[Peace] News notes, AWARE meeting 2007-07-08

[C. G. Estabrook]

SUNDAY 8 JULY 2007 (On this day in 1897 the first US Senator -- William 
Blount of Tennessee -- was expelled from the Senate by impeachment.)

The theme for the week seems to be how the major newspapers shape our 
understanding of the US wars in the Middle East.

[1] In an editorial this morning, the New York Times writes, for the 
first time: "It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any 
more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.  Like 
many Americans, we have put off that conclusion, waiting for a sign that 
President Bush was seriously trying to dig the United States out of the 
disaster he created by invading Iraq without sufficient cause, in the 
face of global opposition, and without a plan to stabilize the country 
afterward."
	There may however a sting in the tail of this 1700-word editorial: it 
concludes, "This country faces a choice. We can go on allowing Mr. Bush 
to drag out this war without end or purpose. Or we can insist that 
American troops are withdrawn as quickly and safely as we can manage ― 
with as much effort as possible to stop the chaos from spreading."  That 
last phrase may be read as a justification for the continuance of the 
American policy of control of the Middle East ("the Pentagon needs 
enough force to stage effective raids and airstrikes against terrorist 
forces in Iraq, but not enough to resume large-scale combat").  Earlier 
the editorial says one of the things wrong with the war in Iraq is that 
"It is a dangerous diversion from the life-and-death struggle against 
terrorists ... This war diverted Pentagon resources from Afghanistan..."

[2]  The Washington Post leads today with the Bush administration's 
attempt to find "alternative signs of progress" in Iraq for its report 
to Congress, since it is unlikely the Iraqi government will have met any 
of the established administration benchmarks, such as the so-called "oil 
law."  It seems as if the Post and the NYT are acting out the fight 
between the CIA and the Pentagon. The Times today leads with a planned 
2005 raid into Pakistan involving several hundred US special-op 
soldiers, to capture top al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan: it was aborted by 
Sec. Rumsfeld for fear of disturbing the US's shaky control of Pakistan. 
  The Times points out that Bush criticized the Clinton administration 
for not acting more decisively to catch Osama Bin Laden during the 
1990s.  In Pakistan, a thousand Islamic students are now holed up in an 
Islamabad mosque and are vowing a fight to the death in their four-day 
standoff with government forces.  Our ally will probably oblige them.

[3] The NYT also runs a puff-piece on Democrat majority leader Sen. 
Reid. The article is partly a defense of the Democrat-led Congress, and 
its failure to end the war.  The WP teases the first part of an ongoing 
series about Congress' pretended debate over Iraq. The series will 
follow four members of Congress―called a party loyalist and a conflicted 
moderate from each party―as they navigate the coming months of debate on 
the war.  The point of course is to establish the limits of respectable 
debate on the war, which is to be kept within the two parties, both of 
which support the war in the fashion that they hope will redound to the 
credit of their faction.

[4] Meanwhile, reporter Michael Gordon is writing scare stories in the 
New York Times supporting the neo-con call for a US strike against Iran; 
Gordon’s wrote similar inflammatory pieces prior to the US invasion of Iraq.
	The US claimed publicly this week that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard 
played a role in an attack that killed five Americans and was using 
Lebanese militants to train Iraqi insurgents.  But the BBC and the 
Associated Press appear to be backing away from the claim that Iran’s 
President called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.”
	Meanwhile a McClatchy newspaper with a large military audience has come 
out for a withdrawal from Iraq. In an editorial published on the Fourth 
of July, The Olympian newspaper of Olympia, Washington says the war in 
Iraq “isn’t worth a single more American life.” The Olympian reaches 
nearby Fort Lewis and McCord Air Force Base.

[5] The NYT takes President Bush to task for commuting the sentence of 
former vice presidential chief of staff Scooter Libby last week, saying 
the president's rationale for commuting Libby's jail time doesn't match 
up with the president's record as governor of Texas. Bush said that he 
commuted Libby's jail time because it seemed excessive, a concern Bush 
had never mentioned in reviewing any other case. Bush commuted just one 
death sentence as governor, even allowing death sentences involving 
juveniles and the mentally retarded to proceed.  Remarkably, none of the 
major media report the real reason that Bush commuted Libby's sentence 
instead of pardoning him: the fear that Libby wound talk about Cheney 
and Bush's involvement in the Plame matter, which would be further 
grounds for impeachment.  A commutation, instead of a pardon, makes it 
possible for Libby to refuse to testify before Congress on 5th amendment 
grounds.

