Saturday, April 10, 2010

Pensacola, we have a problem

The Pensacola News Journal's editorial board asks today, "What Have We Gained?" Here's a thought -- and it's one more than the editorial board had -- if you're going to advocate and weigh in on either side, it probably helps to know what the hell you're talking about.

Violence in Iraq, the editorial board tells, isn't "the concern" because (unnamed) "officials" say it's "trending downward." An official told you that or your Magic 8 Ball did?

Whoever told you that lied. Violence has been trending upwards and you have to be pretty lazy and pretty uninformed to be an editorial board that's unaware of the last eight days violence which has included -- but is not limited to -- 24 people slaughtered in an attack on Sahwa, three embassises targeted in bombings that claimed multiple lives, apartment complexes used as staging platforms for bombing attacks resulting in massive deaths. You have to be real idiot not to know those things and be on an editorial board. You have to be an even bigger idiot to falsely believe you know enough to write about the topic.

And the ignorance of the editorial board never stops shining through. For your entertainment pleasure, note this from the editorial:

No, more worrisome is the growing political turmoil, which last year's elections exacerbated by splintering power among a variety of secular and sectarian political factions. The elections dealt a blow to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the closest thing the United States has to a political ally (and who might be friendlier to Iran than to America).

Don't they get enough sun in Pensacola? Do we need to airlift some Vitamin D to the editorial board?

Last year's elections?

Those elections took place March 7th -- barely last month! Last year?

Now there were elecitons, in fairness, last year in Iraq. They were provincial elections. The editorial board shouldn't be talking about those because the press (repeatedly) told us that Nouri was the winner in those. So last year's elections (the provincial elections) could not have "dealt a blow to" Nouri.

How do you get the job of writing for the editorial board? And what kind of a board -- knowing full well their names are publicly known -- allows that crap into print?

In tomorrow's Washington Post, David Ignatius' latest column appears, on his Thursday interview with US Vice President Joe Biden:


As for Iran's bid for influence, Biden was emphatic in arguing that it had failed. He disclosed that Tehran had spent up to $100 million to back the Shiite religious parties and subvert the Iraqiya bloc, a secular Sunni-Shiite alliance headed by Ayad Allawi, the former prime minister. Bolstered by a strong Sunni turnout, Iraqiya ended up winning the largest number of seats.
"It was a real stick in the eye of the Iranians," Biden said of Tehran's unsuccessful campaign to steer the election outcome. What's more, he said, Tehran's post-election effort to pressure Iraqi leaders who visited Tehran "has turned out to backfire." Iraqi politicians had discovered "there's a real price to be paid . . . if it looks like you are seeking the approval or following the direction of the Iranians or any neighbor."
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and some other Shiite politicians had initially indicated that they would challenge the election results. But Biden noted that according to a new U.S. poll, 80 percent of Iraqis thought the voting was fair. Those opposing a recount now include two key Shiite leaders, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, known as ISCI.


Incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has successfully appealed to the Supreme Court to disqualify more than 50 candidates on the opposition list, accusing them of being former members of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party.

Leaders from Maliki's group declined to talk to IPS, saying they were busy with meetings to form alliances for the next government.

Not serving in the administration, Abdu Rahman and Dahr Jamail (IPS) see things a bit differently and can speak what they see:

Members of former interim prime minister Ayad Allawi's list of the Iraqiya Party, that won 91 parliamentary seats to 89 for Maliki's State of Law party, were more forthcoming.
"We have a national project to reform the political process, including the starting point for reform of the Iraqi situation, and we will work to promote the reality of Iraq for the better," Khalil Ismail al-Qubaisi from the Allawi list told IPS at his office in Baghdad.
"We believe that the Iraqiya List having these goals was the real reason for our success in the elections, and will bring us success in the formation of coalitions with the rest of the lists.
"The Iraqi List is a list of Iraqi nationals and is a move away from sectarianism, and its candidates include all Iraqis," Qubaisi told IPS. "We contain Sunni, Shia, Kurdish, and Christians from all denominations, and our goals are political reform, including repair of the security situation, and improving the living conditions of Iraqi citizens who have suffered from a lack of security and services, and the most basic requirements of life."

Meanwhile Rod Nordland (New York Times) reports Iran is now publicly indicating that they want Sunnis in the new government. They should have let Nordland do a news analysis which would have allowed him to offer the opinion that Iran is making those noises now because Iraqis are not keen on Iran pushing their country around and Iran's heavy-handed and highly visible gestures have not helped any politicians in Iraq since the election.

In some of today's violence, Reuters notes a Mosul bombing which claimed the lives of 1 Iraqi soldier and 1 child, a Qaiyara bombing which claimed the lives of 2 police officers and 1 Iraqi solider and two Falluja bombings targeting "the house of a former police officer" claimed the life of 1 woman and left four members of the family wounded.




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Don't Think, Don't Disagree

This week, three US service members died in Iraq, two on Wednesday. One of the two who died Wednesday was Lt Robert Collins. John Munford (The Citizen) reports that he "was 2004 graduate of Sandy Creek High School and a 2008 graduate of West Point Military Academy. He was also engaged to be married. Collins was also a member of American Legion Post 105 in Fayetteville." Meanwhile Iraq War veteran Eric Alva speaks at Stetson University in Florida this coming Tuesday.


Lectures Calendar Event
Event Title: "Don't Ask, Don't Tell": Eric Alva
Date : April 13, 2010
Time : 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Information : Eric Alva will be giving a lecture about the "don't ask, don't tell policy. Eric is a human rights campaign activist.
Location : Stetson Room
Contact : Yves Clemmen
Email : yclemmen@stetson.edu
Phone : 822-7540

BACK


Audrey Parente (Daytona News-Journal) reports:

The event is not a protest, but educational, said Jessie Perry, immediate past president of Stetson's Organization for Students Actively Pursuing Equality and secretary of Kaleidoscope, the school's gay-straight alliance. She was pivotal in organizing the lecture. The National Organization for Women and the university's Women and Gender Studies program are also event sponsors.
"Our desire is to raise awareness of what is national news at this point," Perry said. "We want the policy to be repealed because we believe the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities should have the opportunity to serve their country if they choose -- without having to pretend to be heterosexual."

Lt Dan Choi has been speaking on campuses lately as well. Aaron Glantz interviews him at IPS:

Q: Why did you chain yourself to the gates of the White House?

A: Pres. Obama has the authority right now to demonstrate leadership. The president has made clear that he wants to see "don't ask, don't tell" repealed and the only way you can see repealing this through Congress is for the president to take executive leadership. We needed to make that message loud and clear.

