Saturday, June 09, 2012

State of Law swears the curtain is down on a no-confidence vote

Al Rafidayn reports that an oil pipeline in northern Iraq was attacked with two bombs today.  AFP adds, "The pipelines transport oil from the Bai Hassan field in the disputed province of Kirkuk to the Ceyhan pipeline that exports crude via Turkey." While Reuters explains, "The bulk of Iraq's oil is exported from the southern terminals of Basra but around 400,000-450,000 barrels - a quarter of all exports - is pumped through the strategic Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to Ceyhan port in Turkey."  In related news, Alsumaria reports a police station in Mosul that oversaw a pipeline was attacked with mortar shells. 

Like the violence, the political crisis continues.  Alsumaria reports that Ayad Allawi spoke in Mosul today and stated the process towards a no-confidence vote continues.  Iraqiya is dealing with the issue of, as Al Rafidayn notes, 7 of their MPs stating they will not cast a vote of no-confidence in Nouri.  Iraqiya notes that 5 of these 7 MPs did not sign the petition for the no-confidence vote.  That would mean only two of those they knew they could count on have broken away.  Alsumaria notes that State of Law is insisting today that the curtain has come down on the hopes of a no-confidence vote.  For someone unconcerned about the vote, Nouri's decision, reported by Dar Addustour, to begin moving military brigades into Baghdad is a puzzler.  (He also moved the forces from control of the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry of Defense.  Nouri controls both ministries due to the fact that he never put forward a nominee for either to Parliament.)


Allawi, Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Najaifi and others met in Nineveh Province today to discuss the no-confidence vote. This was apparently a meet-up of Iraqiya only. State of Law is insisting Jalal Talabani is not going to allow the process to move forward.  Talabani is the President of Iraq.  Such a move on his part would further damage his image in the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Alsumaria notes that Nineveh Governor Ethel Najaifi states there will be a meeting Sunday of Iraiqy, Moqtada al-Sadr and the Kurdistan alliance.


The following community sites -- plus On The Wilder Side and the Pacifica Evening News -- updated last night and today:




We'll close with this from the Green Party of Michigan:


For Immediate Release:

For more information, contact:
John Anthony La Pietra
Elections Co-ordinator, GPMI
(269) 781-9478

Michigan Conservatives Again Thwart Emergency Manager Law Repeal

In a unique conclusion, a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals agreed that there was a precedent which would place the Emergency Manager Repeal on the November ballot, but the panel stayed the ruling citing disagreement with the previous judgment. The Green Party of Michigan calls on judges in this case to act now to let the people express their will and political power this fall.
Last month, the Board of State Canvassers decided to rule against the group Stand Up for Democracy who recognized that Governor Snyder's Emergency Manager Law was undemocratic; the citizens of Michigan never had a say in its enactment, and it took away their right to empower their elected representatives. The petition had far more signatures than was required to get the question on the ballot, but a false technicality may thwart the will of the people.
A conservative group, Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, argued that the requirement for a 14-point font size for the header was not met. A partisan vote on the Board of State Canvassers let this challenge block the referendum. Not deterred by this decision, Stand Up for Democracy appealed and hoped to have the matter decided in time for the people to vote on the law in November.
The three-judge appeals court panel included Kurtis Wilder, Kirsten Frank Kelly, and Michael Riordan. Even though it is a non-partisan appointment, these are three judges with distinctively conservative backgrounds: Judge Riordan was appointed by Snyder, Judge Wilder is a member of the Federalist Society, and Judge Kelly is a Republican Party member and a vocal opponent of “judicial activism”. This may serve to explain why they voted unanimously to maintain this law which broadens the power of a Republican governor despite clear legal precedent. It should come as no surprise, given that the Republicans in the Board of State Canvassers voted likewise.
The 2002 precedent the appeals judges have to overcome states that a petition only needs to be in substantial compliance with guidelines. In other words, if the petition is readable and the wording is clearly visible, the petition should be deemed valid and the people should get to vote on it, even if the size or style of some type may be slightly off.
While judges must follow precedent set in earlier rulings, the judges in this case stayed their decision pending a possible review panel who will look over the previous judgment and decide whether to overturn the precedent. If it is overturned, the petition may again be rejected; if it is not, the petition will be approved.
Still, this may all be a moot point, as MSU professor Chris Corneal, a graphic design expert, attested recently. “I determined that [the disputed petition text] was Calibri bold set at 14 point. Simply measuring the heighth of the capital letter will not give an accurate point size. It should include the cap heighth, plus the depth of the descender [the lower part of, say, a g], plus a little buffer area that is different for different cap heighths.” Using this expert's means of measurement, the stated standard was indeed met, negating the need for the special panel sought by the appeals court.
As there is a strong contingent of Green Party members in the Detroit area, arguably the region most affected yet by the law, the party has taken a great interest in its repeal. In an earlier release, the Green Party called on the powers-that-be to consider Article I, Section 1 of the Michigan Constitution: “All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for their equal benefit, security and protection.” The citizens of Michigan spoke through the signing of the petition, following a clearly democratic process in order to overturn a clearly undemocratic law.
John Anthony La Pietra, GPMI's Elections Co-ordinator, points out: “The precedent these three judges don't like is founded on the bedrock of the Michigan constitution, which says power belongs to the people – and adds that the people reserve for themselves the power of initiative and referendum.
“Of course that should trump any minor technical difficulties with these petitions -- if there were any. But the facts and the record are clear that the petitions are not only in substantial compliance with the statutory requirements -- they are in actual compliance.
“GPMI has urged prompt action before. Now we insist that Michigan's elected and appointed judiciary act immediately to declare the petitions valid, suspend PA 4, and put the referendum on the ballot. Any more delay will deny justice and block the people from exercising their power by voting.”

###

References:

Expert on graphic design:

Biographies of Appeal Judges:

Appeals Court Decision:




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


 

I Hate The War

Naftali Bendavid (Wall St. Journal) reports, "An aide said Republicans have been discussing the matter, exploring whether Mr. McGurk was inappropriately discussing access to officials or information with Ms. Chon even as the two were embarking on a romantic relationship. Mr. McGurk has never headed an embassy, and some Republicans said the emails underline questions about his suitability to lead what is now the largest U.S. embassy."  That's in reference to Brett McGurk who is Barack Obama's third nominee in four years to be the US Ambassador to Iraq.  McGurk's qualifications were in question back in March when the nomination became official.

