breathless and unsupported conjecture. They couldn't stop their heavy panting back then. Six years later and the illegal war drags on but their interest has gone limp.  It was a case of premature declaration, you see.  They just can't manage to muster the energy for Iraq these days.    Case in point, the evening news.  ABC World News Tonight is 'reporting' on Iraq this week via a correspondent, Terry McCarthy, who is already out of Iraq.  So it's really not a report so much as a recollection, apparently.  Yesterday Charlie Gibson offered that upbeat coffee talk he served for years as the host of Good Morning America declaring "conditions there really are looking up." "There" would be Iraq.  Last week Baghdad saw two of the worst bombings in months but, don't worry, baby, Charlie Gibson has a Beach Boys summer tune to sing.  To watch the webcast, click here. Terry cites that ridiculous poll (we dealt with it yesterday). Whether the rest of the week will bring actual reporting or more propaganda passed off as 'reporting' -- when it doesn't even pass for editorial comment -- we'll see. It's a real shame that in this era of satellite phones, Terry McCarthy and ABC want to do commentaries as opposed to on-the-spot reporting. But probably on-the-spot reporting doesn't allow Terry the luxury of grabbing a shiny ribbon and tying a pretty bow around everything -- reality rarely does.  Be sure to tune in tonight as Terry shows more slides from MidEast vacation. On The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric yesterday, Lara Logan interviewed (link has text and video) Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen who opened with, "Billions of dollars were wasted in the Iraqi reconstruction enterprise" and that "$32 billion later, we don't know a whole lot about what's happened to that money." Bowen's been asked to offer input on Afghanistan reconstruction. That was it for Iraq reporting on CBS.  NBC Nightly News was far too busy promoting The Tonight Show (and it's 'big' guest) to be bothered with doing too much else. Commercials are hard, aren't they Bri-Bri Williams?    Gee, if the networks had shown so little interest in the Iraq War this time in 2003, maybe it wouldn't have started?  If they hadn't wasted your time and their own with baseless claims treated as fact, if they hadn't willingly marched to the drumbeat of war . . .  That's "what if" and the press doesn't like to play that game -- except when it comes to their benefits.  They deal in realities and the reality is they should pretty much all be out on the street because they're not doing much of anything.  As the American people has grasped more and more that they were lied into an illegal war, you might think broadcasters would use the week of the sixth anniversary to review that.  They wouldn't have to own up to their own mistakes, they could just present the claims by the White House in 2003 and fact check them now.  They could do, something, anything to indicate that they gave a damn that the illegal war they sold continues.  Nothing they did last night indicated they had any regrets or, for that matter, awareness. Over at public television,  Jim Lehrer did what the commercial networks couldn't bother with. Headlines on PBS' NewsHour included Lerher noting, "Also today an American soldier was fatally injured during combat operations in Baghdad."    Six years is a long time.  Children who were seven-years-old when the Iraq War started are now thirteen.  Unless they're Iraqi children then they may be thirteen-years-old or, just as likely, they may be dead after their country being torn apart by six years of war and occupation.  But, hey, Terry McCarthy was able to dine out and he only required three bodyguards for it -- that's three bodyguards which, for the record, ABC News failed to reveal to viewers.  But Charlie couldn't shoot in his shorts while coozing that things were better in Iraq if viewers got to know that even in 'safe' Iraq, ABC News' fly-in correspondent traveled with multiple bodyguards.   That's Big Media.  What about Panhandle Media?  The Progressive is on spring break apparently.  Who knows what Matty Rothschild will get tattooed on his fat ass before the week's over?  But Iraq?  Nothing.  Pope and AIDS?  Check.  Ruth Conniff bubbling on about things she'll never understand?  Absolutely!  Anyone doing a damn thing that matters?  Hell no, it's pathetic Matthew Rothschild.  The man who thinks it's 'cute' when a woman's called the c-word, so cute that he has to link to it, even if it means The "Progressive" links to The Weekly Standard.    The Nation?  