Cold, Hard Facts, Episode V

Posted on November 6, 2006 by RagBlog

I knew there was a reason that I headlined this recent post as I did.

“The problems in Iraq are ahead of us, but we’re doing better than people think. And a year from now, I’ll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush. There is no doubt that, with the exception of a very small number of people close to a vicious regime, the people of Iraq have been liberated and they understand that they’ve been liberated. And it is getting easier every day for Iraqis to express that sense of liberation.” Richard Perle, 22 September 2003, address to the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

If you need the source for the quote, I’ve saved you the trouble.

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Congressman, Call Me …

Posted on November 6, 2006 by RagBlog
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A Different Take On Ted Haggard, W, Et Al

Posted on November 6, 2006 by RagBlog

White Bread, Cinammon Toast

Josh Marshall asks: What’s Bob Corker’s deal with Harold Ford’s sex life?”

I believe I can answer that, having seen a few Douglas Sirk movies in my time.

Bob Corker is gay. He may not know it yet, he may never know it, he may go to his sarcophagus wrapped in denial, but his fascination with Ford’s prowess and good looks gives him away, as does his political affiliation. All Republican political figures are gay, especially the men. When President Bush insists on kissing one bald head after another, the psychosexual symbolism speaks for itself. He’s planting his lips on big uncircumcised Kojak peckers. When Rush Limbaugh packs his Viagra and jets off on a tropical jaunt with the guys, it’s assumed there are saucy wenches awaiting him under the sultry palms, but I wonder — I wonder if it’s cabana boys making the hammock sway under the moonlight. Republican women — those masochistic saints — are more like Joan Allen playing Pat Nixon under layers of frosting, their rigid smiles forged by years of living a lie with a man infatuated with other men and too timid to take out a subscription to Details magazine, lest he be exposed. The closet in which he dwells doubles as a panic room with a convenient minibar, so that if he ever stumbles or strays, he can blame it on the creme de menthe, not the burning yearning of his heart. Perhaps Corker has a special thing for black men, and can’t get enough of that smooth and creamy Blair Underwood. There’s no shame in that. Many a significant look has been exchanged in the locker room at half-time.

The only shame is that Harold Ford can’t run for office without his Republican opponent, Karl Rove, and Ken Mehlman leching on him and taking turns at the keyhole. The South has made such progress, yet in affairs of the groin, it still has so far to go.

Read more of James Wolcott’s sacrilege here.

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I Do NOT Support the Troops

Posted on November 5, 2006 by RagBlog

Charlie Loving sent me this bit about the number of casualties in the Middle East since the beginning of hostilities following the events of September 11th. I’ve decided to put my answer to him here, because I want it known.

Casualties per Month

2001
Oct. 3, Nov. 4, Dec. 4,

2002
Jan. 10, Feb. 12, March 9, April 4 (END OF OEF)
May 1, June 3, July 0, Aug. 1, Sept. 1, Oct. 3, Nov. 1, Dec. 1,

2003
Jan. 4, Feb 6, March 76 (OIF Begins March 20), April 76, May 38, June 33, July 47, Aug. 40, Sept 33, Oct. 47, Nov. 88, Dec. 41,

2004
Jan. 55, Feb 23, March 53, April 138, May 88, June 47, July 56, Aug. 68, Sept 84, Oct. 68, Nov. 144, Dec. 73,

2005
Jan. 108, Feb 59, March 42 , April 70, May 83, June 105, July 56, Aug. 100, Sept 87, Oct. 102, Nov. 87, Dec. 71,

2006
Jan. 62, Feb 71, March 38, April 77, May 80, June 79, July 52, Aug. 75, Sept 79, Oct. 102 , Nov. **, Dec. **,

Family left behind
CHILDREN: 1,739
WIDOWS/WIDOWERS: 1,182

OIF= Operation Iraqi Freedon
OEF= Operation Enduring Freedom

Charlie:

I’m going to say something that I’ve had in my mind a long time. I talked with Mom about it once, but no one else.

I don’t have any sympathy for our troops, nor do I support them. This is a volunteer military; all these folks have a choice. For me there is only one choice, and that choice is to decline to fight, to decline to kill “to bring democracy to the Middle East,” or any other nonsensical crap that people such as Dick Cheney and the rest of PNAC and the neocons trot out. If our troops really had guts, they’d throw those guns on the ground and tell their commanders to fuck off.