Then the issue of lack of experience in management and supervision, the inability to speak Arabic, his youth, his lack of success in all the time he'd worked in Iraq and the fact that the most popular political slate in Iraq (Iraqiya) was against his nomination were some of the key strikes against him.

That was before the e-mails and the rumors emerged.   The e-mails are from 2008 when the newly married Brett McGurk met the Wall St. Journal's Gina Chon and began pursuing her in Iraq.  And hiding the relationship from his boss, then-US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker.

Yes, he refused to follow rules and policies while working for the US Embassy in Iraq -- less than four years ago -- but now he's being proposed to head that mission.

This is beyond ridiculous.  And the latest news (which also includes rumors of his engaging in oral sex in public in Iraq) should kill the nomination.

His reputation guarantees that Iraqi women are not going to be able to bring their issues to an Ambassador McGurk.  Can you imagine how their enemies would speak of them?  The accusations that would follow them?

This is who gets sent to Iraq?  Well then the White House must really hate Iraqi women.  Why in the world would you nominate someone who wouldn't be able to engage with half the population?

And considering all the sexual harassment issues the State Dept had from 2001 through 2009 -- with Iraq one of the key trouble spots -- why would you put someone like McGurk in charge?

How's he going to discipline anyone over inappropriate behavior when they can refer to his e-mails about masturbation and blue balls to a female reporter?

Then there is the issue of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee  hearing on Wednesday.

His testimony on al Qaeda in Iraq contradicted the testimony of Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and the public remarks of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.  His testimony on Sahwa (Sons of Iraq, "Awakenings") contradicted everything that has been reported about Sahwa since 2008.   He claimed credit for the surge.  General David Petraeus oversaw the military aspect of the surge -- the only part that was successful.  McGurk was among those who were supposed to be using the "space" (safety) created by the surge to help Iraqi lawmakers pass needed legislation (largely the benchmarks).  In that regard the surge was a failure.  And someone should have told McGurk that it was not only dishonest but also cheap to take credit for the work of Petreaus and US service members.

McGurk is a lousy nominee.  That's reality.  Nothing about his hearing Wednesday silenced questions about his abilities or intellect.  And now the e-mails and the rumors.   





It's over, I'm done writing songs about love
There's a war going on
So I'm holding my gun with a strap and a glove
And I'm writing a song about war
And it goes
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Oh oh oh oh
-- "I Hate The War" (written by Greg Goldberg, on The Ballet's Mattachine!)


The number of US service members the Dept of Defense states died in the Iraq War is [PDF format warning] 4489.



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




Friday, June 08, 2012

Iraq snapshot

Friday, June 8, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, Brett McGurk's e-mails finally makes the mainstream news, Brett McGurk's idiotic remarks to the Senate Committee still don't (today we explores his lies to the Committee on Sahwa), Nouri al-Maliki ensures that the political crisis continues in Iraq, the US military finds an increase in the number of suicides, and more.
 
The big news today?  E-mails Brett McGurk sent to Gina Chon.  If it seems familiar, in the US those covering it before 5:00 pm EST yesterday were Gawker, (John Cook),  Adam Kredo (Washington Free Beacon), DiploPundit kept the issue alive early on as did Peter Van Buren with "McGurk Senate Confirmation Hearing: Do the Emails Matter?," Cryptome published them, and we covered them in "Iraq snapshot" and "'Blue Balls' McGurk faces Senate Foreign Relations..." and "Iraq snapshot".  We covered them here the day before his confirmation hearing.  And though the State Dept admitted to a senator on the Committee that the e-mails were genuine (that is how I found out and why we included it in Tuesday's snapshot) no one wanted to ask questions about it in the hearing.  The e-mails are from 2008 when McGurk, two years into his first marriage, began pursuing an affair with Gina Chon (Wall St. Journal reporter).  McGurk discusses blue balls and masturbation and stresses that then-US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker should not know about the affair.  As Peter Van Buren has explained, the State Dept does discipline employees for extra-marital affairs.  Van Buren would leave his wife for Chon.  The two have since married.
 
Gina Chon's not the story here.  She may be at other sites and that's their business.  CJR should certainly be exploring the issue of sleeping with your source.  Here our focus is on McGurk except to point out that any woman who has an affair with a married man who then leaves his wife should be very wary of him being back in the same situation when he first cheated with her.  In other words, history tends to repeat.
 
 
Once you said you were in love with me
And maybe you still are
But the passion you once showed me
Now is lost among the stars
And you fancy some new fancy girl
Who'll come and change your life around
But she just turned the corner in her car
-- "Take Me As I Am," written by Carly Simon, first appears on her Come Upstairs
 
 
What changed?  Why the sudden interest from the press in covering the e-mails?  Because reporters on the State Dept beat pressed State Dept spokesperson Victoria Nuland about the e-mails. 
 
QUESTION: On another subject, this nomination of Brett McGurk, is it in trouble? And can you confirm that the State Department is investigating allegations of these emails between him and Ms. Chon of The Wall Street Journal?
 
MS. NULAND: Well, first of all, on the subject of the emails, they're out there for everybody to see. I'm not going to get into emails between Mr. McGurk and the woman who subsequently became his wife. With regard to Mr. McGurk's nomination, I think you know that he spent the better part of the last decade serving our country in and out of Iraq, working for a Republican administration, a Democratic administration. He is, in our view, uniquely qualified to serve as our ambassador, and we urge the Senate to act quickly on his nomination.
 
QUESTION: So obviously you're sticking with him. But can you confirm that -- because there are reports -- that the State Department actually has looked into these alleged emails, or the allegations that these might have compromised security or sensitive information?
 
MS. NULAND: I don't have anything to say on the emails.
 
QUESTION: Can I just follow up on that?
 
MS. NULAND: Yeah.
 
QUESTION: Because, I mean, there are rules for Foreign Service officers to not get into situations where you're blackmailed. There's sort of a sense that you have to act morally. There are these regulations in your guidebooks. And some people have lost security clearances over having extramarital affairs. So I wonder why it is that this doesn't seem to be -- factor at all into your decision in keeping this -- keeping his nomination out there.
 
