October 18th, 2007

This is Rahna Rasheed’s younger brother.

That’s her body you can see covered on the stretcher in the background. She was 17.

She was shot this morning by green zone government forces who mistook her for a fighter during a raid on her village north of Baqubah.

She was rushed to Baqubah hospital but died of gunshot wounds to the head.

The lady with bloodstained clothers and blood on her face is her mother. The other two adults are Hamid and Shokriya Hasan her uncle and aunt. The photograph was taken this morning at Baqubah hospital morgue.

The savages of war reign down on anyone in their way

Via: Uruknet | Link: gorillasguides.com

I survived Blackwater

"As we approached at typical breakneck speed, the Blackwater driver honked furiously and motioned to the side, as if they should pull over," she pens. "The kids in the back seat looked back in horror, mouths agape at the sight of the heavily armored Suburbans driven by large, armed men in dark sunglasses. The poor Iraqi driver frantically searched for a means of escape, but there was none. So the lead Blackwater vehicle smashed heedlessly into the car, pushing it into the barrier. We zoomed by too quickly to notice if anyone was hurt."

"Where do you all expect them to go?" she allegedly cried. "It was an old guy and a family, for goodness' sake. Was it necessary for them to destroy their poor old car?"

"Ma'am, we've been trained to view anyone as a potential threat," she says the driver, who she did not identify, replied. "You don't know who they might use as decoys or what the risks are. Terrorists could be disguised as anyone."

Tell me, what good is the Geneva Convention when you make up your own rules as you go along? They aren't calling it a "war", they torture covertly, and private contractors-- who came up with that euphemism? I prefer mercenaries-- they are immune from prosecution.

link

Company That Killed Iraqi Civilians Gets Lucrative Drug War Contract

$15 billion of your money up in smoke for under-fire mercenary company, other defense contractors.

What do you do when you've been kicked out of Iraq for killing civilians and your company's reputation is in shambles? Fear not, the drug war is always hiring, and there's nothing on earth you could do to disqualify yourself from employment in the accountability-free industry of international drug prohibition.

While Blackwater's mercenaries beg for mercy for killing a baby and 19 other people in Baghdad on Sunday, they're already working on another lucrative government contract on yet another foreign adventure: the "war on drugs." [Village Voice]

Details are sketchy since the government doesn't report eagerly on the creepy deals it makes with baby-killing mercenary groups. But Village Voice says they're building giant remote-control surveillance blimps.

It remains unclear what these blimps will be used for or what other secretive drug war endeavors Blackwater will be undertaking, but this much is for sure: it will all be phenomenally expensive and it won't change a damn thing.

Never, ever forget that War is big business.

4:00 PM, 9/3/07
***Regarding the post below, Paul Krassner has apologized to Wes Clark for misrepresenting him.***

"Thanks to Comments on my Assholes of the Week #7 blog, I now add myself to one of them because I criticized General Clark for his silence about Pentagon plans to invade six other countries after Iraq, when in fact he did indeed speak out repeatedly."

link

Thanks, Paul, for admitting when you've made a mistake.



Paul Krassner's Assholes of the Week

General Wesley Clark, for waiting until recently to reveal to Amy Goodman on "Democracy Now" the following: "About ten days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. I went downstairs just to say hello to some of the people on the Joint Staff who used to work for me, and one of the generals called me in. He said, 'Sir, you've got to come in and talk to me a second.' I said, 'Well, you're too busy.' He said, 'No, no.' He says, 'We've made the decision we're going to war with Iraq.' This was on or about the 20th of September. I said, 'We're going to war with Iraq? Why?' He said, 'I don't know.' He said, 'I guess they don't know what else to do.' So I said, 'Well, did they find some information connecting Saddam to al Qaeda?' He said, 'No, no.' He says, 'There's nothing new that way. They just made the decision to go to war with Iraq.' He said, 'I guess it's like we don't know what to do about terrorists, but we've got a good military and we can take down governments.' And he said,

"I guess if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem has to look like a nail."

Un-fucking-believable

[Read more »]

"Redacted" stuns Venice

A new film about the real-life rape and killing of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers who also murdered her family stunned the Venice festival, with shocking images that left some viewers in tears.

"Redacted", by U.S. director Brian De Palma, is one of at least eight American films on the war in Iraq due for release in the next few months and the first of two movies on the conflict screening in Venice's main competition.

Inspired by one of the most serious crimes committed by American soldiers in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, it is a harrowing indictment of the conflict and spares the audience no brutality to get its message across.

De Palma, 66, whose "Casualties of War" in 1989 told a similar tale of abuse by American soldiers in Vietnam, makes no secret of the goal he is hoping to achieve with the film's images, all based on real material he found on the Internet.

