3000

On the last day of the year, the DoD announces the name of the 3000th soldier to die in Iraq.

From the Associated Press, via msnbc.com:

Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, was killed Thursday by small arms fire in Baghdad, the Defense Department said.

And the White House continues to spew its bullsh*t:

Asked about the 3,000 figure, deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel said Sunday that the president “will ensure their sacrifice was not made in vain.”

“We will be fighting violent jihadists for peace and security of the civilized world for years to come. The brave men and women of the U.S. military are fighting extremists in order to stop them from attacking on our soil again,” Stanzel said.

A complete listing of those who died in our names is available at Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.

Mission Accomplished, Mr. President?

 

 

 

Goodbye 2006 – Prayers for Peace

From Beliefnet:

Native American 

Let us know peace.
For as long as the moon shall rise,
For as long as the rivers shall flow,
For as long as the sun will shine,
For as long as the grass shall grow,
Let us know peace.

*

O Great Spirit of our Ancestors, I raise my pipe to you, to your messengers the four winds, and to Mother Earth who provides for your children. Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect, and to be kind to each other so that they may grow with peace in mind. Let us learn to share all the good things that you provide for us on this Earth. 

Jenn’s Sunday Sermon

Thou shalt not kill.

Everyone recognizes that, right? The fifth of the Ten Commandments that the extreme-right wing would like to post in every courthouse, every schoolhouse, every public, private, and government building.

I’ve known the 10 Commandments since childhood, and have read them in a variety of formats (KJV, NIV, etc.) but I’ve yet to see find the asterisk. It must be there, somewhere.

What asterisk, you ask? The one that points all those right-wingers to the ‘exceptions’:

Thou shalt not kill….unless

The United States is one of the few remaining countries with a death penalty, and it’s not keeping very good company.

From Amnesty International:

Afghanistan * Antigua and Barbuda * Bahamas * Bahrain * Bangladesh * Barbados * Belarus * Belize * Botswana * Burundi * Cameroon * Chad * China * Comoros * Congo (Democratic Republic) * Cuba * Dominica * Egypt * Equatorial Guinea * Eritrea * Ethiopia * Gabon * Ghana * Guatemala * Guinea * Guyana * India * Indonesia * Iran * Iraq * Jamaica * Japan * Jordan * Kazakhstan * North Korea * South Korea * Kuwait * Kyrgyzstan * Laos * Lebanon * Lesotho * Libya * Malawi * Malaysia * Mongolia * Nigeria * Oman * Pakistan * Palestinian Authority * Qatar * Rwanda * St. Kitts and Nevis * St. Lucia * St. Vincent and the Grenadines * Saudi Arabia * Sierra Leone * Singapore * Somalia * Sudan * Swaziland * Syria * Taiwan * Tajikistan * Tanzania * Thailand * Trinidad and Tobago * Uganda * United Arab Emirates * Uzbekistan * Vietnam * Yemen * Zambia * Zimbabwe

One bright area: In 2005, the Supreme Court of the United States outlawed the execution of offenders who were under age 18 at the commission of the crime for which they’ve been convicted.

If you believe in the Christian god, the one who told Moses to write down, “Thou shalt not kill” then you must – absolutely must – believe that all killing is wrong, whether it is done by an individual or by the state.

If you believe in Allah, or Buddha, or Vishnu, or any other god who says killing is wrong, then you are required to believe that it is always wrong. You cannot claim to follow any religion and then violate its most basic precepts.

My personal belief is this: no death is avenged by more death.

We’re seeing the simple truth of that in Iraq. Has any Sunni been avenged by the hundreds of Shi’a killed? Has any Shi’a been avenged by the hundreds of Sunnis killed? Has any Sunni or Shi’a been avenged by the deaths of 3000 Americans?

What have these deaths brought to anyone, except a never-ending spiral of death and more death?

Where does it end?

*

No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee.

– John Donne

 

Pray for Peace

African prayer:

Almighty God,
the Great Thumb we cannot evade to tie any knot;
the Roaring Thunder that splits mighty trees:
the all-seeing Lord up on high who sees
even the footprints of an antelope on a rock mass here on Earth.
You are the one who does not hesitate to respond to our call.
You are the cornerstone of peace.

This prayer comes from Prayers for Peace.

Going to DC!

I’m going to DC!! Yay me!

About a week or so ago, I got an email invitation from Chris Carney (well, not from him, but y’know…) to go watch him sworn in on Thursday, January 4th and go to the reception afterward, with free bus service to and from DC.

What the heck, I thought, even though I’m sure every other soul on the Carney email list got one. I’ve never been to DC, and when am I likely to have another opportunity to see a Congressperson sworn in?

So, now that all the pesky details are taken care of (like who’s watching the munchkins, who’ll make sure the daughter gets to school, etc.) I’m heading to DC, with my favorite travelling companion*: The Momma!

Woo-hoo! Go us!!

We’re meeting the bus in Sunbury and will be leaving from there about 7am. Thanks to Mom (and her lovely credit card) we’ve also got a motel room near Sunbury for Wednesday night, so we won’t have to get up at 3am and drive through the dark PA wilderness to make the bus. I’ve got the map all printed out (thank you, Mapquest) and I’ll be packing snackies for the trip. (Can’t smoke, so must munch!)

Mom and I are especially thrilled to note that the motel room comes with a coffeemaker. Great deal! Run plain water through it and use single-serving bags to make your hot beverage of choice. No more of that having to get showered and dressed and go out searching for a McDonald’s/Burger King/mini-mart in order to buy hot tea.

I’m taking my (crappy, but somewhat functional) camera, so I’ll post pics when I get back.

* *

*When going on a long trip, always take a person who knows how to: read/occupy themselves when you want to read, talk when you want to talk, and sleeps without snoring or drooling on your shoulder.

Breaking: Saddam DEAD

UPDATE 4: 12-29/06, 10:30pm EDT

As Marion in Savannah says over at FireDogLake:

Oh. My. God. They executed him just before Eid, which commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Oh. Holy. Crap.

* *

UPDATE 3: 12-29/o6, 10:16pm EDT

[Crap-ass computer from hell, and dialup from the nether regions!! I curse you!]

Saddam is dead.

Jeralyn, Al-Jazeera, CNN.

* *

UPDATE 2: Jeralyn’s also covering this at TalkLeft.

* *

UPDATE: 12-29/06, 9:55pm

Reuters:

Final preparations were under way for Saddam Hussein’s execution shortly before dawn on Saturday, Arabic television stations said, reporting a cleric had arrived to hear any final words and witnesses were in place.

U.S.-backed Al Hurra said a Muslim cleric was present at the place of execution, but it did not say where that was.

Two witnesses due to attend the execution told Reuters earlier they had been summoned for 5.30 am (0230 GMT).

Arabiya television reported they were present at that hour.

* *

MSNBC.com and CNN are reporting that an Iraqi court has denied Saddam’s last minute appeal, and he could die within the hour.

CNN:

Saddam Hussein will be hanged before dawn on Saturday in Iraq, before 6 a.m. (10 p.m. Friday ET), according to Appeals Judge Munir Haddad.

The paperwork is in order for Hussein’s execution, and the judge echoed a widespread belief that the hanging could be imminent.

[snip]

Meanwhile, Giovanni di Stefano, one of Hussein’s defense attorneys, told CNN the U.S. military officially informed him that the former Iraqi dictator has been transferred to Iraqi authorities for his execution and that a “credible source” told him Hussein will be executed “very shortly — in the next couple of hours.”

And di Stefano indicated that the move by lawyers in the U.S. court could mean Hussein is in U.S. military custody now.

On NPR earlier today, there was discussion of whether or not the execution would be televised, and if so, in what manner. Most ridiculous comment heard: that those networks that choose to broadcast it will do so in a ‘tasteful’ manner. (I’ll try to find a verbatim copy of that quote and the idiot who said it.)

This is as close as I could find:

From The Scotsman:

ABC and CBS said they wouldn’t air the full execution if the video became available.

“We’re very aware that we’re coming into people’s living rooms and that there could be children watching,” CBS News senior vp Linda Mason said.

Mason and her network counterparts have broadcast standards and procedures they follow in these cases. Phil Alongi, special-events executive producer at NBC News, said there are ways the network can approach the video or photographs that will get the point across without having to be graphic.

The operative word: taste.