 
MS. NULAND: Again, we consider him uniquely qualified. All of the necessary things were done before his nomination, and we urge the Senate to confirm him.  Jill.
 
QUESTION: Can you confirm that those emails actually came from the State Department system, in -- within the State Department system?
 
MS. NULAND: I'm not going to speak about the emails. They're out there for you to look at. They're obviously very much available for anybody to read.
 
QUESTION: Aren't you investigating how they were leaked? They're from your own system.
 
MS. NULAND: I'm not going to get into our internal issues here.
 
QUESTION: Well, why not? You talk about WikiLeaks all the time. Those were essentially emails.
 
MS. NULAND: Goes to your usual point, Matt, that we speak about --
 
QUESTION: What, the lack of consistency?
 
MS. NULAND: Yes. (Laughter.)
 
QUESTION: Yeah. Oh, okay, great. When -- you said you did -- all the necessary things were done before his nomination. What are those necessary things? Was that like a security clearance and vetting and --
 
MS. NULAND: All that stuff.
 
QUESTION: Well, I mean -- no, I -- what are they? I don't know. What has to be done, not just in his case but in any nominee's case?
 
MS. NULAND: His nomination was managed in the exact -- with the exact same processes that we use for everyone.
 
QUESTION: Well, okay. What does that mean? I mean, does that mean that there's an FBI check or --
 
MS. NULAND: I'm going to refer you to the White House for how they do this.
 
QUESTION: All right. And then --
 
QUESTION: Just one more on that.
 
MS. NULAND: Yeah.
 
QUESTION: If you do -- if you did do that, are you sharing this with members of Congress who have severe problems with his nomination?
 
MS. NULAND: We always work with Congress on our nominees, and we're continuing to do that in this case.
 
QUESTION: Can you confirm that there has been at least one meeting with -- on the specific issues, not on the specific issues that were about the emails, with people on the Hill?
 
 
MS. NULAND: I'm not going to comment on the specifics of our conversation with Congress, but in all these nomination procedures, we work with the Hill on any --
 
 
QUESTION: Right.
 
MS. NULAND: -- issues that they have as our --
 
QUESTION: But are you --
 
MS. NULAND: -- nominees are being reviewed.
 
QUESTION: But are you aware that this -- that people from the State Department have gone to the Hill and/or have spoken to members of the committee who have raised concerns about these specific issues. And by these specific issues, I don't mean the more specific substantive issues that senator -- people like Senator McCain have raised. I'm talking specifically about the emails. Do you know if they have been -- if this issue has been discussed with people on the Hill?
 
MS. NULAND: Beyond saying that we continue to work with appropriate members and staff on his nomination in support of it, as we do with all nominees, I'm not going to get into details.
 
 
"Matt" above is Matthew Lee with the Associated Press.  He reports on it here and avoids mentioning Gina Chon by name.  While I have stated that she is not the issue, I am not going to render her invisible.  I have no desire to include the name of the wife cheated on but while I'm not going to examine Gina Chon's motives or explore ethical issues on her end or quote her in the e-mails, I'm not going to vanish her.  When you enter into a sexual relationship with a high ranking government employee, especially a married one, you're risking exposure.  As a member of the press, that's something Gina Chon understood before she ever went to Iraq.  I mention Lee vanishing her because that's another reason the story's not being covered.
 
During the Iran-Contra hearings -- a detail Robert Parry and others always ignore -- a journalist was outed (TV journalist) for knowing about what took place and covering it up.  It was in the news cycle for about 2 to 3 hours.  Then the press did what it does best: Protect its own.  I've mentioned the journalists' name before and will again.  But we'll not go there today because I'll hear, "Do you always have to beat up on ___?" from friends at ____'s network.
 
But a big reason that the e-mails weren't covered was due to the fact that Gina Chon is a member of the press.  As a result, I will be rethinking my policy here for next week.  We're already in a gray area because I'm not big on sex scandals.  (And my family has had their own aired out in the press.) But we didn't cover this as "Cheating husband!"  I wasn't even aware Brett McGurk was married when I learned what the Senate Committee was hearing.  We covered this as: You want to be a surpervisor but you used government time and government equipment to go in search of a bootie call, you then concealed the affair from your supervisor because it was a serious conflict and now you're going to supervise?
 
I'm glad that McGurk doesn't have a sexaul harassment lawsuit against him, but reading those e-mails -- which are only four years old -- I'm not real sure he's someone who understands work boundaries.
 
And with no supervisory experience, I do worry that the tone he will set will not be encouraging for women or for their safety.  "Oh come on, boss," you can hear a male staffer telling McGurk, "I just sent her an e-mail about my blue balls.  You know what that's like, e-mailing a woman about your blue balls.  I wrote her about masturbating too because I saw your e-mails and realized that's how someone 'so f**king smooth' does it."  Peter Van Buren notes today, "Readers of my book, We Meant Well, will remember an incident where an innocent romantic email from a male State Department contractor to a female soldier kicked off a major incident that ended up with the contractor being swiftly fired for misuse of the official email system for personal use. If McGurk is allowed to end up as ambassador, that would be only the latest in a long series of double standards of conduct at the State Department. "
 
This is not a minor issue and how sad, telling and pathetic that neither female senator on the Committee bothered to show for the hearing.
 
It's not a minor issue.  The State Dept was very lucky with the Iraq War.  How so?  All the Pentagon scandals more than kept the public occupied and the sexual harassment taking place in the State Dept was largely ignored by the public -- and damn well was by Colin Powell and Condi Rice.  This isn't a minor issue.  You don't win a lawsuit in arbitration and find yourself awarded $3 million on a minor issue.
 
And into this already complicated environment, the White House wants to put a man who can't keep it in his pants?  Married less than 2 years and he can't keep it in his pants?  In a war zone and he can't keep it in his pants?
 
It's not a minor issue.  Can an Iraqi woman meet with McGurk?  And if she does -- remember social taboos are on the rise in Iraq since the US declared war and put thugs in charge -- will this result in it being assumed she too 'got down' with the 'playa'?   You can not put a man with that reputation in Iraq without asking, "How will this effect Iraqi women?"  The most obvious way is they won't be able to interact with him for fear of how any interaction would be interpreted.  So no Iraqi woman can meet with him one-on-one to share concerns.  That doesn't bother the State Dept?
 
