Police refuse to support Iraqi PM's attacks on Mehdi Army

The Independant
By Patrick Cockburn
Saturday, 29 March 2008

US and British forces are increasingly playing a supporting role in the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's stalled offensive against the Mehdi Army militia. American aircraft launched air strikes in Basra yesterday and fought militiamen on the streets in Baghdad while British advisers have also been assisting Iraqi troops in Basra.

Mr Maliki retreated from his demand that militiamen hand over their weapons by yesterday and extended the deadline to 8 April. This is a tacit admission that the Iraqi army and police have failed to oust the Mehdi Army from any of its strongholds in the capital and in southern Iraq. The Iraqi army has either met stubborn resistance from Mehdi Army fighters or soldiers and police have refused to fight or changed sides. "We did not expect the fight to be this intense," said the officer from a 300-strong commando unit that has been pinned down in the Tamimiyah district in Basra, where the supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Mehdi Army, have strong support. Read On

U.S.-backed Iraqi Government Attacks, Kills Iraqis

Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides

From The Times
March 28, 2008

James Hider in Baghdad

Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra.

His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers who have spent the past five years schooling the Iraqi security forces would have hoped for. He and 15 of his comrades took off their uniforms, kept their government-issued rifles and went over to the other side without a second thought.

Such turncoats are the thread that could unravel the British Army’s policy in southern Iraq. The military hoped that local forces would be able to combat extremists and allow the Army to withdraw gradually from the battle-scarred and untamed oil city that has fallen under the sway of Islamic fundamentalists, oil smugglers and petty tribal warlords. But if the British taught the police to shoot straight, they failed to instil a sense of unwavering loyalty to the State.

“We know the outcome of the fighting in advance because we already defeated the British in the streets of Basra and forced them to withdraw to their base,” Abu Iman told The Times.

“If we go back a bit, everyone remembers the fight with the US in Najaf and the damage and defeat we inflicted on them. Do you think the Iraqi Army is better than those armies? We are right and the Government is wrong. [Nouri al] Maliki [the Iraqi Prime Minister] is driving his Government into the ground.” Read On

Friday Time Capsule 03.28.08

The Iraqi Civil War Bush and the Media Don't Tell You About

By Raed Jarrar, Foreign Policy in Focus. Posted March 24, 2008.

The Iraqi-Iraqi conflict is similar to the U.S. civil war: Iraqis who want a centralized government are fighting against those who favor secession.

While the majority of Iraqis know that the current Sunni-Shiites tension did not exist before 2003, no one can deny that after five years of U.S. occupation, sectarian tension is now a reality. Sectarianism is another disaster that was brought to Iraq by the war and occupation of Iraq.

The U.S.-led invasion did not only destroy the Baath political regime, it also annihilated the entire public sector including education, health care, food rations, social security, and the armed forces. The Iraqi public sector was a great example of how millions of Iraqis: Arabs and Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites, Muslims and Christians, religious and secular, all worked together in running the country. The myth that the former Iraqi government was a "Sunni-led dictatorship" was created by the U.S. government. Even the Iraqi political regime was not "Sunni-led," let alone the rest of the public sector. A good way to debunk this fairy tale is through a close look at the famous deck of cards of the 55 most wanted Iraqi leaders. The cards had the pictures of Saddam, his two sons, and the rest of the political leadership which most Iraqis would recognize as the heads of the political regime. What is noteworthy is that 36 of the 55 were Shiites. In fact, the two vice presidents were a Christian and a Shiites Kurd.

Sometimes I feel like Iraqis and Americans are analyzing two different wars happening in two different countries. In one narrative, there is a civil war based on ancient sectarian hatred where a U.S. withdrawal will cause the sky to fall. In the other, there is a country struggling under occupation to get its independence back where the occupation is not welcomed and it is causing political, not sectarian, splits and violence.

