Monday, January 28, 2013

Wonder Woman

Did you know about this?  From Deadline:

EXCLUSIVE: The CW just wrapped its pilot orders for this season with eight pickups, including planted The Vampire Diaries spinoff The Originals. Amazon was not among them, and I have learned that the network has decided to roll the Wonder Woman origin project to next season. Additionally, I hear the CW may order an off-cycle pilot, so Amazon may go into production sooner if the network is happy with the final script.
As a little girl, I always liked Wonder Woman.  And as a mother, I used to watch the show with my own kids.

Lynda Carter played her in the only live action TV series that's been made.  (A pilot was filmed in the 60s but never aired.  From the same people who made the Batman show.  They tried to make her pathetic and make that funny.)

When David E. Kelley was trying over a year ago, I was hoping that would get on the air.  It did  not. 

And now another attempt fails.

That is not even counting when Joss Whedon was supposed to be prepping a Wonder Woman movie.

If you click here, you can see Ms. Carter talking about Wonder Woman.  She is part of  PBS's special on superheroes airing tomorrow night.

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:

Monday, January 28, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue,  Parliament passes a law limiting the post of prime minister to two terms only, Nouri and his cronies hit the roof, a recent Pentagon decision continued to garner public opinions, Barack's done on the plan to close Guantanamo and some of the children killed by Barack's Drone War, and more.

The Gary Sinise Foundation notes that US Army PFC Brendan Marrocco became the "first surviving quadruple amputee injured in Iraq" (April 12, 2009).  The Gary Sinise Foundation and the Stephen Siller Tunnel To Towers Foundation built a Smart Home for Brendan in 2011.   They note:

In the early hours on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009, Brendan Marrocco was returning to base in Iraq from a night mission in an armored vehicle with his close friend Michael Anaya when they tripped a roadside bomb.  Anaya was killed immediately; Brendan's arms and legs were blown off.  Other injuries included a severed left carotid artery; broken nose, left eye socket and facial bones; shrapnel to the left eye and face; burns to the neck and face and more. "Any one of his injuries was life-threatening," Major Jayson Aydelotte, the trauma surgeon told the New York Times.  "It is incredible."

The Daily Mail reports today that Iraq War veteran Brendan Marrocco "received a double-arm transplant. [last month . . .]  He also received bone marrow from the same dead donor who supplied his new arms.  That novel approach is aimed at helping his body accept the new limbs with minimal medication to prevent rejection."   They're noting the operation in England and also in Australia where the Daily Telegraph notes the pioneer of the surgery:


The novel treatment to help prevent rejection was pioneered by Dr W.P. Andrew Lee, plastic surgery chief at Johns Hopkins, when he previously worked at the University of Pittsburgh.
In his previous job, Dr Lee led five single-hand transplant operations on five patients, giving them new hands plus marrow from their donors. In an interview last fall, Dr Lee said that all five recipients had done well and that four were taking only one anti-rejection drug instead of combination treatments most transplant patients receive.

Catherine Griffin (Science World Report) explains, "Limb transplants, like organ transplants, are a difficult business.  Extensive treatment needs to follow the surgery in order to prevent  the patient's body from rejecting the new limbs."  Michael E. Ruane (Washington Post) quotes Brendan's father, Alex Marrocco, stating, "He's doing well.  Doing well.  It's been a little over a month now."  AP notes the procedure took place December 18th.

In other service issues, Thursday's announcement by the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta continues to make news.



Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta: One of my priorities as Secretary of Defense has been to remove as many barriers as possible for talented and qualified people to be able to serve this country in uniform.  Our nation was built on the premise of the citizen soldier.  In our democracy, I believe it is the responsibility of every citizen to protect the nation and every citizen who can meet the qualifications of service should have that opportunity.  To that end, I've been working closely with General Dempsey and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  We've been working for well over a year to examine how can we expand the opportunities for women in the armed services?  It's clear to all of us that women are contributing in unprecedented ways to the military's mission of defending the nation.  Women represent 15 percent of the force, over 200,000.  They're serving in a growing number of critical roles -- on and off the battlefield.  The fact is that they have become an integral part of our ability to perform our mission.  Over more than a decade of war, they have demonstrated courage and skill and patriotism. 153 women in uniform died serving this nation in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Female service members have faced the reality of combat, proven their willingness to fight and, yes, to die to defend their fellow Americans.


Retired Lt Col Joe Repya (Star Tribune) argues today that women shouldn't be allowed to serve in combat because "a combat zone is a dangerous place" and because "there is no glamour in combat" -- yes, he really wrote that.  Michael Foust (Baptist Press) adds that "Panetta's announcement that the military will remove its ban on women in combat drew criticism from several Southern Baptist leaders, who expressed concern over privacy and military effectiveness and also warned the move is part of a larger societal effort to blur differences between men and women."  Okay, now I'm confused.  The Southern Baptist leaders are opposed to the move because they know so little of human anatomy that they will no longer be able to tell men from women?  Those poor leaders, Rupal must send them into a catatonic state.  These Southern Baptist leaders must be the people who quit watching Felecity in season two because Keri Russell cut her hair.  It was all so confusing to them -- look, a long haired beautiful woman, wait, who's that person with the short hair? (Wednesday, Keri Russell's new series debuts on FX, The Americans and, rest easy Southern Baptist leaders, she has long hair.)

Ann McFeatters (Scripps Howard) notes today, "Once men scoffed that women could meet the same physical requirements required of men in the military. No longer. Physically fit women volunteering for combat roles will meet the same standards men must meet."  But some men -- or what passes for them -- still make that ridiculous claim.  Language and stupidity warning, Larry Johnson (No Quarter) insists the news "reminds me of the awarding participation ribbons to participants in the Special Olympics."  That's really insulting.  I think most people can realize what a Stupid Sexist Ass Larry Johnson is so we'll leave that alone to instead note his insult of Special Olympics.  I seem to remember Larry pissing his bikini shorts over rude remarks and insults about Sarah Palin's youngest child.  But now Larry thinks it's okay to mock Special Olympics?  What a filthy and disgusting piece of trash to write that.  These are real Olympics and the children and adults participating are competing.  How pathetic that Larry Johnson, someone with all of his limbs, all of his senses and presumably all of his mental functions would lash out at those who didn't get the breaks he did.  He should be ashamed of himself.  I could take him being a sexist pig.  That's nothing new, I'm used to them.  But as I noted when people thought it was funny to mock Trig Palin -- a child who never did anything to harm anyone -- when I read this kind of garbage where people with all the breaks mock those who try to live life to the fullest with less breaks, I just want to cry because I really cannot believe people would be so cruel.  You hate women, I get it.  Fine, I doubt most women like you.  Why do you have to bring Special Olympians into it and insult them?  That's just disgusting.  I would have thought Larry Johnson had more class than that.

Richard Sisk (Military.com) reports on Army Lt Col Kellie McCoy and we'll note this from her Iraq War service:

McCoy led 11 men, two Humvees, and two light trucks on a mission to visit her troops in other outposts when the convoy was hit by a well-coordinated attack of daisy chain roadside bombs and direct fire.
“The first IED went off right in front of my vehicle,” McCoy said. She ran her Humvee up and down the road to direct the fire of her troops, leaping out several times to fire her M4 carbine and M9 sidearm to repel the attackers firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.
“I believe I hit two (of the enemy), but I don’t know how many we killed,” she said.
"The situation kept getting worse and worse," she said. "That is where training kicks in. You don’t have time to consider everything that is going on. You’re just acting. I really do credit a lot of our training for that and making us prepared to just react in an appropriate way."
Three of the four vehicles were disabled by the ambush. McCoy piled all 11 of her paratroopers into her Humvee and returned to base. Several of the troops had injuries, including concussions and ruptured eardrums, but none were life-threatening.

Mark Thompson (Time magazine) speaks to the rank and file and finds support for the new policy.  We'll note this from Thompson's report:

Command Sergeant Major Darrin Bohn said he was amazed at the first woman -- an intelligence officer -- he served with in an infantry battalion during his 23 years in uniform. She was, he said, "deeply integrated" into the unit’s combat mission in Iraq. “I don’t want to sound like a male chauvinist jackass, but she was that smart and was immediately respected by the other guys for her knowledge and her know-how,” he said of her. “It really didn’t seem to matter.”
He liked her initiative. "She had control of a Predator and actually fired a Hellfire missile from Camp Fallujah to where we were running through the objective area, where she had seen some folks running around," he recalled "She was running back and forth to the Marine TOC [tactical operations center], tapping into some of the national assets, feeding them to the S2 [intelligence] guy and to the battalion commander so we could have a better and bigger picture of what was going on around us – the movements, some of the voice intercepts and so on."

The editorial board of USA Today points out, "Critics argue that standards will in fact be lowered, that the presence of women will create awkward situations and relationship problems, and that military readiness will suffer. Couched in slightly different terms, the same sort of arguments were raised when the military was racially integrated, and more recently when gays were allowed to serve openly. None of the dire predictions has materialized. "

Meanwhile the suicide crisis continues in the military and veterans community.  Nathan Max (San Diego Union-Tribune) observes that the active duty suicide rate climbed to a record high last year and Robin Lynne Andersen and Robert John Andersen share how their son, Iraq War veteran Robert Bryan Guzzo, returned home attempting to get help repeatedly for Post-Traumatic Stress but receiving no help and finally taking his own life.  Bill Briggs (NBC News) notes that suicides are increasing in military families and he speaks with Monica Velez whose brother Freddy Velez was killed while stationed in Iraq.  She attempted to take her own life.  Then her brother Andrew Velez asked her to promise him in writing that she wouldn't try to do anything like that while he was deployed to Afghanistan.  Andrew Velez ended up taking his own life while serving in Afghanistan. 


Turning to Iraq, with January winding down at the end of this week, Iraq Body Count is counting 320 violent deaths so far this month through Saturday.  Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) reports yesterday saw four deaths (2 Iraqi soldiers and a husband and wife) and eleven injured in Iraq.  Today?  All Iraq News notes an armed attack just northeast of Baghdad resulted in the death of 1 Iraqi soldier, 1 corpse was discovered (shot to death) in Mosul and 1 driver of a Baghdad provincial council member was shot dead in Baghdad.  AFP adds that a Kirkuk bombing claimed the life of 1 neighborhood chief and a Falluja rocket attack left two Iraqi soldiers injured.  Alsumaria notes 1 parent and 1 child were shot dead in Mosul by the Iraqi military in what is being termed a "mistake" by the government.