“We have very, very strict guidelines with how to deal with that,” said Bob Murphy, senior vp at ABC News. “If there were pictures made available of the execution, they would have to be viewed by senior management before we would put them on the air, and we would make a judgement of taste and propriety of what we would show.”

The word ‘tasteful’ should not ever be used in a sentence that includes the word ‘execution’ unless – and only unless – one is referring to the performance of ballet dancers, ice skaters, and/or ice dancers.

Janet Jackson’s partially-nude booby? Cover your eyes!! Oh, god, the children!

Saddam swinging until dead? No problem, as long as it’s tasteful.

And there you have it – an exact explanation of what’s so fucking wrong with the US media.

Friday Anti-War Song

From The Meaning of U2 Lyrics: [emphasis mine]

Well, as in many things, it is slightly open to interpretation. But from reading the lyrics and reading a few books where Bono talks about the song… It is musically supposed to represent the bombings of El Salvadorian towns during its civil war by US planes. It is about the United States’ policy of supporting dictators in 3rd world countries to oppose the spread of communism. But more than all this, it is about the way war destroys people. When originally writing the lyrics, Bono was not sure if he should say, And we run, into the arms…of America. or Into the arms of the world so as not to offend Americans. Obviously he stuck with the first. Bono and Edge say his guitar solo in it is supposed to be the keen of the bombs being dropped, and the rage of the war machines….

 

Bullet the Blue Sky
– U2

In the howling wind comes a stinging rain
See it driving nails
Into the souls on the tree of pain
From the firefly,
A red orange glow
See the face of fear
Running scared in the valley below
Bullet the blue sky
Bullet the blue sky
Bullet the blue
Bullet the blue
…ah…ah…

In the locust wind comes a rattle and hum
Jacob wrestled the angel
And the angel was overcome
You plant a demon seed
You raise a flower of fire
See them burning crosses
See the flames higher and higher

Bullet the blue sky
Bullet the blue sky
Bullet the blue
…ah…
Bullet the blue
…ah…ah…ah…ah…ah…ah…

This guy comes up to me
His face red like a rose on a thorn bush
Like all the colors of a royal flush
And he’s peeling off those dollar bills
Slappin’ ‘em down
One hundred, two hundred

And I can see those fighter planes
And I can see those fighter planes
Across the mud huts where the children sleep
Through the alleys of a quiet city street
WE take the staircase to the first floor
WE turn the key and slowly unlock the door
a man breathes into a saxophone
through the walls you hear the city groan
Outside it’s America
Outside it’s America

Across the field you see the sky ripped open
and the rain all through a gaping wound
Pounding on the women and children pounding the woman and children
Who run…….who run
Into the arms…
…of America

Prayer for Peace

From the Sikh belief:

God adjudges us according to our deeds,
not the coat that we wear:
that truth is above everything,
but higher still is truthful living.
Know that we attaineth God when we loveth,
and only that victory
endures in consequences of which no one is defeated.

This prayer comes from Prayers for Peace.

Saddam – Dead by Sunday?

According to MSNBC.com, the death sentence of Saddam Hussein could be carried before Sunday, prior to the start of the Eid holiday which begins Saturday at sundown – possibly even as early as tomorrow.

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, sentenced to death for his role in 148 killings in 1982, will have his sentence carried out by Sunday, NBC News reported Thursday. According to a U.S. military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, Saddam will be hanged before the start of the Eid religious holiday, which begins at sundown Saturday.

The hanging could take place as early as Friday, NBC’s Richard Engel reported.

The U.S. military received a formal request from the Iraqi government to transfer Saddam to Iraqi authorities, NBC reported on Thursday, which is one of the final steps required before his execution. His sentence, handed down last month, ordered that he be hanged within 30 days.

Earlier Thursday, Saddam’s chief lawyer implored world leaders to prevent the United States from handing over the ousted leader to Iraqi authorities for execution, saying the former dictator should enjoy protection from his enemies as a “prisoner of war.”

“According to the international conventions, it is forbidden to hand a prisoner of war to his adversary,” Saddam’s lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, said in Amman, Jordan.

Now, Saddam Hussein was a murderous, ruthless tyrant. He deserves to die for the crimes he committed against his own people over the course of his reign.