Well why the hell not.  Iraqi women were sold out under Bully Boy Bush and for all of his pretense otherwise, Barack Obama clearly doesn't give a damn about Iraqi women. 
 
I would think how this effects over half of the Iraqi population would be of grave concern; however, we've yet to see a White House concerned about Iraqi women since the start of the illegal war.
 
Huffington Post does a lousy job of covering the story.  We're focusing on issues here.  Can he be successful in management when he has no experience and a record of lying to his superiors and breaking rules and regulations?  We're not being Arianna Huffington in the 90s sniffing through Bill Clinton's briefs.  Maybe that's the only way Arianna and her website know to cover a story?  Sink into the filth?  Or maybe it's just more of her: 'Write a bad blog post so we can say we covered it and we aren't really in the tank for Barack.'  Chris McGreal (Guardian) covers the story seriously and raises real issues.  I don't believe that McGurk passed on classified information but -- as Mike noted last night -- that is a serious concern around Congress currently for other reasons.  My issue is that he's not qualified.  That was the opinion before the e-mails.  He doesn't have the exeprience needed, he doesn't speak Arabic, Iraqiya objects to him, Iraqi women will be left out of the discussions but now someone who just four years ago was breaking the State Dept guidelines is going to be put in charge of the largest US embassy project in the world? 
 
Chris McGreal explains, "A Republican senator, James Inhofe, cancelled a meeting with McGurk in a sign that unease about the emails could raise problems. Any senator is able to put a hold on the nomination."  Helene Cooper (New York Times) adds, "Mr. Inhofe has not yet put a hold on Mr. McGurk's nomination, an aide said" and quotes the aide, Jared Young, stating, "I don't think we'd say we've reached the decision point yet."  Jared Young tells  Aamer Madhani (USA Today), "Until those issues are cleared up, he will not meet with Mr. McGurk."  In addition to the hiding of an affair, Josh Rogin (Foreign Policy) notes that McGurk "may have been videotaped while engaged in a sex act on the roof of Saddam Hussein's Republican Palace with a different woman."  It's oral sex with him on the receiving end.  And since March when Peter Van Buren published a blind item, everyone has whispered that the blind item about the blow job on top of the Republican Palace was one of Brett McGurk's many sexual adventures in the Green Zone.  Paul Richter has a good report for the Los Angeles Times. Need a video report?  As usual, you can count on Jake Tapper who is able to confirm -- unlike all the other outlets today -- that the e-mails are genuine.  Click here for his video report.   Near the end, Jake Tapper explains, "And, George, even McGurk's allies say now that with these e-mails out there, he will have to answer more questions about this on Capitol Hill."
 
 
(If you covered this before 5:00 pm EST on Thursday and  I didn't mention you, it was not intentional.  E-mail common_ills@yahoo.com and in Monday's snapshot we'll note you covered it before the American mainstream media covered it.  And that's true always for left sites and center sites, but that applies to any right-winger as well.  Drop an e-mail with a link so we can include you so you get your credit.  And if you want some gossip, as I work in this link,  Peter Van Buren is the author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the War for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People,  Let me note that some at the State Dept are stating that Peter is behind the leak.  No, he wasn't.  But there are many other stories that will be leaked out if the State Dept and the White House continue to target Peter.  Their little witch hunt and demonization of Peter has offended several career employees.)
 
[Personal note.  Since leaks are such a big deal, let me note I wasn't told by anyone about the e-mails.  I was present in the outer office when it was being discussed in hushed tones.  Anyone who knows me knows don't whisper around me.  If people talk at a normal volume, I'm busy, I'm returning calls on my cell phones and I'm going through my planner.  But you start whispering and I hear it.  You cannot get far enough away if you're whispering.  When you start whispering, you're right in my ear.]
 
 
 
 
In the snapshots, we've been covering the interesting parts of Brett McGurk's Wednesday testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee such as when he elected to school everyone on al Qaeda in Iraq -- and directly contradicted Congressional testimony provided by Leon Panetta (Secretary of Defense) and contradicted the public remarks of James Clapper (Director of National Intelligence).  The Committee just ignored all the conflicts in his claims.  Today we focus on Sahwa.  Here's what the nominee had to say.
 
 
Brett McGurk: The Sons of Iraq is also something that we need to watch very closely.  So far, about 70,000 have been incorporated into government positions.  About 30,000 Sons of Iraq are still manning checkpoints.  They are getting paid out of the current budget -- I've been told out of the current budget.  They get paid about $300 a month which is slightly below the per capita GDP.
 
 
Dropping back to the April 8, 2008 Senate Armed Services hearing when Gen David Petraeus, then the top US commander in Iraq, was explaining Sahwa.
 
In his opening remarks, Petraues explained of the "Awakening" Council (aka "Sons of Iraq," et al) that it was a good thing "there are now over 91,000 Sons of Iraq -- Shia as well as Sunni -- under contract to help Coalition and Iraqi Forces protect their neighborhoods and secure infrastructure and roads.  These volunteers have contributed significantly in various areas, and the savings in vehicles not lost because of reduced violence -- not to mention the priceless lives saved -- have far outweighed the cost of their monthly contracts."  Again, the US must fork over their lunch money, apparently, to avoid being beat up. 
How much lunch money is the US forking over?  Members of the "Awakening" Council are paid, by the US, a minimum of $300 a month (US dollars).  By Petraeus' figures that mean the US is paying $27,300,000 a month.  $27 million a month is going to the "Awakening" Councils who, Petraeus brags, have led to "savings in vehicles not lost".
 
 
Now this was the week that Petreaus and Crocker went from House Committee to Senate Committee to House Committee . . .  Offering their testimony.
 
And in one of the last smart things she may have done, Senator Barbara Boxer raised the issue of why is the US taxpayer footing the bill for Sahwa?  She asked why Nouri wasn't paying the cost?  This forced the administration to insist that they would explore that.  Had Boxer not raised the issue, it never would have been raised.  By the end of the week, it was stated that the US was going to ask that Nouri pick up the tab.  This was at the height of Sahwa.  Their number did not increase.  In fact their numbers decreased because they've been repeatedly targeted with violence.  In the year Petreaus testified, for example, 528 Sahwa died from attacks and another 828 were injured in attacks.  Attacks haven't been their only problems.  In January of this year, Dan Morse (Washington Post) reported:
 
 
The United States transferred full management of the force to the Iraqi government in 2009, with the understanding that 20 percent of the fighters would be given jobs in Iraq's police or military units and that the government would try to find the others civil service or private-sector jobs.
But the process has moved slowly. Sons of Iraq members say they are denied jobs because they are Sunni, even as the Iraqi government welcomes onetime Shiite insurgents into jobs. The government says that it is committed to hiring Sons of Iraq members but that education levels prevent some of them from getting security jobs.
 
 
After its inception in 2005 they received salaries of around 250 dollars monthly for manning checkpoints and patrolling their own areas. But those low revenues have vanished today with the withdrawal of the Americans.
"The original plan was to gradually integrate our men into the Iraqi security forces but now we're all starting to realise that those were just fake promises," Abdullatif Majid Latif, commander of the militia in Samarra, explains at the militia headquarters in the city.
"I have 2,000 men who have families to take care of in a desperate situation. All of them still remain loyal to Sheikh Khalid Fleieh but I wonder how long will this last," adds the military official.
Abdullatif's men belong to the approximately 100,000 today lining up in the Sahwa militia. The first stage of an initially ambitious plan was to incorporate a quarter of them into the security forces. Today, things are not working as expected. Everyone wonders what will happen to thousands of broken armed men.
Samarra Sahwa militiaman Abdulljabar Abdulrahim is categorical: "If I'm not paid in April I'll quit and look for something else, either in the construction or the cleaning sectors," he says, armed with an AK-47 rifle and dressed in sweatpants and slippers.
 
 
How do the above reports fit with the claims Brett McGurk made?  They don't.  As usual he spun pretty for his friend Nouri.  He didn't, however, tell the truth to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  On the Clapper and Panetta issue, you could just write him off as dumb.  But the problems of Sahwa finding employment and getting paid have been documented by the major newspapers since 2009.  As of March of this year, nothing changed.  But Brett McGurk wants to insist otherwise.
 
70,000 have not been given government jobs.  That's a bold face lie.  The best year on hiring was 2009. And about a tenth of that was hired in 2009.  In 2010 and 2011 you see the drop-off in hiring.  2009 was the best year.  McGurk's figures don't add up.
 
 
Maybe if the Senators hadn't been so quick to rush through the hearing -- those that bothered to show up -- we'd know for sure whether Brett McGurk was an idiot or a liar.  But you don't give the testimony he did -- as we've now documented in three snapshots -- unless you're uninformed or lying.
 
 
When his lack of experience in administration and supervision is brought up, the White House insists to Senators that McGurk makes up for that with his vast knowledge of Iraq.  He didn't display vast knowledge, he displayed highly limited knowledge.
 
He is not qualified and, if he was smart, he'd withdraw his nomination. 
 
If the administration were smart, they'd learn to give a damn about Iraqi women.  This is Barack third nomination for US Ambassador to Iraq.  All three have been men.  If we're supposedly modeling behavior for Iraq, we're not doing Iraqi women a bit of good.  Stop kidding that these all male appointments (and all male under Bush as well) help Iraqi women. 
 
 
The continued violence in Iraq helps no one but leaders who benefit from a terrorized population.  AFP's Prashant Rao Tweeted today:
 

Attacks in Baghdad, Diyala and Kirkuk killed four people today: http://bit.ly/NmCWqz @AFP #Iraq

 
 
AFP reports a Baghdad attack on Col Mohammed Yunis' car left him dead and his wife and their two children injured, Assad Mohammed was shot dead ("official in the office of deputy parliament speaker Qusay al-Sohail), 1 Iraqi soldier was shot dead in Kirkuk and a Baladruz roadside bombing claimed 1 life and left two people injured.  Alsumaria reports that the owner of a power generator center (electrical plant?) in Diwaniyah was approached last night by angry citizens with one throwing an unknown sharp object which killed him.  The citizens were upset by the continued lack of electricity.
 
In Iraq, the political crisis continues.  If you're having trouble keeping track of who's who, Suadad al-Salhy (Reuters) offers a look at the various political blocs.

Al Rafidayn reports that Ammar al-Hakim, leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq gave a speech yesterday at the Cultural Forum insisting that while he has defended the government he has also criticized it.   In his speech yesterday, Ammar declared that ISCI was not part of the problem but that they wanted to be part of the solution and to support everyone. That would be a change because all Ammar's supported so far this year was Nouri.

Nouri is facing a no-confidence vote in Iraq.  His refusal to honor a signed contract between him and the political blocs has ticked off many.  The Al Rafidayn article notes that Daw's Abdul Halim Zuhairi (Dawa is a political party -- Nouri's political party; State of Law is Nouri's political slate) is insisting that Moqtada al-Sadr is harming the nation and splitting the Shi'ite ranks.

Right there is your problem.

Moqtada al-Sadr is splitting Shi'ite ranks?

That's a sectarian way of looking at -- apparently the only way Dawa knows how.

You'd think the statements would be condemned.  They won't be.  But Alsumaria reports Nouri did make a speech today insisting that tolerance was needed.  He's not punished anyone with Ministry of Interior for targeting and demonizing Iraqi youth suspected of being Emo (the Ministry of Interoir went into the schools trashing those children -- and the Interior has no minister because Nouri won't nominate anyone -- he can only control it when there is no minister).

Regardless of whether or not there's a no-confidence vote, what has happened is that Iraqi leaders have demonstrated they can go beyond sects and work together -- Moqtada, KRG President Massoud Barzani, Iraqiya's Ayad Allawi and others.  They've presented a united front arguing that the Erbil Agreement needs to be followed as agreed to.
 
