Preznit Bush Gets Univerisity Degree!

Slumming in Bush for President land I started looking in the Education section's photogallery and ran across the following picture and original caption slavishly reproduced below. Please note the irony of the edjumuhkayshun President receiving a (sic)univerisity degree (probably changed by now)


President Bush embraces LSU Chairman Robert Ogden after receiving
an honorary doctorate of science at the univerisity's commencement
ceremony in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Thank you Doctor Bush.

(technical note: the caption beneath the picture might not show up using Mozilla 1.6)

What with all of the rumblings about the calling up of the IRR (Individual Ready Reserve) and the probability of a draft if the Chimp gets re-elected, time for this librarian to make a reading recommendation. You might be able to find this great out of print work at your local library. I have a personally autographed and inscribed first edition straight from Sherry's hand:

Hell no, we won't go! : resisting the draft during the Vietnam War by Sherry Gershon Gottlieb. New York, N.Y. : Viking, c1991. (ISBN: 0670839353)



And here's my amazon.com review from May 16, 2000 for good measure:

Bad timing in publishing

Yup. Another review of a book no one read (but should have). If I remember right, Sherry's bad luck was having this book published simultaneously with the onset of the Gulf (not)War. This book was poised for moderate success when WHAMMO! America's jingoistic instincts rose up with the Gulf (not)War and no one wanted to hear about how to NOT be sent off to kill our pigment enriched brethren. Anyway, this book contains an excellent cross section of attitudes about not getting drafted, including a very direct and cogent essay by Muhammad Ali. Generally, this is a mix of interesting and amusing anecdotes involving everything from peanut butter to letting animal scratches fester before you take your physical. The author spent a lot of time and effort on this book and it is a crime that it didn't sell better.

Operation Stir da Poo

Commenting on other blogs, I ran across this interesting photo on the web site of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade out of Wiesbaden (Col. Thomas M. Pappas was placed in command of the MP's at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq):

Original Link

http://www.205mi.wiesbaden.army.mil/images/HHDKuwaitPics/20Apr03/CPTPOO.jpg

Jimmy Kimmel Knows Whom to Hire

Joe Hagan's weekly column in The New York Observer (Wednesday, May 12, 2004) brings to light the activities of writer Joe Barbieri of the late night Jimmy Kimmel Show. Seems Barbieri plays a recurring character, "Michael Jackson superfan, Joe Byrd" who was quoted in the May 1, 2004 New York Times.

"He might dance on the S.U.V. again," The Times quoted Mr. Byrd as saying. "When Michael moves, it’s always a dance."

The NYT posted a correction regarding the fictitious Mr. Byrd some days later, though Hagan notes the eds. were a bit miffed.

The writers for The Times, of course, were less than amused. "I didn’t find his stunt particularly amusing," said Mr. Broder. "I don’t particularly appreciate people misrepresenting themselves. We take quite seriously what we put into the newspaper, as the editor’s note would indicate. I’m sure someone thinks it’s funny, but we didn’t."

So called liberal media.

When asked if "Byrd" saw the correction:

"He doesn’t get The Times," said Mr. Barbieri. "He subscribes to a lot of Michael Jackson fanzines and Soldier of Fortune."

Jeebus says "carry on."

The Technical Term for People Like Rush Limbaugh: shithead

Brought to my attention via the new Media Matters web site, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) in the May 6, 2004 Congressional Record, page S4981 does his bit to expose the cockroaches to the light (emphasis mine):

But now we have to ask ourselves
how should we, as a people, react to
this? I am going to suggest one way we
should not react to this. I have in my
hand a transcript from a syndicated
radio program of May 4, by Rush
Limbaugh. Oh, he is well known around
Washington, around the world. I want
to read what Mr. Limbaugh said in reaction
to this scandalous episode involving
the torture and abuse of Iraqi
prisoners.

His caller, on May 4, asked as follows:
It was like a college fraternity prank that
stack up naked men.

