World Day of Peace

World Day of Peace

Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI For The Celebration of the World Day of Peace

1 JANUARY 2006

Tom Lasseter On Iraq Army Polarization

Tom Lasseter On Iraq Army Polarization

This is a very important statement, used by Tom Lasseter of Knight Ridder in a column about the polarization of the Iraqi army:

Thiab Abdul Hadi, a city council member in the western Sunni city of Fallujah, said that sentiment was held by most people in his town. "It is our duty to resist the (American) occupation because this occupier helped the militias enter our country," Hadi said. "The resistance is fighting the Americans because they back these militias."

My concerns, as stated recenty, are reinforced by the real beliefs of this city council member and his constituents. Sunni Arabs who distrust the political process in Iraq and who are fighting US forces are not "insurgents." The Sunnis will have a democratic part of the new parliament. They are a section of the Iraqi populace who are now part of the political process, and Zalmay Khalilzad has to get them to deal with their problems in the parliament.

Do you believe this man's statement?

"...only the Americans" benefit when Iraqis attack Iraqis, "so they will have an excuse to stay in Iraq."

- Muthana Abid, a member of the largest Sunni Arab political party to take part in recent efforts to form a new parliament, after five members of his party were murdered in an explosion at the party's office in Khalis, about 35 miles north of Baghdad. [source: WaPo]

It doesn't matter whether or not you believe his statement. He believes it, and so do his community members.

What leads so many Sunni Arabs to believe such things? We'll go back to Tom Lasseter:

The perception that different army units are tools of Shiite or Kurdish ambitions has been reinforced during the past two years as U.S. troops conducting offensives in western Iraq and in Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad teamed up with Iraqi soldiers and Interior Ministry police commandos who were mostly Shiites or Kurds.

It's Catch-22. President Bush claims that if our troops leave Iraq, there will be civil war. Meanwhile the U.S., simply by our presence in Iraq, is prolonging the insurgency by alienating the Sunnis in what is actually a sub-rosa civil war with Iraqi militias threatening to act out their own respective sectarian warfare (as Lasseter pointed out last week in the case of the Kurdish Peshmerga and Kirkuk). If this problem is ever going to be ironed out without Iraq falling to pieces, don't expect our troops to leave Iraq for decades.

There is a haunting Boston Globe headline from 2003.

Violence derails Iraq rebuilding. Security needs take precedence

An Iraqi aid worker is quoted as saying:

"The more dangerous their nation gets, the more many Iraqis blame the Americans."

The people with the purple fingers represent hope. Every time an Iraqi politician is murdered, you can be sure that a little more faith, hope and trust is lost. Security needs still take precedence in Iraq over any other issue, almost three years after we (allegedly) set out to win Iraqi hearts and minds. We lost 844 Americans last year in Iraq, and countless Iraqis were killed - not only by US forces, but also by murderous attacks made on Iraqis by fellow Iraqis. What a tangled web of insecurity and doubt. While it's a no-brainer that the insurgency could never win a military victory over the U.S, it's the political war that we seem to be losing, elections notwithstanding.

This is going to take a hell of a long time - and we may not succeed. Our troops are endangered by potential failures of our foreign policy in Iraq. Overt US business interests ("ensuring" that our friends the Kurds and their Peshmerga control Kirkuk, which I'm not saying is bad or good - but the Sunnis can clearly see it, too..) seem to be in direct conflict with the military mission of seeking the solidarity of the Iraqi armed forces and the peaceful union of the new Iraq. Did it ever occur to you that Bush's "Plan for Victory" may be for Iraq - but the United States could wind up the big international loser? As Juan Cole predicted today for 2006, Saudi Arabia (the place where most of the 911 hijackers came from) will probably use the $160 billion windfall from high petroleum prices (which we paid for at the pumps) to strengthen its military and security forces, and to spread its rigid Wahhabi form of Islam; the Iraqi parliament will pass fundamentalist Muslim legislation; and the guerilla war will continue.

Really, though - I'm a hopeful person when I see something to be hopeful about.

New Years Eve Peace Vigil at Clinton Square

New Years Eve Peace Vigil at
Clinton Square, Syracuse, N.Y.




On New Years Eve afternoon, citizens of Central New York left the warmth of their homes, taking a break from holiday festivities to join in a collective resolution to end the Iraq War in the New Year.




The vigil was sponsored by Syracuse MoveOn and the Syracuse Peace Council. They gathered at Clinton Square under the holiday lights. When the chimes rang out 4 p.m. here in Central New York, 2006 began in war-torn Iraq.



Signs in Clinton Square - "War Has Not Made Us Safer"

Standing in the shadow of the Christmas creche in the city's public square, concerned citizens stood for an hour in solidarity with the thousands of peacemakers throughout the world who call for an end to the occupation of Iraq.



Katie Barrett



Vigil attendees brave the Syracuse cold to send their message

"The Syracuse Clinton Square New Years Eve Peace Vigil was an inspiring, memorable moment, right out of Norman Rockwell and Hallmark.
Note the signs, the issues, the USA flags--flags that represent the hopes and dreams of us as a people, as a nation."

