Cedric's Big Mix: 2007-05-06

Saturday, May 12, 2007

The 'inspiring' Bully Boy

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.

SPEAKING TO THE CLASS OF 2007 AT ST. VINCENT COLLEGE YESTERDAY, BULLY BOY IMPLORED THEM TO CARRY LESSONS LEARNED THROUGHOUT LIFE AND TO HAVE A LIFE OF SERVICE.

HE EXPLAINED HOW IMPORTANT IT WAS TO HIM TO SERVE. HE DECLARED THAT HE GETS A RUSH LOOKING AT THE DEATH TOLL IN IRAQ "CAUSE IT ARE THE PROOF THAT I IS MAKING AN IMPACT IN THE WORLD."

BULLY BOY EXPLAINED THAT HE HAD A ROUGH "YOUTH" AFTER COLLEGE WHICH LASTED OVER 20 YEARS DURING WHICH TIME HE BATTLED ALCOHOL ("BOOZE HOUND! AND THE BOOZE MAY HAVE WON MOST MORNINGS BUT THE NIGHTS WERE AWESOME!") AND THEN EITHER HE HAD A BOOGER OR WAS ATTEMPTING TO INDICATE THAT HE ALSO HAD A COCAINE PROBLEM BECAUSE HE PUT A FINGER TO 1 NOSTRIL AND INHALED REPEATEDLY.

LOOKING AT THE AUDIENCE FOR APPARENT APPLAUSE OR LAUGHTER -- NEITHER OF WHICH CAME -- BULLY BOY THEN PROCEEDED TO PICK HIS NOSE ON STAGE FOR 4 MINUTES AND 22 SECONDS.

CLEARING HIS THROAT HE MUMBLED SOMETHING ABOUT THE "BEST WAY TO FIND MEANING IN LIFE WAS IN THE DEATHS OF OTHERS," YELLED "YEE-HAW! HOOK 'EM HORNS!" AND ATTEMPTED TO MOONWALK OFF THE STAGE BUT TUMBLED OUT INTO THE AUDIENCE. THE SECRET SERVICE THEN WHISKED HIM OFF AS HE SHOUTED
"WAYNE NEWTON HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!"

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Yesterday in Iraq, Cheney spun like crazy. As Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) pointed out, Dick Cheney quoted David H. Petraeus, top US commander in Iraq, repeatedly, "General Petraeus has underscored the fact that the enemy tactics are barbaric. . . . We can expect more violence as they try to destroy the hopes of the Iraqi people." As pep talks go, not a lot of reality. Last week, Rick Rogers (San Diego Union-Tribune) reported on a military study that found only 40% of US marines would be willing to "report a member of their unit for killing or wounding an innocent civilian" and the number of those in the army was 55 pecent. As Gregg Mitchell (Editor & Publisher) observered: "At the Associated Press' annual meeting in New York on Tuesday, I sat in the audience observing Gen. Petraeus on a huge screen, via satellite from Baghdad, as he answered questions from two AP journalists. Asked about a U.S. Army Surgeon General study of over 1,300 troops in Iraq, released last week, which showed increasing mental stress -- and an alarming spillover into poor treatment of noncombatants -- Petraeus replied, 'When I received that survey I was very concerned by the results. It showed a willingness of a fair number to not report the wrongdoing of their buddies.' That's true enough, but then he asserted that the survey showed that only a 'small number' admitted they may have mistreated "detainees" -- a profoundly misleading statement. Actually, the study found that at least 10% of U.S. forces reported that they had personally, and without cause, mistreated civilians (not detainees) through physical violence or damage to personal property. So much for the claims by President Bush, military leaders and conservative pundits that 99.9% of U.S. troops always behave honorably. Of course, that kind of record has never been achieved by any country in any war." Along with that reality, we have the first hand stories being told.

