Cedric's Big Mix: 2011-03-20

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Young love

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

WOULD REPUBLICAN TOADY ROGER AILES F**K POLITICAL GADFLY DAVID BROCK ARLEADY AND JUST GET IT OVER WITH?

SERIOUSLY, SOMEBODY BOOK THEM A ROOM.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

It's Friday and, yes, protests continued in Iraq. And because the government disrespects the people's right to freely express themselves, roads into Baghdad's Tahrir Square were yet again blocked. Wamith Al-Kassab (MidEastYouth) reports that Iraqi forces shut down the streets around Thrir Square yesterday and encircled them with barbed wire to prevent protesters." Al Mada reports on what the youth movement protesters were saying, that they have been protesting since February 26th to bring about a better Iraq and that the government cannot hide behind the walls of the Green Zone. Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that despite "heavy rains" and "tight security measures," hundreds of Iraqis protested in Baghdad's Liberation Square. At the Great Iraqi Revolution Facebook page, Hind Burgif wonders, "was it realy rain or baghdad crying and call iraqi people to help her and set her free???" Wedding Shawki and Adham Youssef (Al Mada) report on the demonstrations noting Iraqi security forces (again) used batons and water cannons while protecting themselves with shields (Youssef's photo shows a man with a menacing baton apparently aimed at a woman who is no threat to herself or anyone else). Iraqi women were a highly visible presence in today's protest in Baghdad and the article notes that women have been a part of the recent demonstrations, helping to demonstrate what a true picture of a democratic Iraq could look like. They then speak with women participating in the demonstrations like feminist Hmamonov Yousef Taher who feels the presence of women in protests helps reduce violence ("women's presence can lead the authorities to refrain from violence and it can reduce violence on the part of demonstrators") and is bothered by the inability of some to include women, noting the need to reach out with the message as well as obstacles that prevent women's participation (such as the curfew). She feels that the government's response to the protest with curfews and other repressive tactics has demonstrated the government's own failure and that women will increase their participation in the demonstrations. Sana, who is a poet, tells Al Mada, that women have bee participating in larger numbers in other countries and outlines some factors which may influence participation in Iraq. She also feels that the presence of women can help prevent the authorities from attacking the protesters. The Association of Iraqi Women's Suhaila Alaasm feels that women have been increasing participation throughout the country's provinces. She notes that women have been marginalized in Nouri al-Maliki's Cabinet. Like Sana, she points to the losses women have suffered since the invasion of Iraq and the oppression. The Baghdad Forum Cultural Center's Zainab Kaabi notes that women are oppresed and the Institute of Fine Arts' Precious Hashim notes that women face many obstacles but they will be present more and more in future demonstrations because when you participate and demonstrate for reform of Iraq you develop a taste for it and know that the soul and the connection will provide life and redemption. Mostafa Badr posts a photo of Iraqi women at Liberation Square and notes, "Elderly women demonstrating today in Tahrir Square demanding the release of their sons, husbands and brothers." Nafee Alfatlayi notes, "The mourning father of one of the demonstrators who was killed 4 days ago broke his mourning to attend the demonstration, stating that his son who was an agricultural engineer was killed 4 days ago by government security forces but he is here in Tahrir Square to uphold and support his son's stand." Ibrahim Laebi reports, "Suppression of the press in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, and the injury of 3 members of the press."

Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reports on the Baghdad protest and notes that women calling for the "government to release sons and husbands who are in prison awaiting trial or investigation" were often "carrying photos of their loved ones" and that "in Najaf, Diwaniya, Kut and Hilla -- Shiite provinces south of Baghdad -- hundreds of demonstrators rallied Friday against unemployment and corruption, police said." The Great Iraqi Revolution notes Iraqi forces were sent to Ramadi and Falluja but protesters still turned out and demonstrated ("thousands" in Falluja). Mostafa Badr reports, "The people of Tikreet have come out from the Grand Mosque, Tikreet, after Friday Prayers in a large demonstration demanding the release of detainees and the change in government and for the Parliament to go!!!!" The Great Iraqi Revolution reports, "The People of Babil are out in a very large demonstration demanding that Parliament and government resign!" And they report, "The Askeriein Regiment is surrounding the Aisha Mosque in Sammarra'a in an attempt to break the large demonstration taking place now despite suprresion tactics and methods -- the people of Sammarra'a demand the exit of the Parliament and the government as well as are refusing to sell their land around the 'Hathra'. God Save Iraq all Iraqis."

David Bacon's "EIGHT YEARS OF IRAQ'S OCCUPATION - EIGHT YEARS OF MISERY" (Truth Out):

The war in Iraq is supposedly over. The U.S. administration says the occupation, which began on March 20 eight years ago, is ending as well, with the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops. But as the U.S., Great Britain and France begin another military intervention in North Africa, their respective administrations are silent about the price Iraqis are paying for the last one.
Not so the Iraqi, however. Demonstrations have taken place in Baghdad, Basra and Kirkuk, among other cities, calling on the U.S. in particular to stop its escalating military intervention in Libya. Iraqi unions have been especially vocal, linking the U.S. invasion of Iraq with continued misery for its working people. According to one union representative, Abdullah Muhsin of the General Federation of Iraqi workers, "Eight years have ended since the fall of Saddam's regime, yet the empty promises of the "liberators" - the invaders and the occupiers who promised Iraqis heaven and earth - were simply lies, lies and lies."
The GFIW, which supported the recent uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, says the U.S. should "allow the people of Libya, Bahrain and other countries to determine their own destiny by themselves." Falah Alwan, president of the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq, says violence directed against workers and unions is intended to keep a lid on protests against miserable living conditions. "We are still under occupation," he charges. "The new Iraqi army, created by the U.S. occupation, is doing the same job, protecting the corrupt government while we are suffering from the difficulties of daily life."
"There's no electricity most of the time, and no drinking water - no services at all," says Qasim Hadi, president of the Union of Unemployed of Iraq. Eight years after the start of the U.S. military intervention, "there's hardly even any repair of the war damage - there's still rubble in the streets. People are going hungry."
Despite often-extreme levels of violence in the years of occupation, Iraqis have never stopped protesting these conditions. When demonstrations broke out in other countries of the Middle East and North Africa, people in Baghdad, Basra and Kirkuk had been taking to the streets for years. In large part, protests continued in Iraq because living conditions never changed, despite promises of what the fall of Saddam Hussein would bring.

David Bacon's latest book is Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press) which won the CLR James Award.

