On Monday of last week, The Washington Post reported on the "kill teams" and did the best job of the mainstream media. US snipers are instructed to leave items laying out so that, when Iraqis pick them up, they can shoot the Iraqis. The mainstream narrative told you that weapons and materials to make weapons were left out. That wasn't reality. Reality was told back in June by war resister James Burmeister who had just gone to Canada and had been on the "kill teams". He explained that they would leave any property (including cameras) lying around to bait Iraqis and then shoot to kill them if they touched it.
This was the perfect opportunity for independent media to strut their stuff, to show what they could really do. But nap time having been missed, they were all a little sluggish. Possibly also a little sleepish because they never interviewed Burmeister in real time. (As C.I. noted repeatedly last week, PBS' NOW with David Brancaccio interviewed Burmeister for their August 24th broadcast and Burmeister did talk about the "kill teams"; however, NOW decided not to air that section of the interview. They still have it and could air it at anytime.)
Independent media just rubbed their sleepy little eyes and ignored the entire story.
How about Tent City which should have been big news to independent media on Tuesday. What's Tent City? We can forgive you for asking because independent media ignored this topic as well. It's an "open air prison" in Arizona utilizing tents from the Korean war era. They've agreed to house (and already housing one) soldiers who go AWOL from Fort Huachuca. The soldier they are housing was made to do something far worse than a perp-walk for the press but independent media couldn't tell you about that anymore than they could tell you the male prisoners were forced to wear pink 'panties.' Why? Well apparently there's not enough male rapes in prison or at least not enough for the sadistic desires of Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County who, for the record, likes to brag he's the toughest sherriff in America. (It was cute the way the limited mainstream coverage ran with that after it appeared guess where. Well, it's nice to be read and at least they covered it, however badly.) Arpaio brags that the top bunk in the tents reach a temperature of 150 degrees. Tent City is appalling. But independent media wasn't interested. They were too busy blinking their eyes and try to figure out if they needed to go potty or not, or if they should just go in their nappies?
Also on Tuesday, the number of US service members killed in Iraq reached the 3800 mark. Who bothered to note that?
Wednesday's big story? In Madison, Wisconsin, a veteran of the Iraq War became the first decorated veteran to return his medals. Josh Gaines sealed them up in a package to be sent to Donald Rumsfeld, the former Secretary of Defense, at Stanford University. Wednesday's event was him mailing the package and speaking before he did. The event was announced. Where was independent media. Apparently delighted with the feel of their warm urine against their backsides. He spoke of the use of chemical weapons in Iraq on civilians, he spoke of the lack of protective armor provided to US service members, he spoke of contractors getting rich off the illegal war, he explained, "I was forced to ask, 'Are we really defeating terrorism with the scars of war?'" An amazing moment but one independent media had little to no interest in.
Wednesday night had another big moment. In the November 2006 elections, voters gave control of both houses of Congress back to the Democratic Party with a mandate to end the illegal war. And they did nothing. With approximately 70% of Americans against the illegal war, with most wanting troops out now or troops home by the end of next year, MSNBC aired the latest 'debate' among the candidates for the Democratic Party nomination for president. And what happened? The three front runners, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton, declared that they would not promise to have troops home by 2013 which would be their first term if any of the three losers got elected.
As Ruth rightly noted Saturday, playing a clip of Tim Russert tricking Hillary Clinton into disagreeing with a blind quote that turned out to be words from her husband Bill wasn't covering the debate. But that ha-ha passed for coverage. Possibly, by this point, the urine had grown cold and they were too busy crying for a diaper change to pay attention?
Thursday saw War Hawk Samantha Power try to stifle opposition to the illegal war with an embarrassingly juvenile piece posted at Time magazine where she implied that the peace movement was forgetting the Iraqi refugees. The peace movement hasn't forgotten them. They are fully aware that the illegal war created them and that it continues to create them. In fact, find one independent media who noted what was noted repeatedly at The Common Ills but we'll just quote Thursday's snapshot:
Now we're up to Kramer's report in Saturday's New York Times where he reports that as retaliation against the killing of Naji, the Mahdi Army began clearing out the Washash section of Baghdad forcing "[b]etween 50 and 100 Sunni families" (families -- not individuals) to abandon their homes and flee as the thugs went through the neighborhoods with "loudspeakers, telling people to leave" and not just in full view of the US military, with the assistance of the US military. One of the newly created refugees, Sheik Abu Hasan, declares, "What shocked us a lot was that as soon as we reached the main streets, we saw Iraqi and American forces who were showing and directing us to the highway." The US military was used to assist with forced evictions (non-legal ones) and not to protect the people. The myth that the US is preserving anything should have long ago shattered. The US armed and trained the Shi'ites while banishing the Sunnis, they created the division that exists by making their first question to Iraqis: "Are you Sunni or Shia?", and the continued presence breeds the hostility and violence.
