Left I on the News  

Memorial Day Quote of the Day

"Don’t mourn. Organize!"

- Joe Hill, legendary labor organizer and song writer

Another Memorial Day wish

Bring the Boys Home
Fathers are pleading, lovers are all alone
Mothers are prayin', send our sons back home (tell 'em 'bout it)
You marched them away, yes you did now, on ships and planes
To a senseless war facing death in vain

Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
(Why don't you) Turn the ships around
(Everybody oughta) Lay your weapons down

Can't you see 'em marchin' 'cross the sky?
All the soldiers that have died
Tryin' to get home
Can't you see them tryin' to get home?
Tryin' to get home
They're tryin' to get home

Cease all fire (tell 'em 'bout it) on the battlefield
Enough men have already been wounded and killed

Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
(Why don't you) Turn the ships around
(Everybody oughta) Lay your weapons down
(Mothers, fathers, and lovers, can't you see them?)

Tryin' to get home
Can't you see them tryin' to get home?
(Have mercy)
Tryin' to get home
Tryin' to get home

Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring the boys home (bring 'em back alive)

What they doin' over there now (bring 'em back alive)
When we need 'em over here now? (bring 'em back alive)
What they doin' over there now (bring 'em back alive)
When we need 'em over here now? (bring 'em back alive)
Bring 'em all, bring 'em all home (bring 'em back alive)
Bring 'em all, bring 'em home now (bring 'em back alive)

A Memorial Day Wish

We Hate To See Them Go
Last night, I had the strangest dream,
I saw a big parade, with ticker-tape galore,
And men were marching there the like [in the ranks]
I'd never seen before:

Oh, the bankers and the diplomats are going in the army:
Oh, happy day, I'd spend my pay to see them on parade,
Their paunches at attention and their stri-ped pants at ease -
They've gotten patriotic and they're going overseas.
We'll have to do the best we can and bravely carry on,
So we'll just keep the laddies here to manage while they're gone.

Chorus:
Oh, we hate to see them go!
The gentlemen of distinction in the army!

The bankers and the diplomats are going in the army
It seems a shame to keep them from the wars they love to plan,
We're all of us contented that they'll fight a dandy war -
They don't need propaganda they know what they're fighting for
They'll march away with dignity and in the best of form,
And we'll just keep the laddies [young folk] here
To keep [each other] the lassies warm.

The bankers and the diplomats are going in the army:
We'll have to make things easy, 'cause it's all so new and strange,
We'll give them silver shovels when they have to dig a hole,
And they can sing in harmony while answering the roll,
They'll eat their old K-rations from a hand-embroidered box,
And when they die, we'll bring 'em home and bury 'em in Fort Knox!

by Malvina Reynolds, from Faith Petric, 1977.
Copyright Schroder Music Company 1959

Bipartisan imperialism

"Lawmakers yesterday said they are drafting legislation calling for active support of prodemocracy opposition forces in Syria and occupied Lebanon in what would mark the closest the US government has come to calling for the overthrow of President Bashar Al Assad of Syria.

"The Syria and Lebanon Liberation Act, expected to be completed this week and then brought before the House International Relations Committee, calls for a ''transition to free, democratic rule in Syria' and ''establishes a program of assistance to independent human rights and pro-democracy forces in Syria and Lebanon.'"

Takes a war to keep them perking,
And they have to bleed the world
To keep their bloody system working,
But the system's self-destructing
While they play that gangster role,
They've got the world in their pocket,
But their pocket's got a hole.

They've got the world in their pocket,
Pocket, pocket, pocket.
They've got the world in their pocket,
And they're up there in control.
They've got the world in their pocket,
They can shake it they can rock it
They can kick it for a goal.
They've got the world in their pocket
But their pocket's got a hole.

- Malvina Reynolds, World in Their Pocket

Election news from Britain

"Tony Blair's hopes of patching up relations with the Muslim community have been dealt a fresh blow by a leading Islamic organisation which is urging its members not to vote Labour at next week's European elections.

"Underlining the government's fearthat it is facing a hammering at the polls because of Iraq, the Muslim Association of Britain is calling on Muslims across the country to back anti-war candidates.

"The association, which formed part of the Stop the War coalition, has published tactical voting guidance on its website, suggesting which candidates should be backed in certain areas.

"In the four regions where it believes candidates for the anti-war party, Respect, have the greatest chance of winning seats, it urges Muslim voters to back them. In the south-east, it calls on them to vote for the Green MEP, Caroline Lucas, who has spoken passionately against the war and campaigned against the French opposition to Muslim girls wearing hijab in schools."

The lies of the Times

The Times: "To date, there have been no accusations of serious prisoner abuse in connection with interrogations at Guantánamo. Most of the criticisms have generally focused on the lack of legal rights and due process and the indefinite nature of the detentions."

The Truth: "Two British men who were held at Guantánamo Bay claimed that their US guards subjected them to abuse similar to that perpetrated at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

"In an open letter to President George Bush, Britons Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal accused US military officials of deliberately misleading the public about procedures at Guantánamo.

"Mr Rasul and Mr Iqbal, who were freed in March after being arrested in Afghanistan and held without charge for more than two years, allege that heavy-handed treatment was systematic.

"'From the moment of our arrival in Guantánamo Bay (and indeed from long before) we were deliberately humiliated and degraded by methods we now read US officials denying,' the men write.

"The men describe a regime that included assaults on prisoners, prolonged shackling in uncomfortable positions, strobe lights, loud music and being threatened with dogs.

"At times, detainees would be taken to the interrogation room and chained naked on the floor, the letter says. Women would be brought to the room to 'inappropriately provoke and indeed molest them. It was completely clear to all the detainees that this was happening to particularly vulnerable prisoners, especially those who had come from the strictest of Islamic backgrounds,' the letter says."

More of the Truth: "One of the British men released from Guantanamo Bay said through his lawyer today that American authorities beat him, interrogated him at gunpoint and subjected him to 'inhuman conditions' during his detention." [Note that this refers to a different British detainee than the story above]

Still more of the Truth (this one describes an Australian detainee at Guantanamo): "Jamal al-Harith told the Seven Network that Habib had been subjected to beatings and four days of sleep depravation.

"'Blood was coming out of his nose and out of his ears,' al-Harith said.

"'They were moving him out back and forth, cell to cell every two hours and he wasn't allowed to sleep. He was very tired and sometimes he complained he couldn't walk, but they'd drag him.'

"Al-Harith, who said he was held in a cell near Habib in Guantanamo Bay, claimed that prostitutes were used to humiliate prisoners during interrogations.

"Another British former Guantanamo Bay detainee said Habib was abused by his captors.

"'I could see him being dragged by chains that were attached to his feet and him screaming in agony,' Tariq Dergul told Channel Seven."

Stimulus for this story courtesy of Robert Waldmann via Atrios.

How can you tell the U.S. government is lying? Their lips are moving

"Shortly after his death, Army officials said Tillman was killed while charging at the enemy up a hill, allowing the rest of his platoon to escape alive."

"However, an Afghan military official told the Associated Press on Saturday that there was no enemy ambush. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Afghan official said Tillman died because of a 'misunderstanding' when two mixed groups of American and Afghan soldiers began firing wildly in the confusion following a land-mine explosion.

"There 'were no enemy forces' present when Tillman died, the source told the Associated Press."

Cuban foreign policy

"They came from the forgotten communities of America who maintain their traditions with dignity in the mountains and tropical forests, on the banks of rivers and in small towns and villages. Always attached to family, the land, the prodigious corn, neighborhood friends, they barely grasped the distance, the homesickness, and equally how far away Cuba was for them.

"In early 1999, the conditions were created for the start of a new project in Havana. The campus of the former naval school became the Latin American School of Medicine with 1,993 students from 18 nations, representing almost the entire continent. The first to arrive came from the Central American region devastated by recent hurricanes.

"At the current time, there are 8,447 young people studying on the five-year degree course. Those in the third to fifth years are found in the 21 medicine faculties throughout the country, and linked to hospitals in the provinces where they are located.

"In August 2005, they will return to their countries as doctors. The first graduates will number around 1,380 from 19 different countries, including one U.S. citizen, and represent the first crop from the Latin American School."

Feeling safer yet?

"Rumsfeld told the 2004 graduating class of 935 cadets that in the three years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America, the U.S.-led coalition had 'overthrown two vicious regimes and liberated 50 million people, disrupted terrorist cells across the globe and thwarted many terrorist attacks.'

"'Yet despite our successes, we are closer to the beginning of this struggle with global insurgency than to its end,' he said."

"Run for your lives!" (Paraphrasing)

Sins of the Times

One thing in the article is worth reprinting here:

"That automatic editor defense, 'We're not confirming what he says, we're just reporting it,' may apply to the statements of people speaking on the record. For anonymous sources, it's worse than no defense. It's a license granted to liars.

"The contract between a reporter and an unnamed source - the offer of information in return for anonymity - is properly a binding one. But I believe that a source who turns out to have lied has breached that contract, and can fairly be exposed. The victims of the lie are the paper's readers, and the contract with them supersedes all others."

Undervalued lives

We already know that between 70 and 90 percent of the prisoners being held in Iraq are innocent. Yet the U.S. continues to hold them, even when it is known they will be released. Yesterday, more than 600 Iraqi prisoners were freed from Abu Ghraib. Now obviously they didn't review all 600 cases on Thursday. They must have known a week ago that 400 of them were going to be released. They must have known two weeks ago that 200 of them were going to be released. And yet those 200 (for sake of argument) Iraqis were held in jail for two extra weeks, losing two weeks from their lives which they will never get back. Will the U.S. apologize to these people? Offer them compensation for their unjust imprisonment? Whatever they do (and likely they'll do nothing), it can't possibly give them back the lost part of their lives.