"The movie is an attempt to bring the reality of what is happening in Iraq to the American people," he told reporters after a press screening.

"The pictures are what will stop the war. One only hopes that these images will get the public incensed enough to motivate their Congressmen to vote against this war," he said.

Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi was gang raped, killed and burnt by American soldiers in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, in March 2006. Her parents and younger daughter were also killed.

Five soldiers have since been charged with the attack. Four of them have been given sentences of between 5 and 110 years.

"IT'S ALL ON THE INTERNET" Continued...

War is good for business. Everything else be damned. In that same context people always want to give Bush a good deal on a Brooklyn Bridge or an ocean front property in Kansas (or yellow cake or wmd's, etc) and without reservation he goes for his wallet like a father handing out cash to his kids.

Washington's Wars and Occupations
Month in Review #28
August 30, 2007
By Max Elbaum, War Times/Tiempo de Guerras

THE BIG DISCONNECT

The promised September assessment of where things stand in Iraq is around the corner.

So right on cue George Bush declared (Aug. 22) that "a free Iraq" is within reach.

The same day Iraq's Electricity Minister told reporters that "armed groups" - not the Iraqi government - control the switching stations that channel power throughout Iraq's energy grid. A new report from Bush's own Intelligence apparatus declared that prospects for the Iraqi government to unite the country were somewhere between bleak and gloomy.

Bush's dreamland "free Iraq" is part of the President's "support for freedom and democracy throughout the Middle East."

Most Arabs and Muslims, though, see that kind of support as "the kiss of death," according to Turki al-Rasheed, a prominent (and largely pro-U.S.) Saudi reformer. "The minute you are counted on or backed by the Americans, kiss it goodbye, you will never win," al-Rasheed told the New York Times (Aug. 10). The Times went on to report that "The paradox of American policy in the Middle East - promoting democracy on the assumption it will bring countries closer to the West - is that almost everywhere there are free elections, the American-backed side tends to lose."

It's Alice-in-Wonderland come to life. Bush's imaginings (and the imperial interests they are conjured up to defend) vs. the real world and most of the people in it.

And if it isn't hard enough to parse through the bullshit, we have to read between the lines when the Dems say "end the war."

"Even as they call for an end to the war and pledge to bring the troops home, the Democratic presidential candidates are setting out positions that could leave the U.S. engaged in Iraq for years. John Edwards would keep troops in the region to intervene in an Iraqi genocide and be prepared for military action if violence spills into other countries. Hillary Clinton would leave residual forces to fight terrorism and to stabilize the Kurdish region in the north. And Barack Obama would leave a military presence of as-yet unspecified size in Iraq to provide security for American personnel, fight terrorism and train Iraqis."

Bush says we're making progress in Iraq and anyone who differs is "undermining the troops."

I just can't. I'm done. (as Father Luke says)

(italics are mine; the rest is via an email newsletter from war-times.org; not yet published to the website)

a bit lengthy, but worth the time

Short Bedtime Stories
by Layla Anwar, from Arab Woman Blues

I would have really liked to sing you a bedtime lullaby. Alas, it is simply not possible. And in most likelihood, my voice will keep you very awake. Surely, I do not want to be a cause for your insomnia. So am offering you a few short stories to lull you into unconsciousness, into a deep catatonic sleep...(not that you really need it.) But just in case you are losing sleep over the ongoing Iraqi genocide.

Once upon a time...

* Once upon a time, was Badiaa, Kamel's wife.
She lived in a small house, borrowed house. Her husband is detained by the American dwarfs and her son has been killed by the same dwarfs.

She would spend many hours sitting in her kitchen, talking to herself. She sold most of the remaining furniture she had. Only three kitchen chairs were left and she confided in them. Sometimes pretending her husband or son were sitting opposite her and listening to her woes...

One night, not long ago, at 1 am, the "Iraqi" army and the dwarfs stormed her home. They searched, ransacked and destroyed the little she had left.

"Why, why? Is it not enough you took my husband and killed my son. Why destroy the little I have?" "It is for your own security. You have a sniper on your roof."

Of course, Badiaa has no electricity. She uses an oil lamp. One of the guards kicks the lamp. No Genie or sniper came out. But a fierce fire spread wildly, catching the doors, the walls,the curtains and the chairs...

Half of Badiaa's house is now burned down.

"We will send you a cheque." They laughed and walked away in the night.

Now Badiaa has only one chair left in the kitchen. Her walls are smoky black, her doors burned to ashes and her curtains eaten up by fire... She still sits in the kitchen. She has stopped talking to herself now that the two other chairs are gone.