It was about two a.m., but I could see very well because there were streetlights on our road and because the American illumination rounds that kept the sky lit up all night.
Suddenly, I looked over to my left and saw the bodies of four decapitated Iraqis in their bloodied white robes, lying a few feet from a bullet-ridden pickup truck to the side of the road. Because I sat on top left of the vehicle, and because the bodies were on the left-hand side of the road, I had them in clear view. I assumed that someone had used a massive amount of gunfire to behead them.
"Sh*t," I said.
A few second later, our slow-moving APC came to a stop. Among the three APCs in our convoy, I was the only soldier immediately ordered down to the ground. As I slid down into the APC and then out the hatch, Sergeant Jones told me to look for brass casings, which would be signs that Iraqi fighers with AK-47s had been shooting at American soldiers in the area.
I saw no sign of brass casings, but I did see an American soldier shouting at the top of his lungs while two other soldiers stood quietly next to him.
"We f**king lost it, we just f**king lost it," the soldier was shouting. He was in a state of complete distress, but the soldiers next to him were not reacting. The distressed soldier stood about twenty yeards from me, and another forty or so yards from the four decapitated bodies.
Two other soldiers were laughing and kicking the heads of the decapitated Iraqis. It was clearly a moment of amusement for them. This was their twisted game of soccer.I froze at the sight of it, and for a moment could not believe my eyes. But I saw what I saw, and was so revolted and horrified that I defied Sergeant Jones's orders and climbed right back into the APC.
[. . .]
I found Private First Class Hayes with a woman under an empty carport. He pointed his M-16 at her head but she would not stop screaming.
"What are you doing this for?" she said.
Hayes told her to shut up."We have done nothing to you," she went on.
Hayes was starting to lose it, and we weren't even supposed to be talking to this woman. I told her that we were there on orders and that we couldn't speak to her, but on and on and on she bawled at Hayes and me.
"You Americans are disgusting! Who do you think you are, to do this to us?"
Hayes slammed her in the face with the stock of his M-16. She fell facedown into the dirt, bleeding and silent. The woman lay still on the ground. I pushed Hayes away.
"What are you doing, man?" I said to him. "You have a wife and two kids! Don't be hitting her like that."
He looked at me with eyes full of hatred, as if he was ready to kill me for saying those words, but he did not touch the woman again. I found this incident with Hayes particularly disturbing because during other times I had seen him in action in Iraq, Hayes had showed himself to be one of the most levelheaded and calm soldiers in my company. I had the sense that if he could lose it and hit a woman the way he had, any of us could lose it.

The above is from US war resister Joshua Key's The Deserter's Tale -- the 'little' book that some expected to get a tiny flurry of attention the week of release and then quickly fade. Instead, it continues to get attention from across the political spectrum (and around the world), is stocked in bookstores across the country. ZNet runs the most recent review of it, by Derrick O'Keefe who found, "The Deserter's Tale is told in simple, compelling prose. Joshua Key's story may just be one perspective on the Iraq war, but in many ways the young war resister is also speaking on behalf of the voiceless thousands senselessly killed in this war. Relentlessly honest, and graphic, this book stands out as unique and significant amidst the shelves of books critiquing the Bush administration's foreign policy. It will surely stand up long after this war is over as a condemnation both of the pretensions of empire, and of the grotesque inequality that scars life in the United States itself."Key is not the only war resister to tell his story in book form. The just released Road from Ar Ramaid: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia is Camilo Mejia's account, an account he is also sharing currently on a speaking tour with other war resisters. That includes, as Courage to Resist noted yesterday, Agustin Aguayo:

Army Spc. Agustin Aguayo stepped off of a plane today at Sacramento International Airport after being imprisoned by the U.S. Army and held in Germany for nine months. Agustin was convicted of missing movement and desertion for refusing to redeploy to Iraq last year and publicly speaking out against the war.
Agustin's wife Helga and Courage to Resist supporters met him at the airport, give him a couple hours to relax from his 18-hour journey from Germany, and whisked him to his first speaking event in California's capitol. From here, Agustin is beginning a multi-city tour covering much of Northern California. In the upcoming days, Agustin will be joined by fellow Iraq War resisters Army Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejía, Navy Petty Officer Pablo Paredes, and Marine L/Cpl Robert Zabala.

The upcoming dates for the speaking out tour include:

Friday May 11 - Stockton 6pm at the Mexican Community Center, 609 S Lincoln St, Stockton. Featuring Agustin Aguayo.

Saturday May 12 - Monterey 7pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 490 Aguajito Rd, Carmel. Featuring Agustin Aguayo and Camilo Mejia. Sponsored by Veterans for Peace Chp. 69, Hartnell Students for Peace, Salinas Action League, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and Courage to Resist. More info: Kurt Brux 831-424-6447

Sunday May 13 - San Francisco 7pm at the Veterans War Memorial Bldg. (Room 223) , 401 Van Ness St, San Francisco. Featuring Agustin Aguayo, Camilo Mejia and Pablo Paredes. Sponsored by Courage to Resist, Veteran's for Peace Chp. 69 and SF Codepink.

Monday May 14 - Watsonville 7pm at the United Presbyterian Church, 112 E. Beach, Watsonville. Featuring Agustin Aguayo, Camilo Mejia, Pablo Paredes and Robert Zabala. Sponsored by the GI Rights Hotline & Draft Alternatives program of the Resource Center for Nonviolence (RCNV), Santa Cruz Peace Coalition, Watsonville Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF), Watsonville Brown Berets, Courage to Resist and Santa Cruz Veterans for Peace Chp. 11. More info: Bob Fitch 831-722-3311

Tuesday May 15 - Palo Alto 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church (Fellowship Hall), 1140 Cowper, Palo Alto. Featuring Camilo Mejia. Sponsored by Pennisula Peace and Justice Center. More info: Paul George 650-326-8837

Wednesday May 16 - Eureka 7pm at the Eureka Labor Temple, 840 E St. (@9th), Eureka. Featuring Camilo Mejia. More info: Becky Luening 707-826-9197

Thursday May 17 - Oakland 4pm youth event and 7pm program at the Humanist Hall, 411 28th St, Oakland. Featuring Camilo Mejia, Pablo Paredes and the Alternatives to War through Education (A.W.E.) Youth Action Team. Sponsored by Veteran's for Peace Chp. 69, Courage to Resist, Central Committee for Conscientious Objector's (CCCO) and AWE Youth Action Team.