Q: In March, you came out as openly gay on the Rachel Maddow show, but now you have been recalled to drill with your unit. How is that possible?

A: In June, I was put on trial [for violating 'don't ask, don't tell'] and they recommended discharge. But now it's been nine months, 10 months, and I have been recalled to drill with my unit. Our unit is going to deploy and they need experienced leadership. I've been deployed to Iraq before.
I graduated from West Point with a degree in Arabic and I speak Arabic with a degree of proficiency. There has been no disruption in my unit [as a result of my coming out]. It is certainly proof that our country can deal with the repeal just like all the other countries in NATO... But in the last nine months, hundreds of soldiers have been kicked out for doing just what I did. The policy must end.


Being gay can get you kicked out of the service -- at a time when they're so short handed that people keep being sent back to Iraq. Case in point, Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) reports, "Six years after the scandal that shocked the nation and left seven members of the group convicted of mistreatment of Abu Ghraib detainees, the 372nd Military Police Company will soon be sent back to Iraq."

The following community sites have updated since yesterday morning:



We'll close with this from Joan Smith's "Obama – the idealist turns assassin" (Independent of London):


Back in the old days, when Barack Obama was one of the hopefuls trying to get his party's presidential nomination, he was asked a specific question: does the American constitution permit a president to detain US citizens without charge as unlawful enemy combatants? The would-be candidate's response was unequivocal, rejecting the idea that there was any such power. No wonder, then, that so many people were startled when it emerged last week that the Obama administration has authorised not only the detention but the "targeted killing" of an American citizen, the extremist Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.


















thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends






















Friday, April 09, 2010

Iraq snapshot

Friday, April 2010.  Chaos and violence continue, blaming two dead reporters continues, the Rules of Engagement aren't the final say in the July 12, 2007 assault, and Senator Tom Harken is scared of a little girl.
 
On the most recent Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox, Peace Mom Cindy spoke with her friends Elaine Brower, Jon Gold and Matthis Chiroux about how the four of them were arrested in DC March 20th protesting the illegal wars. 
 
Elaine Brower: One of the problems we're up against with this movement is that they're co-opted by the Democratic Party. And the Democratic Party does not want their base to mobilize.  So what we saw with the election to Obama and prior to that was the complete demobilization --if there was any anti-war movement before that -- it just continued to disappear. And now I'm not sure who's left out there that really wants to make this change but whoever it is, that's what they're going to have to do and it's not an easy step.  It's a very difficult step to take -- difficult for me, difficult for you. We have families, we have lives.  But we don't want to see this empire terrorize any more people around the globe.
 
Senator Tom Harkin voted for the Iraq War by voting, in 2002, to authorize force. Tom Alex (Des Moinses Register -- link has text and video) reports that a 12-year-old was arrested as Harkin's office in Des Moines, Frankie Hughes.  Her 'crime'?  The 12-year-old refused to leave the office. The 12-year-old girl was a 'threat' to Senator Tom Harkin and his staff.  The full grown senator and his full grown staff were a-scared of a 12-year-old girl.  Frankie Hughes was there "sitting in a chair and refusing to leave" to protest the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.  The 12-year-old girl sitting in a chair, during business hours, was a 'threat' -- apparently a clear and present danger.  On top of that, Alex reports, the day after the arrest, police showed up to serve Frankie's mother Renee Espeland with a misdemeanor charge of "contributing to the delinquency of a minor."
 
Cindy Sheehan: Well one of my friends last night made an interesting observation.  He said that the anti-war movement killed itself by supporting Barack Obama.
 
Elaine Brower: Yeah, that's-that's true. But I always think that from the beginning the anti-war movement was factionalized in a way that they were somehow supporting the Democrats.  Like in 2006 we saw a lot of supposed anti-war groups going out heavily to tell people to vote for the Democrats. So I think it started long before Obama. And then with [George W.] Bush sort of as our -- the-the person that we really love to hate, he was still in power, so that gave the anti-war groups someone to challenge. But they would never challenge the Democrats in office like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and all the rest of them who really are, also, on the side of the US empire. And they have, you know, their hands in the pocket of the capitalist system. They never went against that and they allowed them to just keep funding the war and getting away with it. And then here comes Obama and further demobalizes the anti-war movement because most of them are Democrats. What we have to do is get away from the mentality that the Democrats are the saviors of us. We are the saviors.
 
Today, from an undisclosed location in DC, Tom Harkin, hiding out from 12-year-old girls whom he pictures seizing the motherland and imposing Twilight viewing mandates on all citizens, had the nerve to say of retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens: "As one of our country's longest serving Justices, he has demonstrated an unabiding commitment to the rule of law and critical rights and liberties."  What about Frankie's liberties, Harkin?  What about her right to peacefully protest?  Drake law professor Sally Frank told Tom Alex, "I think they are trying to put a scare into the peace movement." A 12-year-old, peacefully protesting, is arrested in Harkin's office (and her mother later charged) and he has the nerve, the same week, to speechify about "unabiding commitment to the rule of law and critical rights and liberties"?
 
Cindy Sheehan:  Well, you know, I hate to use infantile terminology, but we're the boss of them, they're not the boss of us.
 
 
In December 2005, elections were held and it was approximately 4 months later before a prime minister was selected: Nouri al-Maliki. However, it wouldn't have taken that long if the US government had not rejected the first choice -- the choice of Iraq's elected representatives: Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Currently, four months is the standard because that's the only time the process has been implemented. Whether it will take four months this go round or less or more is unknown.

As noted last night, Ibrahim al-Jaafari is the choice of al-Sadr supporters. Last Friday and Saturday, Moqtada al-Sadr held a vote, open to all, to determine whom al-Sadr's bloc should support and the results were announced this week: al-Jaafari swept past everyone. (There were five candidates listed on the ballot -- included Allawi and al-Maliki -- and a sixth space for write-ins.) As pointed out last night, the announced decision to support al-Jaafari sends a message:

It may be a gambit on the part of al-Sadr, it may be for real. But it does send the message to Iraqis. That message is not, "Look at me." That message is: "The occupiers denied us al-Jafaari in 2006. We're still fighting for him, we're still fighting the occupation and we're still standing."