- Austin Paulnack, coordinator Syracuse Moveon
Moveon.org, Syracuse

Related articles:

News10Now - Vigil for peace held in Clinton Square

Renée K. Gadoua / Syracuse.com - Peace activists demonstrate at Clinton Square

All photos are by Photos by Rob Schad, MoveOn activist, Syracuse NY

Juan Cole: Predictions for 2006

Juan Cole: Predictions for 2006

Ten Amazing Predictions for 2006 - Juan Cole

This is a must-read "reality-based" set of predictions from the learned Professor Cole. He rarely steers us wrong - and that's why it's important for us to study the predictions - and understand and anticipate the international challenges that we will likely face in the coming year. Radical partisans will ignore these likely scenarios and discount the Professor's intellect and intuition at the nation's peril.

My Blogging Year 2005

My Blogging Year 2005



I wish you a very Happy New Year!




January - Presidential Inauguration (and a blizzard in D.C.)

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February - I was added to Anonymoses' Blogollage

My vote for Best Coverage of the Eason Jordan resignation: Jay Rosen/Press Think

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March - The Onondaga Indian Nation filed a land rights action different from any aboriginal land rights claim in U.S. history.

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April - I attended the CUNY/Open Center conference on Examining the Real Agenda of the Religious Far Rightin New York City.

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May - Made the Cover of YES Weekly - the Alternative Newspaper in Greensboro NC with some of the grooviest Blogsboro bloggers on the planet.

The Second Annual Personal Democracy Forum conference took place at CUNY in Manhattan. (photos)

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June - Iddybud Debuts On CNN's "Inside the Blogs"

My vote for Best Coverage of the Randy "Duke" Cunningham scandal: Josh Marshall/Talking Points Memo.

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July - I had the great pleasure of meeting New York's next governor Eliot Spitzer in Liverpool, N.Y.

The first Blogher conference took place in California. The second BlogHer "Conference '06" will take place Friday July 28 and Saturday July 29, 2006 in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In late July, 1,300+ people attend the Spiritual Activism Conference in Berkeley, California (and hundreds more had to be turned away). The Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP) is launched. It is a grassroots interfaith organization formed around the ideas articulated in Rabbi Michael Lerner’s article, “Why America Needs a Spiritual Left.” A second conference will be held in Washington D.C. in May, 2006.

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August - I was greatly saddened by Peter Jennings' death.

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September - Appeared as guest blogger all week at the One America (Senator John Edwards) website

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October - John Edwards Invites Young People to Join the Fight Against Poverty

Converge South, held in Greensboro, NC, was an important blogger happening.

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November - I began to imagine a real (non-violent) solution to the problems in Iraq and around the world. I spoke of a new global alliance. Some said I was a dreamer - but I know I'm not the only one.

Greatest New Emerging Political Issue:
A Wider Public Discussion of Faith and Values

A New Faith and Value Blogacracy Emerges: Talk To Action

A New Activist Group of Spiritual Progressives Work to Make Positive Change: Network of Spiritual Progressives

Best Faith Activist Websites: Sojourners and Tikkun

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December - I lost my dear mother after her valiant three-year struggle with cancer. I thank everyone who sent their condolences and prayers.

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The Nation - The Most Valuable Progressives of 2005 By John Nichols

NPR - Separating the Footnotes from the Milestones by Ron Elving

Chalabi Appointment: Not About Democracy - About the Neocon Dream

"Democratic elections do not always work as prophylactics to safeguard freedom."

- Arnaud de Borchgrave

Chalabi Appointment: Not About Democracy -About the Neocon Dream

Democracy Schmem-ocracy. WMD Schmubble-u-MD.
The Iraq war has been about oil-profit lust, economic imperialism, and lining the pockets of the politically corrupt all along.

"The Kurds are now in a position to slowly *muscle the Arabs out of Kirkuk, the key to control of the northern oil fields, the city where Saddam Hussein had muscled the Arabs in." -Arnaud de Borchgrave

*The word "muscle" apparently meant in a morally equivocating sense regarding the use of violent force to cleanse Kirkuk of Arabs?

Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor at large of The Washington Times, seems to be preparing his readers to accept that ethnic cleansing of Kirkuk will be the right thing to do (or at least the natural and expected thing) - all because Saddam Hussein "arabized" the region. Has he ever heard of citizens of diverse ethnicities living side by side? Oh wait - that would be the democratic way, wouldn't it? What was it we were "spreading" to the Middle East, again?

Ethnic cleansing, by any means of "muscling", force or violence, is never morally acceptable. You cannot invoke a deposed dictator's name to justify ethnic cleansing and expect it to be seen as a moral idea. We could very well be looking at a new Isreal-Palestine-style conflict as a permanent part of the future in Northern Iraq - unless we truly commit to supporting true democracy in Iraq here and now.

We're choosing sides in Northern Iraq - especially in Kirkuk - because of our economic interests - and every purple-fingered Iraqi knows it (whether it's "good" or "bad" to support the Kurds - the Sunni Arabs know what we're doing and they don't trust us). It hurts our military mission - it endangers our troops.

Borchgrave is asking us to look past Iraq and look forward to our next war: Iran. And make no mistake, he's already chiming in with a recommendation to cold-cock the UN again.

Sticks in the form of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran now carry all the punishing power of twigs.

I am disgusted with mainstream editors planning the wars that will take my son - and yours. I won't stand for this anymore. The Bushes and Borchgraves of this world are pushing our nation closer and closer to a time when we will once again justify using our own nuclear weapons against an innocent populace. When will this seeming love for violence, arrogant unilateralism, thirst for riches, and fear-mongering end?