There was an attack on detainees in Rassafa Tasfeerat Prison according to The Great Iraqi Revolution, a week lon gattack, where "militias in plain clothes with knives and sharp instruments" attack the detainees and they note, "Journalist, Sa'ad Al-Awsi who has been detained for several months in Rassafa Prison in Baghdad on charges of terrorism, has an hour ago, been kidnapped by armed militias from the prison dressed in their black plain clothes uniform! Please mount a campaign for him -- they plan to liquidate him. Imagine prison officers colluding all the time with militias!"

Friday, March 25, 2011

His only chance at re-election?

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

GOOD NEWS FOR CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O!

ANOTHER WORTHLESS ELECTION POLL FROM PEW FINDS THAT AS LONG AS THE G.O.P. RUNS A CANDIDATE IN 2012 WITH NO NAME AND NO FACE AND NO BASE AND . . . . BASICALLY AS LONG AS THEY RUN A BLURRY FACE LIKE THE PERPS ARRESTED ON COPS, BARRY O HAS 48% CHANCE AT RE-ELECTION!

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Because she will forever be the little Piss Panties girl who kicked Elaine in the shin when Elaine asked if little Katrina (well, not so little then, old enough to be toilet trained) might have messed herself, Katrina vanden Heuvel soils her nest again, this time at the website of The Nation where the Peace Resister thinks she has a moral soap box to stand upon in "Wake Up! End the Silence on Afghanistan" which is the sort of weak ass, half-assed nonsense we've come to expect from Katrina. Before she gets pissy -- and I mean that in every way imaginable -- please note that Piss Panties vanden Heuvel is whining about others allegedly forgetting the Afghanistan War or being unwilling to speak out against it. This from the woman who is both editor and publisher of The Nation magazine which did nothing, NOTHING, to note the 8th anniversary of the Iraq War. The same war that once led her to pen an editorial claiming that the magazine would support no Democrat who didn't end the war. Katrina hopes you've forgotten that editorial. Let's highlight the main point of that November 28, 2005 editorial:

The Nation therefore takes the following stand: We will not support any candidate for national office who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq a major issue of his or her campaign. We urge all voters to join us in adopting this position. Many worry that the aftermath of withdrawal will be ugly, but we can now see that the consequences of staying will be uglier still. Fear of facing the consequences of Bush's disaster should not be permitted to excuse the creation of a worse disaster by continuing the occupation.

The illegal war continues and Katrina can't be bothered with it. In that same editorial, they trashed "Senators Hillary Clinton, Joseph Biden and Evan Bayh, who continue to huddle for cover in 'the center.' They offer little alternative to Bush's refrain 'We must stay the course!'" Let's pretend for a moment US forces leave Iraq at the end of 2011 (it's not happening). Would some being sworn into office in January 2009 and keeping troops in Iraq in 2009 and 2010 and all of 2011 be "a speedy end to the war in Iraq"? Of course not. But The Nation refuses to call Barack out on that reality.

In the midst of her blog post today, Katrina wants to talk costs of the Afghanistan War but, having wasted her academic career fraternizing with professors, she never learned how to do her own calculations so she's left to raid the work of others which forces her to include Iraq for one paragraph:

You wouldn't know about all the real long-term costs from the sparse media coverage. For example, when taking into account caring for the physical and psychological wounds of returning soldiers, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes estimate the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will reach $4 trillion to $6 trillion. (This looting of our Treasury at a moment when people also say they would opt for cuts in defense spending over cuts in Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security.)

Now watch what she follows that with:

But until people wake up, speak out, organize and mobilize to pressure their representatives and President Obama, the opposition numbers reflected in the polls won't mean much, and the staggering numbers describing the costs of this war will continue to climb.

"Wars" drops back to "the costs of this war." Maybe Katrina's the one who needs to wake up. February 1st, the US Ambassador in Iraq James Jeffrey and the top US commander in Iraq Gen Lloyd Austin appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to beg for more money -- specifically three billion to three-and-a-half billion for this year alone. As Wally noted in his report on the hearing, "We have a record number of US citizens on food stamps, if the ambassador doesn't know, and we can't even seem to keep unemployment payments going without repeatedly voting for extensions in Congress, but James Jeffrey is comfortable spending your money and mine in Iraq." The same day as the hearing, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a 20 page report entitled [PDF format warning] "IRAQ: THE TRANSITION FROM A MILITARY MISSION TO A CIVILIAN-LED EFFORT." The reports notes that "uncertainty about the nature of the U.S. military presence in Iraq after 2012 is complicating all other aspects of transition planning." From the report:

But regardless of whether the U.S. military withdraws as scheduled or a small successor force is agreed upon, the State Department will take on the bulk of responsibility for their own security. Therefore, Congress must provide the financial resources necessary to complete the diplomatic mission. Consideration should be given to a multiple-year funding authorization for Iraq programs, including operational costs (differentiated from the State Department's broader operational budget), security assistance, and economic assistance programs. The price tag will not be cheap -- perhaps $25 - 30 billion over 5 years -- but would constitute a small fraction of the $750 billion the war has cost to this point.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee estimates that the next five years in Iraq could cost US tax payers $30 billion dollars. Yet Katrina vanden Heuvel, who can't find the courage to call for an end to the Iraq War, wants to insist other people need to wake up? Seriously?

In May of 2007, Bill Van Auken (WSWS) called out Katrina's craven editorials and sorry excuses offered for Democrats who continued to support the Iraq War:

Treating the Democratic leadership's hollow pledge to "keep fighting" as good coin, the Nation writes, "Pelosi and Reid are right when they say this is not the end of the fight over money for Iraq." The only problem, it suggests, is that "there are still prominent Democrats who don't get it" -- Levin, Hoyer and Co. --and they "are slowing movement toward unity in support of withdrawal."

The "unacceptable votes" cast by these supposedly rogue Democrats "should raise the ire of antiwar activists and the American people," the Nation affirms, and those who cast them should be "held accountable for extending the war."

The editorial concludes, "Americans must make it clear that when the next chance comes to use the power of the purse, our representatives should follow the will of the people and call a halt to Bush's disastrous war."

Nothing could more clearly sum up the Nation's political function. It seeks to delude its readers into thinking that the ongoing complicity of the Democratic Party in the launching and continuation of the war in Iraq is a matter of a "razor thin" majority in Congress and the wayward votes of a few political miscreants. Thus, the perspective it advances is that these few politicians -- mere warts on an otherwise healthy political body -- should be shamed, and the public should wait for the Democrats to do better next time.

Everything here is reduced to the small change of party politics and petty maneuvers in the halls of Congress. It leaves unanswered the big and obvious questions of why the Democrats are incapable of mounting a genuine opposition to the war and why the party's congressional leadership has no intention of doing either of the two things that could force its end -- blocking all funds for the Iraq occupation or impeaching Bush for the war crimes and anti-democratic abuses that have been carried out under his administration.

