Archived
news and commentary: May 17 - 23, 2004
2004/06/28 - 2004/07/04
2004/06/21 - 2004/06/27
2004/06/14 - 2004/06/20
2004/06/07 - 2004/06/13
2004/05/31 - 2004/06/06
2004/05/24 - 2004/05/30
2004/05/17 - 2004/05/23
2004/05/10 - 2004/05/16
2004/05/03 - 2004/05/09
2004/04/26 - 2004/05/02
2004/04/19 - 2004/04/25
2004/04/12 - 2004/04/18
2004/04/05 - 2004/04/11
2004/03/29 - 2004/04/04
Sunday,
May 23, 2004
News and commentary:
"Chalabi Denies Giving U.S. Intelligence to Iran" (Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters, 2004/05/23)
"Ahmad Chalabi, once a favored Iraqi exile of the Bush administration, on Sunday denied accusations that he passed along U.S. secrets to Iran and challenged the CIA director to a duel before Congress.
Some U.S. government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have accused Chalabi of giving U.S. intelligence to Iran, which the United States considers to be part of an "axis of evil."
"It's not true. It's a false charge," Chalabi said on ABC's "This Week" television program. "It's a smear."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said suggestions that Chalabi had passed sensitive U.S. intelligence to Iran were baseless. "We have not received any classified information, neither from Chalabi nor any member of the Iraqi Governing Council," Asefi said.""Michael and me" (Andrew Anthony, The Observer, 2004/05/23)
"If there is a question mark over the trustworthiness of Moore's work, few can doubt its power, still less its influence. Bowling for Columbine was by far the biggest-grossing documentary in history. Stupid White Men, an easy-read satire, was the bestselling non-fiction book in the US in 2002, with 4 million copies in print worldwide, and 600,000 of those in the UK. At one point the book, and its follow-up, Dude, Where's My Country?, stood at numbers one and two in the German bestseller list. The sales of his films and books have made him known across the planet, as well as very rich, but the image he has sold of himself — fat, bumbling, nerdy, but indefatigable — has made him something else: an international man of the people.
As the limousine carrying Moore to his Cannes press conference pulls out of the Majestic, bound for the Palais less than 200 yards up the road, an Argentinian TV crew rushes out into the road to interview the director. The automatic tinted windows slide down and a few brief words are exchanged before a security guard steps in. The man with the microphone tries to give Moore an Argentinian flag but the security guard won't allow him. 'Put that down,' he warns, as if it were a semi-automatic weapon. The window goes up and the car moves off." (See also: "'Fahrenheit 9/11' Wins Cannes' Top Prize" (AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/05/22), "Moore, Moore, Moore!" (Tim Blair, The Daily Telegraph/timblair.spleenville.com, 2004/05/20), "Fahrenheit 9/11" (Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter, 2004/05/18), "Cannes applauds anti-Bush film" (CNN.com, 2004/05/17) and "Moore: Mujahideen = Minutemen" (Charles Johnson, Little Green Footballs, 2004/04/17))
"THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE US"
(The New York Times Magazine, 2004/05/23)"Regarding the Torture of Others" (Susan Sontag, The New York Times Magazine, 2004/05/23)
Note that the "US" in "THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE US" really means "THEM", as in the Bush administration:
"The issue is not whether the torture was done by individuals (i.e., ''not by everybody'') — but whether it was systematic. Authorized. Condoned. All acts are done by individuals. The issue is not whether a majority or a minority of Americans performs such acts but whether the nature of the policies prosecuted by this administration and the hierarchies deployed to carry them out makes such acts likely.
Considered in this light, the photographs are us. That is, they are representative of the fundamental corruptions of any foreign occupation together with the Bush adminstration's distinctive policies. ...
Shock and awe were what our military promised the Iraqis. And shock and the awful are what these photographs announce to the world that the Americans have delivered: a pattern of criminal behavior in open contempt of international humanitarian conventions. Soldiers now pose, thumbs up, before the atrocities they commit, and send off the pictures to their buddies. Secrets of private life that, formerly, you would have given nearly anything to conceal, you now clamor to be invited on a television show to reveal. What is illustrated by these photographs is as much the culture of shamelessness as the reigning admiration for unapologetic brutality. ...
The torture of prisoners is not an aberration. It is a direct consequence of the with-us-or-against-us doctrines of world struggle with which the Bush administration has sought to change, change radically, the international stance of the United States and to recast many domestic institutions and prerogatives.""The Gaza Paradox: Israel is damned if it stays, damned if it goes" (Michael B. Oren, The Wall Street Journal, 2004/05/23)
"Any attempt to grant the PA responsibility for security in Gaza will likely repeat the experience of Bethlehem, on the West Bank, where a similar experiment led to the last two suicide bombings in Jerusalem and 18 Israeli dead. Both of the bombers came from Bethlehem.
Clearly Israel cannot remain in Gaza, but neither can it negotiate a phased withdrawal. The evacuation that the bulk of Israelis demand, therefore, can only be accomplished unilaterally while acting to maintain Israel's deterrence power. Israel will also have to reserve its freedom to frustrate weapons smuggling into Gaza by land and by sea, and to strike at terrorist targets inside the strip. Though proposals have been raised for deploying international peacekeepers in Gaza, such a force will surely lack the mandate and the means for effectively rooting out terror, and will probably serve to shield the Palestinians as they continue firing at Israel. Someday a Palestinian leadership may emerge that is capable of ensuring a quiet border, but until it does, there can be no substitute for preserving Israel's ability to defend itself, by itself, from Gaza. ...
Rather, Israel must withdraw from Gaza but in a way that cannot be interpreted as a victory by the Palestinians and that allows the IDF to continue operating freely. The challenge Israel now faces in Gaza is thus similar to America's in Iraq: how to pull out gradually, prudently, all the while maintaining the message that terror will never go unpunished." (See also: "Gaza and the lessons of Oslo" (Gerald M. Steinberg, The Jerusalem Post, 2004/05/22))"Iraqi abuse scandal filters through to hermit state" (AFP/Channel NewsAsia, 2004/05/23)
A report from Pyongyang: "State-controlled media here have been making the most of the graphic images to have emerged from Iraq's now infamous Abu Ghraib jail to fuel the propaganda machine aimed at its number one foe: "The US imperialists."
When asked about the hot topic of the day, residents in the North Korean capital failed to mention a visit Saturday by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi or international concern at Pyongyang's nuclear weapons drive.
Iraq was their number one concern. ...
Un Kyong-Hi, a college researcher in her 20s, said the abuses reinforced negative perceptions about the Stalinist state's ideological foe.
"Many people have seen pictures of the abuse, which is the top international news here. People's ideas that the United States is a barbarian country are being reinforced." ...
While foreign visitors can watch news programmes through international satellite television channels at luxury hotels, ordinary people here have no such free access to outside information but get their news through the state media, which reflects the policies of the North Korean government." (Hat tip: Best of the Web Today.)"Interview With 'Control Room' Director Jehane Noujaim" (FOX News, 2004/05/23)
"Control Room" seems interesting, but note that the director Jehena Nouijam identifies herself so much with Al-Jazeera that she speaks of the channel as "we" and "us", which doesn't sound like the ultimate watchwords for objectivity and impartiality:
"Brian: We're watching our troops march towards Baghdad. And there was a disbelief among the Al Jazeera correspondents that they're even getting close to Baghdad. Would you say that?
Noujaim: No, for the fall of Baghdad, general feelings around the Arab world was we heard a lot about the Iraqi army and now three weeks after the start of the war, American troops are inside Baghdad. What happened? It was a legitimate question to raise at that time. Therefore we tried to give some answers, but it was very hard for us, for everybody to understand." (See also: "'Control Room' gripping look at Al-Jazeera" (Jocelyn Noveck, AP/MSNBC, 2004/05/21))"Suspicion of Chalabi Deception Intensifies" (Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times, 2004/05/23)
"Ahmad Chalabi, the onetime White House favorite who has been implicated in an alleged Iranian spy operation, sent Iraqi defectors to at least eight Western spy services before the war in an apparent effort to dupe them about Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's illicit weapons programs, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said.
U.S. investigators are seeking to determine whether the effort — which one U.S. official likened to an attempt to "game the system" — was secretly supported by Iran's intelligence service to help persuade the Bush administration to oust the regime in Baghdad, Tehran's longtime enemy.