Some of our political leaders in Washington DC wanted Ahmad Chalabi, who'd received $27 million of U.S. taxpeyers' money in recent years, to prevail in Iraq - even though his filthy lies caused those same leaders to initiate a war in Iraq that was never necessary or just. Chalabi was dumped by voters in Iraq - dumped soundly - fair and square. Voters (in Iraq) didn't want the schlump to be in power. So what did the powers that be in America do to keep their lying scumbag friend around? Sure as you're born, Chalabi's friends in the U.S. shoehorned him in as the new oil minister.

This is just another indication that this war has never been about anything other than securing oil rights and oil dollars for America (and its lobbyists and whichever US elected representatives are in their pockets).

Bush and company will never tell the families of the troops who were killed (or maimed) in Iraq that their sons and daughters died for the oil that's greasing the slimy pockets of the corrupt people in Washington D.C.. No American wants to believe that even one of our precious American soldiers died for a lie. I am sickened to have to say it, sick to my heart, but I really am beginning to believe it now. I know I'm not alone.

We should remember this - no freedom-seeking purple-fingered Iraqi citizen wants to believe that their son or daughter died for an American lie. They didn't want a U.S. occupation - but they got it. They didn't want Chalabi - but they got him. They don't want a neo Israel-Palestine conflict in Kirkuk - but they might get one. And the Washington Times editor wants you to accept it as a fact of war instead of a result of pure greed.

Damn every major mainstream media outlet that shoe-horned this administration into power and who allowed their own journalists, like Judith Miller, to participate in the greatest con game and deception ever perpetrated on the American people. This is an America devoid of meaningful values.

Where is the America that our forefathers envisioned? Washington D.C. needs a good cleaning out in the next election. 2006 should be known as "the year that corruption would not be taken anymore."

Bloggers Talking About 2008

Bloggers Talking About 2008

David Hoch of Gainesville, Florida, has friends who will no longer listen to his ceaseless political rants, so he's taking his act on the internet. David likes former Senator and VP candidate John Edwards - and he tells you why.
Welcome to the blogosphere, David.

The Left Coaster asks if it will matter whether or not Hillary Clinton had been supported by the netroots by 2007. He links a post by Professor David D. Perlmutter at his blog titled PolicyByBlog that covers the netroots and the impact bloggers are having on the shaping of the presidential races. Th epost includes a copy of an e-mail sent to Senator Clinton by Florida netroots activist Bob Kunst of HillaryNow that includes the statement:

"...your re-election is guaranteed by a landslide.."

Stepping away from Democratic party politics, I'd like to remind everyone that, after the last two presidential elections, we are playing with fire if we believe there are any guaranteed "landslides" for Democrats - unless we have taken the place of the GOP of being in the pockets and hearts of Diebold et al. A (small-'d') democratic abandonment of the issue of electoral integrity in this nation does not inspire the same confidence in me regarding electoral landslides for any Democrat. Seeing Senator Clinton making "flag-burning" her (uninspiring) pet issue, compared to her public worry over the integrity of the Electoral College system in 2000, shows the Senator to be a new political animal - and I don't see it getting her anywhere with the "I-hate-Clinton" crowd. Senator Clinton needs to dance with the ones what brung her.

On a somewhat related note, Professor Perlmutter has noted that

the National Journal's Hotline has dubbed John Edwards "The most active potential candidate" of the blogosphere.

I have greatly enjoyed taking part in the One America blogging this year.
Elizabeth Edwards has posted a holiday story about the Edwards family Christmas today.

"Maverick"

"Maverick"



I saw this news item about a "maverick" secular Sunni politician in Iraq. His name is Mithal al-Alusi. He is looking to do what G.W. Bush has never attempted to do in good faith. Here is what al-Alusi wants:

"His goal, he says, is to form an antiterrorism alliance that would include the US, European countries, Turkey - and the Jewish state."

I wish this gentleman luck. He sounds like the kind of leader this world could use. I am still scratching my head in wonder at the fact that our President and his administration literally shunned the cooperative efforts of the international community in the year following the 9/11 attacks - when the world was poised to join us in our anti-terrorism efforts.

It's refreshing to hear voices from the Middle East that appeal to the angels of our better nature.

Dark Dubya

Talking Turkey

Talking Turkey
Hopeful Voices Arise from the Middle East - Will Anyone Listen?

The Turkish National Security Council released an official statement that Sunni participation in the elections in Iraq was "a very important development," noting that all Iraqis had to be involved in resolving sensitive issues such as the status of the city of Kirkuk. The Turkish Daily News reports that the continuation of a comprehensive response against threats posed by terrorism was agreed to at the meeting of the Council (MKG), emphasizing the importance of cooperation among all relevant state institutions.

NTV/MSNBC adds:

On the controversial problem of the oil rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk, the MGK called on a solution in which all Iraqis could be reconciled to. The statement underlined the importance of the territorial integrity of Iraq.

[Update]:

The Turkish administration has renewed an appeal to Iraq to resolve disputes over the ethnically volatile oil rich city of Kirkuk, where Ankara is wary of the ethnic Kurdish population gaining too much influence.

[Update]:

The campaign by the Iraqi Kurds has emerged as one of the most volatile issues dogging talks concerned with forming a new national government, and “It could also be contributing to a complex web of violence..”

What Are These Lobbyists Doing in Iraq?

What Are These Lobbyists Doing in Iraq?