Khaled Farhan, Waleed Ibrahim, Ian Simpson and Elizabeth Fullerton (Reuters) reported this morning, that Moqtada al-Sadr issued a statement to his followers which was read today, the seventh anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to foreign forces, and warned that "the occupation and its advocates will stay in Iraq without fear [. . .] You, the Sunnis of Iraq, joined hands with the Shi'ites to lierate our country. Do not let the (U.S.) occupation or any unjust law made by it deter you from doing that." The statement was read at a demonstration of supporters (it was not read by Moqtada al-Sadr who was not present) and, AFP reports, was followed by a march where "Iraqi national flags [were held] aloft" and supporters shouted, "Yes, yes, Iraq, no, no occupation." Alsumaria TV notes "tens of thousands" marched in Najaf.
 
Scott Horton (Antiwar Radio) interviewed Dahr Jamail this week.  They covered a number of topics and we'll note this section regarding the elections and the election aftermath:
 
Scott Horton: But as far as the narrative of: "Look an election! Isn't that great! The democratic process! Better than Saddam Hussein! He used to re-elect himself with 99%!" And, you know, here in this case, it looks like the current prime minister didn't even try or wasn't able to rig the election for himself effectively and all that. But at the same time, it seems like, the neocons are counting on the ignorance of the American people and because Chris Matthews only talks about what Republicans and Democrats say on Capitol Hill to each other, all day, for about two and a half hours, twice a day, or whatever, the American people don't really know anything about Iraq -- who's in power there, which different factions are doing this, that or the other thing. There might be a little bit of a mention of something but never any real context and so I remember back in 2005 when they did the election, that really -- with the El Salvador option -- helped precipitate the civil war by turning the whole country over to the Supreme Islamic Council and Moqtada al-Sadr basically and the Iraqi National Alliance.  Even Jon Stewart was going, "Wow! Maybe George W. Bush was right. Look at this woman with purple ink on her finger. Maybe Iraq is a democracy now."  Well, then another few 100,000 people got killed after that. Now we have another one of these. And it turns out Moqtada al-Sadr is the kingmaker and he's sitting in Tehran right now trying to figure out whether he wants to throw his weigh towards CIA agent-murderer [Ayad] Allawi or Revolutionary Guard Agent-murderer [Nouri al-] Maliki.  And this is what the neocons and Newsweek are telling the American people, "Look! They've got ink on their fingers!"  You don't have a narrative, you don't know who's who, you don't know who's winning or if one group takes power over this group what's that like, what consequences that's likely to have.  None of this context is provided. "But, look, a woman with purple ink. We're actually, we're doing okay here, folks." That's why it works. Because the rest of the time they won't tell us about Iraq at all. Then when they say anything, they go, "Hey, look, a still shot. Make up your own 10,000 words.
 
Dahr Jamail: Well that's exactly right, Scott. And I think that's a really good description and analysis of how this has been perpetuated from the beginning where we have a corporate media that relies on the ignorance and-and a US government that relies on the ignorance of the American public. And, of course, the corporate media has been instrumental in ensuring that ignorance. I mean, we can go back to before the invasion took place and basically what people got on TV was a graphic of Saddam Hussein's head with a bulls eye on it. Or cross hairs.  This kind of thing.  You know: "This is all you need to know. You don't need to know that the CIA backed him in a coup that put him in a position of power in 1968. You don't need to know the US government supported him through his worst atrocities. You don't need to know that the US supported both Iraq and Iran during that brutal eight-year war that killed over a million people. You don't need to know these things. You don't need to know that we supported the twelve-and-a-half years of genocidal sanctions, that, oh yeah, according to Madeline Albright and the UN, killed over half-a-million Iraqi children. You don't need to know these things. You just need to know this is the bad guy and we're going to kill him and you're going to be safe and you can go shopping in that safety and rest assured that everything is just fine." And it's the same with these elections. You don't need to know that Maliki, even before the election results were released, when it became clear to him that he was not going to get the plurality, that he basically went to the Supreme Court in Iraq -- this is going to sound a little familiar to folks -- so he goes to the Supreme Court and basically has them change the rules of the game so that instead of whoever gets the plurality during the election can start forming their own government, instead he now has until June when the Parliament reconvenes to basically take out as many of Allawi's elected ministers of Parliament as possible. Because, basically, the last man standing in June when Parliament reconvenes, whoever has the most MPs, that is who is going to get to form the new cabinet. So conveniently Maliki's basically given himself two months to go out and hit as many of Allawi's people as possible. And that's exactly what he's done. So far, he's taken two of them into custody, charging them with terrorism.  You know, everything's terrorism now, so he's charging them with terrorism. And one person is where abouts unknown. And then another MP in Allawi's list is in hiding. So already,  he's at least made it even Steven and probably already taken the lead.  And, of course, we have the Sadr wildcard which is a bit of another story but you described it well and all that I just described is-is against the backdrop of the context that both of these guys are US stooges and perhaps this is why Newsweek declares it a resounding success -- aside from just the propaganda value.  But, "Hey, it's a resounding success because we have Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum as the two leading candidates in this election and, oh, guess what? The US created both these guys, put both these guys in the positions of power that they're in and they wouldn't exist without the US occupation in that country. And guess what? One of them's going to win, so the US is going to win either way." And maybe that's why Newsweek was so triumphant about their "Mission Accomplished" cover?  And, oh yeah, it took a little longer because we didn't have that kind of a rigged deck in the last election but in this one, by golly, we do." But then, of course, things are a bit more complicated now because, as you said, we have Sadr who has had this -- I think it was a quite astute political move. He had a referendum vote, sort of an informal, unofficial vote among his followers and actually the vast majority of the people didn't choose Allawi or Malilki. They chose Ibrahim al-Jaafari who is the guy who was actually chosen as the first prime minister in Iraq in the wake of the 2005 elections --
 
Scott Horton: Now he's also a Dawa Party guy -- like Maliki -- but a different faction of Dawa they say, right?
 
Dahr Jamail: That's true and he is much less affiliated with the Americans and he's anti-occuption and that's exactly why the US decided to give him the boot and replace him with Maliki back in April of 2006. And so this is an interesting thing to see how this is going to play out.  And, at the end of the day, shelve everything I just said for a moment, and think about the fact that, as usual as we've gone through this occupation, it's the Iraqi people paying the price for all of this nonsense, all of this US meddling, all of this US orchestrating, all of this propaganda. What is consistently lost in the mix is that even today, another day of 50 more Iraqis killed in a series of massive bombings across the capital city and that's just Baghdad. What I'm talking about? The rest of the country. We are back up to levels of violence and death on a daily basis starting about a week ago in Iraq that are comprable to the blood letting of 2006, 2007.
 