The U.S. government - "we make spammers look like small potatoes."

Followup: By coincidence, The New York Times is out with a story today that the U.S. military knew last November that it was holding hundreds of innocent prisoners. So, although in my example above I talk about people unjustly imprisoned for weeks, the reality is that that were unjustly imprisoned for more than half a year. More than half a year of their lives, stolen from them by the U.S. government. And why were they in prison in the first place?

"General Ryder, the Army's provost marshal, reported that some Iraqis had been held for several months for nothing more than expressing 'displeasure or ill will' toward the American occupying forces."

Fraudulent headline of the day

"Why We Remember Those Who Have Made The Ultimate Sacrifice For The Rest Of Us"

Wierd headline of the day

"Surprising Choice for Premier of Iraq Reflects U.S. Influence"

So instead of the discredited Chalabi, the original U.S. choice, we get "Chalabi-light." Shades of the upcoming U.S. elections!

Would you be willing to die to remove Saddam Hussein from power?

Despite all that's gone wrong with "Operation Iraqi Freedom" (such as the lack of freedom for Iraqis), we still hear over and over that "the world is a better place with Saddam Hussein gone."

Is it really?

Everything in life has a price -- even getting rid of Saddam Hussein. Any goal or result must be compared with the price to be paid -- in order to determine whether the goal is, or was, worth it. No goal can be said to be worth any price.

In the case of Hussein, the price involves the tens of billions of dollars of our tax money that have been lavished on the task of driving one man from power -- and on cleaning up the mess that operation caused.

But, even more important, the price comes in the number of human lives that are snuffed out.

So we must ask ourselves:

How many human lives are a proper price to pay for the removal of Saddam Hussein?

Would you say removing Hussein would be worth it if a million people -- Americans and Iraqis -- had to die to achieve it?

If the answer is no, let's try a lower price. How about 100,000?

If that's too many, how about 10,000 lives being snuffed out to remove one man from power?

Let's make is simpler. Rather than throwing numbers around, let's ask just one question:

Would removing Hussein be worth it if the cost were just one human life -- but that life was yours?

Would you be willing to die to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq?

If the answer is no, then anything you have to say about the world being a better place now -- about collateral damage -- about the glory of soldiers sacrificing their lives for their country -- is meaningless. You're not willing to pay the price. You're like so many people who believe various government programs are wonderful -- provided someone else pays for them.

Everyone who has died so far in Iraq had a life that meant as much to him as your life means to you. But now that life is gone, done, finished, nevermore.

By supporting the war in Iraq, you have supported the idea that it's okay to kill people -- other people.

But until you're willing to volunteer to be one of those killed, your words don't carry any weight.

Can't get no respect

"There's no evidence a credible al-Qaida spokesman ever said that [plans for a summer attack in the U.S. were 90% complete], and the claims actually were made by a largely discredited group, Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, known for putting propaganda on the Internet....The group has claimed responsibility for the power blackout in the Northeast last year, a power outage in London and the Madrid bombing. None of the claims was found to be credible.

"The only thing they haven't claimed credit for recently is the cicada invasion of Washington,” said [one] expert.

"A senior U.S. intelligence official previously told NBC News that this group has no known operational capability and may be no more than one man with a fax machine."

Ashcroft, in the true tradition of the Bush administration, blamed someone else:

"Friday, Ashcroft's spokesman blamed the FBI."

Who is Iyad Allawi?

"A relative of Ahmad Chalabi."

"The CIA's favorite."

Well-connected politically in Washington and London, has extensive business dealings and has close relations with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait."

Followup: Atrios finds links to the fact that Allawi is linked both to the famous "Iraq can launch WMD in 45 minutes" claim, as well as to the allegations of ties between Iraq and al Qaeda. Yup, he's a cousin of Chalabi alright.

Al Qaeda, Bush & Kerry

"[Kelli] ARENA: Neither John Kerry nor the president has said troops pulled out of Iraq any time soon. But there is some speculation that al Qaeda believes it has a better chance of winning in Iraq if John Kerry is in the White House."

It is conventional wisdom, and just plain common sense, that a terrorist attack on the U.S. this summer is the one thing that will virtually guarantee the re-election of George Bush, as Americans "rally around the flag (and the President)." "Strong on terrorism" is the one issue in which George Bush is currently leading John Kerry in the polls. So if al Qaeda really wanted to see John Kerry elected, they wouldn't be busy "chattering" about impending terrorist attacks, helping to raise Americans fear level and (potentially, at least) George Bush's ratings.

One more thing in this quote probably slips by most people, as it did me the first couple times I looked at it. The quote doesn't just imply, it states flat out that "al Qaeda" wants to "win" in Iraq. This assumes A) that "al Qaeda" (and not just a few handfuls of foreign fighters drawn to the cause of expelling the American invaders) is actually present in Iraq as an organized force, and B) that they want to "win." This is almost as assinine as talk from American politicians about how "we" have to "win" in Iraq. Who exactly is winning what? The U.S. is at war in Iraq with the Iraqi people, not with al Qaeda. The only "victory" in Iraq will be when the Iraqi people gain control over their own country, which will be neither a victory for the Americans nor for al Qaeda.

Die, spammers!

"A man who sent 850 million junk e-mails through accounts he opened with stolen identities was sentenced to up to seven years in prison on Thursday."

"Carmack told the judge he believed the case against him was overblown, saying there were no victims."

Abu Ghraib would be too good for the likes of this scum. Sadly, there are far too many of his kind still left - his "work" ended last May when he was arrested, but spam has increased manyfold since then.

Late to the party

"Shooting frogs with BB guns was apparently pretty standard entertainment for young boys in Texas in the 1950s. But for added amusement, George W. Bush and his friends used to tuck firecrackers into the mouths of frogs, throw them in the air, and watch them explode.

"The story — recounted with fondness by a Bush childhood friend in a long, flattering New York Times profile of Bush during the 2000 presidential election campaign — never became an issue on the campaign trail.

"Despite psychiatric evidence that children who are cruel to animals often go on to be abusive adults, the U.S. media apparently decided that the torture of frogs was nothing more than a charming little anecdote from Dubya's early years. (Imagine what the media would make of a charming little childhood anecdote like that, if it were in Saddam Hussein's background.)

"It should have at least been a clue that Bush — now the most powerful man in the world — has a taste for blowing things up, not to mention an insensitivity to suffering."

Yet another cost of war

Army Shuts Off Funds for Environment
The Army has ordered garrison commanders to stop spending money on many environmental protection activities as part of an effort to conserve funds for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a Pentagon e-mail.

Followup: One day later, after the story is exposed to the light of day, the Army has allegedly rescinded the order, having "found" the funds to continue environmental protection. Or at least the funds to issue a press release claiming they had.

Those pesky foreigners

"Chirac also said the Iraqi government that is to be elected in January 2005 should "at all times be able to end" the mandate of an international force. The current resolution calls for a review of the troops, which means the mandate is open-ended until the Security Council decides to change it.

"China displayed an unusual assertiveness on Iraq in the council by circulating a paper with amendments, entitled 'Iraq Run by Iraqis' on Wednesday. Among its proposals was an expiration date for the force in January, with an option to renew it if the elected Iraqi government agreed."

Movie preview

PREMISE: John Frankenheimer's Cold War suspense film gets an update, with Washington stepping in for Frank Sinatra and Streep for Angela Lansbury. The actual region of Asia referenced by the title is no longer part of the story; this time it's a big company called the Manchurian Corp. that plans to install a puppet president (Schreiber) mentally programmed to do their evil bidding.

OUTLOOK: A president who automatically does whatever a big corporation tells him to do? Isn't that a little far-fetched?

By the way, for those youngsters who have never seen the original - do so.

Quote of the Day

""You know what? I was proved fucking right. That's what happened. People who disagreed with me were saying, 'There she goes again.' But I was proved fucking right."

- the oh-so-credible New York Times reporter Judith "Voldemort" Miller (a.k.a. "She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named"), interviewed on Salon.com.

What will it take for this woman to be fired?

Another bullet point

Feeling safer?

Polls like this are, it goes without saying, not scientific. But with results like that, they certainly reflect reality.

More on The New York Times mea culpa

The other Guantanamo

And why bring this up now? Because the new U.N. resolution on Iraq being sought by the U.S. has exactly the same Catch-22, which of course is also the same Catch-22 which kept the U.N. embargo of Iraq going even when all other Security Council members wanted to see it lifted. The new resolution provides U.N. authorization for U.S. troops to remain in Iraq as long as another resolution doesn't rescind that permission. And, just as the U.S. kept the embargo going by threatening to veto any resolution which would lift it, the new resolution thus provides veto power to the U.S. over any resolution requiring it to remove its troops! And they have the chutzpah, the gall, the cojones, the balls, to claim they are transferring "full sovereignty" to Iraq. How about first granting "full sovereignty" over its entire territory to the Republic of Cuba?

Bush Gored

Quote of the Day

""While governments have been obsessed with the threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, they have allowed the real weapons of mass destruction-- injustice and impunity, poverty, discrimination and racism, the uncontrolled trade in small arms, violence against women and abuse of children -- to go unaddressed."

- Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International

Who is Hussain al-Shahristani?

