Ava called me and asked if I would see about others noting Refugees International's report because it is is PDF format and a lot of people will not read it as a result. C.I . did a wonderful job summarizing it in today's snapshot (which also has the PDF format link) but it it something that really needs attention. We will all highlight something at our sites tonight. As C.I. notes in the snapshot at the end, " Refugee International released a study , authored by Kristele Younes and Nir Rosen, entitled "Uprooted and Unstable: Meeting Urgent Humanitarian Needs in Iraq" [PDF format warning, click here ]." This is the first paragraph under "Property Disputes" from page 15:
There is no unified process to deal with returning internally displaced persons or refugees. In particular, there is no body officially handling property disputes. As in the post-conflict Balkans, property disputes are likely to be a key issue in Iraq, and have already started surfacing, as many returnees were unable to go home since their houses were already occupied by others. Property disputes will linger for many years to come and if not handled properly are likely to be a spark for renewed violence. For now, there is no judicial entity mandated with dealing with the post-2003 property disputes. Instead, they are being handled on an ad-hoc basis, by a variety of actors.
My thoughts on the above. Iraqi refugees did not leave their homes because they were on vacation. They did not say, "I think I will go vacation in Syria." They left because their neighborhoods were violent and, in most cases, they were being threatened.
Once they were out of their homes, it was only a matter of time before someone would move in. Now there are a few who are renting their homes, a very small number. But the case more often is, they are threatened and forced to leave. Often, as part of the 'threat,' a family member is killed as a 'warning.' They pack up as quickly as they can and move.
Prior to the start of the illegal war, the Shi'ites were an oppressed majority. There probably were tensions from that which would brew over. But it is also true that Iraqis lived side by side with little concern over sect. The national identity was destroyed and that came from the US whose first questions were always, "Are you Shia or Sunni?"
The divisions are intense today. That is probably partly due to so many of the professional leaving. Those buffers or moderators are gone and it is now a scramble to see whom Iraq will belong to. The crisis was created by the Iraq War.
All the Iraqi security forces are compromised by sectarianism but the Iraqi Army is the least mistrusted of the various official bodies.
Okay, this is Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign's "HUBdate: Opportunity for All Americans : by Howard Wolfson:
Opportunity for All Americans: Today, Hillary discusses her own approach to the presidency that will expand opportunity for all Americans at the Newspaper Association of America’s Annual Conference in Washington, DC.
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An e-mail from community member Brady asked why I did not post videos? I do not how. Marcia does not know how for the most part. C.I. calls her and says, "Marcia, I'm posting an entry, let's try it." So they will be on the phone together and somehow get videos posted. We actually all asked C.I. during Third's writing session and C.I. said, "I have no idea." Marcia has been working and found another way to post them and if it works for me as it has for her, you will see a video below.
Did it work? If so, great. Thank you to Marcia (who actually said C.I. taught her that one). But I do not know how the two of them manage to include the HUBdate video when they post it. Marcia doesn't really know either.
Iraq snapshot " for today:
Tuesday, April 15, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the House Veterans Affairs Committee discusses legislation, Refugee International releases a study on Iraq, and more.
Richard Marcus (BlogCritics) reviews the new DVD Deserter which offers a a 30 minute look at " a deserting soldier and his young wife as they flee across the country to seek refugee status over the Canadian border. As they move from safe house to safe house, we get to know Ryan and Jen -- two shy, small-town kids from the Central Valley who joined the military because there were no jobs, and find they must make a heroic stand in order to escape an illegal and immoral war. 'Deserter' is a political movie with one of the few happy endings that this war has given us ." Ryan and Jen are Ryan and Jen Johnson and they entered Canada in June 2005. Marcus writes , "All the way across America there operates a new Underground Railway, but now instead of helping runaway slaves they are helping young Americans escape from having to serve in what they consider an unjust war. Ryan and Jen are passed from having to serve in what they consider an unjust war. Ryan and Jen are passed from safe house to safe house until just before the border they phone the contact they have for Toronto. They've already been coached on how to get through the border corssing, but that doesn't stop them from being nervous; there is the risk that they could check Ryan for outstanding warrants and find out that he is a deserter."
http://us.f366.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion ( http://us.f366.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua ( http://us.f366.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use .