Friday May 18 - Berkeley7pm at St. Joseph the Worker featuring Camilo Mejia.

US war resisters are part of a growing movement of war resistance within the military: Camilo Mejia, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Joshua Key, Augstin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.

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"Bully Boy doesn't understand "foreign forces""
"THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY SAYS FOREIGNERS OUT OF IRAQ!"

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Bully Boy doesn't understand "foreign forces"

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.

IRAQI PARLIAMENTARIANS HAVE VOTED. THEY WANT A WITHDRAWAL DATE FOR ALL FOREIGN FORCES TO LEAVE IRAQ.

REACHED FOR COMMENT AT THE WHITE HOUSE BY THESE REPORTERS, BULLY BOY RESPONDED, "I AGREE, THEM FOREIGNERS NEED TO GET OUT. IRAQ BELONGS TO THE U.S.A.!"

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Starting with news of war resistance. Colleen Henry (WISN, Milwaukee) speaks with two war resisters who have gone to Canada -- Corey Glass and Dean Walcott. Walcott self-checked out and went to Canada at the end of last year. He served two tours in Iraq and was stationed in Germany at a hospital in between where he saw the wounded with missin glimbs, skin melted off, and more. Corey Glass joined the National Guard expecting to help out in the United States during national disasters. Instead he was shipped off to Iraq. Glass self-checked out, went underground and then went to Canada. As October started last year, Corey Glass, Justin Colby, Ryan Johnson and other war resisters in Canada were considering returning to US as a result of the way Darrell Anderson's discharge was resolved. However, once the military attempted to screw over Kyle Snyder, that changed. Glass told Brett Barrouqere (AP) at the start of November, "After what they did to him, I don't see anybody going back." In September of last year, Glass stated, "I knew the war was wrong before I went, but I was going to fulfil my end of the bargain, right or wrong and eventually my conscience just caught up with me. . . I felt horrible for being a part of it. If I could apologise to those people [Iraqis], every single on, I would." Though Dean Walcott has not yet appeared before Canada's Immigration and Refugee "Board," Corey Glass appeared before it March 30th of this year.

Dean Walcott tells Colleen Henry that Germany was the turning point for him: "Basically our job there was to make sure the injured and dying Marines were made as comfortable as possible. . . . People were coming in missing legs, missing arms. They had to be put on feeding tubes, they weren't able to breathe without help of a machine. At this time, I was dealing with a lot of emotional problems. I was pretty messed up from dealing with work at the hospital. It was a rewarding job, but it was very, very difficult. So I'd asked to be put somewhere that was non-deployable, so I could get mental help, which the command graciously decided not to let me do. There was a lot of times that families would come to visit them in the hospital and see their dead or dying son or daughter, and (they) would yell at us and would hit us. It was misdirected anger, but to my way of thinking, it was understandable."

Jeffry House, their attorney and also Joshua Key's attorney, among others, observes, "Obviously there's a kind of courage in going to Iraq, even when you think it's wrong, and killing people, even when you think it's wrong. I think there's also courage in standing up and saying, 'No, I can't do that, and I'm willing to make some serious decisions." And Corey Glass tells Henry, "Staying there is, you're fleeing what you believe in, right? You're fleeing your belief in murder and all these other things, you're just doing it because you're scared of what they're going to do to you. But coming here, you're losing everything. You're fighting them because you're losing your family. You're losing it all."

And still they stand up. And still their numbers grow (sh, not too loudly, you might wake The Nation which has largely slept through the illegal war). Kimberly Rivera arrived in Canada in February with her two children and husband Mario after self-checking out and becoming the first female US war resister to apply for refugee status. Arriving in the United States today is US war resister Agustin Aguayo. Mark St. Clair (Stars and Stripes) reports that Aguayo would be returning to Los Angeles today following his April 18th discharge from military prison but not release from the military. He may not be at the Sacremento event tonight (though he and Helga Aguayo, his wife, may surprise) at 7:00pm, Newman Center, 5900 Newman Court, Sacramento. But he will now be able to take part in the speaking out tour with Camilo Mejia, Pablo Paredes, Robert Zabala and others.

Friday May 11 - Stockton
6pm at the Mexican Community Center, 609 S Lincoln St, Stockton. Featuring Agustin Aguayo.

Saturday May 12 - Monterey
7pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 490 Aguajito Rd, Carmel. Featuring Agustin Aguayo and Camilo Mejia. Sponsored by Veterans for Peace Chp. 69, Hartnell Students for Peace, Salinas Action League, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and Courage to Resist. More info: Kurt Brux 831-424-6447

Sunday May 13 - San Francisco
7pm at the Veterans War Memorial Bldg. (Room 223) , 401 Van Ness St, San Francisco. Featuring Agustin Aguayo, Camilo Mejia and Pablo Paredes. Sponsored by Courage to Resist, Veteran's for Peace Chp. 69 and SF Codepink.