"An Iraqi Shiite nuclear scientist who broke with Saddam Hussein over the country's nuclear weapons program has emerged as a leading candidate to become the country's first prime minister when sovereignty is restored at the end of June, American and Iraqi officials said Tuesday.

"The officials said Dr. Hussain al-Shahristani, a science adviser to the Iraqi government who spent years in Abu Ghraib prison for defying Mr. Hussein and objecting to the weapons program, was the kind of nonpolitical figure being sought by both the United Nations and the Bush administration."

Well, they have begun U-2 flights over Iraq and they still might not turn up any weapons of mass destruction - on the surface!! Fortunately, in order that the world will not be in suspense for very long, a former scientist has turned up just at the right time to tell us where they are:

"These materials are hidden deep underground or in a tunnel system."

Shahristani said his information came from former colleagues and dissidents who had recently fled the country...

Shahristani said he believed Saddam planned to make his last stand in Baghdad in the event of a U.S.-led attack and use the capital's four million residents as human shields.

"There has even been discussion within his circle to set up what they call a chemical belt around Baghdad using his chemical weapons to entrap the residents of Baghdad inside," he said.

Shahristani was not with the chemical program, he was with the nuclear program 24 years ago. According to this bio, he was arrested in 1979, and was in prison until he escaped during the Gulf War of 1991.

Note: this bio is on the website of mafqud.org, which is a project of a group called Huquqalinsan.org, formerly known as the Organization for Human Rights in Iraq (OHRI). According to the mafqud.org site,

"The Center for the Disappeared in Iraq was established with a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy, and the launch of Mafqud.org has been made possible by a grant from the United States Department of State. "

Shahristani is apparently now living in London, but was associated with the OHRI very early on.

Now, this tunnel business is a new idea for Shahristani. A couple months ago he said the weapons were in Shiite villages:

"I have information from inside Iraq that Saddam plans to distribute his chemical weapons in particular in major Shiite towns in southern Iraq. He plans to remotely detonate them and expose the population to nerve agents and cause very large scale civilian deaths."

And a couple days ago he said they were being moved around:

"I believe these are still in Iraq and being moved around to avoid detection by the UN inspection team," Hussein Shahristani said in Manilla.

Even giving Shahrastani the most possible benefit of the doubt, this is a man who (a) understandably hates Saddam Hussein, (b) hasn't been in Iraq for 12 years, (c) didn't work on the chemical or biological program, (d) so far as I know is not trained in the debriefing of defectors, (e) has come up with three different hidden-weapon scenarios in two months, and (f) on the day after U-2 overflights began, came up with the story of why they won't find anything.

Will the media remind us of all of Shahristani's past? It's doubtful.

The Times comes (a little bit) clean

Ah, but they have found "a number of instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been." Such as, for example, the infamous incident of the "scientist" in a baseball cap, "observed from a distance" by star reporter Judith Miller as he pointed to places where chemical weapons had been dumped. Aside from not even naming the reporter in question ("she-who-must-not-be-named"), what exactly do the Times editors think was wrong with this article? "The Times never followed up on the veracity of this source or the attempts to verify his claims." Followed up? Well, I suppose that's true. Imagine if I told the Times that the moon was made of green cheese, and they printed it, and then apologized for "not following up and attempting to verify my claim." Please. This story didn't meet the journalistic standards of the Drudge Report, nevertheless a newspaper that claims to be the "paper of record."

I will quote one paragraph of the editorial here:

"Some critics of our coverage during that time have focused blame on individual reporters. Our examination, however, indicates that the problem was more complicated. Editors at several levels who should have been challenging reporters and pressing for more skepticism were perhaps too intent on rushing scoops into the paper. Accounts of Iraqi defectors were not always weighed against their strong desire to have Saddam Hussein ousted. Articles based on dire claims about Iraq tended to get prominent display, while follow-up articles that called the original ones into question were sometimes buried. In some cases, there was no follow-up at all."

Further evidence of the Times' waffling comes in their apology regarding the aluminum tubes controversy. Here's what they say:

"On Sept. 8, 2002, the lead article of the paper was headlined "U.S. Says Hussein Intensified Quest for A-Bomb Parts." That report concerned the aluminum tubes that the administration advertised insistently as components for the manufacture of nuclear weapons fuel...Five days later, The Times reporters learned that the tubes were in fact a subject of debate among intelligence agencies. The misgivings appeared deep in an article on Page A13, under a headline that gave no inkling that we were revising our earlier view ("White House Lists Iraq Steps to Build Banned Weapons"). The Times gave voice to skeptics of the tubes on Jan. 9, when the key piece of evidence was challenged by the International Atomic Energy Agency. That challenge was reported on Page A10; it might well have belonged on Page A1.

Nice try, New York Times. The final sentence: "We fully intend to continue aggressive reporting aimed at setting the record straight." We'll see about that. In the meantime, how about an apology to the families of 10,000 dead Iraqis, 800 dead Americans, and 100 dead coalition soldiers? And publicly demoting Judith Miller to the flower show beat?

Credibility

"U.S. officials have obtained new intelligence deemed highly credible indicating al-Qaida or other terrorists are in the United States and preparing to launch a major attack this summer, The Associated Press has learned.

"The intelligence does not include a time, place or method of attack but is among the most disturbing received by the government since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to a senior federal counterterrorism official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Tuesday.

"Of most concern, the official said, is that terrorists may possess and use a chemical, biological or radiological weapon that could cause much more damage and casualties than a conventional bomb." [Emphasis added]

This is all about two things (which are related) - the need to keep the American population in fear (because of the thought that will help the election of George Bush), and the desire to totally suppress demonstrations at the Republican convention in New York (which, of course, is also directly related to the election, since the sight of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in the streets of New York denouncing Bush won't help his election either).

A post bearing the "classic hallmarks" of American Leftist

Brigadier General turned talking head Mark Kimmitt says today's suicide bombing had all the hallmarks of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, boogey-man of the moment. Actually, Kimmitt says the bombing has the "classic" hallmarks of Zarqawi, not just any run-of-the-mill hallmarks. Which is good because the classicalness of the hallmarks should serve as a memory aid when attempting to keep today's bombing staight from say the car bombing that occurred on the Thursday before last which according to Reuters "[bore] the hallmarks of Zarqawi" or from last month's Basra bombing that "bore the hallmarks of al-Qaeda" but caused a senior military official to "[point] the finger at Zarqawi." Also, although the CPA doesn't mention any hallmarks it assures us that the Ashura bombings "follow[ed] terrorist Zarqawi's script."

American Leftist wonders, at this point, what would it take for a car bomb in Iraq to not exhibit the hallmarks of Zarqawi? Would the car have to be an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme lowrider and filled completely with ping-pong balls and canned ham?

Zarqawi also, of course, just beheaded Nick Berg. We know this because the CIA said so and because of a post -- that, as far as I can tell, no one has ever seen -- on an "Islamist" website that isn't there anymore. According to a thousand news articles the post that no one ever saw directly stated that the murderer was Zarqawi, which is odd given that the murderer is wearing a mask. Why would the terrorist hide his face if he was going to announce his identity to the world? -- Shyness? Fashion considerations?

Anyway this Zarqawi sure does get around. Especially for a guy who's probably dead...

The mysterious death of Nick Berg?

Health care under capitalism

First story, main headline: "Discount Card Doubt"

First story, first subhead: "Complicated System: Choosing one of 73 plans is a hassle, seniors say"

First story, second subhead: "Benefits for Users: Some find that savings on drugs don't add up to much"

Second story: "Avoiding Medicare Card Scams"

Toles on a roll

Gotta' love that symbolism

"America will fund the construction of a modern, maximum security prison. When that prison is completed, detainees at Abu Ghraib will be relocated. Then, with the approval of the Iraqi government, we will demolish the Abu Ghraib prison, as a fitting symbol of Iraq's new beginning."

Selective outrage

"Bush met in the Oval Office with seven Iraqi men who, during the former Iraqi dictator's regime, were charged with doing business in U.S. dollars, had black crosses tattooed on their foreheads and had their right hands amputated — a sign of shame in the Arab world. The men were fitted with artificial hands and had their tattoos removed — complements of Houston doctors and technicians.

"With the events, the White House was aiming to remind people about the brutality of Saddam's regime and the promise of a new Iraq.

"'They are examples of the brutality of the tyrant,' Bush said Tuesday."

Political humor of the day

"During the President's speech tonight, he laid out his new plan to hand over power in Iraq. You know, at this point, George Bush saying there's a new plan for Iraq is like William Hung saying he has a new song." - Jay Leno

Reductio ad absurdum

May I recommend Palast's The Best Democracy Money Can Buy to the editors of the New York Times so they'll recognize that the purging of these voters was neither "mistaken" nor the result of "faulty data" (at least, not faulty in the eyes of those who ordered the purge).

Waist deep in the Big Muddy...

"President Bush, trying to dispel rising doubts about the war, declared Monday night the United States would stay in Iraq until it was free and democratic and suggested more U.S. soldiers might have to be sent to stop enemy forces bent on destroying the new government."

I guess he [the Captain who drowned in the Big Muddy] didn't know that the water was deeper
Than the place he'd once before been.
Another stream had joined the Big Muddy
'Bout a half mile from where we'd gone.

Unfortunately, the lyrics also bring home another sad truth about today's situation:

All at once, the moon clouded over,
We heard a gurgling cry.
A few seconds later, the captain's helmet
Was all that floated by.
The Sergeant said, "Turn around men!
I'm in charge from now on."