And Mr. Limbaugh replied as follows:
Exactly. Exactly my point! This is no different
than what happens at skull and bones
initiation and we’re going to ruin people’s
lives over it and we’re going to hamper our
military effort, and then we are going to
really hammer them because they had a good
time. You know, these people are being fired
at every day. I’m talking about people having
a good time, these people, you ever heard
of emotional release?

Rush Limbaugh said in describing
the sadistic torture of Iraqi prisoners.
And then Mr. Limbaugh, in his infinite
wisdom, went on to say:
You ever heard of need to blow some steam
off?

Rush Limbaugh. I am embarrassed
that this man, who supposedly speaks
for so many people in America and is
listened to faithfully by so many people
in America, would be so callous, so
insensitive as to make those statements.
Trust me, they will be repeated,
not just on the floor of the Senate, but
around the world by our enemies as an
indication that we are not taking this
seriously.

Not only are dittoheads, wingnuts, and their ilk callous, their words have the actual potential of causing great harm to all involved in the various war adventures, be they THEM or US.

The technical term for people like Rush: shithead.

Sadness, Horror, Iraq

BBC just reporting the decapitation of American Nick Berg, aged 26 identified as a contractor. The killing is being reported as being in retaliation for maltreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Berg apparently owns a business, Prometheus Methods Tower Service, Inc. located in West Chester, PA.

At the Free Republic (Conservative News Forum) blog site, a "call to action" by A.N.S.W.E.R (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) includes a partial list of 2,000 endorsements labeled "Here is the Enemy", including this:

Michael S. Berg, Teacher, Prometheus Methods Tower Service, Inc., West Chester, PA

According to a cached AP article on iraq.net, Michael Berg is Nick's father.

Posted by: Editor on Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 09:14 PM
The Associated Press

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Nick Berg was on his way out of Iraq. He had been released from the prison where he had been held for 13 days by Iraqi police for reasons he said he did not know. He had made his way from Mosul to his Baghdad hotel. He was finished with being an independent civilian contractor and was coming home to West Chester.

That was April 9. A month later, Berg's parents, Michael and Suzanne, still haven't heard from him. They've gone from concerned to frantic.

"Our hopes are that he's still in hiding or en route and traveling in a very slow manner," Michael Berg said.

A spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq who tracks the number of civilians missing in that country was unavailable for comment. But in mid-April, coalition spokesman Dan Senor said during a news briefing in Baghdad that about 40 people from 12 countries were missing and presumed hostages.

Nick Berg, 26, owns a business called Prometheus Methods Tower Service Inc. He climbs communications towers to inspect the antennas, the electrical connections and the structure. He first went to Iraq on Dec. 21.

He stayed until Feb. 1, making contact with a company that indicated there would likely be work for him later. But he returned on March 14 and there was no work, so he began traveling. He usually called home once a day and e-mailed several times; Michael Berg is his business manager, and they needed to stay in touch.

They spoke on March 24, and Nick Berg told his parents he was coming home on March 30. Then the communications stopped, and he wasn't on the plane on March 30.

When FBI agents arrived at the Berg's West Chester home on March 31, they were relieved to know their son was alive, but in jail. The agents questioned them about various details that only they and their son would know about.

Jerri Williams, spokeswoman for the Philadelphia FBI office, said the agency was "asked to interview the parents regarding Mr. Berg's purpose in Iraq."

On April 5, the Bergs filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia, contending that their son was being held illegally by the U.S. military in Iraq.

The next day, April 6, Nick Berg was released. He told his parents he had been riding in a taxi on March 24 when he was arrested by Iraqi officials at a checkpoint in Mosul. He told his parents he had not been mistreated.

Nick Berg said he would come home through Jordan, Turkey or Kuwait. But by then, hostilities in Iraq had escalated, and Michael Berg said they have not heard from their son since.

