THE FLASHLIGHT, May 19-25, 2007

THE FLASHLIGHT, May 19-25, 2007
Iraq

Casualties
NYTimes. 5-19. In the first three months of 2007, the number of US military deaths was 244. In the same period 146 mercenaries (“private contractors”) died.
[see below].

The draft oil law
Christian Science Monitor 5-19. Rep. Joe Sestak (D.), former admiral and defense advisor in the Clinton Administration, said that US oil companies had undue influence in drafting the oil [hydrocarbon] law, and that its passage should not be a benchmark for the Iraqi government. The draft oil law has not yet even been sent to the Iraqi Parliament. The draft includes the provision that foreign partners should be included in the proposed Iraqi federal oil and gas council which would regulate the industry.

The Fate of Iraqi Christians

Az-Zaman 5-23. About 250,000 native Iraqi Christians have fled the country. Of the 35,000 Christian inhabitants of Baghdad, only 400 remain. Most of the churches are closed. None of the authorities, American, Iraqi or those outside Iraq, are making any effort to protect them. Those remaining are pressured either to emigrate or to convert to Islam. ]

Mercenaries in Iraq

Jerry Scahill, author of Blackwater (New York, Norton, 2007) has collected the little that is known about mercenary operations in Iraq and elsewhere. Blackwater is the name of the private company thought to be the largest and most powerful mercenary outfit. From a data base of 21,000 members, it has 2,300 private soldiers currently deployed in nine countries and owns 20 airplanes. The US government has given it legal immunity from prosecution, and not one of its members has been prosecuted for a crime. It has provided private guards to all US ambassadors in Iraq. They are not under any government oversight and have no accountability. They also engage in “black op” covert operations which may involve heinous crimes.
In 2003 Blackwater guards earned $300 a day. The next year, working on their contract with the State Department, they earned $600 a day. Now these private guards earn $1000 to $2000 a day. Their annual salaries are in six figures.
Currently there are c. 20,000 mercenaries in Iraq accounting for about 30% of the “reconstruction” budget. [This includes both Blackwater and other mercenaries.] They do not make available any records and are not accountable to the public.
Mercenaries are being recruited mainly from retired “special operations” veterans: Delta Forcers, Navy Seals, Green Berets, Rangers, etc.
Blackwater was founded in 1996 by Erik Prince, who inherited a fortune of $1.3 billion from his industrialist father. He is a radical rightist “Christian” who began as a Calvinist and converted to Roman Catholicism. The headquarters of Blackwater, Inc. is in rural Moyock, N.C.

Lebanon

NYTimes 5-21. When an Islamic extremist group in Tripoli, Northern Lebanon, tried to rob a bank, it was thwarted and fighting broke out between extremists and the Lebanon Army. The extremists call their organization Fatah al-Islam and are thought to include 150-200 members, led by Shakir al-Absi. They say that they are ideologically sympathetic to al-Qaida. Their headquarters is in the Nahr al-Barid Palestinian refugee camp northeast of Tripoli, but most Palestinian groups disavow them. The Lebanese Army has surrounded the Nahr al-Barid and also the Ain al-Hilwa camp near Sidon in southern Lebanon. The group claimed responsibility for two bombings in Beirut.
So far there are 70 known dead from the fighting.
The leaders of Hizbollah have made no comment. They are Shia, al-Qaida is Sunni. The leader of the present government majority in the Lebanese Parliament is Sa’ad Hariri, a Sunni Muslim billionaire. Northern Lebanon is “his” territory.

US Politics
Despite pressure from the anti-war movement, the Democratic leaders in Congress caved, and voted for supplementary financing of the Iraq War without any schedule for troop withdrawal. Presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards condemned this action and said Democrats should stand their ground and stop funding the War. Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama voted against the bill. The money that was approved this time will only last until fall.

Personal
Mary Cheney, daughter of the Vice-President, has given birth to a boy.

The next issue of THE FLASHLIGHT will appear on June 15.

THE FLASHLIGHT, May 12-18, 2007

THE FLASHLIGHT, May 12-18, 2007

War against Terror

NY Times. David Brooks. 5-18. A new book by John Robb, Brave New World, reports that guerrillas around the globe are decentralized, but share information and learn from each other. Their aim is disrupt large political systems at little cost to themselves. The top-heavy bureaucratic nation state is relatively inefficient in its learning system.

U.S. Political News

NY Times 5-13. In an op-ed piece Frank Rich says that Republicans have little to sell. He shows how one federal department after another is dysfunctional because Bush, on the advice of Karl Rove, has appointment loyalists to run them, regardless of competence or ethics. Four inspectors general, who are responsible for overseeing administrative departments, are themselves under investigation, an all time record. The Republican Congressional leaders overspent on pork barrel legislation to buy the votes of Congressmen. In addition, no-bid contractors have sabotaged reconstruction in Iraq. Science has been politicized in government operations, especially in the Federal Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.

An Independent Party?

CBS 5-13. Senator and Viet Nam veteran Chuck Hagel (R.) and Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City have discussed running on an Independent party ticket to attract threatened Republicans who no longer support Pres. Bush. [This may be intended only to pressure the Adminstration to withdraw from Iraq.]

Immigration Bill

CNN 5-17. A bipartisan proposal to settle the immigration problem has been drawn up by Ted Kennedy, John McCain et al. and has the support of the President. It would allow illegal immigrants to win citizenship by paying a fine of $5,000, learning English, staying on the right side of US law, et al. The Border Patrol would be expanded by 18,000.

Wolfowitz and Gonzales

CNN 5-17. Paul Wolfowitz has resigned as President of the World Bank as of June 30. The vote of the Board of the Bank made this inevitable.

NYTimes 5-18. All the leading members of the Senate Judicial Committee support a no-confidence vote in Attorney General Gonzales. It will be held next week. The case of the fired federal attorneys general has grown increasingly smelly.

Al Gore

Gore appeared on the cover of TIME the past week. People continue to talk about him running for President. His new book, Assault on Reason, will be published soon. Amazon offers a discount on a pre-publication order.

THE FLASHLIGHT, May 5-11, 2007

THE FLASHLIGHT, May 5-11, 2007

[This week’s news suggests that we are at the beginning of the end game in Iraq. The Shiites are collecting arms from Iran. The Sunnis anticipate help from Egyptian and Saudi troops. There is no sign of significant reduction in violence since the number of US troops increased in Iraq. The Maliki government is planning to decamp to Europe for the summer. Both a majority of Iraqis and Americans want US troops to be withdrawn from Iraq. The Army and Marine Corps are almost out of new recruits. M. Matossian, ed.]

The Iraq War

5-4. NY Times. Senators Hillary Clinton and Robert Byrd introduced a bill to reverse the 2002 Congressional authorization for the use of force in Iraq, as of next Oct. 11. Sen. Obama supports them.
5-6. NYTimes. A well-organized anti-war coalition in the US, which includes MoveOn.org and some elements of organized labor, is fine-turned to wrestle members of Congress into place one by one. It approached Democratic Congressional leaders with the message that if they waver and pass a war funding bill that contains no measures to end the war, then the party unity which they have so expertly built will “immediately disappear.” Tom Mazzie, leader of this coalition, said, “The central strategy is to create a toxic environment for people who want to continue this debacle.”

5-6 NBC. Only 27% of Americans approve Bush policy in Iraq. Both Republicans and Democrats now speak of September as a deadline for the Iraqi government to complete its tasks: dissolve the militias, and amend the constitution to allow former Baath Party leaders [mostly Sunni] to participate in politics.

5-9. Az-Zaman, Baghdad. The Iraqi press reports a secret visit of Vice President Cheney to Baghdad, during which he told the leaders of the government that the patience of Pres. Bush and the Republican and Democratic leaders is running out with the Iraqi government, which has failed to dissolve sectarian militias and reconcile with the Baathists. He condemned the decision of the government to take a two-month recess this summer. Cheney told them to cancel the vacation.

5-10. NBC. Eleven Republican Congressmen had a meeting with Pres. Bush, Sec. Gates, Sec. Rice, Karl Rove et al. in the White House, where they berated the President for his Iraq position They told the White House that it has no more credibility left and that Gen. Petraeus was the only one to whom people would listen.

5-11. W Post. The US House passed a bill to fund the Iraq War only until mid-July, with less than half the money requested by the President. Bush again threatened a veto. The Democratic leaders said that they will not renew funding after mid-July unless there are clear signs of progress on the ground.