Scott Horton: Yeah and maybe now that we're in Democratic times, Darh, conservatives can maybe understand. It's no different than fighting over the school board. Is it going to be controlled by conservative Christians or is it going to be controled by secular humanists?  And they fight like mad over who's going to control the school board. Well when you create a monopoly on power and then you have, you know, create a contest over who's going to hold that power -- well what do you think's going to happen? Especially after you decapitate the government, abolish the army and the party in power and set up a free for all here.
 
That's a sample of the interview.  It's Friday.  Normally we note The Diane Rehm Show on NPR.  Not today.  Despite Diane stating that she watched the video of the US assault of Iraqis on July 12, 2007 and finding it "pretty shocking" -- it wasn't important enough to be a topic.  The show was nearly over and a caller had to bring it up.  A caller.  And on top of that, I don't play with this topic, I'll insult any individual journalist I want and call them a liar or a whore or whatever else.  But I do have respect for the profession and for Diane to give the last word -- by her choice, by her decision -- to reading an attack on the two dead journalists?  There's no excuse for that.  Were the killings illegal?  By US law that's a great deal to sort out and military law and military verdicts are never easy to interpret or predict.  However, one thing the gas bagers keep forgetting is it goes beyond Rules of Engagement.
 
It goes beyond Rules of Engagement. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1723 was the legal authority for all foreign troops (including US troops) operating on Iraqi soil. Now I know most gas bags never bothered to read the damn thing.  I know that because the idiots turned around and started praising the SOFA -- idiots include Senator Tom Harken, to bring him back in -- as having a "withdrawal" date.  But let's look at UNSCR 1723's first.  It allows US forces to be on the ground at that time and it extends the rules outlined in the resolutions prior [1637 for 2005 which replaced 1546 for 2004], "reaffirms the authorization for the multinational forces as set forth in resolution 1546 (2004)".  Key section of 1546 in this case is:
 
Noting the commitment of all forces promoting the maintenance of security and stability in Iraq to act in accordance with international law, including obligations under international humanitarian law, and to cooperate with relevant international organizations.
 
By statements of the the US government -- Democrats and Republicans -- that mandate is what made the occupation legal.  Without it, US troops would have had to have left Iraq.  This was addressed in depth in early April 2008 by the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee with all members -- Democrat and Republican -- in agreement on that fact.  Without the UN resolution, US troops would have been subject to prosecution.  So this continued bulls**t about "Rules Of Engagment" that keeps being touted by the STUPID IIDOTS damn well needs to stop.  Rules Of Engagment applies only within the US military.  I've stated from day one that the outcome under US military justice is unclear.  (I do think, personal opinion, that those in the helicopters would not be held legally responsible by US military law due to the fact that they asked for and received go-aheads throughout the engagement.)  But Rules of Engagement isn't the beginning and ending.  And when these STUPID IDIOTS -- including ones Diane Rehm wants to allow the "last word" -- want to trash journalists or blame them for their deaths, I get offended.  And so we will make the point that no one's bothered to make -- because as usual Stupid Idiots and gas bag journalists don't know the damn law -- Rules of Engagement is the lowest measurement, it is the least of the worries.  It is nothing.  It's akin to a dress code when it comes to the July 12, 2007 assault. 
 
International law applies, international treaties.  In the US, there are a number of people who have little respect for those and/or who feel that the US should never take them into consideration.  That's their opinion and they can and should express it.  But that opinion doesn't apply here because the UN authorization that gave the US forces the legal right to remain on the ground insisted that international law and treaties would be followed.  By staying on the ground in Iraq throughout 2007, US military command agreed to every aspect of that resolution.  Rules of Engagement?  It's bulls**t and the least of the issues involved in this case.
 
And what's taking place isn't at all that different from what Little Miss Judy Miller 2010: Tom Bowman tried to pull this week.  Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh are dead.  They worked for Reuters news agency.  They were not terrorists.  They were not embedded with terrorists.  They were not "tagging along with mens with guns."  They were reporters and they were present with the intent to do one of the most important jobs in the world.  The two are now dead and spitting on their memory or blaming them for the deaths goes beyond unfeeling.  You're not just insulting two dead people or the news media, you're insulting democracy.  And maybe if you don't like democracy -- many people in the world prefer other systems of government -- that's fine.  But be honest about it.  If you do respect democracy, the most important thing in democracy is an informed citizenry.  You will never have that without portions of the press who dare to do the job, who dare to believe that the work matters and that there are risks involved but the work matters. 
 
Allowing for risks involved does not in anyway mitigate the deaths of those two men.  It doesn't justify their deaths, it doesn't excuse their deaths.  They're dead.  And all the people thinking they're 'supporting' the US military by attacking these reporters are only infuriating people and fanning flames.  Two reporters are dead.  It's not minor.  They were killed while they attempted to do their jobs.  They were killed by the US military.  There's not a justification for it.  The first thing that needs to happen whenever discussing this story is acknowledging the very real loss that took place.  Blaming those two dead men is disgraceful. And if you want to live in an authoritarian regime, you keep doing that. If you think blaming the two reporters is helpful, you better think again because it breeds a backlash and it will be a powerful one.  The smart thing to do would have been for the US military spokesperson to immediately have issued an apology and acknowledged that the two reporters deaths. The brass could have called it a tragic accident or a horrible mistake.  But they needed to acknowledge it.  The fact that no acknowledgement came not only fed into the frenzy that leads to attacking the two dead reporters, it also revealed just how Bush-like the US government remains.
 
 
 
Reporters Without Borders is asking the US government for increased transparency after the whistleblower website WikiLeaks released a video on April 5th, 2010, of a US military Apache helicopter strike in Baghdad three years ago which killed two Reuters employees and several other people. Wikileaks said that it had obtained the video "from a number of military whistleblowers" and posted it at collateralmurder.org.          

Reuters filed a FOIA request in for the video back in 2007 but it was never released.              

According to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), all agencies of the U.S. Government are required to disclose records upon receiving a written request, except those records that are protected from disclosure pursuant to nine exemptions and three exclusions.        

"We support Wikileaks decision to post the video because the administration did not live up to its responsibilities in this case," said Reporters Without Borders. "We urge the Pentagon to be more transparent and call on the Obama administration to show its committing to justice by reconsidering the request and officially releasing the video and other elements that would help the investigation".    

"By not granting this FOIA request, the Obama administration would once again be ignoring its promises of more transparency and accountability" said the press freedom organization. "It would be a blow to freedom of the press and to the principle that it is not up to the government to define what is newsworthy."