In addition to violence, the Iraqi people are also at risk of death from illness. Dar Addustour reports there are 89 confirmed cases of Avian Flu in Iraq at present.  There is one confirmed case in Dhi Qar Province with four more suspected.  Avian Flu is also known as bird flu and H5N1 virus.  The United Nations noted Friday that Iraq had 1 death from Avian Flu and that Cambodia and China also saw deaths.  They also note that Iraq has imposed a poultry ban.  The Center for Disease Control notes "virus infection of humans is rare" but that over 600 human cases have been reported "since November 2003."  How do people get avian flu?  The CDC notes, "In the majority of cases, the person got HPAI H5N1 virus infection after direct or close contact with sick or dead infected poultry.  Other HPAI H5N! risk factors include visiting a live poultry market and prolonged, unprotected close contact with a sick HPAI H5N1 patient."

The government has attempted to blame the outbreaks on "foreign workers."  Rather ironic when you consider how much they are paying some foreign workers to take jobs in Iraq.  Nasiriyah News Network reports that Dhi Qar Province has allocated two billion dinars to pay for foreign doctors to work in the province. Azzaman reports that the Ministry of Planning's spokesperson Abdulzahra al-Hindawi stated last week that they had reduced the official unemployment rate from 38% (2004) to 20% (last year).

And if they had used that money over the last years to train Iraqis to be doctors and nurses?  No one wants to make that point apparently.  Or to point out that doctors and nurses who were not part of the pre-2007 "brain drain" have asked repeatedly for protection and, had the government provided protection, many Iraqi doctors and nurses might have been willing to remain in the country.

As protests continue in Iraq, All Iraq News reports Iraqiya MP Falah Zaidan stated that the continued refusal to meet the demands of the protesters is threatening stability in Iraq.  Alsumaria notes that tribal sheikhs have declared Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi has four months to resolve the issue of Article IV.  Article IV is the law that allows for the mass arrests of 'terrorists' -- it allows, among other things, for the authorities to take in the wife, mother, daughter, sister, brother, father, son, etc. of a suspect when you can't locate the suspect.  This is why so many innocent people are in Iraqi jails and why there are no trials for them.  They can't hold a trial to charge you with the 'crime' of being related to someone -- and they shouldn't be able to hold you in prison for that either.  Dirk Adriaensens of the BRussells Tribunal writes about the prison situation in Iraq:

 Azzaman reported on 25 January:
The question “How many times did you blow yourself up?” is part of a joke doing rounds in Iraq. It refers to a prisoner who under duress and in order to prevent his interrogators from torturing him any further admitted that he had blown himself up several times.For his tormentors the response was ‘good’ enough to brand him ‘terrorist’ and keep him behind bards without proper trial for many years.Many Iraqi prisoners, some of them still languishing in their prison cells and other released, speak of their torture and imprisonment in Iraqi jails in these terms.
Hurling empty and ridiculous accusations is part of the skills that U.S. troops and their jailers have bequeathed Iraqi security forces.The shortest way for an Iraqi in custody today is to quickly confess to the accusation hurled at him to escape humiliation and torture.
The issue of tens of thousands of jailed Iraqis is at the top of demands of Iraqi demonstrators and protesters.Stories of families being destroyed following the arrest of their breadwinners without charges and proper trial are common in Iraq.Some of the prisoners started their terms at the age of 19 or even younger and have been in jail for many years without trial.
Would the government have the guts to ponder the future of a young generation in prison for so long and of children whose father has been jailed simply on ungrounded suspicions and for so long? What kind of future awaits them?The government should listen carefully to the demands of the hundreds of thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets of major cities in central Iraq.
Freeing prisoners and putting an end to jailing people without proper trial is only a first step. Maliki’s government should be dissolved and put on trial.Reparations should be paid to all the victims who have been unjustly and illegally detained for so many years, including the detainees in American administered prisons.
Many Human Rights Organisations, including The BRussells Tribunal, have frequently alarmed the world community about the horrible conditions in Iraq prisons, where torture, rape, sodomy and outright murder are endemic.


Saturday the Parliament voted to limit the three presidencies (President, Speaker of Parliament and Prime Minister) to two terms.  Wael Grace (Al Mada) reported that 170 of the 242 MPs present voted in favor of the law.  Ahmed Rasheed, Patrick Markey and Andrew Roche (Reuters) add, "Lawmakers from Sunni, Kurdish and Shi'ite parties voted for the law, but the legislation still needs the president's approval and will face challenges in federal court after Maliki's supporters rejected it as illegal."  Jalal Talabani is the President of Iraq.  Last month, he had a stroke.  He was moved to Germany for medical reasons.   State of Law has spent the last days insisting the law is unconstitutional.  All Iraq News notes that Parliament's Legal Committee states that the law is constitutional and that it is needed to maintain a peaceful transition of power.  The Iraq Times notes whispers that Dawa (Nouri's political party), like Nouri's government, is on the verge of collapse.



Friday, Nouri al-Maliki's armed thugs in Falluja fired on protesters killing at least seven (Alsumaria reported another of the victims has died from wounds raising the death toll)  and sixty more were left injured.  Alsumaria notes the Iraq's Literary Federation and the Association for Defending Press Freedom and the General Union of Writers have all called for the protection of the protesters, decried the violence and are calling for early elections.  Uday Hadim (Association for Defending Press Freedom) states that putting the military out there was a mistake to begin with and now the government and the Parliament must tender the resignations and early elections must take place under the supervision of the United Nations.   Writer Fahmi Saleh points out that the Constitution guarantees Iraqis the right to demonstrate and protest. In the KRG, Alsumaria reports, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's political party) has called on Nouri to remove the military from protests and to show restraint.  All Iraq News notes that the Kurdistan bloc in Parliament also condemned the assault and called for Nouri to stop using the military on internal issues.  They also note that the National Alliance (Shi'ite grouping of various slates -- including Nouri's State of Law but I'm sure they're not part of this) is calling for a prompt and thorough investigation into the shootings.  Alsumaria notes Iraqiya announced they will boycott all upcoming Parliamentary votes that are not a no-confidence vote or votes addressing the demands of the protesters.

Alsumaria reports that the military was withdrawn from Falluja Saturday. Kamal Naama Suadad al-Salhy, Ahmed Rasheed, Patrick Markey, Andrew Roche and Jason Webb (Reuters) quoted Mustafa Jamal, the brother on one of the 7 shot dead by the military yesterday, stating, "Withdrawing the army from the city is not enough, I do not know how this will benefit me and it won't get my brother back."   The dead and wounded were taken to Falluja General Hospital yesterday.  Al Mada noted that Falluja residents descended on the hospital in large numbers to donate blood.  Kamal Naama Suadad al-Salhy, Ahmed Rasheed, Patrick Markey, Andrew Roche and Jason Webb (Reuters) report that "thousands" turned out for the five funerals in Fallluja Saturday.  Al Mada adds that the mourners chanted and marches calling for soldiers who executed the 7 citizens to be handed over.  Mohammed Tawfeeq and Chelsea J. Carter (CNN -- link is text and video) reported that Sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha who is a tribal leader and a Sawha leader delivered a statement on television Saturday in which he "gave Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government seven days to hand over to Anbar's criminal court those involved in the shootings."   Today the Sheikh tells Al Mada that he believes the violence was premeditate and planned because Nouri had declared on TV that the demonstration would be targeted.   BBC News adds, "Sunni leaders in Anbar province, where Fallujah is located, had earlier told the BBC that they would attack army positions in the province if the government failed to bring the soldiers responsible for the protester shootings 'to justice'." 
Turning to the topic of oil,  Saturday, Kadhim Ajrash and Khalid al-Ansary (Bloomberg News) reminded, "Chevron Corp. (CVX), Total SA (FP) and Exxon, which operates the West Qurna-1 oil field in southern Iraq, are among companies that have angered the central government with proposals to explore in the Kurdish area. While the Baghdad authorities don’t recognize contracts signed by the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government without their permission, foreign investors say Kurdish authorities offer them more attractive terms."  They're reporting on Minister of Oil Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi declaring in Boston today that ExxonMobil must decide if it's going to work in West Qurna or the KRG.  Julia Payne and Jessica Donati (Reuters) report that "European oil companies are purchasing an increasing volume of oil independently exported by Kurdistan, in defiance of Baghdad's threats to punish those that deal in exports it says are illegal."  And there may be another oil contract with the KRG.  Huseyin Hayatsever (Hurriyet) reports, "A main opposition lawmaker insists that Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) secretly signed a 'framework agreement' last year that outlined transportation and marketing of oil and gas sources in northern Iraq to the global market by excluding the central government in Baghdad."




John Glaser (Antiwar.com) reports there will be no movement on Barack's open promise to close Guantanamo:


The Obama administration has decided to close the office and eliminate the special envoy devoted to closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The State Department on Monday reassigned Daniel Fried, the special envoy and will not replace him, according to an internal personnel announcement.