Monday May 14 - Watsonville
7pm at the United Presbyterian Church, 112 E. Beach, Watsonville. Featuring Agustin Aguayo, Camilo Mejia, Pablo Paredes and Robert Zabala. Sponsored by the GI Rights Hotline & Draft Alternatives program of the Resource Center for Nonviolence (RCNV), Santa Cruz Peace Coalition, Watsonville Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF), Watsonville Brown Berets, Courage to Resist and Santa Cruz Veterans for Peace Chp. 11. More info: Bob Fitch 831-722-3311

Tuesday May 15 - Palo Alto
7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church (Fellowship Hall), 1140 Cowper, Palo Alto. Featuring Camilo Mejia. Sponsored by Pennisula Peace and Justice Center. More info: Paul George 650-326-8837

Wednesday May 16 - Eureka
7pm at the Eureka Labor Temple, 840 E St. (@9th), Eureka. Featuring Camilo Mejia. More info: Becky Luening 707-826-9197

Thursday May 17 - Oakland
4pm youth event and 7pm program at the Humanist Hall, 411 28th St, Oakland. Featuring Camilo Mejia, Pablo Paredes and the Alternatives to War through Education (A.W.E.) Youth Action Team. Sponsored by Veteran's for Peace Chp. 69, Courage to Resist, Central Committee for Conscientious Objector's (CCCO) and AWE Youth Action Team.

All are part of a growing movement of war resistance within the military: Camilo Mejia, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Joshua Key, Augstin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

In Iraq, Garrett Therolf (Los Angeles Times) reports that US and Iraqi troops (under US command) have cut off basics to the citizens of Samarra and notes "residents . . . complain that basic necessities such as drinking water have not reached the city for seven days." Therolf seems either unaware or unable to call out this for what it is, a violation of Geneva.

(Therolf also pushes the propaganda that "Ambulances have become favorite vehicles for car bombs and insurgents in the country" and seems to think offering a 2003 and 2007 example proves a pattern. The shooting of ambulances in Falluja probably provide a clearer pattern but they were shot up by US forces. Therolf also seems unable to speak with enlisted. If he had, he might be writing that the enthusiastic cheers that greeted Cheney's speech were ordered and that the more muted response to Cheney's talk of extending deployments resulted in several divisions being chewed out after the speech.) Meanwhile, as Danny Schechter (News Dissector) notes, Iraq's oil workers' trade union were set to strike today over the Iraqi oil law that will strip the country of profits but line the pockets of Big Oil. The strike has been moved to Monday, Steve Kretzmann (Oil Change) observes. UPI quotes US Labor Against the War's Michael Eisenscher explaining the postponement was "because they had a conversation with somebody at the Oil Ministry who said they wanted to respond to workers demands and needed time to prepare a response." US Labor Against the War, American Friends Service Committee and United for Peace & Justice are sponsoring a Voices of Iraqi Workers Solidarity Tour from June 4th to 29th that will include stops in Atlanta, Berkeley, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, NYC, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Washington DC. More details available at US Labor Against the War.

CBS and AP report: "A majority of Iraqi lawmakers have endorsed a bill calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and demanding a freeze on the number of foreign troops already in the country, lawmakers said Thursday. The Iraqi bill, drafted by a parliament bloc loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was signed by 144 members of the 275 member house, according to Nassar al-Rubaie, the leader of the Sadrist bloc." This as Shailagh Murray and Jonathan Weisman (Washington Post) report that: "House Republican moderates, in a remarkably blunt White House meeting, warned President Bush this week that his pursuit of the war in Iraq is risking the future of the Republican Party and that he cannot count on GOP support for many more months." At last, a casualty of war he may care about.

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"CBS, CBS, have you no shame?"
"THIS JUST IN! CBS' EARLY SHOW GOES NUTS!"

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

CBS, CBS, have you no shame?

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.

ETERNAL BOTTOM DWELLER IN THE RATINGS, "THE CBS EARLY SHOW" HAS NOW REACHED THE POINT WHERE IT WILL DO ANYTHING FOR ATTENTION.

TODAY IT REPORTED THAT ON HIS SHOW VISIT TO IRAQ, SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM SPENT EIGHT ADDITIONAL DAYS IN IRAQ AFTER SENATOR CRAZY MCCAIN LEFT DURING WHICH TIME "GRAHAM BROUGHT HIS LEGAL EXPERTISE TO A PLACE WHERE SADDAM HUSSEIN AND HIS HENCHMEN PLAYED JUDGE, JURY AND EXECUTIONER. GRAHAM COUNSELED THE IRAQIS ON HOW DIFFERENT THEIR COURTS MUST BE NOW."

THAT'S HYSTERICAL COMING FROM A MAN WHO ENDORSES TORTURE AS THE BLANCHE DU BOIS OF THE SENATE DOES.