Quote of the Day

"You can't do anything to the coalition. What happened is history."

- an Iraqi judge, speaking to the family of Iraqi scientist Mohammed Munim al-Izmerly, murdered in U.S. "custody"

"The first Mohammed Munim al-Izmerly's family knew of his death was when his battered corpse turned up at Baghdad's morgue. Attached to the zipped-up black US body bag was a laconic note.

"The US military claimed in the note that Dr Izmerly, a distinguished chemistry professor arrested after US tanks encircled his villa, had died of 'brainstem compression'.

"Dr Izmerly's sudden death after 10 months in American custody left his family stunned, not least because three weeks earlier they had visited him in the US prison at Baghdad airport. His 23-year-old daughter, Rana, recalled that he had seemed in 'good health'.

"The family commissioned an independent Iraqi autopsy. Its conclusion was unambiguous: Dr Izmerly had died because of a 'sudden hit to the back of his head', Faik Amin Baker, the director of Baghdad hospital's forensic department, certified.

"The cause of death was blunt trauma. It was uncertain exactly how he died, but someone had hit him from behind, possibly with a bar or a pistol, Dr Baker confirmed yesterday."

Disgusting quote of the day

"There may have been some kind of celebration. Bad people have celebrations, too."

- Disgusting liar Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, covering up the brutal murder of 45 Iraqi civilians at the hands of the U.S. military

"The musicians' deaths are hard to dispute. They were being mourned Thursday by hundreds of relatives in the run-down Hurriya neighborhood of Baghdad where they lived. Relatives passed around business cards that showed the musicians with their instruments and carried a phone number for a recording studio in Syria.

"Dulaimi, the musician, described a similar sense of shock. His came after he saw the Americans leave, when he walked back to the village.

"'When I came back to the site after the helicopters left — it was early morning, getting light. I found all of my friends were dead,' he said, his voice incredulous as he talked about his seven companions from Baghdad.

"'We have played together for three years,' he said. 'We learn this old style of music from our fathers. It is handed from one to another.'

"As he helped other survivors wrap the dead in blankets for burial, he said, he saw the two tabla drums, the violin, the flute, the two organs and the tambourine he and his friends had brought with them.

"'They were broken in pieces, burned,' he said. 'We had leaned our instruments against the wall of the house ready to pack in the car. We had planned to leave at 6 a.m. for Baghdad.'"

" The bride arrives in a white pickup truck and is quickly ushered into a house by a group of women. Outside, men recline on brightly colored silk pillows, relaxing on the carpeted floor of a large goat-hair tent as boys dance to tribal songs.

"The dead included the cameraman, Yasser Shawkat Abdullah, hired to record the festivities.

"Video that APTN [Associated Press Television News] shot a day after the attack shows fragments of musical instruments, pots and pans and brightly colored beddings used for celebrations, scattered around the bombed out tent.

"An AP reporter and photographer, who interviewed more than a dozen survivors a day after the bombing, were able to identify many of them on the wedding party video — which runs for several hours."

AP covers, then spins, Iraqi civilian deaths

An "AP survey of morgues in Baghdad and the provinces of Karbala, Kirkuk and Tikrit found 5,558 violent deaths recorded from May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared an end to major combat operations."

"Figures for violent deaths in the months before the war showed a far lower rate. That doesn't mean Iraq is a more dangerous place than during Saddam Hussein's regime. At least 300,000 people were murdered by security forces and buried in mass graves during the dictator's 23-year rule, U.S. officials say, and human rights workers put the number closer to 500,000."

Incidentally, the 5,558 figure is understated in more ways than just the fact that many of the major provinces of Iraq, among them those of Fallujah and Najaf, are not included. The figure also doesn't include any civilian not brought to a morgue, which the article points out includes many, many people. And, just to repeat what AP does write, this figure only includes civilians killed since "major combat operations" were pronounced over by George Bush; it does not include civilians killed from the day of the original bombing (March 20) through May 1.

Covering for the Israelis

"The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said that early Thursday, during an Israeli raid on the West Bank city of Jenin, Israeli forces broke into the agency's office near the refugee camp there. It said soldiers fired a shot toward the agency's senior project manager, then handcuffed and blindfolded him and held him for three hours, threatening him with violence."

"In November 2002, in the same United Nations compound, a soldier shot and killed Iain Hook, Mr. Wolstenholme's predecessor in Jenin, during a skirmish with militants."

Followup: Meanwhile, CBS News tonight adds its own efforts to cover for Israeli crimes. Their lead-in to the story about the destruction of homes in Rafah? "Israeli destruction of homes in Rafah is causing widespread resentment." Resentment? How about "world-wide outrage"? "Widespread condemnation"? Resentment?

Quote of the Day

"I can't call the Israelis animals because animals are beautiful."

- Mohammed Juma, zookeeper of the only zoo in Rafah, bulldozed yesterday by the Israeli army, who killed or freed all the animals in the process.

"The army destroyed a one-and-a-half acre olive grove in the centre of the camp, uprooting its 300 trees and the home of the owner's father, Suleman Qishta, 95. The owner, Mehidan Qishta, said that a bulldozer had pushed through the wall as his father lay on his bed. Debris which had crashed down on the bed was still visible yesterday, as were cuts and bruises on the old man's arms and legs. 'I heard my father screaming after the bulldozer came,' said Mr Qishta. 'I thought he was dying.'"

Bullshit headline of the day

"Gaza Paradox: Israeli Army Moves In So It Can Pull Out"

Quote of the Day

"Before the war, Ahmad Chalabi told Washington hawks exactly what they wanted to hear about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction...The Bush administration should have known what it was doing when it gave enormous credence to a questionable character whose own self-interest was totally invested in getting the Americans to invade Iraq."

The attack on the Iraqi wedding

"U.S. military officers reiterated that those killed were involved in smuggling foreign fighters into Iraq and that the houses attacked were way stations for militants. The mission was based on sound intelligence from 'multiple correlated evidence.'"

"Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis, commander of Marines in Anbar province, where the assault occurred, defended the mission. 'These were more than two dozen military-aged males,' Reuters news service quoted him as saying. 'Let's not be naive.'"

Most of the media is treating this as a "he-said, she-said" deal. The Los Angeles Times story (referenced above), although headlined "Did U.S. Strike a Wedding or a Way Station for Militants?" and noting that it may well have been both, was the only one I saw who actually went out and talked to the musicians who were playing at the wedding (!), many of whom were killed, but a couple of whom survived. There is simply no doubt that there was a wedding going on, despite whoever else may also have been in town. And no doubt that the United States armed forces didn't, and don't, give a damn who they kill when they drop their bombs, as long as they have some kind of "story" at the ready.

Followup: An even more complete picture from the Guardian. 11 of the dead were women and 14 were children, and many of the dead were killed by individual rifle shots from American soldiers, not from the bombing.

Thought for the day

Followup: I was a day too soon. This from the Washington Post:

"'They forced us to walk like dogs on our hands and knees,' said Hiadar Sabar Abed Miktub al-Aboodi, detainee No. 13077. 'And we had to bark like a dog, and if we didn't do that they started hitting us hard on our face and chest with no mercy.'"

Yet another beheading

"Iraqi officials said a U.S. helicopter fired on a wedding party Wednesday morning in western Iraq, killing more than 40 people, including children. Most of the bodies on the APTN videotape were wrapped in blankets and other cloths, but the footage showed at least eight uncovered, bloody bodies, several of them children. One of the children was headless."

As usual, the U.S. has their cover story - "U.S. officials confirmed an airstrike near the Syrian border, but they told NBC News that the incident involved an AC-130 warship — not a helicopter — and that the aircraft returned fire after coming under attack from militants." Now, you be the judge. This attack occured at 2:45 in the morning! Is it even remotely possible that a U.S. plane flying at night could be successfully attacked by ground fire? Or even seriously think they were coming under attack? Of course not, it's preposterous. U.S. warplanes overflew the "no-fly zones" in Iraq for years, at a time when Iraq actually possessed radar and anti-aircraft guns, and not one was ever hit. Shooting down an AC-130 at night with a rifle? I don't think so.

More U.S. war crimes exposed

"The deaths include the killing in November of a high-level Iraqi general who was shoved into a sleeping bag and suffocated, according to the Pentagon report. Another Iraqi military officer, records show, was asphyxiated after being gagged, his hands tied to the top of his cell door. Another detainee died 'while undergoing stress technique interrogation,' involving smothering and 'chest compressions,' according to the documents."

Jesus, I hate religion

"Soldier Joel Bertoldie died in Falluja last July, when his vehicle was blown up by an improvised bomb. His grandmother, Judy Hampshire [had this to say]: 'We have to do what we're doing in Iraq. If Christ calls us home, no matter where we are in our lives, that is part of God's plan. God had other plans for Joel. [The people who killed him will go to hell because] they are listening to the word of a man, not the word of God. Bush tells the truth. But if there are things that he doesn't tell us, it is for a good reason. I am content to trust him.'"

This is what religion is all about - faith in place of intelligent thought. Here's what she has to say about the reason for this war:

"Someone has got to stop these terrorists. How many more people are they going to kill? Why are they doing it? I believe al-Qaida was there in Iraq, and Saddam was letting them come in and out."

Israeli war crimes keep getting worse

"Israeli forces fired a missile and a tank shell Wednesday into a large crowd of Palestinians demonstrating against the invasion of a neighboring refugee camp, witnesses said. At least 10 Palestinians were killed, all of them children and teenagers, a Palestinian health official said.