The Bergs have hounded the State Department, the FBI and the International Committee of the Red Cross, seeking information. Michael Berg said the State Department sent an official to Nick Berg's hotel, where an employee told the official they had not heard of him.

The Bergs hired a private investigator, who talked to an American hotel guest who said he remembered Nick Berg.

Sometimes, they tell themselves their son "is a resourceful fellow who can take care of himself," Michael Berg said.

"Other times we think perhaps he was dead on April 10," he said. "My worst fear is that I'll never hear anything."

More Al Jazeera

Today's AJ article of choice comes from Reuters:

Speech Met With Disbelief

"After the torture and vile acts by the American army, President Bush goes out and congratulates Rumsfeld. It's just incredible. I am in total shock," said the editor of the influential Algerian national daily al-Watan.

But, of course, we don't care what "they" think, do we?

FYI, current AJ poll is Do you think the Bush administration has lost the plot in Iraq?

78 percent YES
17 percent NO
5 percent UNDECIDED

Whatever.

Al Jazeera

It will be interesting to see if any of the 27 (or is it 37?) out-sourced interrogators mentioned by Rumsfeld in his damage control session today before the Senate Armed Services Committee regarding the fiasco at Abu Ghuraib prison, or any other contractors, are Israeli. We'll be able to tell the veracity of this claim in today's English language Al Jazeera. Imagine the level of Islamic outrage worldwide if it turns out Israelis were involved.

Israeli lessons for the US in Iraq
by Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank
Thursday 06 May 2004 6:48 PM GMT

Thousands of Palestinians say they were tortured by Israel

The torturing of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghuraib prison by US occupying forces has shocked the world - but for most Palestinians they come as no surprise.

In fact, tens of thousands of Palestinians who have served time in Israeli prisons and detention centres see striking similarities between Israeli treatment of Palestinian prisoners and American treatment of Iraqi detainees.

In some cases, the torture technique or form of mistreatment is almost identical, some former Palestinian prisoners told Aljazeera.net.

Hisham Abd al-Razzaq is a Palestinian Authority minister in charge of overseeing and catering for more than 7000 Palestinian prisoners in Israel, many of them interned without charge or trial.

He believes that what the Americans are doing to the Iraqis amounts to a "carbon copy" of what the Israelis have been doing to the Palestinians.

"I am inclined to think that the Americans copied the Israeli techniques. I can’t prove it in an objective manner, but the striking similarities are overwhelming."

Abd al-Razzaq, who himself experienced many forms of torture during his lengthy imprisonment in an Israeli jail prior to the Oslo Accords in 1993, described physical and psychological torture as the "modus operandi" of Israeli treatment of Palestinian detainees.

Torture techniques

He said that the so-called hooding technique - whereby the detainee's head is covered with a rancid-smelling sack for weeks or months - was always "the first order of business" in Israeli interrogation centres.

"The hooding itself is not an interrogation method. Its purpose is not to extract confessions from the suspect, but rather to demoralise him and destroy his mental balance."

"The hooding itself is not an interrogation method. Its purpose is not to extract confessions from the suspect, but rather to demoralise him and destroy his mental balance"

Hisham Abd al-Razzaq,
Palestinian Authority minister

Abd al-Razzaq said that the filthy sack that he too was forced to wear was made up of three or four layers to make sure that the suspect "breathes the least possible amount of oxygen, enough to keep him or her alive".

In addition to the hooding, Israel, according to consistent reports by international human rights groups as well as testimonies by Palestinian detainees, continues to use harsh means of torture, both for extracting confessions and as a punishment for opposing the Israeli occupation.

These include, inter alia, brutal beating, (taltul) or violent shaking, forced-stripping, sleep deprivation (by playing extremely loud music inside a detainee’s cell), cold baths in winter, actual or threatened sexual abuse, as well as the notorious shabh technique whereby a suspect is tied tightly tied to a small chair, with his hands tied to his back, for weeks.