And, lastly, Professor Michel Chossudovsky (Global Research) attempts to put a human face on Barack's Drone War by providing the name of some of the children Barack's killed:

 Partial List of Children Killed
PAKISTAN
Name | Age | Gender
Noor Aziz | 8 | male
Abdul Wasit | 17 | male
Noor Syed | 8 | male
Wajid Noor | 9 | male
Syed Wali Shah | 7 | male
Ayeesha | 3 | female
Qari Alamzeb | 14| male
Shoaib | 8 | male
Hayatullah KhaMohammad | 16 | male
Tariq Aziz | 16 | male
Sanaullah Jan | 17 | male
Maezol Khan | 8 | female
Nasir Khan | male
Naeem Khan | male
Naeemullah | male
Mohammad Tahir | 16 | male
Azizul Wahab | 15 | male
Fazal Wahab | 16 | male
Ziauddin | 16 | male
Mohammad Yunus | 16 | male
Fazal Hakim | 19 | male
Ilyas | 13 | male
Sohail | 7 | male
Asadullah | 9 | male
khalilullah | 9 | male
Noor Mohammad | 8 | male
Khalid | 12 | male
Saifullah | 9 | male
Mashooq Jan | 15 | male
Nawab | 17 | male
Sultanat Khan | 16 | male
Ziaur Rahman | 13 | male
Noor Mohammad | 15 | male
Mohammad Yaas Khan | 16 | male
Qari Alamzeb | 14 | male
Ziaur Rahman | 17 | male
Abdullah | 18 | male
Ikramullah Zada | 17 | male
Inayatur Rehman | 16 | male
Shahbuddin | 15 | male
Yahya Khan | 16 |male
Rahatullah |17 | male
Mohammad Salim | 11 | male
Shahjehan | 15 | male
Gul Sher Khan | 15 | male
Bakht Muneer | 14 | male
Numair | 14 | male
Mashooq Khan | 16 | male
Ihsanullah | 16 | male
Luqman | 12 | male
Jannatullah | 13 | male
Ismail | 12 | male
Taseel Khan | 18 | male
Zaheeruddin | 16 | male
Qari Ishaq | 19 | male
Jamshed Khan | 14 | male
Alam Nabi | 11 | male
Qari Abdul Karim | 19 | male
Rahmatullah | 14 | male
Abdus Samad | 17 | male
Siraj | 16 | male
Saeedullah | 17 | male
Abdul Waris | 16 | male
Darvesh | 13 | male
Ameer Said | 15 | male
Shaukat | 14 | male
Inayatur Rahman | 17 | male
Salman | 12 | male
Fazal Wahab | 18 | male
Baacha Rahman | 13 | male
Wali-ur-Rahman | 17 | male
Iftikhar | 17 | male
Inayatullah | 15 | male
Mashooq Khan | 16 | male
Ihsanullah | 16 | male
Luqman | 12 | male
Jannatullah | 13 | male
Ismail | 12 | male
Abdul Waris | 16 | male
Darvesh | 13 | male
Ameer Said | 15 | male
Shaukat | 14 | male
Inayatur Rahman | 17 | male
Adnan | 16 | male
Najibullah | 13 | male
Naeemullah | 17 | male
Hizbullah | 10 | male
Kitab Gul | 12 | male
Wilayat Khan | 11 | male
Zabihullah | 16 | male
Shehzad Gul | 11 | male
Shabir | 15 | male
Qari Sharifullah | 17 | male
Shafiullah | 16 | male
Nimatullah | 14 | male
Shakirullah | 16 | male
Talha | 8 | male
YEMEN
Afrah Ali Mohammed Nasser | 9 | female
Zayda Ali Mohammed Nasser | 7 | female
Hoda Ali Mohammed Nasser | 5 | female
Sheikha Ali Mohammed Nasser | 4 | female
Ibrahim Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 13 | male
Asmaa Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 9 | male
Salma Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 4 | female
Fatima Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 3 | female
Khadije Ali Mokbel Louqye | 1 | female
Hanaa Ali Mokbel Louqye | 6 | female
Mohammed Ali Mokbel Salem Louqye | 4 | male
Jawass Mokbel Salem Louqye | 15 | female
Maryam Hussein Abdullah Awad | 2 | female
Shafiq Hussein Abdullah Awad | 1 | female
Sheikha Nasser Mahdi Ahmad Bouh | 3 | female
Maha Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 12 | male
Soumaya Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 9 | female
Shafika Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 4 | female
Shafiq Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 2 | male
Mabrook Mouqbal Al Qadari | 13 | male
Daolah Nasser 10 years | 10 | female
AbedalGhani Mohammed Mabkhout | 12 | male
Abdel- Rahman Anwar al Awlaki | 16 | male
Abdel-Rahman al-Awlaki | 17 | male
Nasser Salim | 19














 












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Friday, January 25, 2013

Diane Rehm and her Three Idiots and Her Fake Show

If I had the inclination, I would pick through the lies of Diane and her three guests on the first hour of today's The Diane Rehm Show.

What I learned this week, attending the House and Senate hearings that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified at, is that the media lies.  They do it because they are too lazy and too pampered to do actual work. 

So we got three 'journalists' telling us what happened in the hearing -- the hearing.  They seemed unaware Ms. Clinton had also appeared before a House Committee.  Because they are stupid just like Diane Rehm and they offer a few (bad) sentences on a wide range of topics and pretend like they have done something when all they do is dumb down the country with their superficial and stupid nonsense.

I ignored Susan Rice in reporting on the Senate hearing.  But I will address that to a degree now because The Wall Street Journal's Jerry Seib lied and lied some more.


 Jerry Seib:  She [Hillary Clinton]  got criticized for the administration's response which was expected, got criticized for allowing U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to go on TV and talk about it as a spontaneous demonstration rather than a preplanned attack. But I think she rebutted that criticism pretty effectively... 

Diane Rehm: How? How? 


Jerry Seib:  Mostly by saying there were questions then right after the attack that are still aren't answered today about what exactly happened that night, where the crowd came from, who joined in and how preplanned it was. And I think, you know, as I said earlier before the show and we're chatting, I think she gave as good as she got overall, and that's, I think, the way she walked away from her last big event as secretary of state. 



 There are still questions?

Not about Susan Rice's testimony.  Was Seib at the hearing?

The senators bringing up Rice elected to emphasize only one aspect, Rice's claim it ws protesters and things got rowdy.  It was a terrorist attack.

And Secretary Clinton was forced to admit that over and over in the hearing.  (She herself had called it terrorism before Ms. Rice went on the Sunday morning shows.)

Senator Rob Johnson was only one of the senators raising this but he probably did it best by noting a protest at 9:40 at night does not seem plausible. 

So Jerry Seib decided to discuss something he knew nothing about.  He was an idiot.

And Diane Rehm loves her idiot.  We should thank Mr. Seib for informing us that there is "before the show . . .chatting" when the playbook for the 'live' 'discussion' is put in place.






 This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:

Friday, January 25, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, protesters turn out in Iraq, Iraqi forces fire on Falluja protesters, Nouri uncorks the crazy yet again, Nouri faces calls to back off as well as calls to listen to the protesters, Barack finds another pro-Iraq War man to elevate with a high profile job, and more.

Today Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's forces continued their assault on the Iraqi people who dared to exercise their Constitutional rights.  Yesterday Nouri's forces sent two protesters (and one reporter) to the hospital and that January 7th, Nouri's forces assaulted four protesters in Mosul.  And today?  In Falluja, Nouri's forces fired on protesters.  Kitabat reports Sheikh Abdul-Maliki al-Saadi accused Nouri of attempting to turn peaceful demonstrations into bloody attacks.  What happened?

There are various accounts.    Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reports, "The shooting began, according to witnesses, after Iraqi soldiers ordered demonstrators to stop filming security force positions. Protesters, in turn, responded by the throwing tear gas and non-lethal explosive devices known as flashbangs, witnesses said." His is one of the strongest reports and a reminder that, even today, real reporting can be done.  And he Tweets.



Alsumaria reports that 5 protesters are dead and 31 more injured -- six of whom are children -- including 1 Alsumaria TV journalist.  They note that Mohammed Dulaimi used his sermon to call for the judiciary to protect the protesters from the military.  It also notes that the military first attempted to block the protesters from entering the square. Prensa Latina notes that there are accounts which state "that police officers surpassed a religious ceremony and sparked off protests." All Iraq News notes that the 5 killed were attempting to take part in a sit-in. AFP goes with, "The rally had been moving to an area in east Fallujah but was blocked off by soldiers, an army captain said. Protesters began throwing bottles of water at the troops who then opened fire, the officer said."  BBC News concurs, "The clashes erupted after the soldiers prevented people joining an anti-government demonstration in the mainly Sunni city after Friday prayers."   Reuters offers, "A local television channel showed demonstrators approaching the army vehicles and throwing stones and water bottles while troops tried to keep them away by firing in the air. But images also showed one soldier aiming his rifle at demonstrators."  Dar Addustour columnist As Sheik notes that the protesters and their demands have been repeatedly ignored and that it appears any pretext for aggravation has been seized upon by the security forces but that there must be no more Iraqi blood spilled at the hands of the military.  Kitabat explains that the violence is leading to growing chorus of calls for civil disobedience in Iraq.

Dr. Khaled Khalaf, with Falluja General Hospital, tells AFP that the death toll rose to six.  Al Mada reports that by 4:30 pm Iraqi time, Falluja General Hospital could count 6 dead and sixty injured -- all of the injured were protesters.  Hospital sources reveal to Al Mada that three of the dead died from gun shots to their heads.  The same sources state the death toll may increase because a number of the injured have vital injuries (including chest wounds, neck wounds and abdomen wounds).   The shootings did not end the protests, Al Mada reports, not even in Falluja.  A number of protesters stayed or returned in the afternoon and then they let the army know that they could throw stones.  Some of the video that's being pimped online, check the position of the sun in the video and note that it's a small number before you buy into the myth that poor, little Iraqi soldiers were attacked and then had to fire.

Who's the leader in Iraq?  Nouri al-Maliki holds the title of prime minister.  (Iraqi President Jalal Talabani remains in Germany seeking medical treatment after suffering a stroke a few weeks ago.)  But who offered leadership today and who offered clinical insanity?   All Iraq News notes that Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr denounced the violence in a statement and noted that the security forces are tasked with protecting Iraqi citizens and ensuring their safety.  Kitabat quotes the statement noting "We denounce and condemn today's armed assault on demonstrators in Falluja."  The events were a daily double for Nouri al-Maliki's paranoia.  All Iraq News notes his response was to immediately declare that the protesters in Falluja, the injured ones, were Ba'athists or al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. 
Amnesty International issued the following today:
Iraq must immediately investigate the killings of protestors in accordance with international standards, Amnesty International said today after several people died when troops in the city of Fallujah fired on anti-government demonstrators who had reportedly thrown stones at them.

Several others were said to be seriously injured during Friday's protest, the latest in an ongoing and largely peaceful campaign protesting against the government and its abusive treatment of detainees.

"The Iraqi authorities must ensure that the investigation they have announced into these killings is independent, impartial and that the methods and findings are made public.  Anyone found responsible for abuses – including anyone found to have used excessive force against protestors – must be brought to justice," said Ann Harrison, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.
"The authorities should also ensure that security forces are trained and properly equipped to police demonstrations and other gatherings in a manner which respects human rights, including those where some protestors turn violent."
There were conflicting reports about what had caused the shooting by the Iraqi troops. However, subsequently further clashes erupted and army vehicles were burned. There have been claims that some Iraqi soldiers were also injured in the incident. 
The UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials both lay down clear standards for the policing of demonstrations and the use of firearms, including by armed forces.
Since last December tens of thousands of mainly Sunni Muslim Iraqis have taken to the streets expressing discontent with the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'a Muslim, at the continuing discrimination against them in Iraq. The daily and largely peaceful demonstrations took place mainly in predominantly Sunni Muslim provinces, including Anbar, Mosul and Salah al-Din.
The protests were triggered by the detention of several bodyguards of the Finance Minister Rafi'e al-Issawi, a senior Sunni Muslim political leader, on terrorism charges. The move was thought by many Sunni Muslims to be politically motivated. There are concerns that increasing sectarian tensions may result in further violence. 
There continue to be frequent bomb attacks by armed groups targeting civilians. For example, dozens of pilgrims for Shi'a Muslim festival of Arba'een were killed at the end of last month; this week several people were killed by car bombs in Baghdad and more than 20 people were killed by a suicide bomber at a Shi'a Muslim mosque in Tuz Khurmato.
Protesters continue to call for respect for due process and legislative measures - including an amnesty law and a review of anti-terror legislation - and for an end to human rights violations against prisoners and detainees in Iraq.