The explanation is to be found not in the "razor thin" majority that the Democrats have in Congress -- that never stopped the Republican Party from forcing through its right-wing agenda when it held the leadership -- but in the class nature of the Democratic Party and the character of the war itself.

It's the craven nature that allows elected Democrats to think they can continue to fool their constituents into thinking they any any way stand for peace and/or rationality. It's what allows the always embarrassing Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer to do what they did today. No, not the hair. But please, please, let's get a rule in place. If you're not an entainer and you're over 70-years-old, you wear you real hair in public, not bad wigs that you hope make you look '40-ish.' And Barbara, after we can all agree on that, let's do something about the racoon eye-liner you favor, okay? Members of Congress should look age-appropriate, not as though they're aging sex pot left over from a 60s Matt Helm film. There is something truly sad about supposedly powerful, supposedly mature women who turn themselves into objects of scorn and ridicule in the mistaken belief that they can shave multiple years off. That self-deciption is probably in part why Carla Marinucci (San Francsico Chronicle) can report that Babsie and Nance came out today in favor of the unconstitutional attack on Libya -- it is an attack on Libya, not on the leader, get real, those bombs fall on people. As John V. Walsh (Antiwar.com) notes today, "Partisan considerations should not impede the move to impeach Barack Obama. When George W. Bush was president, many on the Democratic Party Left called for his impeachment. They must do the same for President Obama who has more clearly violated the Constitution than President Bush since he did not even seek the dubious Congressional 'authorization' which George W. Bush asked for and received. If the Left cannot do this, its credibility will be in shambles, and quite deservedly so. On the other side clearly there is reason to indict Bush, and some on the Left are calling for that as are certain authorities in European countries where the former President dare not go. But at the moment Barack Obama is in charge and capable of greater damage if he is not stopped by impeachment. Impeachment of Barack Obama can no longer be avoided." Unless you're Katrina vanden Heuvel, a hopeless hypocrite who is unable to call out the continued Iraq War. Falls silent on the topic even on the 8th anniversary. Shameful.

Showing more courage on his own than Katrina, Nancy and Barbara combined could ever hope to have, Iraq War veteran Kevin Baker delivered an important and moving speech (March Forward!) at the LA rally Saturday for the 8th anniversary of the Iraq War:

On this day last year, Spc. Derrick Kirkland, who I served on a tour in Iraq with, hanged himself in his barracks room. He was found dead on March 20th.

This date also marks the date of the brutal invasion and occupation of Iraq by the United States. These two dates now mark two specific but not isolated atrocities committed by this government.

Derrick Kirkland was killed by this government -- for sending him to a war we had no reason to fight, then neglecting him when he asked for help.

He was in Iraq on his second tour and was sent home early because the pains of PTSD and other issues were to much to bear alone. Kirkland had tried three times before to kill himself. Despite 3 suicide attempts, Army psychologists labeled him a "low" risk for suicide. He was ridiculed and mocked by his chain of command, who then placed him in a barracks room by himself. He was there only 3 days before he took his life.

As someone who has battled though the Army medical system, I can tell you that it is not designed to help anybody. In fact, it sets up barricades to ensure soldiers stay in the military, despite seeking help. There are only a fraction of the number of psychiatrists that are needed. Appointments are months apart and treatment is reduced to nothing more than "checking boxes" to make soldiers legally ready for another deployment. Kirkland is not an isolated incident. In 2009 and 2010, more soldiers killed themselves than were killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers are killing themselves on an average of one per day.

If you want to know how much our chain of command cares about us, just look at what our executive officer Major Keith Markham, in memos he sends to other officers: "We can accomplish anything we put our minds to ... with an endless amount of expendable labor." The "expendable labor" this officer is speaking about is Derrick Kirkland, and every other soldier who has lost their life to suicide, and in combat.

Officers build their careers off of the backs of enlisted soldiers. Officers like Major Markham, General Petraeus, and everyone in the Pentagon, don't care about its soldiers -- our friends, loved ones, husbands, daughters, sons and wives. If this government does not care about its own soldiers then why would we even begin to think it cares about "liberating" peoples of another nation? This is why we say 'this is not our war' and service members have an absolute right to refuse orders to Afghanistan and Iraq!

We can stop these wars, but we need each other to do it. Those of us who mourned Kirkland's death, those of us who were sent to die in these wars, we know that this government cares nothing about us; we're just the cannon fodder in their wars for the rich. Those experiences have woken us up, and we are fighting back, and we will fight back until we stop these criminal wars!

Click here to read the origional statement circulated after Kirklands death.

It's a shame that the all the real leaders are outside of Congress. But apparently it's an unwritten law that Congressional critters must be de-spined before taking their oath of office.

"Libya"

"Little Barry Fu-Fu"

"Does anyone know what the hell is going on?"
"katha, a pig, and power"
"He went to Carnival"
"Elizabeth Taylor"
"Impeach him"
"No Ordinary Family"
"Voting"
"Senate Dems and Fringe"
"Look who's back, shady's back"
"THIS JUST IN! SNIPPY STARLET!"

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Look who's back, shady's back

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

THE COCKY LITTLE CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O BREEZED BACK INTO THE COUNTRY, STUCK HIS NOSE UP IN THE AIR YET AGAIN AND DECLARED "WE KNOW WHAT WE'RE DOING!"

REALLY? BECAUSE IN 2008, GAS WAS LESS THAN $2.00 A GALLON AND NOW IT'S ALMOST $4.00 A GALLON. AND UNEMPLOYMENT WASN'T THIS HUGE AND WE DIDN'T HAVE AS MANY BUSINESS SHUTTING DOWN. BUT OKAY, YOU FOUND A NEW SHADE OF LIP GLOSS THAT MAKES YOUR SALT & PEPPER HAIR LOOK PRETTY, SO THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS TO THE MAN WHO'S QUICKLY BECOME THE ROBERTO BENIGNI OF NOBEL PRIZE WINS.

HEY, BARRY O, WHEN YOU FINISH YOUR TOPLESS SHOOT, YOU THINK YOU CAN WORK ON THE ECONOMY? YOU KNOW, WHAT YOU KEEP SWEARING IS JUST ABOUT TO BECOME THE TOP PRIORITY TO YOUR ADMINISTRATION?