Matty can take comfort that they're actually worse than The Progressive.  While the former mag does nothing period, The Nation offers non-stop content that never says a damn thing.  That tends to happen when  LIE FACE Melissa Harris Lacewell (the latest chins on that woman are frightening -- she's truly getting the face she deserves) is brought in.  Let's all be honest, Melissa Harris Lacewell is not a journalist, not an academic.  She is a LIE FACE.  Only a LIE FACE goes on TV to offer 'observations' about the candidates in the Democratic Party primary and 'forgets' to tell the audience that she's campaigning for one candidate (Barack Obama) and that she's been doing it since 2007.  Only a LIE FACE tells Charlie Rose that people are ticked off at Tavis Smiley and 'forgets' to inform that this is the latest astro-turf campaign she's kicked off and she kicked it off with her "Who Died and Made Tavis King?"  Melissa's a LIE FACE.  Which makes The Nation a perfect fit for her.  She can't write and that is always a plus at The Nation as well.  She has no original thoughts or, for that matter, what might be seen as deep thoughts.  It's as if she's finally been welcomed home to her mother ship. There's no time for Iraq at The Nation.  They have a financial crisis!  The kind that they've long wanted.  Sadly, even in the midst of their wet dreaming, they can't muster anything worth reading.   In These Times is aware the Iraq War hasn't ended and they offer David Enders' "A Nation  Divided: If the war in Iraq is winding down, what does peace look like?" which includes:   On one street corner, I asked the half-dozen men standing there how many of them had lost an immediate relative -- all claimed they had. Some raised shirts to show shrapnel wounds. The United Nations recently estimated that as many as 500,000 of the approximately 2 million Iraqi refugees who fled the country might return this year. But they won't necessarily be returning to the houses, neighborhoods or cities from which they fled. Many are simply returning because they can no longer afford to stay in neighboring countries, especially Syria, where Iraqis refugees struggle to obtain official work permits. "The Americans provided no security, they did nothing for us," says Hussein Fadhil, a Shiite and one of the estimated 2,000 people who remained throughout the fighting, despite the death of his father to a mortar. "They told us they didn't know where the mortars were being fired from."   In These Times is the exception to the rule.  The almost folded up and doors closed LeftTurn has nothing to offer but that's been the case for, what, two years now?  Three?  Meanwhile at intentional distraction Yes! Magazine . . . nothing.  They're paid to do nothing and to offer nothing and they live up to the purpose very well.  WalkOn, WalkOn.org.  The New Republic?  Not a damn thing.  They could have had a link but not a damn thing.  Harper's magazine?  Not a damn thing.  Now Scott Horton can bore us -- and insult his own education -- by writing today about Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck, he just can't tackle the Iraq War.   Pravda on the Hudson's Amy Goodman serves up War Hawk Juan Cole to talk about "Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel and Beyond" -- no link to garbage.  Juan Cole flutters and flaps in the wind.  In the segment Iraq gets a little more time than Saudi Arabia.  "But Saudi Arabia isn't even in the title of the segment!" No, it's not.  But if you need to hear Juan Cole declare, "Well, you know, for me, the issue is not so much the rate at which the United States withdraws from Iraq" -- well, if you need to hear that, you're one sick f**k -- in which case Juan Cole  probably is a perfect match for you.  Let us know where you're registered, we'll get you a nice gift.   KPFA's The Morning Show is the audio exception as In These Times is the print one.  Today Philip Maldari interviewed Thomas E. Ricks, author of the new bestseller The Gamble.  In the excerpt below they're discussing the "Awakeing" Councils.      Philip Maldari:  Well we've got a situation that's very dicey though.  We've got 100,000 young men with guns on the payroll -- the Sunni militias, we've got a Shia dominat central government in Baghdad that is not particularly interested in integrating this 100,000 force into the largely Shia government army and consequently the government in Baghdad is very nervous about the possibility of the US funding a force that ultimately could become their rival in a civil war.   