For years Amnesty International has documented cases of torture during interrogations while held incommunicado; deaths in custody in circumstances suggesting that torture was the cause; detainees being coerced into making "confessions"; and unfair trials, sometimes resulting in the death penalty.
A few days before the protests started, Amnesty International contacted the Iraqi government about dozens of reported cases of human rights violations against detainees and prisoners. The Iraqi government has yet to reply.
In one such case in 2012, four men were reportedly tortured while held incommunicado for several weeks at the Directorate of Counter-Crime in Ramadi, Anbar Province before their release in April 2012. Their "confessions" were then broadcast on local television.
During their trial, they told the Anbar Criminal Court that their "confessions" had been extracted under torture. A medical examination presented to the court of one of the men's injuries indicated bruising and burning consistent with his allegations. 
"As far as we know, no official investigation into these allegations of  torture is known to have been held," said Harrison.
"It is imperative that investigations into this – and the dozens of other cases that we have raised with the Iraqi authorities – are carried out as a matter of urgency, particularly as these men are now on death row.
"Perpetrators of abuse need to know that they will face the consequences of their actions, and victims have a right to truth, justice and reparation."
The four men were sentenced to death on 3 December 2012, convicted of offences under Iraq's Anti-Terror Law.

Ban Ki-Moon is the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the UN issued the following today:

The Secretary-General strongly condemns the recent wave of terrorist attacks across Iraq, which have killed hundreds of people and left many more wounded. He regrets the killing and injuring of a number of protestors today in Fallujah. Recognizing the right to peaceful assembly, he calls on all parties to exercise maximum restraint.
The Secretary-General renews his call of last December to Iraqi political leaders and Members of the Council of Representatives to engage in an inclusive dialogue, so as to strengthen the unity and security of the country. The United Nations, through the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), remains committed and stands ready to assist the people and the Government of Iraq in building a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous country.

In addition, Al Mada notes that 16 Iraqi civil society organizations declared their support for the protesters and called on Nouri al-Maliki to listen to their demands.  Kitabat reports the Chair of the Iraqi Institute for Strategic Studies, Sheikh Khamis al-Dagger, has declared that members of parliament should launch a boycott on all sessions of Parliament until the demands of the protesters are heard and he termed today's events "the Falluja massacre."  Though it's not a boycott of Parliament, Kitabat reports that Yassin al-Mutlaq issued a statement today declaring the National Dialogue Front (whose leader is Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq) is withdrawing from provincial elections to protest the goverment's refusal to listen to the demands of the demonstrators.  Meanwhile at the US State Dept today, spokesperson Victoria Nuland continued her war on the Iraqi people.


QUESTION: Staying in the region, Iraq?

MS. NULAND: Yeah.

QUESTION: A very quick question: According to reports, five protestors got killed today in Fallujah, Iraq. Have – are you able to confirm – during protests by the Iraqi security forces.

MS. NULAND: I'm not in a position to confirm numbers, but I will say that we are concerned about the use of deadly force during today's protests in Iraq. We understand that the Iraqi Government has now issued a statement indicating that they are initiating a very prompt investigation into the incidents, and that they have called for restraint by security forces. We obviously stand ready to assist in that investigation if asked, but we would also say that as the government and government forces show restraint, the demonstrators also have a responsibility to exercise their right to protest in a nonviolent manner, as well as to continue to press their demands through the political process.



Why have an investigation of any kind?  Didn't Nuland just declare from on high that the "government forces show restraint"?  She's a human rights nightmare.  Nouri and his wonderful forces?  Dar Addustur reports on the Lance Corporal just convicted in Basra for the rape and murder of a four-and-a-half-year-old girl?  Dar Addustour reports that Nouri imposed a curfew on Falluja and 'the Ministry of Defense' announced they would launch an investigation into what took place today.  The Ministry of the Defense?  I forget, who is the Minister of Defense?

Oh, that's right, Iraq doesn't have one.   Back in July, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."  He was supposed to nominate them and have them confirmed by Parliament before December 2010 wrapped up but US President Barack Obama gifted Nouri with a second term via a contract (the Erbil Agreement) which meant Nouri didn't have to do the things -- like form a Cabinet -- that the Constitution demanded he do.  By not nominating someone to head the ministry, Nouri controls it.  That was his point in not nominating people to head the security ministries -- it was a power-grab. 

We'll note another Twet about what took place in Falljua today:


In case you forgot, Iraq is no better off than it was a decade ago: Iraqi Army opens fire on protesters throwing rocks. http://ow.ly/h8rpM 
View summary

RT notes today was dubbed "Friday of No Retreat." Zhu Ningzhu (Xinhua) reminds, "Sunnis in Iraq have been protesting for a month, asking Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to quit, after Sunni Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi's security chief and bodyguards were arrested on terror charges."   Al Arabiya provides this context:


Demonstrators began by criticizing the alleged exploitation of anti-terror laws to detain Sunnis wrongfully, but have since moved on to calling for Maliki to quit.
They were sparked by the Dec. 20 arrest of at least nine of the guards of Finance Minister Rafa al-Essawi, a top Sunni politician.
The government has sought to curb the rallies by claiming to have released nearly 900 prisoners in recent weeks, with a senior minister publicly apologizing for holding detainees without charge.

The Washington Post's Liz Sly Tweets this observation:

  1. The Iraqi army firing at protesters in Fallujah tdy. It's Syria 2011; at risk of fastforwarding to Syria 2013 overnight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHB8qlYhnb8 …




Falluja wasn't the only site of protests.   The Voice of Russia notes, "Earlier today, a major protest rally was held in the city of Ramadi in western Iraq, where demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans."  SAPA and DPA note that protests also took place in Samarra, Kirkuk and Mosul.  On Mosul, Alsumaria reports that protesters continued their sit-in and have the backing of the tribes of Nineveh.  The demonstrators are prepared to cut off the road (with their bodies) linking Mosul with Baghdad if their demands are not met.  The demands include the release of innocent prisoners and detainees and the punishment of any who have tortured or raped women prisoners.   Kitabat notes that protests took place in Baghdad and Baquba as well with protesters chanting for a united Iraq and an end to sectarianism and many banners referring to the issues of the prisoners such as one that declared, "Enough! Break The Prison Door."  AFP's Prashant Rao Tweets:

Pictures by @AFP photographers of anti-government demos in Baghdad, Ramadi, Kirkuk, Hawijah, Samarra: http://bit.ly/10JFwZS  #Iraq
Expand

  2. Pictures by @AFP photographers of today's protests in Baghdad, Ramadi and Kirkuk: http://bit.ly/UpGdrX 



  3. .@AFP photos of today's #Iraq protests, so from Ramadi and Kirkuk (with more coming): http://bit.ly/UpGdrX 



Nouri's popularity (and cash) managed a turn-out in support of him.  Alsumaria reports that Baghdad's Firdous Square saw "dozens" of Nouri's supporters marching and chanting.  If this was like previous turnouts by The Wives of Nouri al-Malliki, the area around the square was shut down and soldiers and police were present to protect the faux-protesters.


Elsewhere in Iraq, All Iraq News reports, one Mosul bombing injured one police officer while a second left one dead and two injured. and a Samarra operation found security forces killing 14 suspects.

All Iraq News notes 1 woman died from avian flu (bird flu) in Karbala Province.  She was fifty-years-old.  Province officials held an emergency meeting today to address the topic of the avian flu and prevention.


Best Tweet on Iraq this week?


Only realised now that in a few months we go into "the Iraq war, ten years on" mode. Should be as awful as we can dream it to be.

Expand
Nouri has sent his federal forces into the provinces and that's who's attacking these protesters.



In the United States, President Barack Obama has given a key administration position to another man.  This one has quite a history.  Rosie Gray (BuzzFeed) reports on the new White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough:

As the top foreign policy aide to then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, he was crucially involved in crafting the legislation to authorize the use of force in Iraq. The resolution passed the Senate on Friday, Oct. 11, 2002, with 29 Democrats voting for it; many would later say they regretted the vote, or the way the Bush administration used it.McDonough has not spoken publicly about a period many Democrats would like to forget, but people close to him say the episode was one that shaped his views, which include a firm attachment to "regular order" -- the consultative process that critics say the Bush administration ignored in the march to war.
Daschle, in an interview with BuzzFeed, recalled that McDonough played a lead role in hammering out the resolution.
"These were very, very tough calls and our caucus was almost evenly divided on the war," Daschle said in an interview with BuzzFeed. "It was a real challenge. I had many very serious reservations myself."

Yet again, Barack rewards the wrong on the Iraq War.  Yet again.  Another of Barack's nominees is Senator John Kerry for Secretary of State.  We attended the confirmation hearing yesterday and Kat reported on it at her site last night.  A CIA bagman is targeting the Kerry nomination and honestly thinks he's going to kill it.  He really is delusional.  (Kerry's confirmation is not in doubt.) Another nominee is War Hawk Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense.  A large number of spinners and whores have rushed to prop up Hagel.  Last month, Charlie Davis had a great essay taking on these lies and the liars who tell him:


In this past election, Obama often ran to the right of Mitt Romney, his campaign frequently suggesting the latter would not have had the guts to kill Osama bin Laden. The DNC ridiculed Romney for suggesting he'd consider the war's legality before bombing Iran. "Romney Said He Would Talk To His Lawyers Before Deciding Whether To Use Military Force," read the press release, as if that's a bad thing. Obama, bomber of a half-dozen countries, never forgot to mention the "crippling" sanctions he's imposed.