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Today the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre released [PDF format warning] "Internal Displacement: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2010." Across the globe, the number of displaced person grew to 27.5 million ("the highest in a decade"). Iraq joins Columbia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somolia and Sudan as one of the five countries with "over a million people identified as IDPs" -- Internally displaced Persons -- and "over half the world IDPs" are in those five countries. Of the five, Iraq ranks third on the largest internally displaced populations scale with approximately 2.8 million people in Iraq. The graph on page 16 of the report shows a steady climb in the number of IDPs in Iraq throughout the decade with 2008 being a high point, 2009 a slight dip and 2010 returning to the same level as 2008. Approximately 9% of Iraq's population (in country) is IDP which translates as approximately one Iraqi in every ten is internally displaced.

Page 25 features a photo of an Iraqi male missing a portion of his left leg who, along with others, now lives "in a garbage dump in the neighbourhood of Al-Mushraf" in Mosul as a result of being an IDP who has had to flee his home as a result of violence. Page 78 deals specifically with Iraq. From page 78:

By 2010, people from the same sectarian or religious group had been concentrated into the same locations as IDPs fled to areas where their group was dominant. About half of the total number came from the ethnically diverse governorates of Baghdad and Diyala. As a result the country was more ethnically and religiously homogenous than at any time in Iraq's modern history. Iraqi society remained deeply divided along sectarian lines, with many minority groups facing particular threats, including Christians of various denominations, Fae'eli Kurds, Yazidis, Palestinian refugees, and Sunni and Shi'a Muslims where they were in the minority.

Tensions remained high in 2010 yet increasingly confined to the disputed areas of the ethnically diverse northern governorates of Kirkuk and Ninewa. While the security situation in Baghdad remained fragile, it had improved tos ome extent because the major political parties had renounced violence to jockey for political influence. The only identified pattern of new displacement in 2010 was that of Christians from Baghdad and Mosul: following threats and targeted bombings, an undetermined number were displaced to the three northern governorates under the authority of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Internally displaced children and women were particularly at risk, and faced widespread gender-based violence and labour exploitation. In a country that gives women fewer opportunities than men, internally displaced women and families headed by women had significantly greater needs than other displaced people in the same area.

Many of the vulnerabilities faced by IDPs were shared by non-displaced groups who all suffered from high rates of unemployment, limited access to basic food rations and clean water, and a declining standard of living. However, IDPs faced the additional challenge of the constant threat of eviction as most displaced families were living in rented or privately-owned houses, in collective settlements, or in public buildings.

The report notes that the number of returnees (of IDPs -- not returnees from outside the country) dropped in 2010 and those who did return largely returned to either Baghdad or Diyala. (Yes, we noted this reality back in 2010 when fools like Thomas E. Ricks' online spouse couldn't get it correct.) Kelley B. Vlahos explores the realities of what's been done to the land and future of Iraq in "Children of War" (American Conservative). Scott Horton discussed the article with her on Antiwar Radio. Excerpt:

Scott Horton: This is a very hard hitting piece there in the American Conservative magazine which is the flagship magazine of the anti-war right in this country and often times it's worth reading in depth but this article was really great and especially timely since it's now the 8th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. And primarily this article is concerned with the pollution of various kinds and the disastorous effects that this pollution has had for the people of Iraq. So that, I think as you even say in the piece, "Even though the American people would prefer to just pretend the Iraq War is ancient history or something, it's still going on for the people there." Can you tell us a little bit about the consequences and maybe some of the likely causes that we're talking about here?

Kelley B. Vlahos: Sure. I mean I -- I basically would call this if you're going to look at something that crystalized the US invasion of Iraq, I would say this is the greatest, you know, singular example of the tragedy of our invasion of Iraq -- if not the thirty year relationship we've had, the US has had with Iraq. This was a very difficult piece to write. But just to drill down a bit, basically it talks about the impact of, like you said, the pollution -- the impact of 30 years, really of war in Iraq beginning with the Iran and Iraq war in which we supplied monetarily and with weapons Saddam Hussein in the Iraq war and against Iran in which thousands and thousands of pounds of munitions were dropped, tanks and chemical weapons. Then you fast forward to the Persian Gulf War, another anniversary that was reached this week, the end of the Persian Gulf War 1991in which, again, we used heavy artillery and tanks notably with depleted uranium that still sits out in the deserts of Iraq. And then the more recent US invasion of Iraq and the last 8 years. So the impact of that on the landscape of Iraq has been devestating. And the greatest example we have right now is the increase of birth defects in places like Falluja, for example, and Basra which were very, very heavily hit -- both in this war, specifically Falluja, and in the Persian Gulf War, Basra. And what they're finding in a recent study that I -- that I mention in the piece, in Falluja they, scientists, have determined a 15% incident rate of birth defects among babies born in their General Hospital in 2010. And to sort of bring this into perspective, you know, an estimated 3% of every live birth in the US is effected -- is effected by birth defects and 6% worldwide. So we're talking a huge, auspicious number here. We're talking birth defects --

Scott Horton: Well hold on a second, Kelley. I was going to say if -- if people have young kids riding along in the back of the minivan right now, you might want to turn it to music before Kelley starts describing some of the birth defects we're talking about being found at the Falluja General Hospital.

Kelley B. Vlahos: Oh, yeah. I mean, as a mother, this is a particular difficult story for me to do because every time that I went to do research, Googling "birth defects Falluja" I would indiscriminately get photographs of these babies that were born and we're talking everything from congenital heart defects to what you would call skeletal malformations which could be pieces of the skull missing, missing eyes, missing limbs, additional limbs where there shouldn't be limbs, babies who are just lying there lifeless and limp because their heads are three, four times the size they should be. Things that you don't even want to see or ever hope to see, that will give you nightmares at night. And there are pictures and pictures and examples upon examples on the internet that, you know, I think most of us would probably -- not ignore, but never see unless we were investigating it ourselves. And this is sad because the evidence is there and we have basically, like you said earlier, have decided that the war is over but this is occuring. And they're looking for help and their own government isn't giving them help and we certainly aren't doing it. Now what are the causes? This is -- this is the big investigation that's going on. There's been -- There's many theories. One being that depleted uranium that I had mentioned earlier. Our depleted uranium basically is -- is a dense heavy metal that is used in both an armored plating on our tanks as well as in our munitions. Now the extent of how much we've used in this war is pretty much a secret because the military knows it's controversial. It's been controversial since the Persian Gulf War when it was used and our own soldiers were being exposed to it in friendly fire fights with tank battles. And they came home and complained of all sorts of illnesses but also birth defects in the babies that their wives were having. There had been many studies and many surveys done but the Department of Defense -- surprise, surprise -- has denied that depleted uranium has anything to do with incidents, increased incidents, of cancer birth defects among our soldiers so you can imagine that they don't want anything to do with anything that's happened among Iraqis. But anyway, so the use of depleted uranium is controversial but they're still using. The Air Force uses it, the Army, the Marines. And in places like Falluja which had been unbelievably pounded by US air power during 2004 and 2005 if you can remember, this was a big hot bed of Sunni resistance. They were the ones that hung the Blackwater contractors off the bridge, the Sunnis in Falluja. And so the Marines went in there and basically tried to basically restore order there, to take it out of control of the insurgents' hands. They managed to do that. They put -- They put the security in the hands of local uh-uh Fallujans and left and then they had to come back after George Bush -- the minute George Bush was re-elected in 2004. He -- He started another air campaign. So we're basically talking about large areas of the city just leveled. We're talking about GPS guided bombs just like plucking buildings out, plucking insurgents out. You know strafing going on. I mean, just -- you can imagine. Looking at pictures of Falluja today, it's a wasteland. But they managed to "pacify" them in the end. But anyway, so what's left there? And we can only imagine. So the babies that are being born today are, like I said, 15% of them in 2010 were being born with these birth defects. Is it the depleted uranium? Is it the fact that there's no sewage or clean water in Falluja? All sorts of -- I mean, the burning of the trash on the forward operating base, a little bit about that in the article. So we basically destroyed the ecology of Iraq. But we need to find out exactly what's causing the birth defects and also the high levels of cancer among Fallujans as well as the people in Basra which I mentioned earlier was also heavily hit too. The studies are there but they need the help not only to bring it to light and to do something about it. And we are-are so far ignoring the plight of these people. For all obvious reasons. It is -- It is an embarrassment and a humiliation. And it is anathema to everything we were told: we went into Iraq to save and to liberate these people.

