Monday, December 29, 2008

Nasty, uh, you know, like, Caroline

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
 
 
WE KNOW?
 
NO, PRINCESS BRAT, THAT'S WHY YOU'RE ASKED TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF.
 
IN THE MIDST OF THE INTERVIEW, SHE CHOSE TO INSULT TWO JOURNALISTS.  PRINCESS BRAT SNAPPED,"HAVE YOU GUYS EVER THOUGHT ABOUT WRITING FOR, LIKE, A WOMAN'S MAGAZINE OR SOMETHING? I THOUGH YOU WERE THE CRACK POLITICAL TEAM."
 
WHEN NOT BEING INSULTING, PRINCESS BRAT MIGHT NEED TO EXPLAIN HER INSULTING REMARKS ABOUT WOMEN'S MAGAZINES. 
 
IT SHOULD BE REMEBERED THAT CAROLINE STUDIED JOURNALISM SO SHE MEANT TO BE INSULTING.  HER 'BIG' ASSIGNMENT WAS CRASHING ELVIS FUNERAL.  SHE LIED TO HIS FAMILY, TOLD THEM SHE WAS THERE TO PAY RESPECTS ON BEHALF OF HER FAMILY, AND SHE WAS REALLY THERE TO WRITE A TRASHY LITTLE REPORT.  SHE'S NOT AT ALL DIFFERENT FROM THE PAPARRAZI THAT HOUNDED PRINCESS DIANA.
 
 
 
 
Meanwhile the December 10th death of Haedan al-Jabouri (that may not be the correct spelling) is in the news and the subject of a military investigation.  Michael Ware (CNN -- link has video only) reported the latest events yesterday.
 
Michael Ware: Following a nighttime military operation outside of Baghdad two weeks ago, the US army is now investigating allegations an Iraqi man, a suspected al Qaeda member, was executed in cold blood by a secretive American unit.  An Iraqi farmhouse after a recent raid by US forces.  Items scatted by the soldiers search for weapons.  An elderly mother mourns.  Hadan, her son shot dead by the Americans in Madain on Baghdad's outskirts.  It was Hadan the special forces had come for suspecting he was a bomb maker for al Qaeda.  But now troubling questions have arisen from the operation, questions not of Hadan's life as a potential bomber but rather questions into his death at American hands. Questions grave enough that the US army has launched an inquiry probing claims the death was a special forces execution. The military released to CNN a few details of the night's operation, saying the shooting was provoked.
 
An unidentified voice reads from this December 10th M-NF press release: A man from the building initially complied with Coalition forces' instrucitons, but then returned inside the house.  When he returned outside, he attempted to engage the forces with an AK-47.  Perceiving hostile intent, the force engaged the armed man, killing him.
 
Michael Ware: But the dead man's brothers who witnessed the raid say that's a lie. Hadan, they say, was unarmed, his killing an American execution. The truth however is unclear.  . . . But the Iraqi version is different.  They say all [four] the brothers were stripped to their underwear and forced to lay on the ground, unable to move without the Americans permission, let alone grab a rifle. When Hadan did return inside, they say, it was the Americans who ordered him to do so.
 
Nurhi Subbi [translated]: The American forces ordered my brother to go back into the house.
 
Michael Ware: He was told to turn the lights on, says his brother named Nurhi, and the moment he turned on the lights, the soldiers open fired and then dragged him deeper inside the house.
 
If it was a military execution, take note, that would be the reality of "counter-insurgency" strategies.  The press has refused to explore that and everyone's rushed to airbrush any realities out of it but that is "counter-insurgency" tactics and strategies.  In other news,  despite the claims of 'safer but not safe' Iraq, Saturday saw a bombing with mass fatalities.  Usama Redha and Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) reported at least 24 dead, "A mini-bus laden with explosives ripped the Kadhimiya neighborhood by Zahra square, which hosts a market and bust stop, police said." Sam Dagher (New York Times) offered, "Jalal Hussein, 56, had just parked his car, after dropping off his wife and daughter at the gate, when the bomb exploded a few yards away, creating a huge ball of fire that consumed several vehicles and many pedestrians. He said the bodies and limbs of victims, including many children and women, were scattered everywhere."  Ernesto Londono and Azia Alwan (Washington Post) quoted survivor Ali Abdul Ameer whose wife and daughter were wounded in the bombing, "There is no security.  How come a car like this full of explosives could enter this area?"
 
[. . .]
 
A few non-Iraq related topics.  First, Joshua Frank (Dissident Voice) explores the current attack on Gaza and the reaction of the president-elect:
 
"The president-elect was in Sderot last July, in southern Israel, a town that's taken the brunt of the Hamas attacks," David Axelrod told Chip Reid on Face the Nation. "And he said then that, when bombs are raining down on your citizens, there is an urge to respond and act and try and put an end to that. So, you know, that's what he said then, and I think that's what he believes."
If Axelrod is correct, and Barack Obama does indeed support the bloodshed inflicted upon innocent Palestinians by the Israeli military, there should be no celebrating during Inauguration Day 2009, only mass protest of a Middle East foreign policy that must change in order to begin a legitimate peace process in the region.
 
 
Independent journalist David Bacon latest book is Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press) and at his website (and at many publications) he covers the labor movement in the US and in Mexico.  For his coverage from Mexico (photos and text) including on the striking teachers who were met in Mexico City by the police in full S.W.A.T. mode, click here.
 
Meanwhile the music group  I AM THREE is making a Bootleg recording from their European tour available online, available for download, free of charge.  You can click here (and on the widget for the European tour) or here or here.
 
We're a site/community for the left. Net Right Daily is a site for the right. The Daily Grind is a news mailing you can sign up for from ALG News which is also right-wing. On the latter, BW with ALG News has been especially persistent (and nice) in e-mailing all community sites various ALG News items. Various people have mailed Net Right Daily items to community sites. Trina and I were discussing this and wondering about it? We've gotten some very rude e-mailings from on our side (the left) asking for help (try demanding it) and when we discussed it, others weighed in. The feeling is that the two outlets have been very polite and we're going to toss out a link. We wish the outlets all the best but we are a site for the left. Their persistance and their politeness (and professionalism) means they get the links in this paragraph. If you're looking for what the other side's saying, we would recommend those two. If you're looking to be enraged by what the right's up to, we would recommend those two.
 
 

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