Similarity denied

Ofer Yisler, spokesman for the Israeli Prison Authority, vehemently denies any "similarity between our treatment of the Palestinians and what we have seen in Iraq".

"There is no comparison whatsoever, what the Americans did in Iraq is something entirely different."

Palestinians say the US learned
its torture tactics from Israel

But Yisler refused to comment on accusations that the hooding technique, the shabh, sleep deprivation and forced stripping were still being used by Israel. Yisler ended the interview and refused to answer further questions, insisting that written questions be submitted to his office.

Yisler’s reluctance to speak, however, seems to underscore Israel’s desire to stay away from the international outcry over what happened in Iraq.

But Israeli-Arab Knesset member Talab al-Sanai says Israel is indirectly but heavily involved in "the systematic mistreatment of Iraqi people at the hands of the American occupation troops".

Israeli experts

"It is not secret at all, there are many Israeli experts on torture in Iraq who are transferring to the Americans their accumulative experience of thirty seven years of torturing and mistreating Palestinians," al-Sanai told Aljazeera.net.

He said that American officers joined Israeli army units in Jenin several months ago for the purpose of learning Israeli methods and techniques of repressing civilians, which the Americans, he said, later applied in Iraq.

"It took Israel 37 years to develop and perfect these barbaric methods of repression and humiliation. Surprisingly, the Americans surpassed and outmatched the Israelis in their savagery in less than two years."

Al-Sanai condemned American behaviour in Iraq as "manifestly criminal", dismissing claims by the Bush administration that the torture incidents were isolated.

"Here in Israel, it is an ugly occupation, and Israel doesn’t make any pretensions about it. But in Iraq, the United States is murdering, humiliating, torturing and raping the Iraqis under the rubric of freedom and democracy…

"Perhaps this is what they really mean when they talk about freedom and democracy … namely, liberating the Iraqis from their dignity."

Aljazeera
By Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank

You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C182D988-28E3-4D48-ADFC-F15D6509B0EC.htm

Comments from the blogsophere

Blog postings from Atrios, Calpundit, et al are interesting, but the attached comments flesh things out so much more. A case in point is this comment posted on Calpundit's Washington Monthly blog:

This is on-topic and a bit off-topic but here goes:

Kevin, I don’t know if everyone will find the following either relevant or enlightening but thought I’d post it anyway. If it doesn’t fit then pull it but I thought some people would find it helpful. These are pieces of emails from three people that I know: S. is my God-daughter; she is with the Army in Baghdad as a communication specialist and was in the Balkans for almost two years. C. is a former housemate from college undergrad degree #2 for me; he is Hmoung and a businessman who travels the world. T. is also a former housemate (same time as C.) and we bonded because we were both older students. He was in school then between stints in the Army. T. has been just about everywhere the Army has been since the late seventies (Central America, Somalia, Grenada, Gulf War 1, etc.) and is ex-special forces. Now he is a self described ‘old man’ at the age of 45 and works for a contract group in Kuwait. He does not work for the firm that lost the four guys to the mob in Fallujah . His company supplies and guards pipe and other materials for oil and water plants for the rebuilding of Iraq. T. has been in Kuwait since last August, before that he spent four months in Afghanistan. I’ll post the emails from each person in the same order I used here. I have cut a lot of personal info including names, and anything that may hurt these people but I know that all three would be okay with my posting bits and pieces of email.

From S. 12/03/03

Uncle CJ. This place is so different from Europe. Most of the people that I have met seem grateful that we are here and helping rebuild. We have had our share of scary moments but don’t worry. Our support staff is wonderful and I’ve been invited to dinner with several of their families. The kids are adorable and I’d like to take about a 100 home with me. Can I send some to you? I’m picking up the language and customs pretty quick. Nothing like be thrown in the deep end of the pool to learn how to get along in a new place. We in the … are all fine and I have met quite a few people from Wisconsin and Illinois from other units. The joke is that a tough as things are here weather wise that they have no idea what Midwest winters are like. Hope to be home or on leave for next Xmas. More later. S.