Officials said other evidence indicated that Chalabi's intelligence chief had furnished Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security with highly classified information on U.S. troop movements, top-secret communications, plans of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority and other closely guarded material on U.S. operations in Iraq.""Evidence Is Cited Linking Koreans to Libya Uranium" (David E. Sanger and William J. Broad, The New York Times, 2004/05/23)
"International inspectors have discovered evidence that North Korea secretly provided Libya with nearly two tons of uranium in early 2001, which if confirmed would be the first known case in which the North Korean government has sold a key ingredient for manufacturing atomic weapons to another country, according to American officials and European diplomats familiar with the intelligence.
A giant cask of uranium hexafluoride was turned over to the United States by the Libyans earlier this year as part of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's agreement to give up his nuclear program, and the Americans identified Pakistan as the likely source.
But in recent weeks the International Atomic Energy Agency has found strong evidence that the uranium came from North Korea, basing its conclusion on interviews of members of the secret nuclear supplier network set up by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the former head of Pakistan's main nuclear laboratory.""U.S. Military Says Shiite Rebels Seem to Have Ceded Karbala" (Edward Wong, The New York Times, 2004/05/23)
"American commanders said early Sunday that insurgents loyal to a rebel cleric appeared to have given up control of central Karbala, where they had been shielding themselves at two shrines.
According to the commanders, there were several strong signs that the armed supporters of Moktada al-Sadr, the maverick Shiite cleric, have abandoned the area and ceded authority to the Americans and their allies after nearly three weeks of urban combat.
A large overnight raid met no resistance coming from a group of buildings where insurgents had been firing at American tanks with rocket-propelled grenades. Civilians were seen returning to homes in central Karbala that they had abandoned during fierce fighting. And in the afternoon on Saturday, tribal sheiks approached American commanders offering to persuade the militia, the Mahdi Army, to lay down its arms and leave the city.
"It looks like they just packed up and went home," Col. Peter Mansoor, commander of the First Brigade of the First Armored Division, said in an operations tent on the city outskirts where he monitored field reports. Referring to Mr. Sadr, Colonel Mansoor said, 'I think his days are numbered.'"
Saturday,
May 22, 2004
News and commentary:
"U.S. director Michael Moore..."
(Eric Gaillard, Reuters, 2004/05/22)
"U.S. director Michael Moore holds the Palme d'Or for his documentary film 'Fahrenheit 9/11' during a special red carpet arrival in his honor at the 57th Cannes Film Festival, May 23, 2004.""'Fahrenheit 9/11' Wins Cannes' Top Prize" (AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/05/22)
"American filmmaker Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," a scathing indictment of White House actions after the Sept. 11 attacks, won the top prize Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival.
"Fahrenheit 9/11" was the first documentary to win Cannes' prestigious Palme d'Or since Jacques Cousteau's "The Silent World" in 1956.
"What have you done? I'm completely overwhelmed by this. Merci," Moore said after getting a standing ovation from the Cannes crowd.
While "Fahrenheit 9/11" was well-received by Cannes audiences, many critics felt it was inferior to Moore's Academy Award-winning documentary "Bowling for Columbine," which earned him a special prize at Cannes in 2002.
Some critics speculated that if "Fahrenheit 9/11" won the top prize, it would be more for the film's politics than its cinematic value." (See also: "Moore, Moore, Moore!" (Tim Blair, The Daily Telegraph/timblair.spleenville.com, 2004/05/20), "Fahrenheit 9/11" (Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter, 2004/05/18), "Cannes applauds anti-Bush film" (CNN.com, 2004/05/17) and "Moore: Mujahideen = Minutemen" (Charles Johnson, Little Green Footballs, 2004/04/17))"Bomb Kills 5 Outside Iraqi Official's Home" (AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/05/22)
"A car bomb exploded outside the home of a senior Iraqi security official Saturday, killing at least five people and destroying several vehicles on an east Baghdad street, police said.
The blast wounded Abdul-Jabbar Youssef al-Sheikhli, one of three deputy interior ministers and a member of the Shiite Muslim Dawa party. A ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said al-Sheikhli had head and chest injuries and was in stable condition at a nearby hospital. ...
Police and U.S. military officers at the scene said the five dead included four Iraqi policemen and a woman neighbor who died in her home.""Obscene gloating over US failures in Iraq" (Cathy Young, The Boston Globe, 2004/05/22)
"Are some Americans, including journalists, rooting for the enemy while their country is at war? This question is coming up with increasing frequency as the troubles in Iraq continue.
The May 15 issue of the British magazine The Spectator published an article by Daily Telegraph correspondent Tony Hamden [sic], recounting a conversation he had with an unnamed "American magazine journalist of serious accomplishment and impeccable liberal credentials."
According to Hamden, "Not only had she 'known' the Iraq war would fail, but she considered it essential that it did so because this would ensure that the 'evil' George W. Bush would no longer be running her country. Her editors back on the East Coast were giggling, she said, over what a disaster Iraq had turned out to be. 'Lots of us talk about how awful it would be if this worked out.'" Hamden goes on to say that when he asked the woman if "thousands more dead Iraqis would be a good thing," her answer was, essentially, yes. ...
Yet what if your country, or your government, is engaged in a war that is unjust and immoral? What if it's your country that is wantonly killing innocents, as well as sacrificing the lives of its own soldiers for no good reason? ...
Ironically, the same conservatives who believe that no decent American can sympathize with the other side during a war also generally believe that our troops in Iraq deserve the support of the Iraqis because we liberated them from an evil regime. Yet, following their logic, patriotic Iraqis would have had to support a homegrown tyrant over foreign occupation.
The difference, of course, is that we're not a dictatorship. So let's not demand mindless, knee-jerk patriotism as if we were. I want to support my country because it's right, not just because it's mine." (See also: "Hoping for the worst" (Toby Harnden, The Spectator, from the 2004/05/15 issue))"Gaza and the lessons of Oslo" (Gerald M. Steinberg, The Jerusalem Post, 2004/05/22)
"Operation Rainbow, the massive IDF incursion now under way in Gaza, highlights the long-term security foundation of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and stands in sharp contrast to the failed Oslo process.
Rainbow is designed to strengthen the IDF's ability to defend the strategic Philadelphi Route along the border with Egypt and to prevent the smuggling of explosives and weapons, including Strella shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, into Gaza. ...
Planners in the IDF, the Prime Minister's Office, the Shin Bet, and elsewhere are painfully aware of the danger and threats that would continue to be posed in a post-disengagement environment.
Although there was a brief flirtation with the idea that an international force, along with Egypt, would assume responsibility for preventing smuggling of weapons and missiles into Gaza, more realistic heads soon prevailed.
The international force pledged by the UN and the EU, under French leadership, to disarm Hizbullah after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon exactly four years ago vanished into thin air. International involvement is a recipe for abandoning all pretense at serious security limits.
And although Egypt might be persuaded to take its obligations a bit more seriously in order to avoid costs, this is also a limited proposition. Plainly, if Cairo were doing its job, there would be little need for Operation Rainbow.
Ultimately, only an immediate Israeli presence on land, sea, and air can intercept and deter Palestinian efforts to obtain long-range weapons in Gaza.""Punishment and Amusement" (Scott Higham and Joe Stephens, The Washington Post, 2004/05/22)
"Prisoners posed in three of the most infamous photographs of abuse to come out of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were not being softened up for interrogation by intelligence officers but instead were being punished for criminal acts or the amusement of their jailers, according to previously secret documents obtained by The Washington Post. ...
The documents show that MPs staged the photographs as a form of entertainment or to discipline the prisoners for acts ranging from rioting to an alleged rape of a teenage boy in the prison. ...
Darby said Graner handed him two CDs of photographs.
"I thought the discs just had pictures of Iraq, the cell where the shooting occurred," Darby told investigators.
Instead, Darby viewed hundreds of photographs showing naked detainees being abused by U.S. soldiers.
"It was just wrong," Darby said. "I knew I had to do something."
He said that he asked Graner, a Pennsylvania prison guard in civilian life, about the photographs. Graner replied: 'The Christian in me says it's wrong, but the corrections officer in me says, 'I love to make a grown man piss himself.''" (See also "Behind the Pictures": "The Naked Pyramid: 'I Was Laughing at Some of the Stuff'" (The Washington Post, 2004/05/22), "The Dogs: 'They Let the Dogs Corner Him'" (The Washington Post, 2004/05/22), "Punches and Kicks: 'Knocked the Detainee Unconscious'" (The Washington Post, 2004/05/22) and "The Leash: 'I Simply Stood With The Strap in My Hand'" (The Washington Post, 2004/05/22): "Graner got out the leash, and they went down to a solitary confinement cell where the detainee was being held, [England] said. The detainee emerged naked but not handcuffed. And after Graner made him lie down on the floor, she said, he loosely looped the strap around his neck and handed it to her.