* Once upon a time was Nasser.
Half of Nasser's family has been decimated, slaughtered by the dwarfs right where the Butcher prospered most... Every other day Nasser has a funeral. A family member, 20 years old was detained by the dwarfs and held up in some dungeon in Baghdad for months. No trial, no charges.
For months he was "interrogated" in that dungeon and then transferred to another dungeon in Southern Iraq, a sectarian Iranian stronghold.

After several months, the dwarfs decided to release him. No charges. They called him up. "Be ready to leave. You will be signing some release papers tomorrow." One more night in the dungeon and he will be free. That same day, the sectarian militias and some say the dwarfs (and I say both) bombed the prison. A prison filled with Iraqi sunnis.(Omar was there too.) The boy is dead. He finally left the dungeon...free.

* Once upon a time was Radhee
A bright, smart, quick witted man... Radhee has been without a job for well over a year. Radhee is stuck in a walled Sunni enclave called Adhamiya. Radhee spends his days devising ways and routes to get to the grocer without being shot at by snipers, militias or the dwarfs... Radhee gave up his daily schemes. Besides you cannot find any fruits or vegetables in the Adhamiya market and meat and eggs are a luxury from the past.

Radhee has no electricity, Radhee has no gasoline. So Radhee ingeniously invented a way to bake bread in his backyard. He uses the legs of his furniture as wooden logs and places newspapers on top. The whole invention makes for a flamboyant outdoor oven. Radhee and his family can now survive on bread and water. Nice home made bread baked on torn furniture parts and newspapers.
One hundred newspaper publications and "free" press have come in very handy.

Radhee is now living happily ever "after."

* Once upon a time was Salam.
Salam, a beautiful, educated young woman... After her kidnapping and her battering ordeal, Salam has become agoraphobic. She not only is unable to leave the house, she cannot even leave her bedroom.

She lies in bed most of the time, staring at the ceiling and her staring is punctuated by sporadic screams "Please don't, please don't."

* Once upon a time was Raouf.
Raouf, a handsome, loving caring man... Raouf can no longer sit straight. His ribs all are broken, his wounds badly infected... He has more stories to tell you and me. Stories that his bruises kept well hidden. Cigarette burns adorn his body like dark brown halos, like dim, dying stars...

Raouf cannot lie on his back, cannot walk, cannot move... He is slouched all day and all night, inert, his head bent down and his pictures and papers safely tucked close to him... Raouf sits, swallowing his open wounds and the stories they hide, in total silence...

Once upon a time, there was us, there was me.
Once upon a time, there were others, many others...
Once upon a time, there were peaceful nights and dreams.
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago.

Sleep well.

link

Bone Dance: A Late Epiphany at the New York Times

This is the sound of a very large bone, lodged for a very long time, being hocked up at last:

"It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit." -- the New York Times, July 8, 2007.

Only four years -- and hundreds of thousands of dead bodies -- too late, of course. And it might have been nice if the Times editorialists had noted the very large part their own paper played in what they now call -- they now call -- "this unnecessary invasion."

[Read More from writer Chris Floyd]

Bush's Fleurs du Mal
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: May 27, 2007

The president thinks he can save face if he keeps taunting Democrats as the party of surrender - just as Nixon did - and dumps the Frankenstate he's created on his successor.

For me, the saddest spot in Washington is the inverted V of the black granite Vietnam wall, jutting up with the names of young men dying in a war that their leaders already knew could not be won.

So many died because of ego and deceit - because L.B.J. and Robert McNamara wanted to save face or because Henry Kissinger wanted to protect Nixon's re-election chances.

Now the Bush administration finds itself at that same hour of shame. It knows the surge is not working. Iraq is in a civil war, with a gruesome bonus of terrorists mixed in. April was the worst month this year for the American military, with 104 soldiers killed, and there have been about 90 killed thus far in May. The democracy's not jelling, as Iraqi lawmakers get ready to slouch off for a two-month vacation, leaving our kids to be blown up.

The top-flight counterinsurgency team that President Bush sent in after long years of pretending that we'd "turned the corner" doesn't believe there's a military solution.

--MORE--

So many deaths; so little truth.

WE - A Documentary

'We' juxtaposes the writer Arundhati Roy's eloquent 'Come September' address, with a collage of contemporary and historical footage of our world, against a stirring soundtrack (Lush, Curve, Love & Rockets, Boards of Canada, Nine Inch Nails, Dead Can Dance, Amon Tobin, Massive Attack, Tortoise, Telepop, Placebo and Faithless).

Roy asks her audience to consider September 11 in the years prior to 2001, and what this date might mean to the citizens of the world. She says:

"This historical dredging is not offered as an accusation or a provocation. But just to share the grief of history. To thin the mist a little. To say to the citizens of America, in the gentlest, most human way: Welcome to the world."