Kramer is Andrew E. Kramer of the New York Times and the article ran on Saturday. It doesn't fit the Sammy Power cry of "WAR! WAR! MORE WAR!" so it gets ignored by the alleged 'intellectual.' But the US is no longer standing on the sidelines watching as the Iraqi refugee crisis (internal and external) grows worse, they are not assisting in the clearing of the areas the thugs wish to take over. It's a point lost on Power as are most other points.
Where was independent media? Apparently getting their diaper rash powered. Which explains why, on the same day, Pig felt comfortable releasing a column entitled "Iraq Can Wait." Showing no sense of perspective or decency, Truthdig, Truthout and Common Dreams reposted it. (We are sure there were more.) Pig argued that the peace movement needed to set Iraq aside and focus on the war in Iran. What war? The war Pig has been stridently insisting was coming any day. Insisting since 2004.
Again, Ruth did what so many others couldn't, tell the damn truth, "His advice was that Iraq is not important, stopping a potential war in Iran was. Previously Pig had used an example of fire fighters so I visited my local fire house and asked them, 'If one house is on fire and another might catch on fire today or possibly tomorrow or possibly the week after or possibly never, which fire do you put out?' Three fire fighters laughed at my question, while thanking me for the kugel, and explained that of course their job was to put out the fire that was raging. They asked me why I asked and I explained Pig's column. Then we all had a good laugh." Most sentient beings laugh at Pig. Independent media enshrines him with 'feminist' Katha Pollitt singling him out for praise in one of her oh-so-rare columns to touch on Iraq in the last four years. Well why not? Don't feminists applaud sexual predators who attempt to victimize women? They don't? Well Pollitt does which is why no one involved in this considers that addled minded woman a feminist. Abeer she can take a pass on for over a year and when, finally forced to write about her, has to mention Abeer, she does so in one damn sentence. A 14-year-old girl who is gang-raped as her parents and five-year-old sister are killed in the next room, a 14-year-old girl who is then murdered (all done by US soldiers) doesn't interest Pollitt. Maybe if Abeer had been a sexual predator and not a victim of sexual violence, Katha could sing Abeer's praises?
Friday, there were two grown ups in the room. First up, Mario Murillo, WBAI's Wakeupcall Radio, interviewed CorpWatch's Pratap Chatterjee about his latest article "The Boys from Baghdad: Iraqi Commandos Trained by U.S. Contractor." Chatterjee is writing of how the US' role in creating and fermenting the civil wars in Iraq by whom they armed and who they trained and whom they allowed to do the training. It's a must read article. The other grown up was John Nichols (who also covered the MSNBC debate).
John Nichols (Common Dreams) reported that the Senate raised the debt limit for the federal government and gave the Bully Boy "at least $9 billion in new funding for its war in Iraq" in a 94 to 1 vote with Russ Feingold being the sole senator to vote no while all but 14 House members voted also went along with giving Bully Boy more monies for the illegal war.
We'll assume that independent media, scratching at their diaper rash, discovered a strange, tingling sensation from touching 'down there' and as such didn't notice what Nichols did. We'll also assume their ever increasing aversion to the Green Party prevented them from noting that party's calling out of the war funding:
The Green Party of the United States has called for full and immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the occupation of which is entering its sixth year; the party opposes a US military attack on Iran and warns Americans not to believe the new flood of deceptive war propaganda.
Greens stress that Congress could end the war quickly if Democrats refused to move on bills for war funding, including the latest request for nearly $190 billion the Pentagon says is necessary to keep combat troops in Iraq for another year. Greens urge Congress to divert federal funds from war spending to human needs and services in the US, including restoration and rebuilding in the Gulf Coast.
The Green Party has called for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney for numerous abuses of power, including misleading the American people about the reasons for invading Iraq. Greens have called the invasion a criminal breach of the US Constitution and international law, motivated by desire for political and corporate dominance in the region, control over Iraqi oil and other resources, and cooperation with Israel's aggressive strategic objectives.
Having discovered their 'special places,' we'll assume independent media rubbed themselves raw all weekend and probably missed the news that war resister James Stepp went to Canada.
It was an embarrassing week for independent media. The majority of them should have been sent to their rooms.
As Tori Amos sings in "Taxi Ride:"
Sure you talk the talk
when you need to
I fear
the whole world is
starting to
Believe you
But maybe not. Kat visited with art students against the illegal war on campuses this week. One student especially impressed her. Kat noted one of the woman's projects in "Dali, Quixote and the Dems" last week. She took pictures of it (that will run in Hilda's Mix) and also a picture of the woman's bulletin board which contains nothing but envelopes of renewal notices, notices the woman did not heed. She told Kat, "I've had it with being lied to." A lot of big media was on that board. One independent media outlet made the board too and we've cropped the photo to make sure it catches the eye (photos of the bulletin board in full will run in Hilda's Mix out Tuesday). The phrase the student marked out was "AND ENOUGH REST". She told Kat that "HAD ENOUGH PEACE Then it's time to renew your subscription to The Nation!" said it all. We couldn't agree more.