Then he got out his camera, she posed and he snapped a photo.
"I did not drag or pull on the leash," she said. 'I simply stood with the strap in my hand. Gus started to crawl on the floor and . . . Graner took another picture. We then took the strap off of him and placed him back in his cell.'")
Friday,
May 21, 2004
News and commentary:
"TO ALL PEOPLES
SOON...FREEDOM
ON THE AMERICAN WAY"
(Mohamed Azakir, Reuters, 2004/05/21)
"A giant banner of a hooded and abused Iraqi prisoner is displayed during a rally in Beirut, May 21, 2004. Tens of thousands of Lebanese Shi'ites in white shrouds marched in Beirut Friday in a collective show of their willingness to die in defense of holy shrines in U.S.-occupied Iraq.""'Control Room' gripping look at Al-Jazeera" (Jocelyn Noveck, AP/MSNBC, 2004/05/21)
"May 1, 2003. President Bush stands on an aircraft carrier and declares to cheering sailors: “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.”
In the tiny nation of Qatar, a translator for the Al-Jazeera satellite network relays Bush’s speech to millions of viewers in the Arab world. As he intones Bush’s words into a microphone, the translator’s grimaces show his true feelings about the war — and the man declaring victory.
This is just one of dozens of fascinating moments in “Control Room,” an unnerving documentary profiling this unique network that’s faithfully watched by many in the Arab world yet reviled by the U.S. government and condemned by some Arab regimes as well. ...
U.S. officials have called Al-Jazeera “inexcusably biased,” and the “mouthpiece of Osama bin Laden” for airing tapes made by members of the al-Qaida network. And the network, launched in 1996 and now claiming full independence from Qatar’s government, is indeed critical of the Iraq war and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. (It has also gotten into trouble with some Arab regimes unhappy with its coverage of their policies.) ...
And Samir Khader, a senior producer at Al-Jazeera, surprises us when he speaks of his own future. “Between us,” he says, “if I’m offered a job tomorrow with Fox, I will take it.” And he hopes his children will study and then settle in the United States, getting a piece of the American dream.""The Chalabi Mystery" (James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, 2004/05/21)
"The Washington Post doesn't mention spying, but it does say some INC members have been arrested on corruption charges. "One of them is Sabah Nouri, whom Chalabi picked to become the top anti-corruption official in the new Iraqi Ministry of Finance":For several months, U.S. officials have been investigating people affiliated with Chalabi's INC and possible ties to a scheme to defraud the Iraqi government during the currency exchange that took place from Oct. 15 to Jan. 15, according to three U.S. officials who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
When auditors early this year began counting the old Iraqi dinars brought in and the new Iraqi dinars given out, they discovered that there was a difference of more than $22 million. ...London's Daily Telegraph has yet another angle:
Ahmad Chalabi is in possession of "miles" of documents with the potential to expose politicians, corporations and the United Nations as having connived in a system of kickbacks and false pricing worth billions of pounds.
That may have been enough to provoke yesterday's American raid. So explosive are the contents of the files that their publication would cause serious problems for US allies and friendly states around the globe.And 'a U.S. defense official in Washington told The Washington Times on the condition of anonymity that the raid resulted from suspicions that Mr. Chalabi was blackmailing people involved in the disbanded U.N. oil-for-food program, the subject of several graft investigations.'" (See also: "Chalabi's House Raided by U.S. Troops" (Scott Wilson and Ariana Cha, The Washington Post, 2004/05/21), "Billion-dollar timebomb puts Chalabi at risk" (Robin Gedye, The Daily Telegraph, 2004/05/21) and "U.S., Iraqis raid Chalabi's house, offices" (Sharon Behn, The Washington Times, 2004/05/21). Also: "Leader in exile proves a liability on his return" (Roula Khalaf, Finacial Times, 2004/05/21): "On the Governing Council and in the streets of Baghdad yesterday, speculation mounted about the motives behind the raid. The conspiracy theorists claimed that bashing Mr Chalabi was part of a grand American scheme to make an unpopular figure more acceptable to Iraqis.")
"Survivor Freak Show" (James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, 2004/05/21)
"London's Guardian today has an op-ed piece by Michael Berg, father of Nick Berg:People ask me why I focus on putting the blame for my son's tragic and atrocious end on the Bush administration. They ask: "Don't you blame the five men who killed him?" I have answered that I blame them no more or less than the Bush administration, but I am wrong: I am sure, knowing my son, that somewhere during their association with him these men became aware of what an extraordinary man my son was. I take comfort that when they did the awful thing they did, they weren't quite as in to it as they might have been. I am sure that they came to admire him.
I am sure that the one who wielded the knife felt Nick's breath on his hand and knew that he had a real human being there. I am sure that the others looked into my son's eyes and got at least a glimmer of what the rest of the world sees. And I am sure that these murderers, for just a brief moment, did not like what they were doing.
George Bush never looked into my son's eyes. George Bush doesn't know my son, and he is the worse for it. George Bush, though a father himself, cannot feel my pain, or that of my family, or of the world that grieves for Nick, because he is a policymaker, and he doesn't have to bear the consequences of his acts. George Bush can see neither the heart of Nick nor that of the American people, let alone that of the Iraqi people his policies are killing daily.
Here's what the elder Berg says America should have done in response to the Sept. 11 attacks: "I say we should have done then what we never did before: stop speaking to the people we labelled our enemies and start listening to them."
This is sick stuff, though perhaps partly understandable as an irrational reaction of a man who's lost his son. Shame on the Guardian for exploiting Michael Berg's grief to further its own anti-American agenda." (See also: "George Bush never looked into Nick's eyes" (Michael Berg, The Guardian, 2004/05/21))"Rafah is a nightmare" (Amir Oren, Haaretz, 2004/05/21)
Interesting info on the terrible incident in Rafah: "When the procession with armed men in its midst set out in the direction of the forces, Zakai tried to speak with the community leaders in Rafah. The head of the Liaison and Coordination Administration, Colonel Poli Mordecai, phoned Nasser Saraj, the head of the Civil Committee in the city. Had the Liaison and Coordination Administration sufficed, they would not have needed the tank commander. Saraj, a respected individual, formerly the director-general of the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the Palestinian Authority, listened to Colonel Mordecai's pleas, but took no steps to prevent the disaster.
When men obeyed the calls over the loudspeakers to turn themselves in to the IDF authorities (and to the intelligence people who wanted to question them), they were confronted by members of the terror organizations, who opened fire on them and killed two children. A senior officer in Gaza reported yesterday that the IDF have in their possession pictures of this incident, of Palestinians killing their children. He expressed amazement as to why the army has refrained from publishing them.""U.N. Representative's One Sided Accusations Against Israel Appalling" (ADL, 2004/05/21)
"The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) strongly condemned a statement by John Dugard, United Nations Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, expressing "horror" at Israeli actions in Gaza and comparing Israel to apartheid South Africa.
"To draw a comparison between Israel, a democratic state, and apartheid South Africa's racist politics is unwarranted and appalling. Israel has consistently offered the Palestinians the opportunity to have peace and an independent state on the condition they accept Israel's legitimacy," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director." (See also: "Special Rapporteur on Occupied Territorties "Horrified" at Israeli Action in Gaza" (United Nations, 2004/05/19): "These actions constitute a violation of international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949 (Fourth Geneva Convention). They also amount to collective punishment which violates both humanitarian law and international human rights law. It is impossible to accept the Israeli argument that these actions are justified by military necessity. On the contrary, in the language of Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, they are "carried out unlawfully and wantonly.")"Many Iraq Prison Abuses Occurred in Nov." (Matt Kelley, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/05/21)
"Many of the worst abuses that have come to light from the Abu Ghraib prison happened on a single November day amid a flare of insurgent violence in Iraq, the deaths of many U.S. soldiers and a breakdown of the American guards' command structure.
Nov. 8 was the day U.S. guards took most of the infamous photographs: soldiers mugging in front of a pile of naked, hooded Iraqis, prisoners forced to perform or simulate sex acts, a hooded prisoner in a scarecrow-like pose with wires attached to him. ...
When Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits tearfully pleaded guilty Wednesday to abusing prisoners, he described fellow soldiers committing an escalating series of abuses on eight prisoners that included stamping on their toes and fingers and punching one man hard enough to knock him out. ...