However…

I would feel much more comfortable about this death sentence – and the super-speedy rush to impose it – if the sentence was the result of a truly fair and impartial trial held in a neutral country with a more-or-less-neutral prosecutor and judges. (ie: The Hague)

Instead, we had what appeared to be – in the eyes of many – an Iraqi tribunal appointed by the sock-puppet Iraqi government controlled by the United States, and which did what it was told by its ‘masters.’

Saddam will die, which he deserves without a doubt. Not only for the direct deaths of thousands by his order, but for those who died during the embargo. He – not the United States – chose to allow his people to starve while he, his family, and his friends lived a lavish lifestyle.

But, let us never forget: Saddam Hussein was given the weapons he turned on his own people by the United States, during the Reagan Administration.

Shaking Hands: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein greets Donald Rumsfeld,
then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, in Baghdad on December 20, 1983

From the National Security Archive: [all emphasis mine]

The Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) was one of a series of crises during an era of upheaval in the Middle East: revolution in Iran, occupation of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by militant students, invasion of the Great Mosque in Mecca by anti-royalist Islamicists, the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan, and internecine fighting among Syrians, Israelis, and Palestinians in Lebanon. The war followed months of rising tension between the Iranian Islamic republic and secular nationalist Iraq. In mid-September 1980 Iraq attacked, in the mistaken belief that Iranian political disarray would guarantee a quick victory.

The international community responded with U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire and for all member states to refrain from actions contributing in any way to the conflict’s continuation. The Soviets, opposing the war, cut off arms exports to Iran and to Iraq, its ally under a 1972 treaty (arms deliveries resumed in 1982). The U.S. had already ended, when the shah fell, previously massive military sales to Iran. In 1980 the U.S. broke off diplomatic relations with Iran because of the Tehran embassy hostage crisis; Iraq had broken off ties with the U.S. during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The U.S. was officially neutral regarding the Iran-Iraq war, and claimed that it armed neither side. Iran depended on U.S.-origin weapons, however, and sought them from Israel, Europe, Asia, and South America. Iraq started the war with a large Soviet-supplied arsenal, but needed additional weaponry as the conflict wore on.

[snip]

The U.S. restored formal relations with Iraq in November 1984, but the U.S. had begun, several years earlier, to provide it with intelligence and military support (in secret and contrary to this country’s official neutrality) in accordance with policy directives from President Ronald Reagan. These were prepared pursuant to his March 1982 National Security Study Memorandum (NSSM 4-82) asking for a review of U.S. policy toward the Middle East.

[snip]

By the summer of 1983 Iran had been reporting Iraqi use of using chemical weapons for some time. The Geneva protocol requires that the international community respond to chemical warfare, but a diplomatically isolated Iran received only a muted response to its complaints [Note 1]. It intensified its accusations in October 1983, however, and in November asked for a United Nations Security Council investigation.

The U.S., which followed developments in the Iran-Iraq war with extraordinary intensity, had intelligence confirming Iran’s accusations, and describing Iraq’s “almost daily” use of chemical weapons, concurrent with its policy review and decision to support Iraq in the war [Document 24]. The intelligence indicated that Iraq used chemical weapons against Iranian forces, and, according to a November 1983 memo, against “Kurdish insurgents” as well [Document 25].

What was the Reagan administration’s response? A State Department account indicates that the administration had decided to limit its “efforts against the Iraqi CW program to close monitoring because of our strict neutrality in the Gulf war, the sensitivity of sources, and the low probability of achieving desired results.” But the department noted in late November 1983 that “with the essential assistance of foreign firms, Iraq ha[d] become able to deploy and use CW and probably has built up large reserves of CW for further use. Given its desperation to end the war, Iraq may again use lethal or incapacitating CW, particularly if Iran threatens to break through Iraqi lines in a large-scale attack” [Document 25]. The State Department argued that the U.S. needed to respond in some way to maintain the credibility of its official opposition to chemical warfare, and recommended that the National Security Council discuss the issue.

