Iraq Veterans Against the War, including co-chair Kokesh and executive director Kelly Dougherty, were testifying to the Congressional Progressive Caucus which is chaired by Lynn Woolsey, Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee. The three deserve credit not only for calling the hearing but also for remembering what the purpose of the hearing was: Iraq.
As Woolsey noted at the start of the hearing, "You know around here in recent months, we've heard from General David Petraeus, we've heard from Ambassador Ryan Crocker, we've heard from the White House over and over again. And they're all armed with PowerPoint presentations, they're armed with colorful posters, and all the language trying to convince us after five years we are finally making progress in Iraq. Well we know that's not so and what makes this morning so unique is that we now have an opportunity to hear from -- not the military's top brass, but directly from you, the very soldiers who put your lives on the line to carry out this president's failed policies."
It was a strong point and one that only underscored the failure of Panhandle Media aka 'independent' media. Didn't they turn out all in full force for The Petraeus & Crocker Variety Hour's two days. Among others, there was little Spency Ackerman 'live blogging' -- intentionally missing Hillary Clinton's comments and questions because he loves him so Barack. In fact, that's how the bulk of them played it, who they liked, who they didn't. Not what information was produced, not what questions were asked. It was pick favorites. And that's why the Iraq War drags on. The women in Congress who participated in the hearings -- the three chairs, Sheila Jackson Lee and Marcy Kanbur -- deserve credit for staying focused. They are all Democrats and all but one has publicly announced whom they are supporting in the Democratic primary. They are not all on the same page. However, they kept the focus on Iraq. The lone male to participate couldn't do that and felt the need to get a jab in at Hillary. It was unprofessional, it lowered the quality of Congressional participation and it's just that sort of crap that drags the war on.
Credit and resources. KPFA, along with CSPAN3, broadcast the hearing live (click here for KPFA's archived broadcast). In March, Iraq Veterans Against the War held their Winter Soldier Investigation and it was broadcast at War Comes Home (which we consider to be Aaron Glatnz' site), at KPFK, at the Pacifica Radio homepage and at KPFA, here for Friday, here for Saturday, here for Sunday with Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Glantz anchoring Pacifica's live coverage. (It was also broadcast at the IVAW site.) Allison and Glantz also anchored a live report on KPFA about the lawsuit against the VA on April 22nd. If you've missed any of the testimonies, those are links you can use to catch up. WBAI? During Winter Soldier, they decided they rather spin golden oldies on Saturday than broadcast the hearings. On Thursday, they (as usual) let Amy Goodman babble on past her time limit (which is pissing off other programmers who not only have to stick to the time limited schedule but later have to hear how much money Goody raises), it was then time for Bernard and buddy to make jokes and small talk. Why is that a problem? Thursday's hearing weren't broadcast in full on WBAI. The 'station' decided to join the hearing in progress and Bernard and buddy never thought for a moment how jarring their smooth, jokey patter was at ended and WBAI went straight to a veteran testifying about horrors he had witnessed.
If there's a way to disgrace themselves, WBAI seems determined to find it. That should probably be their new slogan. They're far from alone.
For most 'independent' outlets it wasn't news on Thursday or Friday (when they could have played catch up). Nor was what followed the hearing, a public announcement. From IVAW:
Sgt. Matthis Chiroux, who served in the Army until being honorably discharged last summer after over four years of service in Afghanistan, Japan, Europe and the Phillipines, today publicly announced his intention to refuse orders to deploy to Iraq.
Sgt. Chiroux made made his announcement in the Cannon House Office Building Rotunda after members of Iraq Veterans Against the War testified before the Congressional Progressive Caucus during Winter Soldier on the Hill.
To donate to IVAW's Legal Fund to support Matthis and other servicemembers who are refusing to support the occupation of Iraq, use our online donation form and select "Legal Fund" under special projects.
If you would like to send a message of support to Sgt Matthis Chiroux, email thankyoumatthis@ivaw.org.
To the surprise of only the ones who haven't been paying attention, "movement child" (not the peace movement, kids) Amy Goodman couldn't be bothered with interviewing Chrioux. The Nation institute forked over $500,000 to Amy Goodman in December of 2006 and she never covered war resisters again. That is apparently the going rate for silence, $500,000. Not only did she not interview him, she didn't mention him in headlines. In fact, she didn't mention the hearing at all in her dopey headlines.