Albertina Ada (Health Facility) observes:

About 75,000 children in Iraq are now living in camps or shelters, having lost their homes due to the war or been forced to evacuate because of threats of violence.
Hundreds of kids have been injured, or even died, from war-related violence. Many, many others have lost family members to the war. One twelve-year-old girl was shot repeatedly by US soldiers who burs into her home. The soldiers shot and killed the girl's uncle and injured her aunt. They even killed all of the family's chickens before they left, to lessen the family's chance of survival.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

No tough questions for the celebrity, please!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O MADE SURE THAT HIS DUTIES AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF DID NOT INTERFERE WITH HIS DESIRES TO COURT THE WORLD PRESS AND HAS JUST FINISHED A FIVE DAY LATIN AMERICA TOUR WHICH HE LEFT FOR WHILE STARTING A WAR WITH LIBYA.

HE TOLD THESE REPORTERS, "PEOPLE THINK I'M JUST TITS AND ASS, TITS AND ASS."

ASKED WHAT THAT HAD TO DO WITH ANYTHING, BARRY O SHRUGGED AND OFFERED TO POSE SHIRTLESS.

BACK IN CHICAGO, HIS ONE TIME FRIENDS ARE BEGINNING TO SHARE HOW THE FACADE WAS CREATED.

SNAPPED BARRY O, "I BET THIS IS HOW MADONNA FELT WHEN SHE LEARNED HER BROTHER WAS WRITING A TELL-ALL! I'VE GOT TO DO A SEX BOOK!"

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Alsumaria TV reports that Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister and thug of the occupation, has declared Iraq to be "the most stable country in the region." Nouri was speaking at an agricultural conference. Nayla Razzouk and Kadhim Ajrash (Bloomberg News) report that Iraq is need of foreign investment in order for "the country [to] become self-sufficient in grains within three years" and they note that Nouri asserted that Iraq currently is able to produce "half of its grain needs." Oops! Nouri didn't pay attention because Alsumaria reports that Sunday the US Embassy in Baghdad's Ron Verdonk was explaining "that Iraq imports 80% of its annual wheat consumption and 90% of its annual rice consumption". UPI adds that the plan is for Iraq to be "self-sufficient by 2014" when it comes to grain. Related, today is World Water Day. AFP reported yesterday that the UN has declared Iraq is wasting 50% of its water resources. Alsumaria TV quotes a UNICEF statement: "Iraq faces difficulties in meeting the target of 91 percent of households using a safe drinking water supply by 2015" and "One in five or around six million Iraqis do not have access to safe water, of which the vast majority are in rural areas." At the start of this month, UNICEF noted:

Unremitting violence not only sets the backdrop of daily life in much of Iraq, it has also weakened governance and crippled the ability of the country to feed, protect and educate its citizenry. Political and economic turmoil has led to the great vulnerabiilty of women and children, who are threatened by poverty, undrenutrition, lack of safe water and sanitation, insufficient educational resources and the prospect of personal violence and abuse. Iraqis must contend with threats of drought, decimated infrastructure and a large population of refugees and internally displaced people. The number of displaced Iraqis is counted in the millions, with a large number of Iraqis seeking refuge in neighouring countries and over a million displaced inside the country since the height of 2006 violence. Reutrn of people to their homes is thwarted by continuing fears and insecurity. Vulnerable Iraqi women and children -- whether in Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon or the Syrian Arab Republic -- require sustained, intense assistance to assure basic living standards and fundamental protection in a context of war, violence and political discord.

Aswat al-Iraq also notes Nouri's claim of stability, "Iraq became one of the most stable countries in the region after a period of violence and divisions." Of course, he leaves not only the violence but the fact that 47,000 or so US troops stationed on Iraqi soil guarantee (thus far) that he can't be toppled. His neighbors can't make the same claim, now can they?

Today Baghdad is slammed with bombings. Aswat al-Iraq notes 2 dead and at least eight injured from five bombings in the capital. Reuters updates that to six bombings with 2 dead and thirteen injured. Hisham Rikabi (Al Mada) reports that an Iraqi military spokesperson, Maj Gen Qassim Atta, is blaming the resurgence of assassinations and liquidations of government and security officials on opponents upon "criminal gangs and terrorists." Noting the recent assassinations of members of the Ministries of Oil and Defense, Dar Addustour reports that the police are stating that the assailants are using silencers and that people are blaming this increase on the fact that there is still no Minister of the Interior or Minister of Defense. (There is also still no Minister of National Security but that's not mentioned in the article.) Reuters reports one or two police officers were killed in clashes with protesters in the KRG village of Halabja.

Dar Addustour reports that a senior citizen took his own life in Baghdad (he hanged himself) because he couldn't afford the cost of providing for his family (which included two children who may have been young or may have been kids). Amer Qaisi pens a column for Al Mada entitled "The Road to Liberation Square." "Liberation Square" is what protesters have re-named Baghdad's Tahrir Square. Qaisi notes that every Friday the government attempts to block demonstrators from arriving at Liberation Square. Qaisi notes that protesters must travel between pits and piles of garbage to approach "Liberation Square" and then they encounter closed bridges and roads roped off with barbed wire to prevent vehicles from going an futher. All of this and the harrassment and abuse of journalists and protesters indicate that the Iraqi government doesn't want to hear the voices making demands. Every Friday, Qasi continues, they must face the same scene all over again as well as the fear mongering of "al Qaeda!" and "Ba'athists!" No one believes Nouri has a magic wand nor that he'll discover Aladdin's lamp but the protests will continue and the protesters will continue to make their demands.