Brad McCall , Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key , Ehren Watada , Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo , Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman , Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey , Logan Laituri, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector , The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign . Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
Iraq Veterans Against the War 's Winter Soldier took place and KPFA has a live program coming up April 22nd:Live On Air and Online at kpfa.org!
Winter Soldier live coverage . We will be following the San Francisco trial involving wounded vets and the Department of Veterans Affairs. In this first class action lawsuit U.S. Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder sue the VA, alleging a system wide breakdown in the way the Government treats those soldiers.During this special broadcast we will be bringing our listeners live updates from the San Francisco federal courthouse, we'll speak with wounded Veterans attorney Gordon Erspamer, (taking this case pro bono because his father was permanently disabled in World War II and never received proper health care) and speak with Veterans advocates including Veterans for Common Sense, and Vets for America.Read more about the broadcast here .
Iraq Veterans Against the War , at War Comes Home , at KPFK , at the Pacifica Radio homepage and at KPFA, here for Friday , here for Saturday , here for Sunday . Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None ) and Aaron Glantz were the anchors for Pacifica's live coverage.
Committee chair Michaud offered testmony on substance use noting , "Our legislation will require the VA to provide the full continuum of care for substance use disorder, and it will require this full spectrum of care to be available at every VA medical center. Our legislation will also direct the VA to conduct a pilot program for internet-based substance use disorder treatment for veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. This will enable our newest generation of veterans to overcome the stigma associated with seeking treatment and receive the necessary care in a comfortable and secure setting." US House Rep Christopher Carney focused on the issue of the dental care and, in his opening statement, provided reasons why this area should not be dismissed including: "The cost of this bill is a cost of war; it is an investment in our way of life and our future. As every member of this subcommittee knows, to ensure a ready fighting force tomorrow we need to take care of our veterans today. I would also like to point out that conditions such as missing teeth and cavities can be barriers in seeking employment and I believe every effort must be made to ensure that there is a smooth transition for our military members who are entering the civilian work force. We must also ensure that disabled veterans from wars past are also given every tool to keep a meaningful job and this includes dental care." US House Rep Ginny Brown-Waite was concerned with the issue of wait time and noted "if a veteran can't see a physician in 30 days she or he should be allowed to see a private doctor." She later pointed that "healthcare delayed is healthcare denied." Rep Phil Hare noted that it's not a "how can we afford" issue with veterans healthcare, "If we make a promise to our veterans . . . we have to keep that promise or we have no business making it." US House Rep Shelley Berkley agreed with that, explaining "For me the cost of the war" includes the "cost of taking care of our veterans" and if that's considered incorrect "then you ought not send them over" to begin with.
Trina wrote about it . Read her post, she did an excellent job covering it. Pressed for time, but veteran Michelle Saunders needs to be noted because she advocated very well in that hearing. She knew her facts, she was confident and presented very well. Boiling her points down to the briefiest, veterans can help veterans. She's pursuing that now and attempting an organization that will provide the training/preparation needed for post-military life. She noted that you get weeks of boot camp when you enlist, but when you discharge, it's bye. From her opening statement :
Refugee International released a study , authored by Kristele Younes and Nir Rosen, entitled "Uprooted and Unstable: Meeting Urgent Humanitarian Needs in Iraq" [PDF format warning, click here ]. In the opening, the report notes, "Five years after the US-led invasion, Iraq remains a deeply violent and divided society. Faced with one of the largest displacement and humanitarian crises in the world, Iraqi civilians are in urgent need of assistance. Particularly vulnerable are the 2.7 million internally displaced Iraqis who have fled their homes for safe locations inside Iraq. Unable to access their food rations and often unemployed, they live in squalid conditions, have run out of resources and find it extremely difficult to access essential services."