Following further high-level policy review, Ronald Reagan issued National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 114, dated November 26, 1983, concerned specifically with U.S. policy toward the Iran-Iraq war. The directive reflects the administration’s priorities: it calls for heightened regional military cooperation to defend oil facilities, and measures to improve U.S. military capabilities in the Persian Gulf, and directs the secretaries of state and defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to take appropriate measures to respond to tensions in the area. It states, “Because of the real and psychological impact of a curtailment in the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf on the international economic system, we must assure our readiness to deal promptly with actions aimed at disrupting that traffic.” It does not mention chemical weapons [Document 26].

Soon thereafter, Donald Rumsfeld (who had served in various positions in the Nixon and Ford administrations, including as President Ford’s defense secretary, and at this time headed the multinational pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle & Co.) was dispatched to the Middle East as a presidential envoy. His December 1983 tour of regional capitals included Baghdad, where he was to establish “direct contact between an envoy of President Reagan and President Saddam Hussein,” while emphasizing “his close relationship” with the president [Document 28]. Rumsfeld met with Saddam, and the two discussed regional issues of mutual interest, shared enmity toward Iran and Syria, and the U.S.’s efforts to find alternative routes to transport Iraq’s oil; its facilities in the Persian Gulf had been shut down by Iran, and Iran’s ally, Syria, had cut off a pipeline that transported Iraqi oil through its territory. Rumsfeld made no reference to chemical weapons, according to detailed notes on the meeting [Document 31].

Rumsfeld also met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, and the two agreed, “the U.S. and Iraq shared many common interests.” Rumsfeld affirmed the Reagan administration’s “willingness to do more” regarding the Iran-Iraq war, but “made clear that our efforts to assist were inhibited by certain things that made it difficult for us, citing the use of chemical weapons, possible escalation in the Gulf, and human rights.” He then moved on to other U.S. concerns [Document 32]. Later, Rumsfeld was assured by the U.S. interests section that Iraq’s leadership had been “extremely pleased” with the visit, and that “Tariq Aziz had gone out of his way to praise Rumsfeld as a person” [Document 36 and Document 37].

Rumsfeld returned to Baghdad in late March 1984. By this time, the U.S. had publicly condemned Iraq’s chemical weapons use, stating, “The United States has concluded that the available evidence substantiates Iran’s charges that Iraq used chemical weapons” [Document 47]. Briefings for Rumsfeld’s meetings noted that atmospherics in Iraq had deteriorated since his December visit because of Iraqi military reverses and because “bilateral relations were sharply set back by our March 5 condemnation of Iraq for CW use, despite our repeated warnings that this issue would emerge sooner or later” [Document 48].

 

 

Belated Update: Wilmington NC Shooting

I previously wrote about this case in North Carolina here and here. My apologies for not finding out about this until today.

The 2nd degree murder charge against the sheriff’s deputy who shot an unarmed 18-year-old, Peyton Strickland [because he mistook the sound of the battering ram for gunfire from inside the residence] was rescinded by the DA’s office on Dec 12th, a day after the grand jury returned the indictment.

The grand jury foreman told the DA’s office he had ‘checked the wrong box.”

From msnbc.com (Dec 12th) :

Officials rescinded a murder charge Tuesday against a sheriff’s deputy accused of shooting an unarmed teenager who authorities believed had stolen video game consoles, after a grand jury foreman said he had checked the wrong box on the indictment paperwork.

The dismissal came a day after New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David announced the second-degree murder charge against Cpl. Christopher Long.

[snip]

The grand jury foreman told a court Tuesday that he checked the wrong box on the indictment form by mistake, according to an order signed Tuesday by Superior Court Judge Ernest Fullwood. The foreman learned about the mistake after other jury members heard about the incorrect indictment from media reports.

A copy of the indictment filed as evidence Tuesday shows a checked box for a “true bill” of indictment crossed out, with a heavy mark made through “not a true bill,” followed by what appears to be the foreman’s initials and Tuesday’s date.

[snip]

The development drew a quick reaction from Strickland’s family, which had praised prosecutors after they won the indictment against Long.

“Yesterday, our son’s murderer was going to have to answer for what he did,” Don and Kathy Strickland said in a statement. “Today, we just don’t know what is going on in Wilmington. We are upset, confused and searching for answers.”

*

[And thanks, MSNBC.com, for putting this in your "Games" section where it went unnoticed by me until today. Who would think to look there for updates on a shooting??]