March 11th, Jane Arraf filed an audio report for PRI's The World on the protests.

Many voices: Ka-thab.

Jane Arraf: There's a new song in town.

Many voices: Ka-thab.

Jane Arraf: Kathab in Iraqi Abaric means "liar." You hear the chant at every protest in Baghdad -- usually linked with the prime minister's name, Nouri al-Maliki. And when you ask protesters what Maliki's lied about, there's a long list starting with Maliki's claim that Saddam loyalists, Ba'athists, are behind the protests. Yanar Mohammad is a women's activist.

Yanar Mohammad: Mr. Maliki tells us that we are Ba'athists. And our answer to him is that we all suffered under the Ba'ath. Many of us escaped. Many of us went into prisons. And we did suffer in the previous era of the Ba'athists but now in these eight years also millions are suffering, hundreds are being tortured right now in Maliki's prisons. What about those people? Why doesn't he answer to that? He says we're either Ba'athists or we are from al Qaeda. Why is he lying?

Jane Arraf: Mohammad says she's so angry, she wants to storm the Green Zone where the government is based. In Baghdad's Liberation Square, the protests attract all kinds of people. Majdi Abdul Khalif is talented enough to have taught himself English from the movies and how to fix cell phones. But he can't find a job.

Majdi Abdul Khalif: Our patience is finished. To tell you the truth, we've seen the changes in Egypt and Tunisia and we need to try that.

One of the demands the protesters have made is for an end to corruption. Dar Addustour reports that the Integrity Commission informed inspector generals yesterday that they could not hide files and that all reports on corruption in institutions will be turned over to the Commission. Al Rafidayn details a few investigations including one involving Ministry of the Interior employees, one of which was caught blackmailing employees of a Baghdad police station.

As noted in the March 14th snapshot, Gen Numan Dakhil, head of Nouri's Rapid Reaction Brigade in Baghdad was caught by the Integrity Commission investigators taking a $50,000 bribe and ordered his forces to attack the IC investigators, leaveing nine injured, three of which required hospitalization. He was later cornered in a Baghdad shoot out before finally surrendering. Nouri's Rapid Reaction Brigade is back in the news. Al Rafidayn reports that the group is being criticized -- along with the US military -- for raids that have been taking place in Diwaniya Province. The Provincial Council's Deputy Chair has called out the raids noting that contents of homes have been destroyed and the inhabitants terrorized by the joint forces and that these raids have taken place "without the knowledge of the local government." He also expressed his surprise that, Baghdad being 180 km from Diwaniyah Province, the Rapid Reaction Brigade would be utilized. He also accused the US forces of deliberately taking part in the raids in order to antagonize the Sadrists in the province and cause them to retaliate.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

One Year Old and Still Unloved

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O HOT-FOOTED IT OUT OF THE U.S. IN ORDER TO AVOID HAVING TO SELL OBAMACARE AGAIN. YES, OBAMACARE HAS TURNED ONE-YEAR-OLD AND BARRY O'S AVOIDING IT THE WAY HIS FATHER AVOIDED HIM.

NANCY PELOSI -- WHO WAS ONCE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE -- IS LEFT TO LIE FOR OBAMACARE AND FALSELY CLAIM THAT IT "CREATES 4 MILLION JOBS" AND THAT IT "REDUCES THE DEFICIT MORE THAN $1 TRILLION OVER THE LIFE OF THE BILL." NANCY PELOSI HAS TO RESORT TO FALSE STATISTICS LONG AGO PROVEN FALSE TO TALK UP OBAMACARE.

ANOTHER LIE TOLD BY MANY WAS THAT, ONCE PASSED, OBAMACARE WOULD BECOME POPULAR. A YEAR AFTER BEING PASSED SUPPORT FOR OBAMACARE IS AT AN ALL TIME LOW. IF THE DEMOCRATS HAD PASSED UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE BET PEOPLE WOULD BE APPLAUDING IT ONE YEAR LATER, TOO BAD THEY DECIDED TO GIFT THE MEDICAL AND INSURANCE LOBBY AND SCREW THE VOTERS.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Saturday was the 8th anniversary of the Iraq War. And what took place on Saturday? To hear Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) tell it, not much: "In Washington, D.C., more than 100 antiwar activists were arrested outside the White House on Saturday during a protest to mark the eighth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq." (She provides a second sentence about a Sunday protest not against the Iraq War. She provides a third sentence where she notes Daniel Ellsberg was arrested at both.) Ava and I explored how pathetic Democracy Now! and KPFA were this weekend. Amy Goodman's bound and determined to prove us right. Protests took place across the country on Saturday. DC wasn't even the largest protest, Los Angeles was. But Goody's not interested in the Iraq War as she's demonstrated over and over (in fact, I don't believe her audience has even been told that US troops may remain in Iraq past 2011). Nor is KPFA. They provided 3 minutes on Iraq in a 2 hour "Iraq War special" Saturday. Here's how they describe in the archives (it doesn't show up on Saturday's archive, you have to click here to find it):

On the 8th Anniversary of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, many organizations coordinated by the ANSWER Coalition will hold a march and rally from UN Plaza in San Francisco. KPFA will cover the event in a joint production of Flashpoints, La Onda Bajita and Voices of the Mideast and North Africa and Hard Knock Radio.

Despite billing it as they did above (for how they billed it on air, see Ava and my piece), only 3 minutes were on Iraq. Apparently those three minutes exhausted them because today KPFA couldn't find the protests when they returned to work. The Morning Mix had an hour but nothing on the protests (and Tara was co-hosting the 2 hour special), Letters to Washington had an hour and nothing on the protests, Brian Edwards-Tiekert was laid off by KPFA and used that time to whine that without him on the air there wouldn't be any Iraq coverage but he filled in as host of Against The Grain today and, in a full hour, couldn't find the protests. Remember that the next time some of our left leaders whine about the MSM giving the Tea Party attention. Faux radical Sonali and her so-called Uprising Radio had nothing on the protests in their hour today because Sonali's the establishment, despite her public claim to be "subversive." That a program called Uprising -- with a grandstanding host -- can ignore the protests says a great deal.