US Senator Barbara Boxer raised that issue last week during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing when she pointed out that the US is paying the "Awakenings" $182 million a year, $18 million month, and that now the White House, via US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, "are asking us for millions more to pay off the militias and, by the way, I have an article here that says Maliki recently told a London paper that he was concerned about half of them". So the questions about their loyalties/ties to the central government in Baghdad is in question. But Refugees International's study raises another issue. Due to the fact that these are displaced Sunni males from other areas, their loyalties/ties are also not to the local government. The organization spoke with members in mutliple areas and "found that displaced men have joined armed groups. In some cases locals complain that the displaced are more aggressive and radical than local men who have joined the same groups." In Dora, they're informed by two members of "Awakening" Councils that they came on board for two reasons "money and the desire to take action against Shiites." So (leaving the report) the US government is arming and training these militias and not only are they not loyal to the central government in Baghdad (few Iraqis see al-Maliki as a legitimate leader) they aren't even loyal to their regions and one of the selling points from the Bully Boy and the US military brass is that these militias are "local" forms, "local" bonds. That argument tries to state that the "Awakening" Council is a strengthening force for the Iraqi government and that, being local, it strengthens the local government and that travels upward. But that's not at all what Refugees International found. The "local" militias aren't exclusively "local" and there are little tes to the local government or to the neighborhood. The report notes: "Like the Mahdi army, these Sunni militias also have political goals and are attempting to unite to become a larger movement that will be able to regain Sunni terriotry and effectively fight the Shiite militias and the Shiite dominated government, which they call and 'Iranian Occupation.' In some ways their attitude is, 'The Americans did not buy us, we bought them'." The central government in Baghdad is an installed government. As US Senator Joe Biden noted last Thursday in the Senate Foreign Relations Comittee hearing , the White House wants to negotiate a treaty (Status of Forces Agreement) with the central government but "there is no Iraqi government that we know of that will be place a year from now -- half the government has walked out." Refugees International's study notes that the Shi'ite versus Shi'ite struggles currently going on take place as Sunnis who feel disenfranchised plan what to do when the US does pull out.
Myth of the Great Return . Throughout November the lie was repeated in media outlet after outlet (credit to Damien Cave and Cara Buckley of the New York Times who were among the first American reporters to report the reality -- among the first and among the only). "Iraq is safer!" went the lie. "Iraqis are returning by the busloads!" The figures didn't grow naturally. You had CBS News repeat a figure on the weekend that, by Monday afternoon, had more zeroes added to it. It was a publicity campaign by the puppet government and the White House. It was wrong and it was deadly. Before we get to the report on that, we need to all grasp how wrong that myth was. Iraqis seeking shelter outside of Iraq were being lied to, told it was safer and that they should come back. The Iraqi refugee crisis is already a crisis of global proportion but lying to refugees outside the country to trick them into coming back to Iraq is inhumane and criminal. That point needs to be stressed because Refugees International's study includes this: "According to a UN official, the Bush administration is also putting enormous pressure on the UNHCR to conduct a viability survey and declare Iraq safe for returns." Point, The Myth of the Great Return could strike again. Panhandle Media sat it out in November (and December and January). Real media didn't include many stepping up to the plate (even after Buckley and Cave had reported realities). The report notes that "the Ministry of Migration's return strategy document from late 2007 clearly states that returns, should they occur, would demonstrate the success of the current US-Government of Iraq overall security strategy in Iraq. The return strategy also underlines the necessity for the Government of Iraq to engage in an active media campaign to counter warnings that the potential for returns will adversely impact a security situation already extremely fragile." The Myth of the Great Return existed solely as a p.r. move. After Syria was asked to close their border to Iraqi refugees, a few returned, those whose funds had run out. The report documents this.