She then refers to the September 11, 1973 CIA supported military coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet, the British government's September 11, 1922 mandate in Palestine and George Bush Sr's announcement to go to war against Iraq on September 11, 1990.

"...to dogmatically hold to only one set of ideas results in, I think, a slow, sad, and unnecessary form of brain death. Westerners need to start reading non-western press if they ever wish to understand the world better than they do at this moment."


'We' was produced by New Zealander Scott Ewing, who initially released it anonymously on the internet. It first appeared on the Australian website: resist.com.au in September 2005.

It's a powerful antidote to the mind numbing propaganda disseminated by our mainstream media. Free your mind. Go to: www.weroy.org

House Says No To Troop Build-Up

The Iraq War Resolution was just passed in the House of Representatives with the disapproval of Bush's 21,000 more troop build-up.

17 Republicans broke from party lines to add with the Dems 229 YEAs making a total of 246 with 182 NO votes. Beautiful. If we can have more of the same when the Senate votes tomorrow @ 1:45pm est.

More @ CSPAN

It Only Takes 41 Senate Votes to End the War. Republicans Show the Way.

Filibuster to End the War Now!

By JOHN V. WALSH

We hear over and over again that it "takes 60 votes to get something serious done in the Senate." That is a lot of malarkey. It takes only one senator to begin a filibuster against any bill. And then it takes only 41 votes to uphold that filibuster and prevent any proposed law from coming to the floor.

Thus, the present authorization for defense funding in the coming fiscal year can be stopped cold if it contains funds for the war on Iraq. And this can be done by just one courageous Senator, backed by 40 colleagues.

Let me propose the following scenario. Just one Senator, Ted Kennedy or Russ Feingold or Robert Byrd, arises in the Senate and declares that he will filibuster the present defense authorization bill if it contains funds for the war on Iraq or Iran. That bill is then dead unless there are 60 votes (3/5 of the 100 Senators) to end the debate, i.e., to invoke cloture. That is it. Bush no longer has the funds to prosecute the war. He has to come back with a funding bill acceptable to the 41.

READ MORE »»

I always think these games are right-on about the predictable buzzwords or talking points that are mentioned. Especially when the "sectarian violence", the pseudonym for civil war, is used.

SOTU Drinking Game 2007

Every time he says.... - # of Drinks

“The state of our union is strong…” (or some version of this) - 1,+1 if he breaks down in tears

"the American people" - 1

troops - small 1

surge - quick 1

Iraq - 1

Baghdad - 1

"sectarian violence" - 1 Car Bomb recipe

Iran - 1

terror (however itÂ’s pronounced) - small 1

detainees - 1, with your hands behind your back

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - 2 (+1 if he pronounces it correctly)

Saddam Hussein or Saddam - 1

elections - 1 if referring to another country's, 2 if referring to the 2006 midterms

freedom - 1

Homeland - 1 if followed by "Security"; 2 if another context

"Bring it on" - Arm-wrestle the person next to you; loser drinks

MORE//

I got your alt news right here.

Read about the recent bombing at Baghdad?s Mustansiriya University from Zeyad of Healing Iraq.

Can you imagine the scene? Try. Think of your own schools, your own college campuses. Think of how you would feel if your own son or daughter had to go to school in the hell that is called Iraq. Think of what you would do if you heard the news that the school was bombed.

Eyewitnesses said cell phones were still ringing urgently in pockets and purses lying around human body parts. Try to imagine the person on the other line.

A man searched for his son and finally found his head and torso, but no legs. ?Where is his other half?? he asked, before he started shaking with violent sobs.

Over here, the above scenes elicit a 20-second sound bite in the news, perhaps immediately followed by dog food or deodorant commercials. At best, politicians would use it in talking points, to justify even more bloodshed and destruction.

Daily news and comments on the situation in post Saddam Iraq by an Iraqi dentist, this weblog's been around a long time and is where I go for the truth about Baghdad.

War Resisters in need of assistance! If you can help, please do! Can you help house a soldier/resister on their way to Canada?

"If you have room where you can house a resister for a few days, a few weeks or longer, please get in touch with us," the group said.

Since the news broke that George Bush will be announcing an increased deployment of 20,000 troops to Iraq, there has been a huge response within the U.S. military.

The War Resisters Support Campaign has been inundated with requests from soldiers who are considering coming to Canada.

This is an urgent appeal for housing spots for the new arrivals. If you have room where you can house a resister for a few days, a few weeks or longer, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH US.

Welcoming a war resister here with the offer of temporary housing is a concrete way to help put an end to war in Iraq. Anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciated!

