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Friday, February 17, 2012. Chaos and violence continue, hours are spent
searching a few Camp Ashraf residents, State of Law takes to the airwaves to
attack Tareq al-Hashemi and the country's Constitution, and more.
If you're one of the many who've thought so much of the US coverage of Iraq
in the last years has been sub-standard, you found out why today on The Diane Rehm Show. Anthony Shadid has
died. He was an award winning writer for the Washington Post and then
he (and his wife) moved over to the New York Times. At the Post, there
was an effort to impose some journalistic guidelines on the writing and he
chafed at that. The Times gave him free reign and that was not anything good.
I've noted my opinion of his feature writing passed off as hard news reporting.
And he, many times, made his clear his opinion of my critique. I had no plans
to mention him or his writing today. (He died in Syria from an asthma attack
that people are assuming was brought on by exposure to animals -- horses -- on
the part of the people smuggling him in and out of Syria.)
But there was Diane Rehm and her guests David Ignatius (Washington
Post), Nancy A. Youssef (McClatchy Newspapers) and James Kitridge
(National Journal) describing what made Shadid -- in their opinion -- a
great reporter. I'm sorry but that's not reporting. It's travel writing. It's
feature writing. It's not reporting.
David Ignatius: What I would say about Anthony -- and Nancy and
James also knew him -- is that he really represented the thing that makes great
journalism special. Uh, he had a way of grasping not the facts but the essence
of the story.
Yes, David's correct. And Shadid would have made a great novelist. But
that's not what makes a great reporter. A great reporter grasps the
facts.
"It was magical story teling," said Nancy Youssef. It was. It was the
novelization of the news which is to reporting what novelizations of films are
to movies. They're similar, they're just not the same. "You know to me his-his
articles were almost love letters about the people he was writing about," gushed
Nancy. Again, you're not describing a reporter.
And that goes to why the news is so awful today. Whether it's Iraq or any
other topic. The industry doesn't even embrace reporting. They want to be
something else. And in the process, they are dumbing down America. This is Bob Somerby's
criticism, the heart of his criticism. He momentarily caught up in the
'framing' 'issue -- an early '00 hula hoop -- briefly. But it's the
novelization of the news -- news for people who can't process news. It goes
beyond the crimes of narrative and hook. It's why Gail Collins is a columnist.
They won't cover the facts, they won't stick to whether something's legal or
not, they want to give you the 'essence.' They want to give you subjective
because it's so much easier to produce and so much quicker to produce. (Anthony
Shadid, to be fair, had a real talent for novelization. He truly would have
made a great novelist. And as feature writing, some of his 'hard news' reports
are amazing examples of style and even insight. But it's not news and that's
only more obvious when he moves to the New York Times.) And the proof
of that is in the coverage of Shadid's death which is not news, which treats him
as though he's Whitney Houston or some other celebrity and refuses to offer an
honest appraisal of his strengths and weaknesses. Why else cover a reporter?
And the fact that the news industry goes into hype mode ('greatest foreign
correspondent of his generation') goes to the tawdry excess that has for too
long passed as hard news. What should have been a private moment is turned into
a media event.
It's the novelization, not actual news, bad writing that seizes on a
partial quote to 'illuminate' -- not a full quote because a full quote
actually rejects what the writer is trying to novelize. The public -- as well as
the news industry -- would be a lot better off if the press realized that you
can't distill the essence and instead started covering that which is observable
and verifiable in the physical world?
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And for those who will whine this was so unfair, oh heavens, clutch the
pearls. I didn't set out to write about Shadid today. I focused on other
things. But we didn't get Iraq on The Diane Rehm Show's international
hour. We did get testimonials to Shadid. And those who aren't functioning
adults and don't grasp that blind praise isn't how we evaluate should take
comfort in the fact that I avoided writing at length about the obvious point:
'Shadid was a wonderful person.' A great reporter? When Sy Hersh dies, people
will point to stories he wrote, stories he broke. The same with Carl Bernstein,
the same with Robin Wright, Ned Parker, Sabrina Tavernise, Alexandra Zavis,
Nancy A. Youssef and many others. Whether it's The Diane Rehm Show,
The Takeaway or the multitude of programs covering Shadid's death
today, no one could point to any news. Because feature writing isn't news
writing. If I wanted to be mean, I would've opened with that point and expanded
on it for several paragraphs.
I listened to The Diane Rehm Show because, with David on as a
guest, I thought (wrongly) we might actually hear something about Iraq. You
know their Vice President is in the news cycle. That's actual news. And it
matters a great deal on the international scene.