Thomas E. Ricks: As one Shi'ite politician says in the book, "Baby crocodiles are cute but you can't keep adult crocidiles in the house." And the feeling of a lot of a lot of the Shi'ite leadership is the Americans have been feeding baby crocodiles and then we're going to bug out at them and leave them to deal with these adult crocodiles snapping at them.   This is one reason that I say in the book while I have a lot of admiration for what the American military did in Iraq over the last couple of years, especially the people who were against the war but thought that they should try to help the Americans minimize the damage, despite all of that, my conclusion is that the surge failed.  There's a conventional wisdom in this country that the surge succeeded and that the war is over -- and I think both those conclusions are badly wrong and dangerous because they repeat the over optimism of the Bush administration id dealing with Iraq.   Phillip Maldarai: So, um, if it failed -- it doesn't -- deaths are down right now, uh, there are these massacres, these suicide bombings but there are fewer of them, uh, and we're seeing fewer US military personnel being ambushed and killed but are you saying this is just the lull before the storm?   Thomas E. Ricks: I'm saying that the surge kicked the can down the road.  That it probably is a lull before the storm because the purpose of the surge was to improve security but not just to improve security for itself -- to improve security to create a breathing space in which a political breakthrough would occur.  Well here the surge is over and none of the questions that faced Iraq before the surge have been solved.  All the big questions are still hanging fire out there.  For example, how do you share oil revenue?  Another is will Iraq have a strong central government in Baghdad or be a loose confederation?  A third is what is the basic relationship between Sunni, Shia, Kurd?  A fourth is who holds power within the Shia community?   A fifth is what is the role of Iran which, by the way, is the big winner in the war so far?  All these questions are still out there, all these questions have led to violence in the past, all of them may well lead to violence again.   Phillip Maldari:  My guest is Thomas Ricks, his current book The Gamble: General David Petreaus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq 2006 - 2008.  We've sort of left out of the picture Muqtada al-Sadr -- the rebel cleric leading a huge Shia militia in the slums of Baghdad.  He and his militia have agreed to stand down for the time being but these men are fully armed, they, uh, are militant.  They are, at times, quite critical of the centeral government even though the central government is also Shia and they at any time can decide to go back to combat, right?   Thomas E. Ricks: They can.  And Ambassador Crocker, who is one of America's most experienced diplomats in the Middle East, talks about Lebanon as the future of Iraq.  People don't seem to want to hear him when he says that.  Here's a guy who has lived in Lebanon, actually was in the US embassy when it was blown up and about three doz - or four dozen of his colleagues were killed.  When he talks about Iraq as Lebanon, what he means is exactly you'll have outfits like Sadr who has a role in the government but also has an independent militia outside the government.  And that's very much the model that Hizbollah has pursued in Lebanon.  It's not a model for civility, nor is it a model for a country at peace with its neighbors.   Phillip Maldari: Well and we're going to see the Sunni minority in Iraq with -- with their militia, 100,000 well armed young men, and we're spending what?  30 million dollars a month to pay them?   Thomas E. Ricks: We were.  We're trying to make the Baghdad government pay it now and they're kind of cranky about that as you might expect   Phillip Malderi: But is that going to go on indefinitely? I mean if we ever cut off the flow of money, what would happen? Thomas E. Ricks: Well they're supposed to become part of the Iraqi army, we'll see. This is one of the big questions: Will that work out? This is -- I mean, you're pointing to all the reasons that I think Iraq is a far more troubled place than Americans seem to think it is. This is why I'm very concerned when President Obama talks about getting out of Iraq quickly that he's not departing from President Bush but that he's repeating the mistakes of President Bush.  Bush didn't invade Iraq and say, "Listen I have a great idea, let's invade Iraq and get stuck there for ten years." He said, "Let's go into Iraq and get out quickly." The original American war plan was to be down to 30,000 troops by September 2003.  