The abuse came during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and reflection. The abused Iraqis, Sivits said, had been suspected of taking part in a prison riot that day. They were held at Abu Ghraib on suspicion of common crimes, not attacks on U.S. forces, said Col. Marc Warren, the top legal adviser to Iraqi commander Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez.""Iraqis Arrest Four in Berg Beheading" (Saber Baban, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/05/21)
"Four people have been detained in the killing of American Nicholas Berg, whose decapitation was captured on videotape, an Iraqi security official and a U.S. military official said Friday. The Iraqi official said the group that killed Berg was led by a relative of Saddam Hussein.
The suspects were former members of Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen paramilitary organization, the Iraqi security official said on condition of anonymity. Iraqi police arrested them on May 14 in a house in Salaheddin province, north of Baghdad. The province includes Tikrit, Saddam's hometown. ...
The group that was involved in the killing of Berg was led by Yasser al-Sabawi, a nephew of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi security official said. He said American intelligence had asked Iraqi authorities to hand over the suspects, but they were still in Iraqi hands." (See also: "Four detained over Berg beheading in Iraq: US military" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2004/05/21): "In Baghdad ... coalition forces conducted a raid to capture four individuals suspected of involvement in the Nicholas Berg assassination," [US Brigadier General Mark] Kimmitt told a press conference Friday, adding the raid took place "two days ago".
"Four persons were detained and questioned, two personnel were released and the other two are still being questioned."
He did not provide details on the identities of those arrested and cautioned that it may be shown that they had no association with the murder, which was filmed and shown on an Al-Qaeda linked website earlier this month.")"This poll suggests..." (Glenn Reynolds, InstaPundit, 2004/05/21)
"This poll suggests that the media really are out of touch on Iraq. Note these questions:20. On the situation in Iraq today, where do you think most of the problems are being created?
1. In Iraq 23%
2. In Washington, DC, or 18
3. In the news media 27
4. (Combination) 21
5. (All) 8
6. (None) -
7. (Not sure) 327. Which of the following news stories upset you more?
1. The abuse of Iraqi prisoners
by U.S. soldiers 8%
2. The beheading of an American
civilian by Muslim terrorists 60
3. (Both equal) 29
4. (Not sure) 328. Do you think the media spent an excessive amount of time covering either of the following news stories?
1. The Iraqi prisoner abuse story 34%
2. The beheading of American Nick Berg 9
3. (Both were covered excessively) 35
4. (Neither was covered excessively) 15
5. (Not sure) 7Seems like my emails are more reflective of general sentiment than the front pages of major newspapers." (See also: "Poll: Little Movement in Bush-Kerry Matchup" (Dana Blanton, FOX News, 2004/05/21))
"Porn Again: Nothing sells like kinky sex" (Denis Boyles, National Review, 2004/05/21)
"Just ask the BBC, Sky News, France 2, and the rest of the EuroPress today. The release of new images from Abu Ghraib have gone around the world in minutes. They tell us nothing we didn't already know about the treatment of some detainees by some soldiers. Publishing yet more photos of S&M excess does nothing but titillate and excite the passions. Out there someplace are a group of sad souls aching for more such leaks, because hitherto forbidden pleasures they bring. We call those people "the editorial board of the Washington Post." The photographs they publish lack, in the words of the famous formulation, "redeeming social value." In fact, they even lack simple news value. ...
The Abu Ghraib story, like none other, proves that pornography sells, and that more pornography only sells more. In this case, it sells a hatred of America that is already well-entrenched, one that takes a toll in treasure and in human life. Lacking a cogent response other than weird, abject apologies from anyone in the U.S. administration, the prevailing view of America, as described in this leader from the Guardian, is as a nation of presumed war criminals. The crime is that the present U.S. administration is so inept at defending idealistic policies against a cynical media onslaught. So deafening now is the hysteria in Europe concerning these photographs that virtually no other news from Iraq matters. I doubt that the reputation of the United States has ever been so gleefully trashed as it is now in Paris, London, and Berlin, thanks largely to a stack of dirty pictures published without context or conscience. That's how pornography works." (See also: "Iraqis Provide New Details of Abuse: Statements Describe Sexual Humiliation And Savage Beatings" (Scott Higham and Joe Stephens, The Washington Post, 2004/05/21) and "Lies about crimes" (The Guardian, 2004/05/21))"Season of Apologies" (Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 2004/05/21)
"What is going on? The months of April and May have been surreal — scandals at Abu Ghraib, decapitations and desecrations of those killed from Gaza to Iraq, and insurrections in Fallujah and Najaf. The shock of the unexpected has led to hysteria and cheap TV moralizing by critics of the war, fueled by election-year politics at home, apparent embarrassment for some erstwhile supporters of the intervention who are angry that democracy in Iraq has not appeared fully-formed out of the head of Zeus, and a certain amnesia about the recent dark history of the United Nations.
Yet there are historical forces still in play that bode well for Iraq — aid pouring in, oil revenues increasing, Iraqi autonomy nearing, and radical terrorists failing to win public support — all of which we are ignoring amid the successive 24-hour media barrages. ...
Still, in just a year the worst mass murderer in recent history is gone and a consensual government is scheduled to assume power in his place in just a few weeks.""Hussein-Era Videos Released to Contrast Prison Scandal" (Peter Slevin, The Washington Post, 2004/05/21)
"Video images of brutal treatment of prisoners by Saddam Hussein's government resurfaced this week as part of an effort by some members of the Bush administration and Congress to remind viewers in Iraq and the United States of the previous horrors. ...
Al Hurra, an Iraqi television station backed by the U.S. government, broadcast video excerpts on Wednesday. They included commentary from former Iraqi prisoners, plus a discussion of the Hussein era and what one guest called "most despicable" acts by U.S. forces. ...
The excerpts on Al Hurra showed prisoners being punished or tortured by black-masked members of Saddam's Fedayeen, an elite militia controlled by Hussein. Prisoners were shown being flogged and having fingers chopped off. One is shown being thrown from a roof, another about to be beheaded by a man wielding a sword.
The full video shows the beheading and a man placing the severed head on the victim's prone body. Another scene shows a man's tongue being cut out." (See also: "The Real Picture Show" (Roger L. Simon, rogerlsimon.com, 2004/05/14))"Iraqis Provide New Details of Abuse: Statements Describe Sexual Humiliation And Savage Beatings" (Scott Higham and Joe Stephens, The Washington Post, 2004/05/21)
"Previously secret sworn statements by detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq describe in raw detail abuse that goes well beyond what has been made public, adding allegations of prisoners being ridden like animals, sexually fondled by female soldiers and forced to retrieve their food from toilets. ...
"They forced us to walk like dogs on our hands and knees," said Hiadar Sabar Abed Miktub al-Aboodi, detainee No. 13077. "We had to bark like a dog, and if we didn't do that they started hitting us hard on our face and chest with no mercy. After that, they took us to our cells, took the mattresses out and dropped water on the floor and they made us sleep on our stomachs on the floor with the bags on our head and they took pictures of everything." ...
The disclosures come from a new cache of documents, photographs and videos obtained by The Post that are part of evidence assembled by Army investigators putting together criminal cases against soldiers at Abu Ghraib." (See also: "Videos Amplify Picture of Violence" (Josh White et al., The Washington Post, 2004/05/21): "The video begins with three soldiers huddled around a naked detainee, his thin frame backed against a wall. With a snap of his wrist, one of the soldiers slaps the man across his left cheek so hard that the prisoner's knees buckle. Another detainee, handcuffed and on his back, is dragged across the prison floor.
Then, the human pyramid begins to take shape. Soldiers force hooded and naked prisoners into crouches on the floor, one by one, side by side, a soldier pointing to where the next ones should go. The grainy video stops.")Added in archive:
"We are all un-American?" (Jean-Marie Colombani, Le Monde/¡No Pasarán!, 2004/05/15)
"Arafat at heart of rights abuse report" (Gethin Chamberlain, The Scotsman, 2004/05/15)
"The Real Picture Show" (Roger L. Simon, rogerlsimon.com, 2004/05/14)
Thursday,
May 20, 2004
News and commentary:
"Portrait of Ahmed Chalabi"
(Ramzi Haidar, AFP, 2004/05/20)
"The glass in a portrait of Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi is seen smashed after Iraqi police and US troops raided his head office in Baghdad, confiscating files and computers.""America's 'Best Friend' A Spy?" (AP/CBS News, 2004/05/20)
"Senior U.S. officials told 60 Minutes Correspondent Lesley Stahl that they have evidence Chalabi has been passing highly-classified U.S. intelligence to Iran.
The evidence shows that Chalabi personally gave Iranian intelligence officers information so sensitive that if revealed it could, quote, "get Americans killed." The evidence is said to be "rock solid."
Sources have told Stahl a high-level investigation is underway into who in the U.S. government gave Chalabi such sensitive information in the first place.