Not everyone was silent. Today on WBAI's Wake Up Call, Esther Armah noted Saturday's protests took place as a suicide bomber attacked the Iraqi military and 10 Iraqi soldiers were killed with thirty people left injured. (Saturday Reuters noted 9 other deaths and 24 wounded -- plus 2 deaths from Friday.) Esther played statements from various participants. We'll note Pledge of Resistance's Maria Allwine who took part in the DC protest and explained, "Certainly the peace movement suffered a huge blow with Obama's campaign, election and then betrayal of all of us. So for me seeing these new groups or rather these groups all involved again in this type of action does give me hope and I've felt pretty hopeless for some time but I think we're seeing a resurgence." That was in the first hour of Wake Up Call and you have 89 days left to hear it in the WBAI Archives.

Matthew Duss (Foreign Policy) observes, "Looking back eight years later the US war in Iraq should teach policymakers of the very clear limitations of American military and political power and the consequences of utilizing US military force with uncertain political objectives. It was a humbling lesson that American leaders learned after Vietnam and informed foreign policy and national security decision-making for decades afterward. But none of this is happening today. The Iraq catastrophe has not led to the sort of national soul-searching that one saw after Vietnam -- or that one might expect after a war that so disastrously undermined US national security." However, The Progressive has nothing today on the protests, nor does The Nation, nor does ZNet. Again, when they whine about the MSM next, remember that ahead of the protests they couldn't get the word out and after they had nothing to say. As noted in the editorial at Third, the protests succeeded in spit of these outlets.

I am asking everything you have to give
I am asking everything you have to give
We will never give up
We will never give up
We will never give in
We will never give in
We will never give up
We will never give up
We will never give in
We will never give in
You will lose your youth, your sleep, your arches, your strength, your patience, your sense of humor
And occasionally, the love and support of people you love very much.

But we will never give up
We will never give up
We will never give in
We will never give in
-- "We Will Never Give In" music and lyrics by Kristin Lem appears on her Equality Road album and I think it first appeared on a Broadside Magazine recording.

Not everyone was silent. And the protests took place across the country. So let's do the work people paid to do couldn't and note many of the protest. Gloria Tatum (Atlanta Progressive News) reports, "[. . .] Saturday, March 19, 2011, on

the 8th anniversary of the criminal US 'shock and awe' attack on Iraq, 160 Atlantans marched in Midtown to bring awareness that the US still has troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that these continued occupations will cost Georgia taxpayers five billion dollars in 2011." Some protests were big, some were small, but around the country

people turned out to stand up against the wars and say "ENOUGH!" Josh O'Leary (Iowa City Press-Citizen) reports, "Marking the eighth anniversary of the war in Iraq, about 40 protesters gathered Saturday on the steps of the Johnson County Courthouse and marched through downtown Iowa City to call for an end of U.S. occupations overseas." Iowa City wasn't the only municipality in the state protesting. . Clark Kauffman (Des Moines Register) counts over 100 protesting in downtown Des Moines and notes signs included "Bring The Iowa Guard Home" and "Enough Already." ABC 5 WOI-DT adds that the Des Moines participants included army veteran Ed Flaherty who stated, "If you ask people on the street, I think the war on Iraq has gone to the recess of peoples minds but we still have fifty thousand U.S. troops there and people are dying on all sides."

Like Iowa, Oregon also had multiple protests taking place across the state. Emily Gilliespie (Corvallis Gazette Times) notes, "Nearly 100 anti-war demonstrators marked the eighth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq on Saturday by walking about a mile from Central Park to the National Guard Armory on Kings Boulevard in Corvallis. They carried flags, signs bearing messages such as 'Stop the war' and mock coffins in remembrance of the casualties of the war. Bagpipes played but the group otherwise was silent." Michael Stone (Portland Progressive Examiner) notes Portland's protest, "Saturday hundreds gathered in Oregon at Portland's Pioneer Courthouse square to rally for peace on the 8 year anniversary of America's invasion of Iraq. Oregonians rallied in the city square in solidarity and protest of America's foreign adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan." Bobby Allyn (The Oregonian) adds of the Portland protest:

A pack of war protesters from Oak Grove, who assemble every weekend near the Fred Meyer on McLoughlin Boulevard just south of Milwaukie, demonstrated there a half-hour early Saturday so they could march with the protesters in Portland.
"We keep doing it because people forget," said JoAnn Weaver, 71, of Oak Grove, holding a sign that read: Fund health care, not war. "People keep getting sick and the resources aren't there."

KGW offers a video report of the Portland protest. Still in Oregon, Chris McKee (KMTR) reports an estimated one hundred marched in dowtown Eugene and quotes marcher Doublas Bovee stating, "War is not inevitable, war is an option. And we can resolve conflict in much more effective ways to save humanity."

Tim Elliott (NBC 15 -- link has text and video) reported on the Madison, Wisconsin protest, "For the sixth Saturday in a row, protesters showed up in full force at the capitol. The difference: Saturday's demonstration was led by veterans. On the eighth anniversary of the U.S. led invasion of Iraq, anti-war veterans led thousands of protesters in a march and rally on the capitol steps." James Ewinger (Plain Dealer) reports on "dozens" showed up in Cleveland to protest including Greg Coleridge who "said he regretted that the rally marked the eighth anniversary of the war's commencement, instead of its ending." The Kansas City Star reports on Kansas City's protest and notes, "An organizer, Ira Harritt, said the rally was held to protest the war, but also to remind Americans that the death toll continues to mount." Kyle Jarvis (Sentinel) reports approximately 80 people turned out in Keene, New Hampshire to protest and Jarvis quotes Iraq War veteran Paul J, Krautmann stating of the war, "It makes me very, very angry that this thing just goes on and on. I never dreamed that when I came home in 2005 (from Iraq) that this would still be going on." KRQE (link has text and video) reports on Albuquerque's protest and quotes marcher Marie Ellis stating, "We went into a country where we weren't invited. We went because we were given false information. Eight years later, we're still there, we still don't have the money, but yet in our own country we're in a crisis situation." M.E. Broderick (Democracy for New Mexico -- link has text and video) reports approximately 300 people took part in the Albuquerque protest and "The main theme: bring the troops home now. Start using the $2 BILLION a week and more we spend on the wars to create jobs and support community and human needs."

The protest getting the most media attention was the one in DC. Remember, that one got a whole sentence from Amy Goodman who rendered everyone else invisible. Oh-la-la. Emily Babay (Washington Examiner) notes, 113 marchers were arrested. Catherine Finn (DCist) notes Pentagon Papers whistle blower Daniel Ellsberg was among the arrested. AP adds:

Hundreds of protesters attended the rally and marched around the White House, but the crowd - which included many military veterans - thinned considerably as the U.S. Park Police warned that they'd be arrested if they didn't move. As officers moved in with handcuffs, one protester who clutched the gates outside the White House shouted, "Don't arrest them! Arrest Obama!" and "You're arresting veterans, not war criminals!"