According to the Iraqi mainstream narrative, the foreign occupation is the major reason and cause for violence and destruction. Foreign intervention is not only destroying Iraq's infrastructure, but it is also splitting Iraq's formerly integrated society. In addition, Iraqis are fighting among each other over fundamental questions about the future of their country, but the central conflict is not between Sunnis and Shiites, it is between Iraqi separatists and nationalists. Unlike other countries in the region such as Lebanon, the Iraqi sectarian tension is still reversible, because it just started five years ago. More importantly, it isn't main driver fueling the Iraqi-Iraqi conflict. This "hidden" conflict is between separatists and nationalists. Read On

Foreign-born soldiers earn US citizenship by dying in combat

Irish Examiner
25 March 2008

A YOUNG, ambitious immigrant from Guatemala who dreamed of becoming an architect. A Nigerian medic. A soldier from China who boasted he would one day become an American general. An Indian native whose headstone displays the first Khanda, emblem of the Sikh faith, to appear in Arlington National Cemetery.These were among more than 100 foreign-born members of the US military who earned American citizenship by dying in Iraq.

Jose Gutierrez was one of the first to fall, killed by "friendly fire" in the dust of Umm Qasr in the opening hours of the invasion.

In death, the young marine was showered with honours his family could only have dreamed of in life. His sister was flown in from Guatemala for his memorial service, where a Roman Catholic cardinal presided and top military officials saluted his flag-draped coffin.

And yet, his foster mother agonised as she accompanied his body back for burial in Guatemala City: Why did Jose have to die for America in order to truly belong?

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, who oversaw Gutierrez’s service, put it differently.

"There is something terribly wrong with our immigration policies, if it takes death on the battlefield in order to earn citizenship," Mahony wrote to President George Bush in April 2003. He urged Bush to grant immediate citizenship to all immigrants who sign up for military service in wartime.

"They should not have to wait until they are brought home in a casket."

Read On

U.S. toll in Iraq hits 4,000 as four soldiers killed

Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:33pm EDT REUTERS

By Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Four U.S. soldiers were blown up in Baghdad, pushing the U.S. military death toll in Iraq to 4,000 just days into the sixth year of a war that President George W. Bush says the United States is on track to win.

The U.S. military said on Monday the soldiers were killed on Sunday when a roadside bomb, the biggest killer of U.S. soldiers in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, exploded near their vehicle in southern Baghdad. One soldier was wounded.

On the same day dozens of Iraqis were killed in rocket and mortar attacks on the U.S.-protected "Green Zone" government and diplomatic compound in central Baghdad, and in other bombings in the capital and elsewhere. Read On

Is 'success' of U.S. surge in Iraq about to unravel?

By Leila Fadel and Nancy A. Youssef McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Monday, March 24, 2008

BAGHDAD — A cease-fire critical to the improved security situation in Iraq appeared to unravel Monday when a militia loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr began shutting down neighborhoods in west Baghdad and issuing demands of the central government.

Simultaneously, in the strategic southern port city of Basra, where Sadr's Mahdi militia is in control, the Iraqi government launched a crackdown in the face of warnings by Sadr's followers that they'll fight government forces if any Sadrists are detained. By 1 a.m. Arab satellite news channels reported clashes between the Mahdi Army and police in Basra.

The freeze on offensive activity by Sadr's Mahdi Army has been a major factor behind the recent drop in violence in Iraq, and there were fears that the confrontation that's erupted in Baghdad and Basra could end the lull in attacks, assassinations, kidnappings and bombings.

As the U.S. military recorded its 4,000th death in Iraq, U.S. officials in Baghdad warned again Monday that drawing down troops too quickly could collapse Iraq's fragile security situation.
Read On

The forgotten dead Iraqis of the war

Bodies of 6 Awakening members killed in US air strike near Samarra

First Published 2008-03-24

Middle-East Online

Organizations give different counts of number of Iraqi civilians killed since March 2003.

By Bryan Pearson and Nafia Abdul Jabbar – BAGHDAD

While the number of US troops killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion stands at 4,000, up to three times as many Iraqi soldiers have died -- and the number of civilians killed runs into tens and probably hundreds of thousands.

The icasualties.org web site, based only on published reports, shows that around 8,000 members of the Iraqi security forces have died since the March 2003 invasion. Last year however the Iraqi government put the figure at 12,000.

There is no agreement when it comes to civilian casualties, particularly as many deaths are never reported in the media.