"At least 50 people were wounded, 36 of them critically, Palestinian hospital officials said.

"Palestinian witnesses saw a missile land in the middle of the crowd of 3,000 demonstrators, and Associated Press Television Network footage showed smoke and debris flying as a large explosion rocked the area. The footage then showed Palestinians carrying the wounded, including children, from the smoky scene.

"Between 3,000 and 4,000 demonstrators were marching down the busy main street of Rafah town. When the crowd was less than a mile from the besieged refugee camp, the helicopter and tank began firing, witnesses said."

"Kahmis Shaer, who was in the protesting crowd, said everyone was in a state of shock. 'I saw a guy with his head chopped off and another with his arm off and another hit in the stomach.'"

Headlines

19 Die in Israeli Raid in Crowded Gaza Neighborhood

Bush Asserts Israel's Right to Self-Defense

There is no third headline about John Kerry. That's because he, as far as I can tell, hasn't had anything to say about the massacre in Rafah. All of which helps us to understand why U.S. broadcast media typically give us a few seconds of the latest statistics and pictures from Gaza, and then move on. They don't focus on the story, and the talk shows rarely, if ever, turn to the subject. Why? Because if there isn't a debate between the Republicans and the Democrats, or at least some wing of the Republicans and some wing of the Democrats, then according to the U.S. media there simply is no debate, period, nothing worth discussing. Which is, of course, a subject that is itself worth discussing (but is also not discussed in the mainstream media).

The diet craze sweeping the nation

No Cheney
No Ashcroft
No Rumsfeld
No Bush

...and definitely no Rice!

Quote of the Day

"The director shouts out questions to the president he derisively calls Governor Bush and is rewarded by him with a snarling suggestion that he should get a real job, which takes some effrontery coming from the slacker fratboy head of state who makes Ronald Reagan's workload look Stakhanovite."

The cry the world doesn't hear

Israeli war crimes continued today, as 16 Palestinians were slaughtered in Rafah refugee camp in a continuation of the Goliath (with tanks and helicopter gunships) vs. David (with stones and the occasional AK-47) fight. Half of them are described in news reports as "gunmen." Left unsaid is that these "gunmen" were defending their homeland (well, their current homeland anyway) against a military invasion by foreign troops, an activity completely legal under international law. Their use of guns to defend themselves does not provide a justification for their killing.

And, of course, half (or so) of the people killed were not "gunmen," but innocent civilians like "a teenage brother and sister [Ahmad al-Moghair, 13, and his sister Asma'a, 16] were among the dead, killed on the roof as they fed pigeons and hung out washing."

And why is this killing happening? Because the Israelis are guilty of the sin of pride. They don't want to pull out of Gaza without slaughtering dozens of Palestinians, because they don't want the Palestinians to be able to claim "victory" in having "driven out" the Israelis. And for that "noble" goal, dozens of Palestinians (and more than a dozen Israeli soldiers) have given their lives, hundreds of Palestinians are injured, and thousands are homeless.

And the world watches...

Followup: Can we call it a "massacre" yet? No, according to CNN it was just an "incursion":

"Israeli Apache helicopters, tanks and bulldozers converged Tuesday on Rafah in southern Gaza in what Israel called an anti-terrorism operation.

"The incursion left 19 Palestinians dead and 35 wounded, according to Palestinian security and hospital sources.

"The dead included three members of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a military offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, and two children, the sources said. The remaining dead were civilians, they said."

Single-source woes

"Alliant Techsystems Inc., the U.S. Army’s sole supplier of bullets, said it can’t keep up with demand that is rising to its highest level since the Vietnam war as the United States fights terrorism and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The Army is looking for a second ammunitions source, Alliant Chief Executive Daniel Murphy said on an earnings conference call. The service wants 2 billion rounds of bullets and Alliant will make 1.2 billion this year, up from 1 billion last year, he said."

"I killed innocent people for our government"

Powell at the U.N. - revisited

"In February of 2003, you put your enormous personal reputation on the line before the United Nations and said that you had solid sources for the case against Saddam Hussein. It now appears that an agent called Curveball had misled the CIA by suggesting that Saddam had trucks and trains that were delivering biological and chemical weapons. How concerned are you that some of the information you shared with the world is now inaccurate and discredited?" [Emphasis added]

The world responds to Michael Eisner

"The audience [at the Cannes Film Festival] at the afternoon gala screening [of Michael Moore's new film, Fahrenheit 9-11] responded with a 20-minute standing ovation that the festival's artistic director, Thierry Frémaux, said was the longest he had ever witnessed in Cannes."

Annan finally clears his throat

"I appeal to Israel to stop this destruction, which is against international humanitarian law."

How does he keep a straight face?*

* Well, if you call a smirk a "straight face," that is.

Warning to readers

Today's story may or may not turn out to be true. But in this, as in all other matters involving pronouncements by the U.S. government, the story must be treated as untrue until conclusively proven otherwise. The track record of the U.S. simply doesn't warrant any other approach.

Followup: I think I'm going to have to retract this story; Donald Rumsfeld agrees with me!:

"I've seen intelligence on the matter you've raised. What you cited, I believe, was a field test, which is not perfect. What we ought to do is to get the samples someplace where they can be tested very carefully before coming to a conclusion as to precisely what it was. We have to be careful. We can't take something that's inaccurate."

Offensive headline of the day

The article itself notes Colin Powell's "opposition" to the destruction of houses in Gaza. Does he oppose it because it's a war crime? Immoral? Cruel? No, "We oppose the destruction of homes, we don't think that is productive," says Powell.

Powell claims "The United States is anxious to do everything that it can to stop this cycle of strike and counterstrike that has resulted in the loss of so many lives within the last week." But when it comes to Israel, Powell "appealed to Israel to halt the destruction in the aftermath of a week of violence." Is that "everything that [the U.S.] can do"? How about immediately ceasing all financial and military support to Israel, and sponsoring a U.N. resolution denouncing Israel's criminal behavior? How about invading Israel and overthrowing its government, since Israel is clearly a "threat to its neighbors"? The fact, of course, is that not only is the U.S. doing nothing to restrain Israel's behavior, it is doing plenty to encourage and facilitate that behavior. And all the while, papers like the Mercury News do their best to cover it up, with headlines telling us how Arabs are "abandoning" their homes without bothering to mention that the Israelis are bulldozing them into rubble.

Powell the hypocrite

When will Secretary Powell condemn these killings, performed by representatives of his own government, and demand that other countries, "and especially members of the 'coalition'", condemn them as well? When hell freezes over, no doubt.

Quotes of the Day

"In the name of all detainees, I call for issuing an international arrest warrant against Rumsfeld in any country he goes for the actions of his troops."

- Ghassan Abdel-Hakim, father of a recently released Abu Ghraib prisoner

"Rumsfeld should stand trial as a war criminal for his violation of international laws and the Fourth Geneva convention. An arrest warrant should be issued to all airports, except in the United States and Britain."

- Abdul-Majid Hamad, a 73-year-old Iraqi lawyer and a father of two sons who were detained by American forces in July last year (Source - link via TalkLeft)

House of Representatives votes for war against Iran

"This legislation calls for yet more and stricter sanctions on Iran, including a demand that other countries also impose sanctions on Iran. As we know, sanctions are unmistakably a move toward war, particularly when, as in this legislation, a demand is made that the other nations of the world similarly isolate and blockade the country."

Along with Rep. John Conyers, the only other member of Congress with the courage to vote against war was Rep. Dennis Kucinich, "who said the nonbinding resolution endorsed the administration's doctrine of preventive war" (as indeed it does). Fourteen more spineless Democrats voted "present"; the rest of the members of Congress voted for war. Some of them will no doubt be claiming that they "didn't mean it" a year or two from now when war against Iran is raging.

Is it OK to torture members of Al Qaeda?

2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.

Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.

A person who conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other than the penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.

Israeli war crimes continue in Gaza

Some readers may think that this desperate search for the body parts of dead soldiers is some kind of inviolate Jewish commandment. It is not, as an editorial in yesterday's Ha'aretz made clear:

"It would seem that even the language has been distorted in an attempt to catch up with the warped values. Has the difference between respect for the dead and the sanctity of life become blurred to such an extent? Is the phrase "to bring the fighters home at any cost" an expression of 'the sanctity of life' - or is it perhaps an expression of contempt for life?

"Millions of the Jewish people were lost and have no grave or tombstone, but this in no way detracts from their memory or dignity; this same nation has turned the concern with the burial of bodies and body parts into some strange fetish that overshadows common sense as well as simple security considerations.

"The state of Israel was established for the living. Bringing Jews to burial in Israel is not its supreme value. Even the Talmudic sages ruled, with regard to redemption of living captives - which in the eyes of Jewish tradition is the supreme religious precept - that they should not be redeemed "for more than their worth" out of societal considerations (tikkun olam). In other words, not to pay exorbitant ransoms that would provide incentives for the enemy, even though this is so hard on individuals, because it is dangerous to a society that must ensure its survival."

"An Israeli helicopter Saturday fired a missile into the home of an Islamic Jihad leader in Rafah, hours after targeting the office of another leader of the Palestinian militant group in Gaza City, according to Palestinian witnesses in both cities.

"Witnesses said Mohammed Sheik Khalil -- leader of the militant wing of Islamic Jihad in Gaza -- was not home at the time the Israeli gunship targeted his Rafah home, but the attack wounded three of his neighbors.