And there's your problem with the radicals who went public with their attack on liberals and liberalism Friday on FAIR's CounterSpin, as Peter Hart and Socialist Bill Fletcher Jr. (posing as a Democrat) made clear their disdain and dislike for liberals.
Are we off topic? No, we're not. Panhandle Media has poisoned the well and it's prolonged the illegal war. All the "radicals" and "progressives" have never been about ending the illegal war. They've been about a fundamental change in global structures and systems. That's why Goody ignored the hearing and devoted her attention (in lengthy segments) to Israel. That's why, in the summer of 2006, when various people were supposed to be focused on Iraq, it dropped off the radar. Do you forget that summer? Jar-Jar Blinks (Dahr Jamail) was raising funds to go to Iraq and report from there. CODESTINK had declared their idiotic FAST FOR PEACE and vowed they would continue it no matter what. (Diane Wilson said she would stay on it until all the troops came home.) Panhandle Media's attention was waning. They were hoping to make the Mexican elections the big international story (never happened). CODESTINK announced they were going to Jordan to meet with Iraqi Parliamentarians. That was the excuse for calling off the fast (one that should never have been called by a women's organization in a country where eating disorders run wild).
Ehren Watada's Article 32 hearing would take place in August and so would the Article 32 hearing into the gang-rape and murder of fourteen-year-old Abeer, the murder of her parents and the murder of her five-year-old sister -- all crimes committed by US soldiers.
It should have been quite the month of coverage but Israel and Lebanon became the story. Hour after hour, program after program, there was Goody yammering on, Goody and all the rest. CODESTINK came back to America months later. Andrea Lewis interviewed I-Need-Attention Benjamin who babbled on and on about Lebanon and the horrors she had witnessed. If Lewis hadn't asked her, Benjmain never would have even mentioned Iraq.
Horrors that had already been covered on KPFA (and at all other outlets) for over six weeks and the assault had ceased; however, the illegal war dragged on and I-Need-Attention wasn't overly interested in that.
Last week, IVAW testified on Thursday the 15th. The day prior, CODESTINK sent out a mass e-mailing. Getting the word out on the hearing?
No. Announcing a banner drop! On Iraq? No. Time for another pet issue: Impeachment.
Now we'd love to see Bully Boy, Cheney and all of them impeached. But we're not stupid. We find it hard to believe CODESTINK is so stupid. Congress isn't going to impeach (unless Bully Boy declares war on Iran). They're focused on their own elections, they're not going to do much of anything in the coming months. So CODESTINK is wasting everyone's time with their pet issue that they have to know is not happening.
There is neither the support nor the votes in Congress for impeachment. It is a dead issue (barring Bully Boy bombing Iran). As wasteful as their mass e-mailing was, so was the date they picked to push impeachment: Memorial Day.
That is correct. Allegedly wanting to end the illegal war CODESTINK will showboat on Memorial Day for impeachment. On Friday, someone told CODESTINK the House of Representatives voted the day prior on funding the illegal war. "YOU DID IT!" proclaimed their Friday morning e-mail (7:44 a.m. EST). Well they certainly couldn't say "WE," now could they? Not after they forgot to contact their members about the vote.
They had time for Earth Day in April and for awarding Jimmy Carter a "Pink Badge" (Israel), they've always got time to rush from here to there (and not just them, all the groups supposedly wanting to end the illegal war and all the 'independent' media), they just never have time to make Iraq their top priority.
And that's why the illegal war drags on. Now, on their end, what they're trying to do is to indoctrinate. They say it's all related, it's all connected. And they've spent five years trying to play connect the dots and that hasn't ended the illegal war, has it?
They botched the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina because they couldn't figure out whether they were telling the tale of tragic victims or corporations run wild. They veered back and forth over and over with no constitency and the end result is that September marks the third anniversary and the bulk of America really doesn't care all that much now. The bulk feels: "Three years ago, people should be getting on with their lives."
That reaction is their own fault. Their coverage ensured that. Amping the outrage for the victims over and over ("Babies!") and then either dropping it completely (Panhandle Media really wants to see an end to Israel and that desire outranks even protecting Fidel or Hugo) for another story or trying to walk it back from the victims' suffering with a, "Look who's making money off Katrina!" report.
