September 2007 archive

First, second, and third grade. We lived in an apartment and I shared a bedroom with my two sisters. The school yard was behind us and there was a hill, smooth and worn as the spot on poppy’s leg, where his hair was gone. And to the right as you went up the hill were the woods.

One of my goals in life at 7 or 8 or 9 was to ride a HORSE. Simple. Get on and take off. Not having a horse, I used to be one, in the school yard. Snorting, pawing the dirt, galloping and then running, and trying to run so fast that I’d gather up everything I had to break through the very skin holding me in…

If we weren’t in the school yard, we’d be in the wood. The trees would take us in, sharing their shadow and the sunlight. We’d play hide and seek, look for pieces of glass from discarded beer bottles, pick up rocks, and use sticks as swords.

A very special day!  A very important day!  It’s the birthday of Jay Ward.  Well, he’s not around to enjoy it, sadly.  He would have been 87 today.  But we can celebrate…the only way possible…with two whole episodes of…

RICHARD PRATT — “KILL THE INDIAN, SAVE THE MAN”

Source

As we have taken into our national family seven millions of Negroes, and as we receive foreigners at the rate of more than five hundred thousand a year, and assimilate them, it would seem that the time may have arrived when we can very properly make at least the attempt to assimilate our two hundred and fifty thousand Indians, using this proven potent line, and see if that will not end this vexed question and remove them from public attention, where they occupy so much more space than they are entitled to either by numbers or worth.

Whadda y’all think of this email from John Conyers?  Is he following protocol and hoping to catch them up or wait for the WH/DOJ to refuse to prosecute?  Or is he blowing more smoke up our akoles? 

This is an OPEN THREAD. Here are four stories in the news at 4 o’clock to get you started. He who speaks the truth better have one foot in the stirrup.

1. You want to know how special Blackwater is to the Bush administration? Then read ‘Where Military Rules Don’t Apply‘ by Steve Fainaru of the Washington Post:

   Blackwater USA, the private security company involved in a Baghdad shootout last weekend, operated under State Department authority that exempted the company from U.S. military regulations governing other security firms, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials and industry representatives.

   In recent months, the State Department’s oversight of Blackwater became a central issue as Iraqi authorities repeatedly clashed with the company over its aggressive street tactics. Many U.S. and Iraqi officials and industry representatives said they came to see Blackwater as untouchable, protected by State Department officials who defended the company at every turn. Blackwater employees protect the U.S. ambassador and other diplomats in Iraq.

   Blackwater “has a client who will support them no matter what they do,” said H.C. Lawrence Smith, deputy director of the Private Security Company Association of Iraq, an advocacy organization in Baghdad that is funded by security firms, including Blackwater.

   The State Department allowed Blackwater’s heavily armed teams to operate without an Interior Ministry license, even after the requirement became standard language in Defense Department security contracts. The company was not subject to the military’s restrictions on the use of offensive weapons, its procedures for reporting shooting incidents or a central tracking system that allows commanders to monitor the movements of security companies on the battlefield.

   “The Iraqis despised them, because they were untouchable,” said Matthew Degn, who recently returned from Baghdad after serving as senior American adviser to the Interior Ministry. “They were above the law.” Degn said Blackwater’s armed Little Bird helicopters often buzzed the Interior Ministry’s roof, “almost like they were saying, ‘Look, we can fly anywhere we want.’ “

   Please take the time to read this whole piece. There is a lot of information contained in it, including:

   • “We will not allow Iraqis to be killed in cold blood… There is a sense of tension and anger among all Iraqis, including the government, over this crime.” — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

   • “They are part of the reason for all the hatred that is directed at Americans, because people don’t know them as Blackwater, they know them only as Americans… They are planting hatred, because of these irresponsible acts.” — an Iraqi Interior Ministry official BEFORE the shootout.

   • Coalition Provisional Authority administrator Paul Bremer issued the ‘above the law order’ on June 27, 2004, the day before he left Iraq.

   • Blackwater’s tactics are “obviously condoned by State and it’s what State expects”. — Jack Holly, a retired Marine colonel who oversees several private security firms as director of logistics for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

   • “Blackwater has no respect for the Iraqi people… They consider Iraqis like animals, although actually I think they may have more respect for animals. We have seen what they do in the streets. When they’re not shooting, they’re throwing water bottles at people and calling them names. If you are terrifying a child or an elderly woman, or you are killing an innocent civilian who is riding in his car, isn’t that terrorism?” — Iraqi Interior Ministry official.

2. In other Blackwater massacre news — Ned Parker of the Los Angeles Times reports Maliki insists U.S. find new guard firm. “‘This crime has inflamed contempt, hatred and anger both from the government and the Iraqi public,’ Maliki said. ‘Hence, it is important that this company’s activities be frozen and the American Embassy invest in the services of another one.’ ¶ Maliki reiterated that a preliminary investigation by the Iraqi government found that a Blackwater security detail had fired without provocation Sunday at a traffic circle in Baghdad’s Mansour district. As of Wednesday, 11 Iraqi citizens had died as a result of the shooting, Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said.” The Washington Post confirms that Maliki is calling the Blackwater massacre a crime. According to the House Oversight Committee’s website, Chairman Henry Waxman has “invited” Erik Prince, Blackwater USA Chairman to testify before the committee on October 2, 2007. While Reuters reports that the U.S. says Blackwater still under contract in Iraq. “Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said the personnel involved in the incident would not leave Iraq before the investigation yielded results. ‘(Blackwater) are still here and still under contract from the State Department,’ she said. ‘Since they support chief personnel movement and we are not moving, there is no activity from Blackwater at the moment’ ¶ Nantongo said the joint Iraqi-U.S. commission would consist of eight members on each side. The U.S. mission’s charge d’affairs would head the U.S. side whilst Iraq’s defense minister would head the Iraqi side.” Oh, and adding to Secretary Condoleezza Rice’s apology on Blackwater’s behalf, BBC News reports that George W. Bush saddened by Baghdad shootout. “Obviously to the extent innocent life was lost, I’m saddened. Our objective is to protect innocent life… I want to find out the facts about exactly what took place there,” he said. AFP reports more of Bush’s remarks, “The folks like Blackwater who provide security for the State Department are under rules of engagement. In other words, they have certain rules. And this commission will determine whether or not they violated those rules.” (The White House has Bush’s press conference transcript available. On a semi-related note, Bush thinks the MoveOn Petraeus ad was “disgusting”.)

3. Reuters reports that oil hits high over $82. “Oil hit a fresh record for the seventh session in a row on Thursday as companies shut Gulf of Mexico production on forecasts a tropical depression blowing through the region would become a storm. ¶ U.S. crude gained 11 cents to $82.04 a barrel at 1649 GMT after hitting an all-time high of $82.55 earlier.” While The New York Times reports the Euro has reached an all-time high against dollar. “The world dumped the dollar today, pushing it to an all-time low of $1.40 against the euro and to parity with the Canadian dollar for the first time in three decades as currency traders around the world digested the full implications of the Federal Reserve’s new course for interest rates.” And The Telegraph reports that Saudi Arabia might end its dollar peg. “Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East… ¶ The Saudi central bank said today that it would take “appropriate measures” to halt huge capital inflows into the country, but analysts say this policy is unsustainable and will inevitably lead to the collapse of the dollar peg. ¶ As a close ally of the US, Riyadh has so far tried to stick to the peg, but the link is now destabilising its own economy.” And, if Americans weren’t already screwed — the world is as well. The Independent reports that it is ‘Too late to avoid global warming‘ and AFP adds climate change is worse than feared.

4. Finally, for all you Al Gore fans, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Gore is said It’s all up to you on Kyoto. “The former US vice-president Al Gore says a change of policy by Australia to support the Kyoto Protocol would be the final nail in the coffin of the Bush Administration’s opposition to the climate change treaty. ¶ Addressing a $1000-a-head business lunch at Darling Harbour, Mr Gore used one of his favourite lines – describing Australia and the US as ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ environmental outlaws – as he launched a passionate attack on the climate policies of John Howard and George Bush. He called on Australia to change course, saying if it did, ‘it would be impossible for the United States to withstand the pressure‘ to join the rest of the world in ratifying Kyoto. ¶ Mr Gore made his highly charged remarks, given the lead-up to the federal election, after reporters were asked to leave the room where the luncheon was being held… ¶ In the closed section of the lunch, Mr Gore partially endorsed remarks by the former head of the US Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, that the Iraq war was about oil. ¶ Mr Hawke asked Mr Gore about Dr Greenspan’s remarks, which caused political ructions in the US and forced a partial retraction by the former bank chief. ‘Was oil a big part of? Of course,’ Mr Gore said, but there were other reasons, including Saddam Hussein’s past as ‘a brutal dictator’.””

One more story below the fold…