"Israeli forces mounted a targeted strike on El-Anzar, Islamic Jihad's social services agency, the IDF said. The building sustained heavy damage. Hospital sources say at least 15 people were wounded."

"The U.S. State Department voiced concern Friday about the demolitions. It said it would be asking Israel information about its plans to do more."

When will the world speak up about the horrors in Gaza? Kofi Annan? The Pope? Jimmy Carter? Where are all the "international men of peace"? Silent, as near as one can tell. Crimes against humanity are taking place in Gaza, and the world is silent.

Quote of the Day

"The world is too complex and dangerous for the pious simplicities and arrogant unilateralism of George W. Bush."

Kurt Vonnegut nails the "Christians" to the cross

How about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes?

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. …

And so on.

Not exactly planks in a Republican platform. Not exactly Donald Rumsfeld or Dick Cheney stuff.

For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.

“Blessed are the merciful” in a courtroom? “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Pentagon? Give me a break!

Finally! A Presidential candidate Left I can support!

The Catholic Church meddles

"The bishop of Colorado's second-largest Roman Catholic diocese has issued a pastoral letter saying Catholics cannot receive Communion if they vote for politicians who support abortion rights, stem-cell research, euthanasia or gay marriage.

"Only after citizens reverse their positions and repent for their sins in the confessional would access to the central ritual of the church be restored, Colorado Springs Bishop Michael Sheridan instructed 125,000 Catholics in his charge."

The Church isn't doing this in my name, but they are doing it with my money, thanks to their tax-exempt status. End the tax-exempt status of the Catholic Church, now!

Someone get this man a dictionary

"Speaking to reporters Thursday, [Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the commander of Abu Ghraib and former commander of the U.S. prison compound at Guantanamo who was sent to Abu Ghraib to 'Gitmoize" the prison] defended his role in advising U.S. authorities last fall on how to set up a detention and interrogation system in Iraq that could yield useful intelligence on the insurgency.

"'I'm absolutely convinced we laid down the foundations for how you detain people humanely,' said Miller.

"A summary of 'Interrogation Rules of Engagement' provided to senators by Army officials says that, with a general's written approval, prisoners could be subjected to stressful positions for up to 45 minutes, isolation for more than 30 days, military dogs and up to 72 hours of 'sleep management.'"

"'They tied my hands to my feet behind my back. My left hand to my right foot and my right hand to my left foot. I was lying face down and they were beating me like this."

As an aside, note how Miller is not just "convinced" of what he asserts, he's "absolutely convinced" of it. Just like Dick Cheney said there was "no doubt" that Iraq had "reconstituted" its nuclear weapons, or many similar statements from Bush, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice et al. Are these people ever willing to admit the slightest possibility that they might be wrong? Evidently not, since they won't even admit it after the fact, when the whole world knows they were wrong. And the whole world knows that what happened in Iraqi prisons was not humane, yet here's Miller insisting that he is "absolutely convinced" that he had "laid down the foundations" for humane treatment. Evidently he forgot to finish building the house.

And while we're putting Miller to this test, let's add Paul Wolfowitz to the party. From his exchange with Sen. Jack Reed yesterday (registration required):

REED: Mr. Secretary, do you think crouching naked for 45 minutes is humane?

WOLFOWITZ: Not naked, absolutely not.

REED: So if he's dressed up, that's fine? But this also has other environmental manipulation. Let me put it this way . . . 72 hours without regular sleep. Sensory deprivation, which would be a bag over your head for 72 hours. Do you think that's humane? And that's what this says, a bag over your head for 72 hours, is that humane?

WOLFOWITZ: Let me come back to what you said, the work of this government . . .

REED: No, no. Answer the question, Mr. Secretary. Is that humane?

WOLFOWITZ: I don't know whether it means a bag over your head for 72 hours, Senator. I don't know.

REED: Mr. Secretary, you're dissembling, nonresponsive. Anybody would say putting a bag over someone's head for 72 hours, which is . . .

WOLFOWITZ: I believe it's not humane.

REED: . . . sensory deprivation . . .

WOLFOWITZ: It strikes me as not humane, Senator.

So, once again, the solution is obvious. Let's put a bag over Wolfowitz's head for 72 hours. Then at the end we'll come back and ask him the question again.

Who was killed in Gaza?

Followup: Knight-Ridder comes through with the most accurate description of events:

"Helicopter missile strikes killed 11 of the Palestinians and troops shot dead one more person. All but four were civilians, three of them younger than 18, said Dr. Ali Mousa, the local hospital director."

"Israeli military officials insisted that army helicopters fired only at Palestinian gunmen who were attacking the recovery mission."

Knight-Ridder also informs us about another war crime in conjunction with the story. The original five Israeli soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb. Aside from killing dozens of Palestinians, how else did the Israelis respond?

"Israeli soldiers subsequently dynamited [the] six-story structure [in front of which the roadside bomb had been placed], reducing it into a 6-foot-high heap of rubble. It was to punish his neighbor for not stopping the militants from placing the explosives in front of his home, [a local resident] surmised. The blast sheared off half of the exterior wall of [his] building and damaged the adjacent mosque."

"Israeli...army bulldozers tore down nine houses close to a military patrol road where five soldiers were killed earlier this week.

Sometimes, words are more powerful than pictures

"An Iraqi prisoner who was held for four months at the notorious US-run Abu Ghraib jail near Baghdad described yesterday how he spent 18 days naked alone in a cell, often with his hands and feet bound together, and was frequently beaten, urinated on and occasionally photographed hooded and naked by American troops.

"Some time later all the inmates were warned of an impending Red Cross visit and were told by a soldier speaking through a translator not to reveal the punishments. 'The translator stood at the end of the corridor and shouted to us: 'Look all of you. The Red Cross will come to you today and if you say anything more than what is allowed then you will see a very, very dark day today and tomorrow will be darker and so on and so on,' he said.

"Several prisoners who had been abused were moved from their cells before the Red Cross arrived and replaced with other Iraqis, he said.

"A Red Cross official, who he named as 'Eva,' came to his cell to ask about conditions there. 'I couldn't say anything to her because there was a translator and an American soldier standing behind her,' he said. He said after the visit some prisoners were tied to their cell doors by their hands as a punishment."

"When he returned home he called off his planned marriage and now wants to testify at the courts martial that will be held against the soldiers involved. 'I broke off the relationship with my fiancee because I felt I couldn't get my dignity back,' he said. 'Just think of all those prisoners in the jail. If Bush says sorry for them, will it bring back their dignity?'"

"After 18 days, the beating stopped. His clothes were returned and the interrogation began. Mr al-Rawi said he was so broken he gave the soldiers the answers they wanted. 'Whatever they asked me, I said yes. They told me I was from Ansar al-Islam [a militant Iraqi group] and I said yes. I told them the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad [another Iraqi militant group] was my cousin. They asked me about Zarqawi [a Jordanian militant thought to be in Iraq] and al-Qaida and I said yes even though I don't know who they are.'"

Kerrywatch

"President Bush, accused by some in his party of not doing enough to confront Castro, offered them on Thursday what amounts to a policy of regime change in Cuba.

"'We're not waiting for the day of Cuban freedom, we are working for the day of freedom in Cuba,' Bush told reporters.

"Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Bush was playing election-year politics.

"'Four years after candidate Bush came to Florida and promised Cuban-Americans the moon, all they've gotten from this president is lip service and broken promises,' Kerry said in a statement.

"Kerry pledged that, as president, he would fight full time for freedom and democracy on the island."

Just a few bad apples...in a few different countries

"A former Afghan police colonel gave a graphic account in an interview this week of being subjected to beating, kicking, sleep deprivation, taunts and sexual abuse during about 40 days he spent in American custody in Afghanistan last summer. He also said he had been repeatedly photographed, often while naked.

"Members of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission accompanied a reporter during the interview and said his story matched the one given to them last fall, shortly after his release and long before the abuse at the Abu Ghraib near Baghdad came to light.

"The commission, which was set up by the transitional government of President Hamid Karzai in 2002 and receives money from the United States Congress and other foreign donors, has in recent months received 44 complaints against various actions by American forces."

And, of course, you just know what's coming next:

"After queries to the Pentagon about Mr. Siddiqui's case, the United States embassy in Kabul issued a statement early Wednesday, saying, 'The U.S. military has launched an immediate investigation.'

"It quoted the American ambassador in Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad, as saying, 'To the best of our knowledge this is the first time anyone in the military chain of command or the United States Embassy has heard of this alleged mistreatment.'

"But a member of the human rights commission said members had mentioned details of Mr. Siddiqui's case, apparently the first complaint of sexual abuse from a detainee in Afghanistan, to American military officials here last year."

Killing at a distance

I'm not a vegetarian. More than once I've been told by vegetarians that I shouldn't eat anything I wouldn't be willing to kill, or else I'm a hypocrite. Honestly, I think that's fair. I've never killed anything other than an insect or a fish in my life, and I cringe and feel absolutely awful if I so much as see a dead squirrel or skunk on the road. I suppose if push came to shove and my life depended on it, I could bring myself to kill an animal if I were going to eat it, but barring that I'm happy with my comfortable existence, where I can go to the supermarket and buy a piece of chicken, or go to a restaurant and order a hamburger, and never have to think about the animal from which that food came, and the process of killing it.