According to the AFP, A US military official did not dispute the authenticity of the video but said it "doesn't give new information, it just gives footage. "Since 2007, we acknowledged everything that's in the video," the official said. "We acknowledged that the strike took place and that there were two Reuters employees (killed)." "We had insurgents and reporters in an area where US forces were about to be ambushed. At the time we weren't able to discern whether (the Reuters employees) were carrying cameras or weapons," the official said.

In July 2007, photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and his driver, Saeed Chmagh, 40, were killed in east Baghdad by gunfire of unclear origin. Witnesses said a rocket was fired from a US helicopter. But other sources told Reuters they could have been killed by a mortar shell fired by Iraqi militia members. At the time Reporters Without Borders called on both the US army and the Iraqi police to investigate their deaths.                   

Since the beginning of the Iraq war, at least 221 journalists have been killed, making it the deadliest war for reporters.             

On December 31, 2007, George W. Bush signed amendments to the FOIA into law, improving public access to information about federal government activity. However, at that time, 92 videos related to interrogations of Guantanamo Bay prisoners were destroyed and never made public despite a request from the ACLU.                               

On April 15th, 2010, the CIA will have to release documents detailing meetings between Nancy Pelosi and her aide Michael Sheeny on matters relating to "enhanced interrogation techniques". Reporters Without Borders deeply hope that the US agency will keep its word this time.

 
Turning to some of the violence reported today . . .
 
 
Bombings?
 
Reuters notes a Kirkuk rocket attack which left one person injured, a Baghdad roadside bombing which injured "a foriegn driver" and, dropping back to Thursday, a Mosul bombing which claimed 1 life and left one person wounded, a Ramadi roadside bombing which left two police officers wounded and two Falluja roadside bombings which left one person injured. 
 
Shootings?
 
Reuters notes 2 police officers were shot dead in Kirkuk today and Interior Ministry Brigadier Fadhel Abbas was shot dead outside his home in Baghdad on Thursday.
 
 
In other violence information, BBC News reports that the Islamic State of Iraq has claimed credit for Sunday's Baghdad bombings targeting embassies and it states it was targeting the Iranian Embassy, the German Embassy and the Egyptian Embassy. German. At the time, there was confusion as to whether one of the bombings was targeting the German Embassy, the Spanish Embassy or the Syrian Embassy or all three. The group denied responsibility for Tuesday's apartment bombings in Baghdad. Bi Mingxin (Xinhua) adds, "The Islamic State of Iraq is reckoned as the most important Sunni insurgent group that is still active in Diyala and Baghdad. "
 
Turning to England. Matt Kennard (The Comment Factory) interviews British MP Clare Short in a wide-ranging discussion and we'll note the following on Iraq:
 
MK: I wanted to move on to the war. Do you have any regrets about your actions before or during the war?           
 
CS: Well this question has been asked ten thousand times so it gets tedious I have to say. And I've written a book and said it all there, so you know. I said I would resign if we didn't have a UN resolution then Tony Blair entered into a big negotiation with me and said, "What will stop you?" I said, "Get me a UN resolution -- there's no imminent danger from anything Saddam Hussein's got, we should have made progress on Israel-Palestine peace before doing anything about Iraq. And, thirdly, if there is to be a war any reconstruction must be organised with international cooperation under a UN mandate."           
So he then got Bush to say that he supported a Roadmap to the Israel-Palestinian peace and gave an absolute commitment and got Bush to say something about a UN lead on reconstruction. So it was two out of three. And then, also, Blair lied about the French position and the possibility of any UN resolution.                 
So I was in enormous torment and dilemma but I thought: 'I've got to harden to this'. It's a terrible mess but if there's an international reconstruction and if we really do make progress on Israel-Palestinian (under the Roadmap there should have been a full Palestinian state by 2005) the Middle East would be a lot better off. So I knew I wasn't doing anything to make myself popular -- I was well aware of that. But I thought that was the right thing to do. And the truth is that Tony was just lying in my face. I'm still shocked, you know, that the Prime Minister of Britain in the teeth of war will get the President of the United States to publicly say he will support the Roadmap -- which is, you know, two state on the '67 boundaries -- and they were just saying it to, you know, to keep me sweet for a bit. I mean it is stunning.    
 
MK: Do you think he went into the war knowing it was illegal? Do you think it was illegal in the end?         
 
CS: Well we now know the shenanigans that went on over the legal opinion. I mean I think, what I said in my book, I think Blair is a peculiar kind of man. I think he is fundamentally a presentational person and he is superb at presentation and he's very careful always to use language which leaves plenty of wriggle room and doesn't tie him down too firmly and that's what he is good at.    
I don't think he is a person who looks at the merits and say, "Hmmm, we'll have to be untruthful about this." He thinks in presentational terms, he doesn't do detail and he doesn't think through merits. I mean that's what's terrifying about it. So I think he gave his word -- well we now know from the leaks -- really early on to Bush, therefore had no leverage and was really manipulating and misleading the House of Commons, the Cabinet, his party, the country, from then on.         
He was kind of squirming about to get us to war come what may and obviously hoping he could get Bush to cooperate in a UN resolution. But it wasn't like using your leverage to say to America, "We'll be with you if we do it properly," and then working with the rest of the international community to say, "For Heaven's sake, let's all stand together and say we agree that sanctions in Iraq is imposing such suffering that we shouldn't leave it like this, Iraq needs resolving."                 
But if Britain had used that role of being friendly with America to talk to everyone else and then said, "On these sort of conditions, the rest of the world will act with you, America." That would have been a heroic role for Blair but he blew it by giving his word right at the beginning. And then engaging in all that he did. And look at Iraq now.
 
The issues at play are being discussed at the University of Kentucky: "The University of Kentucky's School of Journalism and Telecommunications, in cooperation with the University of Edinburgh's Centre for the Study of the Two World Wars, will be holding a conference on War, Journalism and History in Lexington, Kentucky April 8-11, 2010. The theme of the conference is 'Covering conflicts in the modern world.'" AP reports that their own Tom Curley offered a presentation Thursday night where he noted, "But the fact is that war coverage by a free and independent media with reasonable access to the battlefield forces policy makers to deal with the reality of what is happening on the ground instead of what they want the public -- or even Washington to think. Nowhere is truth more at risk -- or more elusive -- than in today's wars."
 
We'll note the conference schedule for tomorrow and Sunday and Molly Bingham and Steve Connors are among the journalists participating -- the two made the documentary Meeting Resistance.

