Local notice only for the returning wounded

In a town of around 1,500 nestled in the rural midwest, an area of big skies and small creeks, his injury and homecoming have been a big event. Local people raised thousands of dollars to help his family travel to see him at the Walter Reed military hospital in Virginia. Cameras from the local networks met him when he arrived at the airport in Springfield. When he got to Greenfield, the town was waiting in the square.

Around 2,657 soldiers have been injured in Iraq, according to the Pentagon. But while the death toll influences political debate and prompts public discomfort, the swelling legions of the wounded - around 10 a day - have failed to make any impact on a national level.  article

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

An interesting claim

The daughter of one of Saddam's Iraqi opponents is making an interesting claim.

Nora al Tamimi, daughter of slain Iraqi opposition activist Taleb al Suhail al Tamimi, said from Beirut in a newspaper interview published Saturday that her father had planned a coup d'etat to overthrow Saddam in 1993, operating from Beirut and Amman.

"Zero hour was set for a certain June day in 1993 to stage the coup when Saddam would have been sponsoring an official event in Baghdad," Nora told the London-based Asharq Al Awsat newspaper in an interview conducted at the family house in Beirut.

"But the Americans, who did not want the coup to succeed possibly because they were certain my father would not go along with their polices, tipped off Saddam about the impending putsch by my father and gave the names of his top aides," Nora said. "All of them died in Saddam's torture chambers."  article

I have no other information to verify the claim. It may not be true. But it sure wouldn't be a surprise if it is.

Update January 3, 2004: I have come across a Noam Chomsky interview that talks about this uprising of generals against Saddam. Here's my post on it.

Eisenhower's nightmare is our reality

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, upon leaving office (full text and video here)

How Weapons Makers Are Shaping U.S. Foreign And Military Policies: New Military Mega-Companies - Corporate Interests or National Interests

Onward Christian Soldiers

In a series of recent decisions, the National Park Service has approved the display of religious symbols and Bible verses, as well as the sale of creationist books giving a non-evolutionary explanation for the Grand Canyon and other natural wonders within national parks, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Also, under pressure from conservative groups, the Park Service has agreed to edit the videotape that has been shown at the Lincoln Memorial since 1995 to remove any image of gay and abortion rights demonstrations that occurred at the memorial.  article

I gotta get outta here.

I know there's a group who'd like to see me go. Please send dollars.

Towards despotism

Watch this ten-minute Encyclopedia Brittanica educational film from 1946, and rate your community/country.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

U.S. violated WHO guidelines for mad cow disease

Thanks to POAC for this link (and many others that I follow to bring you information.)

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association describes government and industry efforts to safeguard the American public from mad cow disease as "swift," "decisive" and "aggressive."[1] The US Secretary of Agriculture adds "diligent,"[2] "vigilant" and "strong."[3] The world's authority on these diseases disagrees.

Dr. Stanley Prusiner is the scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of prions, the infectious agents thought to cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. The word Dr. Prusiner uses to describe the efforts of the U.S. government and the cattle industry is "terrible."[4] What are these "stringent protective measures"[5] that the Cattlemen's Association is talking about, and how do they compare to global standards and internationally recognized guidelines?

Come on fellas, let's get our stories straight

Paul Bremer and Tony Blair need a little more coordinating communication.

Or not.

Who cares? As we have seen plenty of evidence, Americans are not terribly concerned about the details. Just that we kick somebody's ass.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

More Bob Harris

Bob Harris has two more journal posts up since I told you about him last - from Bangkok and Bali. I particularly enjoyed the one from Bali - the "good" part is magical.

The Bad Guys We Once Thought Good

From The Age via Khilafah

The Bad Guys We Once Thought Good

Scott Burchill
December 27, 2003

A few pertinent remarks on our friends in low places who have their friends in high places.

Central Intelligence Agency, Langley Virginia
Office of Villains
Department of Wayward Clients and Unsavoury Friends
Status Report: December 2003
To: George J. Tenet, Director of Central Intelligence

Below is the updated report you asked us to prepare with comments, in light of Saddam's apprehension. With the exception of Warren Anderson, we have omitted US nationals (e.g. Kissinger) from the list.