BUT CBS HAD ONE MORE LAUGH GETTER: "NEVER BEFORE HAS A U.S. SENATOR SERVED ACTIVE DUTY IN IRAQ"! THEY GUSH. HE DID NOT SERVE ACTIVE DUTY. HE WASN'T DOING SEARCHES, HE WASN'T DOING PATROLS. TAKE THE TONGUE OFF LINDSEY CROTCH, CBS, BEFORE SOMEONE WASHES YOUR MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Starting with war resistance. Last week Camilo Meija's Road from Ar Ramaid: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia was published and, as Courage to Resist reports, tonight, he begins a speaking tour with Pablo Paredes, and Robert Zabala. Announced dates include:

Wednesday May 9 - Marin
7pm at College of Marin, Student Services Center, 835 College Ave, Kentfield. Featuring Agustin Aguayo, Pablo Paredes and David Solnit. Sponsored by Courage to Resist and Students for Social Responsibility.

Thursday May 10 - Sacramento
Details TBA

Friday May 11 - Stockton
6pm at the Mexican Community Center, 609 S Lincoln St, Stockton. Featuring Agustin Aguayo.

All are part of a growing movement of war resistance within the military: Camilo Mejia, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Joshua Key, Augstin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

Turning to politics, US and Iraq. Yesterday on KPFA's Flashpoints Radio, Robert Knight's "The Knight Report" summed up developments as follows:

The US backed Shia led puppet regime in Baghdad faced further setbacks today after the absentee parliament's biggest Sunni block threatened to collapse Nouri al-Maliki's Shia supremacist leadership by removing 44 Sunni legislatures from the current governing coalition. Iraqi vice president Tariq al-Hashimi, of the fundamentalist Iraqi Accord Front, has given Maliki a one week deadline until May 15th to amend Iraq's US designed Constitution of Military Occupation to restore authentic national sovereignty and territorial integrity otherwise Hashimi threatened quoted "I will tell my constituency frankly that I made the mistake of my life when I put my endorsement to that National Accord." Hashimi added that he was frustrated by Sunni exclusion from government under the de-Baathification commission headed by CIA and Pentagon asset Ahmed Chalabi. Hashimi concluded his demands with the hope that "I would like to see the identity of my country, in fact, restored back." He also refused an invitation to meet in Washington with President George W. Bush until those issues were addressed.

A collapse of the Maliki regime would scuttle bi-partisan hopes in Washington that Iraq's puppet parliament would ratify the US written petroleum law that would eradicate national sovereignty over oil resources and clear the way for lucrative extraction contracts for American and other multi-national oil conglomerates. A fig leaf ratification of the oil law is a mutual goal of both Republicans and Democrats in Congress who call the potential give away and segmentation of Iraq into secular regions to be an essential so-called benchmark for further military funding for the US occupation.

And on that front there are alarming revelations from Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich who reveled over the weekend that Congressional Democrats have sold out any hopes for reform in Iraq with a secret agreement with the White House over the so-called funding bill for the Iraq war. In a remarkably revelatory speech to the West Los Angeles Democratic Club, Kucinich said that the Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have made the following secret concessions. One, that House debate would not challenge the multi-national friendly Iraqi oil law that President Bush and vice president Cheney and the Democrats are desperate to have enacted so that Iraqi resources would be privatized. Number two, that bush could invade Iran without the approval of Congress because the Democrats have removed a clause that would require him to get approval from Congress. And of course that any and all timetables would be removed from subsequent enactments of the bill.

[. . .]

Dennis Bernstein: Robert Knight, stay with us. Thank you for the excellent report. And obviously we have been watching closely in particular the willingness of the Democrats to play ball so that the war and the significant aspects, the real reasons, the oil war can go forward. Would you just in a nutshell again recap the Kucinich highlights of the revelations of the sell out?

Robert Knight: Well this oil law is something that was a promise made by Cheney and Bush at the beginning of the war -- saying that the invasion would be funded by resources, the increased oil extraction and of course the profits to be made by the American companies. They have changed the language of the so-called PSA -- Production Sharing Agreements -- so that now the Iraqi national oil council would no longer have sovereignty over its own resources. There is a division in the bill that the Democrats are propagandistically propping up that is to say that this would share revenues among the different provinces.

But what it does it sets it up not to the province per se but to the regional coalition which is part of the United States and Israeli backed plan to divide Iraq into competing sectarian fragments -- the Kurds, the Shias in the south and of course the Sunnis in the more impoverished oil regions, the western part of Iraq. So the oil law would not only be something for profit but also something for segregation in Iraq.

Oil and Congress. Starting with oil. Dickey Cheney ("President of Vice" as Wally and Cedric have dubbed him) high tailed it to the Green Zone and you know it wasn't to rally the troops. BBC reports that Nouri al-Maliki was gushing and that "US officials said Mr Cheney wanted faster progress on the fair division of oil revenues" -- well of course he does, look at his portfolio. Garrett Therolf (Los Angeles Times) reports Vice was greeted with the usual warm response he's learned to expect the world over: over a thousand protesters holding sings such as the one that read: "Kick out the leaders of evil." Cheney must be so proud.