I'm concerned about what appears to be a dreadful conflict of the People of the United States' interest. It's happening in Iraq today. It involves Washington D.C. lobbyists who I believe have overstepped the boundaries of ethics. My main concern is that their lobbying efforts are tangled in the web of a war in which our nation is engaged - and for whom our loyal troops are fighting and dying. Some decisions being made by the U.S. Military in Northern Iraq are being sabotaged by the political group which has hired an American lobbyist firm. It seems terribly improper for this lobbyist firm to be smack dab in the middle of a hot spot which is the scene of a sub rosa civil war in Iraq today.

See my column at American Street.

What Are These Lobbyists Doing in Iraq?

What Are These Lobbyists Doing in Iraq?

“Kirkuk is Kurdistan; it does not belong to the Arabs,” Hamid Afandi, the minister of Peshmerga for the Kurdistan Democratic Party, one of the two major Kurdish groups, said in an interview at his office in the Kurdish city of Irbil. “If we can resolve this by talking, fine, but if not, then we will resolve it by fighting.”

- Kurds in Iraqi Army Proclaim Loyalty to Militia

By Tom Lasseter, Knight Ridder Newspapers

Read the quote above.

Note once again - closely - that it is a statement from a top representative of the Peshmerga for the Kurdistan Democratic party of Iraq. Note that he is threatening violence if his party doesn’t get its way in negotiations concerning the city of Kirkuk.

“Barbour Griffith & Rogers, was retained by the Kurdistan Democratic Party in July 2004 “to ensure that Iraqi Kurdistan maintains its autonomy from Baghdad in the new Iraq Government, and for the return of oil-rich Kirkuk — which Saddam Hussein had ‘Arabized’ as the capital of the region — to Kurdistan.”

Now read this statement from Turkish columnist Tulin Daloglu that appeared in the Washington Times on December 27:

Robert Blackwill, who served as deputy national security adviser and presidential envoy to Iraq during first Bush administration, sounded surprised at a recent Council of Foreign Relations event when he acknowledged the fact that “[M]ost of the economic development that’s happening in Kurdish Iraq is coming across the Turkish border.” He may be surprised because the lobbying firm he heads, Barbour Griffith & Rogers, was retained by the Kurdistan Democratic Party in July 2004 “to ensure that Iraqi Kurdistan maintains its autonomy from Baghdad in the new Iraq Government, and for the return of oil-rich Kirkuk — which Saddam Hussein had ‘Arabized’ as the capital of the region — to Kurdistan.”

A Washington, D.C . lobbyist is representing the Kurdistan Democratic party of Iraq to ensure that Kirkuk is returned to Kurdistan?!

Is that true?

How far does that representation go?

Who is this lobbyist firm influencing in Congress?

What does it have to do with the decisions that our Representatives make about the war in Iraq?

Is this lobbyist involvement resulting (directly or indirectly) in any degree of violence, international strain, or decisions made about our American troops in the Kirkuk area?

When does any of this become a conflict of national interest?

I’d really like to know.

Read more from Tom Lasseter’s Knight Ridder piece to understand how the political influence in Northern Iraq is working against U.S. Military efforts:

American military officials have said they’re trying to get a broader mix of sects in the Iraqi units. However, Col. Talib Naji, a Kurd serving in the Iraqi army on the edge of Kirkuk, said he would resist any attempts to dilute the Kurdish presence in his brigade. “The Ministry of Defense recently sent me 150 Arab soldiers from the south,” Naji said. “After two weeks of service, we sent them away.

The Barbour Griffith & Rogers International website states:

BGR International (BGRI) specializes in lobbying and communications strategies for governments and businesses seeking assistance in dealing with the often complex U.S. political and business decision-making processes; in promoting international business development and market penetration; in planning political and media campaigns, including public relations, message development, research polling, and advertising; and in analyzing the effects of major foreign policy trends. Success in international politics and business requires knowing the governmental and business decision-makers in Washington and in world capitals, as well as an appreciation of the political, economic, security, cultural and historic forces that shape their decisions.

An article titled Kurds Try To Invest 14 Tons of Cash was posted in the Financial Times over a year ago, on December 10th, 2004 - and it only provides a vague answer as to what this lobbyist’s representation is all about:

A Washington-based lobbying firm with strong ties to the US Republican party has been in talks with international banks to facilitate the placing by the Iraqi Kurds of more than half a billion dollars in cash. The money is part of $1.4bn in Iraqi oil revenues paid in cash by the US-led occupation authority to the Kurds in June 2004, just days before it handed power to an interim Iraqi government.

Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, a firm founded by two senior aides of President George H.W. Bush and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, is representing the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Washington. Robert Blackwill, until last month White House chief adviser on Iraq, has also joined the firm.

Ed Rogers, a founding partner, confirmed the firm was working for the Kurds but said it was not managing any money for them. “Know that BGR has no role in managing investments for the Kurds and the only comment about our role that we can make is what is listed in our foreign agent registration filing,” he wrote in an e-mail.

People familiar with the matter say that the firm has made inquiries about investing the cash, which is currently held at a Kurdish bank, in Switzerland. However, the efforts have been delayed as banks make checks on the provenance of the cash….A spokesman for the Kurdish Regional Government said the payment was part of $4.5bn in funds it claims the UN owes the region as part of the now defunct oil-for-food programme.