Deceased

Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines), Nicolae Ceausescu (Romania), Mobutu Sese Seko (Congo/Zaire), Pol Pot (Cambodia), Heydar Aliyev (Azerbaijan)

Comment: Good friends before most became liabilities. Marcos - greatly admired by Paul Wolfowitz - died soon after we got him to Hawaii, while Ceausescu passed on more suddenly than we expected after many years of loyal service. Pol Pot hung on far too long but had the decency to keep out of sight until the end. Aliyev was much appreciated for bringing dynastic succession and a pro-Western oil policy to Central Asia.

In custody on trial or awaiting trial

Manuel Noriega (Panama), Slobodan Milosevic (fmr Yugoslavia - The Hague), Saddam Hussein (Iraq)

Comment: We managed to gloss over the revelation that Noriega was on the CIA payroll under GWB's father before jailing him. Hopefully we can do the same to Saddam, though US and UK support for his WMD programs during the 1980s and 1990s could prove very embarrassing in court. Ditto for Chirac and the Russians. Big mistake taking him alive. Footage of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam in 1983 and not mentioning WMD looks bad, though networks can be trusted to show restraint despite the approaching 20th anniversary (esp Fox).

Faking illness to avoid trial

Augusto Pinochet (Chile), Soeharto (Indonesia)

Comment: Pinochet is senile and, thanks to the Brits, at little further legal risk. Soeharto has the worst human rights record of all and would be easy to nab from Jakarta, though opposition from admirers like Wolfowitz and friends in Canberra should be expected. Too much detail about our support for his 1965 massacres has already leaked out. Has enough knowledge and residual military support to buy immunity and a quiet suburban death on his own terms.

On the run

Osama bin Laden (Saudi Arabia)

Comment: Still unclear how much money and arms we actually gave him to fight the Sovs in Afghanistan. Now protected by Islamists in the Pakistan military and assorted Taliban. Will be difficult to apprehend without losing Musharraf in the process. Priority here is control of the Islamic bomb.

Free

Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvallier (Haiti - in France), Jean-Bedel Bokassa (Central African Republic), Hector Gramajo (fmr defence minister, Guatemala - in Guatemala)

Comment: Hopefully forgotten (we are trying).

New Friends (undemocratic)

Pervez Musharraf (Pakistan), Islam Karimov (Uzbekistan), Saparmurat Niyazov (Turkmenistan), Teodoro Obiang (Equatorial Guinea), Abdelaziz Bouteflika (Algeria)

Comment: A measure of our new commitment to spreading democratic politics. Some have oil, one is Stalinist, all have corruption. None have democracy. Like old friends in the Gulf, they have been advised not to take GWB's freedom and democracy speeches seriously.

Given sanctuary by US

Jose Guillermo Garcia (fmr head of El Salvador armed forces, 1980s - Florida), Cuban and Haitian exiles (Florida), South Vietnamese army officers (California)

Comment: We now believe there are more terrorists per square kilometre in Florida than any other place on earth - all with safe haven. Most are from the abattoir states of Central America under Reagan.

It's a battle to keep them away from snooping journalists when they slip their agency minders. Just as well GWB's dictum about countries that provide sanctuary to terrorists doesn't apply to Miami.

Refusing to extradite

Emmanuel Constant (leader of paramilitary group FRAPH in Haiti who murdered thousands in the 1990s - in NYC)

Comment: Avoid comparison with the Taliban's refusal to extradite Osama after 9/11. Haiti is unlikely to bomb the East Coast.

Warren Anderson (chairman of Union Carbide, now Dow Chemical), responsible for the 1984 Bhopal gas leak in India that killed 16,000 people - Long Island, New York)

Comment: They are only Indians, after all. Even Delhi is reluctant to compensate the victims and 120,000 survivors. Unlikely to ever face charges of culpable homicide.

Unindicted

Ariel Sharon (Israel)

Comment: Long record of brutality, most notably in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Rebadged "man of peace" by GWB in the Orwellian sense. European travel may become difficult.

Turkish leaders

Comment: No longer so well disposed after they failed to help us out in Iraq. Army even refused Wolfowitz's order to defy the government and back the invasion.

Remember not to call Turkey's attacks on its Kurdish population "terrorism" because we supplied them with the means to do it. As with Colombia, our money officially goes to the guys in the white hats - or in this case - the white fezzes.

Source: The Age (Melbourne)

Support our troops with proper vehicles

Way early on I posted something about the lack of proper protective equipment, including vehicles, for the troops in Iraq. Here's a ongoing list of similar articles.