And J Street, the group that just co-sponsored a rally with AIPAC backing the Israeli state's latest killing spree? Ask a resident of Gaza how "pro-peace" it is.
But, in order to create a sign-this-petition! narrative, one often can't do nuance. So Naiman doesn't. In another post, this one highlighting Hagel's establishment support, because antiwar activists care about that sort of thing, he casually refers to former ambassador Ryan Crocker as among the "diplomacy champions and war skeptics" backing the former senator. This would be the same Ryan Crocker appointed by George W. Buish who has said "it's simply not the case that Afghans would rather have US forces gone," and dismissed the killing of at least 25 people in Afghanistan, including children, as "not a very big deal."
That should give you a good idea of the obfuscation going on in the antiwar campaign for a Pentagon chief. This is a problem. If you're going to play the role of the savvy Washington activist and get involved in the inside baseball that is fights over cabinet appointments, ostensibly to reframe the debate more than anything – we must defeat AIPAC! – you ought not go about reinforcing adherence to orthodoxy and the perceived value of establishment support and credentials. And you ought not cast as heroes of the peace movement people that really shouldn't be. That's actually really dangerous.
Yet, some would rather play down Hagel's pro-war credentials for the all-important narrative. So we cast him as a staunch opponent of a war with Iran, ignoring his repeated assertions that we must "keep all options on the table" with respect to the Islamic Republic, including killing men, women and children. In a piece he coauthored with other establishment foreign policy figures, Hagel's opposition to war amounted merely to a call to consider its costs – and its benefits.

I'm being told that excerpt won't bold face, sorry.  Now we're winding down with some awful news.  The topic is political prisoner Lynn Stewart whom President Barack Obama could set free tomorrow.  She broke no law.  She issued a press release.  The Janet Reno Justice Department reviewed that action -- it was a violation of an agreement (not a law) -- and Reno wisely concluded there was no offense to prosecute, they asked Lynn not to do it again, end of story.  Then Bully Boy Bush was sent to the White House by the Supreme Court.  Lynn is the people's lawyer -- called that because poverty didn't make someone an unattractive client to her, notoriety didn't scare her off, nothing did.  If someone needed an attorney and no one wanted to take the case for whatever reason, Lynn would be interested.  For that reason, she's an 'enemy' in the minds of people like John Ashcroft.  Remember that when people like Arianna Huffington try to gloss over Ashcroft.  As Bush's Attorney General, Ashcroft made it his mission to go after Lynn.  The same 'offense' that she was 'tried' for under Reno was pulled up again -- that's known as double jeopardy and it's against the Constitution but when has a White House shown any respect for the Constitution lately?  He used 9-11 and fear to convict her, having the trial in lower Manhattan, constantly referencing 9-11.  The same way the Bush administration lied and falsely linked to sell the Iraq War, they lied and falsely linked to put Lynn behind bars.  "Constitutional professor" Barack didn't order Lynn released.  No, his Justice Department took Lynn back to court to get her sentence extended.  She had been sentenced to 28 months behind bars for these alleged 'crimes' but that wasn't good enough for Barack.  His Justice Dept asked for and received a ten year sentence. They have made a mockery out of the American legal system and out of the concept of justice.

She is a grandmother, she is a woman over 70-years-old, she has been a cancer survivor.  This week's. Black Agenda Radio, hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey (first airs each Monday at 4:00 pm EST on the Progressive Radio Network),  features Lynn's husband Ralph Poynter.

Glen Ford:  Imprisoned human rights lawyer Lynn Stewart is facing a grave health crisis.  Stewart was sentenced to ten years in prison in connection with her vigorous defense of one of her clients, the blind sheikh charged in alleged bomb threats in New York City in 1993.  Stewart has been imprisoned in Fort Worth, Texas.  Her husband, Ralph Poynter, says her cancer is spreading.

Ralph Poynter:  For months, we have been worried about a spot that's shown on Lynn's lung -- one of her lungs.  And we did not want to go public with it until we were sure what was happening.  What is happening is her breast cancer is spreading.  It has spread to the other lung and to parts of her back.  We feel that it is a death sentence in the prison.  We fought in the beginning to keep Lynn out of jail, to make them take her from a local hospital with the doctor's objection because we could see the hand writing on the wall.  This was not taken up as a legal issue and Lynn went to prison and now the other shoe has fallen.  Her cancer is spreading.  She is in Fort Worth, Texas subjected to the regulations of a prison between her and health care.  From the greatest center of health care probably in the world from New York to Fort Worth, Texas and we know cancer is spreading.  And as our daughter the doctor says, cancer has to be nipped in the bud.  But first it has to go through regulations of Fort Worth Texas -- not knowing when you go to the hospital, not knowing who's going to be there.  So we're working on that.  And getting Lynn to the hospital, the getting her treatment --

Mya Shone : Ralph, we should point out that when Lynn does go to the hospital they shackle her.

Ralph Poynter:  Yes, Lynn goes to the hospital as an inmate -- in total shackling of waist and feet and nothing is funny about it.  But Lynn says in her stories about what happens after she goes to the hospital  would be funny if it were a cartoon but her life is at stake -- and how she fell and the guards grabbed her and the guards were burly athletic type of guards and when the guards grabbed her and kept her from falling, they injured her and she had bruise marks for a month but she thanks the guards for grabbing her because she could have fallen flat on her face, out of the van, with shackles at her legs, waist and hands.  So this is the sort of thing that she is involved with and she has to endure.


Glen Ford:  Lynn Stewart's husband Ralph Poynter speaking with Mya Shone on the radio program Taking Aim.























Posted by at

Thursday, January 24, 2013

It is on Hillary

Several e-mails asked me if I feel bad for what I wrote about Hillary Clinton's testimony?

Nope.  I feel glad.  I feel glad to know that even if it is someone I admire, if they screw up, I will call them out.  I am glad to know I have ethics.

I am going to share a story.  I asked C.I. if it was okay and she said sure.  A friend of C.I.'s is a big name in environmental issues.  And he wanted to talk to me back when I was covering Solyndra.  C.I. said she would pass it on but whether I wanted to talk to him or not would determine if we spoke.

I thought, "Sure."

So we talked, this man and I.  He admitted that Solyndra "stinks to high heaven" but said I needed to stop writing about it because it could hurt green energy.

I do not make those decisions.  I do not censor because of what might happen or how someone might vote or other nonsense.

My job is to tell the truth.

If the truth upsets the apple cart, that just means someone needs to come along and set things straight.  But I will not lie to protect someone or help an issue.

I see that as very unethical.


On that topic, Judson Berger (Fox News) reports:


 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed this week that several employees who were "removed" from their positions in the wake of the Libya terror attack are still being paid and have not actually left her department.
But she also gave a surprising answer when asked why: Her hands are tied, she said.
Amid complaints from lawmakers that no government official has really been held accountable for missteps in the run-up to the attack, Clinton claimed current federal regulations limit what disciplinary actions can be taken. 
 
 
So we were lied to when she claimed before that there had been accountability?

We were lied to.

She lied on Wednesday to the Senate and she lied to us when she claimed people lost their jobs.

Her lies are on her.  I have no need to join her in lying by pretending the lies were never uttered.




This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:
 
Thursday, January 24, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, 2 demonstrators are assaulted by Nouri's police in Mosul, calls for listening to the protesters intensify, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announces an important change and many offer their reactions, we go back over Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's very bad appearance before a Senate Committee yesterday, and more.


Starting in the United States, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.


Hillary's performance in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing yesterday should have resulted in her being condemned -- both for how she presented herself and for what she said.  We called her out in yesterday's snapshot.   In addition,  Wally covered it in "Facts matter, Hillary (Wally),"   Ava covered it in "20 are still at risk says Hillary in an aside (Ava)," Ruth covered it in "Like watching Richard Nixon come back to life" and Kat covered it in "Can she not answer even one damn question?"  Kat admits that she was so surprised and disgusted by Hillary's performance that she didn't attend the afternoon hearing with us because she couldn't take seeing Hillary like that again.  Ava points out that Hillary acted out in every negative stereotypical was possible.  Ruth compares her to Nixon when it comes to answering questions.  They went into the hearing expecting Hillary to sail through it in a professional and adult manner.  I did have doubts and by the time Hillary was screaming and waving her hands -- above the shoulders -- like a lunatic, I'm sorry.  I supported her in 2008.  I don't see supporting a presidential run again. 

I have never seen lunatic behavior like that in a hearing and I was present a few years back when a Ranking Member stormed out in the middle of a witness' remarks, loudly and intentionally slamming a door behind him.  Everyone stopped -- the witness stopped testifying -- and we all appeared to wonder, "What the hell is wrong with Steve Buyer?"  I disagreed with Buyer on many things (he was very right, however, on the burial grounds for military members who were buried in this country and overseas -- he was a champion on that issue and deserves praise for it) but I had never seen anything so rude.  I sat through Condi Rice testifying as a hostile witness or at least to a hostile Congress, I sat through Condi testifying as a woman with red paint (representing blood) on her hands invaded Condi's space.  Condi didn't scream and yell.  In fact, I said to Kat, "I'm sort of impressed with how calm Condi remained and with the fact that she didn't try to sick security guards on the woman" (Diane Wilson).  (I think John Kerry responded very well to an outburst in the midst of his opening remarks at today's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.)

Some 'press' -- like the Drama Queen at the Washington Post -- are distorting the hearing, especially a key exchange (the one Wally covered accurately last night).  They're rushing to praise Hillary and calling Senator Ron Johnson a "tea partier."  I have no idea what he is (other than Republican), yesterday was the first time I ever laid eyes on him.  But I don't need to know his backstory to know what happened in the hearing. 


Senator Ron Johnson:  Mr. Chairman and Madam Secretary, I'd like to join my colleagues in thanking your for service sincerely and also I appreciate the fact that you're here testifying and glad that you're looking in good health.

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  Thank you.

Senator Ron Johnson:  Did you, were you fully aware of -- again, I realize how big your job is, you know everything's erupting in the Middle East this time.  Were you fully aware of these 20 incidents reported in the ARP in real time?  I mean --

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  I-I was aware of the ones that were brought to my attention.  They were part of, uh, our ongoing discussion about the um-um deteriorating threat environment in uh eastern Libya uh, we certainly were, uh, very conscience of them was assured by our security professionals that, uh, repairs were underway additional security upgrades in place.

Senator Ron Johnson:  Okay.  Thank you.  Did you see personally the cable on -- I believe it was August 12th -- specifically asking for basically reinforcements for the-the security detail that was going to be evacuating -- or leaving -- in August?  Did you see that personally?