In addition, sources told Stahl that one of Chalabi's closest confidantes — a senior member of his organization, the Iraqi national congress — is believed to have been recruited by Iran's intelligence agency, the Ministry of Information and Security (MOIS) — and is on their payroll.""U.S. Soldiers Raid Chalabi's Home in Iraq" (Scheherezade Faramarzi, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/05/20)
"U.S. soldiers raided the home of America's one-time ally Ahmad Chalabi on Thursday and seized documents and computers. ...
During the raid on Chalabi's home in Baghdad's Mansour district, American soldiers surrounded the compound and armed Americans in civilian clothes and flak jackets were seen milling about.
A Chalabi aide, Haidar Musawi, said a U.S.-Iraqi force surrounded the compound about 10:30 a.m., while Chalabi, a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, was inside. They told Chalabi's aides they wanted to search the house for wanted officials in Chalabi's party, the Iraqi National Congress.
A senior coalition official said on condition of anonymity that an Iraqi judge issued several warrants and would make details public later.
Iraqi police were seen loading boxes into vehicles, and neighbors said some members of Chalabi's entourage were taken away. Police took documents and a computer belonging to Chalabi, according to an American witness.
A portrait of Chalabi hanging on the wall had a bullet hole in the forehead."
"Then and now"
(Kleine Zeitung, 2004/05/19)"Yad Vashem protests Austrian newspaper caricature" (Etgar Lefkovits, The Jerusalem Post, 2004/05/20)
"In a rare move, Yad Vashem on Thursday criticized an Austrian newspaper for running a caricature that compared an IDF solider to a Nazi.
In the caricature titled "Then and Now," which appeared Wednesday in the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, a frightened Jew appears on one side of the cartoon, labeled past, as a Nazi soldier, with a swastika on his arm, bears down on him.
On the other half of the caricature, marked present, a small, frightened Palestinian child appears, with an Israeli soldier with a Star of David on his arm bearing down on him.
"The caricature is a classic expression of the new antisemitism... which diminishes the Holocaust and distorts both today's reality as well as that of the Holocaust," a press release issued Thursday by Yad Vashem read.""Iraq Poll Finds Poverty Main Worry, Sadr Popular" (Reuters, 2004/05/20)
"Iraqis care more about declining living standards than U.S. promises of political freedom, and prefer a rebel cleric hunted by U.S. forces to most mainstream politicians, according to a poll due for release next week.
The survey revealed a sharp drop in the number of Iraqis who view U.S. troops as liberators — just seven percent when the poll was taken last month, compared to over 40 percent six months ago.
More than 40 percent of Iraqis would feel safer if U.S. troops left Iraq now, a preview of the poll showed. ...
Iraqis polled in Baghdad and six provinces last month ranked Moqtada al-Sadr, the rebel cleric whose militia U.S. forces have been trying to crush for weeks, among the top three figures in the country.
Thirty-one percent of respondents said they strongly supported Sadr — compared to 50 percent for Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the top religious authority for majority Shi'ites — compared to single digits three months ago, Dulame said.""Top Arafat Aide Convicted by Israelis on Murder Charges" (Alan Cowell, The New York Times, 2004/05/20)
"An Israeli court today convicted Marwan Barghouti — a top aide to the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and an emblem of resistance — on murder charges relating to attacks that killed five Israelis, brushing aside his protestations that the judges had no right to try him.
Mr. Barghouti had been accused of planning assaults that killed a total of 26 people, but the court acquitted him of charges relating to 21 slayings, saying there was "no evidence the defendant knew of the intention to carry them out."
He was also found guilty on one count of attempted murder relating to a planned car bomb attack. He is to be sentenced on June 6. The prosecution demanded that Mr. Barghouti, 44, be sentenced to life imprisonment for each of the five killings.""Reuters Stands by Iraq Abuse Reports, Releases Timeline on Incident" (Greg Mitchell, Editor & Publisher, Reuters, 2004/05/20)
"Despite official military statements denying any wrongdoing — and an announcement today that the case is "closed" — Reuters is standing by allegations that three of its employees were abused by U.S. soldiers while confined near Falluja in January. ...
On Wednesday, General Ricardo Sanchez reiterated his belief that the investigation of this case was "thorough" and he stood by the military's conduct in the matter. (The official military report on the incident was posted today at Raleigh's newsobserver.com.)
"Our investigation found no abuse of any kind," Maj. Jimmie Cummings, spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division, which was responsible for detaining the Reuters' employees, told the Associated Press today. "This is a closed case."
Reuters told E&P today that it had "no reason to doubt" the testimony of its staffers." (See also: "Reuters, NBC Staff Abused by U.S. Troops in Iraq" (Andrew Marshall, Reuters, 2004/05/18))"Darfur's agony is world's shame" (Emma Bonino and William Shawcross, Financial Times/williamshawcross.com, 2004/05/20)
"The roaring silence from the Arab League and the Muslim world over Darfur is inexcusable. Both the Arab aggressors and the black African victims are Muslims. So one might have expected to hear something from those quarters, at least a call from the former for Arab brethren to show restraint, if not condemnation from the latter of the massacre of Muslims.
The European Union has not fared much better, offering weak words at best. ... They need to push for an emergency session of the Security Council to take up the Darfur issue in a resolution, making it clear to the government of Sudan that the killing must stop, aid must be allowed to go through and displaced people permitted to return home. The Security Council should in addition authorise all measures short of force to be used against Sudan and warn Khartoum of international military intervention if it does not alter its course. Only such an ultimatum will demonstrate that the international community means it when it says "never again" - that we are not going to stand by as another mass slaughter of innocents unfolds before our eyes.
We may be too late to save Darfur's burnt villages, but we can still save hundreds of thousands of lives.""Outcast heroes: the story of gay Muslims" (Johann Hari, Attitude/johannhari.com, 2004/05/20)
"Even in democratic societies, Islam remains overwhelmingly anti-gay. Dr Muzammil Siddiqi, director of the Islamic Society of North America, says "homosexuality is a moral disease, a sin, a corruption… No person is born homosexual, just as nobody is born a thief, a liar or a murderer. People acquire these evil habits due to a lack of proper guidance and education."
Sheikh Sharkhawy, a cleric at the prestigious London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park, compares homosexuality to a "cancer tumour." He argues "we must burn all gays to prevent paedophilia and the spread of AIDS," and says gay people "have no hope of a spiritual life." The Muslim Educational Trust hands out educational material to Muslim teachers — intended for children! — advocating the death penalty for gay people, and advising Muslim pupils to stay away from gay classmates and teachers.""Moore, Moore, Moore!" (Tim Blair, The Daily Telegraph/timblair.spleenville.com, 2004/05/20)
"'Michael Moore backs striking French workers,' read the weekend's headlines from the Cannes Film Festival. In fact, the people Moore backed were the opposite of workers — they were unemployed actors, and they were protesting about welfare cuts. So they weren’t actually on strike, either. An accurate headline might have read: "Michael Moore backs work-shy French dole mimes." ...
Central to Moore's new movie is an alleged conspiracy between the Evil Bush Family and Wicked Saudi Oilmen, which led to — as Moore presents it — the stealthy spiriting away from America of bin Laden family members following September 11.
This will excite people who haven't read the testimony from the 9/11 Commission, which cleared the US government of wrongdoing over the bin Laden family issue. (Incidentally, if Moore had serious evidence of governmental mischief, what was he doing concealing it for more than a year?) Little surprise that most of Mike’s causes end up destroyed. Hand him a cute little pet cause and he’ll hug it and pat it and squeeze it and hug it and ... oops. Dead.
Like Payback Tuesday, Moore's advance description of the 2002 congressional elections. "We will deny Bush control of the Congress," Moore predicted. Result: a massive swing to Bush. And Wesley Clark, of whom Moore said: "He will cream George W. Bush." Result: Wes was wiped. Moore’s latest pet cause is Iraqi insurgency. "They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow," Moore wrote, "and they will win."
Sure they will, Mike. Just like your handout-addicted French drama friends." (See also: "Fahrenheit 9/11" (Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter, 2004/05/18), "Cannes applauds anti-Bush film" (CNN.com, 2004/05/17) and "Moore: Mujahideen = Minutemen" (Charles Johnson, Little Green Footballs, 2004/04/17))"Kill Faster!" (Ralph Peters, New York Post, 2004/05/20)
"In Iraq last month, I learned a great deal about the future of combat. By watching TV.