If you’re going to send me a list of how many soldiers have died, why don’t you also send me a list of how many innocent Iraqis died. The latter had no choices about their deaths; our troops do. It’s just plain hypocritical to believe that American soldiers lives have more meaning than Iraqi lives. And what about the children? What about the dead children, Charlie?

It’s time for Humanity to stand for peace. Fighting amongst ourselves is killing not only our species, but endangering all the species because we fight each other and ignore the things we must do to enhance our planet and give it a chance to survive. Humans are fucking idiots both for what we fail to do, and for what we choose to do.

Rant, rant, rant …

Stop warring. Stop killing humans.

Richard Jehn

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Cannon Fodder Call-Up Coming

Posted on November 5, 2006 by RagBlog

Possible Iraq Deployments Would Stretch Reserve Force
Leaders Express Concern Over Troop Rotation Plans
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 5, 2006; Page A01

The Army’s National Guard and Reserve are bracing for possible new and accelerated call-ups, spurred by high demand for U.S. troops in Iraq, that leaders caution could undermine the citizen-soldier force as it struggles to rebuild.

Two Army National Guard combat brigades with about 7,000 troops have been identified recently in classified rotational plans for possible special deployment to Iraq, according to senior Army and Pentagon officials, who asked that the specific units not be named. One brigade could be diverted to Iraq next year from another assignment, and the other could be sent there in 2008, a year ahead of schedule.

Next year, the number of Army Guard soldiers providing security in Iraq will surge to more than 6,000 in about 50 companies, compared with 20 companies two years ago, Guard officials said. “We thought we’d see a downturn in operational tempo, but that hasn’t happened,” said one official.

Read the rest here.

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The Pentagon Knew the Consequences of War in Iraq

Posted on November 5, 2006 by RagBlog

This lays more blame for this debacle at the White House doorstep. When will Congress finally acknowledge the impeachability of that man and his minions for what they have done? rdj

Post-Saddam Iraq: The War Game
“Desert Crossing” 1999 Assumed 400,000 Troops and Still a Mess
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 207
Introduced by Roger Strother

Washington D.C., November 4, 2006 – In late April 1999, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), led by Marine General Anthony Zinni (ret.), conducted a series of war games known as Desert Crossing in order to assess potential outcomes of an invasion of Iraq aimed at unseating Saddam Hussein. The documents posted here today covered the initial pre-war game planning phase from April-May 1999 through the detailed after-action reporting of June and July 1999.

The Desert Crossing war games, which amounted to a feasibility study for part of the main war plan for Iraq — OPLAN 1003-98 — tested “worst case” and “most likely” scenarios of a post-war, post-Saddam, Iraq. The After Action Report presented its recommendations for further planning regarding regime change in Iraq and was an interagency production assisted by the departments of defense and state, as well as the National Security Council, and the Central Intelligence Agency, among others.

The results of Desert Crossing, however, drew pessimistic conclusions regarding the immediate possible outcomes of such action. Some of these conclusions are interestingly similar to the events which actually occurred after Saddam was overthrown. (Note 1) The report forewarned that regime change may cause regional instability by opening the doors to “rival forces bidding for power” which, in turn, could cause societal “fragmentation along religious and/or ethnic lines” and antagonize “aggressive neighbors.” Further, the report illuminated worries that secure borders and a restoration of civil order may not be enough to stabilize Iraq if the replacement government were perceived as weak, subservient to outside powers, or out of touch with other regional governments. An exit strategy, the report said, would also be complicated by differing visions for a post-Saddam Iraq among those involved in the conflict.

The Desert Crossing report was similarly pessimistic when discussing the nature of a new Iraqi government. If the U.S. were to establish a transitional government, it would likely encounter difficulty, some groups discussed, from a “period of widespread bloodshed in which various factions seek to eliminate their enemies.” The report stressed that the creation of a democratic government in Iraq was not feasible, but a new pluralistic Iraqi government which included nationalist leaders might be possible, suggesting that nationalist leaders were a stabilizing force. Moreover, the report suggested that the U.S. role be one in which it would assist Middle Eastern governments in creating the transitional government for Iraq.

General Zinni, who retired in 2000 shortly after the completion of Desert Crossing, brought the report to the attention of the public after the war. Even before the invasion, he had made his opposition to an imminent war widely known. In a major address at the Middle East Institute in October 2002, he disputed the view that war was either inevitable or desirable. On the question of establishing a new government to replace Saddam Hussein, he said, “God help us if we think this transition will occur easily.”

Read the entire George Washington University documentation here.