The United States is at war in Iraq today, and it seems that a Washington DC lobbyist firm is reaching into extremely dangerous territory in professionally assisting a foreign power with a political aim such as fighting for the powderkeg known as Kirkuk. The relationship between the high-powered lobbyists of Barbour, Griffith & Rogers and the Bush administration is politically incestuous. The timing of taking on the Kurdistan Democratic party of Iraq as a new client in July 2004 - when just the month before, June 2004, $1.4bn in Iraqi oil revenues was paid to the Kurds in cold hard cash by the US-led occupation authority raises a lot of questions. If these lobbyists aren’t involved in managing Kurdistan investments, what are they doing - and is what they are doing ethical and/or patriotic? Should this lobbyist firm be assisting a foreign political faction that is directly involved in war-time negotiations when our own troops are dying - and while a democratic settlement for a central government in Iraq is being sought by our own government?

Kirkuk

Kirkuk
American Citizens Deserve to Understand the Politics of Oil and the Territorial Demands of the Autononmous Kurds

"Kirkuk has been described, even by U.S. officials, as a “powder keg...."
- Blogrunner: Jude Nagurney Camwell

"What the Kurds want most of all is to control Northern Oil - part of the Iraqi National Oil Co, in charge of the oilfields west of Kirkuk. It is apparent that Sunni Arabs will not settle peaceably with the Kurds on this issue."
- Jude Nagurney Camwell, American Street (June, 2005)

This oil city is a tinderbox full of ethnic rivalries and hatreds, and it is coveted by the Kurks, who now may make up half of the city of Kirkuk.
- Juan Cole, Over 10,000 Sunnis, Secularists March in Baghdad against Election Results; Al-Hakim meets Kurdish Leaders

Kurdish leaders have inserted more than 10,000 of their militia members into Iraqi army divisions in northern Iraq to lay the groundwork to swarm south, seize the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and possibly half of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, and secure the borders of an independent Kurdistan.
- CBS News - Keeping Iraq Intact

Kurdish leaders have inserted more than 10,000 of their militia members into Iraqi army divisions in northern Iraq to lay the groundwork to swarm south, seize the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and possibly half of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, and secure the borders of an independent Kurdistan.
- Knight Ridder - Kurds prepare for civil war in Iraq

Kurds Are Flocking
to Kirkuk,
Laying Claim
to Land and Oil

Staff Sgt. Les Patterson was there, tracking squads on a radio from a base near Kirkuk, Iraq, and receiving the news that his friend, Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Wood, had been killed.
- Deseretnews.com - Forever changed: War in Iraq has had a major impact on lives of many Utahns

A "Two-State Solution?" Are We Looking at a New Middle East Hotbed of Ethnic Strife and Violence Between Arabs and Kurds?

[President of Iraq under the Iraqi Interim Government from 2004 to 2005] Ghazi al-Yawar told the Arab network: "It is a national betrayal by the Kurds. There is a freedom of opinion in Iraq but this does not mean that some people would try to speak about disintegrating Iraq. This is not something we could accept and we will counter this with all our power." Al-Yawar's comments came just two days after British Foreign Minister Jack Straw's visit..Many observers speculated that Straw traveled to pressure Kurdish leaders to give ground on the oil rich-city of Kirkuk, which Kurds want included in their domain. But the Kurdish Prime Minister, Nechivan Barzani threw cold water on such plans, telling reporters: "Our policy and stance is clear, we refuse to compromise on any grounds regarding Kirkuk.

The people themselves on the ground – they watch al-Jazeera and they see that the rights of Palestinians are being discussed at the United Nations," explains Kani Xulam, director of the American Kurdish Information Network in Washington. "When somebody like Colin Powell says there should be a two-state solution, that translates into Kurds asking, 'Why can't there be a two-state solution to the Arabs and Kurds in Iraq, too?'"
- Kurdistan Observer - Kirkuk About to Explode? (October 2004

In the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, the insurgent group Ansar al-Sunna left leaflets at several gas stations warning employees not to charge the higher prices and describing them as "apostates," or lapsed Muslims. "We have been threatened with kidnapping and death because they think we are serving the government officials, but in fact we are serving the people," said Issa Abdullah Hadidi, who has run the Uqba Ibn Nafi gas station in the southern part of the city for 20 years. He said he has never felt so endangered.
- WaPo, At Gas Stations in Iraq, Price Hike Fuels Outrage

A united Iraq? No, a united Kurdistan..Should the Kurds push for independence, Kirkuk and its oil would be a key economic engine.
- Steve Gilliard, blogger,commenting on Kurds preparing takeover; U.S. exit strategy at risk

"Kirkuk is Kurdistan; it does not belong to the Arabs," Hamid Afandi, the minister of Peshmerga for the Kurdistan Democratic Party, one of the two major Kurdish groups, said in an interview at his office in the Kurdish city of Irbil. "If we can resolve this by talking, fine, but if not, then we will resolve it by fighting."
-Kurds in Iraqi Army Proclaim Loyalty to Militia

Adhaim, 70 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad on the main road to the flashpoint city of Kirkuk, is violent. Nineteen Iraqi troops were killed there on Dec. 3 when a joint patrol with U.S. forces was ambushed. Both al Qaeda-linked Islamist groups and more secular, nationalist groups have been active in the region.
- Reuters - 3 Iraqi troops killed; Rumsfeld signals pullback

Turkmen sources in Kirkuk said these lands belonged to their own ethnic people before the former regime pushed them out or executed their members, after which the lands were excavated with bulldozers. The issue of the city remains the main obstacle to reaching a consensus on the new Iraqi constitution being drawn up by a special commission, as Kurds insist that all their people who were deported to return to the city.
- Science Daily - Tension grows in Iraq's Kirkuk (August 2005)