Secretary Hillary Clinton:   No, sir.


Senator Ron Johnson:  Okay.  Uhm, when you read the ARB, it strikes me, uh, how certain the people were that the attacks started 9:40 pm Benghazi time. When was the first time you spoke to, or have you ever spoken to, the returnees, the evacuees?  Did you personally speak to those folks?

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  I've spoken to, uh, one of them but I waited until after the ARP had done its investigation because I did not want there to be [laughing] any issue that I had spoken to anyone before the ARP conducted its investigation.

Senator Ron Johnson:  How many people were evacuated from Libya?

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  Uhm.  Well, you, uh, the numbers are a little bit hard to pin down because of our other friends --

Senator Ron Johnson:  Approximately?


Secretary Hillary Clinton:  Approximately 25 to 30.


Senator Ron Johnson:  Uh, did anybody in the State Dept talk to those folks shortly afterwards?

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  Uh, there was discussion going on uh-uh afterwards.  But once the investigation started, the FBI spoke to them before we spoke to them and so other than our people in Tripoli which -- I think you're talking about Washington, right?

Senator Ron Johnson:  Yeah.  Yeah.  The point I'm making is a very simple phone call to these individuals I think would have ascertained immediately that there was no protest prior to this.  I mean this attack started at 9:40 p.m. Benghazi time.  It was an assault and I appreciate the fact that you called it an assault.  But I mean, I'm going back to then, Ambassador Rice five days later going to the Sunday shows and what I would say purposefully misleading the American public.

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  Well, Senator --

Senator Ron Johnson:  Why-why-why wasn't that known?  And, again, I appreciate the fact that the transparency of this hearing but why weren't we transparent at that point and time?

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  Well, first of all, Senator, I would say that once the assault happened and once we got our people rescued out, our most immediate concern was, number one, taking care of their injuries because, as I said, I still have a DSA agent still at Walter Reed seriously injured, getting them into Frankfurt-Ramstein to get taken care of, the FBI going over immediately to talk to them, we did not think it was appropriate for us to talk to them before the FBI conducted their interviews.  And we did not -- I think this is accurate, sir -- I certainly did not know of any reports that contradicted the IC talking points at the time that Ambassador Rice went on the TV shows.  And, you know, I just want to say that, uhm, you know, people have, uh,  accused Ambassador Rice and the administration of, uh, misleading the Americans, I can say trying to be in the middle of this and understanding what was going on, nothing could be further from the truth.  Was information developing?  Was the situation fluid?  Would we reach conclusions later that weren't reached initially and I appreciate --

Senator Ron Johnson:  But, Madam Secretary, do you disagree with me that a simple phone call to those evacuees to determine what happened wouldn't have ascertained what happened immediately that there was no protest?  I mean that was -- that was a piece of information that could have been easily, easily obtained. 

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  But Senator, again --

Senator Ron Johnson:  -- within hours, if not days.

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  Senator, I, you know, when you're in these positions, the last thing you want to do is interfere with any other process going --

Senator Ron Johnson:  I understand, I realize ---

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  Number two --

Senator Ron Johnson:  -- that's a good excuse.

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  No, it's a fact.  Number two, I would recommend highly you read both what the ARB said about it and the classified ARB because even today there are questions being raised.  Now, we have no doubt they were terrorists, they were militants, they attacked us, they killed our people, but what was going on and why they were doing what they were doing --

Senator Ron Johnson:  No, no, no.

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  -- is still -- is still --

Senator Ron Johnson:  Again, we were misled that there were supposedly protests and then something sprang out of that -- an assault sprang out of that -- and that was easily --

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  But-but --

Senator Ron Johnson: -- ascertained that that was not the fact.

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  But-but --

Senator Ron Johnson:  -- and the American people could have known that within days and they didn't know that.

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans!  [This is where Hillary's crazy hands, like the volume of her voice, begin going all over the map.]

Senator Ron Johnson:  I understand.

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they'd go kill some Americans!  What difference at this point does it make!
It is our job to figure out what happened and to do everything we can to prevent it from every happening again, Senator!  Now, honestly, I will do my best to answer your questions about this but the fact is people were trying in real time to get to the best information.  The IC has a process, I understand, going with the other committees to explain how these talking points came out but, you know, to be clear, it is from my perspective less important today looking backwards as to why these militants decided they did it then to find them and then maybe we'll figure out what was going on in the meantime.

Senator Ron Johnson:  Okay, thank you Madam Secretary.
If you applaud that performance by Hillary I don't know who you are or what you believe in.  You don't believe in the Constitution -- not enough to support it -- nor do you believe in an informed society.  You do believe in all the b.s. Bully Boy Bush put the United States through after 9-11.

As Wally points out in his piece, there are things called "facts" that actually are facts but facts are not Hillary Clinton's personal opinions no matter how loud  she gets in hearing. 


Second, the issue of Susan Rice came up repeatedly.  During other questioning on the topic, Hillary testified she wasn't present so she can't speak to that process or what happened or anything. But with Johnson, she wants to assure him what happened -- what happened when she wasn't present.  She knows those aren't facts, she knows they're at best "hearsay."

Third, she's being asked a basic question.  I'd be a real hypocrite if I disagreed with Johnson because the issue of talking to someone who was present during the attack before going on TV to pontificate?  I raised that in the November 15th snapshot.  And Johnson was right yesterday.  You do have an obligation to speak to someone.

I've never been more disappointed in Hillary or more ashamed.  We're not going to debate the Susan Rice nonsense, it's been covered.  We're going to address Hillary's nonsense and we have to because the press doesn't want to do their damn job -- as usual.

Hillary said she took accountability.  If you burn my house down and show up the next day as I'm going through the charred remains and you say, "I take accountability," I may believe you . . . up until you start yelling and screaming.  If you take accountability, then you damn well learned something from the experience.  Hillary learned nothing.  It's a cheap line ("I take accountability") intended to silence people.  You either take accountability or you don't.

She's taken no accountability.  She's done nothing to indicate she has.  She's done nothing to improve her knowledge of the attack.  She's done nothing to secure the diplomatic staff around the world.  On the last one, as Ava so aptly pointed out in her report, as an aside, Hillary tosses out in the hearing that at least 20 US diplomatic outposts are currently at risk.  I'm missing the moment where Hillary or one of her staffers rushed before Congress in the last months to demand funding for these 20 at risk posts.

Don't lie to the country and claim you took accountability when you so obviously didn't.

Gore Vidal used to praise Hillary for her manners and grace.  Neither was visible yesterday.  If you didn't get it from the exchange, she was being flattered by Johnson, she was being praised.  She flew off the handle and started screaming and acting like a crazy person while she was being treated with kid gloves.  I was offended by her behavior.  She is not just a former First Lady, she's also a former US Senator and she fully  knows how to conduct herself in the Senate.  There was no excuse for her behavior.  Senator John McCain was probably the most severe critic she faced yesterday.  John McCain did not yell at her, he did not fly off the handle.  Let's move over to what she said while she was acting so crazy.

Senator Ron Johnson:  Again, we were misled that there were supposedly protests and then something sprang out of that -- an assault sprang out of that -- and that was easily --

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  But-but --

Senator Ron Johnson: -- ascertained that that was not the fact.

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  But-but --

Senator Ron Johnson:  -- and the American people could have known that within days and they didn't know that.

Secretary Hillary Clinton:  With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans!  [This is where Hillary's crazy hands, like the volume of her voice, begin going all over the map.]

There were four dead Americans and they died because of failures within the administration.  You can claim to take accountability all you damn well want.  But Ranking Member Bob Corker put one question to Hillary over and over (three times) and she ignored it.  'You claim you didn't see any of the various requests for more security.'  Corker wanted to know how that wouldn't happen to you again or the next person in your position?  Hillary couldn't answer him.  That's a failure.  She refused to answer him.  There are four dead Americans, Secretary Clinton, and you've done nothing to ensure that when people in the field ask for additional security, these requests and their outcomes are made known to the Secretary of State. 

Let's drop back to earlier:


[. . .]   once we got our people rescued out, our most immediate concern was, number one, taking care of their injuries because, as I said, I still have a DSA agent still at Walter Reed seriously injured, getting them into Frankfurt-Ramstein to get taken care of, the FBI going over immediately to talk to them, we did not think it was appropriate for us to talk to them before the FBI conducted their interviews. 


No, Hillary's not a scrub nurse or an ER technician or Chief of Staff.  Her first concern was not getting treatment for US citizens who had been medically transported to a US military base.  This was not Terms of Endearment and she is not Shirley MacLaine screaming, "Give my daughter the shot!"  There's a thing -- and we've gone over this repeatedly in the snapshots since the Benghazi attack -- known as standard operating procedure.  It wasn't followed repeatedly.  And if Hillary had to scream and throw a fit to get American doctors and nurses on a US military base to treat wounded Americans, then the whole process is screwed up.  Instead of lying to Congress, Hillary should have been thanking those doctors and nurses who were the first medical team to treat the injured Americans.  Instead like a cut-throat politician, she wanted to throw them to the wolves to protect herself.  Shame, shame, shame.

Though she never seemed to get that Johnson's point was Susan Rice -- or anyone being dispatched by the administration -- should have spoken to at least one person present during the assault before presenting a case to the American people, Hillary wanted you to know that she didn't speak to anyone.  She joked and laughed about that.  (She was mocking the days of Travel Gate, when she was First Lady and accused of tampering with files.  I've never seen her act so stupid in my life.  She was full of hubris.)

She also damned herself yet again.  Bill knows when to keep his mouth shut.  Hillary apparently never learned. 

This was the logic -- go to the excerpt for the quotes:  'I didn't speak to any of the 25 to 30 US citizens present during the assault because an investigation was going on.  I'm accountable.  I'm the one responsible.  Now that the investigation is over -- and I'm about to leave office -- I've spoken to 1 person.'

Did she not get how that damned her?

I don't buy the lie that she couldn't speak to people because of an investigation.  You are the Secretary of State, one of the outposts you oversee was attacked, you have every right to speak to the people present and you have an obligation to as well because you need to ensure that whatever happened does not happen at another diplomatic outpost.

But forget the lie.  'I'm accountable' didn't manage, now that the investigation is over, to speak to all the people.  That's the first thing she should have done.  That is her role.  We damn well expected Donald Rumsfeld to visit the wounded at Walter Reed when he was Secretary of Defense but Hillary thinks she gets a pass, that she doesn't have to check in with her staff?