In January, a joint UN World Health Organisation and the Iraqi government study concluded that between 104,000 and 223,000 Iraqis had died violently since the invasion.

As of March 24, the independent Iraq Body Count website, based solely on incidents reported by the media, spoke of close to 90,000 deaths, of whom over a quarter - 24,000 - died in 2007.

At the high end of the scale, British polling institute Opinion Research Business in a report published January 30 estimated the total number of civilian deaths at between 946,000 and 1.12 million.

The Lancet, a respected British medical review, quoted a statistical survey which found that as of July 2006 some 655,000 more civilians had died than would have been the case if there had been no war.

The scars run deeply in Iraqi society.

Um Mohammed, a 49-year-old widow in Baghdad's western Mansur neighbourhood, whose husband was abducted and shot by gunmen 15 months ago, bitterly blamed the US military for the loss, which has profoundly affected her and her family.

Her two daughters, both in college, are still in deep mourning while her son, in secondary school, is so depressed he failed his exams last year. They have been forced to move in with her husband's family to survive.

"Why does the world care so much about the 4,000 soldiers killed? No one cares about the Iraqis," said Um Mohammed, a Sunni Arab.

"All the killings in Iraq are because of the Americans. They are the cause of all the bloodshed. I ask Allah to kill all the American soldiers -- to count them all and not leave any one of them," she said.

"The world regards the American soldiers as our saviours but they are murderers."

Ivana Vuco, human rights officer at United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, said last month that tracking civilian deaths in Iraq is a "huge problem".

"Some reports do not even come to us," she said.

Among civilians who have died are those who have been accidentally killed in raids and air strikes by US-led forces while targeting insurgents.

Although there is no accurate count, according to the United Nations 123 civilian deaths alone were reported due to air strikes in the six-month period between July 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007.

According to icasualties.org, 308 soldiers from other countries who have formed part of the US-led coalition have been killed in Iraq since the invasion.

Among countries that still have forces in Iraq, the death tolls as of March 24 were: Britain: 175; Poland: 23; Ukraine: 18; Bulgaria: 13; Denmark: eight.

For countries which took part in earlier stages of the occupation, but have now withdrawn their forces, the main losses were Italy 33 and Spain 11.

The figure does not include deaths among the many thousands of mercenaries, which the United States calls private military contractors. Estimates of their death toll, as of last year, ranged from 140 to more than 900.

According to the Journalists Freedom Observatory (JFO), which monitors violence against the media, 233 Iraqi and foreign journalists and media workers have been killed in Iraq since 2003.

War’s toll on Iraqis neglected

Columbia Daily Tribune
Published Sunday, March 23, 2008
This appeared Thursday in Newsday.

Five years into the Iraq war, much of America’s focus has been on the nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers who have died, the $600 billion in tax money spent and the projected tab of $3 trillion.

Those figures are a staggering reminder of how much the war has cost us in blood and treasure. But often lost in our debate and fading coverage is the toll the U.S. invasion has taken on the Iraqi people.

Granted, life under Saddam Hussein was bleak, but the Iraqi people didn’t ask for this war. It was thrust upon them. Then they were left to dodge the bullets or flee.

Thanks to the failure of the Bush administration to plan for the aftermath of "shock and awe," much of Iraq has been destroyed and the lives of those Iraqis still breathing turned upside down.
Iraq’s Ministry of Health estimates 180,000 Iraqis have been killed in the fighting, and a controversial study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University placed the number at more than 600,000.

Either figure is a travesty.

An estimated 2 million Iraqis have been displaced inside the country and another 2 million have fled, mainly to Jordan and Syria. In all, about 14 percent of Iraqis have left their homes since the war began.

Most of the uprooted are children. Many went to live in tent cities that lacked power and water. But as the garbage and sewage piled up, many have escaped the fetid camps. Even as the daily violence has dropped, the United Nations warned refugees not to return because of continued safety concerns. As a result, more and more Iraqis are looking for a viable option. The number of Iraqis seeking asylum doubled to 45,200 last year over 2006.

In fact, more Iraqis are seeking asylum than applicants from any other country, including China. That’s saying something, given Iraq’s population, at about 27 million, is just a few million more than Texas’.