[6] Republican Sen. Domenici (NM) joined Rep. Sens. Lugar and Voinovich 
and broke with the administration on Iraq, calling for an immediate 
reshaping of US policy around the 79 recommendations of the Iraq Study 
Group.

[7]  The US and  NATO allies killed more civilians than insurgents did 
in Afghanistan in the first half of this year.  In Iraq,  the number of 
US-paid private contractors now exceeds that of American combat troops.

[8]  A doctor arrested after a blazing SUV rammed into the Glasgow 
Airport terminal Saturday is an Iraqi whose family “lost everything” 
following the US invasion.

[9]  Followers of Moqtada Al Sadr Thursday joined a growing chorus of 
Sunni, Kurdish, and Shiite opposition to a draft oil law backed by 
Washington. Sadr’s supporters said that they would not support any law 
that would allow firms “whose governments are occupying Iraq” to sign 
Iraqi oil deals.  US fighter jets carried out air strikes on the Sadr 
City district of Baghdad Thursday, while ground troops carried out raids 
on dozens of homes.
	Meanwhile, a bombing in the village of Amerli killed between 105 and 
150 people and wounded about 250. The victims were primarily Shiite 
Turkmen, part of a province that may become part of the autonomous 
Kurdistan region.

[10]  After three weeks of a complete ban on importing commercial goods 
to Gaza, the industrial sector in Gaza is collapsing, says an Israeli 
human rights group, which claims that “a policy of collective punishment 
is being imposed upon 1.4 million people.” Meanwhile,  the Israeli 
nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has been sentenced to another 
six-months in prison for speaking to the international media. Vanunu was 
released in 2004 after spending 18 years in jail for disclosing 
information that proved Israel had a stockpile of nuclear weapons.

[11] On Monday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Iranian President 
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced agreements on a joint petrochemical plant 
and other economic cooperation. Speaking in Tehran, Chavez said the two 
countries are forming a “brotherly” front against the Bush 
administration.  Venezuela has agreed to sell gas to Iran after Iran 
implemented a rationing scheme which sparked angry protests.  Patrick 
Duddy will replace William Brownfield as US ambassador to Venezuela. 
“This relationship is probably going to get worse before it gets 
better,” said Brownfield.

[12]  Australia’s Defense Minister admitted oil has been a major reason 
for the Iraq war.  Australian Prime Minister John Howard quickly 
distanced himself from the minister's admission, saying “A lot of oil 
comes from the Middle East, we all know that, but the reason we remain 
there is we want to give the people of Iraq a possibility of embracing 
democracy.”  Uh-huh.

[13]  The Pentagon says it's investigating a Marine unit for killing 
unarmed Iraqi prisoners during the attack on Fallujah in November of 
2004, the same Marine unit involved in the killing of twenty-four 
civilians in Haditha in 2005.  The Justice Department has announced it 
will seek the death penalty if an accused former solider is convicted of 
committing rape and murder in the Iraqi town of Mahmoudiya last year. 
Steven Green is accused of raping and murdering fourteen-year old Abeer 
Kassem Hamza al-Janabi and killing her two parents and five-year old 
sister. Two soldiers have already been sentenced to jail terms in the case.

[14] The UN’s top environmental official has backed Cuban President 
Fidel Castro’s recent warnings that the US-backed reliance on ethanol 
production will increase food prices and global hunger.

[15] A new poll shows that  45% favor "beginning impeachment proceedings 
against President Bush," while 46% oppose; 54% favor "beginning 
impeachment proceedings against Vice President Cheney," while 40% 
oppose.  Cf. Clinton's impeachment polls Aug-Sept 1998 (before 
impeachment) -- the average support for impeachment and removal was 26%. 
  Three months ago Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced a resolution calling 
for Cheney's impeachment. The measure has ten listed co-sponsors.


--Carl Estabrook <www.newsfromneptune.com>
<http://counterpunch.org/estabrook07042007.html>