Now let's go back to her emotional outburst, where she was screaming, ranting and waving her hands like a crazed bag lady on Southeast 1st Street and not a public servant testifying before the Senate.


Secretary Hillary Clinton:  Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they'd go kill some Americans!  What difference at this point does it make!
It is our job to figure out what happened and to do everything we can to prevent it from every happening again, Senator!  Now, honestly, I will do my best to answer your questions about this but the fact is people were trying in real time to get to the best information.  The IC has a process, I understand, going with the other committees to explain how these talking points came out but, you know, to be clear, it is from my perspective less important today looking backwards as to why these militants decided they did it then to find them and then maybe we'll figure out what was going on in the meantime.


What difference does it make at this point?  None to you?  You haven't even spoken to all serving under you who were present at the attack, all these months later you haven't.  You didn't visit the wounded in Walter Reed.  You didn't do a damn thing.  But if your "job" is to make sure it doesn't happen again, then it damn well matters what happened and why.

And Hillary knows that.  The why always matters if you have a legal degree.  The motive, the intent.  That is drilled into the head. 

And her not caring about the why is so typical of Bully Boy Bush and the rabid mind-set after 9-11 where we were never to question why the attacks happened, our only focus was supposed to be on lashing out.  If you want to prevent other attacks, you damn well better figure out why the first ones happened.  It was an ahistorical attack on learning and academia.  She should be ashamed of herself.

In kinder words, I made many of these points yesterday and hoped that it came through and planned for us to move on to another topic.  But what happened was appalling and instead of addressing that we have a press that wants to applaud her.  She's is not a celebrity.  She is a public servant and she is answerable to the people. I would still like to address Senator Bob Casey at a later date -- I felt he had an important point -- but that's more than enough Hillary and I'll consider us done with the topic here unless something forces us to relive it again.  (Such as an attack on one of the 20 facilities she testified were not sufficiently protected at present.)  I didn't seek out this topic, I didn't want to write it but we didn't whore, we talked about what went down and that is what went down.


Let's go to a better and more important topic.  Senator Patty Murray is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.  Her office issued the following:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 24, 2013
CONTACT: Murray Press Office
(202) 224-2834

Sen. Murray's First Bill in the New Congress Helps Catastrophically Wounded Veterans Start a Family

Murray calls for quick action on bill to end the VA's ban on In Vitro Fertilization which has prevented thousands of veterans with serious wounds to reproductive organs from accessing fertility care

Last Congress Murray's bill passed the Senate unanimously only to be stalled in the House of Representatives

(Washington, D.C.) -- Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray reintroduced legislation that ends the ban on in vitro fertilization (IVA) services at VA in order to help severely wounded veterans start families.  Murray's bill, the Women Veterans and Other Health Care Improvements Act of 2013 also builds upon previous law to improve VA services for women veterans and veterans with families.  Late last year, Senator Murray was able to pass the bill through the U.S. Senate after delivering an impassioned speech on the Senate floor that described the challenges veterans and their families face in accessing IVF.  Unfortunately, the bill failed to move in the House of Representatives in time to make its way to the President's desk after Republican leaders there expressed opposition.

"There is absolutely no reason that this bill should not move quickly to the President's desk," said Senator Murray.  "It was passed unanimously in the Senate and the House has a responsibility to our most seriously wounded veterans and their spouses to act.  These are veterans who have sustained serious and deeply impactful wounds and who are simply asking for help to begin a family.  We owe them nothing less."

Department of Defense (DOD) data show that between 2003 and 2012 nearly 2000 servicemembers have suffered reproductive and urinary tract trauma.  The reliance on foot patrols in Afghanistan and the prevalence of improvised explosive devices has left servicemembers far more susceptible to these injuries.  In fact, these data show a clear increase in injuries of this nature in recent years.

Veterans who have severe reproductive and urinary tract injuries and spinal cord injuries (SCI) often need highly specialized treatments and procedures like IVF to conceive.  However, under current law, IVF is expressly excluded from fertility services that are provided by the VA to veterans or their spouses.  This is a significant barrier for veterans with SCI and genital and urinary tract injuries and as a result they have to seek care outside of the VA.  DOD currently provides access to IVF services under the Tricare program and coverage for IVF and other fertility treatments at no charge to severely combat wounded servicemembers.  Senator Murray's bill would provide veterans with the same access.

Murray's bill also will give VA permanent authority to offer child care programs at hospitals and Vet Centers for veterans seeking care, and improve outreach to women veterans.

Senator Murray's bill is paid for by allowing the VA Secretary to charge a small fee to large corporations contracting with VA, and using those funds only for providing the treatment authorized by the bill.

###

Megan Roh
Deputy Press Secretary
Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
202-224-2834



The above is highly important and hopefully the House will quickly address the bill.  Senator Murray was present at hearings when the first wave of female veterans of today's wars began offering their testimonies to Congress.  Back then, she wasn't the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.  And she could take the attitude of, "I've got a lot on my plate and am just going to focus on what's right before me."  There's certainly enough to do that she could get away with that.  But in 2005 and 2006, as one woman veteran with a child went before the House and Senate over and over to offer testimony about their VA experience, the issue of how you get an appointment and then the next series of juggling comes up.  Taking a weekend appointment, if one's available, for example, may mean you don't miss work if you work outside the home, but it still means, if you're a parent, you're going to have to juggle child care issues.  Women who work within the home and who have children also spoke of the struggles to get an appointment and then to make the appointment.   Providing onsite child care is smart because it allows women and men with children to keep needed health care appointments.  It's also smart in another way.  Among the horror stories the first wave of women veterans from today's wars told Congress was that they were treated like meat by some other male veterans, that they were catcalled and harassed.  Never should have happened.  It's outrageous that they're trying to get their medical needs met and they've got deal with that.  Becoming child-friendly could also help send the message that VA hospitals are medical facilities, they are not strip clubs, they are not gentlemen's social clubs.

Today at the US Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, held a press conference to formally announce that women's role in the US military had been expanded as the Pentagon began down the road of ending the exclusion rule which refused to allow women to (officially) serve in direct combat roles. 

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta: One of my priorities as Secretary of Defense has been to remove as many barriers as possible for talented and qualified people to be able to serve this country in uniform.  Our nation was built on the premise of the citizen soldier.  In our democracy, I believe it is the responsibility of every citizen to protect the nation and every citizen who can meet the qualifications of service should have that opportunity.  To that end, I've been working closely with General Dempsey and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  We've been working for well over a year to examine how can we expand the opportunities for women in the armed services?  It's clear to all of us that women are contributing in unprecedented ways to the military's mission of defending the nation.  Women represent 15 percent of the force, over 200,000.  They're serving in a growing number of critical roles -- on and off the battlefield.  The fact is that they have become an integral part of our ability to perform our mission.  Over more than a decade of war, they have demonstrated courage and skill and patriotism. 153 women in uniform died serving this nation in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Female service members have faced the reality of combat, proven their willingness to fight and, yes, to die to defend their fellow Americans.

Iraq War veteran Jessica Lynch released the following statement:

The announcement by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to allow women to enter combat roles is good news for our military. For years, women have been integral to our successes in the fight for freedom throughout the world. We as Americans must continue to not only support our men and women in the military but also become their advocates,  pushing our leaders to ensure those individuals have proper training and equipment.  The total support of our military - those in combat and those here at home -protects every American.

I want to make it very clear I am sick to hell of people bashing Jessica Lynch.  We have covered this repeatedly.  Jessica Lynch didn't lie to anyone.  She said she wasn't a hero, she poked holes in the Bush administration's story.  She did so at a time when he was riding high in the polls and she was attacked for it.  I find it disgusting that today I've already seen two women attack Jessica in columns.  She did not lie.  She has repeatedly stated that her friend Lori Piestewa was the hero and she has done every thing she can to honor her friend.  I believe Jessica's wrong, she is a hero.  Maybe not in Iraq, but when she came back to the US, she could have lied.  It would have been so easy.  Just go along with the White House's official story.  Instead she stood up to a popular White House and said, "This story is not true."  That took real bravery and character.  It's a real shame that anyone would feel the need to attack her.  And let me add to one of the attackers that maybe these sort of ill-advised attacks, for example, are why you lost your radio show.  And why no one listeners mounted an effort to save your show.

Kristen Moulton (Salt Lake Tribune) spoke to women veterans in Utah such as Iraq War veteran Tara Eal who states, "We went through the front lines and I was in combat.  I didn't have to knock down any doors and, thankfully, I didn't have to shoot anybody.  But I was shot at and my truck was shot at."  Dennis Hoey and Kevin Miller (Press Herald) speak with Iraq War veteran Angela Baker who states, "There are no front lines anymore.  When I was over there, every single one of us, man or woman, got shot at multiple times.  We saw combat because we were in a combat zone."  Bill Briggs (NBC News) speaks with a number of veterans including Afghanistan and Iraq War veteran Julie Weckerlein who states, "There is definitely a sense of 'it's about time.'  This decision means the military is finally removing that useless 'attached, but not assigned' verbiage that meant absolutely nothing on the field, with the boots on the ground."  Jake Tapper and Jessica Metzger (CNN) report on Afghanistan War veteran Candace Fisher and her reaction, "It's a formalization of what we've been experimenting with the last ten to twelve years in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I think that those two conflicts have probably given the Army a pretty good idea of whether or not an actual policy change was warranted."  US House Rep and Iraq War veteran Tulsi Gabbard spoke with News Nation (MSNBC -- link is video) today.

US House Rep Tulsi Gabbard:  . . . it is a moment of great significance.  It's very personal for me, obviously, not just for myself, but for all of my sisters who I've had the honor of serving with, for all the women who've ever worn the uniform, this change, this policy change from the DoD really gives an official recognition to jobs, sacrifices and service that women in uniform have been making for generations.  [Responding to comments that women aren't suited for the job] I have to smile a little bit when I hear you say those things that the critics are talking about.  I've heard people cite studies talking about how women are not well-equipped to serve in these different capacities and what goes through my mind as you're saying that are the incredible women that I've had the honor of serving with and those who I've heard great stories about.  Women like Sgt Leigh Ann Hester who was the first woman since WWII to earn a Silver Star.  She was a Military Police Sgt serving in Iraq in 2005 and she led her squad of MPs against a very, very hot insurgent attack, flanked the enemy, assaulted two trench lines and, at the end, saved American lives.  And it's stories like Sgt Leigh Ann Hester's and countless women who throw out every argument that the critics have said because it's real, these are patriots who are putting their lives on the line for our country selflessly and, guess what, they happen to be women.