And, when it comes to war, my fellow Americans are exactly like that. Everyone thinks it's just horrible that someone could cut someone else's head off; only a "barbarian" would do such a thing. So what kind of person is it that could fly overhead and drop an oh-so-cutely named "Daisy Cutter" or "Mother of All Bombs" or maybe just a nice simple 500-pound bomb or a laser-guided missile and blow dozens of people to smithereens? Is it more "civilized" because they're not looking their enemy in the face, just like I'm more civilized because I let other people kill my cows and my chickens, miles away from where I am?

Here in the U.S., the Government doesn't even want us to see pictures of rectangular flags, under which are hidden boxes called coffins that we can't even see in the pictures, inside of which are dead men and women, victims of this war, who we also can't see. They certainly don't want us to see pictures of American soldiers or Iraqi civilians blown to bits, missing their heads or arms or legs with their blood and guts spilling out. Hell, they don't even want us to see pictures of the ones who survived and who are now back in Walter Reed trying to get on with their lives as best they can in their condition. But these people exist all the same, and the events which caused their deaths and injuries are no less horrific than the beheading of Nick Berg, save the fact that their deaths and injuries weren't caught on film (at least, film that anyone is willing to show us).

Did Nick Berg deserve to die? Certainly not. He was an innocent man caught up in the war, as far as one can tell not one of those "Civilians in Name Only" who are for all intents and purposes part of the U.S. armed forces. And as such his blood is on the hands of those who killed him. But it is also very much on the hands of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and the lot of them, who sent U.S. soldiers into another country to illegally overthrow their government, and who also put into motion the illegal detention and torture of prisoners around the world, from Bagram to Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib, which triggered this particular act of killing. Only one thing will stop this insanity - Bring the Troops Home NOW!

"The word you need to know is occupation"*

Some of the prisoners (from reports, perhaps 25%) are actually involved with the resistance in Iraq, and certainly were planning to, or did, kill coalition soldiers. As is their right. The United States and United Kingdom invaded Iraq to overthrow its government - an act of war. An illegal act, to be sure, but definitely an act of war. Now the United States could have found some Iraqi general or civilian official to coerce into signing a surrender, or a peace treaty of some kind. They did not. That means that a state of war still exists between the United States and Iraq. Any Iraqi, whether in uniform or not, is still fighting in that war, resisting by whatever means they choose that invasion and subsequent occupation of their country.

The fighting in Iraq is the legitimate resistance to an illegal occupation. It has nothing to do with any "war on terrorism." Nothing.

* David Rovics, Occupation

Who ya' gonna' believe - me or your lyin' advisors?

"In a visit to the Abu Ghraib prison last October, Red Cross inspectors were so unsettled by what they found that they broke off their visit and demanded an immediate explanation from the military prison authorities.

"The inspectors were also able to document the exact sort of behavior that has produced a firestorm over the last two weeks.

"A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva said Monday that the organization's president, Jakob Kellenberger, complained about the prison abuses directly to top Bush administration officials during a two-day visit to Washington in mid-January when he met with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz.

"Mr. Powell's spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, said Monday that 'when such information came to us, as it did over the course of time, late last year and early this year, we certainly took note of the information.'

"A spokesman for Ms. Rice said Monday that Mr. Kellenberger did not raise the issue of Iraq prison abuse with her at their meeting on Jan. 15.

"An aide to Mr. Wolfowitz said Mr. Kellenberger had briefly mentioned a coming report about problems at the Iraqi prisons. Charley Cooper, special adviser to Mr. Wolfowitz, said, 'No mention was made of any specific allegations of abuse or mistreatment of prisoners at any of the facilities housing detainees inside Iraq.'"

War crimes in Iraq

Prison abuse in Iraq "un-American"?

"Physical and sexual abuse of prisoners, similar to what has been uncovered in Iraq, takes place in American prisons with little public knowledge or concern, according to corrections officials, inmates and human rights advocates."

"The man who directed the reopening of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq last year and trained the guards there resigned under pressure as director of the Utah Department of Corrections in 1997 after an inmate died while shackled to a restraining chair for 16 hours. The inmate, who suffered from schizophrenia, was kept naked the whole time."

"The Utah official, Lane McCotter, later became an executive of [Management & Training Corporation, a Utah-based firm that says it is the third-largest private prison company], one of whose jails was under investigation by the Justice Department when he was sent to Iraq as part of a team of prison officials, judges, prosecutors and police chiefs picked by Attorney General John Ashcroft to rebuild the country's criminal justice system."

Apologies and other unsaid things

Of course, there were other missing apologies too. Ten thousand or so Iraqi civilians (I'm deliberately omitting the soldiers and resistance fighters, for once) are now dead. Now I know that Bush and the American government claim that none of these people were intentionally targeted, but surely their families are owed an apology for their (allegedly) unintentional deaths, aren't they? And how about an apology to the American people about the non-existent weapons of mass destruction? I don't expect Bush to admit he was lying about their existence, but surely he could apologize for being mistaken, couldn't he?

And while we're on the subject of things unsaid, there's John Kerry. 30 years ago, in testimony before Congress, Kerry admitted taking part in "free fire" zones which he described, correctly, as war crimes. Now there is ample evidence that what happened in Fallujah in the last month was exactly that - portions of the city turned into free fire zones, with American snipers simply "taking out" anything that moved. Will John Kerry denounce those free fire zones? Let's just say I'll be "shocked and awed" if he does. At least shocked.

Left I calls for the resignation...of Bush & Cheney

We know that Bush and Cheney think that resignation is a legitimate political device - they have repeatedly called for it (and tried to implement it) in Venezuela, Haiti, Iraq, and elsewhere. Clearly they feel that under the right political circumstances, resignation is the right and proper thing for the leader of a country to do. And could there be any more appropriate circumstances than exist in this country at this time?

Resign, Bush! Resign, Cheney! Do the right thing for once in your lives.

Followup: Apologies to those on the other side of the oceans; I should have added Tony Blair and John Howard's name to the resignation call as well. Especially after watching Love, Actually on DVD last night and realizing that the U.K., at least, has a perfectly capable replacement for Blair waiting in the wings. :-) [It's Hugh Grant, for those who haven't seen the film]. Of course, in Britain, calls for resignation are not just the idle musings of Left I on the News, but reality.

The Rumsfeld hearings

I rarely have anything good to say about Hillary Clinton, but kudos to her for making the analogy between Capt. James Yee and the accused soldiers from Abu Ghraib, and asking Rumsfeld why the military was allegedly so concerned with due process and not making information public in the latter case, but was spilling (false) information right and left about Capt. Yee and his alleged "treason" in Guantanamo.

Third Quote of the Day

"I sometimes get emails asking me to propose solutions or make suggestions. Fine. Today's lesson: don't rape, don't torture, don't kill and get out while you can- while it still looks like you have a choice... Chaos? Civil war? Bloodshed? We’ll take our chances- just take your Puppets, your tanks, your smart weapons, your dumb politicians, your lies, your empty promises, your rapists, your sadistic torturers and go."

- Baghdad Burning blogger Riverbend

Nothing like unbiased commentary

Second Quote of the Day

"One cannot attack a country in the name of human rights. One cannot enforce the improvement of lives through swords."

- Nobel Prize-winning Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize (Source via Counterspin Central)

Quote of the Day

"A nation with enough determination can defeat foreign aggressors, no matter how powerful they are. Any forces that would impose their will on other nations will certainly face defeat, and all nations fighting for their own independence will win."

- Retired Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap, speaking at Dien Bien Phu on the 50th anniversary of his triumph there over French forces. (Source)

Political humor of the day

" I have never known a time in my life when America and its president were more hated around the world than today. It's no wonder that so many Americans are obsessed with the finale of the sitcom 'Friends' right now. They're the only friends we have, and even they're leaving."

- Thomas Friedman (!), Left I's least favorite columnist (Source)

Quote of the Day

"I want the American soldier to return to his camp. What I want more is that he returns to the United States. They should leave very quickly, very quickly or there will be problems."

- General Muhammad Latif, the Iraqi General appointed by the Americans to take charge in Fallujah. (Source)

Amen to you, Gen. Latif!

The "Disappeared" in Iraq

Here's what Left I on the News wrote about Gen. al-Saadi last October:

"Some of the key people who have come forward, like Obeidi (he of the buried centrifuge parts) and Gen. Amer al-Saadi (senior Iraqi science advisor) have been squirreled away, kept from the prying eyes of the press precisely because they have said that there were no weapons; we wouldn't want them repeating that on CNN. No doubt pressure is being put on them and others like them to change their story (i.e., lie) in return for rewards or the promise of more lenient punishments."

The entire Guardian article is interesting for the portrait it paints of al-Saadi, but this is of particular interest:

"Dr Saadi is described officially by the Americans as an 'enemy prisoner of war'. This allows them to detain him indefinitely without access to a lawyer or visiting rights from his family until George Bush declares the war to be over."

Of course, Gen. al-Saadi is not the only person being held in inhumane and completely unjust conditions, far from it. Still another is ex-Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz, who also voluntarily surrendered to the Americans last April, not to be heard from since.

And while we're remembering the Iraqi "disappeared" (disappeared from the U.S. press, amongst other places), let's also remind our readers about Left I's pet cause, Nazem Baji. Last October this item appeared here:

"On October 20, Iraqi Nazem Baji was apparently executed by U.S. troops, shot in the head with his hands tied with plastic bands. If true, this would be a serious war crime. On the day it happened, and was reported by AP , the U.S. military said it had "no information" on the incident. Left I on the News is waiting for the U.S. military to let us know that it now has the information and is conducting a 'serious investigation.' As of today, one week later, no followup story has appeared in any media outlet I can find, and Nazem Baji's blood remains on the hands of the U.S. military and on the hands of George Bush."

Colin Powell - He Lai

"Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who has often been at odds with Mr. Rumsfeld, went so far on Tuesday night as to talk about the prison abuse scandal in the context of the My Lai massacre of scores of unarmed Vietnamese men, women and children by American troops, a historical reference that was not in the White House talking points that sought to stem the damage from the scandal.

"Mr. Powell, in an interview on CNN's 'Larry King Live,' brought up My Lai without prompting, saying that he served in Vietnam 'after My Lai happened' and that 'in war, these sorts of horrible things happen every now and again, but they're still to be deplored.'

"Maj. Powell returned for his second Vietnam tour on July 27, 1968 [Just two months after My Lai; note that Powell had served in Vietnam both before and after My Lai]. This time, he was no longer a junior officer slogging through the jungle, but an up-and-coming staff officer assigned to the Americal division [the division which perpetrated the My Lai massacre].

"A test soon confronted Maj. Powell. A letter had been written by a young specialist fourth class named Tom Glen. Glen's letter contended that many Vietnamese were fleeing from Americans who 'for mere pleasure, fire indiscriminately into Vietnamese homes and without provocation or justification shoot at the people themselves.' Gratuitous cruelty was also being inflicted on Viet Cong suspects, Glen reported [the letter did not specifically mention My Lai, but any serious investigation of the letter would certainly have uncovered that scandal].

"Maj. Powell undertook the assignment to review Glen's letter, but did so without questioning Glen or assigning anyone else to talk with him. Powell simply accepted a claim from Glen's superior officer that Glen was not close enough to the front lines to know what he was writing about, an assertion Glen denies.

"After that cursory investigation, Powell drafted a response on Dec. 13, 1968. He admitted to no pattern of wrongdoing. Powell claimed that U.S. soldiers in Vietnam were taught to treat Vietnamese courteously and respectfully. The Americal troops also had gone through an hour-long course on how to treat prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions, Powell noted.

"'There may be isolated cases of mistreatment of civilians and POWs,' Powell wrote in 1968. But 'this by no means reflects the general attitude throughout the Division.' Indeed, Powell's memo faulted Glen for not complaining earlier and for failing to be more specific in his letter.

"Powell reported back exactly what his superiors wanted to hear. 'In direct refutation of this [Glen's] portrayal,' Powell concluded, 'is the fact that relations between Americal soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent.'"

Colin Powell may be part of the Dept. of State, not the Dept. of Defense, but he's still the "good soldier" he was 36 years ago.

Fiscal priorities

While here in San Jose: "Facing a budget shortfall, city leaders have proposed shutting down public restrooms at parks. Fewer crews for all park upkeep -- including edging lawns, repairing benches and maintaining tot lots -- is expected to save about $1.7 million." [Less than the money spent fighting about 20 minutes' worth of the war]

Now this might at first seem to be a trivial issue - no restrooms in parks on many days. Just go behind a tree, right? But it's not that simple. These parks are used by lots of people, especially people without big back yards in their own homes, i.e., poor people. Santa Clara County has already driven people by the droves out of their parks by instituting parking fees of $5 (again, for "budgetary reasons"). Now the city parks, which get more walking than driving traffic, will be doing the same. Mothers with small children, or babies who need changing, or girls, can't go "behind a tree." So instead, they'll go home sooner, or maybe not go to the park at all, and their quality of life will decline just a little bit.

All so that the quantity of life of several hundred more American troops, and several thousand more Iraqis, will also decline, and by more than just a little bit. This war is killing us, in more ways than one.

Money for parks and education, not for war and occupation!

Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one

"The Walt Disney Company is blocking its Miramax division from distributing a new documentary by Michael Moore that harshly criticizes President Bush, executives at both Disney and Miramax said Tuesday.

"The film, 'Fahrenheit 911,' links Mr. Bush and prominent Saudis -- including the family of Osama bin Laden -- and criticizes Mr. Bush's actions before and after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks."

"Mr. Moore's agent, Ari Emanuel, said that Michael D. Eisner, Disney's chief executive, asked him last spring to pull out of the deal with Miramax. Mr. Emanuel said Mr. Eisner expressed concern that it would endanger tax breaks Disney receives for its theme park, hotels and other ventures in Florida, where Mr. Bush's brother, Jeb, is governor."

Leaders, here and there

"Bill Ward, of Dubuque, said he arrived at about 7:30 a.m., and waited an hour. When it came time to show his identification, Ward said he was asked if he supported Bush in 2000. 'I said I didn't vote for him then and I won't vote for him now,' Ward said. Saying he is a World War II veteran who served in Germany and France, Ward is strongly critical of the war in Iraq. 'The only thing I wanted to do was get down to the riverfront and ask Bush some questions,' he said.

"Ward's lack of support for the president apparently was his undoing. 'They asked some girl to escort me out and I told them I don't need to be escorted out,' Wards said. 'I'm a veteran of World War II.'"

That leader, of course, is Fidel Castro, a man whose boots George Bush is not fit to shine.

Make love, not war

"On Oct. 6, 1965, the Selective Service lifted its ban against drafting married men who had no children. Nine months and two days later, Mr. Cheney's first daughter, Elizabeth, was born."

"On Jan. 19, 1966, when his wife was about 10 weeks pregnant, Mr. Cheney applied for 3-A status, the 'hardship' exemption, which excluded men with children or dependent parents. It was granted."

Quote of the Day

"Pat isn't with God. He's f -- ing dead. He wasn't religious. So thank you for your thoughts, but he's f -- ing dead."

- Rich Tillman, brother of dead American soldier (and former NFL player) Pat Tillman, speaking at the memorial service at San Jose's Municipal Rose Garden (Source)

U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan (and elsewhere) now! Join the nationwide protests June 5!

Mistreatment of prisoners - echoes of Kunduz

But the history goes back much further! Now is the time to remember the massacre of Kunduz, in which hundreds or thousands of Taliban soldiers, imprisoned in closed shipping crates, were machine-gunned to death, with the possible or even probable complicity or even participation of members of the U.S. Special Forces. The investigative documentary movie about that massacre has been broadcast on national television in Britain, Germany, Italy and Australia and has been screened by the European parliament, but, other than on the little-heard (comparatively speaking to major media) and even less-seen Democracy Now!, the film has never been shown in the U.S. (for example on PBS).

Not a single mainstream media source in the U.S. has touched this story. In March, a team of American pathologists commissioned to investigate the claims by the UN issued a report corroborating the story; the only evidence of this in the Western press I could find was in the Guardian (U.K.). By coincidence (?), the three British prisoners recently released from Guantanamo were among the handful of survivors of that massacre and have also corroborated the story. From the U.S. press? Not a word.

Abuse of prisoners, even outright murder, by U.S. troops or their contractors or allies, a "shocking new development"? Hardly.

Inane story of the day

"Presented with reports of abusive behavior by U.S. military guards at Baghdad's main prison, the Army two months ago quietly dispatched to Iraq a team of about 25 military police experienced in running detention facilities to shore up training and supervision, Army officials said yesterday. It was the first group of such specialists sent to Iraq since the invasion last year, the officials said."

Schwarzenegger in Israel

"Reports of hate crimes and harassment against Muslims in California tripled last year from the year before, the highest number ever recorded outside the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, according to a report to be released today by a national American Muslim organization."

The amusing part of the Schwarzenegger story is how he responded to criticism that he was only going to visit Israel. So where does he go in addition? To visit King Abdullah of Jordan, the most pro-American leader in the Middle East. TV reports had this visit as representing "the other side" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is, of course, ridiculous. CAIR has it right, although they are too generous to Schwarzenegger by half:

"Sabiha Kahn, a spokeswoman for the California branch of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, called the Jordan visit 'a good step in the right direction,' but said he should visit the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"'I know he is more than willing to learn about all sides, and he should show that by visiting the Palestinian-occupied territory,' she said. 'There is a conflict and he is only meeting with the Israeli side.'"

U.S. media rail against Castro

Here's what Dictionary.com (scroll down) tells us the definition of what "rails" is - "To express objections or criticisms in bitter, harsh, or abusive language."

Here's what Fidel had to say - "Castro warned U.S. officials to be 'calmer, more sensible, wiser and more intelligent'."

Wow! How much more bitter, harsher, or abusive can you get?

Of course, here's what they really object to: "He [Fidel] said Cuba 'will be defended with laws and will be defended with arms when necessary — until the last drop of blood.'" What a concept.

Bremer recants

American troops dead in - and out of - Iraq

"include those whom the surgeons send to Europe, and on to the United States, with no prospect of regaining consciousness. The practice, subject to review after gathering feedback from families, assumes that loved ones will find value in holding the soldier's hand before confronting the decision to remove life support."

See no evil

The Fallujah massacre

"During the first two weeks of this month, the American army committed war crimes in Falluja on a scale unprecedented for this war. According to the relatively few media reports of what took place there, some 600 Iraqis were killed during these two weeks, among them some 450 elderly people, women and children.

"The sight of decapitated children, the rows of dead women and the shocking pictures of the soccer stadium that was turned into a temporary grave for hundreds of the slain - all were broadcast to the world only by the Al Jazeera network."

Torture of prisoners in Iraq

Followup: And while I'm catching up, I discover that Billmon, or actually one of his readers, his made an incredible (but hardly surprising) discovery - one of the chief torturers (a civilian contractor, natch), who was recommended to be fired and disciplined in an Army report back in February, is still working at Abu Ghraib!