Because this is the independent, one hundred percent independent
justice system, speaking on its behalf, and representing itself and putting
forward the accusations and the implication of Mr. Al Hashemi to 150 terrorist
attacks against the nation of Iraq against individuals, against the police
forces, against the army, against national institutions and of tremendous, as I
said, consequences, with direct implication from Mr. al-Hashemi. This would put
a tremendous pressure, I believe, on the Kurds to take the right decision and
probably surrender him to Baghdad to face trial. Unless of course he escapes
the country as the other terrorists have done and spend the rest of his life in
exile. There is no way that this matter could be resolved politically.
The Voice of Russia reports Tareq
al-Hashemi declared he may leave the country. And why not?
It's not just State of Law using the meida to convict him. It's also the
so-called independent judiciary of Iraq. Nine judges with the Iraqi Supreme
Court issued a finding that Tareq al-Hashemi is guilty. There was no trial.
And yet the Supreme Court issued a finding. It is the Supreme Court
because they used the Supreme Court spokersperson (Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar) for
their press conference and because, as the BBC notes, the nine-member review
was "set up by the Supreme Judicial Council." Tareq al-Hashemi is an
Iraqi citizen and, as such, the Constitution (Article 19) guarantees he is
innocent unless convicted in a court of law. There has been no trial. The
judiciary has not just overstepped their bounds, they have also violated the
Constitution. Lower courts hearing the case in Iraq now will know the
feeling of the Supreme Court (which can overrule them) and that could influence
a verdict. So, no, he cannot receive a fair trial now. Also at issue is Judge
Saad al-Lami. Al
Mada notes he can't stop whining about alleged threats against
him from Tareq al-Hashemi's supporters and how al-Hashemi publicly named him.
And whine on. He did this at the press conference. Is he a judge or not? That's
not the behavior of someone reserving judgment. That's the behavior of someone
with a conflict of interest. Along with being very anti-Sunni (Tareq al-Hashemi
is a member of Iraqiya and he is also a Sunni), the judge also has problems with
Iraqiya. Just a little while ago, AFP was reporting on that judge,
how he was demanding that Iraqiya MP Haidar al-Mullah lose his immunity so he
(the judge) could sue him:
Abdelsattar
Birakdar, spokesman of the Higher Judicial Council, said Mullah was accused of
having offended Judge Saad al-Lami in a late November interview.
Lami filed a
complaint, after which a court "studied the case and then issued an arrest
warrant against him and sent a request to parliament to lift his immunity in
order to prosecute him," Birakdar said.
Mullah said Lami was "influenced by
Maliki."(If that link doesn't work, click here for the AFP article.) That's one of the 9
'objective' members of the court who decided Tareq al-Hashemi's guilt -- despite
'forgetting' to provide him with a trial.
The United States continues to pursue a peaceful, humane solution
to the untenable situation at Camp Ashraf. The critical next step is the
voluntary movement of the first group of 400 Ashraf residents to the new transit
facility at Camp Hurriya (former Camp Liberty). The United States supports the
UN's call for the Iraqi Government and the residents of Camp Ashraf to continue
to cooperate and begin this movement peacefully and without delay. Once the
first group arrives at Hurriya, the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) can immediately begin verification and refugee
status determinations, a necessary step for Hurriya residents to safely depart
Iraq.
On January 31, following successful work by the Government of Iraq,
the UNHCR and UN Human Rights Office in Baghdad determined that the
infrastructure and facilities at Camp Hurriya are in accordance with
international humanitarian standards for refugees, as required by the Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) signed by the United Nations and Government of Iraq last
December 25. Secretary Clinton, joining European Union High Representative
Ashton, has publicly supported this MOU, which fully respects the sovereignty of
Iraq. The United States welcomes the Iraqi Government's continued cooperation
with the UN; urges the Iraqi government to fulfill all its responsibilities,
especially the elements of the MOU that provide for the safety and security of
Ashraf's residents; and calls on the leaders at Camp Ashraf to cooperate with
Iraqi authorities and the UN to make this and all further stages of the
relocation successful.
The United States urges this voluntary movement to Hurriya to begin
on schedule February 17. The U.S. will not walk away from the people at Camp
Hurriya. We will visit Hurriya regularly and frequently, and continue to work
with the UN to support their temporary relocation and subsequent peaceful and
secure resettlement outside of Iraq, consistent with our respect for Iraq's
sovereignty and in accord with Iraq's responsibilities for their humane
treatment and security.