 
The Pentagon doesn't like to use the term "crisis," especially when discussing the suicide rate of service members.  But the situation reached crisis level long ago.  The latest news is even worse than before. Mark Thompson (Time magazine) explains:

New Pentagon data show U.S. troops are killing themselves at the rate of nearly one a day so far in 2012, 18% above 2011′s corresponding toll. "The continual rise in the suicide rate has frustrated all in the military," says Elspeth "Cam" Ritchie, a retired Army colonel and chief psychiatric adviser to the Army surgeon general. "The rise in the suicide rate continues despite numerous recommendations from the Army and DoD task forces."
Stephanie Pappas (Live Science) explains, "Even as the civilian suicide rate remains steady at about 11 deaths per 100,000 people, military suicide rates have been climbing over most of the past decade. In 2001, for example, the suicide rate per 100,000 people in the Army was nine; that number rose all the way to 19.3 by 2008. Over the same time span in the Marine Corps, the suicide rate per 100,000 rose from 16.7 to 19.9, according to a 2011 report by the research institute the Rand Corp."  Tonight on The NewsHour (PBS -- link is text, video and audio), Kwame Holman explained:
 
Suicides among U.S. forces are on the rise this year. According to the Pentagon, military suicides now are averaging nearly one per day; 154 active-duty service members took their lives in the first 155 days of the year. That's an 18 percent increase over the same period last year.
Suicide deaths also now are outpacing the number of U.S. combat troops killed in Afghanistan. Some research has pointed to multiple tours of duty and post-traumatic stress as contributing to the rise in suicides.


Yesterday on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, David Martin filed a report (link is text and video):


David Martin: Spc Carl McCoy survived two tours in Iraq only to take his own life and shatter the life of his wife Maggie.


Maggie McCoy:  He shot himself.  In the bathroom.


David Martin: Here in this house?


Maggie McCoy: Yes.


David Martin: That was 2008, when the Army did not have enough mental health counselors.  McCoy had scheduled an appointment with a counselor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.  But that morning --


Maggie McCoy: They called and cancelled. 


David Martin: And they cancelled because?


Maggie McCoy: They didn't have anybody to see see him.  That was the day before he killed himself. 

Martin goes on to float the Pentagon's 'possible' reason for the increase:  The economy.
 
Mollie (GetReligion.org) weighs in with, "Suicides don't just mean that chaplains must arrange and perform funeral services but also that they must deal with units that are devastated. He said that one of the things they work on is doing respectful funerals without glorifying the suicide victim since studies (and his personal experience) indicate that it can lead to copycat suicides or other problems. He mentioned another recent situation of overseeing a funeral for an atheist who had left explicit instructions about what could and could not be said at his service. Since what he wanted said and not said wasn't exactly something that many — or any, in this case — chaplains could get on board with, the chaplains at the base came up with a creative workaround that honored the dead soldier's wishes without compromising anyone else's religious views."  AP has a video report which includes Major General Dana Pittard writing on a blog: "Be an adult, act like an adult, and deal with your real-life problems like the rest of us."  No, that's not helpful or needed and it's actually damaging and keeps people from seeking the help that they neeed.
 
 
 
 

 Robert Burns (AP) notes,  "The numbers reflect a military burdened with wartime demands from Iraq and Afghanistan that have taken a greater toll than foreseen a decade ago. The military also is struggling with increased sexual assaults, alcohol abuse, domestic violence and other misbehaviour."  David Martin was oblivious to that apparently.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

McGurk and the political crisis

The Telegraph of London picks up on the 2008 Baghdad e-mails Brett McGurk sent a female reporter he hooked up with.  In the e-mails, McGurk makes it clear that Ryan Crocker -- then-US Ambassador to Iraq -- should not find out about the relationship.  Brett McGurk is now nominated by US President Barack Obama to be the country's new Ambassador to Iraq. Possibly, Barack's plan is for McGurk to seduce Iraq one Iraqi at a time?

Is that how the White House hopes to resolve the political crisis?

Al Rafidayn reports that Ammar al-Hakim, leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq gave a speech yesterday at the Cultural Forum insisting that while he has defended the government he has also criticized it. 

one on one summit


 Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "One-on-One Summit" lampooned the increasingly close relationship Ammar has with Nouri.


 In his speech yesterday, Ammar declared that ISCI was not part of the problem but that they wanted to be part of the solution and to support everyone. That would be a change because all Ammar's supported so far this year was Nouri.

Nouri is facing a no-confidence vote in Iraq.  His refusal to honor a signed contract between him and the political blocs has ticked off many.  The Al Rafidayn article notes that Daw's Abdul Halim Zuhairi (Dawa is a political party -- Nouri's political party; State of Law is Nouri's political slate) is insisting that Moqtada al-Sadr is harming the nation and splitting the Shi'ite ranks.

Right there is your problem.

Moqtada al-Sadr is splitting Shi'ite ranks?

That's a sectarian way of looking at -- apparently the only way Dawa knows how.

You'd think the statements would be condemned.  They won't be.

Regardless of whether or not there's a no-confidence vote, what has happened is that Iraqi leaders have demonstrated they can go beyond sects and work together -- Moqtada, KRG President Massoud Barzani, Iraqiya's Ayad Allawi and others.  They've presented a united front arguing that the Erbil Agreement needs to be followed as agreed to.

Kitabat notes that Brett McGurk testified Wednesday to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the "deep divisions" between Sunnis and Shi'ites.  And they note his comments regarding Kirkuk.  We'll note that section from the hearing (he's responding to Senator Richard Lugar's question).