Joana Godinho (CNN) counts, "About 1,000 people from various antiwar groups, including Veterans For Peace, Iraq Veterans Against War and Code Pink, marched around Lafayette Park to make three demands of the Obama administration: stop the war, expose the lies and free Bradley Manning." The Argus-Press National runs a photo from the DC protest by AP's Jacquelyn Martin. For video, you can check War Is A Crime for this and this and this -- all video reports of the DC protest filed by BillyClub. And we noted other protests last night in this entry. In addition, World Can't Wait is posting numerous reports to their Facebook Page.

Those are amazing numbers all over the country and if there was one true surprise -- and disappointment -- Saturday, it was Madison Wisconsin. Gayle Worland (Wisconsin State Journal) reports, "Though their numbers were dwarfed by the estimated 100,000 people who gathered there a week earlier, more than 1,000 demonstrators against Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget and his efforts to end most collective bargaining rights for public workers returned to Capitol Square on Saturday, unified by what they said they had in common: Staying power." IVAW really tried to get the word out for that but they were up against a 'left' and 'independent' press that didn't care. You can go to any of those outlets (I'm being kind and not naming but I heard all about it last week while IVAW was trying to get the word out) that promoted the other Wisconsin protests but weren't interested in this one. And in terms of the peace crowd, the event was billed as a labor event with some war tacked on. I wasn't there, I don't know how it went off but the various small press radicals who promoted other actions weren't interested and the peace and justice crowd wasn't courted. Madison was expected to be the huge protest of Saturday because of all the huge protests that have happened one right after another in Madison. Instead, for Madison, they had a meager turnout. A lot of that can be traced to the fact that there was no word of mouth generated by the independent media -- or so-called independent media.

Chicago had less people working behind the scenes but managed to pull out significant numbers and that's in part because their local media (not corporate media) did work to get the word out ahead of time and generate some excitement. Fight Back! News reports on Chicago's action:

1000 people rallied and marched here March 19 to mark the eighth anniversary of the war in Iraq. A large contingent was organized by the Committee Against Political Repression (CAPR), which included many of the 23 persons subpoenaed to a grand jury for because of their anti-war and international solidarity efforts. Chants and signs carried the message that activism is not a crime. Seven of those subpoenaed are Palestinians. A large group of youth, mostly Arabs, carried a 60-foot long Palestinian flag behind the CAPR banner to show the unity of the Arab and Muslim communities with the fight to resist FBI and grand jury repression.
Stephanie Weiner, whose home was raided by 25 agents last fall, was the first speaker at the rally at the end of the march. She thanked the anti-war movement for six months of support for the targeted activists, calling out, "Courage, courage, courage," as the watchword for those standing up to the repression. She made it clear that she and the other 22 people will continue to stand on the side of the people suffering through U.S. wars and occupations.

Evelyn Holmes (WLS -- link has text and video) reports the crowd was 1,500 strong and quotes marcher Julie Harley stating, "We cannot continue to spend billions of dollars on war." NBC Chicago (link has text and video) adds that the chants included, "We need money for jobs, not the war. We need money for schools, not the war. We need money for health care, not the war." To no one's surprise the pro-war and right-wing Chicago Tribune underestimates the turnout by approximately 10%. No link to their nonsense.

Actions took place in New York as well. Stacey Sager (WABC) reports on the NYC protest and notes "U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel joined the protesters. He said he's undecided on whether the military action against Libya is justified. But he is angry that Congress was not consulted beforehand." Chris Hawley (AP) reports the Raging Grannies were among the 80 or so participating. As Jim notes in "Roundtable," " I went to take part in the NYC protest -- the one Joan Wile, founder of Grandmothers Against the War and author of Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace was getting the word out on and was one of the organizers of [. . .]" We noted it in two Iraq snapshots last week, running Joan's announcement of the event, and did so twice because I realized they weren't getting any attention from media that should have been supportive. In addition, for some stupid reason, the Left Forum decided to counter-program against the Iraq War protest. Joan and the other organizers worked very, very hard and deserve to be congratulated for their work and for the turnout. For an audio report of the NYC protest, click on this page and scroll down to the audio option for Sophia Hall's WCBS report.

I was at the Los Angeles protest. It actually got LA media attention ahead of the protest. KPKF was the media sponsor of the event and worked to get the word out. Which may be why Los Angeles may have had the largest turnout. If CNN's numbers are correct, LA was the biggest turnout across the country. I'd estimate we were approximatley five thousand. A.N.S.W.E.R. which, along with March Forward!, sponsored the LA rally (and many other ones across the country) notes the protests around the country but we'll quote them on the LA rally:

Thousands of people hit the streets in Los Angeles in a spirited, youthful demonstration to stop the wars. Led by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, including active-duty soldiers and marines, the march of well over 4,000 people chanted, "Money for jobs and education, not for wars and occupation!"

A huge student contingent from high schools and community colleges in Long Beach, Orange County and L.A. participated, along with large numbers from the Muslim community. Speakers included Vietnam Veteran Ron Kovic, students, teachers, union leaders and anti-war activists. Chris Shiflet, the lead guitarist for the Foo Fighters, spoke and played a song.

The ANSWER Coalition initiated the March 19 protest in Los Angeles. Over 100 additional community and progressive organizations endorsed the action.

Dan Bluemel (LA Activist) reports that 11 people were arrested in LA for civil disobedience as they sat holding photos of fallen soldiers, "Ed Garza, the Orange County chapter leader of Military Families Speak Out, was one of those arrested. Garza is a Vietnam War veteran who was awarded the Purple Heart. He spoke last week at the Mothers March rally in MacArthur Park. In his speech, Garza spoke of his two friends and fellow veterans, Max and Felix, who both died from complications arising from Agent Orange exposure. Max had died only a few weeks prior." Lisa Brenner (LAist) offers a photo essay of the protest. Press TV has a nice photo of the LA rally and they also observe:

Nominally, the U.S. is required under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) to leave Iraq by the end of the year, but all indications are that this won't happen. Indeed, reports are that a mostly behind-the-scenes debate is ongoing not on if the U.S. occupation will continue, but how big it will be. Antiwar
The White House proposed on February 14, 2011 to spend $671 billion on the U.S. military next year. Reuters
The Obama administration's budget proposal for fiscal 2012 includes $118 billion for the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, on top of the base budget of $553 billion.

"THIS JUST IN! ANOTHER RAINBOW TOUR!"
"The never-ending Rainbow Tour"

Cedric's Big Mix