Camp Ashraf? Camp Ashraf houses a group of Iranian dissidents
(approximately 3,500 people). Iranian dissidents were welcomed to Iraq by Saddam
Hussein in 1986 and he gave them Camp Ashraf and six other parcels that they
could utilize. In 2003, the US invaded Iraq.The US government had the US
military lead negotiations with the residents of Camp Ashraf. The US government
wanted the residents to disarm and the US promised protections to the point that
US actions turned the residents of Camp Ashraf into protected person under the
Geneva Conventions. As 2008 drew to a close, the Bush administration was given
assurances from the Iraqi government that they would protect the residents. Yet
Nouri al-Maliki ordered the camp attacked twice. July 28,
2009 Nouri launched an attack (while then-US Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates was on the ground in Iraq). In a report released this summer
entitled " Iraqi government
must respect and protect rights of Camp Ashraf residents," Amnesty
International described this assault, "Barely a month later, on 28-29 July 2009,
Iraqi security forces stormed into the camp; at least nine residents were killed
and many more were injured. Thirty-six residents who were detained were
allegedly tortured and beaten. They were eventually released on 7 October 2009;
by then they were in poor health after going on hunger strike." April 8,
2011, Nouri again ordered an assault on Camp Ashraf (then-US
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was again on the ground in Iraq when the
assault took place). Amnesty
International described the assault this way, "Earlier this year, on
8 April, Iraqi troops took up positions within the camp using excessive,
including lethal, force against residents who tried to resist them. Troops used
live ammunition and by the end of the operation some 36 residents, including
eight women, were dead and more than 300 others had been wounded. Following
international and other protests, the Iraqi government announced that it had
appointed a committee to investigate the attack and the killings; however, as on
other occasions when the government has announced investigations into
allegations of serious human rights violations by its forces, the authorities
have yet to disclose the outcome, prompting questions whether any investigation
was, in fact, carried out." Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observes that "since 2004,
the United States has considered the residents of Camp Ashraf 'noncombatants'
and 'protected persons' under the Geneva Conventions."
Ellen Ratner: I'm here with Governor Dean and, Governor Dean, you
are really interested in the situation in Iraq.
Howard Dean: Right. As we have pulled out, there are 3400 unarmed
Iranian dissidents who've been living in Iraq for about 25 years. And we
promised to defend them when we disarmed them and then we left them high and
dry. And Prime Minister Maliki, at the bidding of the Iranian government. went
in and killed 47 of them. Unarmed. These are people who voluntarily disarmed
and who the FBI has screened to make sure none of them are terrorists. And we
need to get them out of there. So what I'm involved with -- with a number of
both Democratic and Republican ex-officials -- is trying to get these people
off the American terrorist list -- which they don't belong on and which they've
been removed from other lists under threat of law and our courts have also told
the State Dept they didn't belong on the terrrorist list -- so they can be moved
to another country so they don't get killed basically. Shot. They're unarmed.
We promised to defend them. We haven't done that. We're trying to move them
out so we can -- so we can save their lives
Ellen Ratner: Well this is really interesting because of course
America wants to keep it's promises. How did you personally get involved in this
Governor Dean?
Howard Dean: I got invited to go give a speech to this group and
of course about a year ago I saw them on the terrorist list so I had a lot of
qualms. Then I saw the other people who were speaking including people like Jim
Jones who was a former security advisor to President Obama, Mike Mukasey a
former federal judge who was the Attorney General under Bush, Tom Ridge --
Honeland Security under Bush who I served with as governor when he was governor
of Pennsylvania, Patrick Kennedy, Bill Richardson -- former Ambassador to the
UN. And I thought: If these people are all involved with this, this can't be
crazy. So I went over there, I met them, I heard their stories. And basically
this is a group that was disarmed by the United States. They were the guests of
Saddam Hussein because they were against the mullahs in Iran. and during the
Iraq-Iran war of course, Saddam Hussein wanted anybody who was against
Iran. But of course after Saddam was done in, they had no further role. They
converted to a democratic opposition and disarmed and we promised to protect
them. And I just think we ought to keep our promises any part in allowing
genocide by an army that we trained and armed which is the army of
Iraq.
Ellen Ratner: Well governor you and Governor and Secretary Tom
Ridge are both involved in this. Have you been able to move this at all? Is our
government responding?
Howard Dean: Well they are responding but it is very slow going.
There's lots of discussions, negotiations, and, of course, they responded late.