Brett McGurk: Thank you, Senator.  It's a really critically, critically important point.  I have worked with Prime Minister Maliki for a number of years and all the Iraqi leaders and I've worked with him in his capacity as the prime minister.  As I said in my written statement, I would try to focus now on dealing with the Iraqis in an institutional way.  So dealing with Malliki as the prime minister now, if there was a new prime minister tomorrow, I would have the same close working relationship with him.   I've worked with four Speakers of the Parliament, for example.  You need to focus on the institution.  When you're in Iraq and dealing with all sides, there are different narratives to the political proces.  The government that was put in place in 2010, as you know, took eight months to put in place.  When it finally came together, it represents 98% of the Council of Representatives.  They're represented in the Cabinet.  That naturally leads to a lot of inefficienies, a lot of rivalries, a lot of intrigue and that is certainly going on now.  Uhm, Maliki will say that his opposition figures who are in his  Cabinet won't share responsibility for governing.  The opposition figures say Maliki is consolidating power.   They're all right.  And we need to work with all of them to live up to their prior agreements and to work within the Constitutional system to change the process.  You mentioned the Kurds and this is critically important and I would plan to visit the Kurdistan Region as much as possible.  I'd like to be up there, if I'm confirmed, at least once a week because it's the personal interaction between the ambassador and the Iraqi leaders that's so important for keeping everything stable and for bridging areas of disagreement.   The Kurds are having some difficulties with the Baghdad government right now, the Baghdad government's having difficulties with the Kurds.  The real rivalry is [KRG President] Massoud Barzani and Prime Minister Maliki.  Uh, we have to play an important role in mediating that effort.  Uh, I would just leave it at there's a Constitutional system in place now.  This is the third Iraqi government, the second Parliament, The Iraqis are going to fight through their politics under the Constitutional rules they themselves have devised.  We cannot direct outcomes through that process.  When we try to do that, the unintended consequences are quite enormous.  But we can help bridge differences. We can mediate back and forth and be constantly, actively engaged and that's what I intend to do if I'm confirmed.



 At present, Nouri can still stop a no-confidence vote.  If he implements the Erbil Agreement, the no-confidenc vote is tabled.  But time may be slipping away for that.  Alsumaria reports that Salah al-Obeidi, of Moqtada's spokesperson, states they are moving forward on the no-confidence vote and that, as Iraqi President Jalal Talabani pledged in the April 28th meeting, the next step will be for Talabani to write a memo to the Speaker of Parliament calling for the no-confidence vote.  Kitabat adds that, Shi'ite, Kurd, Sunni,  the common opinion is that Nouri is "a despot and a dictator."

Judith S. Yaphe (Foreign Policy) has a lengthy analysis of the political crisis:


Maliki has made similar moves toward political consolidation. Borrowing Allawi's popular tactic of building a secular, Iraqi national coalition, Maliki tried to build a pan-Iraqi coalition in the months leading up to the March 2010 election and wooed disaffected Sunni Arab leaders unhappy with Maliki's chief rival Ayad Allawi's secular and cross-national Iraqiyya Party. When this proved insufficient to win over Sunni Arab and secular supporters, he turned to sectarian rhetoric. He moved closer to Shiite extremist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militia he had previously shut down and leaders arrested, and accused his rivals of supporting the return of the Baathists and the purge that would follow their return. When the Iraqiyya Party with Sunni Arab support won 91 seats and Maliki's State of Law party only 89, Maliki rejected the results and as commander-in-chief declared that without a recount there would be a return to violence. Although the constitution said the party winning the majority in the elections had the first right to form a new government, the court decided that a post-election coalition could take that right from the party winning the most seats. Sadr's joining Maliki gave the prime minister the authority to move forward and ignore Iraqiyya and its leaders.
In [. . .] 2010 in an effort to paper over the bitterness of the "lost" election, Maliki went to Irbil, capital of the Kurdistan Regional Authority, to negotiate with the Kurds and prominent Sunni Arab politicians, including parliamentary leaders Nujayfi and Salih al-Mutlak and Iraqiyya leader, Allawi. He agreed to a 15-point agenda which promised a new degree of power-sharing among Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Arabs and Kurds and the appointment of a Sunni Arab and a Shiite Arab to head the defense and interior ministries. He also promised to create a National Council of Strategic Policies to oversee, approve or veto any major legislation after the prime minister signed it. Leadership of the council was promised to Allawi. Maliki, however, reneged on his commitments. He refused to name a defense minister or an interior minister or establish the special commission and Allawi in turn refused to compromise.
By late 2010, Maliki had brought the supreme federal court under his direct control. In January 2011, the judiciary, described by Toby Dodge as "pliable," ended the independence of several agencies established during the U.S. occupation that were supposed to oversee elections, protect human rights, and fight corruption under his control and placed them under direct control of the prime minister's office. For example, the courts found the Independent Higher Education Commission's (IHEC) link to the legislative branch of government to be a violation of the separation of powers. Several months later, its chairman, who had worked to preserve the integrity of elections from Maliki's manipulation, was arrested and charged with corruption. Dodge also claims that in 2010 the Higher Judicial Council ruled that new legislation could only be proposed by the cabinet, giving the prime minister and not parliament the ability to propose legislation. The right of parliament to question ministers was also ended. If true, then this would be a major set-back for the institutional checks and balances the United States hopes to ensure in post-Saddam Iraq. On the day of the U.S. withdrawal ceremony in Baghdad in December 2011, Iraqi security forces surrounded the residences of several prominent Iraqi Sunni Arab politicians, including Deputy Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, to arrest him on charges of coup plotting in 2006 to 2007. Maliki also threatened Iraqiyya leader Salih al-Mutlak and Speaker Osama al-Nujayfi. 









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


 

Service member suicides

The Pentagon doesn't like to use the term "crisis," especially when discussing the suicide rate of service members.  But the situation reached crisis level long ago.  The latest news is even worse than before. Mark Thompson (Time magazine) explains:

New Pentagon data show U.S. troops are killing themselves at the rate of nearly one a day so far in 2012, 18% above 2011′s corresponding toll. "The continual rise in the suicide rate has frustrated all in the military," says Elspeth "Cam" Ritchie, a retired Army colonel and chief psychiatric adviser to the Army surgeon general. "The rise in the suicide rate continues despite numerous recommendations from the Army and DoD task forces."


Yesterday on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, David Martin filed a report (link is text and video):


David Martin: Spc Carl McCoy survived two tours in Iraq only to take his own life and shatter the life of his wife Maggie.


Maggie McCoy:  He shot himself.  In the bathroom.


David Martin: Here in this house?


Maggie McCoy: Yes.


David Martin: That was 2008, when the Army did not have enough mental health counselors.  McCoy had scheduled an appointment with a counselor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.  But that morning --


Maggie McCoy: They called and cancelled. 


David Martin: And they cancelled because?


Maggie McCoy: They didn't have anybody to see see him.  That was the day before he killed himself. 

Martin goes on to float the Pentagon's 'possible' reason for the increase:  The economy.