Staff Sgt Kimberly Fahnestock Voelz died while serving in Iraq, killed December 14, 2003 in a bombing just outside Falluja.  Matt Miller (Pennsylvania's Patriot News) speaks with her mother Carol Fahnestock who states, "If they're up to it and they can do the work, why not?  I know that at the time few women were doing what Kimmy was doing.  She excelled at it.  She loved it." 

The Feminist Majority Foundation issued a statement today:

For Immediate Release:
January 24, 2013
Contact:
Miranda Petersen
mpetersen@feminist.org
703.522.2214

Statement of Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation On the Decision to Remove Combat Restrictions on Women Serving in the Armed Services


The Feminist Majority Foundation applauds the long awaited decision to remove the combat restriction on women in the military. This is a historic milestone in the fight for women's equality. The combat restriction has been a sham. Women have been and are currently serving in combat positions, but have received neither the recognition nor the chance for promotion that men have enjoyed. We urge in its implementation that all barriers based simply on the gender of members of the armed services be removed, and that they be judged simply upon their capabilities.
For years women in the military have been discriminated against because of a cultural war that has finally ended on the position of women in the military. The reality on the ground has finally become the reality of public policy.
In 1980, when I was the President of the National Organization for Women, I released the following statement: "Discrimination against women...produces in the armed services exactly what it produces in the society as a whole-wasted skills, talents and potential..." At that time, we also addressed the false position that women do not serve in combat roles, saying "The first myth to be dispelled is that women have not been in combat...Women have served and will continue to serve in combat environments under the same conditions, suffering the same risks and injuries as men." Finally, our nation is recognizing this basic fact and correcting this outrageous injustice that has denied women just benefits and recognition for far too long.
In the fight for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment it was frequently argued by opponents that women cannot have equal rights without sharing equal responsibility. We have had more than our share of responsibility. Now, because of the courageous service of women in the armed services, women in the military are finally getting the recognition they deserve.
###


Cindy Sheehan takes another side.  She rejects the inclusion arguing that it's going the wrong way.  Instead of opening roles to women, they should be restricting men out of combat as well (thereby ending military adventures and wars).  She writes:

As a woman and mother, I dismay on a daily basis that I didn’t better protect my son from the gore-soaked claws of the US Army; and more importantly, as a woman and mother (and now grandmother), I could NEVER, EVER in a million years kill another woman or her child (or, innocent man, for that matter--and all of the oppressed/occupied peoples are innocent).
The US military has long been a malevolent force in the world and war jackals like Leon Panetta sit safely ensconced in their ivory towers ordering the poor and disadvantaged children of others to go and do their filthy work. In my experienced opinion, adding more combat-able demographics is nothing to celebrate in a sane world.
In Bizarro-USA (the opposite of the USA we have currently), access to education; fulfilling employment with a decent wage; healthcare; a clean environment and sustainable energy (with foods free of GMO’s and other toxins) should be our basic human rights—not the one where the establishment confers the dishonorable right to murder, or be murdered for the Evil Empire.


To be really clear, Cindy's position is a feminist position.  It's "a" not "the."  My own position is just one position as well.  For myself, I've done dozens of things that probably many women wouldn't want to do (and that's just in bed! drum roll please) and other women do things I have no interest in.  I would never serve in combat, it's not something that interests me.  I do feel if it's something that interests another woman, she should have every shot at achieving that.  That doesn't make Cindy wrong and it certainly doesn't make me right.  Cindy raises serious issues and I'm glad she does that. I'm also glad that she's willing and able to present another feminist take.


Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count counts 302 violent deaths in Iraq so far this month.  AFP's Prashant Rao Tweets AFP's count:

12h
218 dead, 650 wounded from violence so far this month in Iraq - tally:
Expand

Remember AFP has done a really great thing under Rao, they've put their count online.  The link goes to their count and you can check that out and pull it up.  They're being more open than anyone would expect so good for AFP and for Prashant Rao.


Today's violence includes the discovery of a woman's corpse in Dhi Qar.  News Network Nasiriyah report that she was 34-years-old and stabbed to death -- she is the third corpse discovered in three days to have been stabbed to death (a 20-something woman was discovered earlier this week and a 30-year-old woman). All Iraq News notes a Mosul roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and injured three people, and a southwest Baghdad roadside bombing left two people injured. Xinhua reports a Balad sticky bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and left five people injured, an Ishaqi bombing claimed 1 life (a man) and left "his mother wounded," 1 male corpse was discovered in Edheim (Diyalal Province) and two Diyala Province bombings left six people injured.  Alsumaria reports an armed Baghdad attack has left 3 police officers dead and that the assailants then set fire to the police car.


Today's violence also saw Nouri al-Maliki's thugs -- a thug's thugs -- fire on the peaceful demonstrators in Mosul -- fired yet again.  January 7th, Nouri's forces assaulted four protesters in Mosul.  Today All Iraq News reports that they sent two protesters to the hospital.  Alsumaria notes that journalist Sama Mosul Waddah Badrani was injured as he covered the protest and he, like the two protesters has been taken to the hospital. 

This will only fuel tomorrow's protests and it also makes Nouri look even more like a thug.  The provincial council, even governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, have made clear that the protesters have their support.  Nouri needs to bring his forces back to Baghdad.  They're not helping him or the crisis.


Kurdistan Regional Government Massoud Barzani went to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Conference.  Alsumaria reports that Barzani spoke with Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu about Iraq's political crisis and how it is only getting worse.  Meanwhile Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi and former prime minister and National Alliance leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari have also met to discuss the current crisis.  Alsumaria reports the two are in agreement that the laws passed need to serve the Iraqi people and there is talk of having the protesters elect repreentatives to convey their demands to provincial councils.  As Wael Grace (Al Mada) notes Iraqiya is currently boycotting Cabinet meetings.  Iraqiya is the political slate headed by Ayad Allawi which came in first in the 2010 parliamentary elections (Nouri's State of Law came in second).  Iraqiya is boycotting the meetings to protest Nouri's government ignoring the demands of the protesters.

Dar Addustour columnist As Sheikh notes that the protests have been taking place for about a month and that they are especially welcomed in the south of Iraq where service is especially poor and corruption rampant.   Sheikh observes that the failure to deal with the serious demands of the protesters has aided support and that support has been growing with each successive protest.
Nasiriyah reports the farmers in Dhi Qar are talking about organizing and joining the peaceful protests to demand their legitimate rights.


Nouri's been prime minister since May 2006 (he was named prime-minister designate in April 2006).  What does Iraq have to show for it?  Nouri's a very rich man today.  He's amassed a great deal of wealth -- as his children's spending demonstrates.  He employs one son who is best described as "dense" and one son-in-law who it is said couldn't get work if Nouri wasn't his father-in-law.  The Maliki family's done very well.  It's a shame the same can't be said for the Iraqi people Nouri is supposed to be serving.

Moqtada al-Sadr is a cleric and movement leader in Iraq.  He's a Shi'ite who's been surprisingly vocal about an Iraqi identity encompassing all.  Iraqiya's Ayad Allawi is a Shi'ite and he heads a slate that's rejected sects to call for a national identity.  With provincial elections scheduled for April, Nouri appears to be utilizing sectarian divisions as an election tactic yet again.  That's done a great deal of damage to Iraqi society but that's apparently of little concern to him.

Kitabat reports that the Sadr bloc withdrew from the Committee of Seven Ministers yesterday in protest of the government's refusal to listen to the demands of the protesters.  This Committee was formed by Nouri's Cabinet and Nouri had Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani head it.  While the western press has lavished al-Shahristani with sloppy wet kisses for over seven days, the Iraqi press has noted the many complaints against his actions -- that he's not listening to the protesters, for example.  The departure of the Sadr bloc is a huge blow to the Committee and to al-Shahristani.  In recent days, the Sadr bloc has loudly called out the conditions in prison, noted that al-Shahristani's (for-show) releases of prisoners confirm that many innocents are languishing in Iraqi prisons and detention centers and  much more.  A member of Moqtada's bloc tells All Iraq News that al-Sharistani's committee can't fix the problems because they are the problem.

The Iraq Times notes that 2011 saw $100 billion in oil dollars and an estimated 94 billion last year (these figures are in US dollars, not Iraqi dinar).  The paper notes that while Nouri's government boasts of all these riches (without shame), the Iraqi people do without basic services and the security situation deteriorates daily.  Some day, Iraqis asking "where did all the money go?" won't be denied an answer.  First place people need to look is Nouri's pockets.

At the Council of Foreign Relations, Emma Sky and Harith al-Qarawee explore the topic of Iraq and offer:


 Since 2008, when Maliki led a harsh crackdown on the Mahdi Army, a Shia militia, the prime minister has tried to present himself as a nationalist leader seeking to unify his country and evenly enforce the rule of law. The rise of Maliki and the popularity he gained with Shia, however, reveal the flaws of Iraq's new political system, which made state institutions fiefdoms of patronage for sectarian political parties rather than channels for delivering public services. Maliki tried to earn legitimacy beyond just the Shia community, in particular seeking the support of Sunni voters. His confrontation with Massoud Barzani, the president of the semi-independent Iraqi Kurdistan region, over security issues along the disputed border was primarily a move to win the support of the Sunni population there, which is resentful of Kurdish encroachment.
But Maliki has squandered his ability to appeal to the country's other sects and communities because of his paranoia and ideological bias as a leader of Dawa, the Shia Islamist party. He blames external interference for the current tensions, exploiting images of divisive symbols such as flags of the Saddam era, the Free Syrian Army, and Kurdistan, as well as photos of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And Maliki's record -- his targeting of Sunni politicians, his selective use of law, his influence over the judiciary to ensure rulings in his favor, and his close ties with Iran -- confirms that he is prepared to use all means necessary to consolidate power.

All Iraq News reports another last-ditch effort to save the $4 billion arms deal with Russia.  Maybe that will work out for Nouri?  It won't help Iraq but if he could ever close the deal he made months ago, he might be able to convince others that his name on a contract means something (months and months of struggle and doubt -- apparently).  All Iraq News also notes that there are now six outbreaks of avian flu (bird flu).  Sadly, the blame for this outbreak is being put on foreign workers in Iraq.  That's sad but not surprising when the country has huge unemployment and the government keeps providing jobs to non-Iraqis.


















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