Attacks, assassinations and bombings are routine in Kirkuk province in the north, a volatile mixture of Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs engaged in a subterranean battle for dominance of the area's oil fields.
- Juan Cole, Top Ten Myths about Iraq in 2005

While in Kirkuk, [US Army Infantryman Nick]Johnson saw many Kurds returning to that city after having been exiled from their homes under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. They would return to their home city without a job or a place to live, just to be "home." "The Kurds loved the Americans and have a deep loyalty to us and the kids love us too; they would chase us all around," Johnson said.
- Reno Gazette Journal - A soldier's perspective on Iraq: We are winning and should stay

An Iraqi official in the disputed city of Kirkuk accused Kurds of cheating in Thursday's election, saying thousands had been bussed in to swell the Kurdish vote. Kurds denied the charge... The future of Kirkuk, at the heart of the northern oil industry, is one of the most emotionally charged issues in Iraq. Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen all claim historical rights to the ancient city 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad.
- Reuters - In Iraq's disputed Kirkuk, voting highly sensitive

The problem with the U.S. Staying in Iraq:
One Man's "Democratic Government" May Be Another Man's "Regime":

Yousif Mitty, the founder and director of the Evangelical Church of Iraq, is in the United States as a speaker at several engagements..The Mittys lived in Kirkuk, just south of the United Nations no-fly zone in Iraq..Leaving everything behind, the couple made a "quick decision" to flee Kirkuk and reside in Kurdistan, where they continue to teach the word of God..Yousif Mitty, who is a geologist with Northern Oil, himself served 10 years in Saddam's army during the Iraq-Iran War. "It's not an option," he said. "It's not volunteer." Yousif Mitty said a large number of Iraqi citizens are against the withdrawal of American troops for fear insurgents will rise up and create another dictatorship. "Praise the Lord, through American help we got rid of Saddam's regime, but we do not want another regime," he said.
- Pheonixville News - Missionaries from Iraq pay visit to Valley Forge

Using 9/11
The Long Strrrrrrretch: Civil War in Northern Iraq was Necessitated by the Actions of 15 Saudi Nationals?

In Kirkuk, I met with leaders of the Sunni, Kurdish and Shiite communities who are working to build a government. They expressed concern about outsiders coming in through Syria and thanked us for what we are doing for them and their country...We must never forget that on Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacked America and killed nearly 3,000 innocent people.
- John Shadegg, Republican US Congressman from Arizona

Headlines

Headlines

National:

+ House Judiciary Democrats issue report alleging gross misconduct by Bush over Iraq
RAW STORY has reproduced the executive summary of the report.

+ Workers in New Orleans Denied Pay, Proper Housing and Threatened with Deportation
Tina Susman, a reporter for Newsday, followed the case of a group of homeless men from Atlanta who went to New Orleans to work and never got paid.

+ Vet's Own Sign Saying: "Remember the Fallen Heroes" Bugs Military Recruiters
NYT: "As those thinking of becoming soldiers arrive on the slushy doorstep of the Army recruiting station here [Duluth, MN], they cannot miss the message posted in bold black letters on the storefront right next door...."
Editor and Publisher: Fallen soldiers should be on page One of newspapers.



Entertainment:

+ "The Book Of Daniel"
New NBC TV Show About Christians with real-life problems is not 'wholesome' or 'serious' enough for the AFA.


Travel

+ In Alabama, a Poor County Is Rich in Modern Architecture
"Newbern Mercantile may sell bullets, peach Nehi and souse (pickled pig snout), but the firehouse is the height of urban sophistication, with walls of polycarbonate that shimmer every time a car goes by."


International:

+ Mossad Chief Says Iran Two Years From Nuclear Bomb
Haaretz: Mossad chief Meir Dagan stresses the importance of a diplomatic effort aimed at preventing or at least delaying Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons, along with the importance of the United Nations Security Council implementing economic sanctions against Iran.

+ Russian Parliament Approves Curb on NGOs
AP (at Burlington Free Press):
Critics say this threatens the future of human rights groups and others that the Kremlin considers to be possible opponents.



Opinion Excerpts:

+ Jeffrey Sachs

There was a lot of talk this year about ending extreme poverty...But these words have yet to make a discernible difference for the hungry, destitute and dying. Action needs to proceed at every level, from the local to the national and the international. Every big player in this drama needs to be held accountable for their actions. At the end of next year, each must be asked a single question: what did you do this year to end extreme poverty?
- "It is time for words to give way to meaningful action" (Financial Times - subsc req)

+ EJ Dionne Jr:

The recent budget bill, which squeaked through the House and Senate just before Christmas, is a road map of insider dealing. It shows that when choices have to be made, the interests of the poor and the middle class fall before the wishes of interest groups with powerful lobbies and awesome piles of campaign money to distribute.
- WaPo

+ Jim Hoagland:

Bush is unintentionally driving together a centrist group of responsible Republican and Democratic critics in Congress to pressure him -- to check and balance him, if you will -- on war policy, civil liberties, torture and other contentious issues
- Wapo

+ Andrew Erdmann:

So far, many Americans who opposed the war have not extended a helping hand to the Iraqi people in its aftermath. Others sit on the fence. With elections under a new Constitution, the time has come to focus on Iraq's future and put aside the politics of the past.
-"After Withdrawal, Engagement" (Times Select subscription required)

+ Russia's anti-West offensive

Nobody denies a government's right to regulate nongovernmental organizations. But this law was written largely to weaken Western support for democratic movements in Ukraine and other former Soviet republics.
- IHT editorial

+ Al-Ahram Weekly (Cairo):

The dream of freeing the Middle East, in its entirety, of all weapons of mass destruction should not lose its holistic character. Attempts or proposals forwarded by Western and regional powers -- or regional parties on behalf of international players -- to divide the issue up into separate parts are certain to harm the collective interest of the region in attaining comprehensive security and stability.
- "Denuclearise the entire Middle East"

Tar Heel Tavern #44

Tar Heel Tavern #44

This week's edition of the Tar Heel Tavern can be seen at Pratie Place. Don't miss Jane's offering of free downloadable Holiday music while you're visiting her site.