Many asylum-seekers want to come to America. Only about 2,000 Iraqi refugees have been admitted into the United States this fiscal year; 12,000 slots are authorized. Given that the United States caused their strife, we have a moral obligation to allow more Iraqis to come here, even as we rebuild their country.

For those who remain in Iraq, life in many respects is worse than it was under Hussein. Jobless estimates range from 20 to more than 60 percent. About 9 million Iraqis live in poverty. There are long lines at gas stations; electricity is available only a few hours a day; and food shortages have worsened.

Before the war, Vice President Dick Cheney predicted U.S. troops would be greeted "as liberators." Five years later, the only calls from the Iraqis are for help.

Iraq's lost generation

In the final installment of Ghaith Abdul-Ahad's series of films to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, he travels to an orphanage in Sadr city, where children speak of their hatred of America.

A generation of Iraqi children have been radicalised and anti-westernised by the war Iraq's lost generation was made by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad with GuardianFilms for ITV News. It will be broadcast tonight on ITV Evening News and News at Ten.

Here is a link to the video

Friday Time Capsule 03.21.08

There Are Things You Can Replace
And Others You Cannot

The Time Has Come To Weigh Those Things
This Space Is Getting Hot

You Know This Space Is Getting Hot

Baghdad's killing fields

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad
guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday March 18 2008

In the second of Ghaith Abdul-Ahad's series of three films he visits Baghdad's killings fields on the edge of Sadr City. The scene of thousands of sectarian murders over the last three years, it is a desolate and evil place: 'Only the killers and the killed ever come here' says Abdul-Ahad. Here in the thousands of unmarked graves lie the victims of the Shia militia gangs

Here Is A Link To The Video

Baghdad: City of walls

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad
guardian.co.uk,
Monday March 17 2008

In the first of Ghaith Abdul-Ahad's extraordinary series of films to mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, he investigates the claims that the US military surge is bringing stability to Iraq. By travelling through the heart of Baghdad he exposes how, by enclosing the Sunni and Shia populations behind 12ft walls, the surge has left the city more divided and desperate than ever

Here Is A Link To The Video

IRAQ: Five Years, And Counting

March 18, 2008
Inter Press Service
Analysis by Dahr Jamail

WASHINGTON, Mar 18 (IPS) - Devastation on the ground and largely held Iraqi opinion contradicts claims by U.S. officials that the situation in Iraq has improved towards the fifth anniversary of the invasion Mar. 19.

U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, during a surprise visit to Iraq on Monday declared the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq a "successful endeavour".

According to the group Just Foreign Policy, more than a million Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion and occupation, now entering its sixth year. A survey by British polling agency ORB estimates the number of dead at more than 1.2 million.

Nobel laureate and former chief World Bank economist Joseph Stiglitz recently published a book with co-author Linda Bilmes of Harvard University titled 'The Three Trillion Dollar War', a figure it considers a "conservative estimate" of the long-range price tag of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Read On

Iraq War Veteran Speaks About Military's Use Of Racism

Winter Soldier Mike Prysner Testimony, part 1.


Winter Soldier Mike Prysner Testimony, part 2.

Carnage And Despair In Iraq

Amnesty International
17 March 2008

Five years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the country is still in disarray. The human rights situation is disastrous, a climate of impunity has prevailed, the economy is in tatters and the refugee crisis continues to escalating.

A new Amnesty International report, Carnage and Despair: Iraq five years on, says that, despite the heavy presence of US and Iraqi security forces, Iraq is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with hundreds of Iraqi civilians killed every month. Read On

Millions of Iraqis lack water, healthcare: Red Cross

By Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters
Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:06pm EDT

GENEVA (Reuters) - Five years after the United States led an invasion of Iraq, millions of people there are still deprived of clean water and medical care, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday.

In a sober report marking the anniversary of the 2003 start of the war, which ousted dictator Saddam Hussein and unleashed deep sectarian tensions, the humanitarian body said Iraqi hospitals lack beds, drugs, and medical staff.

Some areas of the country of 27 million people have no functioning water and sanitation facilities, and the poor public water supply has forced some families to use at least a third of their average $150 monthly income buying clean drinking water.