But today is the day that these first 400 of these folks are supposed to be
moving to an interim camp. Now the problem with this interim camp is it's more
like a prison than a camp. But we are very hopeful that the State Dept -- which
I think is beginning to work hard on this problem -- we'll get these folks out
of here and this will be a transient cetner which is what it's supposed to be.
Ellen Ratner: And two questions -- just foreign policy questions
dealing this group. How do they relate to the government of Iraq right now? And
what is the government of Iran trying to do to them?
Howard Dean: The government of Iran is trying to kill them and
unfortunately the government of Iraq essentially works for the government of
Iran. They've been in there twice and killed 47 of them who were unarmed
already. So the problem here is that we are not working with a friendly
government. Maliki is not our friend. He's a puppet of the Iranians. And he's
a big problem for us. And, of course, all of which I predicted eight years ago
when I was running for president, that this would be the end of the Iraq War,
that we'd make Iran much stronger, which is exactly what we've
done.
Ellen Ratner: You certainly did predict it,
Governor.
Howard Dean: And it's a very difficult situation. And,
unfortunately, we delayed so we don't have as much leverage as we did when we
had troops on the ground.
AFP adds, "The European Union called on
Iraqi authorities yesterday to guarantee the security of an Iranian opposition
group transferring to a new camp near Baghdad." Ashish Kumar Sen (Washington Times)
speaks to one of the 400 being moved, Bahzad Saffari, who states, "[The
Iraqi authorities] are creating problems. The process has been painfully slow.
We are expecting things to be much worse." AFP adds, "Behzad Saffari, the legal
adviser for residents of the camp, told AFP by telephone that the searches began
around 2:00 pm (1100 GMT), and that more than 300 people had been searched as of
10:30 pm (1930 GMT). It was not clear when they would depart the camp."
Violence continued in Iraq. Reuters notes a Hawija sticky bombing
which injured on person, a Khalis attack which claimed the life of 1 police
officer and, dropping back to Thursday night for the last two, 2 police officers
were killed in a Baghdad attack and 1 police officer was killed and so was his
driver.
Even with American troops reportedly no longer
stationed in Iraq, the Pentagon has submitted a brand new budget request of $2.9
billion for post-operation "activities" in the war-torn nation.
After the U.S. troop drawdown
in Iraq was completed in December, a new budget request by the Pentagon,
called Post-Operation NEW DAWN (OND)/Iraq
Activities (pdf), comes at a time when it has been reported there are
no longer any U.S. troops stationed in Iraq. The new budget request likely includes a
"black" budget for special operations forces still conducting business there.
The second report, in the Post, informs us that the U.S. is
significantly ramping up the number of CIA personnel and covert Special
Operations forces in order to make up for reducing the American military and
diplomatic footprint. These added covert personnel will be distributed in safe
houses in urban centers all across the country. This represents a new way to
exert U.S. power, but it is betting on the Iraqis not noticing the increased
covert personnel. Really? This is a bad decision as it contradicts the reasons
for the decision to reduce embassy staff.
The Iraqis have suffered for nine years as a result of the U.S.
invasion and occupation. The economic, educational and political systems in Iraq
have been destroyed. Sectarianism, contrary to the belief of many in the U.S.,
has become the order of the day since the invasion. A significant percentage of
Iraqis do not like us and do not want us to stay in Iraq. No Iraqi politicians
want to openly be identified as pro-American.
Animosity toward the U.S. is on the rise because of the heavy U.S.
presence in Iraq. Our projects in Iraq function to serve our interests, such as
building and training security forces to keep the Iraqis in check (building the
infrastructure for the promotion of democracy has taken a back seat). We have
made sure that Iraq, for the foreseeable future, will depend on us for security
equipment and spare parts, heavy industrial machinery, and banking. We built
Iraq's security forces but made sure it has no air force. And the half-hearted
democracy we built is a shambles; graft and corruption are still
rampant.
Maj Troy Gilbert died in combat in the Iraq War. A small amount of tissue
was found in his plane after it crashed. His body was carried off by assailants
who would use it a year later in a propaganda video. His family was informed
that any search for him was off, that the small amount of tissue discovered in
the plane meant that he wasn't classified as found.
His widow Ginger Gilbert Ravella told Brian
New (KENS 5 -- link has text and video) earlier this month, "Someday
my five kids are going to ask me, 'Did you do everything, did the government do
everything to bring Daddy home?' I want to be able answer I did and they did
absolutely everything." New notes, "During a 2006 mission near Baghdad,
Maj.Gilbert was credited with saving twenty Americans under fire when he
destroyed a gun truck from his F-16 jet. The Air Force pilot then turned around
to attack another truck when the tail of his plane hit the ground." Jim Douglas (WFAA -- link is text
and video) spoke with the parents Ronnie and Kaye Gilbert who
explained that they were scheduled to meet with the Defense Dept later this
month where they will attempt to convince the military to change the
qualification from "body accounted for."