When Obama talks about getting down to 30,000 to 50,000 troops by August or September of next year that sounds a lot to me like Bush.     We found two exceptions in an allegedly 'diverse' and 'alternative' media.  Reality tells on them.  Another example would be Kristoffer Walker.  The 28-year-old Iraq War veteran's name was mentioned by the bulk of Panhandle Media.  Search the archives of Democracy Now! and you'll never find his name mentioned, not even in a headline.  Amy Goodman never had time for the soldier who told the military "no."  Last month he went public with his decision not to return to Iraq.  If he was hoping for the kind of support he needed, he really didn't get it.  Associated Press covered him, his state's media (Wisconsin) covered him and that was pretty much it.  Some websites covered him.  At his website, he links to Courage to Resist but Courage to Resist never covered him, never did a blurb on him.  A US soldier -- in the US -- announces he's not returning and Courage to Resist can't cover it?  Sarah can bore us all with her hopes and dreams of Bambi Obama but Courage to Resist can't make time to cover Kristoffer?  That's f**king bulls**t.  And before they ask for money again, they need to explain how the hell that happened.  I'm not joking and I'm not in the mood to be nice.  Kristoffer needed support.  He needed his story to be told.  And who the hell bothered to help?  Wisconsin?  Hmmm.  Madison Wisconsin.  Home of Matthew Rothschild!  But of course The Progressive didn't have time for Kristoffer.   He went public about needing an attorney.  He made it clear that he was struggling and he needed support.  Not money; support.  He didn't get it.  He never got it.  Not what he needed.  Not what he deserved.  Not what his brave stand warranted.  The sixth anniversary of the illegal war will be 'celebrated' by Kristoffer returning to Iraq.  To a war he's called not only illegal but immoral. He explains to WFRV that, "the Army has a gun to my head. They have the authority to level an incredible amount of force against me and can thereby ruin my life. I have been placed in a very dangerous situation. It is not my intention to allow the Army to use their gun and ruin my life."  It's too bad so few cared about Kristoffer or his stand.  It's too bad that when we have someone stand up and say "no," no support group emerges.  No one's there to provide the system of support needed.  It's too bad.  And it sends a message.  But don't worry, everyone, Mitch Jesserich is in love with Barack and thinks his laughable audio "letters" fawning over Barack, using the a Beatles love song, a love song John wrote for Yoko, to 'illustrate' what America feels for a president?  How f**king pathetic and how offensive to the actual love that John and Yoko had.  Is there one damn grown up left in Panhandle Media?  If so, can they please send Mitch to a lengthy time out?  Mitch, while you were juking on tape and smirking at your smutty wet dreams, a real world was out there and people were struggling. They weren't the egg heads from Harvard, but their lives did matter even if you do everything you can to render them invisible.  Ehren Watada.  Still no decision.  Still in the US military.  All this time later.  It happens because of people like Mitch.  It happens because it's more improtant to people like Mitch that a fan club for Barack exists -- that they build a fan club -- than that a war be ended or that those who speak out against it get the recognition they deserve.  Kristoffer Walker was betrayed by the alleged 'anti-war' movement in the US.  They had no time for him.  They were too busy fingering themselves and moaning "Barack."   The illegal war hits the six year mark this Thursday and World Can't Wait offers a list of other cities holding demonstrations. The Grannies Peace Brigade is kicking things off early in NYC on Wednesday with a demonstration at noon, 44th St and Broadway, outside the Time Square recruiting station.  Saturday, those wanting to call out the illegal war can join with groups such as The National Assembly to End the Wars, the ANSWER coalition, World Can't Wait and Iraq Veterans Against the War -- all are taking part in a real action. Iraq Veterans Against the War explains: IVAW's Afghanistan Resolution and National Mobilization March 21st       As an organization of service men and women who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan, stateside, and around the world, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War have seen the impact that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have had on the people of these occupied countries and our fellow service members and veterans, as well as the cost of the wars at home and abroad. In recognition that our struggle to withdraw troops from Iraq and demand reparations for the Iraqi people is only part of the struggle to right the wrongs being committed in our name, Iraq Veterans Against the War has voted to adopt an official resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and reparations for the Afghan people. (To read the full resolution, click here.)   