27
Apr
Senate Passes Iraq Withdrawal Measure; Dems Debate War
BACK IN CLEVELAND
WHY THE STOCK MARKET IS BOOMING
BLOGGER RIVERBEND TO LEAVE BAGHDAD
“There’s a red moon rising
On the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake”
Cleveland city of light city of magic
Cleveland city of light you’re calling me
Cleveland, even now I can remember
‘Cause the Cuyahoga River
Goes smokin’ through my dreams”
I started humming Randy Newman’s song (from the fabulous Sail Away album) when I landed late last night. Once you hear it, you don’t forget it. I first came here back in l979 to produce an interview with Denis Kucinich, then the “Boy Mayor” of Cleveland.
I was back yesterday. I spent the day at the triple C Community College outside of of the city as the keynote speaker for a Diversity Day program. The City was euphoric over their team, the Cavs and Gooden and it was hard to get a sense of problems there other than that foreclosures are a major issue and students are under incredible economic pressure.
The city was euphoric over the Cavs and Gooden and it was hard to get a sense of problems there other than foreclosures are a major issue and students are under incredible economic pressure. After seeing a clip from my film IN DEBT WE TRUST, one young man asked me plaintively if he thought he would be able to ever buy a house. I didn’t know what to tell him, That morning USA ran as its cover story a report that over 50% of the subprime loans were given to black Americans. They are the ones who will suffer the most although 17% are white, and the rest Hispanic.
It seems like this issue follows me everywhere I go. I am trying not to be gloom meister but its hard to feel confident. USA Today also carried a report on the booming stock market noting that institutional investors (eg, the big guys) are the ones profiting and that so called Mom and Pop investors are not. Read this:
The sharp gains, which followed a late-February scare when the Dow fell 416 points in a single day, have been fueled by two key developments:
•A flurry of multibillion-dollar buyout deals by private-equity firms. Deal mania has boosted investor confidence, reduced the supply of stock for sale and provided a fresh source of cash ($185.6 billion in buyouts, Thomson Financial says) to be reinvested….
Earnings at big U.S. multinational companies, including Dow stocks such as heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar and aluminum giant Alcoa, received a big boost from sales garnered overseas in faster-growing economies such as China and India, saysRichard Moroney, editor of Dow Theory Forecasts. A weakening U.S. dollar also translates into bigger profits earned abroad by U.S. firms.
Big institutions — not mom and pop investors — have driven the rally….
I finally got back to New York after another delayed flight to see part of the first Democratic Debate. AP reported:
ORANGEBURG, S.C. - Democratic presidential candidates criticized President Bush over the Iraq war Thursday night in the first debate of their campaign, and urged him to reconsider his threat to veto legislation to begin withdrawing U.S. troops.
“If this president does not get us out of Iraq, when I am president, I will,” said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
In the debate’s opening moments, Clinton also found herself on the receiving end of criticism, when former North Carolina Sen.John Edwards said she or anyone else who voted to authorize it should “search their conscience.”…
EARLIER IN THE DAY, THE SENATE STOOD UP TO THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON - In a bold wartime challenge to President Bush, the Democratic-controlled Congress cleared legislation Thursday to begin withdrawal of U.S. troops fro IIraq by Oct. 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later. The White House dismissed the legislation as “dead before arrival.”
BBC: IRAQI GOVERNMENT ATTACKS PULLOUT PULL
Attempts by US Democrats to hasten the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq are “damaging to security” in the country, Iraq’s foreign minister says.
Hoshyar Zebari was responding to a vote in the US House of Representatives making further funding of the war conditional on a withdrawal timetable. The top US general in Iraq said there was still “vastly more work” to do.
AS ANOTHER 72 DIE IN IRAQ, US GENERALS CLAIM STEADY PROGRESS
AP: Still, the top American military spokesman insisted the U.S. command felt “very comfortable” that it is making “steady progress” in restoring order in Baghdad.
THE UNRAVELING
NY Times; “U.S. Officer in Iraq Accused of ‘Aiding the Enemy’
BAGHDAD, April 26 — The American military has charged a top commander at its main detention center here with nine violations of military law, including “aiding the enemy,” a rare and serious accusation that could carry a death sentence.