During the initial fighting in Fallujah, I tuned in al-Jazeera and the BBC. At the same time, I was getting insider reports from the battlefield, from a U.S. military source on the scene and through Kurdish intelligence. I saw two different battles.
The media weren't reporting. They were taking sides. With our enemies. And our enemies won. Because, under media assault, we lost our will to fight on.
During the combat operations, al-Jazeera constantly aired trumped-up footage and insisted that U.S. Marines were destroying Fallujah and purposely targeting women and children, causing hundreds of innocent casualties as part of an American crusade against Arabs.
It was entirely untrue. But the truth didn't matter. Al-Jazeera told a receptive audience what it wanted to believe. Oh, and the "Arab CNN" immediately followed the Fallujah clips with video of Israeli "atrocities." Connecting the dots was easy for those nurtured on hatred.
The Marines in Fallujah weren't beaten by the terrorists and insurgents, who were being eliminated effectively and accurately. They were beaten by al-Jazeera. By lies.
Get used to it.
This is the new reality of combat. Not only in Iraq. But in every broken country, plague pit and terrorist refuge to which our troops will have to go in the future.""Abu Ghraib Worse Than 9/11?" (Joseph D'Hippolito, FrontPageMagazine, 2004/05/20)
The easiest way to test the level of double standards in a given statement is simply to invert it: "The overwhelming majority of Westerners cannot but feel aversion and hate for the Arab and Muslim world growing inside themselves."
This statement would almost certainly be criticized as bigoted, "racist" or hate-mongering if made by a Westerner. It would not make a popular Indykid slogan.
But if you turn it around it is suddenly very "liberal" and politically correct:
"The Vatican’s foreign minister, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, became the latest prelate to embarrass himself and his superiors with absurd public remarks. On May 12, Lajolo told the Roman newspaper La Repubblica that the Abu Ghraib scandal hurt the United States more than the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“The torture? A more serious blow to the United States than Sept. 11,” Lajolo said, “except that the blow was not inflicted by terrorists but by Americans against themselves.”
Lajolo also called the abuses “a tragic episode in the relationship with Islam,” and suggested that the overwhelming majority of Arab Muslims “cannot but feel aversion and hate for the West growing inside themselves” and added that “the West is often identified with Christianity.” ...
L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s official newspaper, focused on Abu Ghraib in three of its five editions between May 6 and May 10. “Horror and Shame,” blared the front-page headline on May 8. “Mankind Has Been Scarred,” shouted another front-page headline.
“The abuse and cruelty against the prisoners,” the newspaper stated, “represents the radical denial of human dignity and of fundamental human values.” Yet as of May 17, L’Osservatore Romano had said nothing about the gruesome beheading of Nick Berg.
New York Congressman Peter King, a Republican and a Catholic, offered the perfect rejoinder.
“This is the height of hypocrisy,” King told the Associated Press on May 13. “Whatever the United States has done to prisoners in Iraq is nothing compared to what priests and nuns did to Catholic kids for decades while the Catholic hierarchy covered it up.
'Think of the thousands of kids in the U.S. and Ireland who were abused by priests and nuns. You wonder where the Vatican’s moral compass is.'"
"Three Israeli bulldozers..."
(Gil Cohen Magen, Reuters, 2004/05/20)
"Three Israeli bulldozers move towards the Palestinian refugee camp of Rafah, during an ongoing military operation, May 20, 2004. ""At a Palestinian Protest, Israeli Gunfire Leaves at Least 10 Dead" (James Bennet, The New York Times, 2004/05/20)
"In a highly unusual incident, at least three Palestinian men attempted to kidnap this reporter here Wednesday night. The reporter, who had identified himself at Al Najar hospital as an American, was speaking on a cellular telephone in the street in front of the hospital when a stranger approached offering a handshake, a smile and the word, "Welcome."
When the reporter took his hand, the stranger and another man grabbed him and attempted to shove him into an aging Mercedes sedan that pulled up, its rear door open. A struggle and cries for help brought Palestinian police officers at the hospital running, and after a further struggle, the men jumped in the car and disappeared.
Anger at Americans has been building here for three years over the Bush administration's perceived tilt toward Israel, the occupation of Iraq and, most recently, images of prisoner abuse in Iraq. An American might also be considered valuable for use in bargaining with Israel.""Israel rebuked over Gaza killings" (BBC News, 2004/05/20)
"The United Nations Security Council has adopted a resolution condemning Israel's killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
The 14-0 vote came after at least 10 Palestinians were killed and 60 wounded when Israeli troops opened fire on protesters in the town of Rafah.
The resolution also urged Israel to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes in the area.
The US, which usually vetoes anti-Israeli resolutions, abstained. ...
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has called for international observers to protect his people, describing the events in Rafah as "atrocious crimes".
He described the civilian deaths as a 'massacre that stands against all humane, civilised and political principles.'""US denies bombing wedding party" (BBC News, 2004/05/20)
"The US military has denied allegations that its forces in Iraq killed dozens of people celebrating a marriage in the west of the country.
Initial reports suggested that a wedding party near the Syrian border was the target of a US air strike.
A US military spokesman confirmed that about 40 people had been killed in the area - but said US forces had targeted a safe house used by foreign fighters.
He said coalition forces had retaliated after coming under attack.
The incident occurred late on Tuesday at the village of Makr al-Deeb, near the border town of Qaim.
"We took hostile fire and we returned fire," said Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the US military in Iraq.
He said there were no indications that the victims of the attack were part of a wedding party.
He added that a large amount of money, Syrian passports and satellite communications equipment had been found at the site of the attack."
Wednesday,
May 19, 2004
News and commentary:
"As If We Needed Further Evidence..." (David Bernstein, The Volok Conspiracy, 2004/05/19)
Bernstein on an op-ed by U.S. Senator Ernest F. Hollings:
"As If We Needed Further Evidence, Senator Fritz Hollings proves himself to be an utter fool and ignoramus. According to Hollings, the U.S. must have known that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Why? Because the Mossad, which Hollings seems to think is omniscient, had to have known. Moreover, if Iraq had such weapons, Israel would have taken them out. Instead, the reason the U.S. decided to invade Iraq was to secure Israel, appease American Jews, and take the Jewish vote from the Democrats. All the talk of spreading democracy in the Middle East is meant to secure Israel. How do we know? Because Wolfowitz, Perle, and Krauthammer were leading advocates of the idea that the Middle East needs democratization.
A few comments: ...
(3) If Bush really wanted the Jewish vote, the first thing he would do is become pro-choice. I can't prove it, but I'm convinced that Republicans lose far more Jewish votes over abortion and other religiously-tinged issues than over Israel. And Jews are but 2% of the population. The idea that a president will go to war and put his entire presidency on the line to sway some fraction of that population (many of whom are virulently left-wing and antiwar) is ludicrous.
(4) Funny how Hollings only mentions the name of JEWISH neocons who wanted to spread democracy to the Middle East. ...
(7) I'm glad that the Jesse Helms, Fritz Hollings, and other holdovers from the bigoted, reactionary South of yesteryear are finally leaving the Senate. They have been a stain on the institution." (See also: "Bush's failed Mideast policy is creating more terrorism" (Ernest F. Hollings, Charleston Post and Courier/hollings.senate.gov, 2004/05/06))"It's about time" (Ali, Iraq the Model, 2004/05/19)
A conversation with a taxi driver in Baghdad:
"'Where do you live?'
"In Sadr city."
"Oh I see, but what do you think the cause of this insecurity?"
"Is that a question?? They are those thugs and thieves."
"Who are those?!"
"Sadr followers."
"I agree, but I don’t understand your people there. Why do they support them!?"
"Do you really believe that?? I swear to God they are no more than a couple of thousands terrorizing millions and hiding behind slogans like jihad and resistance. The whole city has got sick and tired of their doings. We just want to work, feed our children and take a break. We are tired of all this bullshit. They can’t deceive us anymore." ...
"Why don’t you try to do something about it?"
"Who says we aren’t? I’m one of the people who reported some members of the Mahdi army to the IP and now they are in prison."
"Really!? God bless you. That was brave of you. These people really belong there."
'Sure they do! Did this idiot forget who killed his father!? And who took his revenge? Could he have ever raised his voice if it wasn’t for the same people whom he’s fighting now? Well let the Iranians help him now! Believe me brother when I say that the majority of Sadr city people are grateful for the Americans. We didn’t fire a bullet at them when they entered our city. We gave them the reception of liberators and they are. Why would we fight them now!?'""More Photos Surface: Soldiers Shown Giving Thumbs-Up Sign
By Body of Dead Iraqi Prisoner" (Brian Ross, ABC News, 2004/05/19)
"ABCNEWS has obtained two new photos taken at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq showing Spc. Charles Graner and Spc. Sabrina Harman posing over the body of a detainee who was allegedly beaten to death by CIA or civilian interrogators in the prison's showers. The detainee's name was Manadel al-Jamadi.