Please contact:

Tom at tomriley@pace-il.ca
or
Christine at 647.393.3096
or

Leave a message at:

The War Resisters Support Campaign office:
416.598.1222, resisters@sympatico.ca

BuzzFlash: Why do you think the rebuilding effort and relief effort in New Orleans has just come to a complete halt?

Greg Palast: It's not stalled. This is the plan. This is another White House gimmick to hide their evil intent in the clothing of incompetence.



The same with Iraq -- oh, we screwed up? We didn't get all the cheap oil that Wolfowitz promised in his congressional testimony, when he said the price of oil would decline. Well, it's gone up. Golly gee, who funds the Bush Administration but the oil companies and Saudi Arabia? Who profits when the price of oil goes up? That's "Mission Accomplished."



Look to New Orleans. Golly gee, the black folks haven't come back. There are no labor unions anymore in New Orleans. There are no public schools. It's all vouchers. Worker wages have gone down. It's "Mission Accomplished." This is the plan. This is the program.



The idea that this is just a screw-up, or a delay, or a stall is wrong. This is the plan. You're seeing it in effect. They don't ever want those people back. You still have 73,000 POWs - prisoners of "W."

What makes Palast a good investigative reporter is that he does his homework and not only tells us the real story sans agenda, but always finds a way to get his voice heard. Sure is a tenacious little fucker.

link

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Key Democrat Wants To Reinstate Draft

WASHINGTON ? Americans would have to sign up for a new military draft after turning 18 under a bill the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee says he will introduce next year.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said Sunday he sees his idea as a way to deter politicians from launching wars.

"There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm's way," Rangel said.

In 2003, Rangel proposed a measure covering people age 18 to 26. It was defeated 402-2 the following year. This year, he offered a plan to mandate military service for men and women between age 18 and 42; it went nowhere in the Republican-led Congress.

What a tool. Just more indication that the US 2-party system is royally fucked up. You can't even hope for the lesser of the two evils anymore.

link

A Come-to-Daddy Moment

Poppy Bush and James Baker gave Sonny the presidency to play with and he broke it. So now they?re taking it back.

They are dragging W. away from those reckless older guys who have been such a bad influence and getting him some new minders who are a lot more practical.

In a scene that might be called "Murder on the Oval Express," Rummy turned up dead with so many knives in him that it?s impossible to say who actually finished off the man billed as Washington's most skilled infighter. (Poppy? Scowcroft? Baker? Laura? Condi? The Silver Fox? Retired generals? Serving generals? Future generals? Troops returning to Iraq for the umpteenth time without a decent strategy? Democrats? Republicans? Joe Lieberman?)

The defense chief got hung out to dry before Saddam got hung. The president and Karl Rove, underestimating the public?s hunger for change or overestimating the loyalty of a fed-up base, did not ice Rummy in time to save the Senate from teetering Democratic. But once Sonny managed to heedlessly dynamite the Republican majority ? as well as the Middle East, the Atlantic alliance and the U.S. Army ? then Bush Inc., the family firm that snatched the presidency for W. in 2000, had to step in. Two trusted members of the Bush 41 war council, Mr. Baker and Robert Gates, have been dispatched to discipline the delinquent juvenile and extricate him from the mother of all messes.

Mr. Gates, already on Mr. Baker?s "How Do We Get Sonny Out of Deep Doo Doo in Iraq?" study group, left his job protecting 41?s papers at Texas A&M to return to Washington and pry the fingers of Poppy?s old nemesis, Rummy, off the Pentagon.

"They had to bring in someone from the old gang," said someone from the old gang. "That has to make Junior uneasy. With Bob, the door is opened again to 41 and Baker and Brent."

Another great Maureen Dowd piece that never lets us forget that it's Bush Inc in charge; not Baby Bush. [Read More] (This week is Free Access week at NYT)

In Iraq the US has approximately 130,000 - 140,000 troops deployed at any given time. Most recently I saw the figure 138,000.

...the U.S., began Operation Desert Storm on January 16, 1991, to forcibly remove Iraq from Kuwait. The war ended on March 3, 1991, when Iraq accepted cease-fire terms. By the time hostilities concluded, 697,000 American service-members had served in these operations.

697,000 - 6 weeks in 1991 to Kuwait
138,000 - at any given time in Iraq.

Is this why recruiters were busted recently? Look at that lying fuck. An ABC News undercover investigation showed Army recruiters telling students that the war in Iraq was over, in an effort to get them to enlist.

Uncle Sam's Enlistment Lies - link

WILD JUSTICE:
An open letter to President Bush

Dear George,

While not a supporter of you or your catastrophic agenda, I have no wish for you to suffer the same of fate of President John F Kennedy. In the last few days, millions of world citizens have seen the latest tabulation of horror inflicted on Iraq. 655,000 are a lot of corpses, George, far exceeding the rate achieved by Saddam Hussein. Added to this are a massive number of the disfigured, the orphaned and the destitute; the wreckage of infrastructure, the collapse of tertiary education. You have often invoked the “yearning of Iraqis to be free”, but what they want most is to be free of your troops.