So now the Pentagon and the White House are at war over talking points?  Martin didn't note that.  The White House is saying the recession is over.  Until last month's jobs report (the month of May), the news media and the White House were insisting the recession was over, the economy was recovering and slowly but surely rebuilding.

That was a lie.

But so is the Pentagon's claim.  These are numbers beginning in January, the 154 service members who have taken their own lives.  Were they economists who saw through the spin as early as February?  Did 150 of them die since the jobs report was released?  No, this is data through June 3rd.  And note this is incomplete data.  The numbers will not go down but they may go up.   There are several deaths still under investigation.  If they are classified as suicides then even more than 154 will have taken their own lives in this time period.

I have no idea why Martin didn't question that nonsense because it's one of those things that requires no hard numbers to challenge.  If the Pentagon says, "The economy is the reason our service members are taking their own lives," the response is, "That would apply to veterans, possibly, but aren't service members secure in the belief that they will receive a pay check for the agreed upon wages?"

A follow up question would have been: "Were these suicides people who are being cut from the military?  Is scaling back the military creating additional stress for those serving?"

Those are questions that should have been asked.

Instead, Martin lets the Pentagon have the last word and pretends like what they've stated makes sense.  It should have been questioned.

If Katie Couric had been in the anchor chair, it most likely would have been questioned.  But that's the sort of thing she got slammed for: talking.  Not enough news flying by!  The critics didn't like her doing sit-downs and trying to examine the news.  Now they instead have Scott Pelley and his two faces -- happy "Thank you!" and inside of eye brows go up above the nose, lower lip juts out just a little and he's so concerned.  Emote, Scott, emote.


 Robert Burns (AP) notes,  "The numbers reflect a military burdened with wartime demands from Iraq and Afghanistan that have taken a greater toll than foreseen a decade ago. The military also is struggling with increased sexual assaults, alcohol abuse, domestic violence and other misbehaviour."  David Martin was oblivious to that apparently.

The following community sites -- plus Antiwar.com, CSPAN, Ms. magazine, Pacifica Evening News and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- updated last night and this morning:



Two things "The Pacifica Evening News" item is not 14 minutes ago.  I saw it last night and saved it for inclusion this morning.  Second, we have covered Wednesday's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in the Wednesday snapshot and the Thursday snapshot.   We'll cover it again today.  There are two groups of visitors e-mailing that I "need" to do something.  One group says I "need" to link to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee page of that hearing so people can stream it.  I "need" to do that?  No, I don't.

With the exception of the Appropriations Committees, all the House and Senate Committees we regularly cover are on the permalinks.  You can scoll through and find it.  Or you can Google it.  The plan was to brush up one section of yesterday's snapshot -- where a joke I made got included and my friend said, "No, no, leave it in! We'll come back to it at the end." and he knew I'd forget by the time I was done dictating the snapshot.  And I did until he said "it's sent" (e-mailed to the site).  At which point I said, "Did you pull that joke?" He didn't.  That's fine.  But that was not something I would have written into the snapshot if I typed it.  I have a limited amount of time.  I cannot spoon feed you or breast feed you.  You should be mature enough to see that your needs are met on your own.  (If not, Abraham Maslow's work might need to be rethought.)

The second group had managed to find the Senate Foreign Relations Committee website but were upset that when they got there they found no hearing. 

What are they talking about?  This:

sfr


If you're among the visitors who found that page, good for you.  If you're e-mailing the public account of this site to share your frustration, great.  I hear you, everyone who reads the public account will understand your frustration, the hearing should be posted, the video of it.

If you're e-mailing wondering if there is video, there should be.  There was a man operating the video camera. 

Why isn't it up?

I don't know.    But if you want to know why it's not up or to complain about it not being up, the best thing to do would be go to this page where it lists the contact information for the Committee:

Majority Phone: (202) 224-4651
Majority Fax: (202) 228-3612
Minority Phone: (202) 224-6797


Whether they post it or not, the plan is to cover Sahwa in today's snapshot -- from the hearing, McGurk's remarks on Sahwa. 

Another Senate Committee is the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.  Senator Patty Murray is the Committee Chair and we'll note this from her office.

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Thursday, June 7, 2012
CONTACT: Murray Press Office
 (202) 224-2834
 
 
VETERANS: Murray Commends VA for Focus on Reproductive Injuries 
Murray: VA must continue to work to enhance fertility treatment services for severely wounded veterans 
 
(Washington, D.C.) – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki to commend the Department's addition of coverage for reproductive and urinary tract injuries to the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance Traumatic Injury Protection Program. The nature of the current conflict and increasing use of improvised explosive devices leaves servicemembers far more susceptible to blast injuries that affect these systems. Army data shows that between 2003 and 2011 more than 600 servicemembers from OEF/OIF/OND suffered these life-changing battle injuries. 
"It is vital our veterans and their families receive benefits and services that allow them to fulfill their life goals, such as attending college or having a child," said Senator Murray. "I look forward to working with VA to make sure veterans get the support they need." 
 
The full text of the letter follows: 
 
June 6, 2012 
Honorable Eric K. Shinseki 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
810 Vermont Avenue, NW 
Washington, DC 20420 
Dear Secretary Shinseki: 
 
I write to commend the Department's recent focus on reproductive and urinary tract injuries in the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance Traumatic Injury Protection Program. The nature of the current conflict and increasing use of improvised explosive devices leaves servicemembers far more susceptible to blast injuries that cause this type of trauma. This is an area that has been of increasing concern to me as these injured servicemembers attempt to move forward with their lives. 
Recent Army data shows that between 2003 and 2011 more than 600 servicemembers from the current conflicts suffered reproductive and urinary tract battle injuries. As these servicemembers readjust to civilian life and eventually get ready to start their own family, they find VA's fertility services do not meet their complex needs. While VA's fertility services provide limited assistance to the veteran with reproductive and urinary tract trauma, there is no coverage for their spouse. 
I know that you share my belief that it is critical that veterans and their families receive benefits and services that allow them to fulfill as many of their goals as practicable, whether they include attending college or having a child. 
I look forward to our continued work is this area to support our Nation's veterans and their families.
 
 
Kathryn Robertson
Press Assistant
Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
448 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington D.C. 20510
202-224-2834

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