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Juan Weighs In On Partitioning

Posted on November 5, 2006 by RagBlog

If you haven’t followed Juan Cole, his commentary is incisive and he reads Arabic. Makes for interesting reading about all topics Middle Eastern. I find this op-ed useful for the fact he comments about both the Texas and Washington Senate races. This Ragaroo was born and raised in Austin and now lives in Port Angeles. Richard Jehn

Breaking Iraq apart
PARTITIONING IRAQ MAY SOUND LIKE AN EXIT STRATEGY. BUT IT IGNORES THE REALITIES OF THE MIDDLE EAST.
By Juan Cole

An emerging issue has made its way into the U.S. election campaign in recent weeks: the possibility of partitioning Iraq as a way out of the deepening quagmire there.

Politicians of both parties have increasingly cited the idea of dividing Iraq into three distinct entities — Shiite, Sunni Arab, and Kurd — as an option that should be seriously considered. For some Republicans, it has become a way to separate themselves from President Bush’s unpopular Iraq policy; for some Democrats, it has been a way to avoid the “cut and run” label and suggest an alternative to the current course.

But few of these candidates seem attuned to the dangerous shoals of religion, national identity and geopolitics in the area, on which the United States and its regional allies could well founder.

In Washington state last week, Mike McGavick, the Republican running for the U.S. Senate who trails badly in the polls, aired a new campaign ad that stated, “President Bush isn’t getting our frustrations — partition the country if we have to, and get our troops home in victory.” Since 60 percent of Washington voters disapprove of President Bush’s handling of the war, and a majority want U.S. troops out of Iraq yesterday, McGavick’s decision to buck his own party’s leadership, which has stayed relentlessly on point on this issue, may not be totally surprising.

But even Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, who is a shoo-in for re-election, has begun talking about partitioning Iraq, arguing that Kurds, Sunni Arabs, and Shiites should be able to govern themselves while sharing in Iraq’s oil revenues, though she fails to mention that the Sunni Arab region has no oil. “Yes, it would be hard to do,” she told the Texas press, “but it would be worth trying. People say, `Well, that would balkanize the country.’ Well, things are pretty stable in the Balkans right now. It’s looking better than Iraq.”

Read the rest of this op-ed here.

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Amnesty International Assesses Saddam Trial

Posted on November 5, 2006 by RagBlog

Amnesty condemns Saddam trial, death sentences
11-05-2006, 11h17
LONDON (AFP)

Amnesty International has condemned the death sentences handed to Saddam Hussein and two of his senior allies, describing their trial as a “shabby affair, marred by serious flaws”.

The London-based human rights group — which opposes capital punishment — said the trial should have helped the process of establishing justice and the rule of law in Iraq but was in fact “deeply flawed and unfair”.

“This trial should have been a major contribution towards establishing justice and the rule of law in Iraq, and in ensuring truth and accountability for the massive human rights violations perpetrated by Saddam Hussein’s rule,” said Malcolm Smart, director of the Middle East and North Africa programme.

“In practice, it has been a shabby affair, marred by serious flaws that call into question the capacity of the tribunal, as currently established, to administer justice fairly, in conformity with international standards.”

Read it here.

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Some of Our Compadres Are Singin’ On Sunday

Posted on November 5, 2006 by RagBlog

Many thanks to Mariann Wizard for bringing this to our attention.

Protest music has been around for thousands of years. It just leaks out every so often and helps make history.

A group of young people and not-so-young people have gotten together to sing one of my songs that I wrote around 1965 about the Vietnam War. And they’ve done what I did a few years ago; they’re singing it about the situation in Iraq. “Bring ’em Home!”

You can watch them singing and share it with your friends right here:
www.workingfamiliesparty.org/bringthemhome/

What they are saying is we need to send the politicians a message in a language they understand: election day votes. Here in New York, voting on the Working Families line is the best way to tell the politicians, bring them home, bring them home.

We’re in a very dangerous situation. The problems in the Middle East are not going away — they’re getting worse. Churchill said, anybody who thinks, when they get into a war, that they know what’s going to happen, is fooling themselves. With all the power that the American military establishment has, they still cannot predict all the things that are going to happen.

To quote Martin Luther King, the weakness of violence is that it always creates more violence. Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.

That’s the message at the end of the song, “the world needs teachers, books and schools . . . And learning a few universal rules.” I’m glad they left that verse in.