According to a military statement released Thursday, the officer, Lt. Col. William H. Steele, provided aid to the enemy between Oct. 1, 2005, and Oct. 31, 2006, “by providing an unmonitored cellular phone to detainees” at Camp Cropper, an expansive prison near Baghdad International Airport that held Saddam Hussein before he was hanged.
Chris Floyd: On Iraqi Oil
US accused of using neutron bombs Aljazeera.net
The former commander of Iraq’s Republican Guard has accused the US of using non-conventional weapons in its war against the Middle East country. Saifeddin Fulayh Hassan Taha al-Rawi told Al Jazeera that US forces used neutron and phosphorus bombs during their assault on Baghdad airport before the April 9 capture of the Iraqi capital. Al-Rawi is one of the most wanted associates of Saddam Hussein, the deposed Iraqi leader, still on the run. “The enemy used neutron and phosphorus weapons against Baghdad airport… there were bodies burnt to their bones,” he said. The bombs annihilated soldiers but left the buildings and infrastructure at the airport intact, he added. A neutron bomb is a thermonuclear weapon that produces minimal blast and heat but releases large amounts of lethal radiation that can penetrate armour and is especially destructive to human tissue. About 2,000 elite Republican Guard troops “fought until they were martyred”, according to al-Rawi…
RIVERBEND AND FAMILY TO LEAVE BAGHDAD
My favorite Iraqi blogger, the brave and eloquent Riverbend who has kindly written favorably to me about my work, writes in her latest post that she will be leaving….a sign of the terrible toll the war has caused.
She writes about the wall that the US Military proposes to build and that even the Iraqi government says it opposes. Read this and weep:
The Great Wall of Segregation…
…Which is the wall the current Iraqi government is building (with the support and guidance of the Americans). It’s a wall that is intended to separate and isolate what is now considered the largest ‘Sunni’ area in Baghdad- let no one say the Americans are not building anything. According to plans the Iraqi puppets and Americans cooked up, it will ‘protect’ A’adhamiya, a residential/mercantile area that the current Iraqi government and their death squads couldn’t empty of Sunnis.
The wall, of course, will protect no one. I sometimes wonder if this is how the concentration camps began in Europe. The Nazi government probably said, “Oh look- we’re just going to protect the Jews with this little wall here- it will be difficult for people to get into their special area to hurt them!” And yet, it will also be difficult to get out.
The Wall is the latest effort to further break Iraqi society apart. Promoting and supporting civil war isn’t enough, apparently- Iraqis have generally proven to be more tenacious and tolerant than their mullahs, ayatollahs, and Vichy leaders. It’s time for America to physically divide and conquer- like Berlin before the wall came down or Palestine today. This way, they can continue chasing Sunnis out of “Shia areas” and Shia out of “Sunni areas”.
I always hear the Iraqi pro-war crowd interviewed on television from foreign capitals (they can only appear on television from the safety of foreign capitals because I defy anyone to be publicly pro-war in Iraq). They refuse to believe that their religiously inclined, sectarian political parties fueled this whole Sunni/Shia conflict. They refuse to acknowledge that this situation is a direct result of the war and occupation. They go on and on about Iraq’s history and how Sunnis and Shia were always in conflict and I hate that. I hate that a handful of expats who haven’t been to the country in decades pretend to know more about it than people actually living there.
I remember Baghdad before the war- one could live anywhere. We didn’t know what our neighbors were- we didn’t care. No one asked about religion or sect. No one bothered with what was considered a trivial topic: are you Sunni or Shia? You only asked something like that if you were uncouth and backward. Our lives revolve around it now. Our existence depends on hiding it or highlighting it- depending on the group of masked men who stop you or raid your home in the middle of the night.
On a personal note, we’ve finally decided to leave. I guess I’ve known we would be leaving for a while now. We discussed it as a family dozens of times. At first, someone would suggest it tentatively because, it was just a preposterous idea- leaving ones home and extended family- leaving ones country- and to what? To where?…
COLD WAR BACK: BUSHEVIKS PISS OFF OLD BOLESHEVIKS
Russia will suspend its compliance with a treaty on arms in Europe, President Vladimir V. Putin said
Beeb: PHIL SPECTOR USES MAFIA LAWYER, CLAIMS INNOCENCE
Spector lawyer sets out defence
Defense lawyers at the trial of music producer Phil Spector, who is charged with murder, have said scientific evidence will prove his innocence.