Saturday, April 10 (Student Center Worsham Theater):

  • 10 a.m. – "Voice of the Veterans" – Veterans' views of media reporting. Yvonne McEwan moderating; Tony Dotson, UK Veterans Resource Center coordinator; British Veterans Agency representative TBA.
  • 11 a.m.  – "First, Do No Harm" -- Media Ethics in Conflict Reporting – Terry Anderson moderating. Molly Bingham, John Walcott, Abderrahim Foukara, Jihad El-Zein
  • 12:30 p.m. – Lunch (not provided by conference; see list of local dining options)
  • 1:30 p.m. – Presentation by Joel Simon, Executive Director, Committee to Protect Journalists
  • 2:15 p.m. – Brian Hanna, journalist and Doctoral student, University of Edinburgh
  • 3:00 p.m. – "Covering Ourselves – A look from the outside" -- U.S. coverage of recent wars – Yvonne McEwen moderating. Robert Fisk, Simon Wilson, Abderrahim Foukara, Jihad El-Zein
  • 5:00 p.m. – Dr. Robert Fisk, journalist, London Independent newspaper

Sunday April 11 (Student Center, Center Theater):

  • 2:30 p.m.  – "War in Film" -- Public roundtable discussion of films with Steve Zahn, Molly Bingham, Steve Connors, Dale Dye, Tom Lindlof
 
 
"Yes, folks, it's true," writes NOW on PBS executive producer John Siceloff, "NOW on PBS has come to the end of its broadcast run. The last episode will air on April 30, 2010. PBS announced last fall it was canceling NOW and providing funding for a new public affairs show called Need to Know." Click here for the rest of his essay. The program begins airing each week on Fridays on most PBS stations (check local listings) and this week they look at the economy:

The national economic disaster hit the city of Braddock Pennsylvania
like a wrecking ball. But Braddock Mayor John Fetterman -- dubbed
"America's Coolest Mayor" by The New York Times -- is taking very
unconventional approaches to reinventing the town and re-inspiring its
residents. Home to the nation's first A&P supermarket and Andrew
Carnegie's first steel mill, Braddock is being revitalized with new
youth and art programs, renovations of abandoned real estate, and bold
plans to attract artists and green industries.

On Friday, April 9 at 8:30 pm (check local listings), NOW sits down with
Mayor Fetterman to learn how the 6'8" 370-pound political novice is
trying to turn his town around, and if other devastated communities can
and should follow his large footsteps.



Staying with TV notes, Washington Week begins airing on many PBS stations tonight (and throughout the weekend, check local listings) and joining Gwen around the table this week are Charles Babington (AP), James Kitfield (National Journal), Doyle McManus (Los Angeles Times) and David Sanger (New York Times). Did you notice they're all men? Should we hold our breath as we wait for Gwen to feature an all female panel? Remember that the show podcasts in video and audio format -- and a number of people sign up for each (audio is thought to be so popular due to the fact that it downloads so much quicker). If you podcast the show, remember there is the Web Extra where Gwen and the guests weigh in on topics viewers e-mail about. And also remember that usually by Monday afternoon you can go to the show's website and stream it there (including Web Extra) as well as read the transcripts and more. Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Karen Czarnecki, Cari Dominguez, Kim Gandy and Andrea Pennington on the latest broadcast of PBS' To The Contrary to discuss the week's events. And at the website each week, there's an extra just for the web from the previous week's show and this week's it's on violence against women. it's on breast feeding. For the broadcast program, check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes:

Gotti
John Gotti, Jr. talks to Steve Kroft in his first extended television interview about growing up with an infamous father - convicted mafia boss John Gotti - whom he strove to please by living a life of crime but eventually betrayed by leaving that life. (This is a double-length segment.) | Watch Video


Discovery
The fossilized skull and bones found by a 9-yr-old boy on a fossil hunt with his scientist father are the discovery of a lifetime and may prove to be a new link in the human evolutionary chain. Bob Simon reports.


60 Minutes, Sunday, April 11, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

 
 

Bit by bit, putting it together

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqiya alliance edged out Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's party in national elections last month, Thursday warned of potential chaos and violence if he is denied the right to form the country's next government.
Allawi said Maliki and his supporters' refusal to accept final election results, in which Allawi's bloc won 91 seats in parliament versus 89 for Maliki's State of Law alliance, could provoke bloodshed among the Iraqi people.

The above is the opening of Ned Parker's "Allawi fears vote impasse may fuel chaos in Iraq" (Los Angeles Times) and Allawi is the perceived winner of the March 7th elections since his political slate received the most seats in Parliament (91; Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law received 89).

Bit by bit, putting it together
Piece by piece, only way to make a work of art
Every moment makes a contribution
Every little detail plays a part
Having just a vision's no solution
Everything depends on execution
Putting it together, that's what counts
-- "Putting It Together," written by Stephen Sondheim, best recorded by Barbra Streisand on her The Broadway Album.


In December 2005, elections were held and it was approximately 4 months later before a prime minister was selected: Nouri al-Maliki. However, it wouldn't have taken that long if the US government had not rejected the first choice -- the choice of Iraq's elected representatives: Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Currently, four months is the standard because that's the only time the process has been implemented. Whether it will take four months this go round or less or more is unknown.

As noted last night, Ibrahim al-Jaafari is the choice of al-Sadr supporters. Last Friday and Saturday, Moqtada al-Sadr held a vote, open to all, to determine whom al-Sadr's bloc should support and the results were announced this week: al-Jaafari swept past everyone. (There were five candidates listed on the ballot -- included Allawi and al-Maliki -- and a sixth space for write-ins.) As pointed out last night, the announced decision to support al-Jaafari sends a message:

It may be a gambit on the part of al-Sadr, it may be for real. But it does send the message to Iraqis. That message is not, "Look at me." That message is: "The occupiers denied us al-Jafaari in 2006. We're still fighting for him, we're still fighting the occupation and we're still standing."

Khaled Farhan, Waleed Ibrahim, Ian Simpson and Elizabeth Fullerton (Reuters) report this morning, that Moqtada al-Sadr issued a statement to his followers which was read today, the seventh anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to foreign forces, and warned that "the occupation and its advocates will stay in Iraq without fear [. . .] You, the Sunnis of Iraq, joined hands with the Shi'ites to lierate our country. Do not let the (U.S.) occupation or any unjust law made by it deter you from doing that." The statement was read at a demonstration of supporters (it was not read by Moqtada al-Sadr who was not present) and, AFP reports, was followed by a march where "Iraqi national flags [were held] aloft" and supporters shouted, "Yes, yes, Iraq, no, no occupation." Alsumaria TV notes "tens of thousands" marched in Najaf.