To that end, Iraq Veterans Against the War will be joining a national coalition which is being mobilized to march on the Pentagon, March 21st, to demand the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and further our mission and goals in solidarity with the national anti-war movement. This demonstration will be the first opportunity to show President Obama and the new administration that our struggle was not only against the Bush administration - and that we will not sit around and hope that troops are removed under his rule, but that we will demand they be removed immediately.       For more information on the March 21st March on the Pentagon, and additional events being organized in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Orlando, to include transportation, meetings, and how you can get involved, please visit:       www.pentagonmarch.org or www.answercoalition.org.        Please note CounterPunch and Dissident Voice regularly cover Iraq -- they weren't included in the above for that reason.  US Socialist Worker usually covers Iraq as well.  In terms of Kristoffer Walker, he was ignored by all three outlets.  AP reports on Kristoffer's decision here. Tony Walter reports on it for the Green Bay Press-Gazette here.         RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" "The silence on Iraq from the media" "Press flirts with assisted-suicide" "A letter home" "Was it all just opposition to GWB?" "answer a.n.s.w.e.r.'s call" "Isaiah, torture, music" "Music and the Monday blahs" "Music and Starship Rebel" "Isaiah, Iraq, Mark Doty" "Mario Vargas Llosa" "Isaiah, Dennis Loo, Michael Ratner, Third" "THIS JUST IN! BARACK USES HIS COLLEGE MAJOR!" "Barack uses his thinking cap"

THIS JUST IN! BARACK USES HIS COLLEGE MAJOR!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE   FRESH FROM HIS OWN VOGUE COVER SHOOT, BARACK OBAMA SPOKE WITH THESE REPORTERS.        "UP IS DOWN, IF YOU REALLY THINK ABOUT IT," BARACK SAID TAKING A DEEP DRAG OFF A MARLBORO LIGHT FILTERED.  "'CAUSE TO BE UP, YOU HAVE TO HAVE BEEN DOWN.  OTHERWISE, YOU ARE JUST THERE. WHAT GOES UP, MUST COME DOWN.  UNLESS OF COURSE IT EXPLODES.  OR JUST CONTINUES GOING UP.  AND WHAT COMES DOWN MUST GO UP, UNLESS IT BREAKS A HIP.  THEREFORE TO BE UP IS TO BE DOWN OR TO HAVE BEEN DOWN OR TO WANT TO BE DOWN OR TO LOOK DOWN.  WHEN YOU LOOK AT FROM A LOGICAL VIEWPOINT, YOU CAN COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM DOING."   WITH THAT BARACK STAMPED OUT HIS CIGARETTE WITH THE HEEL OF HIS SHOE AND WAS WHISKED OFF BY SECRET SERVICE LEAVING THESE REPORTERS TO SURMISE THAT WHEN BARACK SAYS HE ENDED "ENEMY COMBATANTS" BY CALLING IT SOMETHING ELSE AND WHEN HE STRINGS TOGETHER WORDS HE IS SHOWING WHAT HE MAJORED IN AT COLLEGE: BULLS**TTING.     FROM THE TCI WIRE:   Today the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier died March 16 from combat related injuries while conducting a patrol in Baghdad.  The Soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by Department of Defense.  The incident is currently under investigation." The announcement brings the number of US service members killed in Iraq to 4259.  The numbers pile up.   So do the stories.  Kristoffer Walker is one story.  The 28-year-old Iraq War veteran is refusing to return to Iraq.  At his site, he provides [PDF format warning] a fact sheet which goes over the timeline of events and other basics such as the e-mail he sent the military February 20th:   This email is to inform you that I am not returning to Iraq.  I have made the decision to stay in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  I have intentioonally missed my flight out of Green Bay and I will not be making any effort to return to Iraq.  It is my firm belief that you all understand why I have done this.  If you need to contact me, I can be reached via my wife's cell phone.  The phone number is 920-***-**** [number blocked out by K. Walker] I will not be fleeing my hometown, so I can be found at my home.    Additionally, I am still under orders to be on active duty, and although I will not be at my appointed duty station, I will contact a local Army Reserve unit (432nd Civil Affairs) to see if they need me to work there until one of two things happen: 1. The orders placing me on active duty  are rescinded and I am transferred to a reserve unit in or around Green Bay, or 2. I am arrested.   If you need me to contact the 353rd's rear-deatchment/full-time staff in Buffalo, Minnesota I will do that, I would need a POC for that however. Finally, just so you are aware, I have contacted the local media outlets (newspaper and television) as well as a handful of national news outlets, in order to make others aware of this situation.  I am not going to hide.  I know fully what I am doing.          The die is cast. Respectfully, SPC Kristoffer Walker   At his website, Kristoffer highlights a quote from Thomas Jefferson: "In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock."     Last month, Kristoffer told WEAU13, "Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war in Iraq, is -- it's an immoral operation and it's also being poorly managed."  He told Lou Hillman (Fox 11), "My beliefs haven't changed and nothing has changed between Friday and now in Iraq.  I am not a pacifist.  There is an absolute need for our armed forces."  Speaking to Tony Walters (Appleton Post Crescent), he explained, "The Army's definition is a little different than mine.  The Army's definition is that you have to be opposed to war and all its forms.  That's not me.  I absolutely support using military force to respond or retaliate to attack.  By their standards, you're not allowed to object to one conflict over another. . . . I signed up to defend the Constitution and defend the country against foreign enemies.  But I'm not going to do something immoral and contrary to the contract I signed up for.  It's really quite sad."   Kristoffer Walker joins many others in saying "no" to the illegal war. Camilo Mejia is the author of Road from Ar Ramadi.  He is an Iraq War veteran.  He is a conscientious objector.  He stood up to the full power of the US military and he survived and then some.  He is the chair of Iraq Veterans Against the war.  All of that, before you even get into the adventures of his father and mother, is more than worth hearing about and those makes him someone worth hearing.  Those in South Bend and Goshen Indiana have the opportunity to hear him next week.  Monday, he will be speaking at 7:00 pm on the Indiana University South Bend's campus and Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. he will be speaking in Goshen at Iglesia Menonita Del Buen Pastor.  Both events are free and open to the public and more information can be found here.  Mejia is among the early resisters and his actions are noted by Michael J. Mooney (Broward Palm Beach) who explains the struggle war resister Aslan Lamarche is currently undergoing.  He joined the military at the age of 18, he then self-checked out and went to Canada.  His attempt to be granted refugee status in Canada was denied. His parents (from Trinidad and Cuba) remain in Flordia and Aslan states, "It's sad.  My parents came to the U.S. for a better way of life.  And now, their oldest son had to leave that same country for the same reason."  He is taking classes in Toronto and hoping for some good news. He says, "It's hard to be 20 years old and be hated by two governments.  And Canada is a very strange country in a lot of ways.  They just have this blind trust that their government will do the right thing.  The majority of Canadians want us to stay.  They say, 'Don't worry.  Everything will be fine.' But at the end of the day, none of them are willing to fight for us." [The previous sentences on Camilo's speaking engagements have appeared in the Thursday snapshot and since and will continue to show up until Tuesday evening.]  While Aslan remains in Canada and hopes for some sort of refugee status, Robin Long was extradited last year.  Yesterday Robin had two visitors from Canada.  Tony Perry (Los Angeles Times) reports Canadian MPs Olivia Chow and Borys Wrezesnewsky were at San Diego's Miramar Marine Corps Air Station to visit with Robin who was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment. Perry notes New Democratic Party MP Olvia Chow will "speak Monday night at a rally of anti-war activisits, 7 p.m. at the Joyce Beers Community Center, 4065 Vermont Street, San Diego."   AP reports that although Chow and Wrzesnewskj were allowed to speak with him, they "were not allowed to take notes or record the interview". Chow is quoted stating, "My heart sank, it was very heavy. I was angry that Canada deported him."   