The Gilbert family (his parents, his sister and his wife -- among others)
had waited and been patient. Informed that there would be no search for their
loved one, they did something very smart this month, they took the issue public,
shocking the nation in the process, a nation that only the month before had
heard US President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address, pontificate
about how the military leaves no comrade behind. The family went public ahead of
their February 24th DoD meeting. The Pentagon wants to defuse a public
relations nightmare before that meeting takes place. Luis Martinez (ABC News)
reports: An Air Force official
said Thursday that Air Force Secretary Michael Donley agreed with the family
that the search for the rest of Gilbert's remains should resume.According to the official, Donley sent a letter to the
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy requesting an "exception to policy" so
that the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) could "assume a
proactive pursuit of Major Gilbert's remains and to bring the fullest possible
accounting of his remains."Donley's
request must still be approved by the Under Secretary.And
approving a request doesn't necessarily mean that serious efforts will be made
as many families from previous wars can attest. The reality is the American
government did nothing for years. [Major Gilbert died in 2006.] There's a strong
chance that when the media runs with "DoD wants to help," DoD goes back to
ignoring the issue.
Honoring our Nation's fallen overseas has been our purpose since
the Commission's creation in 1923. We perform this mission by commemorating
service and sacrifice worldwide -- at sites entrusted to our care by the
American people. It is our responsibility to honor America's war dead and
missing in action, where they have served overseas.
That's former US Senator Max Cleland, Vietnam veteran, speaking before
Congress yesterday. US House Rep Jon Runyan chaired the House Veterans
Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs hearing Cleland was
speaking before.
Chair Jon Runyan noted the National Cemetery Administration, specifically a
problem at the Fot Sam Houston National Cemetery which had a row of head stones
misaligned. Runyan reviewed that the families of the fallen were informed and
that an audit of the national cemeteries to find out if there were others with
those problems and five were quickly found while the audit was still in
its first phase. Where were the mistakes coming from?
The work being done by outside contractors. Runyan explained "The reason
this is relevant to a budget hearing is because in most cases the contractors'
work was approved and payment made without adequate oversight or review to
ensure the quality and accuracy of the work done. Because of an omission of
fiscal oversight the work has to be done right the second time and a nationwide
audit at great expense conducted."
On the subject of oversight, US forces still have one Missing in Action
service member in Iraq. Matthew M. Burke (Stars and Stripes) reports on the
only person classified MIA from the current Iraq War, Staff Sgt Ahmed
Altaie: The Iraqi-born reservist from
Michigan was abducted more than five years ago in Baghdad after breaking the
rules and sneaking outside the wire to meet his Iraqi wife.In the days after he went missing, 3,000 coalition
soldiers conducted more than 50 raids to find their comrade. At least one
soldier was killed; others were wounded.As the trail turned cold, Altaie's family and friends
grew frustrated by what they say is the U.S. government's lack of effort to find
him."They won't talk about it,"
Altaie's ex-wife and self-described best friend, Linda Racey, said from Michigan
recently. "They feel he's not worth looking for. They're not doing
anything."
Senator Patty Murray is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee
and her office notes:
FOR PLANNING
PURPOSES
Friday, February 17th,
2012
CONTACT: Murray Press Office
(202) 224-2834
MONDAY: Murray in Olympia to Hear
frm Veterans
(Washington,
D.C.) -- On Monday, February 20th, 2012, U.S.
Senator Patty Murray, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans'
Affairs, will hold a listening session to hear from area veterans on local
challenges and to discuss her efforts to improve veterans care and benefits
nationwide. This will be Senator Murray's first discussion with local Olympia
veterans as Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. Senator Murray will use
the struggles, stories, and suggestions she hears on Monday to fight for local
veterans in Washington, D.C.
WHO: U.S. Senator Patty
Murray
Local
veterans
WHAT: Veterans listening session
with Senator Murray
WHEN: Monday, February 20th, 2012
2:30 PM PT
WHERE: Harbor Wholesale
Foods
3901 Hogum
Bay Rd. NE
Lacey, WA
98516
###
Meghan Roh
Deputy Press Secretary
Office of U.S. Senator Patty
Murray
202-224-2834
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