Deborah Haynes (Times of London) notes "a car bomb exploded outside a courthouse and the offices of the provincial government in Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, north of Baghdad, leaving at least 40 dead and another 80 wounded" and labels it "one of the deadlist moments in months". CBS and AP quote Abu Sarmad who was in the area to have lunch: "I heard a big explosion and hot wind threw me from my chair outside the restaurant." Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) quotes a Baquba morgue doctor who explains, "Some of the bodies that came to the hospital were, let's say, not bodies, but only a hand or a torso." Kim Gamel (AP) observes , "AP Television News footage showed many of the bodies covered in crisp white sheets and black plastic bags in the main hospital's courtyard while the emergency room inside was overwhelmed with the wounded." Robin Stringer and Camilla Hall (Bloomberg News) note , "The blast destroyed three buses and damaged shops nearby in the attack today, the U.S. military said by e-mail. Iraqi state television reported the explosion without providing futher details." Dean Yates (Reuters) estimates that, throughout Iraq today, over 75 lost the lives and notes, "A second car bomb, believed to be driven by a suicide attacker, exploded outside a popular restaurant in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province west of Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding 14 others, a hospital source and police said." CNN estimates over 100 were injured in Iraq today. Kim Gamel (AP) quotes eye witness Ahmed al-Dulaimi who was having lunch at the time: "Suddenly a motorcyle parked near the restaurant and a man came running and then a huge explosion took place. Pieces of flesh flew into the air and the roof fell over us."
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing that claimed 2 lives with two more injured, a Baghdad mortar attack that wounded two, a mortar attack on the Green Zone, a Baghdad car bombing that claimed 1 life and left eight wounded, a Nineveh roadside bombing that wounded four police officers.
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Nineveh home invasion that claimed the lives of 3 women and 1 man, an attorney "and her sister" shot dead in Mosul, an assassination attempt on Ali al Fadhli ("representative of the Shiite Cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani") that claimed the life of 1 bodyguard and left another and al-Fadhli wounded, 1 "female student" shot dead in Mosul and an attack in Karbala in which 5 people were shot dead and six were kidnapped.
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad.
Team Nader reports that they're up to 10% in Michigan and notes, "For Clinton, Obama and McCain, ten percent might seem like peanuts. But for Nader/Gonzalez, it shows we're on our way up. It has been our contention all along that the corrupt two-party system cannot stand. Perhaps we are now seeing the first cracks in the facade of the duopoly. We have joined with you in a rebuilding project. Rebuilding a people-powered democracy." Jim Fitzpatrick (WJBC) reports that Nader "delivered the keynote address for Illinois State University's Civic Engagement Celebration" on Monday. The link contains an audio snippet of Nader where he declares, "It's as if these candidates are running for Saturday Night Live instead of the office of the presidency of the United States of American. They can only be rescued by the people, they can only be rescued by themselves."
Cynthia McKinney is running for the Green Party presidential nomination and currently in the lead. The Green Party reports the delegate count is currently 52 for McKinney, 8 for Kent Mesplay, 8 for Howie Hawkins, 2 for Jesse Johsnon and, with 1 each, Kat Swift and Ralph Nader. Howie Hawkins 8 may or may not go towards Nader -- Hawkins was a stand-in/place-holder for Nader. Nader has since stated he is not pursuing the national Green Party's nomination. The party's most recent primary was March 28th and McKinney won 79% of the vote . Rhode Island, which we'll term a caucus here, went for McKinney as well at the start of this month . Among those who have endorsed McKinney is Mumia Abu Jamal who says she provides "not just the illusion, but the reality of 'change' ."
Delilah Boyd (A Scrivner's Lament) reminds all of the 'common touch' of Barack Obama who declared to Iowa voters -- in a 'reach out' -- "Anybody gones into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for argulag? I mean, they're charging a lot of money for this stuff." Arugula. Iowa has no Whole Foods. Meanwhile Fernando Suarez (CBS News) notes that Senator Hillary Clinton joked that her speech today was "off the record" -- the remarks that got Barack into trouble were given at an event in the Bay Area which the press wasn't invited to. Meanwhile Senator Hillary Clinton found more supporters :
iraq
ryan johnson
kpfa
iraq veterans against the war
aimeee allison david solnit
aaron glantz
kpfa
refugees international kristele younes nir rosen
fernando suarez
the new york times alissa j. rubin
robin stringer
bloomberg news
mcclatchy newspapers
trinas kitchen