Defense lawyer Bruce Cutler said the evidence would show the shot that killed actress Lana Clarkson was “a classic self-inflicted type of injury”.
Ms Clarkson was found dead at Mr Spector’s home in 2003.
COPS: OOPS, SORRY
CNN: ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) — A police officer and a former officer pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter in the shooting death of a 92-year-old woman during a botched drug raid last fall. Another officer still faces charges in the woman’s death.
Officer J.R. Smith told the judge Thursday that he regretted what had happened.
“I’m sorry,” the 35-year-old said, his voice barely audible. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, violation of oath, criminal solicitation, making false statements and perjury, which was based on untrue claims in a warrant.
JACK VALENTI—FORMER LBJ AIDE AND FILM BIZ LOBBBYIST DIES
The Washington lobbyist best known for creating the film rating system died today at his home in Washington. He was 85
This blog lives on and off of email. Our mail server seems to be “not responding” so I am afraid I cannot share your letters or the many items folks send me.
The travel this week has worn me out. Maybe I will add to this Dissectorgram when I recuperate, and if the site is working right. Please do read the MediaChannel.org lead article on Darfur–it offers a different view -not the one we are getting.
Great News: IN DEBT WE TRUST INVITED TO DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL IN SOUTH AFRICA.
Sorry. I hope to do better at dissecting next week.
Have a great weekend!
Comments to dissector@mediachannel.org
The claim by the Iraqi Republican Guard general about the alleged use of a neutron bomb has been examined on Wikipedia, and these claims are reported as unsubstantiated. Wikipedia asserts that there were no reports of acute radiation syndrome in the aftermath of the alleged attack on Baghdad International Airport in April 2003.
April 27th, 2007 at 11:41 pmIn the event of a neutron blast, the radiation, heat, and blast damage is likely to kill all living things within 500 meters, and radiation would do severe damage for at least 2 kilometers (depending on the -MX factor, which reflects how thickness, mass, and chemical structure resist to some extent the radiation damage) As an example, foxholes might only protect troops about 20-30 percent better than soldiers standing in an open field.
The last US neutron bomb (W79 Mod 0) was reportedly dismantled years ago, further making the Iraqi claim suspect. France has discontinued making neutron bombs, and China reportedly has the technology to make such weapons.
As tritium used in the neutron bombs has a half-life of 12.3 years, it is still theoretically possible to conduct a scientific examination of the alleged neutron bombing site to gather evidence.
It seems to me that this would be something more properly done by the IAEA, or similar authority, with an expertise in weapons with radioactive components. Certainly, Scott Ritter would be an excellent person to ask about such claims.
If a neutron bomb was used, even for “experimental purposes,” it would be hard to justify from a strategic military viewpoint. Such weapons were contemplated for use against Soviet conventional armor, such as T-72 tanks, where the Soviets had a large strategic advantage by the sheer number of armor that could be brought to bear against NATO forces. In Iraq, that was hardly the case, as much of Iraqi armor was destroyed or degraded in Gulf War I in 1990-1991. Even more compelling, use of neutron bombs was feared to drastically lower the threshold for nuclear retaliation (especially Mutually Assured Destruction or MAD), as it triggered a threshold for first-use of nuclear weapons, which provided justification for an opponent–at that time the Soviet Union–to legitimately reply with a large scale nuclear counter-attack, up to and including MAD. The tactical advantage of killing a few more tanks became overshadowed by the strategic disadvantage of triggering all out nuclear war, or, if you prefer, nuclear winter.
Given that Russia and China have vital strategic interests in the Black Sea, Iran, and India-Pakistan area, it seems unlikely that US generals would risk provoking a nuclear counter-strike, even if they had verbal assurances that these countries would not retaliate.
On the other hand, it has been demonstrated that the US has used phosphorous bombs in “shake and bake” artillery shellings. It may be that false claims of use of a neutron bomb might unfortunately take away some of the public outcry against the somewhat lesser war crime of using phosphorous bombs against humans.
Serious claims need to be investigated, but this one seems to have failed the first test of public scrutiny. Proceed with an appropriate level of skepticism.