From S. 2/27/04

Uncle CJ. Things are not going well here. All the work we have done to get to know the people here like we did in … (specific place in the Balkans) is going to waste. Many of our staff can’t even get to work each day. At night you hear gunfire all night long. It sucks now ‘cause I can’t go visit with all my Iraqi friends and the kids around the base are now scared of us or make rude gestures. The bombs and stuff have hurt three people in my unit since Xmas. Don’t worry about me. See you soon! S.

From C. 4/2704

CJ Just on my way back from KL (Kuala Lumpur) and in six months the attitude has changed. Glad I don’t look like I’m from the US for the first time in my life. People are pissed off. Went to the restaurant where we had the good food in ’02 and the wait staff was rude to our table because we had a couple of people who were obviously American. Unbelievable! The business and tech people were still very proper but on the streets it is not positive. Got to go my flight is being called. C.

From T. 12/18/03

CJ, Looks like another Christmas away from M. & the kids. But I have arranged that this summer we will meet in Europe for three weeks so maybe it will be okay. The pay on this job almost makes up for BS but with only one trip so far into Iraq I’m feeling okay about the danger. Tracking down parts for some of the equipment has been a pain and it is not cheap to get parts for outdated stuff. Some of the guys that are working for the security firms are cowboys but we have weeded them out of our group. The only one in my group who is at all like a cowboy is the Brit V. and that is I think from being former SAS and being young. He’ll learn or I’ll kick his ass out of here.

From T. 3/1/04

CJ, Things are not going good here. We lost three trucks last week and a shitload of needed parts. I have been along for two trips into Iraq now and it feels a lot like Mog did back before I headed home. We had some a-hole shoot at our group and for no reason that I could see other than we were just driving by this cluster of homes. Went all the way up to Baghdad on the second trip and it was hell. Roadblocks, tons of traffic, more gunshots at our group, and the little pukes from my old branch of the services were fucking rude to my people. At one roadblock I had to ask for an officer because they were not going to let a couple of my foreign drivers continue. The Sgt. in charge was not even born when I was a Sgt. and the kid gave me grief. No fucking respect for someone that he should have known to respect. Shit you should see how they treat ‘normal’ people. Makes me sick but I sure understand being afraid. When the Capt showed up he was real professional but I found out that these kids are very, very trigger happy. They think that every Iraqi is the bad guy. This whole thing has become a clusterfuck! How did this happen?

And this one I had in my inbox this morning:

From T.

CJ, As you may have heard some dumbfucks tortured prisoners up in Baghdad and it is now out in the news media. I’m back in K City but even the people here are very unhappy. I’ve been back into Iraq now twice more since last email and we keep losing parts to hijackers and accidents on the highways. The Iraqi people are really starting to dislike us; even our contract workers are surly towards us. Don’t tell M. (his wife) but the last trip north I was about shitting my shorts. Most frightened I have been since Somalia, much like patrols in El Salvador back when I was young and stupid. First time I carried a weapon since I left the …. (his unit in the Army) two years ago. [filler about his job & company plus personal stuff about wife & kids]
About this prison stuff – remember when we watched Band of Brothers around Xmas of ’02 and we talked about the guys in the service then and how Capt. Spiers pistol whipped that guy that shot someone else in the unit? I know that if anyone of that caliper of an officer like Spiers or Winters had found out about our troops torturing prisoners he would have kicked the ever living shit our of them. So what we here in Kuwait City who are ex-service guys from the US and UK were wondering is – why didn’t someone kick the shit out of these stupid pukes? What the hell happened?? Because of a few morons a lot of people will kill a lot of other people. Pisses me off that these dumbfucks will for sure get more US & UK troops killed because of their actions. That is not how you watch out for your Brothers & Sisters in uniform! Talk to you soon. T.

Posted by: CJ on May 1, 2004 at 5:17 PM