5-10 W. Post. Tony Blair resigned as Prime Minister of England as of June 27.after ten years of service,

France

5-7. NY Times. Nicholas Sarkozy of the Centrist Gaullist Party run the election for President of France by a margin of 53-47. Sarkozy is the grandson of Sephardic Jew of Hungary who converted to Roman Catholicism. His father was a minor Hungarian aristocrat who left the family with Nicholas was five. His mother was a lawyer of Greek descent. He was trained as a lawyer and at the age of 28 was elected as mayor of a town. As Interior Minister in 2002 he was a severe law and order man. The Times described him as a polarizing, “whirling dervish of ideas” and a risk taker. He plans to deal with unemployment and stagnant wages by shaking up the French economy much as Margaret Thatcher did to the British economy and increasing participation in world trade.

Quotable Quips

Comedy Central, on the disclosure of a high-class prostitution ring in Washington, “The Beltway has become unbuckled.”

Jane Fonda, appearing on the Steven Colbert Show, The President appears to be afraid of a premature evacuation.”

THE FLASHLIGHT, April 28 - May 4, 2007

THE FLASHLIGHT, April 28 – May 4, 2007

Iraq
CNN 4-30. Corruption in Iraq has cost the US taxpayers $5 billion dollars a year, according to a US government inspector. The money that the US allocated for construction has all been spent, and now the Iraqis will have to take over.

NYTimes 5-3. The new oil law, drawn up mainly by Americans, has not yet been debated in the Iraqi Parliament. The Kurds oppose it because they want the right to issue licenses independently to foreign developers of their choice. Added “annexes” would essentially cede control of nearly all known oil fields and related contracts to a state-owned oil company to be established after the passage of the oil law. A bloc of 44 Sunni members of Parliament think that the law would give foreign oil companies too large a role in the oil industry.

Turkey

CNN 5-1. The secular elite of Turkey has succeeded in preventing the Presidential candidacy of Foreign Minister Gul, an associate of the Islamist prime minister Erdogan, The Turkish Supreme Court cancelled the candidacy.. This provoked . 7000 to riot in Istanbul.

US Economy

CNN 4-27. The US economy grew only by 1% in the last quarter of 2006 – the worst rate in five years.
NBC 4-28. Inequality continues to increase. In 1991, the top 1% of earners received 15% of the national income. Now they received 22% of the total. The high stock prices reflect the gains of the companies who now export.
The Dow Jones Index hit a high of 13,136.

US Politics

NYTimes 4-28. According to David Brooks, conservative columnist, the Grand Old Party has become the Grim Old Party. Democrats are now favored by the public on all issues, including foreign policy. In the area of political identity, the Democrats are now crushing the Republicans in the under 30 age group. Republican officeholders are sullen and passive. They lack flexibility because of the power of big special interest groups: notably The Club For Growth, Americans for Tax Reform, and the religious fundamentalists.

4-30 Progressive Democrats of America press release. At the California State Democratic Party convention held in San Diego Progressives led a successful insurgency to invoke the misdeeds of the US President and Vice-President and to ask that they be subject to the appropriate remedies, including impeachment. Among their charges were the suspension of habeas corpus and the issuing of signing statements circumventing 750 Congressional statutes.
The California Democratic Party convention supported John Edwards for US President. [This press release received scant attention in the press.]

CBS 4-29, George Tenet, former director of the CIA, has published a book of memoirs in which he accuses the Bush Administration, especially Cheney, of starting the war in Iraq by cooking the intelligence books. Tenet said he was never present at a serious discussion as to whether or not the war ought to be undertaken. The CIA knew that Saddam had no nuclear weapons and had no hope of getting them until 2007 at least.
A number of journalists commented that Tenet did not speak up when it would have made a difference. He did not oppose the war either within the Administration or by resigning and speaking out in public.

Capital Sex

Guardian 5-1. A Capital madam who has been arrested is charged with running an “escort service” offering “massages” for the last thirteen years. The madam employed 132 woman, all college graduates, out of her home in California for a total of over 15,000 clients, according to her phone records. The agency charged $300 a hour for their services.

Scientist on Religious Education

The Skeptical Inquirer March-April 2007. Richard Dawkins, famous Oxford University defender of evolutionary theory and atheist, said that religious education is a form of “brainwashing and child abuse.”