"Five years after the outbreak of the war in Iraq, the humanitarian situation in most of the country remains among the most critical in the world," the ICRC said, describing Iraq's health care system as "now in worse shape than ever." Read On

Remembering Rachel Corrie

1979 - 2003

On March 16th, 2003, 23-year-old Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer.

Israel, We Won’t Forget Rachel

By Alison Weir

Counter Punch

April 3, 2003

On March 16th, an Israeli soldier driving a bulldozer two-stories high crushed to death 23-year-old Rachel Corrie, an American nonviolent human rights protestor. According to numerous witnesses and photographic documentation, she was killed intentionally.

Rachel and a handful of others practicing Gandhian nonviolence in the Gaza Strip had been pleading with Israeli soldiers for two hours not to destroy a Palestinian family home. Suddenly, the Israeli bulldozer operator began driving his giant bulldozer toward the home, Rachel sitting in the bulldozer’s path. Witnesses report that she then stood up on the mound of debris and dirt pushed by the bulldozer blade and looked straight at the operator through the window. He continued, and she was pulled underneath the tractor, its blade crushing her. He then backed up, running over her again, burying her deeper into the dirt. Read On

Rachel Corrie in "The Killing Zone"

Because We MUST Handle The Truth

March 14-16

Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan will feature testimony from U.S. veterans who served in those occupations, giving an accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground.

Catch live audio on the internet at KPFA.org.
Find it on satellite TV here.
Streaming internet video here.

Friday Time Capsule 03.14.08

Once In Awhile You Can Get Shown The Light, In the Strangest of Places, If you Look at it Right

America The Torturer

posted by EF Swagee

03.13.08

Once in awhile my Mom talks about how I've always been a good eater. Even at really young ages, I liked almost everything I tried and tried just about everything. I recall one exception; beef braised in a tomato-ey beer mixture. As soon as I walked into the house and caught a whiff, I immediately decided I didn't want to eat it. Later on at the dinner table, after some spirited negotiating with Mom, I eventually forced down a few forkfuls of the stuff. Minutes later, I puked, all over the place.

Strangely, I'm reminded of that incident when I try to make sense of people torturing each other. It sickens me, no matter who is the administer or the victim.....

Disturbing New Photos From Abu Ghraib

From Reuters last Saturday:
President George W. Bush on Saturday vetoed legislation passed by Congress that would have banned the CIA from using waterboarding and other controversial interrogation techniques.

LA Times Staff Writer, Johanna Neuman reported yesterday, "House Democrats failed Tuesday to override President Bush's veto of a ban on waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques."

The article goes on to quote a Democratic congressman:

"Torture is no proper tool in the arsenal of democracy," said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) "If we abandon our American values, we lose who we are as Americans. . . . And if the administration and all of its apologists . . . continue to force America to abandon our values, we will lose the war." Torture, he said, "is not only un-American, it is ineffective."

Good on Congressman Doggett. Click here to send him a 'thank you'.

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Here's what Congressman (and presidential candidate) Ron Paul (R-TX) had to say on the house floor about his vote to override President Bush's veto (courtesy of antiwar.com):

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"I rise in somewhat reluctant support of this vote to override the President's veto of H.R. 2062, the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2008. Although I voted against this authorization when it first came to the floor, the main issue has now become whether we as a Congress are to condone torture as official U.S. policy or whether we will speak out against it. This bill was vetoed by the President because of a measure added extending the prohibition of the use of any interrogation treatment or technique not authorized by the United States Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations to the U.S. intelligence community. Opposing this prohibition is tantamount to endorsing the use of torture against those in United States Government custody.

"We have all read the disturbing reports of individuals apprehended and taken to secret prisons maintained by the United States Government across the globe, tortured for months or even years, and later released without charge. Khaled al-Masri, for example, a German citizen, has recounted the story of his incarceration and torture by U.S. intelligence in a secret facility in Afghanistan. His horror was said to be simply a case of mistaken identity. We do not know how many more similar cases there may be, but clearly it is not in the interest of the United States to act in a manner so contrary to the values upon which we pride ourselves.