Watch the video and then pass it on:
www.workingfamiliesparty.org/bringthemhome/

There’s a saying from William James a young friend painted on my barn. It goes: “I am done with great things and big things, great institutions and big success, and I am for all those tiny invisible molecular moral forces that work from individual to individual . . . like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, which, if given time, will rend the hardest monuments of pride.”

Apply this to the current situation: Take this email and forward it to your friends and family. Technology will save us if it doesn’t wipe us out first.

We need to spread this message. Back in the sixties, I’d go from college to college to college singing songs. That’s how folk songs were shared. Sure, some person who thought it was an unpatriotic song might boo, but a few seconds later he’d be drowned out by a few thousands voices who started cheering enthusiastically. Made the poor guy start thinking.

Change comes through small organizations. You divide up the jobs: Some people sing bass, some sing soprano. Some copy the sheet music, others drive and pick up those who ride the subway. You take small steps. They all add up.

Take a small step today. Here’s your part: Tell your family and your friends about what we can do to send a message to the politicians to bring our troops home. And then vote on election day.

The very worst thing is for people to say: “My vote doesn’t count. So why bother to vote at all?” Our votes do count. And if we vote to bring the troops home, they count even more.

Let’s bring them home: www.workingfamiliesparty.org/bringthemhome/

In solidarity,

Pete Seeger

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Raed’s Take on the OS

Posted on November 5, 2006 by RagBlog

A late “October Surprise”?

The bankrupt bush administration seems to be planning a little surprise before the mid-term elections. It seems that there are serious preparations to announce saddam’s death verdict tomorrow or the day after in a pathetic attempt to manufacture a small victory in Iraq to effect the mid-term elections. After 16 years of wars, sanctions, invasions and an ongoing occupation, the only victories that the bush gang is still celebrating in Iraq, after capture of the former ally and showing him in his underwear, is executing him now.

In the same time that millions of Iraqi were and are still being killed, injured, and displaced because of the U.S. interventions, in the same time that the Iraqi social fabric is being destroyed and turned into fragments, in the same time that Iraq as a state is being “wiped off the map” and cut apart, in the same time that everyday in Iraq is worse that yesterday, and in the same time that tens of thousand of U.S. solders are being killed, injured, and traumatized for the rest of their lives and trillions of the U.S. taxpayers money wasted, the one and only victory that the bush administration can claim is hanging the former dictator.

Read the rest of Raed’s commentary and more of his blog here.

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Kick-Ass Kartoons

Posted on November 5, 2006 by RagBlog

To go with the other incisive commentary today, our cartoonist came through with flying colours, and some great toons.




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Suppression of Depleted Uranium Hazard

Posted on November 5, 2006 by RagBlog

Depleted Uranium Weapons – an investigation
Angus Stickler, BBC

A BBC investigation can reveal that the US and UK military have continued to use depleted uranium weapons despite warnings from scientists that it poses a potential long-term cancer risk to civilians.

A former senior scientist with the United Nations has told the BBC that studies showing that it was carcinogenic were suppressed from a seminal World Health Organisation report. The US has refused to fund major research and has been criticised for failing to cooperate with UN attempts to conduct a post conflict assessment in Iraq.

Angus Stickler reports:

When depleted uranium bullets are fired, the rounds can rip through the tank armour. And once inside – on contact with air they combust exploding into a 10,000 degrees centigrade ball of fire.

Both the US and UK used depleted uranium in Iraq. The US fired 320 tons in Gulf War I – and possibly as much as 2,000 tonnes in Gulf War II. But its use is highly controversial – blamed as one of the possible causes of cancer and birth defects. It’s this that prompted the United Nations’ World Health Organisation to conduct a major assessment of the post conflict hazards. The findings were published in 2001. Dr Mike Repacholi retired as the Coordinator of the W.H.O. Radiation and Environmental Health Unit in June of this year. He oversaw the project.

[snip]

Dr. Keith Baverstock – now retired – was a senior radiation advisor with 12 years experience at the W.H.O – part of Dr Repacholi’s editorial team at the time. He came across research indicating that depleted uranium is a potentially dangerous carcinogen:

“When you breathe in the dust the deeper it goes into the lung the more difficult it is to clear. The particles that dissolve pose a risk – part radioactive – and part from the chemical toxicity in the lung – and then later as that material diffuses into the rest of the body, and into the blood stream a potential risk at sites like the bone marrow for leukaemia, the lymphatic system and the kidney” according to Dr. Baverstock.

Read the summary here or listen to the BBC program here.

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