"BBC, Jason Leopold, Dave Zirin, Jim"

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"This & That (Betty filling in for Rebecca)"

"Bully Boy can't curb his urge to surge"
"THIS JUST IN! CAN WE GET A SURGE PROTECTOR!"

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Bully Boy can't curb his urge to surge

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.

BULLY BOY ANNOUNCED HIS PLANS FOR ESCALATION AFTER THE NOVEMEBER 2006 ELECTIONS AND CALLED IT A SURGE.

HE JUST CAN'T TAKE HIS FOOT OF THE ACCELERATOR!

TODAY BRYAN WHITMAN ANNOUNCED THAT 35,000 MORE U.S. TROOPS WOULD BE GOING TO IRAQ.

THIS WOULD TAKE THE NUMBER FROM 146,000 IN IRAQ TO 160,000.

GIGGLED BULLY BOY, "TO STOP THE SURGE, THEY'LL HAVE TO IMPEACH ME!"

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Starting with war resister news. Leslie Ferenc (Toronto Star) reports that US war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey are appealing the decision of Canada's Federal Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada: "The deadline to file for a leave to appeal to the Supreme Court is June 30. Unless they're successful, Hinzman and Hughey will be forced to return to the U.S. where they will be court-martialled and could face up to two years in jail for desertion." Up to two years? Ference is incorrect. (Ask Agustin Aguayo.) As in many countries, Canada's Supreme Court is the court of last appeals and only hears approximately 80 appeals each year (during its three sessions). 9 judges sit on the Court (which was created in 1875) with one designated in charge -- in the current Court that is Madam Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. Of the nine Justices, four are women which is three more than the US Supreme Court has. Hinzman and Hughey have been seeking refugee status from the Canadian government. The Federal Court of Appeal, in their ruling last week, decided that neither did enough to pursue c.o. status. Or that's the excuse the Court of Appeal gave for turning down the requests for refugee status.

In other war resister news, last week Camilo Meija's Road from Ar Ramaid: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia was published and, as Courage to Resist reports, this week, he joins with Agustin Aguayo Pablo Paredes, and Robert Zabala for a speaking tour from May 9th through 17th in the San Francisco Bay Area. The announced dates include:

Thursday May 10 - Sacramento
Details TBA

Friday May 11 - Stockton
6pm at the Mexican Community Center, 609 S Lincoln St, Stockton. Featuring Agustin Aguayo.

Aguayo wants to take part in that but may not be released in time. If the military is thinking they'll clamp down on war resistance by holding Aguayo, they obviously aren't factoring the passion this tour will create and the questions of, "Where's Augie?" All are part of a growing movement of war resistance within the military: Camilo Mejia, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Joshua Key, Augstin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

In media news, on Sunday, the Los Angeles Times called for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq joining -- a small number of daily newspapers around the United States have already done so but the Los Angeles Times has the largest circulation of any paper to make the call thus far. Entitled "Bring them home" the editorial concludes: "Having invested so much in Iraq, Americans are likely to find disengagement almost as painful as war. But the longer we delay planning for the inveitable, the worse the outcome is likely to be. The time has come to leave." Editor & Publisher calls it "the strongest stand yet" of "major papers" and notes other papers that have also called for withdrawal: the Roanoke Times, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Baltimore Sun, and the Portland Press Herald. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called for withdrawal on September 15th of last year in ""Editorial: The Iraq mess / Harsh reality underscores the need to leave" which concluded: "A serious president would, instead, step up to the plate and take steps to get America out of Iraq." (Truthout has reposted the LA Times' editorial here.)

The LA Times call comes as the number of US troops in Iraq increase and as some pin their hopes that Congress is running out of patience. On the first, China's Xinhua reports that the Bryan Whitman, US Pentagon spokesperson, has announced that "10 more combat brigades with 35,000 troops" will be deployed to Iraq this year. On the former, Jonathan Weisman and Thomas E. Ricks (Washington Post) report that, for the US Congress, September will now be the day of reckoning -- or so say Congress members such as US Senator Gordon Smith who declares, "Many of my Republican colleagues have been promised they will get a straight story on the surge by September. I won't be the only Republican, or one of two Republicans, demanding a change in our disposition of troops in Iraq at that point. That is very clear to me." Is it? Let's hope so; however, we've heard this song and dance before. For example, Paul Reynolds (BBC) reported last October on US Senator John Warner's bluster: "In two or three months if this thing hasn't come to fruition and if this level of violence is not under control and this government able to function, I think it's a responsibility of our government internally to determine is there a change of course we should take. I wouldn't take off the table any option at this time." Again, those statements were made in October.

Cullen Couch (UVA Lawyer) interviews Warner for the Spring 2007 issue and Warner said that the illegal war "permeates everything on Capitol Hill today. It's all-consuming. I've seen World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, and have served 29 years in the Armed Services Committee. Iraq is clearly the most complicated I have ever seen. And unfortunately, there's a very strong division n the Senate about what to do." Of Congress and the executive branch Warner states, "We're co-equal. I think checks and balances moves a little bit with the different presidencies and the different issues. But Congress

still has that power of the purse. And that's an awesome power." But will Congress use

it? And having boasted in October that no option is off the table, what has been

Warner's excuse for not already calling for Congress to stop funding the illegal war?

Monday, May 07, 2007

Sir! No Sir! on Sundance tonight

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.

HELP WANTED

CURRENT OPENING

WAR CZAR OR, TO MEET EEOC STANDARDS, WAR CZARINA

MUST BE WILLING TO DO THE DUTIES OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WITHOUT RECEIVING THE CREDIT OR THE PAY.

MUST BE ABLE TO MAKE SENSE OF THE ILLEGAL WAR IN IRAQ AND BREAK IT DOWN INTO EASY-TO-UNDERSTAND UNITS THAT COULD BE EXPLAINED TO A 4-YEAR-OLD.

EXPERIENCE IN DELIVERING REPORTS THAT BEGIN "ONCE UP A TIME . . ." IS A PLUS.

THOSE INTERESTED SHOULD FAX THEIR APPLICATIONS TO THE WHITE HOUSE

ATTN: STEPHEN HADLEY

AS A NEWS SERVICE, THESE REPORTERS DO NOT USUALLY WRITE ADS; HOWEVER, SECRETARY OF STATE AND ANGER CONDI RICE SAID IF WE'D DO HER A SOLID, SHE'D LET US WATCH SIR! NO SIR! TONIGHT IN THE WHITE HOUSE SCREENING ROOM. (Sir! No Sir!, Monday night, The Sundance Channel, followed by The Ground Truth.)

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Starting with the issue of war resisters. A decision was made public over the weekend regarding two US war resisters in Canada. To set that news up, we'll start by noting this passage from Joshua Key's The Deserter's Tale (pp. 226-227):

Although some Canadians have disagreed with me, and one man in British Columbia even threatened to put me in a boat and drag me to the American border, most of the people I've met in this country have treated me well. Yet it remains to be seen whether I will be allowed to stay in Canada. Just as this book was going to press, the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board rejected my application for refugee status. However, I am appealing that decision in court and will not give up my fight until I have explored every avenue to make Canada a permanent home for my wife, our children and myself. I also believe that the other men and women who have deserted the American armed forces because they do not wish to serve in Iraq should be allowed to stay in Canada. I believe that it would be wrong for Canada to force me to return to a country that ordered me repeatedly to abuse Iraqi civilians and that was later found to be torturing and humiliating inmates at Abu Ghraib prison. I don't think it's right that I should be sent back to do more of the same in Iraq, or that I should serve jail time in the United States for refusing to fight in an immoral war.

During Vietnam, Canada embraced war resisters. Today, the government refuses to do so. One person makes a decision and they hide behind "Immigration and Refugee Board" -- implying that a case is presented before a board, heard by several. That's not reality. It's one person. And no war resister has been granted asylum. But we're supposed to repeat the lie that the "board" is an independent body with the ability to make independent decisions. Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey were the first war resisters to go to Canada and be public about their move and their decision. They were the first to file for refugee status. Jack Lakey (Toronto Star) reports that the Federal Court of Appeal ruled (Saturday) that the two young men "are not entitled to refugee status" and that "The latest ruling noted neither made full use of steps open to them in the U.S. to win conscientious objector status, before fleeing here."

That may well be what the Federal Court of Appeal said, it is not, however, true. Hughey and Hinzman's strories underscore the realities that the court elected to ignore. Hinzman, from Rapid City, South Dakota, signed up in 2001 and taking part in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)as did his wife Nga Nguyen. It was in those meetings that Hinzman's beliefs were expanded/formed. He told Peter Laufer (p. 57 of Laufer's Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq) "No matter how much I wanted to, I could not convince myself that killing someone was right." Hinzman applied for C.O. status. He served in a non-combat role in Afghanistan. His application was denied. Let's repeat that in all caps: HIS C.O. APPLICATION was denied. Back in the US and soon to be deployed to Iraq, Hinzman self-checked out and he, his wife and their child Liam moved to Canada in January 2004.

Let's move to Brandon Hughey and come back for the court's recent decision. Brandon Hughey, from San Angelo, TX, signed up at 17-years-old. Peter Laufer includes a speech that David Hughey, Brandon's father, gave at the Veterans for Peace conference (that would be the 2005 attended by many including Dahr Jamail and Cindy Sheehan who left the conference, went down to Crawford and started Camp Casey): "I'm the father of Private Brandon Hughey who is at this time in Canada. I'm basically a card-carrying Republican. Used to be. My story basically began when my young son called me from Canada and told me that he didn't want to risk his life for Bush and Cheney's son. That caused me a great deal of concern. As a matter of fact, it caused great conflict. Our first several conversations over the telephone were basically fights. But I started reading. I did a lot of research, an incredible amount of research. And I actually found myself not being able to believe what I was seeing happen to this country. So I sent my son basically a manifesto that said I support him. It took a lot out of me. As I guess you can tell, I'm not much of a speaker. So it's brought me to this point, basically, to make a long story short. You know, I've read the Constitution of the United States of America. I've read a lot of books written by a man named James Madison, a lot of things by Thomas Jefferson. When I did that, it helped me figure out that all of this is totally wrong. I had some really good quotes, but I can't recall 'em off the top of my head. I just thought I'd come up and introduce myself. I do support my son." Every war resister has a story, everyone around them has a story -- it's just independent (print) media that doesn't give a damn and isn't interested in telling those stories. Informing readers, in the case of The Nation, is far less of a concern than reproducing Democratic campaign literature and calling it "independent".

18-year-old Brandon Hughey completed his training and was sent to Ford Hood. Hughey: "I had asked my superiors at Ft. Hood on more than one occasion to grant me a discharge from the mimlitary, but they refused saying it was not my choice. I was never informed on any route I coud take to leave the military such as applying for conscientious objector status. I had promised myself that under no circumstances would I allo myself to become complicit in the illegal occupation of Iraq. No contract or enlistment oath can be used an excuse to participate in acts of aggression or crimes against humanity."

So, the Canadian Federal Court of Appeals has dismissed both Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey's appeal and had the NERVE to state that "neither made full use of steps open to them in the U.S. to win conscientious objector status, before fleeing here." Hughey, like many enlisted, had no idea c.o. status even existed. Hinzman applied for it and was denied. But the Court wants to embarrass itself (and the memory of Pierre Trudea) by claiming that "neither made full use of steps open to them in the U.S. to win conscientious objector status". The Court doesn't know what it's talking about.

For the record, the US military is NOT following the guidelines outlined for granting C.O. status. This has included their refusing to grant the status to those who have found religion while serving, to those who have increased their religious beliefs, etc. Repeatedly, individuals have been turned down. Including those who spoke of a moral awakening but cited no religious beliefs. In the case of the last group, they've been told that they have to be religious. (No, they don't. The guidelines specifically state that is not true.) The US military turns down C.O. applications regularly (very few are granted) and the one constant is that each group makes up their own minds about what rules to follow and which ones to ignore. There is no consistency and there is certainly no recognition of the guidelines that have been set down in writing.

That's very obvious in the case of Agustín Aguayo who was refused C.O. status (by people who never even spoke to him). It's one of the reasons the Center on Conscience & War has declared May 14th (next Monday) the day to lobby Congress for COs because "it is important to support servicemembers who become conscientious objectors, to lobby for a place for conscience in an inherently violent organization suffering from a dire lack of it." They also note:

Come and lobby in Washington, DC or lobby your member of Congress at their local office near your home.
Click here to sign up for lobby day.

Click here for information on the Military CO Act

Information on subway access, directions and parking.

Map of the Area

On May 15th, International CO Day, CCW is participating in 2 events:

Congressional Briefing: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
An Aspect of Religious Freedom: Conscience in the Military,
sponsored by FCNL, Peace Tax Fund, and John Lewis

Advisory Council, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm @ Church of the Brethren (tentatively)

Church of the Brethren
337 North Carolina Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20003

Now in a blanket decision, the Canadian court has ruled that Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey didn't do enough to pursue C.O. status. How Hughey's supposed to pursue something he's never been informed of is a question the court sidesteps. They flat out ignore the fact that Hinzman did go through the process and was denied. So Brandon Hughey, the court wants to say, didn't do enough and they want to say them about Hinzman. There was no effort made to examine the issues -- the court appears to not even grasp the issues. They do appear (still) eager to avoid to avoid the entire issue. How proud they must be.

How this will effect other US war resisters in Canada who have applied for asylum isn't clear. (Despite what The Toronto Star says.) Others have different issues. Some, like Joshua Key and Patrick Hart have additional issues (such as serving in Iraq) and Kyle Snyder also has the fact that he's married to a Canadian citizen.

While the Canadian court system shows the maturity of a three-year-old, in the adult world, people are speaking out. Last week Camilo Meija's Road from Ar Ramaid: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia was published and, as Courage to Resist reports, he will be joining Agustin Aguayo Pablo Paredes, and Robert Zabala for a speaking tour from May 9th through 17th in the San Francisco Bay Area. The announced dates include:

Thursday May 10 - Sacramento
Details TBA

Friday May 11 - Stockton
6pm at the Mexican Community Center, 609 S Lincoln St, Stockton. Featuring Agustin Aguayo.

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, the documentary Sir! No Sir! traces the war resistance within the military during Vietnam and it will air at 9:00 pm (EST) on The Sundance Channel followed at 10:30 p.m. by The Ground Truth which examines the Iraq war and features Jimmy Massey and Iraq Veterans Against the War's Kelly Dougherty among others. (Filling in for Rebecca, Betty wrote about Sir! No Sir! last night.) To repeat, Sir! No Sir! airs tonight at 9:00 pm (EST) on The Sundance Channel followed at 10:30 p.m. by The Ground Truth (check local listings for other times, PST will be 9:00 pm as well).