According to testimony from Spc. Jason Kenner, obtained by ABCNEWS, the man was brought to the prison by U.S. Navy SEALs in good health. Kenner said he saw extensive bruising on the detainee's body when he was brought out of the showers, dead.
Kenner says the body was packed in ice during a "battle" between CIA and military interrogators over who should dispose of the body.
The Justice Department opened an investigation into this death and four others today following a referral from the CIA.
The photos were taken by Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick , who in e-mails to his family has asked why the people responsible for the prisoner's death were not being prosecuted in the same manner that he is.
Frederick, Graner, and Harman are among six reservists from the 372nd Military Police Company who are facing charges in the abuse scandal.""U.S. Reportedly Kills 40 Iraqis at Party" (Scheherezade Faramarzi, AP/The Guardian, 2004/05/19)
"A U.S. helicopter fired on a wedding party in the remote desert near the border with Syria, killing more than 40 people, most of them women and children, Iraqi officials said. The U.S. military said it attacked a safehouse for foreign fighters near Syria.
Associated Press Television News footage showed a truck containing bloodied bodies, many wrapped in blankets, piled one atop the other. Several were children, one of whom had been decapitated.
The attack on the wedding party occurred about 2:45 a.m. in a desert region near the border with Syria and Jordan, according to Lt. Col. Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of Ramadi, the provincial capital about 250 miles to the east. He said between 42 and 45 people died, including 15 children and 10 women. Dr. Salah al-Ani, who works at a hospital in Ramadi, put the death toll at 45. ...
Iraqis interviewed on the videotape said revelers had fired volleys of gunfire into the air in a traditional wedding celebration before the attack took place.""Israeli Shells Hit Crowd of Palestinians, Killing at Least 9" (James Bennet, The New York Times, 2004/05/19)
"The incident began when more than a thousand Palestinians responded to a public committee's call to demonstrate this afternoon by walking down a central avenue toward the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood on Rafah's outskirts, where Israeli forces seized control Tuesday in what the Army called a hunt for militants.
As the leading edge of the crowd of men and boys approached an Israeli tank position, two thunderous explosions rang out, interspersed with jackhammer blasts of machine gun fire. Clouds of dust rose in the air as debris and blood sprayed across the road. The Palestinians turned to flee, some carrying bleeding children in their arms. ...
Turning his face as he fought back tears, Kemal Breika, 38, hovered beside the stretcher of his son, Atta, 10. "When they fired the shell, I was knocked to the ground, and my son fell on me, with shrapnel in him," Mr. Breika said.
Hisham Ashoul, 45, said the marchers had just crossed Tel Zarub square here when a hovering helicopter unleashed a missile, and a tank on a hill about 150 yards ahead opened fire. "I saw the tank fire," he said. 'When we were collecting the children from the ground, they fired again.'""Rafah Incident" (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2004/05/19)
A communique from IDF: "Today's incident in Rafah is a very grave incident and the IDF expresses deep sorrow over the loss of civilian lives.
At no point in this incident was intentional fire opened in the direction of civilians.
A large procession of several hundreds demonstrators, among them gunmen, organized by the Palestinian Authority, left central Rafah along the main road towards IDF forces in Tel-Sultan.
As the crowd, with the gunmen among them, drew near IDF forces, a warning fire of a single missile was fired from a helicopter into an open area, not towards the demonstrators.
In addition, flares were fired in the air to deter the crowd and to prevent endangering the demonstrators. As this did not deter the crowd and they continued to converge on the troops, machine gun fire was opened towards a wall of an abandoned structure along the side of the road and then four tank shells were fired at this abandoned structure.
It is possible that the causalities were a result of the tank fire on the abandoned structure. The details of the incident continue to be investigated.
It should be mentioned that the scene of the incident is an area of combat and an area of frequent exchanges of fire. The road has been rigged with explosive charges planted by the Palestinians. The IDF has not yet cleared the road of these explosives.""Explosion at Gaza demonstration kills 18" (CNN.com, 2004/05/19)
"Palestinians blame an Israeli helicopter strike for the deaths of 18 people among 200 marching in a protest of Israel's crackdown in Gaza, but the Israeli military vigorously denied its helicopter fired on the crowd.
At least 18 Palestinians were killed and 55 wounded in the explosion, and many of the casualties were children, Palestinian hospital sources said. ...
An Israeli Apache helicopter was seen overhead, but the Israel Defense Forces said the helicopter did not target or hit the crowd.""Israeli Forces Fire on Crowd in Gaza, Killing 10" (Cynthia Johnston, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2004/05/19)
"Israeli tanks and helicopters fired on protesters in a refugee camp on Wednesday, killing 10 Palestinians and raising a two-day death toll to 33 in Israel's bloodiest Gaza raid in years, witnesses said.
Medics said about 50 people were wounded at the besieged Rafah camp in southern Gaza and that the casualties included many children and teenagers.
The firing sent a marching crowd fleeing in terror, some dragging bloodied comrades and others carrying wounded children in their arms, demonstrators said. ...
Brigadier Ruth Yaron, Israel's chief military spokeswoman, told Army Radio: "The claim that this was a case of deliberate fire (at the crowd) is false and I reject it completely."
She said the army was investigating and it was too soon to say what happened. But an army statement said Palestinians had rigged the road used by the marchers with explosives against Israeli forces."
"A Palestinian man carries a badly wounded child..."
(Khalil Hamra, AP, 2004/05/19)
"A Palestinian man carries a badly wounded child as others rush to help moments after an Israeli missile strike on a demonstration in the Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 19, 2004.""Israeli Forces Kill 10 Protesters in Gaza" (Khalil Hamra, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/05/19)
"Israeli forces fired a missile and a tank shell Wednesday near a large crowd of Palestinians demonstrating against the invasion of a neighboring refugee camp, Israeli security officials said. At least 10 Palestinians were killed, all of them younger than 18, and 36 were in critical condition, Palestinian hospital officials said.
Palestinian witnesses saw a missile land in the middle of the crowd, and TV footage showed a smoke and debris flying as large explosion rocked the packed area.
Dr. Moawiya Hassanain, a senior Palestinian Health Ministry official, said at least 10 people were killed and 50 wounded. Of the wounded, 23 were critically hurt and 13 were in "hopeless" condition." He said most of the wounded were children.
Between 3,000 and 4,000 demonstrators were marching down the busy main street of Rafah town. When the crowd was about a half-mile from the besieged refugee camp, the helicopter and tank began firing, witnesses said.""U.S. Soldier Is Sentenced to a Year in Prison for Iraq Abuse" (AP/The New York Times, 2004/05/19)
"Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits received the maxium penalty Wednesday — one year in prison, reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge — in the first court-martial stemming from mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.
Sivits, who pleaded guilty to four abuse charges, broke down in tears as he apologized for taking pictures of naked Iraqi prisoners being humiliated.
"I'd like to apologize to the Iraqi people and those detainees," he said in his statement. "I should have protected those detainees, not taken the photos." ...
In an emotional description of events at Abu Ghraib prison on the evening of Nov. 8, Sivits said he was asked by Frederick, of Buckingham, Va., to accompany him to the prison facility.
Pausing in his struggle to speak, Sivits told the judge he was on detail outside Abu Ghraib and had done some maintenance work on generators when Frederick approached him. Sivits took a detainee with him, and when he arrived at the scene where the crimes took place, there were seven other detainees.
"I heard Cpl. Graner yelling in Arabic at the detainees," he said. "I saw one of the detainees lying on the floor. They were laying there on the floor, sandbags over their heads."
Sgt. Javal Davis, 26, of Maryland, and another soldier, Pfc. Lynndie England, 21, were "stamping on their toes and hands."
"Graner punched the detainee in the head or temple area," Sivits said. "I said. 'I think you might have knocked him out.'"
Sivits also said: "Graner complained that he had injured his hand and said, 'Damn, that hurt.'"
Sivits said all prisoners were then stripped and forced to form a human pyramid."
"Yasser Arafat"
(MEMRI, 2004/05/19)
From Yasser Arafat's "Personal Photo Album"."The Official Website of Yasser Arafat: Pictures, His Human Side, and Daily Chores" (MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 716, 2004/05/19)
"The official website of President Yasser Arafat can be found at www.pnic.gov.ps/english/president/english.html.The site's content includes Arafat's official biography, a list detailing the "Human Aspect of Mr. President," Arafat's "Daily Chores," awards won, as well as an extensive photo gallery. The following are highlights: ...