Bora asks:

How would mandatory blogging (in schools) affect the level of reading and writing among the kids?

Dave hopes that during this season, people will think about what it is to resurrect, and why it is important to allow others to resurrect.

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Other Places

+ Because I enjoyed it so much and because it is tied in with the Christmas theme, I am linking Benny's post as an honorary Tar-Heeler.

+ I laughed at Rising Hegemon's spoof on Fox News' Christmas wars. [Related: "Five to the Egg Noggin" photo] This is waaaaay too close to reality! When I think of the American minds bamboozled by the 'fair and balanced' Fox News, I think: "Oh - the HumeHannity!" (credit for "humehannity" goes to Anonymoses).

+ A big shout-out to the community of Steubenville, Ohio today, for the work they've supported at the Unity Kitchen (Urban Mission) They're not even close to making ends meet, but they're doing what I consider to be God's work. Committed to serving the low income population without regard for age, race, nationality, gender, religious belief or other distinguishing characteristics, volunteers gave 52,868 hours of service to Urban Mission in 2004. The Steubenville-Weirton area of Ohio/West Virginia, posted the second to the largest unemployment increase (+2.5 points) in the nation in 2003. They experienced large declines in manufacturing employment over the year, contributing to increased unemployment. See "The Economy At A Glance" [US Dept of Labor]. In October of 2005 there was a whopping 7.4 rate of unemployment in the area with a
very sad and revealing -12.8% in the 12-month percentage change in Manufacturing. These are the kinds of communities in most need of government attention, and the thought of the recent "belt-tightening" news from Congress has to make this community feel like a noose has been tightened around their necks.

See a related story - The Glory and the Gutting: Steeler Nation and the Humiliation of Pittsburgh by Charles McCollester (director of the Pennsylvania Center for the Study of Labor Relations at Indiana University of Pennsylvania):

The steel rust-belt area from Youngstown, Ohio to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, centered in Pittsburgh and strewn with once mighty but now financially broken towns like Aliquippa, Braddock, Newcastle, Steubenville, Sharon, McKees Rocks, and Duquesne, is sinking into spiritual and financial bankruptcy. Workshops have given way to prisons and malls. Now gambling is hailed as economic salvation by the elites who presided over the region’s economic collapse.

My Uncle Billy Was a Real-Life War Hero

My Uncle Billy Was
a Real-Life War Hero

My Uncle William Johnson Hart fought bravely in WWII. He was a rear-gunner on a Boeing Flying Fortress (B-17). He was trained in gunner school in Nevada at what is known as Nellis AFB today. Former actor (and President) Ronald Reagan played a guy like my Unle Billy in a movie (short) called "The Rear Gunner." Billy's plane was shot down over Germany in 1943, the pilot was killed, and young Billy parachuted to safety.


My hero Billy

He landed in a farmer's field and was taken to a local home for questioning. As a child, I remember him telling me that the farmer was kind to him - treated him like a human being. He was sent to Stalag - Luft 3 in 1943 and was held prisoner there for most of WWII. (Stalag 3 was the setting for the Steve McQueen film "The Great Escape".) My mother was ten years old at the time and she used to tell me about the long, long wait and the anguish of her mother (my grandmother) - for nearly four months - not knowing if Billy was dead or alive. One day a letter came. More would follow, but there was usually a four-month lag time. Here is one of the post cards they received, written in February 1944; received (as my grandmother wrote on the card) in June of that same year:

February 20, 1944,
from Stalag Luft 3 Germany

Dear Mom,

I hope by now that you have received some mail from me. Everything is OK here and I'm feeling fine, hope you are all OK too.
Give my love to everybody and if you have some snapshots of the family I hope you will send them to your loving son.

Billy

Billy made it back home, but he died too early of heart problems just after he'd turned 50. He never let his years of imprisonment get him down. He always looked at the brighter side of things, and he said his German imprisoners treated him with dignity. Unfortunately, Billy realized part of the reason for his kind treatment by the Nazis was because he was white, Christian, and partly of German descent. Soviet prisoners received far more inhumane treatment, as did Jews and others of ethnicities or religion that were not to the Nazis' political "liking." It was beyond moral understanding that one human could treat another so discriminatingly - and so unjustly. Yet, he and his family were grateful that he was not tortured or killed. It was a paradox of injustice that Billy and his family grappled with for the rest of their lives (to this day, it's made all of us extremely wary of any form of discrimination or prejudice) - and it reinforced Billy's belief in the cause in which he was engaged.

I was not a strong swimmer as a kid. I remember how Billy once jokingly told me that if I fell into deep water, to sink to the bottom, then "run like hell." What a visual. I laugh about it to this day.