Alsumaria TV also notes that Allawi's Iraqiya was scheduled to follow other political parties by visiting Iran; however, their planned Thursday visit "has been delayed till next week".

Meanwhile, Iraq's neighbors are taking notice of the lack of apparent movement on forming a post-election government. Gulf Daily News reports that the Prime Minister of Bahrain, Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, met with Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi Wednesday and declared, "I have great hope in the ability of brotherly Iraqis to heal their country and ensure its unity, security and stability." Xinhua reports Jordan's King Abdullah II met with Iraq's Shi'ite Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi yesterday and "stressed Jordan's full support to Iraq." PETRA adds: "Discussions also covered the political process in Iraq. The Monarch congratulated Abdul-Mahdi on the successful Iraqi elections, stressing the Kingdom's support for Iraq's security and stability, which he said is an integral part of the security and stability of the region." The Jordan Times notes that the king travels to DC next week where he will meet with US President Barack Obama and "take part in the international conference on nuclear security that will be held in Washington April 12 and 13". Wednesday, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari met in Baghdad with Kuwait's Ambassador to Iraq, Ali al-Mumin and delivered a letter from Sheikh Muhammed al-Subah expressing "Kuwait's solidarity with Iraq". Meanwhile the KRG notes:


Erbil, Kurdistan – Iraq (KRG.org) The Deputy Ruler of Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates yesterday in Erbil met Prime Minister Barham Salih and said that the Kurdistan Region’s achievements will motivate companies to invest and do business here.

Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr al-Qasimi, the Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Ras al-Khaimah, with his delegation met Prime Minister Salih in the Kurdistan Region’s capital to discuss bilateral relations and in particular commercial ties. The Prime Minister offered the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) full support to Emirati investors and companies, and Sheikh al-Qasimi commended the Region’s development in all areas.

The meeting was attended by the KRG Interior Minister Mr Karim Sinjari, the Head of Foreign Relations Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir, Planning Minister Dr Ali Sindi, and the UAE’s Ambassador to Iraq Shaikh Abdullah Ibrahim Al-Shehhi.

Crown Prince al-Qasimi was also received by President Masoud Barzani in Salahaddin. Their meeting focused on strengthening economic ties between the UAE and the Kurdistan Region in Iraq.

President Barzani briefed the Crown Prince on the political developments in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq since the general election last month.

He offered the KRG’s full cooperation to UAE investors and trading companies , especially in the oil, energy, electricity, agricultural and air cargo sectors. For his part, Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr al Qasimi talked about his government’s efforts to encourage UAE companies to invest more in the Kurdistan Region.

The Kurdistan Region and the UAE have had very friendly political and trade relations for several years. In February, Prime Minister Salih and a KRG ministerial delegation visited the UAE for meetings with its leadership. He met Crown Prince Al-Qasimi, the Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the Ruler of Sharjah Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al-Qasimi, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, and the UAE Minister for Trade Sheikha Lubna Al-Qasimi. In 2007, the KRG held a business exchange conference in Dubai which attracted over 600 companies from the UAE, the Kurdistan Region and the US.

As part of its economic development measures, the KRG is hosting a trade and investment conference in London on June 15th and 16th, which will include participants from several countries with guests from the UAE also invited. For details see www.kurdistanconference.com


Reuters notes a Baghdad roadside bombing has "wounded a foreign driver" and 2 police officers shot dead in Baghdad plus, dropping back to Thursday for all the rest, a Mosul bombing claimed 1 life and wounded a second person, two Falluja roadside bombing wounded one person, a Ramadi roadside bombing left two police officers injured and Interior Ministry Brigadier Fadhel Abbas was shot dead outside his Baghdad home.

In other violence information, BBC News reports that the Islamic State of Iraq has claimed credit for Sunday's Baghdad bombings targeting embassies and it states it was targeting the Iranian Embassy, the German Embassy and the Egyptian Embassy. German. At the time, there was confusion as to whether one of the bombings was targeting the German Embassy, the Spanish Embassy or the Syrian Embassy or all three. The group denied responsibility for Tuesday's apartment bombings in Baghdad. Bi Mingxin (Xinhua) adds, "The Islamic State of Iraq is reckoned as the most important Sunni insurgent group that is still active in Diyala and Baghdad. "

"Yes, folks, it's true," writes NOW on PBS executive producer John Siceloff, "NOW on PBS has come to the end of its broadcast run. The last episode will air on April 30, 2010. PBS announced last fall it was canceling NOW and providing funding for a new public affairs show called Need to Know." Click here for the rest of his essay. The program begins airing each week on Fridays on most PBS stations (check local listings) and this week they look at the economy:

The national economic disaster hit the city of Braddock Pennsylvania
like a wrecking ball. But Braddock Mayor John Fetterman -- dubbed
"America's Coolest Mayor" by The New York Times -- is taking very
unconventional approaches to reinventing the town and re-inspiring its
residents. Home to the nation's first A&P supermarket and Andrew
Carnegie's first steel mill, Braddock is being revitalized with new
youth and art programs, renovations of abandoned real estate, and bold
plans to attract artists and green industries.

On Friday, April 9 at 8:30 pm (check local listings), NOW sits down with
Mayor Fetterman to learn how the 6'8" 370-pound political novice is
trying to turn his town around, and if other devastated communities can
and should follow his large footsteps.



Staying with TV notes, Washington Week begins airing on many PBS stations tonight (and throughout the weekend, check local listings) and joining Gwen around the table this week are Charles Babington (AP), James Kitfield (National Journal), Doyle McManus (Los Angeles Times) and David Sanger (New York Times). Did you notice they're all men? Should we hold our breath as we wait for Gwen to feature an all female panel? Remember that the show podcasts in video and audio format -- and a number of people sign up for each (audio is thought to be so popular due to the fact that it downloads so much quicker). If you podcast the show, remember there is the Web Extra where Gwen and the guests weigh in on topics viewers e-mail about. And also remember that usually by Monday afternoon you can go to the show's website and stream it there (including Web Extra) as well as read the transcripts and more. Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Karen Czarnecki, Cari Dominguez, Kim Gandy and Andrea Pennington on the latest broadcast of PBS' To The Contrary to discuss the week's events. And at the website each week, there's an extra just for the web from the previous week's show and this week's it's on violence against women. it's on breast feeding. For the broadcast program, check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes:

Gotti
John Gotti, Jr. talks to Steve Kroft in his first extended television interview about growing up with an infamous father - convicted mafia boss John Gotti - whom he strove to please by living a life of crime but eventually betrayed by leaving that life. (This is a double-length segment.) | Watch Video


Discovery
The fossilized skull and bones found by a 9-yr-old boy on a fossil hunt with his scientist father are the discovery of a lifetime and may prove to be a new link in the human evolutionary chain. Bob Simon reports.