"My vote to override the President's veto is a vote to send a clear message that I do not think the United States should be in the business of torture. It is anti-American, immoral and counterproductive."

Bereaved Iraqi mother vows revenge on US

By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad
Thursday, 13 March 2008

Um Saad, a middle-aged woman living in the Sunni district of Khadra in west Baghdad, blames the Americans for the death of her husband and two of her sons and threatens revenge.

"They are monsters and devils wearing human clothes," she exclaims vehemently. "One day I will put on an explosive belt under my clothes and then blow myself up among the Americans. I will get revenge against them for my husband and sons and I will go to paradise."

Just as the White House and the Pentagon were trumpeting the success of "the surge" – the dispatch of extra American troops to Iraq last year – and the wire services' claim that the country has enjoyed "months of relative calm", Um Saad saw Saif, her second son, shot dead as he opened the door of her house. Read On

Pentagon cancels release of controversial Iraq report

By Warren P. Strobel McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Wednesday canceled plans for broad public release of a study that found no pre-Iraq war link between late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the al Qaida terrorist network.

Rather than posting the report online and making officials available to discuss it, as had been planned, the U.S. Joint Forces Command said it would mail copies of the document to reporters — if they asked for it. The report won't be posted on the Internet.

The reversal highlighted the politically sensitive nature of its conclusions, which were first reported Monday by McClatchy.

Read On

NAFTA Hurts Mexican Farmers, Fuels Immigration

Monday: 8 US Soldiers, 30 Iraqis Killed; 77 Iraqis Wounded

Updated at 7:55 p.m. EDT, Mar. 10, 2008
Compiled by Margaret Griffis, AntiWar.com

Eight U.S. soldiers were killed in two separate incidents in Iraq. Overall, at least 30 Iraqis were also killed and another 77 were wounded across Iraq, during a spate of mostly suicide bombings. Even the relatively stable city of Suleimaniyah was the scene of violence. Meanwhile, Iraqis ask themselves if the costs of war were worth it. Read On

Another Congress Member Signs Onto Cheney Impeachment Bill

Last week Congressman Pete Stark from California's 13th District signed onto H.Res 333 Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

That makes 26 co-sponsors plus the original sponsor, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH-10).

Here's the bill's complete text.

An excerpt:
"In his conduct while Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda in order to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests, to wit:

(1) Despite all evidence to the contrary, the Vice President actively and systematically sought to deceive the citizens and the Congress of the United States about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda......"

Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam and al Qaida

By Warren P. Strobel McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Monday, March 10, 2008

WASHINGTON — An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.

Read On

Cheney: Saddam had strong al-Qaida ties

VP repeats long-standing position, but offers no new evidence

updated 6:56 a.m. CT, Tues., June. 15, 2004

ORLANDO, Fla. - Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that Saddam Hussein had “long-established ties” with al-Qaida, an assertion that has been repeatedly challenged by some policy experts and lawmakers.

The vice president offered no details backing up his claim of a link between Saddam and al-Qaida.

“He was a patron of terrorism,” Cheney said of Hussein during a speech before The James Madison Institute, a conservative think-tank based in Florida. “He had long established ties with al-Qaida.” Read On

Deadicated To My Brother Joe

Happy Birthday!

Highway blogger exonerated

Judge rules man with anti-Bush signs not a danger

by Clarke Morrison , Asheville Citizen-Times
published March 7, 2008 12:15 am

ASHEVILLE – A judge found highway blogger Jonas Phillips not guilty Thursday of breaking a city law when he hung a sign from an overpass urging the impeachment of President Bush.

Phillips, 36, of West Asheville, had been charged by police with blocking a city sidewalk on the Haywood Road bridge over Interstate 240.

The defendant testified during his trial in Buncombe County District Court that he didn’t impede traffic on the sidewalk or the roadway when the dangled the sign reading “Impeach Bush, Cheney” for several minutes shortly before 8 a.m. Aug. 15.

His attorney, Bill Auman, told Judge James Calvin Hill that Phillips was selectively prosecuted because of the content of the sign. Others who have displayed signs over roadways have not been charged, he said.

“This is political speech,” Auman said. “This is his right to hold up a sign.

“He wasn’t blocking the sidewalk. (Highway) blogging is no more distracting than billboards or cell phones or bird droppings.”

But Assistant District Attorney Meredith Pressley said the case was about police enforcing the law to remedy a dangerous situation, not speech.

Officer Russell Crisp testified that he believed Phillips was distracting motorists on I-240 when he saw the defendant hanging the sign over the bridge railing. Crisp said he also saw Phillips cross Haywood Road during rush-hour traffic.

“It’s very dangerous for drivers to be distracted,” he said. “It’s just a very, very dangerous situation.”

But Crisp acknowledged under cross-examination by Auman that he didn’t see any pedestrians pass by Phillips on the sidewalk.

Sgt. Randy Riddle testified he “didn’t even know what the sign said” when he arrested Phillips.

Auman noted high school students aren’t arrested when they stand next to highways holding signs advertising car washes.

Hill said that in deciding the case, he looked at the presence or absence of any evidence showing the actions of Phillips endangered the public. The judge noted there was no evidence presented that the defendant had blocked the sidewalk or traffic in the roadway.

A crowd of supporters in the courtroom cheered Hill’s not guilty verdict.

Phillips said after the trial he was surprised by the ruling. He said he considers the verdict a victory for free speech, and he plans to continue his highway blogging.

“I was expecting to go to appeal,” he said. “This is great. It’s been seven months drug out on a ridiculous charge.”

Friday Time Capsule 03.07.08

Nothin' Left To Do But Smile, Smile, Smile!

Score One More For The 1st Amendment!

Posted on Feb 15th, 2008
Anti-War Protestors Victorious in Free Speech Suit
Conviction Overturned on Appeal for Camp Casey Protestors

Yesterday, two protestors won the reversal of criminal convictions relating to their activities during a peaceful protest of the Iraq war at Camp Casey I, near the President’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. The protestors, Austin psychologist Dr. Em Hardy and retired attorney and Navy veteran Hiram Myers of Oklahoma, were arrested on April 14, 2006 after they erected the tent between fences on county roads to draw attention to the Iraq war.

“This is a victory for our clients and for the First Amendment,” said Lisa Graybill, Legal Director for the ACLU of Texas. “We are delighted to see justice done in this case.” Read On

Winter Soldiers to Testify Against War

By Maya Schenwar t r u t h o u t Report
Saturday 01 March 2008

Thirty-seven years ago, in the midst of a bitter-cold Michigan winter, 109 Vietnam veterans gathered at a Howard Johnson Motel auditorium in Detroit to tell their stories. For three days, they told of ransacking undefended villages, attacking civilians, mutilating bodies, torturing Viet Cong suspects, burning houses, destroying Vietnamese property and livestock and killing innocent children. At the conference, entitled Winter Soldier, the veterans accepted responsibility and mourned for their actions. But, taken collectively, their words incriminated a much larger culprit: the war itself.

This year, from March 13 to 16, about 300 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, gathering for a second Winter Soldier conference, in Silver Spring, Maryland. Organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) it will make up the largest gathering ever of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

Their mission? To tell the story of the war in the terms of those who have actually lived it.

"This is a moment when veterans won't let anyone else speak for us," said Aaron Hughes, an Iraq veteran who initiated the new Winter Soldier effort. "We hear from the pundits, we hear from the politicians, we hear from the generals, but we don't hear from the soldiers who've walked the streets, who've been there and know what it's about. We're the ones who can bring out the cruelties and dehumanization in US foreign policy." Read On

More Truth About U.S. (and British) Torture Exposed

Court gags ex-SAS man who made torture claims
Richard Norton-Taylor The Guardian,
Friday February 29 2008

A former SAS soldier was served with a high court order yesterday preventing him from making fresh disclosures about how hundreds of Iraqis and Afghans captured by British and American special forces were rendered to prisons where they faced torture.

Ben Griffin could be jailed if he makes further disclosures about how people seized by special forces were allegedly mistreated and ended up in secret prisons in breach of the Geneva conventions and international law. Griffin, 29, left the British army in 2005 after three months in Baghdad, saying he disagreed with the "illegal" tactics of US troops. Read On

Ben Griffin speaking out: