News from the Colonies - America's War in Iraq

[hypewaders]

Crazy, disgusting, blood-squirting terrorist. What is the actual identity of this wreck of a human? What was his story before captivity? No comment.

 

[Tiassa]

Justice: too good for an American?

Source: ABC News
Link: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=3977702&page=1
Title: "Victim: Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR", by Brian Ross, Maddy Sauer, and Justin Rood
Date: December 10, 2007

Tough accusations come from a Houston, Texas woman who claims she was raped by several men at a Green Zone camp and then imprisoned in a shipping container by her employer, Kellogg Brown Root.

Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, says that after she was raped by multiple men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job.

"Don't plan on working back in Iraq. There won't be a position here, and there won't be a position in Houston," Jones says she was told.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court against Halliburton and its then-subsidiary KBR, Jones says she was held in the shipping container for at least 24 hours without food or water by KBR, which posted armed security guards outside her door, who would not let her leave ....

.... Finally, Jones says, she convinced a sympathetic guard to loan her a cell phone so she could call her father in Texas.

"I said, 'Dad, I've been raped. I don't know what to do. I'm in this container, and I'm not able to leave,'" she said. Her father called their congressman, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas.

"We contacted the State Department first," Poe told ABCNews.com, "and told them of the urgency of rescuing an American citizen" -- from her American employer.

Poe says his office contacted the State Department, which quickly dispatched agents from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to Jones' camp, where they rescued her from the container.

According to her lawsuit, Jones was raped by "several attackers who first drugged her, then repeatedly raped and injured her, both physically and emotionally."

(Ross et al)

Ms. Jones also accuses KBR of either destroying or concealing evidence, claiming that Army doctors determined that she had been raped vaginally and anally, and that the rape kit disappeared after it was handed over to KBR.

Early commentary by legal pundits suggests that loopholes in the existing laws suggest that nobody will be charged with any crimes.

Legal experts say Jones' alleged assailants will likely never face a judge and jury, due to an enormous loophole that has effectively left contractors in Iraq beyond the reach of United States law.

"It's very troubling," said Dean John Hutson of the Franklin Pierce Law Center. "The way the law presently stands, I would say that they don't have, at least in the criminal system, the opportunity for justice."

Congressman Poe says neither the departments of State nor Justice will give him answers on the status of the Jones investigation.

(ibid)

Right now, Ms. Jones faces the daunting prospect that her only route is company-sponsored arbitration. According to KBR, her contract requires it. Halliburton, KBR's parent company, reportedly wins more than 80% of the arbitration proceedings brought against it.

• • •​

I think anyone should think twice before signing a contract for employment that demands the employer be exempt from answering for their actions in a court of law. It seems to me that if they need that protection, one might wish to consider why. Frankly, I don't think such a contract stipulation should be upheld. As Rep. Poe expressed, "Air things out in a public forum of a courtroom ... That's why we have courts in the United States."

Seriously, if we can prosecute someone under U.S. law for crimes committed on foreign soil against foreign citizens, it seems to me there ought to be some recourse for an American treated in this manner under the auspices of agents authorized by the U.S. government.

 

[hypewaders]

Whatever the truth of the matter, it is vital to America's system of laws that Ms. Jones get her corpus habied in a lawful and dignified way. We got a thing- Goin' on. I know I'm writing in poor taste, but I'm too tired to ed it.

 

[Mr. G]

Seriously,...

Surely, you jest.

Facts not yet in evidence.

Anecdotes are cheap propellant.

Earth orbit not yet achieved.

What a surprise.

 

[hypewaders]

G Mister, thanks for making me look more comparitively reasonable. I can slep easy now. G'nite everbuddy.

 

[Tiassa]

Going with the pro-rape ticket, eh, G?

Surely, you jest.

Not in the least.

Facts not yet in evidence.

Convenient, since they may never be allowed into evidence.

Anecdotes are cheap propellant

Tell that to the distinguished gentleman from Texas.

Earth orbit not yet achieved.

Well, you're asking too much. An earthbound, American courtroom would suffice.

What a surprise.

No, G. I don't think anyone is surprised that you would advocate rape if you thought you could score a cheap line off it.

("Facts not in evidence"? Good one, G.)

 

[Mr. G]

I'm saying that the complainant shouldn't automatically be believed just because a complaint may sound plausible.

You're going off the logical deep end with no actual facts to back up your prejudices.

 

[Tiassa]

I'm saying that the complainant shouldn't automatically be believed just because a complaint may sound plausible.

You're going off the logical deep end with no actual facts to back up your prejudices.

The problem with your argument is that whatever facts there are, they may never see a courtroom. It seems I can agree with a Texas Republican on something.

With an accusation like this, would you say that the chief investigating body should be one with a vested interest in the outcome (e.g., the accused)?

 

[S.A.M.]

I think they should send more American women to work with contractors in Iraq.

Perhaps Mr G could suggest volunteers.

Anyone you know need a 'nice' job?

 

[Tiassa]

Mixed Signals on Iraq Violence

Mixed Signals on Iraq Violence
Violence down, decline slowing; Basra, Fallujah reeling

First, the good news. Sort of.

Violence in Iraq is at its lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion, finally opening a window for reconciliation among rival sects, the second-ranking U.S. general said Sunday as Iraqi forces formally took control of security across half the country.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the man responsible for the ground campaign in Iraq, said that the first six months of 2007 were probably the most violent period since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The past six months, however, had seen some of the lowest levels of violence since the conflict began, Odierno said, attributing the change to an increase in both American troops and better-trained Iraqi forces.

"I feel we are back in '03 and early '04. Frankly I was here then, and the environment is about the same in terms of security in my opinion," he said. "What is different from then is that the Iraqi security forces are significantly more mature."

(Quinn)

I'm presuming this is not intended to suggest that violence has thankfully reduced to to the days of chaos and looting following the fall of the Hussein regime. It would seem that this is good news. But Lt. Gen. Odierno also said, "We have a window, I don't know how long that window is, but there is a window because of the security to move forward ... We need to get policies in place by the central government to do this."

What, then, is the flip-side? Violence is decreasing, but only for so long? Then the news isn't quite as good, then, is it? The violence can fluctuate all it wants as long as the Iraqi government fails to make significant progress. In theory, we can't leave until the government stabilizes. Then again, in theory, we're not leaving even if the government does stabilize.

Meanwhile, Karen DeYoung reports for the Washington Post:

Overall violence continues to decline in Iraq, although the rate of decrease has slowed since September and a few indicators have actually gone up in recent weeks, according to U.S. military figures released yesterday by the White House.

The number of bomb, small-arms, mortar and sniper attacks, as well as attacks against Iraqi infrastructure, remained virtually unchanged over six weeks, at just below 600 a week through the first week of December. The figure stood at about 900 a week at the end of September, compared with an all-time high of nearly 1,600 attacks per week in June.

Significantly, the data show a continuation of the precipitous decline in blasts caused by improvised explosive devices that began early last summer. Those explosions now occur about 20 times a day throughout Iraq, down from about 60 in June and lower than at any point since September 2004.

(DeYoung)

What any of this news means in practice still seems a question:

The U.S.-led coalition has been gradually transferring control of security to the Iraqi government and Britain's handover of southern Basra was the latest in a series that began in July 2006. The coalition retains control over half of Iraq's 18 provinces, including Anbar and central areas where violence has waned but not stopped.

"This is a step toward resuming security responsibilities in all of Iraq's provinces that is due in the middle of next year," Iraqi National Security adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie said in Basra. He represented Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at the handover ceremony in the capital of the oil-rich region.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, en route to Paris for a gathering of world donors to the Palestinians, said she was "heartened" by Britain's handover of Basra.

"We obviously recognize and the British recognize that there's still a lot of work to do in terms of building a stable foundation in the south and there continue to be problems there," Rice told reporters on the flight to Paris. "We're very heartened that there's a sense that security can be turned over. But it doesn't mean that there aren't continuing problems in the south."

(Quinn)

The key phrase in there is that there's still a lot of work to do. While Americans see a window of opportunity for reconciliation, the British perspective does not seem so rosy. Thomas Harding notes, for the Telegraph:

Iraq is still beset by "violence and instability", according to a Ministry of Defence report released the day after power in Basra was handed back to the Iraqis.

A publicity event was organised for the ceremony in Basra. However, in its autumn performance report, the MoD admitted there were still major problems in hitting targets for Iraq.

The document said the goals for Iraq becoming a "stable, united and law-abiding state" were "not on course". While there had been reductions in the levels of murders, "violence and instability continue to be a problem in some parts of the country, weakening efforts at political reconciliation".

(Harding)

And as to being heartened by the Basra handover, the new police commander in the province, Major General Jalil Khalaf, sounds nearly exasperated:

The full scale of the chaos left behind by British forces in Basra was revealed yesterday as the city's police chief described a province in the grip of well-armed militias strong enough to overpower security forces and brutal enough to behead women considered not sufficiently Islamic.

As British forces finally handed over security in Basra province, marking the end of 4½ years of control in southern Iraq, Major General Jalil Khalaf, the new police commander, said the occupation had left him with a situation close to mayhem. "They left me militia, they left me gangsters, and they left me all the troubles in the world," he said in an interview for Guardian Films and ITV.

Khalaf painted a very different picture from that of British officials who, while acknowledging problems in southern Iraq, said yesterday's handover at Basra airbase was timely and appropriate.

(Mahmoud et al.; content warning°)

Maj. Gen. Khalaf notes that the last three months have seen at least forty-five women murdered for conservative religious causes, including giving birth out of wedlock°, and accuses that the British armed Shiite militias to the point that the police are outgunned. Shiites also control the port at Al Basrah. Khalaf, however, does not condemn the British effort:

Khalaf, who has survived 20 assassination attempts since he became police chief six months ago, said Britain's intentions had been good but misguided. "I don't think the British meant for this mess to happen. When they disbanded the Iraqi police and military after Saddam fell the people they put in their place were not loyal to the Iraqi government. The British trained and armed these people in the extremist groups and now we are faced with a situation where these police are loyal to their parties not their country."

He said the most shocking aspect of the breakdown of law and order in Basra was the murder of women for being unIslamic. "They are being killed because they are accused of behaving in an immoral way. When they kill them they put underwear and indecent clothes on them."

In his office Khalaf showed the Guardian a computer holding the files of 48 unidentified women. "Some of them have even been killed with their children because their killer says that they come out of an adulterous relationship," he said.

(ibid)

Ali al-Fadhily brings a grim report to the Asia Times from Fallujah:

Three years after a devastating United States-led siege of the city, residents of Fallujah continue to struggle with a shattered economy, infrastructure and lack of mobility.

The city that was routed in November 2004 is still suffering the worst humanitarian conditions under a siege that continues. Although military actions are down to the minimum inside the city, local and US authorities do not seem to be thinking of ending the agonies of the over 400,000 residents of Fallujah.

"You, people of the media, say things in Fallujah are good," Mohammad Sammy, an aid worker for the Iraqi Red Crescent in Fallujah, told Inter Press Service (IPS). "Then why don't you come and live in this paradise with us? It is so easy to say things for you, isn't it?"

(al-Fadhily)

Falljuah, apparently, is completely closed to the outside, surrounded by the military, and struggling to recover from the (in)famous 2004 siege by U.S.-led forces that destroyed 70% of the city. The military blockade, which allows only biometrically-identified residents pass through the gates, has sent Fallujah's commercial markets elsewhere.

"This isolation has destroyed the economy of the city that was once one the best in Iraq," Professor Mohammad al-Dulaymi of al-Anbar University told IPS. "All of the other cities in the province used to do their wholesale shopping in Fallujah, but now they have to find alternatives, leaving the city's businesses to starve," he explained.

All of the residents interviewed by IPS were extremely angry with the media for recent reports that the situation in the city is good. Many refused to be quoted for different reasons.

"Fallujah is probably the city that has had the most media coverage in the history of the occupation," Hatam Jawad, a school headmaster in Fallujah, told IPS. "People are tired of shouting and appearing on TV to complain, without feeling any change in their sorrowful living situation. Some of them are afraid of police revenge for telling the truth."

Many residents told IPS that US-backed Iraqi police and army personnel have detained people who have spoken to the media.

(ibid)

Over at Salon.com, Glenn Greenwald offers some analysis of the news out of Basrah and Fallujah:

Writing at The Podhoretz Family's Commentary Magazine, right-wing blog favorite Michael Totten -- who says he has been the only reporter other than al-Fadhily in Fallujah -- takes issue with some of al-Fadhily's claims about the extent to which Fallujah was destroyed by our 2004 military assualt. In doing so, Totten revealingly points out that he, Totten, is always with the U.S. military, while the independent al-Falahdy "isn't embedded with the military and focuses his attention on Iraqi civilians," as though that makes Totten's assertions more credible, rather than less credible, than al-Fadhily's.

(Greenwald)

Indeed, Totten's article seems a ferocious condemnation of al-Fadhily, opening with a quote from Thomas Jefferson: "The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."

I just returned home from a trip to Fallujah, where I was the only reporter embedded with the United States military. There was, however, an unembedded reporter in the city at the same time. Normally it would be useful to compare what I saw and heard while traveling and working with the Marines with what a colleague saw and heard while working solo. Unfortunately, the other Fallujah reporter was Ali al-Fadhily from Inter Press Services.

Mr. al-Fadhily is unhappy with the way things are going in the city right now. It means little to him that the only shots fired by the Marines anymore are practice rounds on the range, and that there hasn’t been a single fire fight or combat casualty for months. That’s fair enough, as far as it goes, and perhaps to be expected from a reporter who isn’t embedded with the military and who focuses his attention on Iraqi civilians. The trouble is that Mr. Al-Fadhily’s hysterical exaggerations, refusal to provide crucial context, and outright fabrications amount to a serious case of journalistic malpractice.

(Totten)

And Totten is confident that he is getting the real tour from U.S. forces. You don't have to take his word for it, he notes. "Look at Google’s interactive satellite image of Fallujah from space."

Yeah. Seriously. He actually wrote that. I'm starting to think Greenwald is being too hard on Totten; the Commentary Magazine article is obviously satire. After all, if only al-Fadhily had "embedded with the U.S. military", he would know better than to publish his "nonsense on stilts. Of course, since he's not embedded, "Whether or not he would take the trouble to report these facts if he knew of them is another question".

And perhaps this is the best news of all: things are going so well in Iraq that we can make really stupid jokes about the situation there.
_____________________

Notes:

° content warning — The Guardian Unlimited article includes a video presentation containing the sort of footage Americans don't see on CNN, FOX News, or even PBS.

° giving birth out of wedlock — Mahmoud et al. do not include any information regarding how many of these out-of-wedlock births are the results of rape. According to the article, some of the children are also being murdered.

Works Cited:

Quinn, Patrick. "US General Says Iraq Violence Down". Associated Press/Google. December 17, 2007. See http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gkx-3oYeFwuWKCusr2jrojs98w8wD8TIU33G0

DeYoung, Karen. "Violence in Iraq Still Falling, but Pace of Decline Slows". Washington Post. December 18, 2007; page A10. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/17/AR2007121701915.html

Harding, Thomas. "Iraq still beset by violence, says MoD". Telegraph. December 18, 2007. See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/18/niraq118.xml

Mahmoud, Mona, Maggie O'Kane and Ian Black. "UK has left behind murder and chaos, says Basra police chief". GuardianUnlimited. December 17, 2007. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2228690,00.html

al-Fadhily, Ali. "Fallujah under a different siege". Asia Times. November 21, 2007. See http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IK21Ak01.html

Greenwald, Glen. "What 'winning' in Iraq looks like". Salon.com. December 17, 2007. See http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/12/17/iraq/index.html

Totten, Michael J. "The Other Fallujah Reporter". Commentary Magazine. December 16, 2007. See http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/totten/1594

 

[Challenger78]

I highly recommend Fiasco by Thomas E. Ricks, It is a detailed and bi partisan explanation of what went wrong in Iraq and how.. For example, did you know that the 101st actually was trusted by the people and had the least attacks in their sector? Whilst the 4 rth Infantry division's heavy handed tactics led them, to the most amount of deaths in Iraq ?..

 

[Tiassa]

A thousand words of mystery?

Say huh?
I'm sure there's a story in there somewhere ....

Iraqis pray over the tomb of Saddam Hussein in the village of Awja,
near Tikrit, north of Baghdad, Iraq. Sunday marks the one-year anniversary
of the former dictator's execution.
(AP Photo/Bassem Daham)​

The above image came up in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's "Day in Pictures (12.29.2007)".

I'm just curious: who the hell are these people, and what, exactly, are they praying about?

Anyone? Anyone?

I'm looking around to see if I can find an actual news story, but for now this is all I've got to go on.

 

[S.A.M.]

These must be the people who under him, had religious freedom and could go to work and be sure of getting back home. In retrospect, he probably looks like the better option compared to what they have today.

They are probably praying for forgiveness for not having protected him better

 

[Buffalo Roam]

They are probably the one who now make it so dangerous to live in Iraq.

 

[S.A.M.]

Yeah especially since they are also the ones being paid and armed by the US inspite of being against the elected government.

*Sunni extremists for Hire!

FIGHT AL QAEDA IN IRAQ

FREE WEAPONS!!!

FREE MONEY!!!

GET PAID TO KILL PEOPLE!!!

Uncle Sam wants you*


Ahahahahahahahahha

 

[Killjoy]

I'm just curious: who the hell are these people, and what, exactly, are they praying about?

Anyone? Anyone?

I'm looking around to see if I can find an actual news story, but for now this is all I've got to go on.

Sunni muslims, perhaps. Or "Saddam Hussein loyalists ".

More:
Iraq on alert for Saddam anniversary

Iraq on alert for anniversary of Saddam's execution

 

[Buffalo Roam]

Yeah especially since they are also the ones being paid and armed by the US inspite of being against the elected government.

*Sunni extremists for Hire!

FIGHT AL QAEDA IN IRAQ

FREE WEAPONS!!!

FREE MONEY!!!

GET PAID TO KILL PEOPLE!!!

Uncle Sam wants you*


Ahahahahahahahahha

As long as they kill al Queda, and stop killing each other who cares, except you, it show that money over rides loyalty to al Queda's Islam.

 

[S.A.M.]

As long as they kill al Queda, and stop killing each other who cares, except you, it show that money over rides loyalty to al Queda's Islam.

Ahahahahaha

Yeah and if they are the "al Qaeda" themselves, its easy money and weapons. From the biggest fools on earth.

 

[Buffalo Roam]

U.S. deaths in Iraq remain down


Digg del.icio.us Newsvine Reddit Facebook What's this? By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY
BAGHDAD — The number of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq this month is headed toward the lowest monthly level since March 2006, reflecting a turnaround in U.S. efforts to establish security and defeat insurgents.
With one day left in November, 26 U.S. troops and a civilian Pentagon employee have died in combat. Nine more servicemembers died in non-combat-related incidents.

The November toll could mark the sixth consecutive month of declines in American deaths. It follows a downward trend in overall violence in Iraq.


Iraq Troop Deaths Down for Several Months; So Where Are the ...
Iraq Troop Deaths Down for Several Months; So Where Are the Stories? Photo of Tom Blumer. By Tom Blumer | December 11, 2007 - 13:56 ET ...
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/to...aths-down-several-months-so-where-are-stories

Report: Civilian deaths down in Iraq - UPI.com
Report: Civilian deaths down in Iraq. Published: Dec. 1, 2007 at 2:28 PM. Print story · Email to a friend. Font size:. BAGHDAD, Dec. ...
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/12/01/report_civilian_deaths_down_in_iraq/5948

Yes, SpAM don't it make you mad when the dying declines, and the Sunnis join the Government of Iraq and start shooting the al Queda, scum instead of their fellow Iraqis, or the Americans.

 

[S.A.M.]

Who's counting? The same people that told you there were WMDs in Iraq?

:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: