The Flashlight, Sept. 21-28, 2007

THE FLASHLIGHT, September 22-28, 2007

Iraq
PBS 9-21. The State Department has begun a full investigation of security contractors in Iraq. 9-27. NY Times. Accusations of irresponsible violence are twice as frequent against
Blackwater USA as against other contractors in Iraq.
Comedy Central TV 9-21. Steven Colbert suggested that Blackwater change its name to Drinking Water in order to make itself more acceptable to the Iraqis. He “praised” Market Forces in Iraq which have given the Iraqis al-Qaeda, the Mahdi army, the Sunni insurgents, and now Blackwater. “Never have the Iraqis had so much choice of ways to get killed.”
PBS 9-26. Defense Secretary Gates said there are 7300 security contractor personnel in Iraq.

Iran
CNN 9-24, a.m. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican leader, condemned Columbia University for allowing President Ahmedinejad of Iran to speak there. President Ahmedinejad was also invited to New York to speak to the UN General Assembly. The Senator called him a “megalomaniac with a megaphone.”

NYTimes 9-25. Helene Cooper reporting. [She was born in Monrovia Liberia, is a naturalized US citizen, and has many years of experience reporting on the Middle East. FCNL in Washington refers Friends to her column, “Just World News”. She was hired by the New York Times in 2006.]
The President of Columbia, Lee Bollinger, introduced Pres. Ahmedinejad with a ten minute speech in which he called his guest a “petty and cruel dictator.” He deplored the latter’s denial of the Holocaust. He said that Iran was a sponsor of state terrorism and is fighting a proxy war against the US in Iraq. He said that Iran failed to adhere to international standards for disclosure for its nuclear program.
For this Pres. Bollinger received much applause. The reporter estimated that 70% of the audience was hostile to Ahmedinejad, and 30% friendly.
Ahmedinejad began by saying that “In Iran tradition requires that when you invite a person to be a speaker, we actually respect our students enough to allow them to make their own judgment and don’t think it’s necessary, before the speech is even given, to come in with a series of complaints to provide vaccination to the students and faculty.”
On nuclear weapons he said, “If you have created the fifth generation of atomic bombs and are testing them already, who are you to question those who just want nuclear power?”
He said that Iran could not recognize Israel “because it is based on ethnic discrimination, occupation, and usurpation and it consistently threatens its neighbors.”
He called 9/11 a “tragic event.”
He said that even if the Holocaust did occur, the Palestinians should not pay the price for it.
When Dean John Coatsworth told Ahmedinejad to stop rambling and dodging, and to answer questions yes or no, the latter said, “Is the Palestine issue not a question of importance? Yes or no?” For that he got a round of student applause.
NY Times 9-25 Editorial. “We are dismayed by the behavior of some of New York’s democratically elected representatives who denounced and threatened Columbia University for inviting the Iranian leader to speak there yesterday.” The Timees said that he New York Sun reported that Sheldon Silver, Speaker of the New York State Assembly, had warned that legislators “might now take a different view of the capital support it provides to Columbia.”

Myanmar (Burma)
ABC 9-24. Buddhist monks are leading a revolution against the military junta that seized power nineteen years ago. The c. 100,000 demonstrators are unarmed. PBS 9-26. Armed repression has begun, with killings and arrests.
CNN and PBS 9-27. The military junta has arrested hundreds of monks et al., and today other dissidents and students demonstrated in their place. Tear gas and gunfire have been used to clear the streets. There are calls for the release of Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1991, under house arrest for twelve years. No tally of casualties is available. No journalists are allowed into Burma. An anonymous European diplomat said that army violence is escalating. So far international pressure against the junta is ineffective.

United States CNN 9-21. Dr. Sanjay Gupta campaigned against the US “Killer Diet”, which is heavy on fats and carbohydrates. He blamed the federal government for subsidizing corn and soy bean growers instead of producers of fruits and vegetables. Corn is used to make corn syrup, a widely used sweetener, and soy beans are used to produce trans-fats, which are bad for the circulatory system.

9-21 CNN. Senators Feinstein and Lugar proposed a new diplomatic effort to broker peace in Israel/Palestine [The Holy Land]. [FCNL supports their resolution, SR 321].

NYTimes 9-22. At Stanford University a coalition of professors, staff, students, and alumni – 2100 so far – protested the appointment of Donald Rumsfeld as a distinguished fellow of the Hoover Institution. They said that the appointment is incompatible with the ethical values of truthfulness, tolerance, disinterested inquiry, and concern for the opinions, property, and lives of others.
[In the picture that accompanied this story we see our own Professor Eric Roberts!]

NY Times 9-25. The Bush Administration invited Syria to the Middle East peace meeting in November.

PBS 9-21. Ken Burns introduced his new fifteen-part series on World War II. He said that this supposed “good” war was actually horrible, the worst ever.

CNN 9-25. Warren Jepps, polygamist leader in Arizona/Utah, was found guilty of being an accessory to rape. He forced a fourteen year old girl to marry her nineteen year old cousin against her wishes. Jepps may get a life sentence.

NYTimes 9-26. The Episcopal Bishops of the US rejected the demands by leaders of the Anglican Communion with regard to the status of homosexuals. [There is an openly gay US Episcopal bishop, Gene Robinson, who is unacceptable to African Anglicans.]

The Flashlight, September 15-21, 2007

THE FLASHLIGHT, Sept. 15-21, 2007

Iraq: Blackwater at Bay

PBS 9-17, CNN 9-18, NYTimes 9-19, 9-21. After a shooting in An-Nisour Square in downtown Baghdad in which the security company Blackwater USA killed between 8 and 20 Iraqi civilians, the Maliki government has demanded the termination of all operations of the company in Iraq. This company is responsible for providing bodyguards for the 600 US diplomats residing in the Green Zone. As a result, the US suspended diplomatic movement outside the Zone. Maliki has demanded that all foreign security companies in Iraq should leave, to be replaced by Iraqi security companies. Most of the private security contractors in Iraq now are Iraqis.
The present scandal began when a convoy of cars guarded by Blackwater arrived at the square and found their way blocked by a car with a young couple and baby inside. The driver had not obeyed the police order to empty the square, and was apparently confused. The policeman on duty told the American convoy to stop, but instead they shot at the car, and set it on fire, killing all three within. Then more shots were fired. Blackwater claimed the convoy had been ambushed.
Since the US occupation of Iraq began in 2003, American security companies have operated there with immunity to prosecution under Iraqi law. Blackwater is notorious for shooting first, thinking later. This latest incident, in front of the headquarters of the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, has outraged the Iraqis.

US News

CNN 9-18. Rep. John Murtha, D., predicted that in January or February, after the primary elections, more Republicans will join the Democrats in their attempts to stop the Iraq War. As it is, the Democrats are getting nowhere in the Senate because not enough Republicans will vote with them to reach a majority of 60 (for debate) or 67 (to override a veto).

NYTimes 9-17. Pres. Bush nominated Michael Mukasy, a retired federal judge, as Attorney General. He is expected to be confirmed.

The Flashlight, Sept. 8-14, 2007

THE FLASHLIGHT, September 8-14, 2007

Iraq

NBC 9-9. Senator Biden said that security gains in Iraq had no impact on sectarian violence or political reconciliation. Iraq should be divided into three parts: a unity government is impossible. But he said that cutting off further funding for the Iraq War would not stop it, because it has already been fully funded until the end of Bush’s term. To end the war would require 67 votes in the Senate.

CNN 9-9. David Gergen criticized Ambassador Ryan Crocker for failing to acknowledge the failure of the Maliki government to meet the benchmarks set by Congress.

PBS 9-10. Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D. Calif.) said that you cannot win an occupation. There is still no political solution in Iraq.

CNN 9-10. Michael Ware on the ground in Iraq said that Iran is now the focus of US efforts, rather than al-Qaida.

CNN 9-13. Sen. Jack Reed, Democratic spokesman responding to the latest speech of Pres. Bush, said that 1) the mission in Iraq must scaled down 2) Since no political solution has been found, the troops must be brought home. The President’s speech was relentlessly optimistic.