"I get to wake up every morning, put on that black t-shirt and work to bring the troops home, take care of them when they get home and make sure that Iraqis receive reparations. That is what keeps me going, gets my head off the pillow, every morning," answered Geoffrey Millard in response to Woolsey's question about how he copes with what he saw in Iraq.
It's a shame our 'leaders' in 'independent' media don't have the same work ethic.
If they did, the illegal war might be over now. But it's off to Israel, passport stamp from Cuba, on and on and on. They're doing it for the Party (not the Democratic Party), you understand. They will, by golly, radicalize America.
If a few more thousands US service members and another million Iraqis die, well, that's okay with them. The deaths can be used. They can be "dots" that Panhandle Media can connect to the suffering elsewhere. Over and over again.
They've blown their credibility. They've also demonstrated that they cannot connect the dots. Or maybe just that Americans don't really care about all the dots?
Where the people are is wanting the illegal war ended. Instead of ensuring that by focusing on it, it's time to trot out various 'experts' who will yammer on about various topics and, if you're lucky, as an aside, somewhere in a twenty-minutes or more interview, Iraq will be mentioned for a few seconds.
Five years later and Pacfica still doesn't have a show -- even one weekly half-hour -- whose focus is Iraq. Five years later and The Nation has how many blogs now and not one of them is focused on Iraq. Five years later and the illegal war drags on.
"Take Back America!" and assorted other slogans should have alarmed you because the 'leaders' of that 'movement' were nearly as vague as Barack Obama. But in conference after conference, we've seen Iraq not even rating a panel. "It can be brought into something else," they insist. Dots. Yeah, they can put off one of the dots.
Iraq's not a dot. It's an ongoing, illegal war and the US started it. It is has resulted in the biggest refugee crisis on the planet. The weapons used there contribute to global warming. Over a million Iraqis slaughtered. These aren't dots. This is the big picture.
And in their refusal to treat it as such, Panhandle Media demonstrates that Iraq is only a tool they can use to 'educate.'
'Educate' and elect. They all love pimping Bambi, don't they. They tell any lie. (Jar-Jar's called out this edition for one lie.) They'll offer any smear. They'll over fairytale excuses for Barack's taking of big money (Allan Nairn said it was because he fears they'd come after if he didn't), or for supporting Barack (Dave Lindorff says Barack risked jail, as a 'Black' man, to do drugs), or for his pro-stance on mercenaries (see Jeremey Scahill), they slam Hillary for her vote on the Iran resolution (while failing to note that not only did Barack refuse to show for the vote, he introduced similar legislation himself) because that's what it's all about for them: everything but Iraq.
In the hearings, C.I. caught something. Sheila Jackson Lee referenced a proposal she'd introduced, Military Success in Iraq and Diplomatic Surge for National and Political Reconciliation in Iraq Act of 2007. Read it or listen to her remarks via KPFA's archived broadcast. And think about how Cindy Sheehan ripped Hillary apart. Don't count on Cindy doing the same with Sheila Jackson Lee, there's a different standard for Hillary. That's what happens to real Democrats. Faux ones can call for the downfall of Hugo Chavez and the radicals won't even make a peep. (Barack has repeatedly called for it.)
The Iraq War gets lost every day. The big story for Panhandle Media these days is pimping Bambi and tearing down Hillary. That's not ending the illegal war but that's not what they care about.
When the illegal war finally ends (and it will), look back on it and remember how many refused to challenge it in their own forums. Grasp how important it was to them day after day. A hearing took place on Thursday and you may not have even known. It goes to the laughable claim that we have an 'independent' media in this country.
For more on the hearing, see C.I.'s Thursday Iraq snapshot" and Friday "Iraq snapshot" as well as Trina's "Contentment in the Kitchen," Rebecca's "sergio korchergin speaks to congress,"
Betty's "A red day," Ruth's "Sgt. Adam Kokesh speaks to Congress," Kat's "Luis Montalvan," Marcia's "Vincent Emanuele testifies to Congress," Elaine's "IVAW's Vincent Emanuele testifies to Congress" and Mike's "IVAW's James Gilligan speaks to Congress."