Think about it - over 500 Iraqis killed every day, a third of which are directly due to actions by coalition forces. The rest of the violent deaths are a consequence of the occupation. Instead of reacting with compassion to the report in The Lancet, you dismissed it as a “discredited guess”, despite the widely accepted methodology. 655,00 dead! Too much blood, too little oil. It’s beginning to look like genocide, George, which is why thousands of Iraqis are fleeing the country. A White House induced diaspora. How do the new minted exiles feel about you? How can the loss of a homeland be compensated? Saddam today is on trial for his crimes. Tomorrow, the man in the dock could be you. Yet this is unlikely, because your administration has bent the law into providing immunity. The question arises, how will the victims of your policies gain restitution? [MORE »]

Australia's Richard Neville

So much going on in the month of October to celebrate the 40th Reunion of the Black Panther Party.

All weekend, former and current members of the Black Panther Party are holding events to commemorate the 40th anniversary of an organization that brought breakfasts to poor school children, and emblazoned the image of black power on the national consciousness.The party attracted people like former UCLA lecturer Angela Davis, whom the late Governor Ronald Reagan vowed would never again teach in the University of California system.

At right is Angela Davis now and the bottom photo is how I'll always remember her; speaking at rallies and motivating a nation. She was one of my role models when I was growing up.

Now a tenured professor in the History of Consciousness program at U.C. Santa Cruz, Davis says the war in Iraq and the socio-economic rift exposed by Hurricane Katrina show that the party’s message 30 years ago is still relevant today.

Related:
» More on Angela Davis
» Today's Washington Post article
» Black Panther Party Legacy and Alumni
» BBQ-ing With Bobby (Seale)

NEW BILL COULD DEFINE ANTI-WAR PROTESTORS AS ENEMY COMBATANTS

Attorneys for the Center for Constitutional Rights claim that what appears to be the final version of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 could allow the government to detain the attorneys themselves as 'enemy combatants.' CCR Legal Director Bill Goodman said: "This bill makes a mockery of the rule of law."

The current version of the Military Commissions redefines an "unlawful enemy combatant" so broadly that it could include anyone who organizes a march against the war in Iraq."

link - [via]

New York Protests

SDS New York marched to the United Nations on Tuesday, September 19th, 2006 to protest the presence of George W. Bush in New York City. Bush, whom the SDSers regard as a war criminal, was in New York to "try to sell the world community a bill of goods - a handful of irrational, unbelievable, excuses for acts of barbarism in Iraq and elsewhere - committed in the name of the people of the United States", said Lauren Giaccone of Pace (University) SDS. John Cronan, also from Pace SDS, said: "we are also sending a message to the anti-war movement - it is time that the students' voice be heard as we are the group that is most directly affected by Bush's murderous policies".

link

SDS Pace was the first chapter within SDS New York to endorse the "Number The Dead" protest - held on September 17th, 2006 on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. They were followed by MDS New York. Members of New School, Pratt and UCF SDS. The goal was to have 2700 participants stand along the east side of Fifth Avenue - in a human chain extending from 8th Street to 98th Street.

Yoko Ono donated 3000 buttons that stated: "Imagine Peace" - these were distributed to participants by the organizers. At the event, each participant held a placard that contained the name of a dead US soldier or stated "11,000 Iraqis". A documentary film crew videotaped the vigil. More photos by Fred Askew

Tuesday - September 19, 2006 - 17 Arrested at UN Rally

So exhilarating to see the students pick up the torch as they organize their SDS chapters and take it to the streets.

link

Halliburton to Wounded Employee: You'll Get a Medal -- If You Don't Sue

Ray Stannard was a truck driver in Iraq for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. In 2003, he was part of a fuel convoy that was ambushed by insurgents. Seven Americans died in the attack and 26 were injured, including Stanner. He is suing the company.

His company knew the convoy's route was dangerous and unprotected, he says, but sent the convoy through anyway. "What they did was murder," Stannard told CBS News recently. "And I stick by that."

The circumstances of his injuries qualified Stanner for the U.S. Defense of Freedom medal, the civilian equivalent to a soldier's Purple Heart. In offering to forward Stanner's medical records to the Department of Defense so they could confirm and appove his award, KBR required him to sign a release form.

The release would absolve him from filing any type of lawsuit against the firm.

The sleeze factor is alive and well in the Halliburton family.

link

Last week the man who gave us "stuff happens" and “you go to war with the Army you have" outdid himself. In an instantly infamous address to the American Legion, he likened critics of the Iraq debacle to those who "ridiculed or ignored" the rise of the Nazis in the 1930’s and tried to appease Hitler. Such Americans, he said, suffer from a "moral or intellectual confusion" and fail to recognize the "new type of fascism" represented by terrorists.

Mother Jones sez:
The whole (Frank Rich) column is brilliant, and should be read by as many people as possible. So screw Times Select.

Thank you Mother Jones, for posting the 'paid subscription only' column. Go read Donald Rumsfeld’s Dance With the Nazis - By FRANK RICH in it's entirety.

HuffPo, can we put you down for Wednesdays?

Iraqi armed forces have arrested the (cough, cough) No. 2 leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the country's national security leader said Sunday. link

Oh, yeah? I know what you're thinking. Just how many number 2s are there in al-Qaeda, anyway?

You may also wonder why there are no No 3s in al-Qaeda. A potential #3 could join up with any old gang and rate a number 2 promotion. So the decision was made to use 2000 right hand dudes or No 2s. Al-Quaeda tried to keep it on the down-low but with the media always blaring out "No 2 guy killed today!", it's increasing harder to explain to the A-Q guys.

Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, was held hostage in Iraq for 82 days. This is her story.

The Jill Carroll Story - Part I

"Oh my God, oh my God, they're going to kill me, this is going to be it. I don't know when but they're going to do it," I thought.

I crawled over to Abu Hassan, the one who seemed more grown-up and sympathetic. His 9mm pistol was by his side, as usual.

"You're my brother, you're truly my brother," I said in Arabic. "Promise me you will use this gun to kill me by your own hand. I don't want that knife, I don't want the knife, use the gun." [MORE...]

This girl's heart appears to be in the right place and it's good to read the account of her ordeal, sans agenda, I believe. If I compare two victims of kidnapping like Jill Carroll and Jessica Lynch, I sure can see the reactive pendulum swing both ways.

link

I have seen my share of modern wars, as a researcher at Human Rights Watch. In Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, we found many civilian casualties due to bombing campaigns. Civilians fleeing attacks were hit by mistake. In Iraq, US bombs often hit civilian homes, hours after Saddam Hussein or members of his inner circle had left, missing their legitimate targets but killing civilians.

In Lebanon it is a very different picture. Time after time, Israel strikes at civilian homes and civilian vehicles attempting to flee the besieged southern border zone, killing families without any military objective in sight.

link


"And still, it continues ...": Lebanese bloggers react to massacre at Qana in this collection of posts.

link


Although you don't hear much about it here in the US, global protests were held this weekend for Lebanon.

STOP THE BOMBING NOW!

Round up of weekend events for Lebanon
July 28th –July 30th 2006

In the UK - these links are of protests around the globe

1/ Edinburgh: link
2/ Prestwick Airport: link
3/ Leeds: link
4/ Norwich: link
5/ London (Downing Street): link
5a/ London (Trafalgar Square): link
6/ Birmingham: link
7/ Brighton: link

Around the World:

8/ Beirut: link
9/ Pebble Beach, USA (Blair and Murdoch cosy up): link
10/ New York City (Brooklyn): link
11/ Portland, Oregon: link
12/ Perth, Australia: link
13/ Warsaw, Poland: link
14/ Tel Aviv, Israel: link
15/ Ireland: link

RAPED: Shocking Eyewitness Testimony Of US Rape, Murder In Iraq

The neighbor of the martyred family told the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Isla the following:

"Then I went into 'Abir’s (she was born in 1991) room. Fire was coming out of her. Her head and her chest were on fire. She had been put in a pitiful position; they had lifted her white gown to her neck and torn her bra. Blood was flowing from between her legs even though she had died a quarter of an hour earlier, and in spite of the intensity of the fire in the room. She had died, may God rest her soul. I knew her from the first instant. I knew she had been raped since she had been turned on her face and the lower part of her body was raised while her hands and feet had been tied."

"By God, I couldn’t control myself and broke into tears over her, but I quickly extinguished the fire burning from her head and chest. The fire had burned up her breasts, the hair on her head, and the flesh on her face. I covered her privates with a piece of cloth, God rest her soul. And at that moment, I thought to myself that if I go out talking and threatening, that they would arrest me, so I took control of myself and resolved to leave the house calmly so that I could be a witness to tell the story of this tragedy."

This brings up so many emotions. Sadness and disgust mainly.

link

Web Trail - Tom Robbins, Social Suicide, Acid Reduxe, Sedaris, Unhoused, Black Panthers, Juneteenth

* Not Just Another Roadside Attraction - Tom Robbins reflects on his 44-year romance with the Blue Moon bar in Seattle. link

* Social Suicide - Tailored in Savile Row and styled for a civil row, this isn't your average shit. link

* ACID REDUX - The life and high times of Timothy Leary link

* WHAT I LEARNED - And what I said at Princeton by DAVID SEDARIS (his recent commencement speech) link

* Street blogging - Filmmaker Daniel Cross goes online to tell the stories of Canada’s street populace with Homelessnation.org. Here the "unhoused" maintain their blogs and podcasts and more. link

* Newsreel Film DVD on Black Panthers being compiled with appeal for donations. link

* At the annual Juneteenth festival comedian/activist Dick Gregory blasted the major television networks for hiding the truth in reporting a bloody and ugly war in Iraq. link

Carpe Scrotum - Grab life by the balls

From Maru


"What did we get ourselves into?"

"I've just pissed my pants - hold me!"

Showing us just how safe Iraq is: White House Press-tool Tony Snow and Counselor Dan Barlett look absolutely thrilled to be traveling with Preznit Flightsuit on his surprise photo-op to exciting Baghdad yesterday. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Thank you Lt. Ehren Watada for standing up for international, US and military law by refusing to deploy to Iraq in support of the ongoing illegal war and occupation.

"I refuse to be silent any longer. I refuse to watch families torn apart, while the President tells us to "stay the course." ...I refuse to be party to an illegal and immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression. I wanted to be there for my fellow troops. But the best way was not to help drop artillery and cause more death and destruction. It is to help oppose this war and end it so that all soldiers can come home."
- LT, US Army officer

First U.S. military officer to publicly refuse orders in support of the illegal Iraq War at coordinated events in Tacoma, Washington and Honolulu, Hawaii on Wedensday, June 7th. Join this unprecedented political and legal support campaign today!

Thank You LT
Sign The Petition
Courage To Resist

Principal bars Coral Springs student from singing anti-Bush song at talent show

A 10-year-old Coral Springs girl won't be allowed to sing a controversial President Bush-bashing ballad at her school talent show after her principal deemed it inappropriate and too political.

The song, Dear Mr. President, performed and co-written by the singer Pink, criticizes the president for the war in Iraq and other policies, including his stance on gay rights.

Link

This probably comes up much more often than we're made aware. In my high school, a band switched their song choice in a talent show and sang Country Joe & The Fish, "Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag" to thunderous applause from the students and a swift closing of the curtain from the principal. They knew they'd never be able to get permission to sing it so they snuck it in.

Let the 10 year old sing whatever she wants. And if a mini neocon wants to sing something, so be it. Aren't we talking about free speech?

Building work at the 104-acre complex, known locally as 'George W's palace', is supposed to be secret, but it is impossible to disguise the cranes dominating the Baghdad skyline of the palace that has 21 buildings and isbigger than anything Saddam built.

The question puzzles and enrages a city: how is it that the Americans cannot keep the electricity running in Baghdad for more than a couple of hours a day, yet still manage to build themselves the biggest embassy on Earth?

Irritation grows from the residents deprived of air-conditioning and running water three years after the US-led invasion. Looming over the skyline, the embassy has the distinction of being the only big US building project in Iraq that is on time and within budget. (via)

[more..]

Living With War will stream on NeilYoung.com beginning today, April 28th. Available at retailers May 2nd.

From what I've listened to so far, it's good ol' licks and lyrics Neil Young. Unwavering, unmistakable, unpretentious, in it strictly for the music Neil freaking Young.

AND...

"We don't all have to believe what our president believes to be a patriot" -- Neil Young. Sign the petition here and tell your senators to bring our troops home from Iraq. (via)

New Neil Young Album Is Finished
Filmmaker Jonathan Demme, who filmed the award-winning documentary 'Neil Young: Heart of Gold,' writes in an e-mail to Harp Magazine, "Neil just finished writing and recording – with no warning – a new album called 'Living With War.' It all happened in three days." How rock ‘n ‘roll is that?

Demme continues, "It is a brilliant electric assault, accompanied by a 100-voice choir, on Bush and the war in Iraq…Truly mind blowing. Will be in stores soon."

Details are pretty scarce, but the featured track, titled "Impeach the President," features a rap with Bush’s voice set to the choir chanting “flip/flop” and the like.

Link

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UPDATE: Cyndy at Mouse Musings pointed me to these following sites. From the Living With War site, I found Down With Tyranny, written by the man who used to be the president of Reprise Record Company and has add'l Neil Young info. That's where I found Justice Through Music, who is launching a new campaign called Harmony Vids to motivate artists, bands, filmmakers and others to create a whole series of new protest videos. Watch George Bush lies by the Violent Femmes, Counting Bodies by A Perfect Circle and more.