Many other war resisters in Canada are at risk of deportation (if they file for refugee status -- many resisters go to Canada and skip that process -- a process that no one has yet won in this era).   Friday's snapshot noted Megan Feldman's "Gimme Shelter" (Dallas Observer) which reported on US war resisters in Canada.  The article opens with Kimberly Rivera who is from the Dallas - Fort Worth area. From the article: Take Joshua Key, who grew up in a trailer in the tiny town of Guthrie, Oklahoma.  A burly welder with tattooed arms, Key, 30, grew up admiring his grandfather who fought in the Korean War.  By age 12, he was shooting snakes with AK-47s and Glocks, and 10 years later he joined the Army after struggling to support his wife and children on his earnings from KFC.  A country boy who recalls his wife saying, "You get 'em, Josh, before they get you.  Even if it's a kid.  They're terrorists too," Key never dreamed that after a tour in Iraq he'd be living in self-imposed exile, the author of a book titled The Deserter's Tale.   Ryan Johnson, a slight, beareded, 25-year-old from California's Central Valley who looks more like an organic famrer than a soldier, says he enlisted because he was tired of working factory jobs at places like Frito Lay and couldn't afford college.  His mother, a homemaker, and his stepfather, a UPS driver, kept yellow ribbon bumper stickers on their cars and voted Republican. Dale Landry, a 23-year-old from the Dallas area who deserted in 2007, joined the Air Force his senior year of high school.  Besides the fact that it would enable him to go to college, he figured the military could be a good path out of low-income, red-state America and into a career in Democratic politics.  His mother was a waitress who raised him alone except for a series of husbands who came and went, and he wanted his life to look as different from hers as possible.     Those are just a few stories -- both from Feldman's article and from the ongoing, illegal war.  People's lives are being destroyed by the Iraq War.  The bulk of the Iraqi lives destroyed are stories that will never be told outside of Iraq (and many won't even be told there).  But the destruction doesn't end until the war does.  As long as it drags on -- with 146,000 US troops or with 28,000 US troops -- the destruction continues.  This week marks the sixth anniversary of the start of the illegal war.  Actions will take place.  Some people are working overtime to prevent you from knowing that.  John Walsh (CounterPunch) notes the silence and offers:   Now some in UPFJ have characterized A.N.S.W.E.R. as loony lefties because a leading member is a group calling itself "Marxist-Leninist."  Zowie, kids!  That is really scary!  I remind such people that Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King were not deterred from allying with "Marxist-Leninists," nor were any of those who joined in the fight against Nazism and Colonialism.  What is the big deal?  If A.N.S.W.E.R. is the only group willing to organize a loud and clear street opposition to the Obama version of war and empire, I for one will not be deterred from joining in by a pathetic bit of redbaiting.  And if only those who call themselves "Marxists-Leninists" are willing to call such an action, then perhaps there is something in the wisdom of Marx, and Lenin, that remains of value.   To be clear, UPFJ is staffed with Communists.  The difference is they are closet Communists.  Leslie Cagan, Judith LeBlanc (although she is an office holder in the Communist Party), Carl Davidson and many more -- that's just their 'board.'  They smear A.N.S.W.E.R. because if you're a member of that organization and you are a Communist, you're not asked or expected to hide in a political closet.  They use A.N.S.W.E.R. to make themselves look 'viable' and 'palatable.'  And the real untold story of McCarthyism is how this same action taking place right now took place in the 1940s.  UPFJ does their little whisper campaign against A.N.S.W.E.R. turning that organization into a bloodied shark so that everyone's attention goes there, they all feed off A.N.S.W.E.R. and, in the meantime, UPFJ looks 'innocent.'  There's nothing wrong with being a Socialist, Communist, Republican, Democrat, Green, whatever.  There's something very wrong about hiding it.  UPFJ hides what they are.  A.N.S.W.E.R. welcomes any and all members from all political walks of life.  They don't ask that a Republican pass themselves off as a Democrat or that a Communist pretend to be a Green.  By contrast, UPFJ are the exact same cowards John Reed fought against, they are the cowards in every era of history.    Back to Walsh: "So the question really is, Which side are you on?  That of the Obamanation and the Democrat Party version of war and empire? Or on the side of public, mass opposition to the war/  I hope that as many as possible choose the latter course -- in D.C., L.A. or S.F."  The the six year mark is this Thursday and World Can't Wait offers a list of other cities holding demonstrations. Saturday, those wanting to call out the illegal war can join with groups such as The National Assembly to End the Wars, the ANSWER coalition, World Can't Wait and Iraq Veterans Against the War -- all are taking part in a real action. Iraq Veterans Against the War explains: IVAW's Afghanistan Resolution and National Mobilization March 21st        As an organization of service men and women who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan, stateside, and around the world, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War have seen the impact that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have had on the people of these occupied countries and our fellow service members and veterans, as well as the cost of the wars at home and abroad. In recognition that our struggle to withdraw troops from Iraq and demand reparations for the Iraqi people is only part of the struggle to right the wrongs being committed in our name, Iraq Veterans Against the War has voted to adopt an official resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and reparations for the Afghan people. (To read the full resolution, click here.)     To that end, Iraq Veterans Against the War will be joining a national coalition which is being mobilized to march on the Pentagon, March 21st, to demand the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and further our mission and goals in solidarity with the national anti-war movement. This demonstration will be the first opportunity to show President Obama and the new administration that our struggle was not only against the Bush administration - and that we will not sit around and hope that troops are removed under his rule, but that we will demand they be removed immediately.              For more information on the March 21st March on the Pentagon, and additional events being organized in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Orlando, to include transportation, meetings, and how you can get involved, please visit:         www.pentagonmarch.org or www.answercoalition.org.   Those wishin' and hopin' that the treaty masquerading as a Status Of Forces Agreement is going to end the war (that would be the treaty done by the Bush White House -- the same White House that said there were Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq) better resort to some stronger sleeping aids or wake the hell up.  The SOFA 'guarantees' US troops out of Iraqi cities in months.  However, that's not what will happen.  AP interviewed Nouri al-Maliki, puppet of the occupation, over the weekend as he finished his visit to Australia:   Nouri al-Maliki said in an interview with The Associated Press that he had told President Barack Obama and other top U.S. officials that any withdrawals "must be done with our approval" and in coordination with the Iraqi government.   "I do not want any withdrawals except in areas considered 100 percent secure and under control," al-Maliki said during his flight from Australia to Baghdad at the end of a five-day visit.   Get it?  There's nothing really to enforce in that treaty.  The treaty is a joke and, increasingly, so are the fools who still believe in it.  Friday's snapshot opened quoting IRAQ: The Logic of Withdrawal author Anthony Arnove from his "Moved on from the struggle" (Socialist Worker). It's probably a good time to quote one section again: WE KNOW that Iraq will remain under occupation until at least the end of 2011, but there is very good reason to believe that between now and then, the Iraqi government, which owes its survival to Washington, will cut a deal to allow U.S. forces to remain longer. Such an agreement would also likely give the U.S. long-term access to military bases and access to Iraqi air space.         RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" "Steve Rendall and other idiots lie about Jean Seberg (to protect the CIA?)" "Talabani: 'The ideal of a united Kurdistan is just a dream written in poetry.' "Brits want investigation, another poll needs one" Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Everything Bully Is Barack Again" "Kat's Korner: Joshua Radin shares some simple beauty" "And the war drags on . . ." 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