NYTimes 9-14. Editorial. Bush refuses to admit failure, envisions unlimited commitment of US forces in Iraq.
Paul Krugman. Smart money knows that Iraq is going to split up and will not survive as a nation. A friend of Bush, Ray Hunt, oilman from Dallas, has signed a contract with the Kurds. Krugman thinks that Bush realizes that the surge has failed and the war is lost, yet he is trying to cover it up, minimizing failures, exaggerating minor successes. moving goalposts, He seems to be planning to turn the war over to the Democrats in 2009, forcing them to end it and take the blame for the failure. Republicans will then say that the Democrats stabbed the nation in the back.


US News

CNN 9-7. The epidemic which is wiping out a high proportion of US honeybees is now thought to be caused by a virus contracted from Australian honeybees.

NYTimes 9-8. The mortgage crisis has begun to infect the whole US economy. Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, promised to propose “the mother of all tax reforms.”

CNN. 9-8. Chuck Hagel (R) announced he will not run again for the Senate or run for President in 2008. He is the third Republican to resign in the last three weeks.

CNN 9-12. Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia, announced he will run for the Senate seat to be vacated by John Warner (R) in 2008.

The Flashlight, Sept. 1-8, 2007

THE FLASHLIGHT, September 1-7, 2007

Iraq

CNN 8-31. According to the independent General Accounting Office report, the Maliki government has achieved only 3 of the 18 benchmarks specified by Congress. The Sunnis have pulled out of Parliament and there is war among the tribes.

NBC 9-2. 72% of Americans are against continuing the war in Iraq even if reports in September are positive. Chris Matthews described military operations as occurring in a whack-a-mole situation: you suppress violence in one area and it pops out in another. However, the panel of reports on his program doubted that the Republicans would desert Bush on end the war if there were any positive military developments.

CNN 9-3. Michael Ware, star reporter, commented on the sudden appearance of Bush in Anbar province, highlighting the new alliance of American soldiers with Sunni tribes vs. al-Qaeda. Ware said that the surge has fallen short and political developments are very bad. He said the Sunni tribes will work with the US but not the Maliki government, which is based on Shia militias.

CNN 9-3. The leading Democratic candidates for president are saying that if elected, on the first day in office, if there are still troops in Iraq, they will order them out.

CNN 9-4. The Iraqi government has failed on all the most important measures of success: disarming mlitias, preparing Iraqi security forces, ending sectarian violence. Therefore, the surge has failed.

Newsweek, 9-10.The Shia now dominate Baghdad, and there is little chance of reversal

PBS 9-6. An independent group commissioned by Congress to assess Iraqi military and police capabilities, reported that the national police should be disbanded because they are 85% Shia and have a strong sectarian bias.
The group said that the Iraqi Army is improving, but won’t be able to control the national situation for 12 to 18 months.

NYTimes 9-7 Paul Krugman said that no independent assessment has concluded that violence in Iraq is down. Measured accurately, the number of civilian deaths is double the rate of last year. There is no decline in the average number of daily attacks.

Germany

German security forces have exposed a plot to attack US bases in Germany and the German International Airport. The conspirators were two German converts to Islam and a Turk. They were trained in Pakistan. `

US Politics

CNN 8-31. Senator John Warner announced that this is his last term in the Senate. He is 80 years old. Mark Warner, Democrat ex-governor of Virginia, would be a strong candidate to replace him.

CNN 9-1. Senator Larry Craig, Republican, of Idaho, resigned his seat in the Senate after pleading guilty to a charge of soliciting sex with an undercover cop in the Minneapolis airport bathroom. Sen. Craig is well known for his attacks on gay rights. The Republican National Committee asked him to resign.

CNN 9-6 Fred Thompson entered the presidential race as a conservative Republican. He is six feet six inches tall and an accomplished actor. He supports a continued stay of US forces in Iraq, no elimination of tax cuts for the wealthy, and some privatization of social security. He is criticized by his rivals Giuliani and Romney for his lack of executive experience.