Under the "Human Aspect of Mr. President," the website states: "The President cares for all humanitarian issues including women and children. He strives to ensure a better life for the family, society and all humanity." A list of his main humanitarian activities as it appears on his website:• Adopts martyrs' children
• Sets up orphanages
• Cares for the Palestinian woman and fosters her role at all levels.
• Supports human rights' issues.
• Supports environment issues, H.E. formulated a special ministry for this purpose for Environmental Affairs to pursue such issues.
• Reassures his friends, comrades and activists of liberation in the whole world, in every occasion and he initiates to visit them.
• Renounces tyranny and occupation."(See also: "Arafat at heart of rights abuse report" (Gethin Chamberlain, The Scotsman, 2004/05/15))
"BQC (ctd)" (Melanie Phillips, melaniephillips.com, 2004/05/19)
"Not content with yesterday's triumph, yet another exchange on the Today programme this morning (0715) gave vent once again to the programme's obsession with denying reality even when it is wearing full chemical protection. This gem was a discussion between John Humphrys and Ahmad Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress and a member of the Iraqi Governing Council. ...Humphrys: ... You were wrong about the weapons of mass destruction, weren't you?
Chalabi: No, I was not.
Humphrys (interrupting): Where are they, then?
Chalabi: One of them appeared two days ago in a terrorist act in Iraq.
Humphrys (interrupting): Hardly a weapon, a rusty old shell, hardly a weapon of mass destruction.
Chalabi: A weapon of mass destruction is defined as a chemical weapon, and a chemical shell. This one apeared and people said that there were none of these, but they exist, they appear...
Humphrys (interrupting): 12 years old! Twelve years old!
Chalabi: Well it's still a weapon of mass destruction.Someone should present poor Mr Chalabi with the collected works of Lewis Carroll. From that Mr Chalabi will learn that, to the BBC, a weapon of mass destruction means precisely what it wants it to mean, neither more nor less." (See also: "British Quisling Corporation" (Melanie Phillips, melaniephillips.com, 2004/05/18))
"Good news from Iraq - bet you didn't know there was any?" (Arthur, Chrenkoff, 2004/05/19)
A useful survey of good news from Iraq, with loads of links:
"DEMOCRACY TAKES ROOT: Democracy is spreading - from the ground up, as it should: "In the province of Dhi Qar, about 230 miles southeast of Baghdad and a backwater even by Iraq's standards, residents voting as families will have elected city councils in 16 of the 20 biggest cities by next month."
And in Baghdad, "American authorities created nine district councils... with representatives sent by 88 neighborhood advisory councils. The district councils, in turn, sent representatives to the Baghdad City Advisory Council to work with the American administration." "Every day the evidence is a little stronger that the council members understand the benefits of this system, and we even see signs out in the community of it catching on. ...
Meanwhile, on the education front, "more than five million Iraqi students are back in school and more than 51 million new Ba'ath-free textbooks are in circulation." And Iraqi universities are experiencing a brain drain in reverse, as many of the thousands of academics forced into exile under Saddam are coming back to teach the next generation of students.
And in health, "some 100,000 healthcare professionals working in 240 re-opened hospitals and 1,200 clinics." The health system has to be rebuilt almost from scratch: '[it] was 'already badly run down' due to previous wars, sanctions, drastically reduced spending - some estimates suggest the Iraqi health budget was cut by 90 per cent during the 1990s - as well as an inequitable health treatment policy.'""Stop the Moral Equivalence" (Garry Kasparov, The Wall Street Journal, 2004/05/19)
"It is said that to win a battle you must be the one to choose the battleground. Since the Abu Ghraib abuses were revealed, the battleground has been chosen by those who would blur the lines between terrorists and those fighting against them. The Bush administration has contributed to the confusion with its ambiguous "war on terror." You cannot fight a word. You need targets, you need to know what you are fighting for and against. Most importantly you must have beliefs that enable you to distinguish friend from foe.
While al Qaeda may not have a headquarters to bomb, there is no shortage of visible adversaries. What is required is to name them and to take action against them. We must also drag into the light those leaders and media who fail to condemn acts of terror. It is not only Al Jazeera talking about "insurgents" in Iraq, it is CNN. Many in Europe and even some in the U.S. are trying to differentiate "legitimate" terrorism from "bad" terrorism. Those who intentionally kill innocent civilians are terrorists, as are their sponsors. No political agenda should be allowed to advance through terrorist activity. We need to identify our enemy, not play with words. ...
In this fight the enemy does not play by our rules, or by any rules at all. WMD will be in terrorist hands eventually; conventional wisdom recognizes this reality. Concessions and negotiations at best only delay catastrophe. Europe and its people are in this war whether they acknowledge it or not. Those who would appease terrorists must realize that by pretending that this battle does not exist, they will soon have blood on their hands — both real and metaphorical." (See also: "The War Is Not Yet Won" (Garry Kasparov, The Wall Street Journal, 2002/08/05))"You Must be Likud!" (Michael Rubin, National Review, 2004/05/19)
"Many commentators question the loyalty of Jews serving in the Bush administration. The grand old dame of the liberal and progressive community The Nation began the downward spiral in discourse in a lengthy article for the September 2, 2002 edition. ...
Former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Patrick Lang, for example, has argued that Likud controls America. He told associates that Undersecretary of Policy Douglas Feith sought to make the Middle East safe for Jews by a process of "de-Arabization." Several journalists have relied on Lang as a source as did television networks that used him as an analyst. Most did not mention that, in the run-up to the war in Iraq, Lang was a registered agent of a foreign government. ...
Most disappointing has been the ease with which the questioning of Jewish officials' motivations has infiltrated some in the academic community. University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole has accused several Bush administration employees of having "strong ties to the Likud." In an April 16, 2004 Salon.com essay, Cole went further, alleging that Bush advisers were 'mapping the Iraq conflict onto the Likud Party agenda in Palestine.'" (See also: "The Men From JINSA and CSP" (Jason Vest, The Nation, 2002/08/15))"Gays Attacked At Palestinian Protest" (Peter Moore, 365Gay.com/FrontPageMagazine, 2004/05/19)
A report from London: "Members of two British gay rights groups were attacked when they attempted to participate in a demonstration for Palestinian rights.
OutRage and Queer Youth Alliance went to the protest march at Trafalgar Square to show their support for people of Palestine. But they also urged the Palestinian Authority to halt the arrest, torture and murder of homosexuals.
As soon as they arrived at the square to members of the two groups were surrounded by an angry, screaming mob of Islamic fundamentalists, Anglican clergymen, members of the Socialist Workers Party, the Stop the War Coalition, and officials from the protest organizers, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).
They variously attacked the gay activists as “racists”, “Zionists”, “CIA and MI5 agents”, “supporters of the Sharon government” and accused the gays of “dividing the Free Palestine movement”.
PSC organisers asked the gay activists to “stand at the back of the demonstration”, and when they refused blocked their placards with their own banners and shouted down the gay campaigners as they tried to speak to journalists and other protesters.
Most people at the Palestine protest expressed no hostility towards OutRage! and the Queer Youth Alliance. Some expressed positive support.
In the end, the gay groups were allowed to march in the demonstration. The two groups carried placards reading: 'Israel: stop persecuting Palestine! Palestine: stop persecuting queers!'""Sarin? What Sarin?" (William Safire, The New York Times, 2004/05/19)
"You never saw such a rush to dismiss this as not news. U.N. weapons inspectors whose reputations rest on denial of Saddam's W.M.D. pooh-poohed the report. "It doesn't strike me as a big deal," said David Kay.
"Sarin Bomb Is Likely a Leftover From the 80's" was USA Today's Page 10 brushoff; maybe the terrorists didn't know their shell was loaded with sarin. Besides, say our lionized apostles of defeat, a poison-gas bomb does not a "stockpile" make. Even the Defense Department, on the defensive, strained not to appear alarmist, saying confirmation was needed for the field tests." (See also: "Tests Confirm Sarin in Iraqi Artillery Shell" (Liza Porteus, FOX News, 2004/05/18) and "Sarin, Mustard Gas Discovered Separately in Iraq" (FOX News, 2004/05/17))"Soldier arrested over hoax photos" (BBC News, 2004/05/19)
"At least one soldier has been arrested in connection with faked Iraqi torture pictures published in the Daily Mirror, the Ministry of Defence has said.
A spokeswoman said it was a "routine" part of the investigation.
The newspaper apologised for publishing the hoax pictures on