Now, a local Missouri unit is having some trouble even trying to provide their own.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Fearing roadside bombs and sniper bullets, members of the U.S. Army Reserve's 428th Transportation Company turned to a local steel fabricator to fashion extra armor for their five-ton trucks and Humvees before beginning their journey to Iraq earlier this month.

But their armor might not make it into the war, because the soldiers did not obtain Pentagon approval for their homemade protection.

...The possibility that soldiers could be denied extra protection because of an Army policy has outraged some of the friends and neighbors who helped the Jefferson City-based unit.  article


They may not pay any attention as a general rule, but when they do get dragged into something, Missourians are pretty earthbound. They deal in tangibles.

The 72 vehicles operated by the 428th are not designed for battle. They have thin metal floorboards and, in some cases, a canvas covering for doors. Iraqi guerrilla groups have been targeting all types of military vehicles with homemade bombs and small-caliber weapons.

E-mails from soldiers already deployed in Iraq urged the Missouri reservists to get extra armor if possible, said 1st Sgt. Tim Beydler, a member of the 428th.

The soldiers persuaded a local funeral home director who is active in community affairs to pay the $4,000 tab for 13,000 pounds of quarter-inch steel. Industrial Enterprises Inc. donated the fabricating work, also valued at about $4,000, so the steel could be fitted under vehicle floorboards and on the inside of doors.

The soldiers drove off Dec. 12 for Fort Riley, Kan., planning to fasten the specially made steel to their vehicles when they arrived in Iraq.

"We're doing what we can to protect our soldiers. That's the bottom line," Beydler said last week as news of the donated steel was being praised locally as an example of grass-roots support for the troops. "It not only boosts morale of the soldiers, but also of the soldiers' family members, who know their soldiers will be afforded some extra protection."

Aw, come on, guys. We didn't really mean support our troops. Just our war.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Now it's a scandal

Timothy Noah (Chatterbox) comments on the Nick Smith Medicare bribe.

The only difficult part to this investigation will be getting Smith himself to back up his accusation that money was offered. After talking about it for a few days, Smith clammed up (he never returned Chatterbox's phone calls), and then issued a quite obviously untrue press release denying he'd been offered any money. (It's a back-handed compliment to Smith that his inept attempt to bury this story suggests he lacks much experience at this sort of thing.) But telling whoppers to the public is perfectly legal; Smith surely knows that telling one to a government official conducting a criminal investigation can land you in jail. So really, Mr. Attorney General, this should be much easier for you than it's been for the press. According to the Post, Smith's position now is that "he will cooperate with any official inquiry but does not want to point fingers publicly." Chatterbox takes that to mean that Smith will tell the truth if he absolutely has to.

The question, Mr. Attorney General, is whether you want to hear it. Given the now-likely involvement of somebody in the House Republican leadership, Chatterbox assumes the answer is no.


...Until now, the question of whether Smith had specifically fingered the House Republican leadership has been a little bit foggy. But the Post has produced two witnesses. Now your next question, Mr. Attorney General, is going to be, "How on Earth am I supposed to get a Washington Post reporter to reveal his sources?" Dude, you don't have to! One of them talked on the record! Read past the jump and you'll see, plain as day, the following:

Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.), who was present at the dinner, recalled Smith saying it was "people from leadership" who had offered the money. He said Smith did not say who it was, but he assumed it was someone who controlled a "large leadership PAC, who can raise a hundred thousand dollars by hosting a few fundraisers."

"I think something happened," Gutknecht said. "If it happened, then somebody in the leadership is guilty of at least gross stupidity. ... Whoever made that comment should resign."

Rep. Gutknecht's phone number is (202) 225-2472. If he's not there, leave a message on his answering machine.  article

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Here's a little something I didn't know about Guantanamo

Since Castro came to power in a 1959 revolution the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay has been a flash-point of hostilities between the two countries.

Castro insists the area is illegally occupied by the United States which leases it under a pre-revolution agreement.

Castro refuses to cash U.S. checks for use of the base, which he keeps in a desk drawer to show visitors and reporters.  article

The U.S. reports I've read never said anything about that. Just that we rent the place from Cuba.

Interesting.

Cuba has just released a statement that claims abuses there, and calls it a concentration camp.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.