It was the saddest day of my childhood, saying goodbye to Uncle Billy. His was the first funeral I'd ever attended, and I loved him - the stories he'd tell - the cocky smile on his handsome face. While he was no superhuman martyr - he missed his family as anyone would - he never had regret for a day he spent in that Stalag because he felt that he was doing it for his brothers-in-arms and his fellow countrymen. He left a spirit in my heart for this country - and its people - that will never die. He left a hole where his bright personality used to be. I miss him to this day.

Munich Review

Munich Review

"We cannot avoid using power, cannot escape the compulsion to aflict the world so let us, cautious in diction and mighty in contradiction, love powerfully."

- Martin Buber

I went to see Munich - it's a powerful film. Steven Spielberg spins a cautionary tale about politics, hatred, longing, vengeance, cold-blooded murder, the great power of the bonds between Jews, a love for one's own immediate family, a reverence for the soul of Judaism, and the human side of the Palestinian and Israeli longing for home and place - all without offending. I think that's the part that requires a touch of genius - to not offend or harm Israel. It is a story about Israeli (Mossad) agents who were sent to Europe to assassinate Palestinian activists after the Munich murders of Israeli athletes by Black September terrorists at the 1972 Olympics. Even though there are reminders that it's not factually sound and that the story has been embellished to help make its point, it is the message that counts.

The message is a cry for peace - and art can be a great tool for convincing the public that hatred begets hatred - that every killing is answered with a killing and the cycle never ends. Reconciliation is abandoned and people hate one another more than they love peace. Children are raised to hate "the other" rather than remembering and respecting the virtue of the values, learned through faith and community traditions, that "the other" is really "us."

We are all brothers and sisters under the skin and beyond all ethnic claims - and land claims.

The troubles go back further than Munich - it's a tale as old as time. Jewish theologian and philosopher Martin Buber was aghast upon learning about the attack on the Arab village of Deir Yassin early in the morning of April 9 1948, west of Jerusalem. Some 100 Palestinians (mainly old men, women and children) were killed when commandos of the Irgun (headed by Menachem Begin) and Lehi guerrilla groups, with the help of a small elite unit from the main Jewish defence organisation, the Haganah, led the attack. Buber called it a called it "a black stain on the honour of the Jewish nation" and "a warning to our people that no practical military needs may ever justify such acts of murder".

In 2002, the Guardian's Ann Karpf wrote:

Deir Yassin is important not only because it launched a cycle of violence and counterviolence (two days later an Arab ambush killed 77 Jewish doctors, nurses and medical students) that has been the pattern ever since, so that we can no longer tell what is a reprisal for what. But also because it has come to symbolise the Palestinian dispossession.

National theology and religious theology are never morally compatible. There will not be a logical spiritual reconciliation for many of the political decisions made by a nation's leaders in matters of national security. I think there is a danger when any nation uses religion or tribalism to justify murder. At the end of Munich, you see a haunting image. It is the New York City skyline, and the World Trade Center towers stand straight and tall. You get an immediate sense of understanding the consequences of politics; hatred; longing; vengeance; cold-blooded murder; the great power of the bonds between people of any one religious group, tribe, or nation; a love for one's own immediate family; a reverence for the soul of religion; and the human side of the Palestinian and Israeli longing for home and place.

Steven Spielberg has said this about his film:

"By experiencing how the implacable resolve of these men to succeed in their mission slowly gave way to troubling doubts about what they were doing, I think we can learn something important about the tragic stand-off we find ourselves in today."

French actor of Amelie fame Mathieu Kassovitz was my favorite in this film. He played an Israeli named Robert, who was a Belgian toy maker turned "explosive expert."

Talking God's Politics with Jim Wallis, John and Elizabeth Edwards

Talking God's Politics with Jim Wallis, Senator John and Elizabeth Edwards
Senator John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth Edwards recently sat down and talked with author Jim Wallis about his book, God's Politics.
Go here to listen to their conversation. (It's the first of a two-part conversation).

You can discuss it here at One America.

Ritter Dismantles Hitchens

Ritter Dismantles Hitchens
A must-read.

Bob Geiger (Yellow Dog Democrat) met Scott Ritter and got to spend a few minutes with him after attending a debate on the Iraq war between him and neoconservative apologist Scrooge Christopher Hitchens Tuesday night, where he "dismantled Hitchens in front of a crowd of perhaps 600 people."

*A tip of the hat to Crooks and Liars

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See Scott Ritter's transcribed comments from a November 17, 2005 appearance in Amherst, MA:

"No President is going to allow the national security of the United States of America to be held hostage by the United Nations, and, as distasteful as war is, the President has no choice but to engage in a war with Iran. That’s why we’re going to war, ladies and gentlemen. The President wants it......

This war, ladies and gentlemen, has a good chance of beginning in 2007. What are you going to do, peace movement? What are you going to do? Sit back and go, ‘oh my God, this is too much to think about. I’m going to hit the delete button and pretend that Ritter never spoke.’ Or do what others do? ‘Na, he’s a crazy wild man. Na, I’m not buying into that garbage. We’re just going to move on thinking that Iraq’s bad and they’ll never going on into Iran.’ Study the facts I’ve just put on the table. You will not contradict a single one of them. You cannot contradict a single one of them because they are facts. I’m not making it up. It’s all based on written and spoken statements made by Bush administration officials, past and present.

What are you going to do? Wait for congress to do the right thing? Congress has already sold out. Congress isn’t going to oppose this President. Congress has already bought into the notion of the Iranian threat. What are you going to do? One thing you can do is change congress, and you have a window of opportunity. The 2006 election may well go down in history as one of the most critical elections that this country has ever faced..."