60 Minutes, Sunday, April 11, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Radio. Today on The Diane Rehm Show (airs on most NPR stations and streams live online beginning at 10:00 am EST), Diane is joined the first hour (domestic news roundup) by Ross Douthat (New York Times), Melinda Henneberger (PoliticsDaily.com) and Ezra Klein (Washington Post). For the second hour (international news roundup), Diane is joined by Nadia Bilbassy (MCB), James Kitfield (National Journal) and David Ignatius (Washington Post).


And we'll close with this from Jeff Gates' "Was Israel Ever Legitimate:"

The history of Israel as a geopolitical fraud will fill entire libraries as those defrauded marvel at how so few deceived so many for so long. Those duped include many naive Jews who -- even now --identify their interests with this extremist enclave.
Israeli leaders are wrong to worry about "de-legitimization." They are right to fear that a long-deceived public is fast realizing that Israel’s founding was key to an ongoing deception.
General David Petraeus dispatched a team to brief Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the perils that Israel still poses to U.S. national security. Mullen was reportedly shocked.


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Unemployment, deployment and coffee shortages

Oregon's unemployment rate has improved since the soldiers left for their final pre-deployment training, but it's still quite high. The rate was at 10.1 percent in February, according to the Oregon Employment Department.
"We're going to be pushing in every nook and cranny of our state to find employers who are willing to hire vets and I think we can do it," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon).
A new website, FortOregon.com, is being created to help soldiers find jobs and services.
Worksource Lane, the Lane County's employment office, already gets federal funding for three veteran's services officers who work to find returning and current vets find jobs.

The above is from Laura Rillos' "Home from Iraq -- and looking for work" (KVAL -- link has text and video) which is the latest attempt by the media to draw attention to the problems facing returning service members, especially those serving in the National Guard. The whole country is facing an unemployment crisis and a recession. For members of the Guard, returning home can be a lot like being laid off or fired in terms of money coming in. The Congress could address this and Wyden has proposed adding 90-days of pay for Guard members so they return with a cushion but whether or not the Congress will get behind such an idea remains to be seen -- thus far, it appears no. Possibly most indicative via Rorye O'Connor's article for the Mt. Vernon Register-News on Senator Dick Durbin visiting an outpatient center in Mt. Vernon where he apparently made no mention of the economy or the way it weighs on those returning from deployments. Maybe the answer will be governors? Lance Renaud (KFJB via Radio Iowa) reports on two bills Iowa Governor Chet Culver has signed:

The first bill stipulates that veterans with service-connected injuries who qualify for unemployment or who receive benefits from the Veterans Trust Fund do not have to pay taxes on those benefits. The second bill directs the Iowa Department of Human Services to coordinate with the Mental Health Planning Advisory Council to ensure that a "knowledgeable" veteran serves on the council.

The Governor's Office issued the following press release on the bills Tuesday:


MARSHALLTOWN -- Governor Chet Culver today signed two pieces of veterans’ legislation at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown. House File 2532 allows benefits from the Veterans Trust Fund to be exempted from individual income tax, and Senate File 2175 provides for veteran representation on mental health policy bodies.

"As Commander-in-Chief of the Iowa National Guard, I am proud of the men and women who have served our nation in war and in peace, abroad and at home,” Governor Culver said. “Their commitment and courage is unrivaled and must always be honored. I am proud to work for those who have served, returned to their homes and families and, in some cases, need our support. My hope is that this legislation will provide the support and appreciation they all deserve."

Below are summaries of the legislation the Governor signed:

House File 2532
Allows the two benefits of the Veterans Trust Fund – travel expenses related to follow-up medical care and unemployment assistance – that provide direct payments to the veteran to be exempted from individual income tax. The bill applies retroactively to January 1, 2010, for tax years beginning on or after that date.

Senate File 2175
Directs the Department of Human Services to coordinate with the Mental Health Planning Advisory Council so that a military veteran who is knowledgeable about behavioral and mental health issues of veterans is on the council. The council is required by federal law as a condition of receiving federal mental health funds. DHS does not make this appointment but can work with the council to identify and appoint a veteran. Also adds a member, appointed by the Governor, who is a military veteran knowledgeable about behavioral and mental health issues to the Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Developmental Disabilities, and Brain Injury Commission.

John Larson (Tacoma Weekly) notes the problems experienced by a Guard member returning from deployment and a service member leaving the military:

Chris MacDonald served in Kuwait for a year in the Army National Guard. When he returned to his home in Vancouver in 2008, the only work he could find was as a security guard. He quit and was on unemployment for a while. He has found the skills he learned in the military are hard to transfer into civilian work. MacDonald is pursuing work as a pipe fitter now.
Deidre Connor of Bonney Lake left the Army after nine years in 2005. She got an offer to clean kennels for minimum wage. "That is not what I want to do,” Connor said. “It is not putting my skills to use."

Peter Hirschfeld (Vermont Press Bureau via Rutland Herald) reports on the "66 members of Vermont's Air Ambulance Unit" who will deploy to Iraq in September and are scheduled to serve there until September 2011 and notes that this will be the unit's second deployment to Iraq. Meanwhile Dusty King is serving in Iraq and, Kris Betts (KTEN News, link has text and video)reports, fourth graders in Sherman, Texas are sending his platoon coffee which they would not otherwise have. The teacher of the fourth graders is Gerri King, Dusty's mother, who says, "They feel forgotten over there. He said tell them thank you. It's such a wonderful thing to have someone remember us and send us coffee."

The following community sites updated last night (and we'll include in On The Wilder Side to give them a link):



And again, Iraq Veterans Against the War notes:

Warrior Writers Project is applying for a $25,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh program and we need your vote!

Starting April 1, Pepsi will post all the proposals it has received so the public can vote.

The top ten proposals in the $25,000 range win. Grants will be used to fund three 2010 Warrior Writers retreats for veterans throughout the country, so vote early and vote every day!

If you are really motivated to help, plan an event or house party so you can get people to vote. All you need is a laptop and friends willing to offer their votes.

At every event you attend/organize in April, please make this announcement and set up a laptop to ask folks to vote for us. We can do this!!

(IVAW is the fiscal sponsor of the Warrior Writers Project. Application for this grant does not constitute endorsement of the Pepsi Cola Corporation or any of its products.)



The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.




















thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends