The Rag Blog

It was so long that Riverbend was offline that I was truly apprehensive that she’d been killed, arrested, imprisoned, kidnapped … I am grateful, after reading this young Iraqi woman for over three years, that she is alive. Now we just need to give her her life back.

The Lancet Study…

[snip]

For American politicians and military personnel, playing dumb and talking about numbers of bodies in morgues and official statistics, etc, seems to be the latest tactic. But as any Iraqi knows, not every death is being reported. As for getting reliable numbers from the Ministry of Health or any other official Iraqi institution, that’s about as probable as getting a coherent, grammatically correct sentence from George Bush – especially after the ministry was banned from giving out correct mortality numbers. So far, the only Iraqis I know pretending this number is outrageous are either out-of-touch Iraqis abroad who supported the war, or Iraqis inside of the country who are directly benefiting from the occupation ($) and likely living in the Green Zone.

Read her full post here.

This is a beautiful tune from Robert Cray, one of our all-time great blues musicians. The video is on a theme we can relate to — please go listen to it here. Here’s a snip from the American Friends Service Committee Web site where you can find the Cray video.

New Music Video Features “Eyes Wide Open” Boots

The video, directed by Robert Cray’s wife, Susan Turner-Cray stars Aidan Delgado, a 23-year-old Iraq-war veteran who served in Nasiriyah and at Abu Ghraib prison, before securing conscientious objector status and returning to the U.S. David Goodman, one of the Eyes Wide Open tour managers, has a cameo role in the video as a Vietnam Veteran.

Four U.S. soldiers accused of raping and killing a 14-year-old girl and slaying her sister and their parents will face courts-martial on murder charges, military officials say.

Based on previous results in similar cases, they will probably be acquitted or face only light sentences.

Mariann told me there is poetry that goes with the photo, namely “this quote from Don Henley”:

“Nobody on the road,
nobody on the beach –
You can feel it in the air –
the summer’s out of reach…”

Judge Vacates Conviction of Ken Lay

Tuesday’s ruling thwarts the government’s bid to seek $43.5 million in ill-gotten gains prosecutors allege he pocketed by participating in Enron’s fraud. The government could still pursue those gains in civil court, but they would have to compete with other litigants, if any, also pursuing Lay’s estate. (emphasis added)

Read it here.

Again, from Juan Cole, with our thanks.

The End of Press Freedom in Iraq?

Al-Zaman, the Times of Baghdad, reports [Ar.] that press freedom may soon be a thing of the past in Iraq. The Iraqi parliament on Monday passed a resolution calling on the president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, to intervene to close down the offices of the al-Sharqiyah television channel in Iraq, and to close down a newspaper, al-Zaman itself! Both are owned by a media group headed by Saad al-Bazzaz, and they have a mild secular, Arab nationalist tone. It is not a point of view welcome to the Shiite fundamentalists who dominate the Iraqi parliament.

Read the rest here.

“Bush called Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Monday to reassure him that it was not true that the US planned to dump him if he has not produced better results in two months.

Bush hasn’t dumped Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who has not produced better results for three years, so al-Maliki need not have worried.”

From Juan Cole’s Informed Comment. Here’s the article that Juan cites:

Bush assures jittery Al-Maliki that U.S. stands behind him
The White House is taking a wait-and-see attitude to an independent commission study that reportedly will urge changes in Iraqi policy.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times
Last update: October 16, 2006 – 11:42 PM

At the same time, the White House suggested Monday that it would not necessarily accept the recommendations of an independent commission reviewing Iraq policy. “We’re not going to outsource the business of handling the war in Iraq,” said Tony Snow, the president’s press secretary.

Read it here.

And here’s Chris Floyd’s take on this business (ouch!):

Why Bush Smiles: Victory is at Hand in Iraq
Written by Chris Floyd
Tuesday, 17 October 2006

The chief reason why Maliki and his government will be ousted is not the hell-storm of death and violence that is now devouring the country. The fact that every new day sees a hundred or more mutilated bodies dumped on the nation’s streets, and pitched battles between sectarian militias, and multiple deaths of American troops, and mass flights of anguished Iraqi civilians running in fear for their lives is not a matter of any urgent concern to Bush and his warmakers. Indeed, there is much evidence that one of the prime instigators of the wanton killing is a group created and long nurtured by the Bush Administration itself: the Facilities Protection Service, an army of uniformed freebooters nearly 150,000 strong. (I’ll be writing more on this later.) Of course, the violence is a political headache for the Bushists, because it generates bad press; but they don’t care about it – it has no intrinsic meaning or emotional impact on those who are already responsible for the deaths of more than half a million Iraqis and more than 2,700 Americans.

I didn’t see any reference in the MSM about this.

The day we took over the U.S. Senate
September 28, 2006 on 12:06 pm
by Gordon Clark, Communications Director

At the end of the rally and service we formed a procession to go by the Capitol building and then on to the Senate office buildings. Police stopped us after three blocks, telling us that the large procession constituted an unpermitted demonstration and that we would not be allowed to continue. It was at this point that one affinity group broke away, and crossed police lines and Constitution Ave., carrying a coffin to the steps of the Capitol. Sixteen were arrested for that act of nonviolent witness.

Read the rest here.

All we can say is, “What was that cop thinking?”

Woman Sues Over Ticket for Anti-Bush Bumper Sticker
By DANIEL YEE, AP

Grier also seeks a declaration in federal court that her bumper sticker is considered protected speech under the First Amendment because she is “uncertain and insecure regarding her right to display her bumper sticker in DeKalb County,” the lawsuit said.

Read all of it here.

Click on the image, print it (landscape mode; then it’ll be long enough), preferably in colour, then cut it out. It’s your armband for today and can be stapled or paper-clipped to hold it. In case you don’t know, here’s why.

There are consequences for everything, and most of us seem to believe that everything happens for a reason. The incident in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was very sad, and really is a consequence of the Second Amendment and the fostering of an attitude in this nation about gun ownership.

Many thanks to our buddy Charlie Loving for the great cartoon work.